Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Marinette had always known that Tom Dupain wasn’t her biological father. She’d never been told just who her real father was, but that had never really mattered to her. Tom had always been there for her, loving her as if she were his own. Marinette would later learn that Tom physically couldn’t have children, so perhaps that was why he’d been so willing to parent Sabine’s toddler when given the option. 

But Marinette had never questioned Tom’s love for her, so perhaps that was why she never asked her Mom just who her biological father was.

But that would all change today.

You see, Marinette had been tasked with an ancestry project by Mme. Mendeleiv, which was to be completed before their yearly school trip, and Marinette needed to know key information about her biological father, like his hair colour or his eyes. 

“Hey, Maman,” Marinette started. “I have a question.”

“Is something wrong, Marinette?” Sabine looked up from the dishes she was cooking. Tom was downstairs in the bakery. 

“No, no, nothing’s wrong. Just, you see, well, for science, umm…” she bit her lip. “Mendeleiv wants us to do a project about our DNA and stuff, but to do that, I kind of need to know about…” Marinette muttered something under her breath.

“What was that?” 

“I said… for the project, I need to know about my b-biological father.” Marinette chewed her lower lip nervously.

Sabine merely smiled. She knew this had been coming, some day. It had honestly worried Sabine and Tom when, after fifteen years, Marinette hadn’t asked about her father, but it seemed the day had finally come. Tom had no problem with telling Marinette the truth, but it had been Sabine who’d insisted that Marinette should come to them with her own questions.

“That’s fine, Mari. I’ve been waiting for this.”

“You have?” Marinette asked, sitting beside Sabine on the sofa.

“Of course I have. Now, where should I start?”

“What does he look like?”

“He had… black hair and blue eyes, like you and me. You have the same eyes, you know.” Marinette had always known she’d gotten her blue eyes from her father. After all, Sabine’s eyes were grey. “Last I checked, he’s still in America. Here, let me see if I can find a picture.” With that, Sabine bustled away to a cupboard, pulling out a stack of photo albums and skipping to the purple one.

Marinette looked down at Tikki, shrugging as the kwamii’s curious gaze turned on her. 

“Ah, here’s one!” Sabine handed a picture to Marinette. She carefully took it in her hands, examining every detail.

The background was wet, dreary. The top of a dark, starless sky could be made out, as well as a glowing W off to the left. A young woman, roughly sixteen years younger than the one before her, was standing, her arms wrapped around a man who appeared to be her age, maybe a little young. His free hand was placed in his jacket. Marinette couldn’t make it out from the grainy camera footage, but she was fairly certain that this coat was Versace. Marinette’s eyes travelled up from the man’s expensive clothing to his square jawline to his cornflower blue eyes to the dark black hair. 

And Marinette could be wrong… she really could… the camera quality was bad. It was entirely possible that she was simply imagining things.

“Maman…” Her mouth was dry as she swallowed. “What’s… what’s his name?”

“Oh,” Sabine smiled. “Bruce Wayne. We met… what was it? Sixteen years ago? Bit of a whirlwind romance, to be honest. This was a few years after he adopted his first son, mind you. But it was─… Marinette?”

Marinette was… a bit overwhelmed.

After all, it’s not everyday that you learn your father is one of the most well known billionaires in the world

Marinette was just quirky like that.

Marinette was a worrier. It was one of the many facets of her personality. She could have a panic attack over something as little as her crush looking in her direction. So it wasn’t particularly surprising that Marinette could be found hyperventilating in her room not an hour later.

“Bruce Wayne’s my father…” she muttered, over and over again, her voice elevating in pitch every time she spoke. “Bruce Wayne… is my father.”

“Marinette!” Tikki exclaimed. “I understand that this is weird, but you need to calm down! Hawkmoth might send an akuma! Come on, just breathe in with me.”

It took Marinette a second to start copying Tikki’s exaggerated gulps of air, but it worked, eventually.

“I just…” Marinette started, sometime later. “I never would’ve expected…”

“It’s okay, Marinette,” Tikki said, flying up to sit on her desk. “Just because he’s your biological father, doesn’t mean you need to meet him. That’s what you said, right?”

‘That was before I knew,’ Marinette thought. It was much more real, now. She could always imagine that Tom Dupain was her father. Now… she had a name and a face.

But…

“Yeah, Tikki,” she smiled. “You’re right. Nothing’s changed…  nothing’s going to change. Right.”

Well, something changed, anyway.

“We’re going where?” Marinette repeated as Alya jumped around excitedly. Marinette had missed the announcement after an akuma attack, but it seemed that they now knew the top secret location of their school trip.

“We’re going to Gotham City!” Alya shrieked excitedly. 

“As in the Crime Capital of America?” Marinette asked. ‘As in the place where my father lives?’

“Yeah! Oh, this is going to be amazing! D’you think I could put our visit on the Ladyblog?!”

“It’s your blog,” Marinette said, her mind on anything other than Alya’s blog. ‘Stay calm, Marinette.’ Adrien and Nino approached them. “Is this because of that whole ‘celebrating the relations between France and America’ thing?” 

“Yeah, we were originally going to New York, but plans have changed, for some reason.”

“So, my dude here has actually been to Gotham,” Nino announced, his arm slung over Adrien’s shoulder.

“Uh-uh,” Adrien nodded, a slight frown on his face as he looked at Marinette. “You okay, Princess? You’re a bit pale.”

“What?! No! Nope, I’m fine! A-okay! Never better! I’m gre-at!” Her voice cracked as she spoke, giving away how not okay she was. Alya and Nino passed this off as her usual reaction to Adrien, but Adrien frowned again. Marinette cursed herself. Chat always knew when something was wrong… then again, she was hardly the most subtle of people. “So, anyways, tell us about Gotham!”

“It’s very wet,” he told them. “There’s only two sides of Gotham. The crime side and the crime side for rich people.”

“Really?” Alya asked. “So everyone there is corrupt?”

“Not everyone,” Adrien conceded. “I met Bruce Wayne and his kids a while back. They’re cool. The youngest, Damian, was a bit stand-offish, but you know the situation there.” Oh, they knew the situation, alright. Damian Wayne, Bruce’s only biological son, was twelve years old. That made him Marinette’s little brother… oh shit. 

Well, it’s not like they’d ever meet, so it was fine. Even if they were going to be in the same city. Things would be okay. Totally. Definitely.

Marinette was really hoping that her Ladybug Luck would be on her side for the next two weeks.

Somebody would need to remind Marinette to never board a plane again. Ever. She much preferred Kaalki to whatever she was feeling right now. Adrien told her it was jetlag. Lila was trying to call Adrien’s attention, but he quickly side stepped her and approached Marinette.

“Okay, Bugaboo, I know you said not to, but can I Cataclysm her?”

“No, Chaton, as much as I’d love to see it, you cannot vaporise Lila,” Marinette told him. 

“You’re no fun, M’Lady,” he pouted, slipping his arms around her shoulder, playing with her pigtails.

“Stop that,” Marinette batted at his hands. “We agreed not to draw attention to ourselves. Alya’s gonna have a heart attack if she sees us like this.”

“She’s preoccupied.” Adrien nodded to where Alya, Rose and Mylène were fawning over Lila’s latest story. 

“Twenty Euro that she’s claiming to be dating some Gothamite.”

“Thirty that it’s Damian Wayne,” Adrien laughed as they sat in the bus.

Marinette grimaced. “He’s twelve.”

“It’s Lila,” Adrien pointed out. “I doubt she even knows his age. Just that he’s Wayne’s only biological child.”

Marinette bit her lip guiltily. “Y-yeah.”

Adrien’s eyes narrowed. “What is it?”

“What? Nothing. Nothing’s wrong!”

“Lies.”

Marinette swallowed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Kitty.”

“You’ve been acting weird whenever I mention the Wayne family… and you looked… guilty when I talked about Damian Wayne…” Adrien’s eyes narrowed. Twelve seconds passed before he gasped, loudly. “No.”

Marinette cringed. “Yes.”

“Really?” Adrien glanced around, his voice lowering significantly. “You’re─Bruce Wayne is your father?!”

“How’d you guess?” she asked quietly.

Adrien sighed. “Well, I already figured out that Mr. Dupain isn’t your father. I mean, you’re tiny─ ow.” Adrien rubbed the arm that Marinette punched. “And you guys have the same eyes, too.”

She frowned, leaning her head back. “I only found out a few months back.”

“Really?” Adrien asked. “Does he know?”

“No,” Marinette said. “At least, I don’t think so.” 

“And are you going to tell him?” Adrien looked down at her knowingly.

She rolled her eyes. “In what world would I ever meet Bruce Wayne?” Well, maybe if she became a famous fashion designer, but even then, the likelihood of her meeting the man was very, very low.

“We’re staying at his cousin’s hotel,” Adrien pointed out. “And we’ll be spending four of the days at Wayne Enterprises. Plus, the Wayne’s own more than a third of Gotham.”

“Gotham’s a large city,” Marinette said. “He’s one man. The statistical likelihood of us meeting is practically none.”

“Okay, Max,” Adrien rolled his eyes. “But, purr-haps, you might be wrong.”

“Perhaps,” Marinette said, ignoring the pun. “But that doesn’t mean he ever has to find out.”

“Yes, because that would be a catastrophe, wouldn’t it?” Adrien rolled his eyes. Marinette didn’t know if the pun was on purpose. Never mind. Of course it was. This was Adrien in front of her.

“I’m surprised that your father even let you come here,” Marinette commented.

“So am I,” he confessed. “And he didn’t even send Gorilla to watch over me!”

“Oh shit.” A lot of Adrien’s time was spent trying to dodge that man. “Really?” Marinette asked in disbelief. “He didn’t disagree? We’re going to Gotham!”

“Yeah…” Adrien cleared his throat. “I… may have told him that we’re going to Miami…”

“What?!” she exclaimed, jolting forwards. Marinette ignored the curious gazes lingering on them.

“There are no supervillains there! Besides, I’ll be fine. It’s not like we’ll get hurt or anything.”

“Right…” Marinette frowned. “He didn’t even read the waiver he was signing?” she prodded.

“He was busy,” Adrien defended. “I think he’s planning a trip to New York, and since Nathalie’s been sick lately, he wouldn’t even notice that I left the house, but because of the Gorilla, I couldn’t just not say anything, so I… told a little lie.”

“Sure.” Marinette rolled her eyes. “Definitely a white lie. Miniscule. Not like we’re going to the most crime ridden place in America, or anything.”

“If we’re careful, he’ll never know,” Adrien countered. 

“Maybe,” she said. “Maybe he’ll never know.” She risked a glance back to where Alya and Lila were laughing. “Or maybe he already knows.”

“What? No.”

“Come on, do you really think his little lap dog hasn’t been updating him about every little thing that you’ve done?”

They’d figured out early on that Lila was reporting back to Gabriel Agreste. It became apparent when Gabriel had commented on something that Nino had done in front of Adrien and Lila, calling Nino an embarrassment to Adrien, and telling him for the fifth time to stop being friends with Nino. When Adrien had mentioned this to Marinette, she’d pointed out that this wasn’t the first time that Gabriel had somehow known something he shouldn't know about Adrien, and since Lila was the common denominator, they’d identified her as the reason behind Gabriel’s knowledge.

“But if he knew, then why did he let me go?” Adrien asked, frowning thoughtfully.

“I don’t know,” Marinette frowned. “Maybe he wanted you to get away from Akuma attacks for a while.”

Adrien snorted. “That’s likely. Nah, if he let me go, this probably has something to do with the contract between Wayne Enterprises and Gabriel… definitely, actually. If his son is on the tour that’s meant to build relations between our two countries, then there’s no way the deal will fall through.” 

“You know this means that he probably has sent the Gorilla?” Marinette pointed out.

“Probably,” Adrien agreed. “But at least now he won’t be able to stop me from doing anything without blowing his cover.”

“Hurrah to fathers,” Marinette drawled sarcastically. “For only they can manage to have such a fucking weird relationship with their offspring.”

“I dunno, my mother is a missing person. Kind of a weirder relationship than an overprotective dad.” Marinette snorted, leaning against Adrien’s shoulders.

“And parents wonder why we’re so fucked up.”

The Kane Hotel was a pretty luxurious place. It was on the nicer side of town and there was no way in hell that the school could afford to send the entire class here. 

“How’d we land this place?” Kim asked, grinning up at the building. Alya was recording the entire time, speaking a million words per minute.

“Chloé,” Marinette said. At the incredulous looks, she elaborated. “She was upset with the original hotel so she had her father tell the school that she was going to be staying here, but she couldn’t stay at a separate hotel from everyone else, so she made her dad upgrade the entire class.”

“And here I thought Chloé Bourgeois did something good for once,” Alya shook her head, turning the camera on the class. “You guys all know Marinette. She helps me out occasionally, when she’s around.” The last word was punctuated with a pointed look.

“Oh, sorry, Alya. We’re not all insane enough to run headlong into danger, every single time an akuma attacks.” Adrien snorted, raising his eyebrow. “Oh, shut up.” She elbowed him.

“It’s pretty funny, Mari.”

“No, it’s really not.”

“Au contraire, Marinette. I think it’s paw-sitively hilarious.”

“I’m going to murder you with a sledgehammer,” Marinette promised, glaring up at him. She needed to tell lies for her identity to remain a secret. Adrien, of all people, should help her, not make stupid jokes about it. 

“Are my eyes deceiving me?” Alya asked, zooming in on them. “Are Marinette Cheng and Adrien Agreste actually having a conversation for once?”

“No, he’s started telling me puns and I’ve realised what a dork he is.”

“Ah, finally!” Nino held his hand up. Marinette quickly slapped it as Adrien let out an exaggerated gasp. 

“You both know you love my puns. Don’t even try to deny it.”

“I am denying it,” Nino crossed his arms. 

Marinette’s eyes rolled as Adrien opened his mouth. She put a hand over it. “If I hear one more cat pun out of you, I’m going to deliver your Miraculous to Hawkmoth myself,” she hissed. Adrien’s eyes widened and he nodded slowly. But once Marinette retracted her hands, Adrien’s lips quirked into his signature smirk.

“Well, Princess, I’m pawsitive that that would be a catastrophe, so purrhaps you shouldn’t do something so clawful. I’d be feline furry sad if you whisker my ring away. So, purrhaps if I’m purrsuasive enough, we could come to an agreement, and you can drop this apawling cattitude towards my hissterical puns.” 

“I…” Marinette blinked dumbly at him. “Why…”

“Kill me now,” Nino tiredly leaned against the wall.

Alya was grinning. Oh, God, no. If Adrien and Alya found something to bond over… Marinette would be fucked. Nino seemed to be thinking along the same lines as he frantically shook his head. “You could rival Chat Noir’s puns, Agreste. Do you─”

“Alya!” Lila quickly approached them. Marinette found herself going on full alert as Lila stood directly in front of the camera. “Come over here. I have to tell you about my first visit to Gotham!”

“What? Oh!” Alya was dragged away without another word, but the dirty look and vindictive smirk Lila sent Marinette was enough for her to get her true intentions.

“What’s with that look?” Nino asked, frowning at Marinette. “Don’t tell me─”

“Lila’s a liar, Nino,” Adrien answered absently. “Of course Marinette doesn’t like her.”

Marinette tilted her head at Adrien. “What’s wrong?” she asked. His tone was strangely… toneless, if that made any sense. Probably not, but to Marinette, it couldn’t be clearer. Something was wrong with her kitty.

“Nothing, just… I’m fairly certain that that deal lasted all of two seconds.”

“Deal?” Marinette asked with narrowed eyes. Nino eyed them curiously.

“Ah, nothing, really, I mean it.” Bull. Adrien smiled charmingly at her. “Come on, Marinette. Mlle. Bustier’s probably sorted out whatever issue was with the rooms.”

“Right…” she wasn’t convinced, and by the looks of it, Nino could also tell something was up. 

A tour of Wayne Enterprises was their first agenda, as the school had made some deal with the company to be able to do this entire trip in the first place. As far as Marinette knew, Timothy Wayne was trying to get the company to be more involved with other countries and schools, so they were just hitting two birds with one stone.

“Welcome to Wayne Enterprises!” A cheerful blonde woman beamed at their group. “I’m Samantha, an intern here at Wayne Enterprises, and I’ll be with you guys for the duration of the tour! Follow me!” As she walked, she spoke quickly and excitedly about the history of Wayne Enterprises, even going so far as to bring up Thomas and Martha Wayne’s murders.

“I’m technically related to Martha Wayne, you know,” Lila said. Marinette rolled her eyes. “Her cousin is my aunt. She always tells me about how much she misses Martie.”

Oh God. Oh God. Marinette just imagined what would’ve happened if Lila wasn’t lying for once. They’d be related. Her and Lila. Lila and Marinette. No. Just no. Never happening. 

“You okay, Milady?” Adrien whispered, his hand landing on her shoulder. 

“I’m fine,” Marinette said, taking his hand in her own as they walked. “It’s just… you know, the devil.”

“Ah, right.” Adrien nodded, frowning as he glanced back. Most of their classmates were paying attention to Lila, not the woman leading their tour. And it was painfully obvious. Samantha’s words became few and far in between. Marinette just knew that if they were back in France that she’d be akumatized. She was suddenly much more thankful that they were on this trip, but she couldn’t help but feel bad.

“So, Samantha,” Marinette started off loudly, knowing that she’d gotten her classmates' attention. “Is it true that Wayne Enterprises makes stuff for Batman?”

It was an unusual question, for sure, but it worked, as the class was suddenly looking at Samantha with rapt attention. “Oh, well, um… that’s classified, I’m afraid, Miss.”

Alya gasped loudly, her camera zooming in on Samantha’s face. “So you do!”

“Not as far as I’m aware,” Samantha said. “But what I can tell you about the Dark Knight is that he once saved me and a bunch of people here from the Riddler.”

“No!” Alya let out a strange noise. “How’d he do it? Where? Did you have to solve riddles? Did he use bombs? How did the Riddler get you? Was he working with anyone? Was Batman working with anyone? Robin? Nightwing? Red Hood? Red Robin? No? Yes? Was the Joker there?”

“Well, aren’t you enthusiastic,” a new voice joined the conversation. A man in a grey business suit smiled at them. “Samantha, they need you up in communications, along with the other interns in that branch. Get anyone you see on the way, please.”

“Y-yes, Mister Wayne─uh─Drake─sir!” Samantha nervously nodded. “I’ll─what about my group?”

“I’ll lead them around until you’re ready,” Timothy Drake-Wayne smiled. “You should be finished by the time we’re done with the intern’s R&D labs.”

“Uh, yes, sir!” Samantha hurried off before Tim could get another word in edgewise. He turned to the French students, smiling a somewhat awkward smile, Marinette noticed, but his voice also projected confidence. Mme. Bustier frowned at the young man, but she was quickly distracted from a phone call. Marinette assumed that Mme. Mendeleiv was the person currently arguing with their literacy teacher over the phone.

“Hello, everyone,” he said. “I’m Tim Drake, one of the CEO’s of this place, and I’ll be taking over with you guys for the next…” he checked his watch. “Twenty minutes. Any questions?”

Alya’s hand shot up. “Do you know Batman?”

He chuckled. “I… met him once or twice, yes. My family’s a bit notorious for attracting criminals.”

“Got that right,” Adrien muttered in her ear. She elbowed him, trying not to grin. 

“I feel so bad for him,” Marinette whispered as Alya badgered Tim with questions. 

“He’s your brother, I’m sure he can handle it.”

Marinette sighed. “Fuck you, Agreste. Fuck you.” She paused. “Also, he’s adopted. And I haven’t even met my father─you’re full of shit, Adrien.”

“You know you love me,” he smirked widely.

“I’m starting to question why,” she said, just as Lila opened her mouth. “Ah, here we go again.”

“Batman saved me once, too,” Lila said, interrupting Alya’s next question. “It was… three months ago, I think. Dami-boo and I were kidnapped by the Joker, but Batman and Robin saved us from being dropped into a vat of chemicals, like Harley Quinn was. Of course, they never would’ve found out if I hadn’t gotten a message to Ladybug. She contacted them. Afterwards, Batman took me to his lair. There are so many bats.”

The second Lila finished her sentence, the class was suddenly surrounding her, interrogating and fretting over the liar worriedly. Marinette, Adrien and Chloé were the only students not surrounding Lila. Nino stood awkwardly to the side with a frown.

“Is that a daily thing?” Tim asked, watching the gaggle of students in amusement. 

“Try ‘whenever-somebody-takes-their-attention-off-of-her’,” Marinette said, frowning at them. She looked at her adoptive brother. “How’d you know she’s lying?”

‘“‘Dami-boo’ is obviously referring to the… my brother.” Tim paused as he spoke. Marinette suspected that a different word came to Tim’s mind when he thought of Damian Wayne. “And everybody knows that Batman doesn’t exactly stick around for tea.”

Marinette clicked her tongue. “And there I was, buying crumpets.”

Tim grinned down at her. “So why don’t you just call her out for lying?” he asked curiously, but Marinette frowned at the sharpness of his eyes. Tim seemed to be thinking a million thoughts a second.

“Shouldn’t we be moving?” Chloé asked, obnoxiously loud. “If I’m in Gotham, I’m not going to waste my time standing around. Let’s go. Sabrina!” Chloé clapped her hands, leading a charge back towards where they came. Adrien quickly caught her arm, pointing in the opposite direction. She made a noise of contempt, storming down the hallway. 

“She has no idea where she’s going,” Adrien muttered as he followed after the blonde.

“Stay with the group!” Mlle. Bustier called, putting her hand over the phone’s speaker. Adrien stuck his thumb up as he ran after Chloé.

“Come on everyone!” Tim clapped for attention. “Let’s get to the R&D Department. I’m fairly certain that they’re going to be letting you guys build something there, so we should hurry, unless you want to miss it.”

Max was the first to move, grabbing Kim and pulling him after Chloé with a strength nobody had ever seen before. 

“Why are we following Chloé?” Alya asked as Tim strolled easily beside them, hands in his pockets. “We’ll probably end up running into Two Face, knowing her… then again…”

“Alya, just because Chloé has a tendency to cause Akumas, that doesn’t mean she’s going to attract every single supervillain in Gotham.” Marinette frowned. Ever since Miracle Queen, everybody had been alienating Chloé. Sure, Marinette was still pretty pissed, but she also felt terrible about how they were treating her. Chloé had been even more closed off since then, and Marinette was quite aware that she could’ve prevented what happened, but Adrien insisted that with Fu as the Guardian, they never could’ve stopped Chloé from being Akumatized, but she wasn’t so sure.

Alya shrugged. “You never know,” she defended herself.

“Akumas?” Tim asked, an eyebrow poised in interest.

“Oh, that’s─”

“Nothing,” Marinette smiled sweetly, elbowing Alya. She knew about the information block placed on Paris by Mayor Bourgeois. If Superman or Wonder Woman found out and decided to get involved… that wouldn’t be good if they were to be Akumatized. So Mayor Bourgeois had put an information block on any news about Hawkmoth, Ladybug, Chat Noir or Akumas leaving Paris. That was one of the main reasons their tourism hadn’t decreased much, but tourists did tend to tell their families and friends about what they’d experienced, but since Paris always looked fine, hardly anyone ever believed them. “It’s just a word we use to refer to most of the problems Chloé causes in our school. Our friend Kagami, from the other class, came up with it. It’s Japanese for ‘demon’.”

“Interesting,” Tim said, probably taking note of how quickly the words tumbled from Marinette’s mouth. “Well, I should go take charge of the rest of your group. Your teacher seems rather distracted.”

Alya snorted quietly at that as Tim hurried to wrangle the rest of the tour group back into some semblance of propriety. “Thanks for that,” Alya said once he was out of ear shot. “I’m not sure that I’d be able to pay off the fines I’d get for being the person to expose the fact that Paris has a supervillain.”

“I’m not sure that it’d affect our economy too badly,” Marinette said as Adrien dragged Chloé back to the group. “I mean, people still go to Gotham and Metropolis, and those places are notorious for getting attacked by villains.”

“Something about America just attracts bad guys,” Adrien commented as Chloé stood with her arms crossed and lips pouting.

“Maybe it’s the president,” Alya shrugged. “Did you hear that he’s not even going to participate in the next debate because they’re not 'taking enough precautions against aliens'?”

“No way he’ll win,” Marinette said. “He only has bigots on his side. I’m fairly certain the rest of this country is smart enough not to vote for somebody who’d enthusiastically take away most of their rights.”

"Yeah, Lex Luthor is a real asshole. Ten Euro he's arrested by Superman again next month."

"That is not a smart bet," Marinette said.

Adrien laughed as they reached the R&D Department. Chloé split away from them, huffing to Sabrina as she crossed her arms in annoyance. 

“Alright, everyone,” Tim called. “I’ll be going now. Samantha should be back in five minutes, so I’m going to leave you guys here with these interns. Marcus, how about you show them the model you’re working on for your robotics project?”

“Ah, yes, sir!”

“Does he know everyone’s name?” Kim wondered as Tim left them.

“It’s sweet that a CEO knows his employees names,” Rose defended.

“Pretty weird, if you ask me,” said Alix. “I thought all CEO’s are evil overlords and shit.”

“Statistically speaking─”

“Evil is just a concept created by the human mind to excuse people’s actions, we know, we know,” Kim said, wrapping an arm around Max.

Max blushed. “I was going to say that most of the CEO’s of multi-million industries have been consumed by greed and are quite unlikely to remember the names of their employees, especially interns.”

“Huh,” was Kim’s only response.

It was a weird, albeit fun, day.

At least they hadn’t been kidnapped by the Joker and almost dropped into the very same vat of chemicals that turned Harley Quinn’s skin white, only to be saved by Batman and Robin because one of their classmates were best friends with Ladybug, who somehow knew Batman, too.

Marinette was pretty good at ignoring Lila. She’d been doing it for ages, ever since Lila had first started going on about how she saved Jagged Stone’s cat or how she was best friends with Prince Ali. But Lila was really starting to get on her nerves. Marinette knew that it was only a matter of time before she blew a gasket, and that wouldn’t be good for anyone. Marinette certainly didn’t want to add onto Mme. Bustier’s stress, who had looked sick ever since they’d arrived in Gotham.

“I’m going for a walk,” Marinette told Adrien as Lila lamented about how she was the secret heir to LexCorp.

“Are you sure?” Adrien frowned. “It’s pretty dangerous out there.”

“I can handle myself, Kitty,” she said, tapping her earrings pointedly. Marinette sighed, frowning over at Lila. “I just… really need to get away from here. Don’t worry. I’ll be back in twenty minutes, tops.”

“Do you want me to come with you? It’s incredibly dark out.” She smiled at the worried look on his face. 

“I’ll be fine,” Marinette assured him.

“Okay, just be careful, please. Paris and Gotham… they’re different. Hawkmoth seems tame when compared to the guys here.”

“Don’t worry,” Marinette said, leaning down to peck his lips before hurrying out the door. Marinette heard a shriek as she left. Alya had definitely seen that, and she knew for a fact that Adrien was currently being interrogated. Well, she’d leave him with Alya. This was payback for all of his puns.

Gotham really was different to Paris. It was darker, gloomier. Even the light casted by the Kane Hotel did little to deter the constant feeling of wariness as she took her first left. Well, at least she wouldn’t be getting lost. 

Gotham was full of twists and turns. Glass and cans littered the alleyways, a fire was built in a barrel which people congregated around, their hands outstretched in an effort to warm up. Marinette could make out Wayne Enterprises from about halfway across the city. Pollution was heavy in the streets of Gotham. To be fair, Paris was disgustingly polluted too (as are most cities, but that was nothing when compared to this place. Rain drizzled lightly, the beads dropping on her head as she strolled with her hands in her pockets.

Lila was just… terrible! Seriously! How could she lie about everything? And everyone always believed her. Marinette hated it. She hated seeing her friends manipulated and lied to, and she hated that Lila lied about these celebrities who she knew nothing about! Just last week, Lila was claiming to have been blacklisted by Katy Perry for ‘having a better singing voice’ than her. 

What bullshit.

And Lila’s newest target, the Wayne family, hadn’t gotten the lucky end of the stick.

Sure, Lila was going around saying that she was romantically involved with Damian Wayne, who was only twelve, but she was also implying that Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne’s oldest adopted son, was being a little too ‘friendly’ with a fifteen year old. She claimed that Jason Todd had faked his death on purpose to escape his abusive father, and that the kidnapping was a fake story concocted by the Wayne’s PR Office to avoid any more scrutiny.

It’s true that Marinette didn’t know anything about the Waynes, but she did know that nobody deserved to be the brunt of Lila’s lies. Marinette knew a little too well how that felt.

As Marinette went, she heard a shout for help coming from a nearby alleyway. Marinette’s instincts kicked in and suddenly she was sprinting towards the danger, Adrien’s previous pleas and warnings completely evaporating from her head.

A woman was being surrounded by two dirty, leering men. The shorter one was holding a bright red purse which clearly belonged to the woman. Marinette could understand why she’d been picked by the men. She may as well have been a beacon of colour in a black-and-white film. 

“Stop!” The woman shouted as they rifled through her belongings, dropping a passport and papers on to the floor as one examined her cell phone.

“Say it’d go for… uh… three-twenty, probably,” the shorter of the two said.

“Don’ be daft you fool!” The taller, even dirtier one snapped. “It’s a  knockoff! We’d get one-thirty, maybe.”  

‘I don’t think you’ll be getting anything,’ Marinette thought as she raised her voice. There was a cul-de-sac at the other side of the alley, so the only way for them to escape would be to go around Marinette. That wasn’t likely. 

“Hey!” she shouted, glaring at them.

“Ey?” the short one grinned tauntingly. “Looks like we go’ more easy prey, Vinnie.”

“What are you doing?” the woman hissed. “Run, you stupid girl!”

“Uhh, no,” Marinette said. She glared at the two men. “Return her belongings. Now.”

The dirtier man chuckled. “Yeah, sure, just after we finish with you,” he said, advancing towards Marinette. 

The second he reached for the strap of her purse, Marinette reacted. She lashed out, kicking him squarely into the gut and pushed him back onto the ground.

Purse Pursuer No. 2 growled in annoyance at seeing his friend getting beaten by a tiny teenager. “Ge’ up ya big lump!” he hissed, stomping towards Marinette, dropping the woman’s belongings as he went. She quickly grabbed her purse and phone, pressing herself against the large bin in fear, shaking erratically.

Marinette could’ve easily taken this guy. Seriously. It would not have been hard. All she’d have had to do was land in a solid paunch to the jaw to take him down, but two gunshots rang out. Marinette was splattered with blood as the man fell to the ground, clutching at his shoulder. Blood seeped through a tattered t-shirt and Marinette could see that the man who was already down had blood pooling around his middle. She gaped at the men, looking in the direction of where the bullets came.

The first thing Marinette noticed was the red cowl covering his head. A red bat symbol was prominently displayed on his chest and a ring of black surrounded his eyes. He was holding two smoking red guns and as he jumped down into the alleyway, Marinette couldn’t help but stumble away in shock.

“You two ladies alright?” A gruff, unfriendly voice asked. The woman whimpered loudly, looking between Marinette and Red Hood before sprinting as fast as she could in her bright pink heels, which wasn’t very fast, but neither Marinette nor the vigilante made to chase after her. 

She stared at him in shock. “Y-y-you k-killed─”

“They’ll live,” Red Hood interrupted. “I didn’t shoot anything vital. I have a little deal with the ol’ Bat. No killing normal scumbags like purse snatchers. Don’t worry, though. I’m completely free to take out any of the big league bastards. Like the Joker.” His voice somehow became darker, bitterer as he talked about that particular criminal.

“B-but─”

“Are you hurt?” the vigilante moved a hand towards where the blood had splattered on her shirt.

“N-no, that’s from…” she pointed to the taller criminal who was writhing on the floor. Marinette flinched. 

“Oh, good, good.” Red Hood stood there, almost awkwardly. 

That was… not how they handled things back in France. They didn't just shoot any random purse grabbers! But this was Gotham, right? Maybe they needed to be harsher in order to keep a tighter lid on the staggeringly high crime rate.

But still…

“S-should we call an ambulance?”

“I have it taken care of already,” he waved a hand nonchalantly. Marinette frowned, but nodded, biting her lip awkwardly. “What were you doing out this late?”

Marinette cleared her throat. “W-well, I was on a walk and then I heard that woman shouting for help, so I went and… yeah.”

“Try not to, next time…” Red Hood frowned. He looked at the shorter man, who still hadn’t gotten up. Marinette would’ve thought he was dead, but she could see his arm moving. “But you seemed to be able to take care of yourself, kid. Good job.” She nodded awkwardly. Marinette had been expecting to be berated not… whatever that was. Marinette was just glad that she hadn’t transformed. That might’ve been a little harder to explain.

“W-well, I should get going…” she said.

“Would you like me to escort you back to your house?” Red Hood asked.

“No, no, that’s okay,” Marinette shook her head. As she left, she smiled tightly. “Um, thank you, for… that…”

“No problem.” Marinette nodded with an awkward smile that could’ve been mistaken for a grimace.

She didn’t say anything, but as Marinette walked, she could feel Red Hood’s eyes on her, all the way back to the hotel.

When she entered the hotel, she was glad not to be immediately accosted by Alya, but she must’ve spoken too soon, because the second she entered one of the lounges that contained their entire class, Alya ran towards her.

“Marinette! Why didn’t you tell me that you and Adrien were─oh my God!”

Adrien took one glance at Marinette and leaped over the couch he was sitting on. He grabbed her hands in his, checking her over for injuries. “Why are you covered in blood? What happened? Are you hurt? Where? Who did this? Princess, who do I have to ki─”

“I’m fine!” Marinette exclaimed. “Don’t worry, it’s not my blood.”

“Uh…” Alix frowned. “Then what the fuck happened?”

Marinette wasn’t allowed to argue as Adrien forced her to sit on one of the couches. Lila glared at her. Marinette already knew that she’d interrupted one of Lila’s stories.

“Did you know that Gotham superheroes use guns?”

The next day was much calmer, fortunately. They’d arrived at Gotham Zoo where Lila told more stories and they’d admired the penguins and otters. It was relaxing and calm and Marinette didn’t have to be saved by any more gun wielding vigilantes.

But the next day? That wasn’t so calm.

Their next destination was Gotham Academy. They weren’t going to be taking any classes or anything. No. They were meant to have a playdate with one of the classes there.

And you know, they were all the same age. It’d be easy enough for the teenagers to bond over something.

But that wasn’t the problem.

It was a well known fact that most of the Wayne children had skipped a year or two. Could you really be surprised to find out that the twelve year old Damian Wayne was actually in a class full of fifteen year olds?

Marinette could tell from the glare that he sent every which way that he did not want to be here. She could also tell that only two of her classmates realised just who the snappish child sulking in the back was. 

Chloé sent Damian a nod of acknowledgement as she scowled at the two teachers and crossed her arms while Adrien smiled warmly at him and waved. Damian’s scowl merely deepened as he nodded back at the two blondes.

“I met him last Summer,” Adrien elaborated at her curious look. “He has some anger issues, but he’s cool all around…” he grinned suddenly. “Hey, maybe it runs in the family.”

She paused, glaring up at him. “I do not have anger issues, Agreste.”

Adrien held his hands up in surrender. “Course not, Milady. I would never suggest such a thing, Princess.” 

“Quiet, please, you young heathens!” Simon Trent, the school’s drama teacher, called out. He was a rather old man, leaning on a walking stick as he grinned maniacally down at them. Marinette couldn’t tell if he needed the stick or not. “Our lovely Mademoiselle Bustier has a few words to say, if you’ll allow her to.”

Mlle. Bustier stepped forwards, her hands clasped pleasantly in front of her as she smiled at them. See, this was the Mlle. Bustier Marinette knew! She was always one to smile and assure them that everything would be okay, even when the chances of that were highly unlikely. Marinette was curious as to what seemed to have their teacher so worried lately.

“Thank you, everyone, for having us today, and thank you, Mister Trent, for those kind words. Now, myself and my students have come here from Paris, in France, to celebrate the relations between France and America. Now, we’ve arranged it so that all of you can interact for the rest of the day, but you will have a buddy that you need to stick with. We want you to get along with each other, so at the end of the day, I’m going to ask you for a fact about your partner. Mister Trent will give you your partners now. Marinette, could you come here?”

Marinette frowned, but approached her teacher as Mister Trent spoke animatedly in the background. “Something the matter, Mlle. Bustier? You look tired.”

“What? No, no, nothing’s the matter. Now, I’m going to have to warn you about your partner. He’s the child in the back. Damian Wayne. Mister Trent warned me that he’s a bit standoffish, which is why I paired him up with you. I think that you’re responsible enough to deal with him and any of his tantrums. But I wanted you to know what to expect before anything. And thank you, Marinette. I can always count on you, can’t I?”

“Y-yeah.” Okay, being in the same classroom? That, she could do. Having to interact with her biological little brother for an undisclosed amount of time? You might as well kill her now.

Maybe the embarrassment would do it.

But Marinette swallowed her pride, approaching the preteen with an awkward smile and an uncomfortable look back at Adrien, who was fending off an overly eager teenage girl. Marinette couldn’t even bring herself to be jealous.

Oh this was going to be horrible.

When the overly happy looking French girl sat beside Damian, it took all of his self control not to send her away. Damian was not in the mood for this ‘friendship week’ bullshit. If you asked Damian, he should be with Father searching for the Riddler, who’d just escaped Arkham. Not having to play house with these French students. Damian could care less if a war broke out between France and England. At least maybe then Father would stop babying him. 

Damian was surprised when the older girl didn’t immediately start talking his ear off─she looked like the type who could speak for hours and never stop─but he quickly became annoyed when all she did was sit still and fidget.

“Are you going to say something or are we playing charades?” Grayson had introduced him to the activity a few months prior. He’d insisted that it would be helpful during patrol, but what Damian hadn’t understood was why they needed to play it with their entire clan. It was rather embarrassing and somewhat… fun.

“Oh! Oh, I’m─I’m so, so sorry! I… I just… you’re─”

“Damian Wayne, I know, my Father’s only valid heir. Is there a point to your babbling?” Grayson was a worthy contender, being the eldest, Todd was completely useless, given that he still continued to work against their Father’s wishes (even if Damian didn’t completely disagree with his methods) and Drake was totally abhorrent, end of story there. 

“I─sorry?” the girl raised an eyebrow, frowning openly at Damian. “You think that’s what I─you know what, never mind. I don’t care. Whatever. Let’s start over. My name is Marinette. I’m my Class’ Representative and I live in a bakery. What about you?”

Damian took one look at the girl and snorted. He was hardly going to humour this girl just to make her comfortable. If she continued yapping, he’d just ignore her. He had plenty of experience, given that Grayson and Gordon never shut up and Brown always found something to talk to Drake about over their comms. When Todd occasionally joined them, he always tried to initiate an argument with Father. Father mainly ignored Todd’s arguments, but he did shut everyone up the second that Todd joked about his death. He did that often. 

Pulling out his phone, Damian flicked through the files that he’d downloaded on the Riddler case. Damian was quite aware that the French girl─Marissa, or something─was looking over his shoulder.

The Riddler had escaped with the assistance of Scarecrow and Joker. There wasn't any major interference from them. Scarecrow’s newest fear toxin had been released in Asylum and the Joker had presumably provided Nigma with a gas mask, and a necklace of some sort. A picture of Riddler escaping had been captured by Vicki Vale’s contracted photographer. Riddler was wearing a purple and green ensemble, but his trench coat was a long, deep purple, his mask and top hat were a dark emerald green. A magenta sash was wrapped around his hat. The necklace that Riddler wore was long, a bird’s feather on the end. He was holding a long, purple, ancient, traditional Chinese sword. The Riddler’s skin was light green. A normal person would think it was the lighting, but Marinette disagreed.

“Oh my God…” Damian frowned as he looked back at the French girl. She was staring at the Riddler in horror, particularly the necklace. She caught Damian’s gaze and immediately tensed, clearing her throat loudly. “That’s─that’s a disgusting outfit! I can’t believe that anyone, even a supervillain, would wear that!” She spoke loudly, looking pointedly at one of her classmates. Damian knew this one. Adrien Agreste, the scion of Gabriel. Damian hadn’t found him to be too annoying, but he did seem rather afraid to speak his mind. Damian completely disagreed with this mentality. It was Damian’s opinion that if you never spoke up for yourself, then you’d continue to be pushed around. Damian wasn’t the type to be pushed around.

Agreste and his partner, an annoying girl by the name of Jesslyn Rose Turner, approached them. Turner tried to latch onto him as they walked, but Agreste swiftly dodged the embrace in a way that made Damian raise an eyebrow. 

“Hey, Mari, you okay?” Agreste asked, looking at the French girl in concern.

“Yeah, fine. Just… hey Damian, could you show Adrien that picture of the Riddler?”

“Why?” he asked suspiciously.

The girl─Marionette, maybe?─grinned sheepishly. It was the kind of grin that most people would think was real. Damian had been raised by the League of Assassins. This girl was clearly hiding something. “I’m a bit of an aspiring designer, so I like to ask Adrien for his opinions on things after I see them, as he’s a model, you know?”

“‘Aspiring’?” Agreste snorted. “Mari, you’ve designed for Jagged Stone!” It took all of Damian’s self control not to ask ‘who?’.

“You know Jagged Stone?” Turner perked up.

“Uh, yeah,” the girl─it had to be Marinette, right?─smiled before turning back to Damian. “So, the picture?”

“Alright.” If these two French students could help the case in any way, then Damian wouldn’t stop them. The Riddler was known for his… well, riddles. There was no way that the flamboyant outfit wasn’t a clue of some sort. Damian clicked on the image so that the outfit could be seen in better detail. Slowly, he turned it around. Immediately, Agreste made a sound that was somewhere between a gasp, a laugh and a whimper.

“You see it too, right?” she asked, the fake smile frozen in place.

“Oh, wow… that’s, uh… very interesting. Yeah, I see what you mean. It’s something else. Very topic-inducing... Hey, Marinette, I think there’s something that we need to discuss… over there.”

Before he or Turner could protest, Agreste and Marinette were halfway across the room, heatedly whispering between themselves.

Unfortunately for them, Damian was capable of reading lips, and he spoke French.

Now, if only they slowed down.

“Impossible… way… how… Hawkmoth… can’t…”

“Might… wrong… I don’t… there can’t… more?”

“I… Guardian… Maybe?”

“There… accessory… outfit...”

“Sword is… yo-yo… flute…”

“It’s possible… Mirac─… Tibet…”

“Hawkmoth… find out…”

“Unlikely… back in France… think that…”

“I don’t… wish Master Fu was…”

That… was a whole bunch of nothing. 

Damian understood absolutely none of what they said, but he did know something.

These two knew something.

When Marinette finally went back to Damian, she was practicing her breathing and trying not to freak out.

The craftsmanship… the effort… the design… it all pointed to something that Marinette did not want to consider, but they had.

But where would the Riddler even get a Miraculous? And how? Marinette was the Guardian. There weren’t any more spaces in the box, except for the missing Peacock and Butterfly Miraculouses. Then again, the Rabbit Miraculous didn’t have a place in there, either. 

But how?

In the article that Damian had been reading, it had said that the Riddle had gotten the necklace off of the Joker, but that still raised the question of how?

“Hey, Damian,” Marinette said, trying to remain as nonchalant as possible. “Sorry about that. Adrien and I tend to geek out over jewelry and stuff. Comes with the trade, I guess.”

“You’re hiding something,” Damian accused tactlessly. Marinette hadn’t expected this kid to be so irrational. Even her, who’d acted like a completely uneducated baboon around Adrien, knew that would be a stupid play to make. 

But Marinette wasn’t one to be backed into a corner so easily.

“So are you,” she returned, smiling as she spoke. Damian shifted uncomfortably, looking like an angry kitten as he glared at her. “That was no article you were reading, Damian. Do you really want to go down this road? Or do you want me to ask why you’re looking at clearly classified documents?”

Marinette felt rather vindictive when Damian stared back at her in shock. He quickly composed himself, and what she was quickly learning to be his signature glare was back on his face. 

“What was your name again?” was not the response she had expected.

“W-what?”

“Your name. I don’t remember it.”

‘My brother is a real asshole, isn’t he?’ Marinette thought as she stared back at his distrustful gaze. “Marinette Cheng.”

“Well, Cheng, you should know that I don’t like games.”

“Too bad,” she smiled. “I love them.”

It was after twenty minutes of tense silence that something finally happened. It wasn’t something good, not in the slightest, but it was something.

Because neither she nor Damian had said anything in the past hour, she could clearly hear the conversations going on around them. Specifically, she could hear Lila.

“Yeah,” Lila was telling an American boy named Dwayne. He was hiding the bottom half of his face with his left hand as he shook sporadically. Lila didn’t seem to realise what was happening, as she was too busy with telling her tale, but Marinette could clearly hear his giggles. “I know Damian Wayne. We go way back. That’s probably why it was so natural for us to start dating, but I get that it’s not like that for everyone.”

“Y-you─” Dwayne cut himself off, grinning madly as he choked on his words. “You do know he’s there, right?”

“What?” Lila’s startled expression was priceless. She slowly turned to look in the direction of where Dwayne was pointing. Damian stared back at them boredly, his eyes narrowing in on Lila’s position. “I─I─th-that’s not─”

“You alright, Lila?” Alya’s voice came from the front, her ‘Lila-is-in-distress’ meter going off.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” she chuckled awkwardly, turning back to Dwayne. “You know that was just a joke, right? I knew that he was in this class.”

“Sure,” Dwayne nodded skeptically.

Damian turned to Marinette, a begrudgingly curious expression on his face. “That was not just a joke,” he stated tonelessly.

“No, it wasn’t,” Marinette agreed. At his questioning eyebrow, she continued. “Lila likes to tell people what they want to hear. People like to believe her.”

“You don’t,” he said, frowning as he looked between them. 

“I know that she’s lying,” Marinette said. She sighed as she laid her palm on her forehead. “But it’s not like anyone believes me or anything…”

“Agreste isn’t that stupid,” Damian commented, almost to himself.

“You’re right, he’s not,” she said. “Adrien knows that Lila’s a liar. But that’s only because La─I called her out in front of him, and he realised that she was lying. Only Chloé has also realised that Lila lives, eats and breathes lies, but she doesn’t care anymore.” It was worrying how little Chloé actually cared about this stuff anymore. Marinette wanted to reach out, but she knew that she’d only be shut down. As things were, Marinette was letting Adrien handle that front.

“So you’re not─” Before Damian could finish his sentence, three loud consecutive shots rang out. Marinette jumped in her seat as a green haired, white skinned… thing grinned maniacally down at them. When had the Joker even arrived? Marinette hadn’t seen him enter. She hadn’t even seen the door open.

“Holy shit,” she whispered, staring from the machine gun he held in hand to the three bullet holes in the roof. Three lackeys soldiered inside, each holding a large, terrifying gun in hand. Mlle. Bustier flinched, staring at the Joker in resigned horror. Adrien looked back at Marinette, but she held up a hand for him to wait. She needed to vet the situation. Lila was sitting perfectly still, but Marinette could tell that even she was afraid. Chloé’s eyes were narrowed in annoyance. She probably saw this as having the same level of severity as an Akuma attack. That was stupid. They could come back from an Akuma attack. This… they couldn’t come back from.

“Salut, students! I sure hope I’m not interrupting anything! After all, adolescence is a pivotal moment in life. You never know when you’ll die.” His grin widened, somehow. Rose whimpered and Alya’s hand crept towards their phones. Some American students were shaking and others were crying. Marinette couldn’t say that she was surprised. After all, these guys didn’t have to deal with life threatening situations every other week. “Now… you!” Joker’s index finger landed on Chloé. Marinette cursed quietly. “I want you to come here, and do me a small favour.” She could see the C4 one of the lackeys was holding. Chloé rolled her eyes, but stood and approached slowly.

“Why isn’t he going for you?” she asked Damian quietly.

“He’s probably planning on using me to threaten my Father somehow. Your friend, however…”

Marinette knew that something was about to happen the instant Chloé opened her mouth. “Can we get this over with, you freak? I have places to be, you know.”

Marinette saw the second the Joker’s facade of happiness faded, being placed with something darker. It was when Chloé said ‘freak’. Shit.

“Well, don’t worry, sunshine. You may be missing your four o’clock, but you’ll be missing everything else, too.”

Marinette jumped up when he raised the gun, grabbing Chloé’s arm and pulling her out of the way. Reaching for the gun would be a dumb move, but maybe she could take his attention off of Chloé.

“Oh?” Joker’s eyes gleamed with interest as he paused, his lips turning upwards, emphasising the red lipstick on his face. “Well, that’s funny.” He looked at his lackeys. “Right?” They chuckled nervously. He examined Marinette. “Seems that we have a hero on our hands. But you know what the best thing about heroes is? Their downfall.” 

Marinette flinched, expecting for three rounds to end up in her chest, but she was shocked when something was tossed into her hands. She looked down at the C4 she was now holding in genuine surprise. 

Joker smiled. “I want you to place these around this little building. In the walls, on the boilers, et cetera, et cetera. But don’t worry! Nunchucks over there’ll accompany you so you don’t get any funny ideas. Like running. Or calling the Bat. I’ll be the one sending a little message over to him, with the help of my good, personal friend, Damian Wayne.” The twelve year old’s tense posture went rigid as his name was called. Marinette heard the whispers as her classmates whispered amongst themselves, looking from Lila to Damian, but she was too busy staring at nunchucks.

He was tall, very tall, his exposed, bulging muscles were covered in tattoos. A black and blue mask covered his face, but a leering grin and hard, stony eyes stared out of them. His torso was tearing through his thin shirt and his shoes seemed to be a size too small. Marinette could make out a faded scar on his neck. His large hands were holding a machine gun, but it looked to be tiny in his grasp.

...She could probably take him.

Which Marinette did end up doing.

The second they were down the hall from the room, Marinette kicked the man in the face, dropping the C4 on the ground. His mask fell away, showing a scarred face, an ugly moustache and a bald head. Marinette aimed her second attack for the one place men forget to guard, but would always take them down in one fell swoop.

Nunchucks dropped to the ground, clutching his crotch as he writhed on the floor and groaning in pain. Marinette kicked the gun away, but not before grabbing it and hitting him over the head with the butt of the weapon.

“Well…” Marinette looked around. “The fuck do I do now?”

She couldn’t call the police. They wouldn’t be able to do anything but negotiate, and Marinette got the feeling that the Joker wasn’t the type.

Batman was probably on the way, but since the Joker was expecting him, that would be dumb. Not to mention that there were roughly forty hostages in that classroom.

Realistically, she only had one option.

“Tikki,” Marinette quietly called. “Spots on.” Pink lights shone through the corridor as a French hero replaced a student. “Alright… here goes nothing.”

Marinette had just been taken away by this ‘Nunchucks’ person. Adrien was terrified for his girlfriend, even though he knew that she could handle herself. But there was also the matter of Marinette’s biological younger brother, who the Joker was eagerly staring at. Adrien was fairly certain that the criminal was salivating.

The Joker pranced about, throwing his gun to one of his lackeys. He pulled out a knife, advancing towards Damian. 

“Well, well, well,” Joker said, looking out at them. “What should I do now? Should I tear open your chest? Carve a smile into your face? Or maybe I should just kill you. That would certainly… tear Bats up! Haha! I crack myself up sometimes!”

‘What was the punchline?’ Adrien thought as he stood slowly. Nino’s hand shot out, sending him a warning look. He slowly lowered himself back into the seat, but every few seconds he would scoot towards the brute keeping watch of their side of the classroom. 

Damian stared up at the Joker expressionlessly. Adrien got the distinct feeling that the kid was used to this kind of thing. 

“No? Ya got nothing?” Joker raised his eyebrows in mock sadness. “Yo-you’re just like your father! You never laugh at my jokes! You’re always so stoic!” The Joker jumped in the air, clapping his hands together in excitement. “Oh, I love it! I can always imagine that it’s his chest I’m tearing into when I kill you.” He cracked his knuckles. “Then again, I suppose losing another son at my hands would do it for him,” the Joker said, chuckling. “Hey, hey, give me your phone, kid!” 

The Joker grabbed Damian’s phone from his pocket. It was unlocked for some reason, so the Joker quickly opened an app, snapping a selfie of the two of them. 

He looked at the class expectantly. “Well? What are ya looking at me for? Go like my newest post! It’s on ‘@BatJokes’, where I name dropped ‘@DamianWayne’─that is very unoriginal, kid─on Twitter! But I do get why your nickname is Demon Brat, kid. Your mommy is a work of art.”

“That was Todd,” was Damian’s grumble.

Everybody scrambled to open Twitter, finding the Joker's account and liking, commenting on and retweeting the post.

Joker’sGottaLottaLaughs @BatJokes · 17s

Just my new friend and I, @DamianWayne, hanging out in #GothamAcademy with a lotta French students for #FriendshipWeek . I suggest you get your tushie over here, Batsy. Wouldn’t want another Wayne to end it with a bullet in their head! 

Adrien flinched, quickly checking through other news sources. Nobody had anything up, so nobody knew. Shit. The chances of Damian getting out of this thing alive were slim.

But just as Adrien thought that, he caught sight of a faintly pink light on the other side of the door. It was far away, down the hall probably, but Adrien knew exactly what it meant. 

He quickly texted Alya, which the Joker wouldn’t notice, since most of them were still on Twitter. 

Adrien Agreste: Guy to your left. take him out in twenty seconds. trust me.

Alya Césaire:  risky. u sure?

Adrien Agreste: im sure. youll see why soon.

Ten seconds had been taken up by that minor conversation. Alya looked at Adrien cautiously and to the machine gun in the lackey’s hands. She nodded slowly. Alya had been the best choice of all of the superheroes in the room. Not only was she closest, but she also had the least self-preservation instincts.

Adrien looked at the door, rising slowly. He dodged Nino’s warning hand.

Five…

Four…

Three…

Two…

One!

As the door burst open and Ladybug raced inside, Adrien delivered a swift blow to the brute’s stomach and Alya grabbed the other’s gun, twisting to the left and hitting him in the nose with her elbow. Ladybug quickly took notice of his and Alya’s actions as she changed her angle, sprinting at the Joker. He reached out to grab Damian, but the kid ducked down, allowing Ladybug’s yo-yo to wrap around the Joker, causing him to drop the knife as he was incapacitated. Marinette hit the Joker with the yo-yo in the head, and Adrien was surprised at how quickly he fell limply. Marinette must’ve used a lot of force. 

“Oh my God!” Alya exclaimed as she stood over the lackey, his gun in her hand. She quickly dropped it onto him, causing the lackey to groan in pain as he rolled weakly to the side. “Ladybug! What are you doing here?!” Alya’s camera was already pointing at Ladybug’s face.

“Ah─” Ladybug frowned. Behind them, Adrien quickly pointed to his neck. Marinette quickly started speaking in rapid French. Adrien assumed that even the most fluent French speakers in the class wouldn’t be able to understand her. After all, Adrien was French and he didn’t even know half of these abbreviations until he started attending school. “Chat Noir and I are in the area right now. We… have sufficient reason to believe that Hawkmoth is working with a number of criminals from Gotham. Now… I have to go. You know─” she gestured back to her earrings vaguely.

“Wait!” Alya called. “What about Marinette?! She was with another guy─”

“I’ve already taken care of that!” Ladybug exclaimed. “She’s coming right now! Well, bye!”

Marinette swung her yo-yo, using it to propel herself out of the room.

“Who was that?!” Dwayne demanded, staring back at Ladybug’s retreating figure in surprise. 

“Uh─” Adrien looked at his classmates nervously as Marinette hurried into the room. They all looked nervously between themselves, before simultaneously looking at Adrien and Chloé. They were probably the only people who could tell others about Ladybug without getting decapitated by the Mayor.

“That was…” Even Chloé looked unsure of how to answer. They all knew what would happen if this got out and the Justice League decided to investigate Paris.

“That was the class’s bodyguard!” Marinette exclaimed.

“Huh?”

“Sorry?”

Marinette’s smile twitched. “Right, guys?”

“Uh, yeah!”

“Totally!”

“Uh-uh,” Adrien said, looking cautiously at Marinette. “Chloé’s dad, the Mayor, hired her to keep our class safe during Friendship Week. You know how things would go if anything bad happened this week. Relations between France and America would be tense for years!”

“Who was she?” Mr Trent asked. “She looked like quite the connoisseur! Do you know if she acts?”

Adrien tried not to smirk at that, he really, really tried. Marinette didn’t even look at Adrien, she just elbowed him in the gut.

“She’s a cage wrestler,” Marinette explained. See, now would be a good time for Lila to start lying and helping them out , but she seemed content to sob dramatically and shake sporadically in Alya’s arms. “Best there is. Highly respected. But if you’re not from Paris, you wouldn’t know about it. It’s a bit underground, you see!”

Damian Wayne looked at them sceptically, pocketing his phone and crossing his arms. Adrien could clearly see that the kid didn’t believe them.

“Well, we should probably tie these guys up properly,” Marinette said, clapping her hands loudly. Mr Trent took out a packet of zip-ties, and Adrien did not want to know why he just had them on hand, but they were convenient so he let it slide. Adrien may have used six zip-ties for each of the clown’s limbs, but Adrien had heard stories about how much of an escape artist the Joker was, so he was merely being thorough.

And if, upon waking up from his unexpected nap, the Joker complained about how tight they were, and if Adrien were to suddenly become unable to hear, then that was entirely not his fault.

‘This is the third brother that I’ve met since going on this fucking trip,’ Marinette thought as Dick Grayson sat across from her, handing her a steaming paper cup of coffee. All of the students were being interviewed individually, and all of the American students were being picked up first. Marinette had seen Bruce Wayne with his son, but she wasn’t going to think about how they were in the same fucking building.

“It’s Marinette, right?” Grayson asked, smiling down at her. “I’m Richard, but everyone calls me Dick. Richard’s a bit stuffy, you know?”

“Nobody’s hurt, right?” Marinette asked. “After I got back, I wasn’t able to do a proper check because we had to tie up the Joker and his lackeys, but─”

“Everybody’s fine,” Dick assured her. “One of your classmates, Lila, I think, had to be taken to your hotel early because she was panicking so much, but other than that, everybody’s fine.” Marinette almost rolled her eyes, but she also knew how that would look, so she merely nodded. Marinette might have believed that Lila was actually scared, if not for the small smirk she’d sent Marinette as she was given a free ride in one of the police cars. “Now, I have a few questions about today. Are you up for them?”

“Yeah, I’m up for it,” Marinette said. She looked down at the cup of coffee on the school desk. It was a strange shade of brown. Very dark. Marinette preferred the sweeter kind. She couldn’t handle any bitter drinks. It probably came with growing up in a bakery.

“Alright. I understand that you jumped in to rescue one of the girls from your class, Chloé Bourgeois?”

“Yeah, I um… Chloé’s… not the nicest person, you know? She has a knack for causing problems, but she’s not a bad person, at heart. She didn’t deserve to get picked out by the Joker like that.”

“Why do you suspect that she was picked specifically?”

“She’s the Mayor of Paris’s daughter,” Marinette shrugged. “If she was killed by an American supervillain, or if she planted that C4 around the school, then this whole ‘Friendship Week’ thing would be ruined, you know?”

“And is that why you risked your life to save her?” Dick asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No. I just… reacted, I guess.”

“I see,” Dick nodded, writing something down on a notepad. “And this… ‘bodyguard’ of your class, uh… ‘Ladybug’... she saved you from Mr. Oliver Akton, yes?” Marinette assumed this was the name of the lackey who she’d kicked in the place where the sun doesn’t shine.

“Uh, yeah,” Marinette bit her lip. “When he wasn’t paying attention, I opened my phone and asked for her help.”

“Really? And could I have this contact information?”

“Why do you need it?” She asked suspiciously.

Dick shrugged. “We need to cover all of our bases. After all, it’s not everyday that a French pro wrestler takes down the Joker with a yo-yo.”

“Ahh…” Marinette frowned. “Well, you see… we don’t know who she is.”

He sighed, jotting something down onto his notepad. Marinette wondered if he was actually writing, or if he was just scribbling. “We gathered that much. A bit strange, no? That the Mayor hired a random pro wrestler to protect his daughter and her class without knowing her identity?” Marinette assumed that was rhetorical. “But you’re the first person to admit to having her contact information. That could really help us, Marinette.”

“I would… love to help you, really, I would, but… uh…”

Dick smiled at her. “But you can’t for a completely sound reason that you also can’t tell me because none of you are telling me the truth?”

“What?” Marinette’s eyes widened. “N-no. We’re telling the truth! Ladybug is a bodyguard.”

“Then why isn’t she guarding you?” Dick asked. He put down the pen, clasping his hands. “But you don’t need to worry, Marinette. Gordon’s not going to pursue this any further than the routine questions, so this is the last I’ll ask about it.” ‘‘Gordon’s not’. Notice how he doesn’t say ‘I’m not’?’

“Right.” Marinette bit her lip. “Is there anything else?”

“No, no, you’re fine,” Dick smiled again. His teeth were really blinding. “That’s it for the interview, then. Do you want me to contact anyone? Your parents?” Dick looked down at a tablet in his hands. “Let’s see, Marinette Cheng… Césaire… Couffaine… ah, Cheng! Yeah, your mother and step-father’s emergency contact information is he─…” Marinette cringed. She knew exactly what Dick was looking at. Well, not exactly. Marinette knew that her birth certificate was on file, which Bruce’s name was on, but she also knew that Dick probably met her mother. He would’ve been ten at the time of her Maman’s… tryst with Mr. Wayne, so it wasn’t completely farfetched to say that they might’ve met. “You’re… Sabine Cheng’s daughter?” Dick asked.

“Uh, you know…” Marinette cringed. “I just remembered… I have something to do… over there… now… are we done with the interview? Yes? Good! See you!” Marinette sprinted from the classroom before Dick could get another word in edgewise.

As Marinette was running, she couldn’t help but think, ‘Shit, shit, shit, shit!’ Of all the people… it had to be somebody who more than likely knew… who could put two plus two together… oh shit… she was so fucked.

Marinette slowed down upon entering the next room because she could hear voices, and she didn’t want to draw any more attention to herself. And it was definitely a good thing that she slowed down, because guess who was in the hall she entered? None other than Bruce Wayne. And who was he talking to? Well, Mlle. Bustier, of course! And Mlle. Bustier was waving her over.

“Is something wrong, Mlle. Bustier?” Marinette asked, cringing internally. She ignored Damian’s suspicious gaze and Mr. Wayne’s curious ones.

“No, Marinette, nothing’s wrong,” Mlle. Bustier said, placing her hands on Marinette’s shoulders. “I just wanted to introduce you to Mr. Wayne. Marinette, this is Mr. Wayne. Mr. Wayne, this is Marinette. She’s our Class Representative, and the reason that nobody got hurt today.”

Marinette frowned at that. Both Alya and Adrien had helped Ladybug to take down the Joker and his lackeys.

“Ah, Damian was telling me about you, Marinette,” Mr. Wayne smiled kindly at her. Marinette couldn’t help but notice a fading scar under his ear. “He said that you found something strange about The Riddler’s outfit?”

“Uh, yes,” Marinette cursed internally. She did not want to have this conversation. She looked back at her teacher. “You know, Mlle. Bustier, I should really go back to the rest of the class─”

“Nonsense, Marinette,” her teacher smiled tightly. “Mr. Wayne has offered to give us a complimentary tour of the new Wayne Laboratories Building for tomorrow. Isn’t that wonderful? He’d even be leading it, he says! And he’s offered to upgrade our hotel’s security after what happened today!”

“Y-yeah, that’s great,” Marinette smiled tightly. “But you know, I don’t think─”

She cut herself off as Dick Grayson approached them. 

‘I’d rather give my Miraculous to Hawkmoth than deal with this.’

“Marinette,” Dick said. “We didn’t finish our interview.”

“I think that we were quite finished,” Marinette said, nodding fervently. ‘Oh God, oh fuck!’ 

“Grayson,” Damian nodded beside them.

“Is something wrong, Dick?” Mr. Wayne asked. Marinette quickly twisted out of Mlle. Bustier’s grip, ready to bolt if it was necessary.

“Nothing’s wrong, per se. But I do need to continue the interview with Miss─” 

“We covered all of the questions,” Marinette said, looking at Dick warningly. “I don’t think there’s anything left to talk about, do you, Mr. Grayson?”

“Ye─”

“No? Good. I need to go and water my cat. Yeah! Bye!” She hurried away to the other side of the hall where Adrien, Alya and Nino were standing. “Kill me,” she said, upon arriving.

“What?” Alya asked. “Girl, you were just talking with the Bruce Wayne─”

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell you why that’s bad when we get back to the hotel tonight, so please don’t make any other plans because I’m most likely going to have a panic attack.”

Adrien tensed. “What is it? Did they─”

“Dick Grayson knows.”

“He knows?” Adrien repeated. “Did you─did you tell him?”

“No! He saw my file and he knew! And he knows that I know that he knows!”

Nino looked between all of them. “Why do I get the feeling that we do not know anything?” He gestured between himself and Alya.

“Because you don’t,” Adrien supplied.

“What?” Alya asked. “Girl, you told Adrien some big bad secret before me? I’m hurt.”

“That’s nice,” Marinette said, looking warily at Dick Grayson, who was weaving through the crowd. “I’m going to hide in the bus.”

She ran from the room without letting them say anything else. Marinette was well aware of all the eyes on her back.

“God, I am so fucked,” she said upon exiting the academy.

Chapter Text

“Does anybody know why Ladybug showed up?” Alix asked when they got back to the hotel and congregated together.

“She said they think that Hawk Moth is working with some supervillains over here,” Alya shrugged. God, Marinette was so glad that Lila was in her room for ‘recovery’

“Why?” Kim asked. “I mean, do they even know about Hawk Moth?”

“If Ladybug showed up, then yeah,” Alix shrugged.

“That’s not what I’m concerned with,” Nino said, turning to Alya and Adrien. “So, I know that like, half of us have used a Miraculous at some point, so I know that’s where you learned to fight, because that’s how I did, but Adrien, bro, how the fuck did you take out that guy? He was like… seven feet tall!”

“Yeah, what the fuck, bro?” Kim asked, slapping Adrien’s back good naturedly.

Adrien grinned. “I don’t only fence, you know.”

“Yeah, you also fight Akumas in your spare time,” Marinette muttered.

“Hush, so do you,” Adrien whispered back.

“They are so cute together,” Mylène said. Ivan smiled down at her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

“I can hear you,” Marinette pointed out. Mylène only giggled.

Alix rolled her eyes. “Marinette, we’ve been trying to get you two together for years now. You owe us an explanation on how this happened.”

Adrien grinned. “‘Years’ now?”

Marinette stared into his eyes. “Do you want me to pull out all of the dirt I have on you?” Adrien paled as Marinette looked back at them. “There was this one time that─”

“And I think that it’s time that you head to bed,” Adrien said, pulling Marinette up with him. “Alya, Nino, come on. We still need to talk.”

“Ugh.” Marinette’s groan caused the class to laugh loudly as she was pulled away by her boyfriend.

“Girl, WHAT?!”  

Marinette winced as Alya shouted. Adrien rubbed his temple and Nino stared at Marinette in shock, completely unfazed by Alya’s exclamations.

“You’re Bruce Wayne’s─” Marinette’s hand covered Alya’s mouth. Noises came from it, but none of them were understandable.

“Yes,” Marinette hissed, retracting her hand as Alya gaped openly. 

“But that means your mom and Bruce Wayne─” and suddenly the hand was back.

“Yes.”

“Oh, shit.” 

Nino looked between them. “So, Dick Grayson knows, but your dad doesn’t?”

“Don't call him that." Marinette said sharply. She hesitated. "Sorry. Mr. Grayson might’ve told him,” Marinette bit her lip. “But, yeah. I guess.”

“God, this trip is really out for you,” Alya cackled. “I swear, next thing we know, you’re going to end up related to the Queen of England, or something.”

Adrien looked up from his phone. “Actually, the Wayne Butler is a distant cousin of theirs."

Marinette exhaled loudly. “I’m going for a walk.”

“You do remember what happened the last time that you ‘went for a walk’, alone, in Gotham right?” Adrien said, catching her hands in his own grip.

“I do,” Marinette said, staring back at him coolly. “I just… need air before tomorrow. And to think. And you know that I can take care of myself.”

“I do,” Adrien agreed. “I just worry about you, Princess.”

“I worry about you, too, Kitty,” Marinette smiled, kissing him quickly. “But I also trust you to beat the shit out of anyone who tries to hurt you. So you should trust me, too."

Adrien grinned. “You really know how to guilt-trip a guy, Mari.”

“I ship it,” Alya stage whispered in a raspy, sarcastic tone. Marinette laughed as she left, grabbing her coat on the way.

Going for a walk at night would help. It’d calm her down. She needed to calm down. Walking would help her think. It was best to do it outside, rather than in the hotel room, with Alya staring at her as she paced.

Marinette had just passed by an alleyway when she heard a scream from down another.

‘Well,’ she considered her options. ‘Since they already know I’m in Gotham…’

Marinette quickly transformed, and she was glad she did, too, when she saw what was in the alleyway. There must’ve been fifteen guys, surrounding a familiar redheaded woman.

“Mlle. Bustier…?” Marinette stared at the group below her. 

Mlle. Bustier was backing away from a man in purple and green, his henchmen flanking out as he swung a purple sword from side to side, speaking in a superficial tone. Marinette caught sight of the green skin and instantly put two and two together. Not only was the Riddler akumatized, but he also had a Miraculous.

“I─I don’t understand! We had a deal!” 

“Yes, we did,” The Riddler said. “That I wouldn’t harm your students if you brought me a certain Freeze Gun in Wayne Enterprises. Now, two things. First of all, I didn’t harm your students. Second, you haven’t brought me that Freeze Gun.”

“T-that’s because it wasn’t there. I-it’s in Wayne Laboratories. I-I should have it for you by tomorrow.”

“I’m impatient,” was the Riddler’s only reply as he held up his necklace. “A little butterfly gifted me with this. And, I think that you could do with a lack of inhibitions. See, all I have to do is say lib─”

Marinette’s yo-yo wrapped around Mlle. Bustier’s wrist, yanking her away. “Sorry, I don’t think she consented to having her free will taken away.”

The Riddler’s head snapped up. Ladybug frowned at the sharp smirk on his face. “Riddle me this: why does the little red and black bug think that she could stand against me?” Marinette’s eyes narrowed on the sword which swung in a slow, circular ark now. “And you think so little of me, Bug, my intention was to liberate this lovely young woman. She’d have the power to do whatever she wanted!”

“I’m sure,” Marinette rolled her eyes. “Are we getting to the part where we fight, now?”

“But Bug!” The Riddler’s eyes gleamed sharply as he drew back, his henchmen slowly disappearing into darkness. “We haven’t even gotten to the grand finale yet.”

She watched as they disappeared warily. When she was sure they were gone, Ladybug picked up her teacher, swinging them onto the roof of the Kane Hotel.

“Would you care to explain why you’re working with the Riddler?”

“I─” Mlle. Bustier flinched, sinking against a half-wall. “He t-threatened my students, Ladybug! I couldn’t say no! And now he’s going to hurt them!” Mlle. Bustier flinched. “The villains here… they’re different. They want to hurt people. Hawk Moth only wants your Miraculous, and everyone else is collateral. These… people… they like it. The pain and suffering. They enjoy hurting others. I could not let them near my class!”

“It’s okay,” Ladybug rubbed Mlle. Bustier’s shoulder comfortingly. “It’s okay. Chat and I will take care of the Riddler. You don’t need to worry. And we’ll protect your students. Don’t worry.”

“Really?” Tears streaked down Mlle. Bustier’s face. “You’d really make sure they stay safe?”

“Yes, we would,” Marinette nodded.

Mlle. Bustier closed her eyes. “Thank you, Ladybug.”

They sat in silence for a long time afterwards, until Mlle. Bustier eventually stood, smiling back at Ladybug.

“Thank you, truly.”

“It’s no problem,” Marinette said, smiling back at her. “Seriously, Mlle. Bustier. No bother, at all. You can always come to me if something is wrong.”

Mlle. Bustier approached the door, leaving Ladybug with only a smile and the thought, “Thank you, Marinette.”

Ladybug swung down from the Kane Hotel, continuing her walk after she transformed with new thoughts in her head.

When she walked past a certain alleyway, Marinette jumped when she heard a voice coming from behind her. “I thought you’d have learned your lesson about being out at night after the last time we met.”

She looked up at Red Hood. He leaned against a neon green sign, hands in his pockets and trench coat billowing behind him softly in the wind.

Marinette crossed her arms, looking back at the vigilante blankly. “What do you know about the Riddler?” she found herself asking.

“Nigma?” Red Hood asked in surprise. “Just another crazy bastard who doesn’t know when to shut up. Why?”

“Uh… school project,” Marinette excused. Hood didn’t look entirely convinced.  

“Uh-uh,” the vigilante said. “Well, I’ve been sent by the old Bat to watch over your class, so I’ll have to escort you back.”

Marinette didn’t think that was the only reason. “And you want to know about Ladybug.”

“Nope,” Hood said, surprising her. “Well, Batman does, so I’ve decided that I’m not going to ask you anything about her.” Hood paused, a hand lifting to his ear. He laughed after a minute of silence, removing something from inside his ear. Marinette couldn’t tell what it was in the dark. “Forgot to turn off my comm. Oracle heard all of what just happened. She’ll be reporting that back to Batman.” Hood said. Marinette could already tell that he was grinning underneath his red cowl.

“How many people are on your team?” she asked curiously.

“I’m not a part of Batman’s team,” Hood’s posture was tense. “I work with them, sometimes.”

“And babysit French teenagers for them,” Marinette raised an eyebrow.

“Just the ones who wander around in alleyways after dark.”

“What’s life without a little potential danger?”

“Potentially non-existent,” Hood said. 

Marinette snorted, holding onto her purse as she turned. “I can make it back by myself, Mr. Hood. Thanks for the conversation, though. It distracted me.” Marinette could feel narrowed eyes on her back as she walked away.

Marinette got the feeling that this wouldn’t be her last encounter with the vigilante.

“Shit,” Jason muttered softly. “I see it.”

“Told you,” his brother called, emerging from the shadows. “That is definitely something he would do.”

“You’re sure?” Jason asked, frowning at Dick’s police uniform. He quickly removed his cowl, and the domino mask he wore under that. Hey, you could never be too safe . “You’re certain that she’s his kid?”

“It’s on her birth certificate,” Dick said. “I knew her mother, Sabine. Seventeen years ago. She and Bruce dated for a couple of months. She was one of Bruce’s girlfriends that I didn’t terrorise.” That meant this woman, Sabine, must’ve been an angel of some sort, because Dick held a special place in his heart for all of the women Bruce Wayne decided to court. But still. A second secret love child? Or would Marinette be described as the first love child? She was older than Damian, after all.

“Then why’d they break up?” After all, why would any woman break up with Bruce Wayne, other than his evil children?

“Something to do with Two-Face. Although, I’m starting to suspect that maybe she found out she was pregnant, so she ran away without telling Bruce.” 

Jason rested a hand on one of his guns. “Are you going to tell B?”

Dick stared into the distance, sighing loudly and dramatically. “I don’t know. I’d love to ask ‘since when did we have another sister’, but I don’t want to do that to the poor kid without at least having a conversation with her. You should’ve seen her escape attempts today once she realised that I knew. Seems like she’d plow through Bane just to escape that conversation.”

“To be fair, I’d let the Joker kill me for a second time if I were in her shoes.” Dick elbowed him. Jason turned his face away, hiding a smirk. Nobody appreciated his death jokes. Well, Demon Spawn cracked his own, but he didn’t have a sense of humour, so it didn't count for much. “The trip is two weeks long, right? And they’re only on their third day. If she doesn’t tell Bruce by next week, then you can do it. Fair?”

“Yeah,” Dick ran a hand through his hair. “I looked into their schedule. They have a tour group tomorrow with Bruce. It’s complementary, I think. After the whole Joker fiasco. As well as that, they have three other days where they’ll be at Wayne Enterprises, not just that initial tour that Tim chaperoned for about… twenty minutes.”

“Tim met her?” Jason asked. 

“Yeah, he mentioned it during our meeting earlier. You know, the one you didn’t bother to show up to. Apparently, she noticed something was up with the Riddler’s clothes. From what I’ve gathered, she’s absolutely shit at lying.”

“Must come from her mother’s side of the family,” Jason muttered quietly. “Oh, tell Babs and Tim.”

“Why─oh yeah. Shit.” There was no way either one of them hadn’t looked into the girl after hearing about her suspicious behaviour from Damian. They needed to cover all of their bases. “Hey, uh, could you, um… tell Babs. For me. Please?”

Jason stared at his brother in complete and utter fascination. “You broke up again?”

“We didn’t break up!” Dick exclaimed. “I just… cannot interact with her right now without spontaneous combustion.”

He sighed. “Dickybird, if you’re going to propose to your girlfriend, then I suggest you talk to her, before she hacks your computer and finds out that you’ve been looking at engagement rings. Also, tell Gordon. Otherwise he’ll probably kill you.”

“If I ask Gordon for permission, she’ll kill me.”

“...Fair point.”

“I don’t think either of you have realised that you left your comms on,” a new voice rang out from their ears.

Jason couldn’t hold in his laughs as Dick uselessly babbled and attempted to explain what she’d overheard.

Well, at least Bruce hadn’t been on. He wouldn’t hesitate to ground them both.

And sure, Jason’s an adult and doesn’t actually talk with Bruce anymore, but he would find a way to do it. 

After all, it was Bruce. 

“Why is my fencing teacher here?” Adrien asked the next morning. 

“Originally it was Damocles, but he broke his leg the day before the trip, so they had to get a replacement, but they couldn’t get somebody in time, so they only just sent D’Argencourt down,” Marinette said as she tied her shoelaces. She got the feeling that she’d be running around (away) a lot.

“So this doesn’t have anything to do with a certain supervillain that attacked us yesterday?” Alya asked, resting her elbow on Marinette’s shoulder.

“I don’t know,” Marinette shrugged as Mlle. Bustier called for the class to gather around the two teachers.

“Alright, since Mr. Wayne has offered to give us a tour of the new Wayne Laboratory Building, I’m going to chaperone half of you for the first two hours, and Mssr. D’Argencourt is going to take the other half on the tour, and we’ll switch after that. We’ve decided to take you to a ‘mall’, as the American’s call it, for some free time when the other half is on the tour. Now, Mssr. D’Argencourt is going to call out for his half of the class, and I’ll take the rest of you to the bus.”

Shit. So there was no way to get out of this, at all. Marinette was hoping that one half of the class would miss the entire tour and that she could somehow sneak her way onto that side of the tour.

Marinette was put into Group B, Mlle. Bustier’s group, which meant that she was going to be stressing for two whole hours about the tour. Oh, this was going to be horrible. And she wasn’t even in Adrien’s group!

“Chin up, girl,” Alya said, putting her arm around Marinette’s shoulders. “You may not have Adrien in your group, but you’ll still have Lila and I!”

“Right, because that’s so─Alya.” Marinette looked at her friend seriously. “You cannot, under any circumstances, tell Lila what I told you last night. I know I told you to keep it quiet last night, and I know you understand that, but she cannot know. At all.”

Alya frowned. “What? You don’t want her to know that you’re her future Sister-In-Law?”

“I─” Marinette sighed. “How… how old do you think Damian Wayne is? Remember, we saw him yesterday.”

Alya visibly hesitated. “W-well, he looks quite young─”

“He’s twelve, Alya,” Marinette said. “Twelve years old. And yesterday she said that her Aunt was Martha Wayne’s cousin. You know what her lie implied? Incest. And that’s fucking nasty, Alya.”

“Her lie?” Alya repeated. “Marinette, we’ve been over this. Lila’s not a─”

“Alya, what reason would I have to be jealous over Lila?” Marinette asked. “To be completely convinced that she’s a liar? Even Adrien knows it.”

“I─I don’t─” Alya shook her head. “L-let’s talk about this later, Marinette. We need to keep your mind off of your family, so─shit, sorry!”

How ironic was it that Lila Rossi was the only person that could get Marinette’s mind off of her fucked up situation? And that was only because Marinette hated that she could tell any lie and get away with it. Marinette hated seeing her friends getting manipulated, so Lila really pissed her off. So much so that she had momentarily forgotten about how she was Bruce Wayne’s daughter, and that she was going to be seeing him in about two and a half hours?

“It’s fine, Alya,” Marinette said, casting a cursory glance around the bus. She could see Lila, Chloé, Max, Nathaniel and Alix were also in the group. They had the smaller group, as D’Argencourt’s group had eight students instead. Well, hey, at least none of Lila’s die-hards were on the bus. Not including Alya, of course. Alix was too distracted by looking through Nathaniel’s sketchbook to pay Lila the attention she required, so Lila was currently ranting to Max about this one time that she’d created a device which could cure blindness, but it was still in development so it wouldn’t be released for another six years. Looking back at her companion, Marinette was surprised at the thoughtful look on Alya’s face. “So, where are we going first?”

“In the shopping centre? I was hoping to check out any fabric shops, but I still need to get souvenirs for Maman and Papa, too.”

“Oh, same,” Alya nodded. “Nora asked me to get her some new boxing gloves from here. She said the good kind is expensive, so she gave me the money for it.”

“What’s weird about America is that they don’t add tax to the labels on the price,” Marinette said. “You have to wonder, do they carry around a calculator or something so they don’t give too much or too little?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they just do the maths in their head. Or guess. But that has got to be the most awkward feeling ever.”

Marinette snorted. “You know that feeling when you have to dig around in your purse to get the money out after they’ve given you the total? That’s the most awkward feeling ever, because you know there are people around and they’re silently judging you.”

“Oh, stop, I have PTSD,” Alya slapped Marinette’s arm lightly. “Anyway, what I want to know is how you and Adrien started dating! You still haven’t told me!”

She grinned. “Well─”

“Oh, Alya!” Lila exclaimed from behind them. “Come over here! I need to show you something!”

“I…” Alya hesitated. She frowned at Lila. “Can it wait? Marinette was in the middle of telling me something.”

“Oh.” Lila deflated visibly. “I─I see. If you’d rather be with her, you could’ve just said so.” Lila turned back, returning to her seat with her head hung. Marinette didn’t miss the evil eye Lila sent her way. Max immediately noticed that something was wrong with Lila, rushing to her aid in seconds.

Alya grimaced. “Lila─”

“Huh. We’ve gotten to twenty-three,” Marinette said, pulling out her phone and texting just that number to Adrien.

“Twenty-three?”

“The amount of times Lila has pulled you away from me for something ‘important’. I mean, if twice is a coincidence, what’s this?”

“Twenty-three times…” Alya stared blankly ahead. “Oh.”

Marinette suspected that Alya would be lost in her own head for a while. Well, in the name of Lila’s lies being exposed, she wouldn’t mind. After all, Marinette hated her friends being lied to about how Lila had saved Jagged’s cat, how she knew Clara Nightingale, about how she knew Prince Ali, about how she was dating Dami─fuck.

And just when Marinette was distracted, too.

Two hours passed much too quickly for Marinette’s liking. One minute she was browsing these purple salt lamps, and the next she was outside of the new Wayne Enterprise Laboratory Building. Marinette had to admit, the building was impressive. It was covered in bluish glass windows. It was long, but not tall. If she had to guess, it was probably three stories. Their class was scattered outside of the building as Mlle. Bustier conversed with a receptionist inside.

“Wow,” Alya said, pointing her phone in the direction of the building. “Are you guys seeing this? It’s huge! I mean, I knew it was gonna be big, but…” Alya whistled slowly, ending the video as she turned to Marinette. Alya had been recording snippets of their trip, planning to piece them together for her blog when they got back. “Theoretically…”

“Alya, if you make one joke about my father or something I will pulverise you.”

Alya held up her hands in surrender. “I was just going to ask if you’d be the one to inherit it, being the older biological child, and all.” She paused, looking over at Marinette’s shoulder and freezing suddenly. Alya shook her hands frantically, but Marinette was still looking at the building.

“I’m not going to inherit anything. He’s not my Dad, Alya. I mean, sure, he fathered me, but it’s not… it’s complicated.” Marinette and Adrien had discussed this the other night. If Bruce were to find out he had another kid, he might fight for custody of Marinette, or at least insist that she spend time with him in America, and Marinette couldn’t risk it. Things would get too complicated if Marinette was forced back to Paris because of an Akuma attack. At least for this school trip, they could claim to be making out in a closet or something whenever they disappeared. But Marinette suspected that she’d be under close watch twenty-four-seven if she revealed the truth.

Maybe when they defeated Hawk Moth.

“And here I thought I had gained a new baby sister.” Marinette jumped at the new voice, spinning around to see the one and only Dick Grayson.

“I─ah─uh─” Marinette failed to articulate as Dick Grayson laughed. 

“I don’t know how I didn’t see it, kid. I mean, you have all the features. Black hair and blue eyes. Kind of a broad subject, but B stays consistent.”

“Um─well, you see, uh─I don’t, um─”

“You alright, little sis?,” a mocking voice called out from behind her. “You look a little overwhelmed.”

“W-well─I─er─don’t─um─know?”

Alya stepped forwards.“I’m gonna have to ask you to stop breaking my best friend. She’s delicate.”

Marinette elbowed her, breathing in deeply. “Did you… did you tell him?”

“My brothers and I have decided to give you the honour of doing that,” Dick said, leaning against a pillar. Marinette was seventy-two percent certain that the pillar was worth at least three hundred million. It was shiny. 

“I’d… I’d rather not.”

Alya frowned. “Girl, why not? He’s Bruce Fucking Wayne!”

“Actually his middle name is Thomas,” Dick interjected. 

Marinette shifted uncomfortably. “Don’t we have a tour to get to?”

Dick examined her with narrowed eyes. After ten seconds, Alya made up a random excuse, probably sensing that Dick was about to give some sagely life advice and that it wasn’t her place to be present.

As Dick opened his mouth, Marinette found herself tensing apprehensively.

“What’s the worst thing that could happen?”

“Sorry?” Marinette asked. ‘What’s the worst thing that could happen? Oh, I don’t know. Hawk Moth could attack Paris while I’m away and take Adrien’s Miraculous and I wouldn’t be able to do anything because I wouldn’t be able to escape from playing house with the Waynes?’ But as Marinette thought that, something else crept into her mind. ‘And that’s if he doesn't turn me away.’

“Think on that,” Dick said, slinging a bag over his shoulder and walking off. It took all of Marinette’s control not to shout, ‘that didn’t help at all, Dick!’ But instead, she had to focus her attention on Alya’s swinging from left to right erratically. Mlle. Bustier had left the building, and a familiar man was standing at her side. 

“I see we’re all here,” Mr. Wayne said, frowning at Marinette. She tensed, but tried to remain as calm as possible. Maybe he was still thinking about her running away from Dick yesterday. There was no way he knew. After all, Dick himself had said that he hadn’t told, so… he must’ve been telling the truth, right?

Marinette was going to hope for the best and try to remain as far away from Mr. Wayne as possible.

“Before we start,” said Mr. Wayne, turning to Mlle. Bustier. “I must apologise for missing the first tour. Something came up, so I had to send an intern to lead them around the facility.” Yeah right. There was no way this was a coincidence. Mr. Wayne knew. He fucking knew. Marinette was so dead. There was no coming back from this. Why else would he show up to this tour, but not the other? But if Bruce knew, why didn’t Dick say anything? To make her suffer for not telling anyone?

No, that didn’t make sense.

Why was Bruce Wayne on her tour, and not Mssr. D'Argencourt, if he didn’t know about certain familial ties?

Really, what other reason would the Bruce Wayne show up at Marinette’s tour, no, invite Marinette’s class on a tour, if he didn’t have a hidden agenda? It had to be something really important, or else─

Oh, God.

Oh, fuck.

There had to be an ulterior motive, and Marinette thought she knew what it was. 

This was about the Riddler’s costume.

She should’ve known something was up when she saw those strange files that Damian had. She should’ve thought, ‘hey, maybe I should keep my mouth shut,’, but she didn’t, and now Bruce Wayne wanted to know what she knew.

But why?

Why was that even important? Seriously, what would some random CEO want with her thoughts on a supervillains’ terrible fashion sense? They all had ugly costumes! This was horrible.

But that was all wishful thinking. Because Bruce Wayne definitely knew that he was her father.

‘Is giving my Miraculous to Hawk Moth an alternative option here?’

“Girl, you okay?” Alya whispered, her hand landing on Marinette’s rigid left shoulder blade. Marinette sent her a shaky smile and a thumbs up, feeling that if she were to open her mouth right now, any sounds that came out would be several octaves too high.

“I’m just going to lead you around the first few floors,” Mr. Wayne said as they passed several doors on their way inside, before finally stopping outside of a room with a large glass fish tank. The container was empty and could probably house Aquaman. The glass was quadruple-paned and if Marinette had to guess, probably bulletproof. She wondered why there was so much security for a random fish tank. 

“Where are all the fish?” Alix asked, peering into the tank.

“We have a shipment of all sorts of rare and exotic breeds coming in next week,” Mr. Wayne said flippantly. “This building is still new, so a few key things are still missing.”

But Marinette was curious as to why there were four, almost concealed lasers on the edges of the inside of the fish tank. A bit much for some ‘rare and exotic breeds’ of fish, no?

“Oh, cool,” Alix said.

Except, it seemed that a few key things being missing was a common thing. In more than one empty room, Marinette could practically feel her Miraculouses powers waning. It seemed that the rooms were reinforced against superhumans, yet each of these rooms were bland and empty, with a reinforced, glass wall separating it in half.

It was almost like a prison cell.

Mr. Wayne didn’t let them into these rooms, however. He said they were ‘boring’ and ‘mundane’, yet as they passed one particular room with a steel door and another wall of glass, Marinette couldn’t quell her panic as she felt her connection to Tikki cut off suddenly. Marinette slipped a hand into her purse, just to make sure that Tikki hadn’t disappeared, and another crept up to check on her earrings. 

...Why did Mr. Wayne have rooms that could probably hold each member of the Justice League captive?

Marinette received no answer, but she did sigh loudly in relief when they got away from that room. She could feel Tikki again, and not just physically. 

They stopped inside a room with a large microscope, a lot of books and a white table in the centre. People milled about, experimenting and all the likes.

Mr. Wayne told them to split off into two groups, so that the scientists working in the lab would have a better job showing them a few cool things.

Marinette was in the bigger group. Somehow, she ended up with Chloé, Lila and Alya as her partners.

“Run me through with a chainsaw, please,” Marinette whispered under her breath.

Oh, this was beyond corrosive.

It was… appalling.

As Mr. Wayne chatted amiably with Mlle. Bustier in the corner, Lila told the woman who was showing them a prototype for a new Wayne Enterprises phone model that she was actually related to Albert Einstein through his cousin, so she knew more about what was being said than the actual scientist present. Chloé started whining about her clothes and her hair and her manicure and the temperature and the ugly decor and the cheap materials and basically everything that existed in the laboratory. Marinette suspected that Chloé was afraid that neither Adrien nor Sabrina were present, so this was a defense mechanism, of some kind. Meanwhile, Alya was asking question after question after question. 

The poor woman didn’t even get the chance to answer.

Marinette needed a break, so she made a quick excuse about needing to use the bathroom and scurried outside.

And here’s the problem; Marinette didn’t know where the bathrooms were. Mr. Wayne hadn’t pointed them out and nobody asked.

Perhaps she could investigate those weird rooms─

“Let me guess, you don’t know where you’re going?” Marinette must’ve jumped a mile into the air as Mr. Wayne chuckled lightly at her reaction.

‘I’d sooner jump off the Eiffel Tower.’ Marinette stared up at Bruce Wayne with wide eyes. ‘I’m so dead. Gone. Deceased. You may as well bury me under a pile of dry cement and leave me for the rats.’

“Well, it’s a big place,” Marinette shrugged helplessly. ‘There is no crueler fate than the one I’m about to be subjected to.’ 

“I apologise if I scared you,” Mr. Wayne said. “I’ve been told that I need to stop being so sneaky.”

“Oh, really?” Marinette asked faintly. ‘This is worse than Stoneheart. No, the Sentimonsters. No, Mayura. No, Hawk Moth. No, Heroes Day. No, Miracle Queen. This is just… really bad.’ “That’s cool. So, umm… bathroom?”

“I’ll walk with you,” Mr. Wayne said. ‘No, thank you, Mr. Wayne. Please, just point me in the direction and I’ll deal with any repercussions if I get lost. You don’t have to worry about little ol’ me.’ Oh, how Marinette wanted to refute him. How easy it would be. But even as Marinette thought about that, she knew that she couldn’t. You can’t say no to a billionaire. 

(Audrey Bourgeois does not count.)

But even as Marinette nodded meekly, she knew for a fact that every excuse she fed herself was utter bullshit.

“The bathrooms are on the floor below us,” Mr. Wayne said as they moved. “We’re still doing maintenance, so we haven’t gotten to fixing up the lavatories here.”

Marinette’s eyes narrowed. “If that’s the case, then why’d you offer us a tour of this place?”

Mr. Wayne regarded her emotionlessly. “Sorry?”

“Why would you, Bruce Wayne, billionaire, philanthropist and all of those other titles you have, invite a random French class on a tour of their new, unfinished lab? I mean, you hardly offer tours to everybody who’s affected by the Joker.” So Marinette may have been a bit over-aggressive, but in her defense, she was way too suspicious of all of this.

This facility seemed more like a prison than a science lab. And another thing, something Mlle. Bustier had said it'd been bugging her for a while. Mr. Freeze’s gun, it was here. In Wayne Laboratories. A place that could definitely hold any meta-human or alien that was too dangerous. But why would the Waynes get some supervillain’s weapon? Why wasn’t it locked away in some underground government facility?

It was all too suspicious, and Marinette was beginning to suspect that Mr. Wayne’s presence actually had nothing to do with her, after all.

Mr. Wayne frowned down at Marinette. She shuddered under his imperious stare, but didn’t say anything. “My son Damian tells me that you were quite moved by the Riddler’s costume yesterday.” ‘Subtle.’

She rolled her eyes as she looked away from him. “The colours clashed and there was no coordination or balance between the accessories and the clothes.” Just like every outfit created by Hawk Moth, the Riddler’s clothes and his akumatized form was horrendous. Gabriel Agreste would probably jump off of a building if he saw that. “Why do you have holding cells here?” She really shouldn’t know, or ask, that, but when has Marinette ever been subtle?

Marinette felt like her very soul was being examined with the way that Mr. Wayne stared at her. “Why’d you lie to get away from your friends?”

“Why’d you answer my question with a question?”

“You just did it yourself,” Mr. Wayne grinned. The elevator dinged as they stepped outside. “Who’s Ladybug?”

“Boxer. Who’s Batman?” ‘I’ll ask about your superhero. See how you like it.’

“There’s a couple different answers. Dark Knight, World’s Greatest Detective, Caped Crusader. Personally, my favourite is ‘Flying Rodent’. Why did you run away from my son when he was interviewing you yesterday?”

“I was dealing with the stress of meeting a deranged sociopath. Why was your other son looking at military-level files on the Riddler yesterday?”

Mr. Wayne didn’t miss a beat. “Damian has a passing interest in supervillains.” They stopped in the middle of the hallway. “Here’s the bathroom. I trust you can find your way back?”

“Can you find yours?” Marinette raised an eyebrow defensively as Mr. Wayne chuckled. Marinette scurried into the bathroom, locking the door behind her and leaning against a wall.

‘Let’s not drag attention to ourselves, Marinette. Let’s not give Mr. Wayne any indication that you’re related to him, Marinette. Let’s not make him think that you have powers of any kind, Marinette. Let’s be as normal as fucking possible, Marinette.’

Marinette groaned. “Are those instructions too difficult, Marinette?” She grabbed her phone, calling the first number in it. He picked up immediately. “Adrien?”

“Yes, M’Lady?”

His voice was all she needed to calm down. “I think there’s more to my─to Mr. Wayne than we thought.”

“What made you think that?” Adrien asked. “Was it the prison cells or the fact that they cut off any connection to our Kwamis?”

She flinched. “Well, yes, but I… I think he may be a supervillain.”

“What?”

“Come on, it makes sense! Those rooms could probably hold the entire Justice League captive! He has a Freeze Gun! How would he get his hands on a thing like that, if not illegally?” 

“Marinette, I don’t think… Does he seem like a supervillain to you?”

“Nobody seems like a supervillain, Adrien,” she snapped.

“My father seems like one,” Adrien said pointedly.

“Yeah, but he’s not one so it doesn't count.”

“That’s not the point I’m trying to make, Mari.”

She scoffed, loudly. “Then please, enlighten me.”

“Are you sure this isn’t you trying to avoid the whole confrontation by claiming that he’s a supervillain?”

“Yes I’m sure!”

“M’Lady…” 

Marinette swallowed. “I’m… forty-one percent sure.”

“That’s not very sure, Princess.”

“I know, I just…” Marinette sat heavily on a toilet lid. She sighed. “Dick Grayson showed up earlier, just before we entered the lab. He told me that if I didn’t tell Mr. Wayne by next week, then he’d do it himself.”

“You’re scared.”

“No shit I’m scared!” she exclaimed, scoffing loudly.

“No, that’s not what I meant, Marinette,” Adrien said. “You’re scared that you’ll be rejected, so you’re going to try everything within your power to avoid being found out.”

“No,” Marinette said immediately.

“No?” Adrien asked. “Princess, need I remind you that it was I who you had a huge crush on? You would’ve jumped off of the Eiffel Tower to avoid confessing to me, back then.” Marinette couldn’t argue with that. “Look, Marinette, I’ll stand behind you every step of the way, but I want you to really think about this. We both know you’ll regret doing nothing.”

“I know that I’ll regret saying something, too,” Marinette snapped.

“Will you?” Adrien questioned. “I know that you’re thinking of all of the bad outcomes, but I want you to imagine what’ll happen if Wayne accepts you. You’ll get to meet a part of your family that you never knew. And I mean really meet. Not whatever dance you have going on with them right now.”

Marinette huffed out a throaty laugh, blinking rapidly. “Do you have notes out or something?”

“You know it.” She could hear the grin.

But what if… what if she told Wayne, and he didn’t care? And he told her she wasn’t valid or something stupid like that? What then?

“Stop,” Adrien said. “I can hear you thinking from across Gotham.”

“Ha.”

“Marinette, it’s okay that you’re scared, but you also have to face those fears at some point. Or else you’ll never forgive yourself.”

She frowned. “Why are you so insistent that I tell him?”

“Because I know you,” Adrien sighed. “When you left for that walk last night, I talked with Alya. We both realised that you’ll never admit to anyone that you actually want to tell him. You’re not… you’ve always been stubborn like that, Bugaboo.” Marinette swallowed. “I won’t bring it up again if you don’t want me to. In fact, I’ll find a way to wipe it from my brain if you want me to, but I really need you to think about what you want. If you don’t say anything, that’s fine. Just like it’s fine if you decide to do it.”

“Uh-uh,” Marinette uttered non-committedly. 

“I think you should call your Mom,” Adrien said.

“What?”

“She knows the most. She’s met both of you. She could probably tell you how he’ll react to another kid, and based on what I’ve heard about Damian Wayne, he won’t even bat an eye.”

“I…” Marinette sighed. “I’ll think about it. Thanks, Adrien.”

“No problem, Bug. Love you.”

“You too,” she said, hanging up quickly.

Marinette dropped her head into her open palms. “Fuck.”

She knew that it was because of fear, but that didn’t change anything. That fear was hardly unfounded. If Bruce found out, then Marinette would be forming a commitment with somebody outside of France. This trip to Gotham was different from having a father all the way in America. She’d have to visit constantly and would always have to risk her secret identity just to interact with him.

...Would it really be that bad, though?

Yes, yes, it most definitely would. Totally. Completely. And besides, Bruce Wayne was a man who was almost always being targeted by a supervillain. Did Marinette really want that for herself? Maman clearly didn’t.

After all, why else would her Maman leave Gotham when she was pregnant? Why else would she never contact Bruce Wayne and tell him?

…Why did Maman leave?

Marinette stood up. Adrien was right. She needed to call her Maman and get some answers.

Huh. Okay then. That was… not what Marinette was expecting.

She had thought that they’d broken up because of something like Maman getting kidnapped or something. That wasn’t it.

(To be fair, Harvey Dent, or Two-Face, had attacked her workplace, but that wasn’t why she’d left.)

Maman hadn’t even known she was pregnant when she’d left.

They’d broken up because of some reporter. A woman named Vicki Vale had found out about their relationship and broadcasted it everywhere she possibly could, portraying Sabine in a terrible light. Gold digger, whore, slut. Maman was called every word in the book. She couldn’t deal with all of the hate and backlash, so she and Bruce had made the mutual decision to break up.

So why hadn’t Sabine called Bruce and told him that he was a father?

Why, because she didn’t have his number, of course!

No, seriously. Upon arriving in France, Sabine’s purse had been snatched, and with it went her phone. She had no way of contacting Bruce to say, “Congrats, you’re a dad!”, so she didn’t. Marinette suspected that Sabine had still been bitter about her treatment from the American Media, so she’d unconsciously didn’t try too hard to find ways of contacting Bruce. She wouldn’t blame her Maman if that was the case.

And then Tom had walked into the call and somehow he’d known why Marinette was so worried and told her that he’d never feel angry if she wanted to have a relationship with her biological father. Marinette had no idea how he’d known─she loved him, but he could be somewhat dense when it came to less obvious emotions.

Marinette took out her phone again, sending Adrien a text saying that she was sorry for being snappish and explaining what had transpired over her phone call with her parents. Adrien sent back an assortment of emojis that Marinette couldn’t decipher, but from what she gathered, he was happy.

Marinette still had no idea of what to do, but at least now she would admit to herself that yes, she did want to have a relationship with Bruce, and that she’d been too afraid to even think about it.

She was still afraid.

But that didn’t change anything. 

Marinette was going to face her fears.

Definitely. Probably. Maybe.

…Maybe Adrien could help her face her fears.

When Marinette returned to the lab, she was surprised to find them gathered around a weapon of some kind. A long gun, probably forty-five centimetres with two big blue stripes on opposite sides lay out on the table. 

One cautious glance at Mlle. Bustier in the corner confirmed her thoughts. Mlle. Bustier stood tensely, as far away from the gun as physically possible. Her fists were clenched tightly and her jaw set grimly.

So this was the freeze gun that the Riddler wanted.

Why?

Marinette didn’t have time to dwell, because Alya was bounding towards her, grabbing her arm and dragging her towards the table. “Girl, where have you been? It’s been, like, half an hour! The tour’s gonna end soon!”

“Sorry, Alya,” Marinette smiled tersely. “Maman called. I needed to talk to her about…” Marinette looked at Mr. Wayne, who was chatting amiably with one of the scientists. Marinette didn’t miss the way he glanced at Mlle. Bustier. So that’s what he knew. “Things.”

“Uh-uh,” Alya nodded enthusiastically. “And you missed the gun! Mari, it was so cool! They froze this huge tub of milk and they let us touch it! It was so cold! Oh, this is so going on my blog!”

“Right…” ‘I didn’t miss much, then,’ Marinette glanced at the frozen vat of milk. ‘I have enough experience with ice themed villains, thanks.’ 

Alix approached them out of nowhere. Marinette looked at Alix’s companions and cursed internally. This was not innocent at all. “That’s cool and all, Alya, but Marinette, what did you and Mr. Wayne talk about?”

“Um… huh?”

“We all saw him follow you,” Alix said. “Come on, what was it?”

“Nothing, really,” Marinette shrugged. “He just gave me directions to the bathroom and we split up. I think I heard his phone ringing.”

“Really? That’s it?” Alix looked back with a snort. “I told you so, Lila.”

“It was just a joke,” Lila shrugged. “I didn’t mean any harm by it, Alix. You know I’d never seriously imply something so… deplorable.”

Oh.

Well, Marinette knew exactly what Lila had been ‘joking’ about.

Bitch.

“Well then,” Mr. Wayne said, clapping his hands together with a smile. “That’s all the time we have for today. Let me just say that it was a pleasure to have you all here and thank you for visiting Wayne Enterprises. I’ll walk you out.”

“Thank god,” Marinette whispered to Alya as they left the building. “I genuinely wanted to jump out of a window there.”

Alya was humming contentedly to herself. “Do you think ‘a weapon that defies quantum physics itself’ would be a good way to describe Mr. Freeze’s cold?”

“Maybe give a physical description, too,” Marinette advised, smiling slightly as Alya bounced with every step she took.

When they reached the bus, Mr. Wayne made another speech and thanked Mlle. Bustier. Just when Marinette was just about to get onto the bus (she’d stopped to tie her left shoe─that lace always seemed to come loose) when Mr. Wayne stopped her.

“If you recall anything else about the Riddler’s costume that you found interesting, do contact me about it, please.”

“Why?” Marinette asked, meeting his stare dead on.

“My son Damian isn’t the only one with a… passing interest in crime.” Mr. Wayne stepped back with a friendly smile. “I hope you enjoy the rest of your time in Gotham, Miss Cheng.”

“Of course,” Marinette said with a smile, hurrying into the bus. She dropped into the seat beside Alya. “He is terrifying.”

Alya was still distracted. “I’m thinking that the background should be red, you know, to contrast with the whole ‘freeze gun’ thing?”

Marinette sighed. “Never change, Alya. Never change.”

But of course, Marinette never noticed the camera that shuttered upon seeing Marinette and Mr. Wayne’s interaction.

It would only be a matter of time before a certain reporter got a hold of it.

When they reached the Kane Hotel, Marinette immediately wrapped her arms around Adrien’s waist, smiling up at him as he planted a kiss on the crown of her head.

“Sorry for being such an ass,” she said.

“I don’t blame you, Mari,” Adrien said. “Have you made a decision, then?”

“Yeah,” Marinette nodded. “I’ll tell him. It’s my responsibility to do it. I shouldn’t just run away from my problems.”

“You know I’ll always be here for you.” And that was the most truthful statement she’d heard all day. If there was one person she could trust to be there for her, it was Adrien. Marinette relaxed in his arms.

“What’s up with Mlle. Bustier?” Alix asked, nodding to their teacher who was speaking frantically with Mssr. D’Argencourt, who’s hand was on his hip, where his saber would usually be seated.

“I dunno,” Kim shrugged. Adrien exchanged a meaningful glance with her. She could take a guess.

“I’ll go,” Marinette whispered to Adrien, disentangling herself from him and approaching their teacher. “Mlle. Bustier?” she called. “Are you alright?”

“I’m─I’m just fine, Marinette,” Mlle. Bustier swallowed. “I’m just trying to… convince Mssr. D’Argencourt that we should order pizza for the class. As a way to make it up to you guys, after yesterday.”

Marinette’s face betrayed none of her thoughts. “That’s a great idea, Mlle. Bustier! But are you sure you’re okay? You’re pale.”

“Well…” Mlle. Bustier sent another pleading glance at D’Argencourt. “I just really think that the class is tired of this hotel. It doesn’t feel very safe to have them all cooped up here constantly.”

“The class can have it in Alya and I’s room, Mlle. Bustier,” Marinette said helpfully. “That way, you and Mssr. D’Argencourt can take a break and relax.”

“Really?” Mlle. Bustier perked up. “That’s… very kind of you, Marinette. Well then, we should order the pizza, Armand.”

“Caline, what are you─” Mlle. Bustier was already walking away hastily.

Marinette hurried back to Adrien. “She’s expecting an attack. From the Riddler, since she didn’t deliver Mr. Freeze’s gun.” Marinette turned back to the class. “He-ey guys, um, Mlle. Bustier wants us to go up to Alya and I’s room because they’re ordering pizza for us.”

“Nice,” Kim grinned.

Alix was already running up the stairs. “Thank god. I’m starving!” Kim raced after her. Max rolled his eyes fondly, following at a slower pace.

“But I’m allergic to pizza─” Lila started off.

“I’m sure they’ll accommodate any allergies in student’s files, Lila,” Marinette shut her down. Lila visibly deflated, but perked up a moment later to say something else. Mylène grabbed Lila’s arm and pulled her up the stairs before she could say anything else and Ivan followed, chatting amiably with Rose and Juleka. Sabrina scowled at them as she followed, Nathaniel not far behind.

Eventually, only Chloé, Alya, Nino, Adrien and Marinette remained behind.

“Something’s up,” Chloé said, frowning at Adrien. “You’re doing that thing where you hide your fingers behind your back because you fidget when you know somebody’s lying.”

Alya turned to Chloé. “How did you─actually, nevermind. You’re right. Marinette was definitely lying right there. Or hiding something.”

“What?” Marinette pointed back to Mssr. D’Argencourt. “He’s ordering pizza, isn’t he?”

“Why is he ordering pizza?” Alya pressed.

“Because Mlle. Bustier felt bad,” Marinette excused. “Can you guys just go upstairs? Adrien and I will wait for the pizza.”

“We’ll wait with you,” Nino said. Marinette felt mildly betrayed at that. Alya and Chloé? She could accept it. But Nino? And here she thought he was the nice one.

“How will the others get into the room?” Marinette asked. ‘Yes! This will work, won’t it?’

“We told them to go to Chloé’s room,” Alya said. “It’s bigger and Sabrina already has the key.”

“And you’re okay with people just flouncing about in your room, Chloé?” Marinette made one last ditch attempt.

“I’ll have my daddy upgrade me to an even better room tomorrow,” Chloé excused. “Sabrina can keep that one.” 

“Or…” Alya exchanged looks with Chloé and Nino. ‘God, they make a scary team.’ “You could just tell us why you’re hiding the class upstairs.”

Marinette turned to Adrien. A dozen different interactions could have taken place with those vague glances, but they eventually reached a decision. 

“We’re going to get attacked by the Riddler.”

“What?” Alya exclaimed. Unfortunately, she wasn’t worried in the slightest. Alya bounced on her toes excitedly, reaching for her phone. Nino took her phone, slipping it into his pocket.

“How do you know?” Chloé asked.

Marinette groaned, quickly explaining what had happened the night before, leaving out her alter ego and her second meeting with Red Hood.

“Oh, shit,” Nino said. “So why do you want us to hide away, and not you?”

“Because─” Marinette hesitated.

“We were going to look for Ladybug and Chat Noir,” Adrien quickly interjected, his hands in plain view and his fingers still. “But, since you guys probably aren’t going to listen to us, you can look for them too.”

“Hmm…” Alya crossed her arms. “Fine. C’mon, Chloé, Nino. We’ll take the top floors.”

“Why would I go with you two?” Chloé demanded, affronted.

“Because we’re Team Miraculous and they’re Team Civilians,” Alya said.

“Doesn’t that mean one of us should go with them?” Nino asked.

“I─” they turned to look back at their friends, but they were already gone. “Guess not. Come on, let’s beat them. Maybe we can convince Ladybug to give us our Miraculouses.” And they disappeared as they headed for an elevator.

Meanwhile, Marinette and Adrien were pressed up against each other in an alcove. “That was close.”

“Very,” Marinette sighed. “And there I was hoping that they’d all be tucked away safely in my room. Now we have five people to worry about.”

“Not to mention all the other residents of this hotel.” Adrien’s forcefully cheerful grin earned him a flick in the ear. “Ow.”

“We’re so fucked,” Marinette said. “We could evacuate the building.”

“It’d work,” Adrien said. “Nobody would be searching the rooms for our class if they think they’re all outside, but that also works against us in the opposite way.”

“Yeah. If they’re all gathered outside, it’d be easy to take them hostage… if we transform, we could probably convince Mlle. Bustier and Mssr. D’Argencourt to hide.”

“Same with ‘Team Miraculous’,” Adrien said. “Right. I’ll try to deal with all of them, and you can survey the area for the Riddler.”

There was no way they came out of this totally unscathed, considering the fact that not only was the Riddler akumatized, but he also had a Miraculous that seemed to rid one of their inhibitions.

Basically, they needed to try really hard to dodge. 

After transforming, Marinette was expecting to find a group of goons surrounding a tall, green man. She found a group of goons, but they were surrounding three people. One of the men was short and pudgy, wearing a monocle and holding a walking stick, and the other was… well, half of him looked like your average, everyday man. The other… was grotesquely disfigured and covered in burns. The last was a girl with blonde hair, her pony tails were dyed different colours and her outfits were showy and colourful. 

The Riddler was nowhere in sight. 

He’d sent Penguin, Two-Face and Harley Quinn to do his dirty work.

How did he even convince them? The major villains of Gotham were famously at odds with each other. They’d never team up. The Joker would never do somebody else’s dirty work and Two-Face was the kind of guy who would’ve been a good leader if he wasn’t insane.

Unless… Marinette knew what his Miraculous did. But not what the akuma did. What if the Riddler could control others? That would explain why so many major villains rushed to do as the Riddler wanted.

Okay. Marinette’s dealt with akumas who control your actions before. She could deal with this one, too. Definitely. Certainly.

“Hasn’t anyone ever told you that it’s rude to spy on people?” Marinette whirled around, ready to punch whoever had managed to sneak up on her, but she was surprised to see them back away with their hands raised submissively. Ladybug’s eyes narrowed as she examined this stranger.

He wore a black domino mask with an equally black, skin tight suit. A blue symbol sat in the middle of his chest. He held a baton in his hand, similar to the one Chat would hold.

Nightwing.

“Hasn’t anyone ever told you that it’s rude to sneak up on people?” she asked eventually.

“Yes. I don’t listen.” Nightwing grinned wickedly. He approached Ladybug lazily, looking over the threshold to glance down at the assortment of villains. He whistled lowly. “What convinced these guys to work together?”

“I don’t know,” she lied, looking back at them. Harley swung her malette, hitting one of the goons. He went down hard. Ladybug cringed and really hoped that he wasn’t dead. “Are you here alone?”

“Are you?” Nightwing quirked an eyebrow. Ladybug’s jaw set grimly as she turned back towards the fire escape. Ladybug took out her yo-yo, opening it to contact Chat. “Huh. So you’re not the only ‘bodyguard’. To answer your question, nope, I’m not alone. We have… let’s see… obviously, we have the big B, then we got Robin─the Red one too─and then there’s Hood. I think Black Bat might have even showed up today, too. Spoiler’s arm is broken, though, so she isn’t here.” She relayed that information to Adrien, and just who they’d be fighting today. “So, why don’t you guys go and protect that class of yours while we deal with our friends downstairs.”

“Where’s the Riddler?” Ladybug asked. He couldn’t be far, and he was their real problem. But if she took him out, then the people under his control would go down, too.

“Haven’t seen him. Why?”

“He’s the real problem.” She hurried towards the hotel, checking Adrien’s GPS. He was six floors down from the roof. That was on their class’s floor. Why would Adrien head there? Perhaps he was escorting ‘Team Miraculous’ back. They’d need to regroup, anyway.

Ladybug pushed open the emergency staircase and quickly descended. A glance back confirmed that Nightwing was following her. As she got to the fourth floor, she was very surprised to see a small child standing guard with his arms crossed.

“Nightwing,” the child nodded. He couldn’t be much older than Ladybug was when she’d first gotten her Miraculous. He may have been younger. So this was Robin. “So this is Ladybug.”

“Yes,” she said, advancing forwards. He stepped in her way. “Really?”

“I have not yet assessed your risk level yet. You may be─” Ladybug’s yo-yo wrapped around a hanging light behind him, pulling her forwards. She quickly went down to the next floor and was now much more aware of the two vigilantes following her.

“Chat!” Ladybug called upon reaching him. Robin and Nightwing stopped behind her, but Ladybug wasn’t much concerned with them. She planted her hands on her hips and glared at her three classmates. Only Nino had the decency to look sheepish. “I don’t suppose you three have a reason to be out of Chloé’s room?”

“We were looking for you, but then we saw Chat Noir and now we’re trying to convince him to look for Adrien and Marinette!” Alya exclaimed.

“And I told them that they’re already in Marinette’s room, since it was closer, but they won’t listen to me.”

“That’s because you’re a pushover,” Ladybug said. “Anyways, you three. In, now.”

“Um.” Nino looked at Ladybug’s new companions. “Are they─”

“Not relevant.” Ladybug crossed her arms. “Look.” She sighed. “This place isn’t the same as Paris. Those guys wouldn’t hesitate to hurt you, and as your bodyguards, Chat and I will not allow that to happen. Now go.”

Chloé scowled. “Well, if you gave me my─”

“Chloé Bourgeois.” Chloé tensed as Ladybug stepped forwards slowly. “I still haven’t forgiven you for that little stunt you pulled not too long ago. Do you really want to test me right now?”

“I─” Chloé looked down, mollified. “I’m sorry, Ladybug.”

“Thank you for that act of maturity, Chloé. Anything else?” All three of them were studiously avoiding her gaze. “Good. Inside, now. And don’t come back out until somebody is sent to fetch you.”

There was a chorus of “yes, Ladybug”s as Chloé swiped her keycard and they filed in dejectedly.

“Ugh.” Ladybug rubbed her temple. “Remind me not to have children.”

“Oh, Louis, Emma and Hugo will be devastated.” Chat laughed as Ladybug hit him. 

Robin was observing them through white slits of his domino mask. “Interesting.”

“Where are─” Ladybug hesitated, looking over her shoulder. “Where are the teachers?”

“I sent them into Bustier’s room a few minutes before you arrived with…” Chat observed the American superheroes coolly. “Our new friends.”

“Right,” Ladybug nodded. “Anyways, you and I need to go find the Riddler. He has to be nearby.”

“I see. I can take the first few floors and the basement and you can take─”

“Aren’t you going to guard the class?” Nightwing asked, raising a curious eyebrow.

“Physically guarding the class would be more detrimental in the long run,” Ladybug said. “Actually, what is your plan?”

Robin opened his mouth, sneering up at them, but Nightwing dropped a warning hand on his shoulder, the other lifting up to his ear. Robin copied his movement. “Oracle,” he said. There was silence for thirteen seconds. “Hm. Gotcha.” Nightwing turned back to them, beginning a sentence but he was cut off by Robin. 

“Batman wants to know who you both are before we let you do anything.”

Ladybug tensed and reached for her yo-yo but Chat smiled lazily at the two vigilantes. “I can see five different ways to escape right now. Do you really want to try this?”

Ladybug grabbed his arm, whispering harshly. “If you even think about using Cataclysm anywhere I will personally give Hawk Moth your Miraculous.”

“You’re getting unoriginal with your threats, Milady,” Chat grinned. He looked back at the vigilantes. “As it is, I’d rather avoid any fighting, so I’ll have to request something from you.”

“What?” Robin asked apprehensively.

“Well, if we tell you our identities, then you tell us yours.” Nobody moved and no sound was uttered. “I thought so. Listen, I know that we’re on your turf, but if it were up to us, we wouldn't be here, so─” He was interrupted by a loud bang. “Huh. Seems they’ve started their assault. Sorry, guys, it’s been a real pleasure, but we can’t stick around.” With that, Chat grabbed her forearm and started tearing down the hallway. Ladybug didn’t need to hear their footsteps to know that they were being followed.

Once they reached an intersection in the hallways, Chat and Ladybug split up. She ran towards the fire escape while Chat sprinted for a window. Looking back, she saw that it was Robin who followed her. 

Ladybug got off on the third floor, sprinting past doorways as fast as she could. Ladybug whirled left, and skidded to a stop when she came upon a dead end.

“I have you now!” Robin exclaimed. “You didn’t really think you could escape, did you?” It was just now that Ladybug noticed something.

“Who the fuck gave you a katana?” she asked incredulously.

Robin looked affronted. “I have the finest of weapons available. I believe the better question is why do you have a yo-yo? It seems impractical.”

“You’d think.” She unhooked the yo-yo, swinging it lazily. Robin frowned warily at it. Huh. She’d have thought he’d underestimate it. Then again, he’d seen what it could do when she jumped over him. “I thought so too, at first, but then─” she suddenly struck out, hitting something over Robin’s shoulder.

Robin whirled around, surprised to see the crumpled lackey at his feet. “You─” he looked back at Ladybug, who was now sprinting at him. Robin moved to dodge, but Ladybug grabbed his arm and pushed him into an open room. Her yo-yo wrapped around the unconscious goon and pulled him inside too. She closed and locked the door. “Why did you─”

She shushed him as footsteps sounded outside the room.

“Well, I never!” A voice exclaimed. “I sent that buffoon up here to look for that stupid class and he’s gone and done a disappearin’ act on me! Puddin’ would be so angry with me!” The sound of something hard hitting the wall. Probably Harley’s malette. “Well? What are the rest of you idiots standin’ around for! Go find ‘em!”

Neither Robin nor Ladybug said a word until they were sure Harley Quinn was gone. 

Ladybug breathed a sigh of relief as she surveyed the empty room. “That was lucky.”

Robin, however, was less relieved and more contemplative. It was such a shame that he was in this woman’s debt (twice now, if you really considered it). Robin frowned.

“I have made a decision,” he said. “To let you keep your identity, on the basis that a temporary alliance may be necessary.”

“No need to be so formal,” Ladybug laughed. She unlocked the door, stepping outside. “But yeah. We both have the same goal, so there’s no point in fighting. We have more important things going on right now.”

“Indeed,” said Robin as they began making their ways at a slower, more cautious pace. 

“Oh, and can you contact Nightwing and tell him to stop chasing my partner?” Ladybug asked. 

“I have the distinct feeling that Nightwing and your partner have already come to an alliance of some sort.”

Ladybug snorted. “Yeah, I see it too, kid.”

At the same time, an old man in a pink, fluffy bathrobe stepped out of his bathroom and was less surprised to see his door open than to see the man drooling on his floor.

Meanwhile, Chat Noir had just vaulted himself out of a window, and he easily landed on his feet.

Two unfortunate things occurred.

One. Nightwing had followed him and he also landed on his feet.

And two. They’d landed right in the middle of a group of goons and Penguin was standing right on top of a bin. 

Nightwing looked between Chat, the fifteen villains and Penguin.

Chat quirked a grin. “Race you?”

Nightwing copied his expression. “You’re on.”

Oracle, also known as Barbra Gordon, rolled her eyes as the two began to fight. “Boys.”

“Where’d you get your baton?” Nightwing asked upon punching Penguin in the nose, knocking out his monocle. Penguin pathetically fell to the floor, whimpering loudly.

“I’m not sure. Heirloom, I think,” Chat lied easily, catching the offered zip ties from Nightwing and starting to tie up the villains.

“It’s very durable,” Nightwing complimented.

“Thanks. I liked yours too. What’s it made out of?”

“No idea,” Nightwing said. “What say you that we put our differences aside and deal with everybody else?”

Chat grinned. “I say that this is the start to a beautiful friendship.” 

“What? What is it?” Ladybug asked, frowning at Robin, who stopped suddenly.

His eyes were narrowed as he turned towards the shadows. “Now’s not the time for games, Black Bat.”

A girl came out of the shadows with a small smile. She waved at Ladybug, no hostility projected as she approached them. “Hi.” 

Ladybug smiled back at the girl. “Hello. I’m Ladybug. You’re Black Bat, then?” She nodded. ‘So she’s the quiet type.’

“Any sightings of the Riddler?” Robin asked, his hand lifting to his comm as he asked. Black Bat shrugged as Robin listened to a voice in his ear. “None? I see.”

“He’ll probably end up making an appearance after all of his people have been defeated,” Ladybug said.

Robin paused. “Speaking of, Penguin’s down. Your partner and Nightwing are collaborating at the moment.”

“Right. Harley should be somewhere on this floor, then, right?” Ladybug asked as they moved into an open room.

“You betcha!” Was exclaimed with a comical level of convenience as Harley Quinn aimed a bazooka at them and the door closed behind them. “And I’m gonna get you back for what you did to my puddin!”

Ladybug froze. Would she really have to use her Lucky Charm to defeat Harley? There’s no way that she could fire that bazooka without taking down at least one of them. Robin was in a fighting stance but Black Bat looked calmly up at Harley.

“Not real,” she said, pointing at the weapon. Ladybug looked incredulously at her but Robin relaxed instantly. Maybe she knew weapons.

Harley pouted exaggeratedly. “Why d’you Bats always gotta ruin the fun?!” She didn’t wait for a reply. “Sic ‘em boys!”

Roughly twenty goons pushed open the doors on their left and right, streaming into the room and surrounding them.

“Alright,” Ladybug said, settling into a fighting stance and swinging her yo-yo in anticipation. “Let’s do this.”

It was, in fact, quite easy to take down Harley after her lackeys were gone. She started crying about her ‘puddin’ again and how she’d failed him.

Ladybug sighed. “You gotta love toxic relationships.”

Oracle pressed a button on her comm. “Robin, Black Bat, Nightwing. Batman, Red Hood and Red Robin have just taken down Two-Face. That’s all three major villains gone. Go to the lobby floor and be ready. Bring your companions.”

Getting to the lobby was simple now that most of the threats had been eliminated. 

Unsurprisingly, a rather green supervillain stood in the centre of the room, surrounded by at least sixty lackeys. ‘Where does this endless supply come from?’ she wondered as they skirted the edges of the room.

“Where are those idiots?” The Riddler demanded. A familiar purple mask appeared over his face. “I see. So the bug and the cat team up with the bats. How… amusing.” He twirled his sword exasperatedly. “Well then, Ladybug, Chat Noir. Riddle me what it takes to confiscate your Miraculous?” He chuckled loudly. “Spoiler alert, it’s me! And I can even take down Batman in the meantime, too!”

Ladybug turned to Robin. “I need you to cause a distraction over there.” She pointed in the direction. “I need to regroup with Chat Noir, but I don’t want to initiate the fight yet.”

Robin was frowning at something in the distance. “Too late.”

Ladybug looked up just in time to see a knife hit one of the goons and then a gun was being fired and Red Hood jumped into the fray. She could hear Batman swear loudly as he also came out of hiding, battling the lackeys. Red Robin and Nightwing followed and then Robin jumped in. Black Bat grabbed her arm, pointing upwards. A certain Chat was sitting on one of the support beams.

“Thank you,” she whispered as she swung her yo-yo and watched Black Bat join the fight. “Chat!” she exclaimed as quietly as possible, what with the gunshots echoing around the room.

“Hey, Bugaboo,” he said. “What’s the plan?”

It was five minutes into the fight when Chat Noir finally jumped down. He aimed a kick for the Riddler’s head, yet ended up hitting his chest instead. The Riddler skidded back, his head hitting against a step. He was up in an instant, but he was now hatless.

Good thing the Riddler never learned what happened when you broke an akumatized item.

Ladybug swooped down, grabbing the hat and quickly returning to her perch. She didn’t destroy it, as she had a certain suspicion and so she called for her Lucky Charm.

A wrench appeared in her hands. She could already imagine the jokes Chat would make.

Ladybug looked around, quickly realising what needed to happen to throw a wrench in Hawk Moth’s plans.

“Chat!” she called, pointing to a random stone statue that was in the middle of the room and somehow remained standing. His eyes widened and his sword fight with the Riddler halted as he rolled to the side.

“Cataclysm!” The statue crumpled into ashes, and Ladybug could now easily hit the sprinkler system from her vantage point.

When the water came down, the Riddler looked up and was momentarily distracted.

A moment was all Chat Noir needed to grab the Miraculous from around the Riddler’s neck. He grabbed the wrench and tossed it towards her.

Ladybug swung up, ripping the hat in two and a butterfly came out of it. Ladybug purified it and was not surprised to see most of the goons blinking in confusion. So they were under his control. 

She swung down, landing deftly beside Chat. “Miraculous Ladybug!” She threw the wrench into the air and was not surprised to see the hotel repair itself.

“Good job, Chat,” she said. 

“You too, Milady,” he grinned.

“I thought you two were bodyguards,” a voice called from behind them. It was at this moment that Ladybug remembered that they had company. Nightwing was raising an eyebrow at them and then Ladybug realised that she was basically being confronted with the entire Batclan (minus Spoiler, of course). 

“Uh─” she glanced at Chat and then back at the vigilantes and at Batman, specifically. Yeah, no. Telling Bruce Wayne that she’s his daughter? Terrifying. Interacting with Batman? She would die. Literally.

And so Ladybug did the only plausible thing that came to mind.

She grabbed Chat’s arm and she sprinted like hell. She didn’t look back to see if they were being followed. 

She just ran into the first available unlocked room and after checking that it was empty, transformed back into her civilian self.

“That was so close.” Marinette whispered.

“Good reaction,” Adrien said. “Let’s go let everyone out of their rooms.”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “I feel like it’s gonna be another one of those nights, Adrien.”

“Aren’t we meant to be on holiday?” he rubbed his eyes tiredly as they ascended the staircase.

“Tomorrow will be better,” she said.

Tomorrow was not, in fact, ‘better’.

Actually, it was arguably worse.

It was at six in the morning that a certain photograph started circulating the web.

GothamGazette @VickiVale · 54m

Bruce Wayne & Sabine Cheng─the Sequel? Read the full article here .

[Image] {Image description: Bruce Wayne smiling at a young girl, who he shares features with}

WinSchott @winnnstonnn · 52m

@VickiVale She is a kid. Don’t be so invasive of her personal space. You have no proof that they’re related and considering the way that you slandered Sabine Cheng seventeen years ago, I don’t think that you’re the person who should be reporting this ‘news’.

Grotomon @Buboon · 49m

@VickiVale yoooooo bruce wayne has ANOTHER kid?!??! lol

DroopiePie @oogggabooo · 45m

@VickiVale lol he gotta keep it in his pants 

dickgraysonisbae @daddygrayson · 45m

@VickiVale fake news b wayne is sterline

NightwingxRedHood @troollololol · 42m

@VickiVale @daddygrayson sterile* And he’s not. Damian Wayne is literally his bio son

dickgraysonisbae @daddygrayson · 39m

@VickiVale @troollololol lol no

Percabeth @gretanom · 27m

I know I’m not the only person who saw that article from @VickiVale, right? #newwayne

BatButt @LoriGreene · 26m

I jus t put her eyes in a colouf picker with bruce waynes and they the same #newwayne

Lexluthorisababy @joannahoran · 25m

@LoriGreene that is…………. So much effort. Why? 

BatButt @LoriGreene · 22m

@joannahoran S C I E N C E

speedy @arsOnel · 19m

@underthehood lol  

Fuckthejoker @underthehood · 18m

@arsOnel pm

speedy @arsOnel · 16m

@underthehood oh shiiiit

UnofficialWayne @StephBrown · 15m

I break my arm once and suddenly we have a little sister @TimDrakeWayne. Is this how @AcroDick felt?

GimmeCoffee @TimDrakeWayne · 12m

@StephBrown We’ve experienced this before, Steph. Demon Spawn and Cass, remember?

UnofficialWayne @StephBrown · 9m

@TimDrakeWayne Yeah bit those times were true so this is funny

Drarry4ever @yonrowl · 7m

@StephBrown @TimDrakeWayne wait its not real?????!!!!!!! #newwayne

harleyxjoker @sjonme · 6m

@StephBrown @TimDrakeWayne @yonrowl courze its real this is just a set up to get us ti think its fake

Drarry4ever @yonrowl · 5m

@sjonme that sounds like ssooooo  much work. just say its not real @BruceWayneOfficial

DroopiePie @oogggabooo · 4m

@yonrowl your balls…. are large. they will not save you.

trappedingotham @kennilowe · 3m

@yonrowl Like that would work. Nothing less of seven live DNA tests will convince people that the kid isn’t Wayne’s.

dickgraysonisbae @daddygrayson · 1m

@yonrowl @kennilowe bit uts not real tho so he doesnt need to say that

“Girl?! Girl, get up, now!”

Marinette grumbled incoherently, ignoring Alya’s frantic shaking of her upper body. “What?” she asked, drawing out the vowel and ending with a hard ‘t’.

Alya’s phone was shoved under her nose.

It took Marinette a minute to adjust to the sudden brightness, and even longer to read the word on Twitter.

But when she did… 

The resounding shriek woke up every resident of their hotel.

Trumbone @JenniBrowne · 32m

Okay, wtf is wrong with Vicki Vale? That girl is literally a child. Idk why she’s putting a huge target on her back???

Ernon @stanmartianmanhunter · 30m

@JenniBrowne she’s a wayne she’ll be fine nothing bad happens to them ever

Broski @rollingstones · 26m

@stanmartianmanhunter @JenniBrowne wtf bro stfu

Trumbone @JenniBrowne · 25m

@stanmartianmanhunter Right, because nothing bad ever happens to rich and famous people. You better be a troll account, istg.

NightwingxRedHood @troollololol · 22m

@stanmartianmanhunter @JenniBrowne Is no one gonna mention Jason Todd? Literally no one?!

dickgraysonisbae @daddygrayson · 19m

@stanmartianmanhunter @JenniBrowne @troollololol thats cause he faked his death to start working for batman lol

Fuckthejoker @underthehood · 15m

@stanmartianmanhunter @JenniBrowne @troollololol @daddygrayson yes.

DannyDorito @bruhsure · 14m

Bruce wayne has another one??!?!?!? Poor kid

JohhnyZest @zzzabatoge · 11m

@bruhsure yes, so sad that she now sits in the lap of luxury & will now have zero loans and no debt and shit such a poor, underprivileged kid

IzzieDraws @drawingtombolo · 8m

@bruhsure @zzzabotage dude, b wayne literally abused his kids. You see al thouse scars???

JohhnyZest @zzzabatoge · 7m

@drawingtombolo the waynes were not abused rbo

TrynaStayAlive @nknmonkey · 5m

@bruhsure @zzzabotage @drawingtombolo We don’t know if they were abused or not. A lot of the Wayne’s (mainly Dick Grayson & JTodd before his death) were famously covered in ⅓  

TrynaStayAlive @nknmonkey · 4m

bruises in their younger years, but it was also well known that Grayson is an acrobat (check out his old Youtube channel he has so many flips) ⅔  

TrynaStayAlive @nknmonkey · 2m

and JTodd was always seen hanging around with homeless children in alleyways and stuff 

ReginaGeorge @meangirlz · 29m

Ew how does he have another #newwayne

Fthepolice @tylerspies · 28m

@meangirlz well, when a man and a woman love each other very much…

Redvented @poptarts · 25m

@meangirlz @tylerspies lol

mymilkshakebringsall @theboystotheyard · 19m

@VickiVale what is up with you bro?????? I checked your article and shes a minorrrrr???? remember jason????????

luvAAgreste @adrienagresteisaking · 35m

@VickiVale bro ive been a fan of @adrienagreste for years and he has a lot of pictures with @MarinetteCheng and she seems so nice leave her alone

tododeku @bnhafan3995 · 29m

That awkward moment when you realise that Bruce Wayne has another kid yet he is literally the reason his second one died. CPS better get on the #newwayne case soon

[redacted] @area69 · 20m

@bnhafan3995 dude. 

[redacted] @area69 · 19m

@bnhafan3995 that is not where it at, my man

Neverseentwoprettybestfriends @Inmate209 · 15m

Okay, I know we’re all reeling from the whole #newwayne, but I think everybody should check out @MarinetteCheng ‘s Twitter and website and stuff ⅕

Neverseentwoprettybestfriends @Inmate209 · 15m

She has a lot of experience in the fashion world, most famously with @JaggedStone, a famous rockstar ⅖

Neverseentwoprettybestfriends @Inmate209 · 14m

She’s frequently featured on her friend’s, @Ladyblogger ‘s websites (she has a million different blogs) and is ⅗

Neverseentwoprettybestfriends @Inmate209 · 12m

Always hanging out with famous french models such as @adrienagreste (hawt). And she was meant to star in @ClaraNightingale ‘s ⅘

Neverseentwoprettybestfriends @Inmate209 · 11m

Music video for some fictional superhero, but then convinced her to include all of her classmates. It’s adorable istg.

WarriorCats @TrinaVega · 9m

@Inmate209 I met her once in France. She was helping out in her parents bakery and tripped and spilled flour everywhere. It was adorable and she kept on apologising to everyone.

TaylorSwiftFan30880 @TSwizzle · 7m

@Inmate209 @TrinaVega OMG I met her too!!! I was in Paris and she was tripped over nothing but then did this weird handspring so instead of falling she just did a flip and then continued running really quickly. I think she was late to school

TaylorSwiftFan30880 @TSwizzle · 4m

@Inmate209 @TrinaVega I got a video too 

[Video] {Video Description: Video starts off showing a blonde girl’s face before the camera angle switches and you see a black haired girl beginning to trip, before her hand touches the ground and she vaults over the ground. She lands on her own two feet and starts sprinting towards a large building, presumably her school.}

TokyoGhoul3 @weeaboooo69 · 3m

@TSwizzle goddamn @AcroDick has some competition lol

JJJ @Spiderson · 2m

@TSwizzle I stan already

Redvented @poptarts · 2m

@TSwizzle @MarinetteCheng is my favourite Wayne already

PoisonIvycanrailme @leonardisvaldez · 47s

@TSwizzle That was… so smooth.

Percabeth @gretanom · 22s

@TSwizzle I will physically fight anyone who tries to hurt her

BatButt @LoriGreene · 8s

@TSwizzle @gretanom same.

Marinette shook her head frantically. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No. This can’t be… it can’t be real. I don’t believe it. It’s not… this wasn’t supposed to happen!”

“I know, Mari,” Alya said, grasping her hand and exchanging meaningful looks with Nino and Adrien. “I know.”

“I can’t… I can’t… no. I don’t know what to do. Adrien, what do I… I can’t…” Marinette clutched at his arms.

Adrien grasped her arms firmly. He turned to Alya, muttering something before focusing solely on Marinette. Alya and Nino left the room to go find Mlle. Bustier. “Marinette, Princess, please, listen to me. I need you to breathe. Slowly. Come on. In, two, three, out, two, three. In… out… in… out… in… out… in… out…” They repeated the exercise until Marinette’s shaking ceased somewhat, her breathing evened out and she dropped her head onto Adrien’s shoulder. “There we go… it’s okay, Bug. I got you. I have you.”

Marinette didn’t say a word and Adrien didn’t press her on it. She needed to breathe─to come to terms with everything.

He knew that she wanted to tell Wayne, but to have it exposed before she was ready… Marinette wasn’t mentally prepared for this. Especially not for it to be released so publicly.

If Adrien had been in her shoes, at least he’d be able to deal with the media attention. But Adrien wasn’t in her shoes and the worst thing Marinette had been exposed to were his fangirls.

This… anybody would be terrified of this.

And in Marinette’s shoes, anybody would be terrified when D’Argencourt knocked on the door, looking solemnly at her. 

“Mlle. Cheng, there is a… visitor for you.”

Marinette didn’t lift her head so Adrien asked, “Who is it?”

D’Argencourt sent him a knowing look. “Bruce Wayne.”

Chapter Text

“Mlle. Cheng, there’s a visitor for you.”

“Who is it?”

“Bruce Wayne.”

Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne is here. That is not good. That is terrible. Marinette couldn’t deal with this right now.

Adrien’s hand landed on her shoulder. Caution oozed off of him. Mssr. D’Argencourt looked rather uncomfortable with the situation at hand. 

“Marinette,” Adrien started. “You don’t have to─”

“Tell him I’ll be down in five minutes,” Marinette interrupted, imperiously staring her teacher down. D’Argencourt frowned at them, but after a brief moment of hesitation, he complied.

“Marinette.”

“Adrien.”

It was funny how easily Marinette went from a panicked mess to angry. She was so, so, so angry. Marinette hadn’t wanted this. She’d wanted to tell Mr. Wayne on her own terms. In her own time. Sure, she’d been given an ultimatum from Dick, but that hadn’t been as bad as this. Having her secret exposed so publicly… what’s next? Would the whole world find out she was Ladybug?

“Are you sure?”

She snorted. “No.” Adrien moved to sit in front of her. Distantly, she heard the door open and close. That was probably Alya. “No, I’m not sure at all. But if I don’t do this… what do you think he’s heard about me?”

“‘Heard about you’?” Alya quoted, dropping onto the bed beside her. Nino handed Marinette a bar of chocolate. It was French. He’d probably sneaked it from France with him. She loved this brand. “Girl, what do you mean ‘heard’? Has he heard that you’re a fantastic designer? That you’re in league with Gabriel and Audrey Bourgeois? That you’ve designed entire tour outfits for Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale? That your parents own an amazing bakery in the heart of Paris that everyone knows? Girl, there’s nothing but praises that are being sung about you out there.”

Bullshit. Marinette’s seen the Tweets. The articles. There were a couple that were more glowing than they should be, but a lot of them also detailed how Marinette was a ‘gold digger just like her whore of a mother’. That was a direct quote from some gossip rag. Marinette knew what these people thought of her. There was no doubt in her mind that Mr. Wayne had seen all of these and had come to his own conclusions about her.

Well.

Her gaze hardened.

Well.

She’d just have to prove him wrong then. 

“I’m not sure I like that expression,” Nino muttered. 

Adrien frowned. “What are you planning?”

Marinette ignored them, looking down at her outfit. “I’m getting dressed. Adrien, Nino, out.” Nino left willingly, but Adrien protested. Marinette knew that he was just concerned for her, but she pushed him out of the door nonetheless. Before she shut the door in his face, she said, “I need you to trust me on this, Minou.”

Adrien sighed, pressing his lips to her wrist. “I will always trust you, M’Lady. But I’m worried. About you.”

“I’ll look after myself,” she assured him. That seemed to assuage Adrien, as he pressed a final kiss to her temple and muttered a final reassurance to her that everything would turn out okay.

Alya crossed her arms. “I, for one, do not believe you for a second.”

“Then don’t,” Marinette said, picking up a pink t-shirt. “Yay or nay.”

“If you wear that I’ll be forced to disown you. Try the blue dress.” Marinette picked it up but decided she didn’t like it. She grabbed some dark blue jeans with gold stitches on the pant leg. “You know as well as I do that you’re going to have seventeen heart attacks during this encounter.”

“Yes.” ‘Which is why I’m going to pretend that he’s an akuma and do my best not to run screaming.’ “But I don’t exactly have a choice, Alya.”

“You always have a choice, Mari.”

She snorted and rolled her eyes, pulling on a red cardigan. “How’s the class reacting to this?”

“As well as expected… Lila’s upset.”

Marinette sighed. “Why?”

“She didn’t know you were her boyfriend’s sister. I’d be upset too if Nino lied to me about something so important.”

“Damian Wayne is twelve, Alya,” Marinette said. “Do we need to have this conversation again?”

Alya sighed. Marinette pulled open the door a tad forcefully and hurried towards the elevator. She slipped a hand into her purse. Tikki patted her finger reassuringly. Alya followed Marinette, catching up in seconds with the way she was running. Marinette jammed her finger into the elevator button. 

“Look, Marinette, I’m sorry. That was… insensitive of me to bring up Lila at a time like this. I know how you feel about her.”

“No, Alya. You don’t. I thought that maybe ─ maybe ─ you realised that something was up with her after yesterday, but clearly you’re still on the ‘Lila can do absolutely no wrong and Marinette is very jealous of her’ train. Use your fucking brain, Alya, and then we’ll talk. Maybe you should do some of that ‘investigating’ you’re so fond of. But I hear ‘evidence’ has been thrown out the window these days.”

“Marinette, you’re not─” 

The elevator opened and Marinette stormed out. She could see the rest of her class sitting in a lounge to her left. D’Argencourt was waiting for her in front of the reception. A young man with blue eyes, a streak of grey hair and steel capped boots stood behind him. Marinette frowned. Was it just her, or did he…?

She whirled around when Alya grabbed her wrist. She could see some of her classmates standing from the lounge in the corner of her eye. Lila was being comforted by Rose and Mylène. “What? Am I listening? You’d know all about that, wouldn’t you, Alya?”

“That’s not what I was going to say─”

“Then what were you going to say, Alya? Was it that I’m not giving her a chance? Could it be that I’m jealous of Lila? Maybe I’m not serious. Yeah, that’s what you were going to say. Clearly, clearly, this is all a hoax! I mean, why would I dislike Lila? It can’t be all of the lies, can it? No? Then what is it, Alya? What is the fucking reason that you can’t see it after all of the facts have been shoved right in your face?”

“You don’t─”

“‘You’, ‘you’, ‘you’. I’ve noticed a pattern, Alya. You always have to blame others for your mistakes. I mean, there’s no way that you could be wrong, so therefore I mustn’t have the facts straight! I obviously don’t know what I’m talking about! I must be delusional, because Alya Césaire is never wrong! I mean, just look at when you thought Chloé was Ladybug! Or when you decided that you needed to post that picture of Ladybug and Chat Noir kissing when we still don’t know the context! And don’t forget about when you believed I was capable of pushing Lila down a flight of stairs! Or stealing her necklace or those test answers! ‘You give me evidence, Marinette’, you told me when there was literally no proof of Lila knowing Jagged. Or Prince Ali. Or Ladybug.”

Marinette shook her head, backing away from Alya. She started back towards the elevator. “Mari─” Alya shouted after her.

“Don’t bother,” she called over her shoulder. “Mssr. D’Argencourt, tell Mr. Wayne that I’ll have to reschedule. Now isn’t a good time.”

Marinette disappeared behind elevator doors and Alya was left standing helplessly in the lobby. 

They were all too distracted to notice a certain liar slipping away, and when she placed a call to a certain supervillain whose identity she was determined to figure out (for her own personal gain, of course) nobody knew.

Marinette returned to her room, grabbed a hat and her Jagged inspired sunglasses and cracked open her window. She squeezed through it, jumping from one ledge to another and completely ignoring any safety violations she committed as she landed on one an American-style bin. You know, one of those really big green ones that are always in alleyways? Yeah, that one. They’re very useful when you’re escaping from awkward situations. 

Just as Marinette was about to exit the alley, she heard a man talking and when her name was mentioned, she couldn’t help but pause and listen. “This is the place she’s staying at, right?”

“Dude, have you not seen the security the Wayne’s have posted around?” their friend asked. “It’s like a fortress there. Your only chance of getting in is if you’re, like, the Queen of England or something. Even the reporters up front couldn’t get in. Vicki Vale couldn’t get in. This is suicide.”

“And? It’s worth the risk. If I get even a picture of her, my career will skyrocket. You want that for me, right?”

Marinette drew back, frowning and ducking behind the large, green dumpster. She barely even noticed as she drew up her knees and let her head rest between them and wrapped her arms around her legs.

“Okay,” she exhaled. Marinette hadn’t been expecting that. She knew that people were really enthusiastic about it on Twitter and stuff, but… holy shit. She didn’t think that people would actually try and take pictures of her, and stuff.

But she should’ve known. After all, she remembered that time she and Adrien had been chased around Paris by his fangirls. And the Waynes were, like, gods compared to the Agrestes in terms of popularity. Marinette shifted as she heard footsteps approaching her, but relaxed once she caught sight of steel capped boots. Marinette didn’t look up to meet Red Hood’s gaze.

“We have got to stop meeting like this,” she said. “If once is an accident, and twice is a coincidence, then what would you call this?”

“A pattern… a choice... enemy action… at the end of the day, it’s suspicious,” Hood said, leaning against the wall opposite her. “Why do you always end up in alleyways?”

“Why do you lurk in alleyways?”

“It’s part of my aesthetic. What’s your excuse?”

Marinette snorted quietly, rolling her eyes and ignoring the question. 

The silence that filled the alleyway was almost serene. Marinette appreciated it. She could still see Hood’s boots and knew that he wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. She sighed. This whole situation was a fucking mess. It would have been messy if this hadn’t gotten leaked to the public. Now it was just a huge fucking pile of shit. 

Marinette didn’t want this. She had wanted to think and plan and possibly even avoid the inevitable. She’d never wanted her secret to be exposed like this. 

If the reaction was this bad when she’d been revealed as simply being related to a Wayne, then what would happen if somebody discovered she was Ladybug? God, she’d never be able to breathe.

To the silence, she admitted, “I don’t even know where to go from here.”

“You don’t need to know anything just yet,” Hood said. “You don’t even need to go and see Wayne for now. But you do need to take care of yourself and establish your boundaries. Maybe go talk to that friend you fought with.”

“How do you…?” Marinette looked up, taking in Red Hood once more. You could just barely see that, under his many layers of clothes, he wore a collared white shirt. A shirt she’d seen on a man with steel capped boots not twenty minutes ago. She frowned. “How long does it take you to put on your vigilante clothes, anyways? Because that’s like, twenty layers and last I saw you were only wearing a white shirt.”

Marinette wished he wasn’t wearing a mask so she could see his face. The way he stilled and his head tilted down slowly to focus entirely on her was utterly hilarious.

He sighed. “You’re telling me my clothes gave me away?”

“I’m a designer,” was her only response. Despite Marinette now knowing his face and that he had some kind of connection to Bruce Wayne, he didn’t reach up to remove the helmet from his head. That was probably smart. With all of the reporters milling about, all it took was one person spotting them to completely fuck everything up.

Hood crossed his arms, tilting his head and leaning back. “I see that you’ve inherited his IQ.” Marinette didn’t know what that stood for─she was rather fluent in English but the acronyms always got her. What does ‘TTYLXOX’ even mean? “You’re not what I expected.”

“Huh?”

“When I heard that Bruce Wayne had another kid,” he clarified, “I expected you to be a homicidal maniac, like Demon Spawn, but you’re somewhat well adjusted in society. You must’ve gotten it from your mother.”

“Really?” she asked. “Mr. Wayne always seemed so… professional in pictures.”

“Plainly for pictures,” Hood said. “He’s the most emotionally stunted man you’ll ever meet.” ‘I definitely inherited that.’

“How do you know him so well?” Marinette asked. “Is your day job being a bodyguard for Bruce Wayne, or something?”

Hood snorted. “I don’t work for Bruce Wayne. Sometimes, I cooperate with him and his family.”

“Like you do with Batman?”

He laughed again. “Exactly like that, actually.” A water droplet dripped onto her head from above. Marinette picked herself up off the ground, glaring up at the dark clouds. Gotham’s weather was horrendous? Why had they come here again? Any other place in America would’ve been better. Except, like, Florida. Something about it just scared Marinette. The amount of horror stories Marinette had found by searching up ‘Florida Man’ on the internet was enough to scare even Hawkmoth.

Marinette hummed, shifting to hide her purse from view. “I’m gonna go back to the hotel,” she said. “Thank you for talking to me. It really helped me feel better.”

Hood observed Marinette indifferently. “You’re a horrible liar.”

“What?”

“Did I stutter?” he asked, taking five steps to the left. Hood was now standing in front of the alley entrance. Not like Marinette would’ve taken that escape route anyways. She wasn’t going to run right into a crowd of reporters. She wasn’t that desperate yet. “You, Marinette Cheng, cannot lie to save your life. I’d almost feel bad for you, but you just told me a lie.” Marinette crossed her arms and glared back at him. “Where do you plan to go, if not the hotel?”

Several beats passed and Marinette couldn’t think of an excuse. Hood’s stance suddenly relaxed as he exhaled loudly and leaned against the alley wall.

“You know what, kid? You can go.”

“I… can?” 

“Yes. As long as you tell me where you’re going.”

“Why?” Marinette asked, narrowing her eyes. “So you can follow me?”

“If you’re not back at the hotel by seven in the evening, I’ll come looking for you. And I will find you.”

Marinette regarded the vigilante. “Aren’t you working for Bruce Wayne? Why would you let me go? Gotham’s hardly the safest place for a teenager.”

“Oh, so you’re smart enough to realise that.” She could feel his smirk from here. Marinette stared into his mask, where she assumed his eyes were. It would be really awkward if she was actually staring at his forehead. Or his eyebrows. Red Hood sighed. “I… know what it’s like to need to get away. Especially when you’re a teenager and nobody listens. And I also know that if I don’t let you do this, you’ll run off without telling anyone and get yourself killed.”

“Speaking from experience?”

He tilted his head. “I even died.”

“You… what…” how the fuck did he die? How was he here? Was that even possible? Marinette had brought people back from the dead before, but that was during akuma attacks with her Miraculous Cure. How was that even possible?

“Crazy, I know. As far as the world knows, I died in a terrorist attack in the Middle East and─”

Marinette stopped listening. Holy shit. Holy fucking shit! That meant… this was… he was…

“You’re Jason Todd!” she squeaked, waving her index finger around wildly as her legs bent slightly and her body reared backwards. It must’ve made for a very amusing sight.

Jason Todd paused. “Okay, I know for a fact that my clothes didn’t give me away this time.”

“W-wh─you─how are you alive?”

“Some pit made out of magic and assassins. How’d you figure it out?”

Marinette started pacing. “I knew I recognised you from somewhere, but I didn’t know where, and then you started talking about your death… when I first found out about Bruce Wayne being my… thing… I did some research… and yeah. I didn’t realise it was you, though. You look different than you did when you were a teenager.”

“Death does wonders for the complexion.” Marinette glared at him. She paused.

“Holy shit, that makes you my brother!” Jason merely snorted. Marinette shifted uneasily, tapping her index finger against her palm. Beats of silence passed between them. The chattering of reporters grew louder. An eagle passed overhead, squawking loudly. “So… I’m just gonna…” she gestured vaguely. A crushed red can clattered past them. Rain pattered onto Marinette’s face. “Yeah.”

“Back by seven!” Jason called, lifting a grappling hook. “If not, I’ll come get you.” He was gone without another word. Marinette didn’t even mention where she was going. 

Marinette opened her purse. “My god, Tikki. What should I do?”

She ended up in an extremely shady part of Gotham. No, it was literally shady. There were shadows everywhere. This place was like… Nico di Angelo’s haven. Everywhere you looked was darkness. And criminals.

She supposed that’s why it’s called Crime Alley.

It wasn’t anything very special. Dilapidated buildings littered each side of the street, a flickering street lamp on the very end of the alley. A silver plaque sat on a bench, opposite of a dimly lit clinic where she could see an old woman tinkering about through the open blinds. 

Marinette approached the bench, frowning down at the silver ornament.

In Loving Memory of Thomas and Martha Wayne

It was a simple thing. Most plaques had some sort of message engraved into it. Something that the person had done. But it wasn’t mentioned that they were parents. That they had been friends to everybody in Gotham─the saints and the sinners. That they were some of Gotham’s most famous elite.

But she supposed that was the point. Everybody knew Thomas and Martha Wayne. It was sort of a crime not to.

It was almost weirder for these two to be her grandparents than for Bruce Wayen to be her father. Thomas and Martha Wayne were like saints. They were celebrated every twenty-sixth of June and on their birthdays they were mourned. Even now, decades later, people still visited this memorial. Bouquets of red and pink littered the bench. 

Marinette wondered what it would be like to know her grandparents. The closest thing Marinette had to a grandfather had been Master Fu, and he was more of a mentor than anything. Gina and Rolland Dupain were lovely to her, but they were barely in her life. Gina would sometimes show up for her birthdays and would leave before the day was over. She hadn’t even known about Rolland until Tom’s birthday. And nevermind Sabine’s mother─they’d never even met. Marinette knew her great-uncle better than her only living grandparent. She didn’t even know her name.

Marinette fingered the necklace that hung loosely around her neck. She should probably leave now. It was getting late. 

Just as Marinette was going to transform with the Fox Miraculous, she caught sight of a person shrouded in black directly to her left. Marinette hadn’t even heard them approach! 

She tried to punch them, because there were many possibilities for who this person could be and Marinette wasn’t about to take any chances. 

Her fist was caught in a gloved hand. Marinette’s eyes widened, but before she could react, her hand was released and the person stepped into the light.

Oh.

Cassandra Cain-Wayne smiled back at her. “Hi.”

“Hi,” she breathed. “I─uh─wow, um… hi?”

Cassandra smiled, ducking her head and looking at the bench. “Strange.” Her fingers moved as she spoke. Was she… signing?

“I don’t know ASL,” Marinette said. That’s what it was called, right? For some reason, a lot of English dialects had different types of Sign Language. Since they were in America, it must’ve been American Sign Language. That made sense, right? For all Marinette knew, she wasn’t even signing. Cassandra frowned down at her. “I mean, I know a bit in French─we had to learn in school─and I know the alphabet, but I’m not sure if the signs are different, because I know that American Sign Language originally had a lot to do with FSL, but overtime it grew and changed and… I’ll stop talking now.”

Cassandra giggled softly. “It’s okay.” She pointed at Marinette. “Funny.” 

“I… thanks?” Marinette glanced around. “So… what are you doing here?” Cassandra pointed at the clinic across from them. “Ah. You know the owner?”

“B’s godmother,” Cassandra nodded.

“Oh.” Marinette nodded, smacking her lips together with a loud pop as she glanced around. 

“He is not angry,” said Cassandra, trailing her fingers along the bench.

“What?” Marinette’s head snapped up a bit too quickly.

“B. He is not angry. With you.”

“I─I didn’t…” Marinette cleared her throat. “Good… that’s good. Um… I don’t really want to see him yet.”

“Why?”

A knife clawed at Marinette’s throat as she desperately searched for the right words. “It’s… um… well, you see, I… don’t… I’m not ready?”

“You are scared,” she observed.

“What?” She drew out the vowel. “No. I’m not scared. I’m just… wary. Of… new things?”

“He is… also wary. This is different.”

“Different?” Marinette asked.

“Damian challenged our brother to a…” Cassandra’s face scrunched up. 

“Duel?” Marinette guessed. Cassandra grinned, her eyes shining as she nodded enthusiastically.

“Yes, duel. When he first showed up. It was funny.”

“That’s one way to find out you have a son,” Marinette muttered. “But, wait. So he just… showed up on Bruce Wayne’s doorstep, attacked one of his children and Bruce just… accepted him?”

“No,” Cassandra said. “More happened.” Well, obviously it was more complicated than that. Cassandra examined her with eyes she’d seen on every member of Bruce Wayne’s family. The eyes were tired. They’d all seen more than they should at their ages.

Marinette recognised those eyes.

She cleared her throat. “I should go back. To the hotel. It’s nearly seven and Ja─I promised to be back by then.”

“Yes,” Cassandra nodded.

Marinette smiled at her. “And… could you ask him to give me some time? A few days, maybe?”

“He will do it,” Cassandra said. “Goodbye.”

“See─” Marinette blinked and she wasn’t entirely shocked when her adoptive sister disappeared into the shadows. “...You.”

“If I ask where you’ve been, would you tell the truth?”

“Crime Alley.” Marinette flopped onto Adrien’s bed. “Can I room with you tonight?”

“Everybody was looking for you,” he said, ignoring the question. “I had to tell Mlle. Bustier that you were hiding in my room to stop a manhunt.”

“And what did Nino say to that?” 

“He’s currently comforting a crying Alya.” Adrien smiled suddenly. “I can’t fault you for that.”

“What?” Marinette had expected Adrien to be pissed about that whole shitshow.

“Because it worked,” Adrien said. At Marinette’s look, he elaborated. “After you left, Alya was… distraught.”

Nobody said a word as the elevator doors closed. Eyes fell on Alya. Everybody missed as three people disappeared. Adrien Agreste, Lila Rossi and the man who was there to bring Marinette to meet the Wayne’s were gone. 

Alya took one look at all of the gazes trained on her and turned tail and fled. She took the stairs, hopping up two at a time. Her boyfriend followed, but Alya didn’t wait for him.

Eventually, she ran headlong into a certain model. Alya gasped loudly as she was knocked onto her back. Adrien barely stayed standing. 

“Sorry, I can’t wait! I have to go find Marinette!” Alya exclaimed, hopping up. Adrien grabbed her arm just as she started to sprint.

“No. You don’t. We need to talk, Alya,” Adrien growled. Nino looked at him warily.

“Bro…”

“I have to talk to her─”

“Not until you see all of the facts,” he said. Adrien fished into his pocket, unlocking his phone and entering an app. “If Lila has so many connections, then she must have a Wikipedia page. I have one. Chloé has one. Even the fourth Jonas brother has one. So there’s no way she, who is best friends with Ladybug and who saved Jagged Stone’s cat and who is involved with hundreds of charities worldwide, doesn’t have at least a Wikipedia page, right?”

Alya didn’t reply. She shakily typed in Lila’s name, making several typos as she did so.

Articles popped up. Ten Things You Didn’t Know About Ladybug. LADYBUG’S BEST FRIEND. The REAL Reason Ladynoir Aren’t Together. 

What website were these from? Why, the Ladyblog, of course. Alya frantically scrolled through the results, even going so far as to venture onto the second page, which nobody ever did. The only other things to pop up were a bunch of Social Media accounts. Mainly Facebook.

“I─I─” Alya cleared her throat. “I need to go and do research. Excuse me.”

Alya handed Adrien his phone, sprinting back to her room. “Dude…” Nino said. He sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not mad at you. Or Alya.” Adrien looked down the hallway where Alya had disappeared. “I believed her too, at first.” He cleared his throat. “You know she threatened Marinette?”

“What?” 

“On her first day back, when she was akumatized into Chameleon. Marinette didn’t tell me that, though. If she had, I would’ve… I don’t even know what I’d have done.” Adrien frowned. “It’s not me who deserves an apology.”

“You’re right,” Nino said.

“Go to Alya,” he said. “Make sure she’s okay. That she doesn’t try to make excuses for Lila this time.”

“I don’t think she will,” Nino said. “I mean, you saw her face…”

“Yeah.” Adrien had also seen Marinette’s face not ten minutes ago. She’d been absolutely devastated at Alya’s behaviour. “I did.”

“Oh… wow.” Marinette stared up at Adrien. “And… have you heard back from Alya yet?”

“Nino called me.” He sat beside her on the bed. “She took it… better than I expected. From what I could hear in the background, it was like when Wrong-Hordak realised that Horde Prime was full of shit.” Despite the situation, Marinette found herself laughing. Adrien had been the one to introduce her to that show and she absolutely loved it.

“I have to talk to her, don’t I?”

“Not yet,” he said. “You deserve a few minutes of rest before that landslide.”

“If I take a few minutes to rest, I’ll end up going insane,” Marinette said. “Have the vultures disappeared?”

“No,” Adrien said. “But only guests are allowed in at the moment. You’re safe.”

“Good,” she said. Marinette picked at a loose thread on her jumper. “Good.” Adrien slowly settled beside Marinette, lying flat on his back and wrapping his arm around her waist. She stared up at the ceiling above them. 

Marinette missed these moments. When they’d take a few minutes to just sit with each other and truly listen. They didn’t need to talk to know what the other wanted to say. What they really needed. The last time they’d done this… god, Marinette didn’t even remember. It must’ve been before they revealed their identities to each other. Back when they were just Ladybug and Chat Noir. Marinette didn’t know how to label what that had once been. Maybe ‘partners’ was the correct term. What she did know was that if one person was never going to change, never going to leave her, it was Adrien. Chat Noir. 

“Nathalie called me,” Adrien broke her reverie. 

“I thought she was sick.”

“She was,” Adrien agreed. “She’s better, I guess.” Adrien sat up, kneeling in front of her. “She and father know I’m in Gotham.”

“What?” Marinette jolted forwards, nearly colliding with Adrien. She looked at him worriedly. “A-and do you have to─”

“He’s not making me leave,” Adrien hurried to assure her. “But…”

“But.” Marinette frowned. 

“You’re the reason,” Adrien said. Marinette raised an eyebrow. “They know about… yeah. He and Nathalie want Wayne Enterprise to form some business deal with Gabriel, and they think that if you and I are… entwined, then they’ll have more reason to accept.”

Marinette couldn’t help the bright grin on her face. “So they want you to seduce me, your girlfriend, in order to do something business-y?”

Adrien ducked his head, smiling. “Yeah. Pretty much.” Marinette broke into a fit of giggles, collapsing onto his torso.

Marinette didn’t need to voice the fear she’d felt at the start of the conversation. Marinette didn’t know what she’d do without Adrien. He’d been her rock throughout all of this. Even when Alya wasn’t there for her, Adrien stuck by her. So if Gabriel had decided to take Adrien away, Marinette had no idea what she’d do.

“So you haven’t told them, then?”

“No,” Adrien said. “But now we know that if I do, he’ll approve.” Marinette snorted.

But Adrien was still here. And she’d be damned if she’d let somebody take him away from her.

Lila was tired of waiting. She tells Hawk Moth “Hey, there’s a prime target for you to akumatize! You’ve been trying for months, so go ahead and do it!” 

And you know what he says?

Wait.

Lila is a very patient person. After all, if she wasn’t patient, then how could she build her empire? Only somebody as great as Lila could be bothered to ever listen to any of her classmates. They were so annoying! 

“Oh, Lila! Please come here and do this extremely simple task!”

“Hey, Lila! Could you tell this random celebrity something that nobody cares about?”

“Lila! Are you able to support this completely bullshit charity that my parents set up?”

Most people would scream and give up. But not Lila. She is a good, patient person. Would a bad person tell people what they really wanted to hear? No.

But Marinette Cheng was a reason for Lila to stop being a good person. One look at that prissy, spoiled, goody two-shoes and suddenly Lila was a very good friend of Hawk Moth’s.

Marinette had everything! She had contracts with Jagged Stone and her parents owned a famous bakery and her father was Bruce Wayne! Marinette didn’t even have to do anything to have everything! All she had to do was sit still and look─well, ugly was the more fitting term, in Lila’s opinion.

But wait? Why? Marinette would just calm down and stop being a prime target! 

Imagine the destruction! The impact it would have on the class! To see their stupid ‘sunshine’ stop being so angellic! The class didn’t even care that Lila was clearly being bullied by Marinette! Alya was literally the only person who actually cared about her!

Lila snorted.

That wasn’t true. The entire class adored her. They just needed to see that she was the real victim. Because, how could Marinette do this to her! She was her Damiboo’s sister and nobody had told Lila?!

Nah, too whiny.

What could possibly be done to bring Marinette to her knees?

She couldn’t use Alya. Lila had the distinct feeling that she’d be losing that ally sometime soon. And where Alya went, her dog, Nino, followed.

Who could she use? Which of her brainless classmates would be perfect for her plans?

Alix? Kim? Ivan? No, perhaps Mylène? Or… oh, Lila had the perfect person in mind.

Marinette would never know what hit her.

First, she needed Chloé’s phone, and Lila knew exactly how to get it.

Mlle. Bustier frowned down at Marinette. “I wish you would’ve told me about this, Marinette.”

She fidgeted in her seat. “I-I never thought that it’d get out.” Marinette looked anywhere but at her teacher. She hated disappointing people. “I wasn’t even going to tell him, but then Dick found out and now everyone knows.” Marinette slumped in her chair. Mlle. Bustier watched her with sad eyes, her hand gravitating down to her stomach. 

“You know,” Mlle. Bustier eventually said. “I was never meant to accompany the class on this trip. Mme. Mendeleiev was going to fill in for me, but then we changed venues last minute and she’s banned from Gotham─” Marinette perked up. Mlle. Bustier didn’t elaborate. “─So I had to come with you guys, after all. That’s also why Mssr. D’Argencourt is here.”

Marinette didn’t get why Mlle. Bustier was telling her this. 

“My point is,” Mlle. Bustier continued, “that things don’t always go the way you expect them to. Sometimes you’ll have to take the more painful or dangerous route, but no matter how things go, you’ll always have someone by your side when things are tough. We’re all here for you, Marinette, so don’t ever think that you have to hide this stuff from us. I made the mistake of trying to deal with something terrible on my own and I nearly got the class killed. Seriously, Marinette, I’d believe you no matter what.”

Marinette turned to look at her teacher fully. “No. No you wouldn’t.”

“I’m sorry?” Mlle. Bustier asked.

“Do you not remember a few weeks ago? When I was expelled?”

“Ah.” Mlle. Bustier looked down at her hands. “I have to admit, that wasn’t one of my best moments.” Marinette’s eyes widened. Was… Mlle. Bustier agreeing? That Lila lied? “I’m ashamed that I didn’t realise just what Lila was doing earlier, Marinette.”

“Why haven’t you done anything, then? Told the class that Lila was lying?”

Mlle. Bustier sighed. “It’s not that simple, Marinette. I can’t inform the class of Lila’s compulsive behaviour until myself and Principal Damocles have had a meeting with Lila and her mother to decide what needs to be done. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get a hold of Mme. Rossi.”

“Oh.” Marinette looked down at her hands. “B-but you will? Tell them, I mean?”

Mlle. Bustier smiled. “I’m not certain that I’ll have the chance. I heard that Alya’s experiencing… enlightenment, one might say.”

“Is that─”

“My phone!” 

A screech rang out throughout the floor. Marinette lurched forwards, sprinting towards Chloé’s voice. When she arrived at the scene, Kim and Max were poking their heads out of their rooms. Chloé stared at her own in disgust. 

“What’s wrong, Chloé?” Adrien asked, arriving equally as quickly.

“My phone! It’s gone! Aah!”

Adrien frowned. “Are you sure it’s not lost in your closet or something?” Adrien looked pointedly at the mess of clothes in her room.

“Yes, I’m sure!” Chloé exclaimed. “Oh, this is horrible! How am I going to tell Daddy to get me the new iPhone if I can’t call him?! I don’t know his number!”

“I’ll text Nathalie and ask for his phone number,” Adrien placated. “You can use my phone to call him, too. That okay?”

Chloé made a noise of begrudging agreement. “It’s acceptable,” she said. 

Marinette’s phone vibrated in her pocket. Looking around, their small crowd of classmates that had gathered each pulled out their phone. It was a Twitter notification.

Kim blanched. “What the actual fu─”

“Kim, language,” Mlle. Bustier chided. “What is it?” Marinette opened the notification.

ActuallyQueenBee @ChloeBourgeois · 12s

lol I know yall dont actually belief @MarinetteCheng is anything unlike her whore mother she litterally hates a girl cuz she liked @adrienagreste and bullied her for it

ActuallyQueenBee @ChloeBourgeois · 9s

dont belief me?? check this out

[Link to video(s)]

Marinette slowly opened the link. It was a montage of the times she had called Lila out on her bullshit.

ActuallyQueenBee @ChloeBourgeois · 7s

theres literally no proof their related either i heard @MarinetteCheng talking about how she was going to fake all of this too lol good plan too bad she forgot not everybody likes being her slave. ask anyone form our class she payed @VickiVale of to write that article

Chloé looked at the Tweets over Adrien’s shoulder. “What the fuck?! I didn’t write those! They can’t even spell!”

“So whoever stole Chloé’s phone did it with destroying Marinette’s reputation in mind,” Max concluded, frowning down at his phone. “Who would do such a thing?”

“I have no idea,” Kim said. “Could it have been one of those reporters?”

“You’ve got to be joking,” Adrien said, rubbing at his temple. “Those clips definitely weren’t on Chloé’s phone. Who do we know that would have reason to record Lila’s interactions with Marinette?”

Nobody answered.

“Oh my god. Obviously it was─”

“CHLOÉ!” Alya screamed, sprinting down the hallway. Nino ran behind her, waving at them to get out of the way. It would’ve looked rather comical if not for the clear intent to murder in Alya’s eyes. Adrien pushed Chloé behind him as Marinette darted forwards, catching Alya behind the waist and stopping her in her tracks. “Let me go, Marinette! Did you see what she─”

“Chloé didn’t write those! Lila stole her phone!”

“Lila?” Kim asked. 

“It’s rather obvious,” Adrien shrugged. Max nodded, his chin rested on his hand.

“Lila did that?” Alya asked. Marinette let go of Alya, backing away. Now was the moment of truth. “I’m gonna kill her!”

“Kill who?” Rose asked as she, Juleka, Nathaniel, Alix, Sabrina, Ivan, Mylène and Lila approached. “Sorry, we were all in the lounge and heard screaming. What happened?”

“Check Twitter,” Alya hissed. 

The reactions were instantaneous. 

“Oh my god!”

“Chloé! That’s so mean!”

“I can’t believe you’d do such a thing!”

“That’s, like, seriously uncool.”

“Chloé didn’t write those messages,” Marinette said. “Lila did.”

Sabrina frowned. “Lila was with us the entire time.”

“She was never on her phone,” Alix confirmed. “Why wasn’t it Chloé who wrote those?”

“Her phone’s missing and there’s no way she could’ve gotten those recordings.”

“Lila could’ve preset that thread to go off at a specific time,” Marinette pointed out. 

“By that logic, Chloé could’ve too,” said Ivan. “She could be lying about losing her phone.”

“Chloé’s a horrible liar,” Adrien said. Chloé sputtered indignantly, protesting about how great at lying she is. 

“I guarantee if we check Lila’s room, we’ll find Chloé’s phone,” Marinette said.

“That’s an invasion of privacy!”

“Well, considering how you treat Adrien, you don’t care much about that!”

“My mother is a diplomat! I know my rights!”

“We’re in America! Your immunity means fuck all here!”

“I’m not being arrested!”

“That’s enough,” Mlle. Bustier interrupted. “I’m afraid that we cannot search Lila’s room, Marinette. I want everyone to return to their rooms, except Marinette. Now.”

Max, Alya, Chloé, Nino and Adrien remained behind.

“Mlle. Bustier,” Max said, before he could be reprimanded. “I could try tracking the location to see where the text originated from. Chloé could also log into her Twitter on somebody else’s device and debunk those Tweets.”

“That’s a good idea, Max,” Mlle. Bustier smiled. “Why don’t you and Chloé go to your room and work on that?”

Chloé didn’t move. Adrien stared at her. Chloé scoffed. “Fine. If it means finding out who stole my phone, then I’ll do it.” She grabbed the front of Max’s shirt, dragging him towards his room. 

Mlle. Bustier looked at the four remaining students. She narrowed her eyes down at them. 

“I am going to try contacting Mr. Wayne. Marinette, you should probably warn your parents that they may face backlash for this. Could you three make sure that Marinette stays away from Social Media for the time being?” 

Alya nodded fervently. Adrien wrapped an arm around Marinette's waist and smiled at their teacher. Nino was the only person to answer verbally, with a simple, “Yes.”

“Okay. Thank you. Go to Adrien and Nino’s room.” There was the chance of somebody getting in and finding Marinette’s room. The boys’ room was the safer choice, for all parties involved.

When Mlle. Bustier disappeared down the hallway, Marinette turned to her companions and asked a very important question.

“Would it be unethical to ask one of you to give me a lobotomy with a chainsaw?”

That night, as Lila lay in bed, she couldn’t help but smirk. Her plan had been quite the success. Nobody in class may have believed it, but the rest of the world sure did. Nothing could stop the shitshow that followed those Tweets, even Chloé herself responding and claiming that she was hacked.

There wasn’t a single reporter in Gotham singing Marinette’s praises. One or two in Metropolis were defending her, but they were in the minority here. It was only a matter of time before Bruce Wayne released a statement publicly discrediting Marinette. 

Lila couldn’t wait.

And Lila’s fame was skyrocketing. After releasing those videos, everybody was flocking to Lila’s Twitter and showering her with compliments and opportunities for interviews.

Soon, everyone will see how useless Marinette Cheng is and realise that she, Lila Rossi, is the true diamond in the rough. Not some hopeless baker.

Lila deserves the world.

And Lila will have it.

Jason couldn’t believe that he was actually doing this. Never in a million years did he think that he’d go to the Manor for any reason other than to attack Bruce. But here he was, approaching the gate and waiting to be let in. He was even using the door. Frankly, Jason felt that he deserved a fucking star for what he was about to do.

Then again, he’d get to shout at Bruce. That was probably enough.

Maybe he’d steal one of those fancy vases on his way out. They were probably worth a fortune, just like everything in that stupid fucking house.

“Master Jason,” Alfred’s surprised voice rang out from the speaker. “I can’t say that I was expecting you for dinner tonight.”

“I won’t be here for long,” Jason said, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Just need to have a little chat with the old man.”

“I hope that it will be civil,” Alfred chided. God, Jason could feel his stern gaze from here. It made him want to apologise for something he didn’t do.

“That depends on him,” Jason said as the gate swung open. He revved his motorcycle’s engine, travelling up the fancy driveway and looking at the fancy shrubbery in disgust. Jason remembered the days when he would help Alfred in the gardens.

When Jason saw those Tweets from that Chloé Bourgeois, he couldn’t sit still and do nothing. He also couldn’t threaten the underage daughter of the Mayor of Paris. Jason knew a few people who could actually do something about this, but only one of them would have a lasting impact.

That person was Bruce Wayne.

The front door was pulled open by Alfred. The front parlour was empty, but Jason could hear muffled voices from further into the Manor. Jason smiled at Alfred, because he was the only person in this fucked up family who Jason didn’t somewhat hate, and ventured towards the commotion. As he got closer, the voices became clearer.

“You can’t seriously think that we should let it play out!”

“That’s not what I said, Dick! But this is already a PR nightmare and all of the advisors are telling us to ignore it!”

“What the fuck, Tim?! So you’re saying we should let her experience all of that? You’ve dealt with those vultures first hand! Is that something you want to subject a fifteen year old to? You’ve met her. Do you seriously think she deserves that?!”

“No! But do you know how impossible it would be to discredit Chloé Bourgeois? We could end up starting an international fucking crisis if we go about this the wrong way. That Mayor has way too much authority, so if he wanted to do something fucking ‘unethical’ then he could! We don’t even know how many superheroes they have over there, or what their powers are! I don’t know about you, but I’m not looking to ruin any of our alliances!”

“I highly doubt that insulting a little girl’s honour would demolish our standing in the world, Drake!”

Sometimes his brothers were idiots. That argument would have been avoided if either of them had checked Twitter in the past ten minutes. Jason opened the app, went to Chloé Bourgeois’ Tweet and entered the sitting room. Dick, Tim and Damian were facing off against each other. Dick and Damian were, unsurprisingly, on the same side, while Tim played the devil’s advocate. Bruce sat off to the side, ignoring the argument. Cassandra was leaning against the wall with a small frown on her face. She was the first to notice his presence.

Jason tossed his phone to Tim. “Read that, Replacement. We are not letting Marinette deal with that shitshow by herself. One of you, fix it.”

Bruce frowned. “Jason…”

Tim held up a finger as he scrolled through Twitter. “No, no. I can work with this. Bring Marinette to Wayne Enterprises for a DNA test. That should be enough to prove that she’s Bruce’s. I’ll have to review this footage to see if it’s edited and I want more information on this Rossi girl. She reminded me of Bruce’s groupies when I first met her. I’m willing to bet that she had something to do with this, if Bourgeois’ phone was stolen.” Tim turned around, throwing Jason’s phone back to him and he left the room without another word. Damian scoffed loudly, storming after Tim. Jason suspected he wasn’t finished arguing.

“What are you doing here, Jason?” Bruce asked. Jason saw the tension in his soldiers and knew what Bruce was thinking. 

“I’m not here to kill anyone,” Jason said.

“I never said that,” Bruce said. Jason didn’t miss the way Dick not-so-subtly placed himself between them. Jason raised a single eyebrow. 

“I’m here to make sure that you don’t fuck things up with Marinette.” Bruce looked surprised. What, did he think the Lazarus Pit made him incapable of caring for an innocent kid? Well, Bruce always did think the worst of him.

“I don’t want her involved with this,” Bruce said. 

“This fucked-up version of a family or your nightly activities?” Bruce stared back up at him. Jason scoffed. “Of course.”

“I don’t want her to get hurt─”

“So now you get a conscience,” Jason glowered at Bruce. He flopped onto the couch. “What was it? My death? Or maybe it was because of what happened to Barbara? Or Stephanie? Or─”

“You really think I wanted any of you to get hurt?” Bruce demanded, rising from his armchair. Cassandra tensed. “You think that it didn’t break me to watch my children get hurt again and again?! That if I had the chance, I wouldn’t change anything?!”

“YES!” Jason shouted, lurching forward. “You wouldn’t do a single fucking thing to stop any of that shit from going down! And I know this, because I died and the Joker didn’t!” Bruce flinched back. Jason found his reaction laughable. “What, do you feel guilty that I died?”

“Jason, that’s not fair,” Dick said, rising from his seat. “You didn’t see him afterwards─”

Bruce lowered his head. “I thought I killed him.” Jason paused. “After you died, I─Clark tried to stop me. He probably quoted a few things I’ve said. But I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep. Every time I closed my eyes I saw you, Jason. In those ruins, unmoving. It wasn’t even a heat of the moment thing. I planned to kill the Joker, Jason. And I was sure I did. I threw him off the building, and he landed in a vat of acid… how he survived that, I have no fucking clue.” Bruce’s eyes met Jason’s. They were glistening with… something. ‘Bruce is crying,’ Jason belatedly realised. “I am sorry, Jason. That you died. I never meant─” he broke off.

Jason slowly sat back on the couch. “Oh.”

“If I have the option to keep Sabine’s daughter out of this, then I’ll take it, Jason.” Bruce frowned. “I can’t…”

‘Lose somebody else’ went unsaid.

Something wet landed on Jason’s cheek. Jason ignored the tears in favour of the silence.

Dick and Cassandra shared a look. Neither knew how to react to this situation.

It was Jason who eventually spoke.

“She’s already involved.” He sighed. “She knows who I am.”

Dick frowned. “She knows that you’re Jason Todd or she knows that you’re Red Hood?”

Jason cringed. “Both.” 

Dick looked at him incredulously. “You told her who─”

“No!” Jason exclaimed. “She figured it out from my clothes!” ‘I may have indirectly told her, as well, but they don’t need to know that.’ “She’s smart, B. Real smart. And even if she didn’t know who I was, she’s been involved ever since Vicki Vale stuck her nose where it doesn’t belong.”

Bruce took out his phone, dialed a number and left the room.

“Well,” Dick said. “That went well.”

Jason snorted bitterly. “I’ve never heard him so… emotional.”

“It was genuine,” Cassandra said, dropping into the chair Bruce had once occupied. “I like our sister.”

“You’ve met her?” Dick asked. Cassandra nodded, twisting sideways so that her legs dangled over the armrest and her head lay on the other one.

“So…” Jason needed to get his mind off of this. “What’s up with those French superheroes?”

“Babs and Tim are working on getting past the French security system,” Dick said. “They’ve found a blog that seems promising, but a lot of it is encrypted to us right now. We’ll probably be in by tomorrow morning.” Jason nodded tiredly. God, he needed some fucking coffee. The atmosphere was much too tense for his liking.

He cleared his throat. “Well, I’m just gonna─” he stood, pointing behind him. Dick grabbed his arm.

“Jason,” he said his name very slowly. “I understand that you are as emotionally stunted as the rest of this godforsaken family, but you are not going to fucking leave when you and Bruce have finally had a semi-functional conversation.”

Dick could be really scary sometimes. 

Jason ended up staying the night. But he refused to go to his old room.

That was okay. Baby steps.

“We’d be going to Wayne Enterprises today, anyways,” Marinette reasoned. “Everything will be fine. It’s not like I’m going to have to interact with Bruce Wayne… who is my father… who knows he’s my father… who probably hates me because of those Tweets… oh my God, kill me now!”

“Girl,” Alya laughed, sitting beside her. “Everything will be okay. We’ll be with you every step of the way.” Marinette nodded slowly. Things were still a little awkward between them, but after they’d taken the time to talk things through, they were on the right track.

“Okay,” Adrien said. “Marinette and I are gonna sneak out, now. You guys should probably go with the rest of the class.”

“You sure you don’t want us to come with you?” Alya frowned.

“Two people are less likely to be seen by reporters,” Marinette said. “I’ll be fine. We’ll see you on the bus.”

“If you say so,” Alya said, taking Nino’s hand and dragging him out. Nino made a peace sign as he went. Adrien closed the door behind them. 

“You have it?” Marinette pulled the Fox Miraculous out of her bag. “Right, let’s go.”

It was almost funny to walk out in front of the crowd of reporters without getting noticed. Ah, the perks of being a Guardian. You could use any Miraculous whenever you want.

Marinette took off the necklace when they reached the bus. The driver was too busy playing CandyCrush on his phone to notice anything peculiar about them. Marinette and Adrien took their seats and waited for the rest of the class to arrive.

“That bus ride was way too slow,” Marinette said once they reached Wayne Enterprises. Marinette stood, but a hand landing on her shoulder stopped her. Marinette, Adrien, Chloé and Max waited for the class to file out of the bus before speaking.

“I pinpointed the location of Chloé’s phone,” Max said. “It was in Sabrina’s room.”

“What?” Marinette asked. “But aren’t they in the same room?”

“Chloé had her suite upgraded,” Adrien said. “She let Sabrina keep her old room.”

“Why would Sabrina frame Chloé?” Marinette asked. Chloé didn’t have an answer. Marinette’s eyes widened. “Lila! Of course!”

“What?!” Chloé demanded. “Why would she─”

Adrien groaned. “No, it makes sense.” 

Max nodded. “I have observed that Sabrina would willingly betray Chloé for the offer of friendship.”

“That is true,” Marinette said.

“I─uh─she would never─no!” Chloé shook her head erratically. “There is no way!”

Marinette caught Adrien’s arm. “Stay with Chloé.”

“What? But, Marinette─”

“I’ll be fine,” she said. “We don’t want Chloé to say or do something that would throw everything out of proportion.”

“Are you sure?” he asked. 

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Adrien kissed her cheek and took Chloé’s arm, placating her as they went. 

Marinette inhaled slowly. She could do this. She could definitely do this. Everything will be fine.

As long as nothing unexpected happens. Like being called away by a random employee because Mr. Wayne would like to meet with her.

Fuck.

“It’s okay, Marinette,” Mlle. Bustier smiled down at her. “I’ll be with you the entire time, so everything will be fine.” Marinette was suddenly very thankful for every law that protects her rights as a teenager. She needed a chaperone to meet with Mr. Wayne. That was one of the few good things about this situation.

Marinette inhaled deeply as the door was pushed open.

They’d been brought to a lab of some sort. Timothy Drake-Wayne was hunched over a white desk with a number of metals spread across the surface. Jason reclined in a grey desk chair, casually flicking through a book and Cassandra Cain slumped over his shoulder, scanning the pages with mild interest. Dick Grayson stood tensely, crossing his arms and leaning against a large window. Marinette could see half of Gotham from it. Damian Wayne stood beside Dick, trying to look intimidating as he copied his brother’s stance. Bruce Wayne stood at a desk opposite of Tim’s. His shirt sleeves were pushed up to his elbows and he was talking to an older man.

They really decided to hit her with almost their entire family, didn’t they? Marinette was so thankful to have Mlle. Bustier with her right now.

Cassandra was the first to notice their arrival. Marinette suspected that was a common occurrence. She pushed off of Jason, alerting him to the change and bounced towards Marinette. Mr. Wayne and the older man looked up and suddenly the entire family was staring at her.

“Umm…” Marinette looked at her teacher for assurance. “Hi.”

Jason snickered at that. “You’re shy now.”

Marinette only stuck out her tongue, but the second she realised how childish the action was, she yelped and glared at him. “W-well, I wasn’t aware this was going to happen, a-and I thought I’d─uh─” she found herself looking back at her teacher. Mlle. Bustier only smiled down at her, before staring down Mr. Wayne.

“Mr. Wayne,” Mlle. Bustier inclined her head. “I take it you had a reason for calling my student here?” 

“Yes,” Mr. Wayne said. He didn’t look at Marinette. He just stared back at her teacher. “We would like to conduct a DNA test to verify the situation for the public, before things get too out of control.” Oh. This was all because of those Tweets from Chloé’s phone. It made so much more sense now. They wanted to stop the Media from going any crazier over this and take control of the story. “We’d need your permission, of course.”

“I’ll speak with Marinette about it,” Mlle. Bustier said. “But I’d also like to talk with you about this situation, as well.”

“Of course,” Mr. Wayne said. He smiled and stepped back. “Take all the time you need.”

Mlle. Bustier frowned at the Wayne family before turning back to Marinette. “Would you be alright with getting a DNA test done?”

Would she? It would only verify what she already knew to be a fact. Marinette was Bruce Wayne’s daughter. But to see it… to see the proof on paper? 

That scared Marinette.

But if she didn’t do this, Marinette would only deal with more ridicule and more hatred from the American Media. Marinette didn’t even want to know if her parents were being impacted by this whole situation.

So Ladybug did what Ladybug did best.

She grinned and pretended that everything would be okay.

“Sure,” Marinette beamed up at her teacher. Nobody called her out on how obviously fake her relaxed stance was. “It’ll be fine.”

Marinette sat on one of the white desks as the man Marinette didn’t recognise took out a cotton earbud and needle. Marinette wasn’t afraid of needles. She’d experienced her fair share of injuries.

“I’m Lucius Fox,” the man said. ‘He sounds like Morgan Freeman.’ “What’s yours?”

She found that funny. He definitely knew. “Marinette.”

“Well, Marinette, you are one very brave girl,” he said, injecting the needle into her arm. Marinette frowned at the way he did so. Most medical professionals would make you look away, or distract you. ‘Is he even qualified?’ Marinette was certain that this wasn’t even a proper lab. It was probably used for robotics. Then again, she supposed that this entire procedure would be kept quiet. Only people the Waynes trusted would be present. 

Once all of the samples were taken, Tim took all of them over to a computer and began to run them through some sort of program Marinette didn’t recognise. Mlle. Bustier and Mr. Wayne started discussing the situation. Cassandra dropped into the seat Lucius had once occupied and Jason leaned against the desk Marinette sat on. 

He snorted. “Imagine if it came back negative.”

Marinette couldn’t suppress her laugh. “That would definitely spare me some trouble.” She frowned after a moment. “Don’t DNA tests take a few days, though? There’s no point in waiting around.”

Damian marched up to them, crossing his arms and glaring up at her. Dick followed with an amused smirk. “Wayne Technology is the best to have ever existed. This ‘test’ should be completed in less than five minutes.”

Cassandra stretched, arching up to whisper, “twenty,” in her ear. Marinette hid a grin.

When Marinette looked at Damian, she was reminded of a lion cub. Very aggressive, but seemingly harmless. Although, she wasn’t so convinced that he was harmless.

“How long have you been aware of our blood relation?” Damian asked. His tone was always accusatory. It didn’t matter what you said or did, Damian always seemed convinced that you were up to no good.

“About two months,” Marinette shrugged. Damian glared at her.

“And you didn’t think to inform me during our first meeting?” he demanded.

“I mean, I did think about it,” Marinette said. “But then I thought ‘that family is scary’, so I didn’t?”

Dick laughed quietly, draping himself across Damian’s shoulders. For a family that supposedly hated each other, they sure were touchy-feely. “How are we scary?”

Jason stared at Dick. “Dude, I died.”

“Fair,” Dick said. His shoulders became slightly rigid at that reminder. So nobody liked being reminded about their brother dying. Good to know.

Tim approached them, enclosing their group even further. Marinette was beginning to feel very caged in, but not in a claustrophobic kind of way. It was somewhat nice, to be honest. And this isn’t even the entire family, if what Marinette has read and seen was true. “The results should be back in fifteen minutes,” he said, pushing Damian slightly as he moved into the desk, starting to rummage through the drawers. He picked out a phone with a bright green case. “I’ll confer with the PR Department. We should be able to spin the situation properly, but we’ll need to discredit those Tweets and videos.”

“That’ll be easy,” Dick said. “Just point out that this Rossi girl is clearly the one who posted the Tweets and get some evidence that she’s a liar. It’ll take twelve minutes, tops.”

Marinette snorted. “You have not dealt with the lies of Lila Rossi. It’d be impossible for you to prove she’s a liar.”

Tim frowned. “Could… anybody else prove it?”

A few names came to mind.

“Definitely,” Marinette said. “But I’d need to make a few phone calls for that.” She reached for her phone, but Jason stopped her.

“You’re rubbing off on her, Replacement,” he directed at Tim. “Marinette, take a few minutes to relax. Or else you’ll turn into everyone else in this family. A complete workaholic with no self preservation instinct.”

Tim scoffed. “You say that like it doesn’t include you.”

“That’s because it─”

Dick coughed into his fist. “Bullshit.”

“Says the guy who fights crime during the day and─”

Damian kicked Jason. Jason acted as if he were going to hit Damian, but instead of flinching back like most siblings would whenever their brother was being an asshole, he copied the movement and glared at Jason. “Would you like to die again, Todd?”

“It would spare me having to interact with you, Demon Spawn.”

Marinette glanced at Cassandra, who was quietly giggling. “Is that normal?”

“Yes,” Cassandra said, grinning. Damian tried to punch Jason again, but Dick caught his arm and pushed him towards Cassandra. Cassandra held her brother and Damian didn’t fight it. He stayed still, glaring at Jason.

Marinette moved back on the table, crossing her legs and sitting on them. She couldn’t help but stare at these people. One of them was her biological brother. That was so strange. Marinette had always been an only child. The most experience she’d had with siblings and their antics was when she’d babysit for Alya or Nino. It was so strange, yet… nice. Marinette liked these people and their weird relationships with each other. She’d never expected this, but she didn’t hate it. But it was a bit much.

Marinette breathed very carefully. In through her nose, out through her mouth. She repeated the action over and over again, but it didn’t change her need to get away. Still, she ignored her feelings and decided to go on her phone to distract herself. She opened Twitter.

…

…

…

…

…

Oh.

“Where’s the bathroom?” she asked. 

Dick had been reprimanding Damian, so he didn’t glance at her when he said, “Two rooms to the left.”

Marinette was gone in seconds, sprinting away from these people who were apparently her family and locking herself in the bathroom. She didn’t notice the open window, but as she inhaled and exhaled, nothing changed as thoughts started hurtling about in her mind.

‘You don’t fit.’

‘They don’t want you.’

‘The results will come back negative.’

‘They’ll hate you.’

‘They’ll see just how useless you truly are.’

‘He doesn’t want to be your father.’

‘They’ll turn their backs on you.’

‘They’ll abandon you.’

‘They’ll fall for Lila’s lies.’

‘They won’t ever love you.’

So caught up in her mind was she that she didn’t even notice as Tikki tried to calm her down. She didn’t hear the frantic knocks on her door and she didn’t notice when a purple butterfly flapped its wings outside of the open window.

Hawkmoth couldn’t help the malicious grin on his face. This was what he’d been waiting for. Marinette Cheng hadn’t been ready for his akuma, but now…

Now, she was perfect.

“It’s time.”

Bruce’s head snapped up when Marinette raced from the room. 

“What did you do?” he demanded, glaring at all of his children. The only one who definitely wasn’t the cause of this was Cass. 

“Nothing!”

“It was Todd!”

“It’s not my fault!”

“Damian was the one attacking people!”

“Mr. Wayne, control your children,” Mlle. Bustier said, taking out her phone. She quickly dialed a number. “Armand, hi. Could you send Adrien up? Yeah. Uh-uh. Floor forty-three. Okay. Yeah. Tell him to be quick.” Mlle. Bustier hurried from the room. She started knocking on the door. Marinette didn’t answer. Bruce could hear a quiet voice from inside. 

Thirty seconds passed. Mlle. Bustier frantically pounded on the door. Bruce was debating breaking it down when a blonde boy he vaguely recognised as the son of Gabriel Agreste came running.

“Is she in there?” Agreste demanded from his teacher. She nodded, to which Adrien asked, “how long?”

“About forty seconds.”

“Shit.” Agreste looked at Bruce. “Can I break this down?”

“Why?” Damian glared at the boy. Bruce frowned at his son, but he could also understand his wariness.

“Hawkmoth’s probably still here and he’s been gunning for Marinette for a while and you know how she is when she gets overwhelmed.” Agreste directed the statement at Mlle. Bustier, pulling a glass jar out of his bag. “Can I break this door down?”

“Yes.” Bruce was certain he wouldn’t be able, so he was prepared to do it himself when the boy failed. 

“Thank you.” Agreste smiled tightly, rearing back and kicking the door. It swung open, to everyone’s surprise. 

Marinette sat in the middle of the floor. She seemed to be having a panic attack. A purple butterfly was hovering just over her ear. It seemed fixated on her earrings. 

Agreste spurred into action, pulling Marinette back and trapping the insect in the jar. He screwed the glass lid on tightly, setting the jar off to the side. He took hold of Marinette’s face and started his attempt to calm her down. His very presence seemed to help her.

Bruce couldn’t say he was surprised at Marinette’s reaction. This whole situation must’ve been very difficult and overwhelming for her, and Marinette didn’t have a person she was too familiar with by her side to help her. All of his children had definitely met Marinette individually, but the change in affairs that happened so quickly couldn’t have been good for her mental health. Not to mention all of the ridicule she was facing from the Media and she was definitely being tormented by at least one of her classmates.

“He won’t be able to send another akuma for a while,” Agreste said. “Ladybug will need to purify it and Hawkmoth can’t recall it when it’s trapped. Then he’ll need to recharge.” Agreste wrapped his arms around Marinette as her breathing evened out. She kept her tight grip on his shirt. “Mlle. Bustier, I have a request.”

The woman’s eyes narrowed. “If you are asking what I think you are, then I won’t give my permission.” Agreste stared back at her. “But, since you haven’t asked, I cannot deny you permission, either. Quite the paradox, really, Adrien.” So that was his name.

Adrien smiled, ducking his head. “Then I won’t ask permission, Mlle.”

Bruce didn’t want to know what they were hinting at.

Adrien slipped his hand into Marinette’s pocket, taking out her phone and inputting the password.  His eyes widened in realisation. Bruce could see the screen’s reflection in the window. She had been on Twitter. This suddenly made a lot more sense. 

Tim arrived back at the bathroom. “Those were the DNA results,” he said. 

To nobody's surprise, they were positive.

Bruce Wayne was officially the biological father of Marinette Cheng.

Marinette woke up to an empty room. It was fancier than a lot of rooms she’d seen─Chloé’s didn’t compare. Gold lined the expensive drapes that circled the brown four-poster bed she was lying in. The walls were panelled with dark wood and paintings of mountains and nature were hung up on the wall. A royal blue armchair was in the corner of the room─occupied by a lone figure.

Marinette blinked, scrambling back on the bed. It took her a moment to realise just who had been watching her.

“M-Mr. Wayne?!”

His gaze sharpened as he zeroed in on her. He smiled. “Miss Cheng.”

Okay? Marinette cleared her throat. “Where am I?” she asked.

“Wayne Manor,” he said. Marinette waited for him to say “Just kidding” or literally anything, but he merely stared back at her.

“Why?”

“Your… boyfriend said that it wouldn’t be good to return to your hotel, because of the reporters milling about. I offered to let you and your class come here until you can go back.”

“Right.” Marinette looked around the room. She’d never seen a place that looked so nice but was also devoid of anything tangible. “So… nice place you got here.”

“Yes,” Mr. Wayne said. “My butler designed this room.”

“Ah. Well.” She shifted, looking at the red drapes above her. Marinette has always liked the colour red. It was the colour of her suit. It was a very interesting colour and a great thing to study right now. Oh, God. She couldn’t take it anymore. ”How nice of him.”

“Yes. He has good taste.” Mr. Wayne was probably as lost as she was here.

“So,” Marinette bit the inside of her cheek. “You’re my dad.”

Mr. Wayne tensed considerably. His jaw set as he stared back at her. “Yes.”

“Cool. That’s cool,” she said. “I-I mean, not that it wouldn’t be cool if you weren’t my dad, Mr. Wayne, because you’re Bruce Wayne and you’re like a superhero, but─uh, that doesn't mean I think you’re a superhero because you’re Bruce Wayne… but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be totally cool if you were a superhero, either, because superheroes are cool and you're… cool. Sir.” Marinette blushed crimson. Okay, maybe she didn’t like red. “I’ll just, uh, shut up now.”

Mr. Wayne started chuckling. Really? Marinette nearly had a heart attack while telling him that he was cool and he was laughing at her misfortune? Maybe he wasn’t so cool after all. “Marinette,” Mr. Wayne said, standing from his seat. He approached her and his foot falls sounded like glass shattering. He put a hand on her shoulder, smiling kindly. His smiles were always kind. Marinette couldn’t help but stare at the offending limb on her shoulder. You couldn’t tell from pictures, but Mr. Wayne had a lot of scars on his hand. Marinette had scars on her hands, too. A lot of them were from when she’d first started sewing. A lot of accidents back then. And Marinette never used her cure for things that didn’t involve akumas, so she ended up getting injured and scarred a lot more when she’d try stopping a random robber in an alley. And Marinette was also clumsy, so… yeah. Lots of scars. She wondered where Mr. Wayne got his scars from. “Call me Bruce.”

“O-oh.” She swallowed. “Okay, Bruce.” 

Bruce looked like he was about to say something else, but then he let go of her shoulder and turned around. “Come with me. Your classmates are worried about you.” He opened the door quickly and stepped outside. Marinette scrambled off of the bed, hurrying to follow the billionaire. His pace was slower than that day they’d been at the new Wayne Enterprise Laboratory.

Her class was gathered in a very big sitting room with the rest of the Wayne family. Two women Marinette recognised as Barbara Gordon and Stephanie Brown, sat in the room. Marinette could vaguely recall that Barbara Gordon had been attacked by the Joker, so she had to use a wheelchair now. Nobody really knew how Stephanie Brown was a part of this family. She’d dated Tim Drake at one point, but they were clearly still friends, or else they wouldn’t be sitting so comfortably with each other. Stephanie’s arm was wrapped in a bright cast.

Adrien was the first up. She wasn’t surprised and she didn’t fight when he took her arm and led her back into the hallway, ignoring the calls from their classmates. Marinette knew how much she scared Adrien when she had nearly been akumatized. The class could wait. 

Adrien pulled her into a hug, and they stayed in that position for a while. The Joker could probably attack right now and Marinette wouldn’t even care. She was so content in Adrien’s arms and the knowledge that he’d never let her go.

Marinette reluctantly pulled away. She opened her mouth, but Adrien beat her to the chase. “Don’t apologise.”

“What?”

“You’re going to apologise for getting upset and nearly being akumatized. Don’t. I won’t let you.”

“You can’t stop me, either.”

“I won’t listen,” Adrien said. “Marinette, your reaction was understandable. Nobody can blame you for getting upset. That wasn’t your fault.”

“You told me to stay off Social Media,” she muttered.

“And? How many times have I done what I was told?” Marinette only needed one hand to count that. “Exactly. Marinette, if it’s anyone’s fault, it’s Lila’s for getting Sabrina to steal Chloé’s phone and lying about you. We all know the circumstances of those incidents and what really happened in those videos. Besides, we’re dealing with it.”

Marinette paused. “What do you mean by that?”

Adrien looked around. He leaned forwards and whispered, “I’ll tell you later.”

“What? Adrien, no─” 

He clamped his hand on her mouth and pointed in the direction of the room they’d just come from. He then pointed at his ears and mouthed, “Eavesdroppers.” Marinette’s eyes widened. She slowly nodded, so he retracted his hand. “We should probably get back. I think Alya’s waiting to pounce on you.”

“Is that meant to encourage me?” Marinette didn’t move. She murmured, “the akuma?”

“I’ll get it to you later,” he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as they walked back to the room. More than half of her class and three of her newfound siblings were attempting to casually sit in their chairs, pretending that there wasn’t a single problem in the world.

Alya shot up. She was probably faster than the Apollo 13. Marinette stumbled backwards from the force of Alya’s body colliding with her own. Even Adrien let out a sharp breath from the sheer wall that was Alya Césaire when she had something in mind. Alya started rambling quickly. Marinette couldn’t make out what she was saying, so she settled on simply patting Alya on the back and assuring her that she was okay. 

“Well then,” Mssr. D’Argencourt shot to his feet. “It appears that the period of waiting is over! We shall now return to our lodgings and stop trodding on the toes of this fine family.”

“Yes,” Mlle. Bustier said. She smiled tightly. “That being said, I’ve spoken with Marinette’s Mother, Stepfather and Mr. Wayne and we’ve decided that, for her safety, she should be staying here for the remainder of the trip.” Instantly, the babbling started. Adrien tensed beside her. “And,” Mlle. Bustier continued, turning sharp eyes on her students. “Because the situation is so unfamiliar for Marinette, we’ve decided to let Adrien stay with her for the time being, possibly the entire trip. I’ve already conferred with Mssr. Agreste.” No way. She definitely didn’t talk to Gabriel. It was probably Nathalie who she talked to. “They’ll still be going to the same places as us, but they will be arriving by a different car.” Lila opened her mouth to speak. Mlle. Bustier didn’t give her the chance to speak. “That is the end of the discussion. Say your goodbyes, everyone.”

Alya still hadn’t let go of Marinette. “Alya,” she gasped, exaggerating just a bit. “Need… to… breathe…” Alya finally set her free. “Thank you.”

“If you’re gonna stay here, then call me tonight,” she said. “I need to make sure they’re treating you right.” Alya turned to Adrien. “You better protect her, Sunshine.”

Adrien grinned. “On the very slim chance that she doesn’t pulverize anyone who disrespects her, I’ll step in, Alya. Don’t worry.”

“Hmm. I like that word. Pulverize.” She turned back to Marinette. “Pulverize anyone who disrespects you, Mari. If you don’t, I’ll sic Sunshine on them.”

Kim looked skeptical. “I’m not sure that that’s─” Alix elbowed him in the gut.

“Dude, he broke a door down just to get into the bathroom. He’s fucking strong.” Marinette wasn't even going to point out that that wasn’t exactly true.

“What about our stuff?” Marinette asked. If she was going to do this, she’d need her sketchbook… and her clothes. She heard the quiet whisper of ‘Camembert’ and knew she wasn’t the only person with that on her mind.

“We sent someone over to get your stuff a while ago,” Mr. Wa─Bruce said. “Your bags are already upstairs, don’t worry.”

“Oh.” Marinette looked at Adrien. They both definitely had things stashed away in their rooms that hadn’t been found. “Thanks.” She’d tell Alya where her cookie stash was and ask her to deliver it tomorrow. Adrien would probably ask the equivalent of Nino.

And so they said their goodbyes and two students of Collège François Dupont were left behind in Wayne Manor.

Marinette looked at the Waynes.

This was going to be a long week.

After Marinette had purified the akuma, they called Alya. Surprisingly, she and Nino were not the only people in the room. Max and Chloé were also in view of the camera and she could hear voices in the background. Kim and Alix. Nino was absentmindedly scrolling on his phone, his head in Alya’s lap.

“Why are so many people in there, Alya?” she asked, looking skeptically at her classmates.

“Because,” Alya answered. “All of us know that Lila is a dirty liar and want to do something about it.”

Adrien looked equally as confused as she did. “When did Kim and Alix─”

“Max,” they chorused. That was enough of an explanation. When the smart kid tells you you’re being an idiot, you believe them. Especially when he’s your boyfriend.

“What do you mean by ‘something’?” Marinette asked.

Nino lifted his head from Alya’s lap. “Just know, Max is scary.”

“I mean, yeah, but huh?”

And so, they explained. And they planned. They were just about to finish enacting one of the stages of their plan when a rap sounded at the door.

“What are you two doing in there?”

“Uh─” Marinette looked back at the camera. Their plan was probably illegal. She didn’t know many American laws. “Sex!”

Her classmates stopped what they were doing to stare at her. Adrien buried his face in a blanket to smother his laughter. The door slowly opened to reveal Dick Grayson. He leaned against the door frame, bemusement written all over his face.

“How illegal is it if ‘sex’ is the best lie you can come up with?”

Adrien raised his head from the blanket. “Scale from one to ten?”

Dick stared at them in complete astonishment. “You know what? I don’t even want to know. Dinner’s ready.” He left without another word, leaving the teenagers to die from laughter. It was a very painful fate.

“This will be ready by tomorrow night. Your interview was fine until...” Max snorted. “Would you really be able to get an interview with Ladybug and Chat Noir?”

“We think we know a place where they’ll be tonight,” Marinette said.

“Alright,” Max said. “Make sure to send it on.”

“Will do,” Adrien saluted him and ended the call. “I really hope he told the entire family about what you just said, Princess.”

“I will jump off of the Eiffel Tower,” Marinette said. “Like, really. The mortification would kill me.”

Marinette met Alfred, the family’s butler, who is genuinely the most patient man Marinette has ever met.

Nothing except awkward pleasantries and small talk was exchanged for the first five minutes of dinner. Stephanie Brown pushed her brussel sprouts around and looked at Marinette.

“So,” she said. “‘Sex’.”

Marinette blushed crimson as Adrien hid a grin. Bruce looked at them in confusion and Jason copied Stephanie’s look. One that promised torment. Dick wore the same bemused expression and Tim was seemingly not paying attention. Cassandra studied them intently. Barbara was silently laughing. Damian looked between them with creased eyebrows. ‘Does he even… wait, no. He’s twelve. Of course he does. Probably.’

Bruce frowned. “Stephanie.”

“Don’t even ask me to explain, B. Ask your daughter.” Marinette didn’t know why it made her feel warm inside when Bruce immediately glanced at her with a single elevated eyebrow. 

“Before you ask, no, we were not having─” her blush darkened. “─sex.”

Jason grinned deviously. “So what were you doing?”

“I think this is where we give an excuse like ‘summoning Satan’,” Adrien commented. Marinette kicked him under the table.

She rolled her eyes. “We were just facetiming our friends,” Marinette said. Which was true. They were also planning to destroy Lila’s reputation. But they were facetiming them while planning.

Jason pointed his fork at them. “And planning something illegal. What is it?”

“I’m not even sure that it is illegal,” Adrien said. He looked thoughtful. 

Marinette was going to stab someone with her fork.

Tim observed the table. “You know, this isn’t even the strangest interaction I’ve had with this family. One time, Damian─”

Damian’s head lifted. His murderous glare was now focused on Tim. Marinette suspected that they fought a lot. “Interesting you say such a thing, Drake. I believe the only reason that you are present at this table was because you wormed your way into Father’s good graces while he was in mourning and vulnerable.” He paused. “Not that Father has ever been vulnerable, of course.” 

“Damian, Tim,” Bruce glared at them.

“No, no, let them continue,” Jason grinned. “I want to see who starts throwing knives first.”

Stephanie rolled her eyes. “The assassin, obviously.” ‘Assassin?!’

“Yeah, but Replacement’s a sensitive soul.”

Barbara snorted, taking a sip from her wine. “I’ve never heard such bullshit in my life.”

“Language,” Bruce reprimanded, momentarily distracted from the bickering boys. He didn’t even turn around when he said, “Damian, drop the knife.”

Damian glared at Tim. “You, me, training room, tonight.”

“Bring it, Demon Spawn,” Tim shot back. This was an uncharacteristic display of childishness... or was it? She couldn't quite tell.

Adrien glanced at her. “I think your family might be weirder than mine.” And Adrien’s family was fucking weird.

Cassandra tapped Marinette on the shoulder. “What is…” she frowned. “...Sex?”

Oh God. Fuck no. This was not happening. No. Marinette wasn’t meant to deal with this for at least twenty years. God… how do you even…?

Bruce coughed awkwardly. “I’ll tell you later, Cass.” She grinned, bouncing in her seat, signing something to Bruce. He only nodded back in reply. Marinette didn’t envy her da─Bruce.

Dick turned back to Marinette. “Maybe they really were having sex.” He glanced at Jason before continuing, his lip twitching ever so slightly. “You’re both being safe, right?”

“Yeah,” Jason said. “And you’ve both had the talk? When a man and a woman love each other very much─”

Dick wasn’t finished. “What size condom do you wear? Medium or large? I think I have some cherry flavoured ones out back.”

“Is your prescription up to date?” Jason asked. “We know a great doctor─”

Stephanie reached across the table, taking Marinette’s hand. “You know that you can change your mind at any time. Consent is very important.” 

Marinette immediately let go of her hand. She dropped her head down. “I’ve known some of you for less than a week and I want to decapitate you with a neon yellow toothbrush.”

Adrien coughed awkwardly, his cheeks flushed red. “W-we’re not─uh─having… um…”

Jason raised his hands in defeat. “So what were you doing?”

“Father,” Damian started. “Why have you adopted these buffoons?”

Bruce stared at the table’s occupants impassively. “I’m beginning to wonder why I ever had children in the first place.”

Dick flicked his hair back. “My charms are irresistible, B. Sorry, you never stood a chance.” He suddenly looked thoughtful. “But you really should’ve stopped at one kid.”

“Oh my God,” Tim started laughing. “Imagine if Richard Grayson inherited Wayne Enterprises.”

“The world would go up in flames,” Barbara said. Dick looked at her in mock offense, but she merely held her glass to her lips. “I said what I said.”

“I believe,” Bruce started. “That we are all finished with our dinner. I believe all of you should go to your rooms and put down the fork, Damian.” Damian slowly dropped the silver fork. “Thank you. None of you are to fight or tease each other. Now, go.”

Somehow, they managed to escape from dinner without exposing their entire plan. A miracle, truly.

This family fucking drained her.

She liked it.

Weird.

Marinette couldn’t sit still. Every time she tried to relax in her room, it felt like she was being stabbed with a spork. Mlle. Bustier had suggested that she stay with the Waynes until this whole situation was resolved, so she couldn’t go on the trips around Gotham for a while. That meant she couldn’t get to Alya, and therefore, Tikki’s cookie stash. Adrien promised to get her stuff off of Alya, but he wouldn’t be back for hours and her poor kwami was starving.

Mind made up, Marinette marched downstairs. She needed to find a kitchen. 

It wasn’t too difficult, she just followed the sounds of unpleasant conversation. Tim and Damian were bickering in a bland sitting room. The only attraction was a pretty vase with gold and black inscriptions. It looked ancient. Marinette had once thought Tim was so mature. Now she saw that he was just as immature as everybody else in this house. Maybe not Bruce. Or Cassandra. Tim was holding a remote away from Damian, who looked downright murderous. ‘Shouldn’t he be in school?’

They stopped grappling over the remote when they noticed her arrival. Damian clambered away from Tim, glaring at him with something that wasn’t quite hatred in his eyes.

“Marinette,” Tim smiled. Dark bags encircled his eyes. She wasn’t sure if he even knew what ‘sleeping’ entailed. “What’s up?”

She looked pointedly at his hand, which was still holding a remote aloft. Damian seemed ready to pounce whenever his brother relaxed. Tim tossed his legs onto the couch. “Can I use the kitchen?” 

“Sure,” Tim shrugged. “Through that door to the right.” Marinette nodded. Tim threw the remote off to the other side of the room. She faintly heard glass shattering when she passed through the door. It was somewhat amusing to listen to them when they started blaming each other for breaking a vase.

The kitchen was empty when Marinette arrived. She rummaged through the presses and found all of the necessary equipment. Well, macarons weren’t that difficult. She’d make Tikki’s favourite. 

Marinette lost herself in the process of baking. What she liked about it was that because it was so manual, she couldn’t let her mind wander because she was focused on having the exact amount of  flour and she couldn’t put in too much sugar or else Tikki would hate them.

She didn’t even notice when the door opened and when Alfred walked in. He paused, watching her as she added the exact amount of food colouring into the batter. She started to stir the dough around in the mixing bowl when she noticed the old man’s eyes on her.

Marinette jumped, yelping loudly and dropping the bowl onto the counter. Nothing spilled, thankfully. 

“I─I─uh─”

“Miss Cheng, what are you doing?” the butler asked. He sounded curious, not angry. Yet.

Marinette grinned, showing more teeth than was necessary. “I’m… making cookies?”

“I can see that,” Alfred said. He looked slightly amused. Alfred observed Marinette’s tense stance and smiled, turning back around. “Leave the kitchen in the way you found it.”

“Y-yes! I will!” Marinette forced a chuckle. 

Marinette soon had the cookies in the oven and started to wash the dishes she used. As she did, Tikki floated into the room. She hid in Marinette’s shirt.

“I was exploring and I found something strange,” Tikki said.

“What is it?” she asked, looking over her shoulder every few seconds. This family was quiet. They managed to sneak up on her so many times already and she didn’t want to be overheard.

“There was a secret entrance to a basement,” Tikki said as Marinette turned off the water. She picked up a towel, drying off the dishes. “I went in there and it was weird.”

“Weird?” Marinette absently asked. She couldn’t afford to be caught with Tikki right now.

“The basement was a cave and there were a lot of computers in there. And the costumes belonged to─” Marinette shushed her kwami. She could hear voices approaching.

Dick, Jason and Cassandra walked in. Dick was grinning widely as he entered. “Alfred, what are you making that smells so─Marinette!”

“Hi,” she waved shyly.

“You know, this makes so much more sense,” Jason commented, leaning against a counter. “Alfred wouldn’t make something so sweet for no reason. Especially at this time.” Cassandra laughed, hopping onto a stool. 

Dick looked at Marinette in confusion. “You can bake?”

“Her parents own a bakery,” Jason snorted. “I’d be surprised if she couldn’t bake.”

“What are you making?” Cassandra asked. That might’ve been the longest sentence Marinette heard from her. She smiled. 

“Macarons,” she said. All she got in return were three blank stares. “They’re a type of cookie.” Speaking of, they were finished. She dropped the tray onto the stove. She had to let them cool. “Where’s Bruce?”

“Work,” Dick said. “The rest of us had to take time off of work and school because of…” he waved around vaguely. 

“Oh,” Marinette said. “Well, um, I have to take care of all of this, so if you could…'' She made shooing motions with her hands.

Dick gasped dramatically. “You’ve been here for less than a day and you’re already taking over our kitchen! What’s next, our rooms?”

Nobody ever said Dick was funny. Jason hit him over the head as he said, “make sure this place is spotless. One time, Dick─”

Dick dragged Jason away. “We agreed never to speak of that again!”

“That was before you became a lame asshole.”

“I am not lame.”

“We’ll put it to a vote at dinner.”

“Where we’ll decide that I’m not lame!”

Cassandra giggled quietly as she went. She turned to Marinette and pointed at Dick. “Lame,” she whispered. Marinette couldn’t help her own grin.

When they were gone, it was time to add the filling. As she did so, she looked down at her kwami. “What were you talking about before, Tikki? There were costumes?”

“Yes,” Tikki said. “I saw a bunch of costumes, including Batman's.” Marinette froze. She stared down at Tikki.

“No way.”

“I definitely saw it, Marinette.” Tikki stared up at her. She wasn’t lying. “I can bring you, if you want.”

Marinette sighed. She dropped half of the macarons into her purse and deposited the rest on a plate. She started to clean the last few dishes. “I believe you, Tikki. It’s just… wow.” She looked back at the kwami. “It makes sense. If Jason is Red Hood, then of course Bruce is Batman. That makes Dick Nightwing, Tim Red Robin and Damian Robin. Black Bat would be Cassandra and… that makes Stephanie Spoiler. And Nightwing said her arm was broken, which was why she wasn’t at the fight. Oh my God, it makes perfect sense.”

These people were superheroes. Not only were they superheroes, but they were superheroes who Marinette had interacted with because she was also a superhero! 

Holy fuck. Shit. Bad. This is bad. There is no way she’d be able to hide her identity now! If Bruce Wayne was also Batman, that made him the World’s Greatest Detective and how could she hide anything from Batman!

Oh, she was so dead.

Tikki looked up at Marinette. “Why are you upset, Marinette? If your family are also superheroes, then that means they’ll understand you and won’t try to stop you from fighting Hawk Moth!”

That… was true.

But that didn’t mean Marinette was going to tell them her secret identity. The fact that Adrien knew was bad enough. This would be fine. Nobody would find out that she was Ladybug or that Adrien was Chat Noir because she wasn’t going to let anybody find out.

“I’m just…” Marinette swallowed. “Going to pretend this never happened. Yeah. That’s a healthy coping mechanism.”

Marinette will not be accepting constructive criticism. 

Marinette sat in her room, scrolling through her phone. She avoided anything that involved her or the Waynes, which was easy if she didn’t go onto Twitter. She was scrolling through an Instagram page dedicated to Percy Jackson when a knock sounded on her door. Marinette frowned. 

“Come in,” she called, placing her phone beside her. The door slowly opened to reveal Bruce. “Oh. Hi.”

“Hi,” Bruce said. He made his way into the room, standing still and staring her down. “How are you?”

“Good,” Marinette pressed her lips together. “Good.”

“I’m glad,” Bruce said. “I heard that you were baking.”

“Yeah, macarons,” she said. “I left some in the kitchen. Did you…?”

He smiled. “No. The boys got to them before I had the chance.”

“Oh. I’ll have to make more then. I mean, that is, if you want to try them. You don’t have to, it was just a suggestion, but um, yeah.”

Bruce sat at the foot of her bed. “I’d love to try your baking, Marinette,” he said. She couldn’t help the smile that blossomed onto her face. “You like baking. What else do you do? Draw? Write? Play sports?”

“Um, I run. A lot.” Kind of necessary when fighting akumas. “And I love designing.”

“Clothes or architecture?” he asked.

“Clothes,” Marinette said. “I make most of my own clothes.”

“Your boyfriend is the son of Gabriel Agreste.”

“Dick.” Marinette couldn’t help but mutter. She flushed red when she realised what she just said. “Not that─I don’t think you’re a dick and I wasn’t saying Dick’s name and it’s not that I think he’s a dick but he’s just a really bad parent and he’s kind of a dick and I’m gonna stop saying dick now. Please don’t tell him I said that.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell.” Bruce flashed a grin at her. “Besides, I always thought he was a bit of a dick, anyways.”

Marinette started at Bruce. She never expected those words to come out of his mouth. “Um… I could show you my designs. If you’d like. You don’t have to, of course.”

Bruce sat up a little straighter. “I would love to see your designs, Marinette.” She sat still for a second before grabbing her sketchbook off the dresser and moving a little closer to him. “Personally, I can’t even draw a stickman, so you’ve gotten no luck from me in this department…” Bruce trailed off as he started flicking through the book. Marinette tracked his eyes and the way they took in every detail before moving onto the next design. He frowned at two pages in particular. “I’ve seen these before.”

Marinette leaned forward, looking at the design. “Oh, yeah.” This was one of her most famous designs. “I made the dress for Penny Rolling. You know when she and Jagged Stone got engaged? He asked for my help. He wanted me to make her an outfit that would be perfect for getting engaged on tour and I always designed Jagged’s clothes, but these ones needed to be extra special, you know?”

“You’re very accomplished, Marinette,” Bruce complimented. He turned to look at her fully. His eyes flicked to her ear, but he met her eyes again half a second later. He smiled. “I’m proud of you.”

Marinette’s cheeks burned as she ducked her head. She was glad to know that. “Thank you.”

Bruce nodded and turned back to the sketchbook. He flicked to the next page and laughed. “There has to be a story behind this one.”

She looked at the page and groaned. Loudly.

Oh, there was a story, alright.

The moral of the story was to never promise to make a custom dress for Manon. She was very, very specific in her demands.

Marinette also learned that only so many places sell green glitter.

That evening, she and Adrien made up a random excuse to skip dinner. She locked her door and watched as the information was released, one person after another. Since Wayne Enterprises had released the DNA test earlier this evening, their story was bound to be believed and therefore, Lila was bound to go down.

This was going to be brilliant.

The seconds on her watch ticked down. Adrien refreshed the website’s page. Alya’s newest blog was gaining traction by the second. Promotion by celebrities like Jagged Stone and Gabriel’s most famous model would certainly make a website more popular. People were eagerly awaiting to see what so many famous people were posting about.

Marinette took out her phone, sending one last Tweet.

MCheng @MarinetteCheng · 3s

Check out @Ladyblogger ‘s newest website for some clarity on @ChloeBourgeois ‘s tweets

[Link]

It was a simple thing, really, but it did the job. Likes and retweets flooded her inbox almost instantly as the website started gaining even more viewers.

Marinette turned to Adrien. “It wasn’t that illegal… was it?” She didn’t want to get arrested immediately after exposing Lila.

He grinned. “Not that anyone will ever know.”

That was reassuring.

Marinette left the website, which was still counting down, and opened her inbox. It was time.

Jagged Stone’s face was the first person to show up on the screen. He was facetiming Alya. “Well, if it isn’t my favourite niece’s best friend! What’s up, little Ladyblogger?”

Alya ignored the camera as she spoke. “Mr. Stone, have you ever heard of a girl named Lila Rossi?”

Jagged’s brow creased. “Lila Rossi? Lie-la Rossi? No, never heard of that. Is it a new brand?”

“To be clear, your cat has never been saved by a teenaged girl who you, in turn, wrote a song about as thanks?”

“A cat?!” Jagged demanded in outrage. “I’ve never touched one of those stinking creatures! And what’s this about me writing a song about a teenager?!”

“Nothing, apparently.” Alya looked at the camera. “Strike one.”

The footage switched to show an angry Chloé, a sheepish Sabrina and Max, who looked very uncomfortable with the atmosphere.

Chloé’s arms were crossed. “Well? Go on.”

Sabrina glanced between Chloé and the camera a few times. Eventually, she slumped and confessed. “I stole Chloé’s phone because Lila asked me. She told me she wanted to be friends with me, but I had to help her with a prank on Marinette, first. Lila asked me to Tweet those things from Chloé’s account.”

Chloé stared at her. “And?”

“And she gave me footage to cut and put together. She told me to only put in the parts where Marinette was insulting her and not to include anything else.”

Max looked at the camera. “Here are the clips that were posted from Chloé’s account.”

“She doesn't have tinnitus!”

“Lila’s just a liar!”

“I’m not giving my seat up to Lila!”

“Hey, Lila! Catch this!”

“She’s the one who cheated! Not me!”

“Lila framed me!”

“I didn’t push her down the stairs!”

The camera panned back to show Max, Chloé and Sabrina. “It’s curious how Lila got these recordings,” Max mused. “It’s almost like she was anticipating that Marinette wouldn’t believe her. Anyways, here are the full versions of the clips.”

The camera showed videos of events that happened in Marinette’s past. She still wasn’t sure how Lila got those videos. When the scenes were finished, a medical chart was on the screen. Certain information was blacked out.

“This is Lila’s medical chart,” Max said. “As you can see, Lila doesn’t have half of the illnesses she claims to have. For those curious, here is the complete list of illnesses Lila says that she’s had.” Many, many, many different types of illnesses appeared onscreen. 

Alya’s face appeared. “Strike two.”

The next cut revealed her and Adrien’s faces. 

“This is awkward,” Marinette muttered before clearly registering that she was being recorded. “Oh! Um, hi?” Adrien snorted beside her. Marinette glared at him.

Alya’s voice sounded from behind the camera. “So we have some questions about your relationships with Lila.”

“‘Relationship’ is such a nice word,” Adrien said. “It implies that Lila didn’t break into my house or get Mari expelled.”

“We’ll get to that,” Alya said. “Can you two tell me about the first times you both realised Lila was a liar?”

“Sure,” Marinette shrugged. She froze. “Wait, this is legal, right? Like, I thought there was an info block, or something?”

Marinette paused the video. “Why didn’t they cut all of my awkward moments?” she asked.

“Because you’re adorable,” Adrien grinned. Marinette blushed and let the interview resume.

“Chloé got her dad to lift it,” Alya said. “Everybody knows about Ladybug and Chat Noir now.”

“Hm, okay,” Marinette glanced at Adrien. “We both learned that Lila was a liar at the same time.”

“Lila and I were in the park together and Ladybug decided to call Lila out in broad daylight,” Adrien nodded. “She’d been lying about being friends with Ladybug to our class and about a bunch of other things and since that was really dangerous, Ladybug decided to get involved.”

“It wasn’t one of Ladybug’s finest moments,” Marinette said. Adrien frowned. “Lila later got akumatized into Volpina.” 

“Why were you there, Marinette?” Alya asked.

Marinette frowned. “Adrien had taken this really cool book that belonged to his dad. He seemed to be really interested in it, but Lila stole it and read through it. She later trashed the book, but I found it. Adrien was freaking out and his dad was really angry. He even pulled Adrien out of school. I returned the book to him and told him that I’d taken the book because I didn’t want him to get in any more trouble.”

“So, Lila got akumatized and didn’t return to class for another few months,” Adrien said. “When she did, though, our class decided that it would be a good idea to rearrange the seating charts without asking Marinette for her opinion and pushing her to the back, by herself.”

“When I came in, I was really excited, because I thought that I’d be sitting at the front, next to Adrien.” She blushed. Adrien wrapped an arm around her waist. “But then I was told that I’d be sitting at the back and Lila would be with Adrien. I got… angry. It wasn’t specifically because I was at the back, but because everybody decided to do all of that without considering my opinion and then everybody decided that there was no way Lila could lie because she’s…” Marinette inhaled, deeply. “Anyways, I called Lila out on not having tinnitus, or having saved Uncle Jagged’s ‘cat’ from getting run over by a plane, but nobody believed me and I was sent to the back. Later that day, Lila was exploiting all of our classmates by claiming she had sprained her wrist. I threw a napkin at her. She said that it would’ve hit Max and when I pointed out that she couldn’t have caught it with a sprained wrist, Lila dropped it and claimed she’d seen somebody’s eye get gouged out with a napkin. Somehow, people bought that.”

Max’s voice sounded in the background. “Not my finest moment.”

“Anyways,” Marinette said. “Lila found me in the bathroom and told me that I was either with her, or against her. She threatened me in the bathroom and I was nearly akumatized.” Neither of the two looked very comfortable with elaborating on this story.

“Lila also broke into my house,” Adrien said. “She lied to my dad’s assistant and got her in trouble. And she was really…” he grappled for the right word.

“She sexually harassed my Adrikins!” Chloé exclaimed. 

“I can see the reactions already,” Kim said. “‘Men can’t get sexually harassed! Why? Uh… because I said so!’”

“We’ll sic Alya on them,” Nino said. “She’s scary when she’s mad. You should’ve seen her when she thought Chloé was Ladybug.”

“Hey! I could be Ladybug if I wanted to!”

“Anyways,” Adrien said. “Lila also framed Mari for cheating and stealing her grandmother’s necklace─which she bought from my dad’s company─and also claimed Marinette pushed her down the stairs.”

Max’s face appeared. “This is what actually happened.” They showed the security footage of Lila walking down a staircase and shouting out, pretending that Marinette had pushed her. The camera panned back to Marinette and Adrien.

“Our Principal expelled me without checking the footage or listening to what I had to say,” Marinette said. “Later, Lila retracted her statement by telling our Principal she actually had a lying disease. I don’t really know why, though.” She glanced at her boyfriend. “He did… something.”

Adrien laughed. “I just promised I’d be her friend as long as she left you alone.”

Marinette turned to face him fully. “Really? Why would she… oh.” Marinette rolled her eyes. “Of course. Then, for once, she wouldn’t be lying when she said she was friends with a famous person.”

“Yeah. And since Lila has clearly broken her side of the promise, I don’t need to be friends with her anymore.”

“Yeah. Also, yes, I am related to Bruce Wayne. He’s my father. We’re dealing with that privately and─”

“What are you two doing in there?” a different voice called from outside the door.

“Uh─” Marinette looked at the camera. “Sex!”

The clip changed. Marinette paused the video. 

“What the fuck?”

Why did her friends hate her? They could’ve ended the video at any moment and they decided to include it.

Marinette needed new friends.

Alya appeared, putting a third finger down.

Ladybug and Chat Noir were on screen. “We’ve met Lila,” Chat said. “She faked an injury to distract me from an akuma. Nearly got a few people killed.”

Ladybug frowned. “I remember calling her out in front of a few people. It’s really dangerous to claim to know superheroes, so we didn’t want to risk her getting hurt. It was harsh, but it was definitely necessary.”

Chat Noir grinned. “Don’t lie, kids! It’s clawful, furreal.”

Ladybug groaned, loudly. The clip ended to the sound of Chat Noir’s screams.

Finally, Alya appeared again. She was sitting back in their hotel room. 

“So now you’re wondering why we went to such efforts to expose Lila.” Alya looked down somberly. “The truth is, our entire class believed Lila. Everybody rallied behind her and trusted her instead of Marinette. Marinette has done so much for us. She’s gone out of her way to fix things that probably can’t be fixed and was always there when we needed her.”

Alya frowned. “We weren’t there for Marinette.” She perked up. “Which is why, Lila, we mean it when we say that you will never hurt anybody like you did Marinette again.”

The video ended with Alya glaring into the camera.

Marinette turned to Adrien. “You ready?”

“Good thing we got to watch it early.”

With that said, the superheroes transformed and raced to the window. 

Marinette would get to the hotel first─she was sure of it.

Ladybug never got to the hotel. Why? Well, there was a very specific reason for that.

You see, as they were racing, she caught sight of a purple butterfly exiting a different hotel. There was only one possible reason for that. She caught and purified the akuma and they followed it back to the hotel.

They followed it into the suite it entered. 

And there he was.

Hawk Moth.

He didn’t notice them. Not at first. Hawkmoth was too distracted with the butterfly’s sudden return. Why would anyone be looking around their hotel room when something so obscenely wrong occurred? 

In the end, there was no huge fight. No shocking moment where one side got the upperhand and fighting became hopeless. None of that.

No. 

They already knew where Hawkmoth’s Miraculous was kept, so it was only a matter of Chat reaching out and taking the butterfly Miraculous from his chest. Hawkmoth didn’t realise until it was too late.

But now, all that stood before them was a man. A very familiar man.

Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth.

Chat stumbled back, staring at the man in shock. “Y-you─”

Ladybug couldn’t believe it. Adrien’s dad… was… their enemy?

The worst thing was that she could believe it.

Gabriel didn’t look any less surprised than they were. “When did you arrive?”

“I─”

“Sir? What is the─” Nathalie looked at the superheroes in shock and at the Miraculous clutched in Chat’s fist. “Oh. I see. Should I, sir?”

Chat stared at Nathalie in complete shock and disgust. “You too, Nathalie?!”

“What?” Nathalie narrowed her eyes at Chat. “You know me?”

“Do I?” Chat’s laugh became somewhat hysterical. “DO I?!” Ladybug cautiously stepped forwards. Chat whirled on Hawkmoth. “Why?! What fucking reason could you have for this?! What would Mom think?!”

Gabriel’s eyes widened. “Adrien?”

Marinette wasn’t even mad that Adrien revealed his identity to their worst enemy. She stepped forwards, taking the Miraculous from him. She didn’t think that it was a good idea for him to be the one to hold it, right now. 

Adrien transformed, staring at his father in complete disgust. “Why?”

It seemed that Gabriel had finally realised what exactly had fallen into his hands. “Adrien, my son, you don’t understand─”

“What don’t I understand?” he demanded. “That you’re a fucking supervillain?!”

Ladybug stepped away from Adrien, surveying the suite. Nathalie wasn’t wearing Mayura’s brooch, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t here. She searched as Adrien argued.

“I’ve been doing all of this for you! To save your mother! Don’t you want that?!”

Ladybug paused. “Oh my God.” The three looked at her. It seemed that they’d forgotten she was here. “You broke the Peacock Miraculous. That’s why Mayura was always sick. And Emilie Agreste used it when it was broken. That’s why she disappeared. She’s not dead. She’s cursed.”

Gabriel looked at Ladybug in complete shock. “You know what happened to her?”

“Of course I do! It’s in the Miraculous book! You had it─you should know.” Her eyes narrowed at his bewildered expression. “Unless… you can’t read it, can you? Not properly, at least. You never learned the actual language, so you’ve just been guessing.” Marinette had spent hours scouring through the pages on Master Fu’s tablet. She was sure she could read the language almost fluently, now. She couldn’t speak it, though. Whenever Master Fu had tried to teach her, she’d been hopeless.

“Is there a cure?” Gabriel demanded. 

She scoffed. “Obviously. All I need to do is fix the Peacock Miraculous and get her to wear it. You don’t need to make a wish to wake her up.” Ladybug looked between Hawkmoth and Mayura. “Where is it?”

Nobody moved. Gabriel said, “Nathalie” and she was on her feet, moving to the other room quickly. 

Ladybug frowned. She crossed her arms and stared Gabriel down. “You can’t get off scot-free for this.”

Gabriel nodded. “Of course.”

She glanced at Adrien, who was staring blankly at his father. “For his sake, we won’t expose your identity, but…” she frowned. “We’ll be discussing the repercussions for this, later.”

“Yes.” Nathalie returned, handing the Peacock Miraculous to Marinette. Holy shit. They succeeded. They had the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculous. They were finished.

It was over.

Oh. Oh. Oh. 

Oh, fuck. It was over. It’s all over. They don’t need to go on as Ladybug and Chat Noir.

Now was not the time to panic.

She turned to Adrien. “Do you want to stay here?”

Adrien stared at his father and Nathalie. “No. No, I don’t. Let’s go back.”

“Adrien─” Gabriel started forwards, but Adrien had already transformed and left. Ladybug wasn’t far behind. 

When they returned to Wayne Manor, Adrien didn’t bother going back to his room. He lied down on Marinette’s bed. There was nothing she could do except hold him and whisper assurances.

Everything would be fine. It would just take some time.

Marinette contacted Mlle. Bustier and told her that she and Adrien wouldn’t be going with the class that day. Their teacher hadn’t questioned it. She probably thought they wanted to avoid the media after their stunt the previous day. 

There had been next to no backlash over the videos they’d released. Nobody had been overly angry and since Marinette had yet to leave her room that day, none of the Wayne family had the chance to question her over the video.

Adrien had been quietly contemplating what had happened ever since the revelation. He’d barely said two words to her and even Plagg couldn’t get a reaction out of him. Marinette decided to let him be and focused on fixing the Peacock Miraculous. She’d probably be finished by the time they returned to France. 

Lila had been sent back to Paris early by her mother. Marinette suspected that she’d never see the liar again.

Everything felt weird. Things were going right. If you asked Marinette, she’d say that it was near perfect.

Marinette was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Crime never slept in Gotham. That was a universally acknowledged fact. There was always something or other going down. Whether it be a robbery in the alley or a hostage situation in the bank.

So could one truly be surprised when a villain had the bright idea to take the French class from François Dupont? No! Of course not!

In fact, it should’ve been expected!

But no. Nobody expected Scarecrow to trap a bunch of school children in a museum and threaten them with certain death by his fear toxins unless certain French superheroes showed up and complied with his demands. (Read: Become his test subjects)

It was really the perfect excuse for Adrien to get out of bed. 

And so they left. Unfortunately, neither locked the door to Marinette’s room, so it was all too easy for Jason Todd to realise that they’d left and gone after their friends.

You couldn’t blame them for that.

And so, Ladybug and Chat Noir found a new reason to keep using their Miraculouses. After all, Hawkmoth being gone, didn’t mean that crime was. Nothing was ever that simple.

Alya Césaire had to admit that she loved this. Well, she didn’t love that she and everybody in her class could very easily die in this situation, but there was a certain thrill that came with being a hostage.

She wasn’t weird. Alya just liked having material for her blog. Alya was certain that Ladybug and Chat Noir would save them, so she wasn’t scared.

But she did jump when something hard hit her on the back. Alya whirled around, only to find that nobody was there. Alya slowly turned back, keeping her eyes on the armed henchmen. She was tapped on her back again, but only this time she realised where she was being hit from. Alya shuffled towards the vent. Catwoman peaked out at her.

“Crane really needs to stop playing with children,” Catwoman pouted.

Alya stared at the anti-hero in complete shock. “W-wh─”

“I’m doing a favour for Bats,” Catwoman said, pushing a couple vials into her hands. “Apparently I’m the only person who’s able to sneak around here without getting caught.” She winked. “That’s the antidote. If he doses any of you, get it to them immediately.”

“Okay, but─”

“Sorry kid, but I have to go and save you from the mad scientist.” Catwoman disappeared without another word. Alya slowly hurried back to the group. The henchmen didn’t notice her conversation with a certain thief.

Nino leaned towards her. “Who─” Alya shushed him. Any minute now, they’d be saved and Alya wanted to completely focus on whatever was going to happen. 

Little did Alya know, she was missing the real story.

Scarecrow was getting introduced to Chat Noir.

Ladybug didn’t know when it happened, but at some point, Chat had been dosed with the fear toxin. She could hear his shouts for his parents and for her, but Ladybug was forced to ignore it. She needed to defeat Scarecrow. 

Ladybug called her Lucky Charm, but all that came back was a small lampshade with a bat on it. That wasn’t going to help her.

…

Oh. She needed Batman’s help. That made sense.

Ladybug was going to take Chat away and search for the superhero (‘your father,’ the helpful voice in the back of her mind supplied), when Scarecrow was suddenly kicked back by a traffic light in tights. Robin ignored her as he started attacking the supervillain. In the corner of her eye, she could see Nightwing forcing something down Chat’s throat. Ladybug really hoped that her brother wasn’t poisoning her boyfriend. Batman delivered a punch to Scarecrow’s stomach and Black Bat swept his legs out from under him. They had that handled.

Her earrings beeped in warning. She needed to get Chat away so their kwamis could recharge.

Ladybug raced to Chat’s side. “Don’t move him,” Nightwing warned. “We have to let the cure work through his system.” Ladybug scowled.

“How long?”

“Five minutes,” he said. She cursed softly, taking a look at his ring. He still had all five pads. He hadn’t used his Cataclysm yet. Plagg wasn’t going to transform anytime soon. She could faintly hear Chat crying out for her.

“I have to go,” Ladybug said. She stared Nightwing down. “Can I trust you not to let him get hurt? Or to hurt him?”

Nightwing stared back at her. She didn’t notice how his eyes widened, ever so slightly. Who’d have thought that Bruce Wayne and Ladybug shared the same eye colour? And really, she looked way too similar to his new sister. It was almost stupid that he didn’t notice sooner. And this Chat Noir, who Nightwing was prepared to sacrifice his life for, was clearly going to end up his brother-in-law in the future.

“You can trust me,” Nightwing said.

Ladybug believed him.

She ran from the fight, hiding in a nearby alley. Just as she arrived, the timer ran out.

Marinette shoved the macarons towards Tikki. “Quickly, Tikki! Adrien, he…” she flinched. The kwami stuffed her face with the cookie. In any other situation, she might’ve found it funny, but right now…

Ladybug was back in the fray not two minutes later. It didn’t take long for Crane to go down soon afterwards. Ladybug ran to Chat’s side when it was over. He moaned softly. She hated that sound. She checked his ring. He was going to transform soon.

She looked at Nightwing. “Can I move him now?”

“Yes, but─”

Ladybug picked him up. Nightwing rose with her. “See you, then─”

“Marinette,” Nightwing said. She paused. ‘Okay, how did that happen?’  

So he knew her identity. She knew his, too.

“Dick.”

Nightwing looked at her in surprise, but he shook his head. “We need to take him to the cave. “He still needs to receive the second dose of the antidote and we need to monitor him to make sure he’s okay.”

Ladybug frowned down at Chat. He writhed in her arms. His discomfort was obvious. She hated seeing him in pain.

Marinette swallowed. She may end up regretting this later, but she’d do anything for Chat.

“Fine. Meet you at the Manor.”

With those words, she was gone.

Alfred was waiting for them at Wayne Manor. He had a small, disapproving frown on his face. 

“I expect that you have a good explanation for this, Miss Cheng,” the butler said. “Follow me. Your father and siblings should be arriving any moment now.” Marinette followed Alfred to a painting, where he held his finger against a button. A small hole opened up and scanned his eye. A key pad appeared. Marinette looked away when he entered the code. The painting opened up. They stepped into an elevator of some kind.

Adrien woke up halfway through the journey. Marinette braced her arms around his body so that when he tried to move, she wouldn’t accidentally drop him. Adrien stared at Marinette in confusion for five seconds before he blinked. 

“Marinette?” he asked. His voice was raspy. Marinette would’ve liked the sound, if she couldn’t clearly recall the screams that caused this. “Why are you…?” Adrien looked at their position.

“You were dosed with fear toxin,” Marinette said. She glanced at Alfred, but he was staring straight ahead. 

“Where are we going?”

Marinette cringed. “You’ll see.” Adrien frowned and struggled in her arms. She didn’t let go of him. He needed to stay off his feet right now. Marinette looked at her boyfriend with sad eyes. “Adrien, please. You were…” his gaze softened and he relaxed in her hold.

“Fine.” 

When the elevator doors opened, they were led into a cave of some sort. The place was bathed in a light blue glow from the dozens of computers in the middle. Weapons lined a wall behind a layer of glass and costumes were in glass cages. One of the costumes had definitely belonged to a Robin. The colours were faded, tattered, dirty and bloody, but you could tell who the former owner was. That had been Jason’s costume before he died.

Speaking of Jason, he, Tim, Stephanie and Barbara were at the computers. Well, Tim and Barbara were. Stephanie and Jason were bothering the others. They didn’t notice their arrival yet.

Adrien looked up at her imploringly. “You know I love being in your arms, Milady, but you’re tired. I’m fine. I can walk.” Marinette knew there was no way to argue with him about this.

She sighed. “Be careful.”

She, Adrien and Alfred made their way to the middle. Jason noticed them first.

He pursed his lips. “What are you─” Marinette jumped as a wall in the cave split open and a car and two motorbikes sped in. Dick was the first to get out. He jumped off of his bike and over to their position. Robin, Batman and Black Bat followed him. Batman’s jaw was set grimly beneath his cowl.

Nightwing held up his hands, walking backwards and looking at Batman. “Before you get mad─”

“Why are they here?” Robin demanded.

“I sent them here and told Alfred to take them down.”

Batman stared at Nightwing. What little of his face that was present showed displeasure. Black Bat frowned. “When?”