Winging in Paris

by dagaberto

Summary:

“And -I’m just making assumptions here- Instead of appreciating the help French president instead denied him entering the Parisian water ?” Said Hal and Berry nodded to him while trying to not make eye contact with Arthur, who was starting to open up another bottle. (My dumbass really made this a one shot in ao by accident and didn't even realize it for several days. )

Notes:

This is something I had done before. My first fic was also about this same scenario but I was a teen back then and had a toddler level of english. You can think of this as a rewite or a revisit. I, personally will make it something complately diffirent at the end and also something that is much more easy to read with more complex characters in it. Well, thats all, hopefully it will be an enjoyable ride and please tell me your thought about it. Comments and Kudos are my sigma grindset :)

Have a fantastic night/day.

Chapter 1: chapter one -prologue

The Watchtower was circling the earth slowly, one side of it looking at the endless expansion of space, the other was a mud made home for thousands of species. Keeping them from hurting one another or even each other. 

 

Of course inside the HQ wasn’t really calm, collected and patient like the metallic building. In fact, the whole Justice League was at the moment just a big mess of people shouting profanities and even some of them drinking heavy amounts of alcohol in order to keep their nerves checked. 

 

“Just how much do we have to wait already ?!” Asked Clark Kent AKA: Superman as he slammed his fist to their briefing table. Normally an act like that was not normal for the mildly mannered reporter by day, superhero by whenever the need came up. But at the moment he had the feeling no one in the room with him would be against his actions because he was pretty sure everyone was as angry as him at the moment. 

 

Well… that’s everyone except Batman AKA Bruce Wayne, but the brooding vigilante rarely showed his emotions to begin with anyway. In fact, the only reason Clark knew he was actually angry at the moment was because his heart rate was faster by two digits and he was tapping the floor from time to time, something no one in the room but himself would know he was doing because Bruce was even doing that silently. 

 

“Tell me about it brother.” Said Arthur AKA : Aquaman, almost fuming from his mouth every time he remembered the disrespect the president had shown him today. Downing the beer bottle in his hand on one go he threw it back not caring where it had landed. “That dumbass said he didn’t asked for help especially from the ‘Mermodions’ What the fuck thats even mean anyway?” 

 

“It means sea creature Arthur.” Said Barry AKA: Flash, looking more hurt than angry at the moment. “It’s something people on the internet use. Basically meaning human looking fish.” To his report Arthur, even more angrily, picked another bottle from under the table and opened using the table's edge since he could break the bottle and spill the drink everywhere if he used his hands instead. And the team could only tolerate him making so much mess before he got an earful from either Wonder Woman or Batman. 

 

“Well, that all sounds rough and hurtful I agree, but since I’ve not been on the earth for like ten days can someone please tell me why did we start this meeting ? Because I don’t know about you but I’m trying to stop a civil war in corat’ah right now.” Said Hal’s hologram as the pictures of the man keep glitching out. Even though the Green Lantern’s ring could send signals from all over the universe no problem, it didn’t mean the said signal would always be perfect. 

 

To the man’s question Batman clicked a few tabs on the tablet he was holding and an hologram appeared in the middle of the big table. 

 

The picture showed a city that was engulfed in water. No, just saying it like that would be injustice, the city looked like it was almost fully underwater. The huge building only showed their -full of civilians- roof to be somewhat safe from the non-moving body of water. Lantern almost didn’t even want to ask what was going on but an architect that he was familiar with in the background made his mouth move on its own. “Is that Paris… underwater ?”

 

To Lantern’s question Bruce just grunted a bit like he had stepped a peddle barefoot and then started to bring more photos to the holographic projector. one of them was showing a mermaid looking girl coming to the surface, in the next one she had been diving again but with an athletic looking asian boy in toe. 

 

“Well… did the “dynamic duo” win again ?” Asked Lantern when a photo of the two kids showed them trying to swim away from the mermaid. Needless to say, in that specific photo things looked pretty glum. 

 

Bruce again pulled another photo and in this one Ladybug and Chat Noir looked like they had donned swimsuits with fins and masks. On the next five photos the heroes had won, they confronted a girl in swimsuit and then the asian boy helped the girl up, they hugged out and on the last one was showing the duo fistbumping like they always do after a successful job. 

 

“It was close this time. So close we had sent Aquaman as a precaution to the English channel, when the water levels even rose there he had moved up to confront the villain himself while Clark was on his way from a volcano.” Bruce stopped for a moment as Arthur belched loudly, followed by Hawkgirl drinking a bottle hastily, gulping it down like if she stopped to breathe she would be dying of thirst. 

 

Pretty typical means of coping by the both of them, as Arthur had lost one of his dear pets a few days ago and was still in a pretty shitty state for it. Doesn’t really matter if he was the king of Atlantis for over two years now, he still had his own ways of getting over things. While hawkgirl… Well, there wasn’t anything wrong right now to Bruce’s knowledge, she just likes to be the drinking buddy and out drink the other people. 

 

“And -I’m just making assumptions here- Instead of appreciating the help French president instead denied him entering the Parisian water ?” Said Hal and Berry nodded to him while trying to not make eye contact with Arthur, who was starting to open up another bottle. 

 

“POH! Like I wanted to swim in that shitty swamp they call a river. None of the animals I have gathered wanted to stay there either.” Said Arthur angrily and chugged the rest of the bottle in one go. 

 

Wonder Woman AKA: Princess Diana took a deep breath and put her hands to the table flatly. “Can we continue with our reasoning to start this meeting before Arthur starts to cope and seethe ?” She asked and gathered some perplexed looks from everyone. Except Batman of course, he was looking at her with disappointment and thinking Donna was doing a terrible job introducing her to cyberspace. “She has a good point.” He said shortly and with the sound of a buzzard people started to sit straighter and flash even tried to fix his suit… that was almost skin tight to begin with. 

 

“Our meeting reason right now is the two superheroes known as Ladybug and Chat Noir. Or as we know : Marinette Dupain- Cheng and Adrien Agreste. It’s been almost six months since they had started to fight against the villain known as Hawkmoth. And five Months since France completely excluded us from their soil.” Bruce Finished his talk and he could see Clark fidgeting from here. 

 

It was not his fault. Really it wasn’t. He had come to Paris in order to help the duo capture an elusive Akuma named “Bombadora” or as his civilian name: Lyon Fontaine, a showman that liked to include small and harmless explosives to his performances in theaters. Problem is, while the crowd didn’t have much of a problem with it, the show makers did and they canceled his part at the last day and left him penniless, Of course as its usual in Paris, instead of calming down and looking to the TV or internet showmanships for his income, Lyon started to see red from anger, until he saw purple and started to hear a soft and calming voice promising him justice and vengeance, with a price of course. 

 

Well, that was the origin of the Villain that started to throw bombs at… Well, anything really. Didn’t really matter if it was an old lady trying to cross the street or Chat Noir, trying his best both dodging the high explosive ordinances the man was hurdling at him and also trying to keep the said ordinances off of civilians trying to escape. 

 

This dance continued for around an hour. During which half of Paris was left as a smoldering flattened warzone. The casualties were already looking around 5 digits when Superman said the kids needed help and without listening to Bruce, went down towards the city of love. Bruce, who was waiting for Diana to come back to the watchtower from her trip to the paradise island, already knew the villain would be a hard case for Clark because of the ancient magic these Miracles were using as powers. 

 

Conclusion: Clark went down there like a speeding bullet, tried to stop the akumatized man and in the end blew backwards and broke down two apartments completely. Of course the distraction was good enough for the duo and they immediately threw him towards a ball of sticky honey (or atleast Bruce thought it was honey since he was watching everything from the Watchtowers orbital telescope, it needed several upgrades to be shown such finer details and he was still working on it) And everything was fixed back up. Every death report turned negative as everyone that had died in the attack was living thanks to the miraculous cure. So all and all, a pretty typical day. Except for the building Clark had been thrown through since the cure altered because the collapse wasn’t caused by Bombadora. What followed was basically a global level shit show if Bruce could say in the most basic way. There were no deaths caused from the collapsed buildings thankfully because Bruce was sure Clark couldn’t live with himself if he had killed two apartment worth of people at once. But that didn’t stop the Extremely antagonistic president André Bourgeois who, for some reason, hated them all. 

 

In just three days, he made an announcement, saying any and all of the Justice League members were to never step inside France in order to stop a Miraculous villain again. They would be allowed to enter if a criminal from another country was staying there or a fear mongering villain from another country had entered the French soil but that was it. Not agreeing to the treaty would mean the French cutting their economic help program to the league. 

 

Of course that was an extremely harsh treatment for the heroes of the world, especially over two buildings. But the Justice League agreed to it. Mostly because Bruce had said they couldn’t help the people that didn't want it in the first place. 

 

And again, of course the controversial policy was heavily criticized both from The French people and from around the world. Even Ladybug and Chat Noir said they were open to professional help and didn’t see the Justice League as an obstacle while fighting Akumas and they would be thankful if they could find Hawkmoth together. 

 

But those didn’t stir the president at all and he just kept pushing the agenda that the French heroes were enough for French people. 

 

(The real reason was because one of the buildings Superman had destroyed was the building Cloe’s favorite hair stylist was living. She Left to find better opportunities and to live with her grandparents in Germany after saying that the only reason for her staying there was because she didn’t want to leave that apartment. Which was a lie, she was already trying to leave Paris because of the akumas and Chloe being her only client since she didn’t want anyone else near her stylist. She didn’t even care about the money too to be honest, she just wanted to be away from the presidential family and continue to make other people happy and style other hairs than sparkled blonde horsetails. But nobody knew this story, Chloe just talked shit about Superman to her father and the bald man took it too seriously. Now he was in a stage that he couldn’t back down or he would be losing face for being a coward. )

“We’ve been watching them since they started. Thankfully, till now they have won every fight against the akumas, but this time it seemed they were struggling more than any other times. And after those upgrades, does it mean they couldn’t defeat the akuma without those powers ?” Asked batman and everyone had to agree that this time the akuma was quite dangerous. 

 

“I’m not saying we should, but what’s really stopping us from going down there and getting to the ground level instead of staying here and looking at them with a glorified binocular.” Said Diana and both Arthur and Shayera agreed to her. They didn’t really care about a political outrage Batman and Superman was always careful about and really, no matter how much state of the arc it is, Batman would find new flaws and improvements for the tower, so who can say the watchtower is the best one out there really ? 

 

“We are already doing searches at the city level.” Said Bruce and people looked at him in bewilderment. Bruce however, was still in his grumpy-but-more-on-the-tired-side state as he started a video call in the table, after a while the face of the youngest Wayne appeared on the table, with a pissed off expression that mimicked his fathers identically whenever he lost to Flash in chess (Only one time witch Flash took a photo of it and frame it, saying in order to preserve for the future) 

 

“What is it father ?” Came the child's annoyed and raspy voice as he seemed to be in the middle of an exercise. “Report on your findings Robin.” Said Bruce without breaking his serious stance and the kid rolled his eyes. “The theory about the butterflies turning was a bust as they all just scatter randomly and die a few days after.” Said Damian and then kicked a punching bag as hard as he could. 

 

From what Clark could see from the video, he seemed to be in a dingy old apartment’s living room, there was some clothes thrown out to the couch that was right in front of the camera, but other than that the house seemed empty except for the few gym equipments and Clark was sure Robin kept his costume in the bedroom. 

 

“What about the cameras ?” Asked Bruce and after throwing a series of punches to the bag Damian just nodded slowly towards the camera, he was soaked almost completely as the kid's white undershirt had turned a few shades darker. “Oracle reported they were working perfectly, as the heroes, they don’t suspect me a bit.” Said Damian and Bruce told him to keep being hidden. “Good job on the reports, Batman out.” 

 

After the video call, everyone in the table had been quiet and the only noise was from the slight shifts the metals did in the watchtower and the buzzes  from Hal’s ring call. 

 

Bruce, knowing this was about him and his inability to communicate with the team before choosing an action, cut the tension in half and slouched back a bit before sighing and saying a short “not all at once” 

 

“Okay then Bruce I’ll go first. When did you think to inform us about your son being sent to look for a dangerous and well hidden villain ?” Asked Diana while raising from her chair a bit, she hated that one of her oldest friends in the men's world would always keep them off sensitive informations. She understands that he had trust issues, great Hera she once saw he had protocols to ‘incapacitate’ them should they ever turn evil. And that whole story ended horribly for their whole friendship and even for him since he quitted being the league’s leader and abandoned them for a while. But even after that, even after the three of them had to go through countless attacks, ambushes and even wars, even after all the time the three of them had together, he was still the one among them that was incessant on playing the black sheep. 

 

To her question Bruce just shrugged trying to focus on her bracelets then her burning red eyes. “I’m only an honorary member of the League, even me being there wouldn’t change a thing diplomatically.” He said shortly and then put both of his hands to the table “We can extensively talk about how bad my actions were and how I should have told you about my plans first, right now though, we need to make one final decision about the heroes of Paris.” 

 

He then started to tap some buttons on the table and a voting system was sent to everyone's seat. 

 

What Should We Do about The Heroes of Paris ?

 

1. We should train them in different fields and help them find the Hawkmoth whatever it takes. 
2. We should focus on finding the Hawkmoth while heroes can do their own things. 
3. We shouldn’t worry about it since we have swore to not interfere with countries that don't want us. 

 

The voting program was simple and so the progress was faster, out of 7 of them, only one voted for B and C, the rest 4 of them voted for A and after everyone finished Hal also said he thought A was the best option. The Person who had voted for C was Arthur who just shrugged and said “Fuck them and their government full of dickheads.” before finishing another beer and starting playing with the bottle, throwing it up and catching it before it would come down to his face. 

 

The person who had voted for B was a Martian manhunter who hadn’t talked at all the whole time people actually forget he was even there. Side effect of observing people so much was that you don’t really stand out and that combined with his normal introversion meant even his teammates (in some forms, his family) were used to him just… staying still, in a manner of saying. “I’m… worried about our own teaching methods to be honest.” Said the green alien as he interlocked his fingers on top of the table. “None of us, I’m afraid, can be called good teachers.” 

 

“Care to elaborate ?” Asked Diana, challenging Jon because honestly, the manhunter’s words kind of hurted. Diana was a warrior princess and she had countless amazons under her wings. Sure, the closest person she can call a pupil was Donna -and she is an amazing student- but that doesn’t make her a bad teacher and mentor… Does it ? 

 

“Like he heard her thoughts (No I didn’t Diana, your face is easier to read than your mind.) Martian Manhunter raised his hands a bit to the air like he was surrendering. “Please don’t understand me wrong, I know almost all of us had a student at one time or another. What I meant was that, I don’t think people we hardly know let alone met would accept our own ways of training and the stress that comes with it.” 

 

Well, there was wisdom in that, none of them were a source of great teaching methods because all of them had teached their own kind so far, not two kids with magical objects. “For example, I would think of Clark as a good teacher, he is patient, good with kids and doesn’t take it extremely seriously.” 

 

“On the other hand, I’d teach them how to drink four bottles at once.” Said Hawkgirl and then let a belly laugh at her own joke while Diana and Arthur joined in. No one else did though because they all thought she would do that 100%. 

 

“My point exactly.” Said Martian and then again put his hands to the table, flat on the surface this time. “So whoever we are going to choose has to be good with both sides of those kids so as to not leave them with a traumatizing adult life.” 

 

Clark raised his hand slowly like he had to ask a question to a professor but was afraid of the answer. “Umm, You… kind of said that I was a good option for the job ? I-I thought that I was already assigned.” 

 

“No” Said Bruce, Diana and Martian at the same time and Clark downed back to his seat. Not gonna lie, seeing his friends judging him that fast was hurtful, and also why ? Sure he didn’t really have time to be in three -Sometimes four- different places at once. But he could make do with some programming around his schedule. He didn’t have to stop every criminal after… No, But maybe he could finish Penny’s work faster. Or- or could get help from… Lois. Who is in Thailand at the moment and not in the states. It breaks his heart, but he could make some opening if he stopped seeing his ma and pa. They’d be worried if he doesn't call them though- 

 

Suddenly Clark saw something in his peripheral vision but before he could act on it, something flat hit his head straight on and then tumbled down. When he finally awoke from the slump he was in, Clark saw that the whole room was focusing on him, except Batman, who was, at the moment, busy taking the tablet from the ground that he had thrown at Clark. “Stop mobbing. This is one of the reasons why we can’t send you, I know you’d try to intervene the moment an akuma makes it tougher for the duo.” 

“I-” Clark was lost for words. His best friends basically just told him that he was a boy scout (Again) that didn’t know when to stop and it seemed like the room was agreeing with him. People were nodding along and bringing new points to why he shouldn't go down to Paris. Hal pointed out he wasn’t the sneaking hero out there, Diana said the Parisian heroes were too nervous around him for a while, Shara said he was as busy as he was and putting two or three hours above his list would be tortuous, Arthur said him being too nice to the kids could make them threat the lessons too loosely. Clark looked at Bruce who was just watching slowly and taking notes on what everyone had said so far while also side-eying him from time to time and turned to him defeated “Well, I know when I’m beat… in an argument at least. So hit the final nail I’m sure you have.” He had said it with a sad smile but really, it was a forced one from start to finish. He knew he wasn’t a lot of things, and he was horrendous at certain things. But he never thought he would be a bad teacher. The only reason he didn’t choose it before was actually because he wanted to travel and meet people. Because Speaking with people gave him insight on how to be… Humans.

 

Right now all of his teammates were giving Bruce a warning look, they all knew Clark was a gentle person and they actually didn’t want to break his hopes like this, but while they did it out of necessity because come on now, Clark being in Paris would sent free a giant can of worms that none of them wanted to deal with it in the first place. 

 

Then there was Bruce who sometimes took it a bit far, not much with his teammates mind you, but usually with criminals… Sometimes Barry would ask for it though. 

 

They all knew Bruce would always speak his mind freely and they couldn’t really change that, but maybe they could ‘lighten the blow’ so to speak. Of course, seeing the most homicidal grimaces regularly, a couple of his friends flowning didn’t really do much to Bruce as he started to say “You’d be too dangerous.” 

 

For a while no one said anything till Clark broke the silence and cleared his throat “Umm… How ?” He asked slowly, not really sure if he wanted that question to be answered but was sure enough to listen to his brilliant friend's idea. “Something you all forget. We all still have feelings at the end of the day. And Hawk Moth feeds off of the negative ones. Meaning if you ever saw something disheartening you might be akumatized and that's something no one wants to see.” 

 

Well, that was quite the logical answer, and a sight that none of them considered much. They all had to deal with trauma before one way or the other, but they never had to hide their feelings from it. For example; Bruce was an inconsolable wreck when Joker shot Barbara almost a year ago, he was obsessed with clearing the streets so much that he became too violent, he became distant towards everyone. Clark still remembered the headlines ‘He is worse than before, and a good way to stay inside’ Or something similar like that. He was so focused on saving Gotham Clark and Diana had to call his family and look for Selina. “What am I supposed to do ? He is feeling guilty because he almost killed Joker. Not my problem, he didn't finish the job.” Selina had said and they, as in all of the League, had to be the ones checking on him constantly, making sure he doesn't kill himself out there till he turned back to his old self three or four months later. 

 

Long story short, Bruce was right, Clark was always open to magical attacks and even though Parisian news (Ladyblog) had reported that people could get out of Hawkmonths grip, why risk it in the first place ? 

 

“Alright.” Said Clark, raising both of his hands to the air, showing he had surrendered. “Then, which one of us is going down there ?” He asked and everyone looked at eachother from the table, trying to pin this enormous responsibility to the right person. 

 

“Don’t look at me!” Said Flash while quickly swinging his hands so much that he had created a small wind. “I’m still not that good at fighting, and I’m sure ‘just be faster than everyone else’ mentality is not applicable here.” 

 

“I’m not good with kids” Said Shera shortly and tried to get another bottle from the crate next to Aquaman, the crate was empty. 

 

“I’m still needed here, this civil war could destroy their entire planet without a mediator.” Said Hal and everyone nodded along, he had a galaxy to look out for, no one would expect him to be free enough. 

 

“I’m still lacking in human emotions and communication, I’m afraid. I wouldn’t want to make them uncomfortable or create a big misunderstanding.” Said Martian Manhunter coldly and once again, everyone agreed without a problem. 

 

“We already said Clark couldn’t, Arthur clearly doesn't want to see a French person anytimes soon, that leaves Diana and Bruce right ?” Said Hal and looked at them both, both of them had been mentors before, they could get out of the public eye if needed to be (Bruce was still seen as denounced in the public too) but how hard would it be to stop them ? Now that was the question in everyone's mind. 

 

Diana was the most powerful woman in the world, possibly all of the galaxy, so far the only way Bruce had found to stop her was a gas that made her see things and made her fight till she collapsed. Like sensing what everyone was thinking Diana shrugged and then put her hand to her chest, giving a pose, “Please, you all make me blush. Also I remember Clark beating me in an arm wrestle last month.” She may have said it with good intentions, but the implications were not, out of all the mighty heroes of the world, only one was able to go toe to toe against her… İn an -Not that serious- arm wrestling. 

 

Bruce though… Bruce was a different story. Sure he technically had almost killed (or incapacitated) them all at once with his plans before, but when you take all his gadgets and his planning time away… He was still quite dangerous to go against, but just not as much as before. He was a great fighter first of all, the guy had a continuous spar session with Diana and they were even. 

 

“Not me.” Said Bruce before anyone could even say anything to him “I’m far too emotionally unstable, just the person Hawkmoth wants. I’m pretty sure we all can fight off his influence, but why risk it in the first place.” There was wisdom in his words and his emotionless white lenses. But then the next question was “Who are we going to send then ?” Asked Flash while scratching his head and to that Bruce clicked a few buttons in his tablet, a few seconds later a picture appeared on the table, a young man with black hair and a bright smile that enveloped his entire face. 

 

“He is quite free right now, and also one of the most stable persons I know of.” The others continued to look at the screen for a few more seconds, till they unanimously agreed that that was the man for the job, few of them snickering between themself, saying “Hawkmoth is done for” or stuff like that. That is except for Superman “Bruce” He started his words, arms folded on his chest “Did you talk this with him too, I remember the last time you put him through a mission he didn’t want to do it.” 

 

Bruce just raised his hand slowly and told Clark to not worry about it, thankfully he was a great liar or Clark could hear his heartbeat rising at the moment. 

 

—

 

That night at the manor everything seemed normal, Alfred had made roasted duck with veggies for all of them, Cass and Duke were playing a game in their phones between taking bites from their food -even though Alfred threw them scolding hot stares and murmuring about manners.- Steph was staying with a friend tonight so she wasn’t here, Tim was trying to stay awake just as usual and Jason was deep in his own head as he stabbed the meat in his plate. Bruce was on the head table and was drinking coffee, waiting for the missing member that he had invited. 

 

Close to the dinner ending suddenly someone knocked on the door and all eyes turned towards it. Two halls down. “What the ?” Asked Jason as he got up while getting his hands to his back where he had put his pistols. The alarms were on, they were always on. And only a few people could get through them without making a sound. Those few people were sitting on that table right now. 

 

Even though everyone was tense at the incessant knocking on the door, Bruce seemed more bored than nervous or even serious. “Same old same old” He said while Alfred already moved in front of the door and opened it, gasping for a second and then hugging his first grandson. “Master Grayson. Why didn’t you call first ?” 

 

Dick hugged the elderly man too and then got a step back, even though it was subconscious and not necessary at all, he still didn’t step in the manor without Alfred inviting him. A sense of familiarity was probably playing with his head. 

 

Hearing the older man's joyful voice, the tense atmosphere in the dinner table almost vanished instantly and the others moved from their chairs to welcome their big brother (Even though Jason kept saying what a bother or something similar.) 

 

When Dick finally hugged all of his brothers and sister he turned towards the matriarch of the house of Wayne and moved towards the tall, grumpy and shadowy figure. Bruce hadn't changed since the last time they saw each other. Well, that’s a lie, the last time he saw Bruce was so fixated on finding Harley he hadn’t eaten anything for three days straight. His deep blue eyes still pierced his own without even trying though. 

 

“Finally, I have a job for you. Eat first, then come to the cave.” Said Bruce coldly and then without even looking back, started to move towards his father’s old cloak. ‘Ah, still trying to keep from having attachments. But I caught the eat part Bruce’ Thought Dick and while everyone was looking at both of them suspiciously he moved towards a chair that was next to the cloak and then using his hands he boosted himself to the air, made a somersault on the air and then landed between Bruce and cloak perfectly. 

 

To his antics people around them waited for a second to see what was about to happen, Dick standing in front of Bruce with a wide smile he never seemed to be missing versus Bruce that was standing still with a permanent scowl in his face that looked like it was made from a mix of disappointment, anger and stomach ache.

 

For a while the ex-dynamic duo didn’t do anything, they didn’t change their faces, didn’t stop staring at each other and they also didn’t move. Till Dick decided that that was enough for the old man and while continuing to smile said “Heard you started to talk to Selina again.” 

 

The whole room didn’t know what they were supposed to do and just waited there with their mouths hanging open. They couldn’t believe what was transferring between the two leaders of the family, till Bruce’s scowl deepened and he responded to Dick’s question with a “Barbara needs to know how to keep secrets.” 

 

While the rest of the family was groaning and moaning up to the manner about how they didn’t know or how Jason wanted to die again, Dick and Bruce were down to the cave, or at least the first 5 steps to it which was good enough for them. 

 

They stayed silent for a few more moments, each of them too… embarrassed probaby, to look at each other's eyes. ‘Come on. Mission is waiting.’ Thought Batman and then turned to Dick finally as he was turning towards him. “I’ve got a job for you Dick. You know about Paris's heroes right ?” Dick gave him a quick nod and folded his arms on his chest, waiting for the mission “The League had found them a bit too inexperienced, so in order to help them we’ve decided to send a hero that was both strong mentally and physically.” 

 

Dick Stopped folding his arms when he heard the news and started to stare at the ground of the chilly cave that was always too clear to be a cave with Bats -Real ones- to live in it, he, the first robin, was chosen to be sent to a foreign country in order to teach two kids how to be a more effective hero ? 

 

‘Well, it does make sense on some levels. I’m teaching gymnastics normally too after all.’ He thought, then turned to Bruce with a raised eyebrow “What about Haven ?” Grayson asked. 

 

Bruce showed him the upstairs with his finger “Jason and Tim will be handling it while you are away.” He said it shortly and Dick immediately understood why that was. “You didn’t tell them, did you?” He asked and sure enough, Bruce put his hands to his pockets and turned towards the cave, facing to his comfort place so to speak. “They will help. You were just a bit late for me to open the details on dinner-” 

 

“I get it.” Said Dick, a bit frustrated because of the old man's continuous denial of their family and cursing his non-existent speaking abilities. 

 

He took a deep breath, the slight smell of sulfur and powder stuffed his nose, their equipment room, of course Tim had left the door open just like always. He’d bet there was a half open smoke grenade on the table too. He looked around the cave a bit, Jason’s jacket was on top of his bike, thrown haphazardly. Cass’es ballet slippers were in the training area, stuffed to a locker like they hadn't been used for some time. ‘Not this again’ He thought and then turned to Bruce who was watching him curiously. 

 

“I thought you were back to normal now.” He said shortly and once again folded his arms in front of himself, he didn’t want to have this talk again… last time was enough for a lifetime. 

 

Bruce didn’t say anything for a while but still avoided eye contact. “Barbara’s birthday is coming close.” He said and Dick took a deep breath, that was not the time. Not right now. 

 

“I’ll do it. After all, the smallest bird also seems to be needing me.” He said it and then moved towards the batcomputer. “Now show me the details. Sooner we can save those people from that maniac the better.” 

Chapter 2: First day in Paris

Summary:

Grayson was waiting on the sidewalk, lounging back to a billboard with a Kawasaki Ninja 650 next to him, he was on his phone not even looking at the people that were eying him… the best way Damian could say was with uncouth intentions.

Notes:

This chapter is a bit much about our golden boy then the paris's duo, but that doesn't mean I forgot about them and Believe it or not, this whole chapter took like 3-4 days to write down and it was really fun.

Anyway, y'all know what to do, kudos and comments are appreciated. Have a nice day/night.

Sometimes Damian hated his life. 

 

Now of course he felt really lucky and privileged to be the biological son of Batman, the most powerful superhero in the world who wouldn’t even bat an eye when going against Superman. Also being the son Bruce Wayne, a billionaire that was making improvements for the betterment of mankind. 

 

Unlike the millionaire’s daughter that was sitting right next to him. 

 

He didn’t like the upper class people to begin with. Full of slimy dumbasses that think their life is hard the moment their father tells them to not go to a nightclub or a party. No imagination, self reflection or even the bare minimum modesty among them. He hated them all. Hated them all because…

 

Because it was like looking in a mirror. 

 

Sure he was always a quick learner and a genius because duh, he was the son of Batman, but there was a time that he saw people, regular people that didn’t even know about him as peasants. And yes sure, next to his father’s wealth they were not much more than a peasant living to scrape by but the point is— ‘Shut it, you are doing it again!’ 

 

Damian took a deep breath and opened his eyes, lost in his own thoughts were his ego and his training clashed down. Again. ‘It’s because of this damn girl! ’ The said girl was Chloe, Chloe Bourgeois. Aka: the President’s daughter. After Being under his fathers wing for two years he no longer gets the desire to kill people for annoying him because he learned it was not an acceptable way to live. But right now, he wanted to make an exemption. 

 

Since his mission had started he was expecting to face a lot of difficulty, first of all, while he had an ‘Good Enough’ level of French, there were times that he struggled and he hated to ask for help. Secondly, while getting accepted to the school and even to the class with the Miraculous users (When your father is an international Billionaire people tend to agree with his wishes easily) It was a whole new story to be close to them because… Well because he had a hard time talking to people. 

 

Ladybug’s user, Marinette was too outgoing to his liking, she usually spoke a mile a minute and, well she was a girl. Being close to her all the time would look weird. 

 

The other one however was straight impossible. Mr. Gabriel Agreste seemed to be just as paranoid and control freak as his own father, of course it was understandable to a certain degree, there were monsters every other day. 

 

Speaking of monsters he had to shut the talking banshee next to him sooner rather than later. 

 

“Anyway, so I was on a morning walk because duh, keeping this body requires a lot of effort and non disgustingly smelling sweats - Anyway I was walking down the-” 

 

“Wait a second please.” Said Damian and finally, finally the dumbest blonde he had ever seen stopped talking and looked at him with expecting eyes. They have been like that for the last ten days.

 

She insisted him to sit with her the first day and he wasn’t in a position to reject her since it seemed like she had both the president of the country and the school principal under her thumb. (No need to make more enemies, even if its annoying as hell to listen her. ) He would only put boundaries when he saw necessary -thankfully she wasn’t the touchy type unlike the Lila girl- and only stopped her when he had enough. The problem now was that he didn’t think of a good excuse to stop her. 

 

“Um- You see. I-” Was all he could say before she laughed loudly in that pompous way and slapped his shoulder hard, her long nails almost ripping his jacket. “Oh I’m so sorry Dami, I totals forgot your French wasn’t as good as mine, how ridiculous of me to think everyone is as good at the literature as me a-ha-ha-ha” She started to laugh again and Damian had to physically stop himself by biting his tongue to not say a few select words in four different languages he knew. 

 

Adrien and Marinette, seeing the two couldn’t help themself from pitying the guy. He was the newest one in the class and he had to be the main target of Chloe, a fate as worse as death if you asked Marinette. 

 

Of course, him being the main attraction meant that Chloe was less likely to bully the class or the Marinette in order to seem nice (Yeah sure.) and Marinette was torn between helping the foreign guy (Who seemed friendly and not at the same time ) and getting a bit of a relaxation. And like can you blame her ? 

 

She was a very busy person with being a student, a hero and a career tailor and it was a blessing to breathe once a while. Also her morality is never able to escape from her, it’ll be back soon enough. Just, maybe after this class ?

 

Thankfully before he needed to find a good excuse, Miss Bustier got in the class and everyone stopped talking and focused on the class. Everyone that wasn’t Damian at least, he was in the midst of  meditating so he could check his anger. ‘Father trusted me to be here. He knows I can control myself now. Get yourself together and focus.’ 

 

With a final slow and quiet exhale he finally opened his eyes and checked the board before starting taking notes half heartly to his notepad. He already knew enough about the French revolution, after all, his grandfather was the one that started the rebellions. 

 

***

 

The rest of the day was just as boring to Damian as one of Riddlers unnecessarily complicated yet simple to understand plans. The only thing that was going in his favor today was the fact that it was ending. He (Thankfully) was rescued by Marinette and Adrien and their small group of close friends before the aforementioned witch could take his arm and drag him around -Towards her hotel presumably- and he couldn’t wait to get out of the class, especially with the way Lila keep glancing at him and thinking he doesn’t know it. 

 

He knew it. And it was a great struggle to not turn back and call her a harlot in front of everyone. He needed to keep himself as the humble rich kid and not attract attention. 

 

That all crumbled down when he stepped outside and saw a figure he really wasn’t expecting. 

 

Grayson was waiting on the sidewalk, lounging back to a billboard with a Kawasaki Ninja 650 next to him, he was on his phone not even looking at the people that were eying him… the best way Damian could say was with uncouth intentions. 

 

Of course that was Grayson’s problem because who would wear those kind of suffocating black pants plus a tight fitting sleeveless shirt that had a mock Crime and Punishment photo on it and not realize he is looking like a male stripper ? That would be Grayson. 

 

Even Chloe, who would not even take a paper from her classmates because “The paper they have looks poor.” Was in awe of the man in front of her. “Wow, check out the hot stuff in the front girls!” Said Alya to the other girls at the back and when she got a frown from her Boyfriend apologized while pointing at Grayson and saying “Like you wouldn’t think like that babe!” 

 

Nino, looking quite offended put his hand to his chest and with his nose in the air said “I -infact- do think that man looks handsome, but I have the courtesy to not say anything in front of the love of my life who just broken my heart with a single tune”  If the overtly etiquette way he was talking didn’t sell his point the sad puppy face he made for Alya that made everyone around them giggle did. And she promised him an apology dinner from her mother’s kitchen which Nino, with a smile said she is forgiven. 

 

While this was happening in his close proximity, the others from his class and outside of it started to gather around the stairs and even started to howl at Grayson. Now, the only ones that somewhat had the common courtesy was Adrien and Marinette who for some reason was saying Grayson’s shirt looked bland on him. 

 

Of course Damian, doesn’t want an embarrassing hug from Grayson (Which Grayson would 100% would give him) and doesn't want to be the center of attention, decided to quickly get out of the stairs and then meet with him at the back of the school when the crowd died down. 

 

But before he could even start to move his phone buzzed with the tone he had specifically put for his family members and the moment Dick heard it, he stopped looking at his phone and lounging back to the poster and turned towards him with the biggest smile all of Paris had ever seen. Damian could hear some of the girls making weird noises behind him that he didn't even wanna know.  

 

“Dami!” Yelled the man and came towards the stairs with a quick pace. While he was moving Adrien turned towards him with a raised eyebrow and understanding what he asked immediately, Damian just said a quick “Big brother” and shut himself off. Right at the moment all he was thinking of was that Grayson did not make a handstand while hugging him. 

 

Of course, because this day wasn’t done with him it seemed.  Grayson didn’t do a handstand, no he just casually kicked himself from the handrail, did a somersault in the air, landing perfectly in front of Damian and then hugged him. 

 

At first the people around them took a back step with how he effortlessly and quickly flew in the air, but Damian knew that (From experience) that moment wasn’t gonna last long, and sure enough, not even ten seconds later, people came towards them again and started to woo over Dick. 

 

Of course, Dick being Dick, he saluted all of them, spoke to them with a really good French accent, and rejected every female's advice so classy they didn’t even seem sad. “Hello sir.” Said Marinette next and shook his hand, ofcourse, if Dick read the files -Damian didn’t know it because he was busy chasing butterflies all night while trying to stay outside of the two heroes radar.- he would know who was Ladybug and who was Chat Noir. 

 

He shook Marinette’s hand while still holding on Damian’s shoulder with one hand, towering over him a bit. 

 

“Ah! You must be the class president. Damian said you were nice to him.” Said Richard with a smile that would cure blindness plastered on his face which made Marinette blush like crazy and made Damian nervous, they should be kept in it low.

Seeing the daggers Damian was throwing at him with his side eye (Metaphorically of course, at least this time) Dick understood the message, they needed to leave. “Well, it was nice to meet you all, but I’m craving some French cuisine right now. Lets go Dami!” And with those words Grayson moved out of the doorway with Damian next to him still looking at him with anger. 

 

***

 

“That was highly unnecessary and quite unwarranted Grayson.” Said Damian when they finally come to their shared house. It was more of a garage with no window than a house but hey, it had a toilet, a running shower with warm water, two beds and a TV they could use. Frankly they both had to stalk people in worse condition before. 

 

Dick turned towards Damian with a raised eyebrow, a clear sign that he didn’t understand why the youngest robin was angry at him. Then he showed the chocolate bar in the kids hand “I thought you liked that brand.” He said and Damian rolled his eyes, of course he would think it was a small thing like that. 

 

“I meant the hug and the jumping in front of the school.” Said Damian and took a bite out of the chocolate in his hands, smearing the warm delicious snack  a bit to his upper lip. 

 

When Dick still gave him that deer in the headlight look, Damian rolled his eyes again and then almost yelled at him that he didn’t like to be hugged, especially in public. 

 

Finally when the puzzle inside Dick’s brain finished le looked at the ground with a sad expression and said “I’ve haven’t seen you in a while kiddo, so… you know. I’m sorry.” And with the added look broke Damian’s heart in three different places and he was ‘That’ close to tell him not to worry or hug him on the spot. Of course he still had a place to uphold in the family as the protege of the batman he just “Tt”ed out and told dick to not do it again. 

 

***

 

Marinette was in her room, focusing on her homework when she heard the telltale sound of the metal boots on her balcony. As she raised her head from her computer screen, Chat knocked on her hatch three times and with her permission opened it, jumping down with grace and closing the hatch with his tail. 

 

“Hello again Princess Marinette.” He said while bowing down and putting his arm to his chest.

 

Marinette laughed at his never ending antics and then bowed down from her chair towards him with all the grace of a Picasso painting “Hello to you too Monsieur Chat. How has your day been so far ?” 

 

“Well, it was eventful not gonna lie. But of course the best part was me coming for my favorite snacks.” He said and started to swish his tail fastly from left to right, watching Marinette from her lounge with an expectant and energized smile. She would never understand why he was always sitting on his legs there, but maybe it was a cat thing who knows.

 

Now, the thing Chat was expecting was of course cookies her father had made and she had taken. The problem was that today she was hungrier than she thought before. “I’m sorry, Chat. I finished the cookies today while waiting for you.” She said with a sad smile and then saw how his ears drooped down immediately which made her panic for a second. She didn’t want to make one of her best friend’s sad. “B-but I can- I mean I will get a new patch in like 5 minutes and they’ll be hot and delicious !”  She said fastly while flailing her arms around, thankfully the ‘sunny side smile’ as she liked to call it came back to his face with the mention of the new batch of cookies. 

 

“Well my princess, you know how to bribe your way to my heart.” He said while wiggling his brows witch Marinette just rolled her eyes out to it. “So, how about a round of Heroes versus Villains 4 ?!” 

 

Marinette let out a sigh of exhaustion and looked at the notes in front of her table. “I would love to Chat, but unfortunately I’m still sucking at physics as you can see.” She then took her homework and showed him “I’ve missed like one class in the school because… girl things, and suddenly we went from chapter 5 to 7!” She then put her homework on the table loudly while still grumbling about how unlucky she was, Chat continued to sit there and watch her antics, for some reason seeing Marinette frustrated always made him feel… good ? 

 

‘No that’s not the right word for it, also it sounds horrible. It’s… it's… it's the same feeling I have when I watch Ladybug do a trick with her yoyo in the air. There.’ Chat thought before putting his legs to the ground and approaching the Brunette who seemed almost ready to rip her beautiful hair out. 

 

“Well then Princess, I suggest we focus on what we are good at, for me its academics and for you, I’d say making great cookies. How’s that sound ?” He suggested while putting his right hand to the desk, leaning on it and with the other put on imaginative glasses on his face. 

 

While Marinette again, laughed at him being a goofball, she slowly shook her head “I appreciate the help not going to lie, but I can’t let you do it all for me Chat, how else I’m going to learn ?” She said and with that Chat’s smile grew up before he turned around her and then said with a face full of seriousness “In that case miss Princess, I’m going to be your teacher and I will take responsibility for your grades.” 

 

***

 

“So, that's the costume we are going with ?” Asked Damian as he checked himself in the mirror, his Robin costume, while designed for him, his body type and for his likings completely, was also super easy to identify. So in order to gather less attention to their identities and easy deniability (Because there were two heroes from America at the same time, two Wayne’s in Paris.) They had to make some adjustments to Robin's costume. 

 

Before his chestplate was red with a couple of black spots around his rib cage, now it was the other way around. His belt now was also black instead of yellow and like his leggings were. He still kept his cape as it was because he liked the hood too much and it also kept him warm on cold nights. He really didn’t want to take out the robin insignia because… Well because obviously he was still Batman's partner, but of course, mission meant sacrifices. And he knew there were worse sacrifices than an insignia. 

 

Just to not show his face he wore an oni mask he bought from last year’s vacation in Japan. Actually, it wasn’t the one he brought, unfortunately that one was made of cheap plastic and it was a bit big for him. So of course Dick, being the big brother of the family. Asked Lucious to design a similar mask with all the comfort (He he) their costumes provided. And Damian loved it so much he pretty much forgot the one he brought instantly. 

 

Even though Grayson didn’t like the mask because it was a demon’s face and he hated when Damian acted like he was still that bastard's grandson, he also didn’t have it in him to tell the kid no. 

 

“So, we now need a name… Hmmm. How about ‘Kidd’ with two d’s ?” Asked Dick while getting ready himself until the unimpressed and downright disgusted face Damian gave him made him stop putting his boots on. “What ?” He asked innocently, was the name bad ? It was just Kidd, kid part because Damian is a kid and the last D’ as an homage to Damian’s first letter.  

 

Damian just signed out to his question and said “Thank gods you didn’t choose your own name.” Now that hurted… A bit. 

 

“Alright, that hurted. And because of that since I am the only adult here I’m going to abuse its power and call you ‘Kidt’ with a ‘D’ and a ‘T’ from now on Dami.” Said Dick and then made a ‘mhm’ sound just to show how mature he really was. Of course, being one of the coldest people in the world, Damian only made a grunting noise of disgust and didn’t say anything else. He knew if he pushed it Dick would call him that in front of the amateurs no problem. 

 

So he just kept staring at his costumes, the color change was easy enough, no problem. But he still felt like something was missing, something he felt naked without. He parted his cape for a moment and checked his chest plate, of course. Right there in the middle of his heart. The missing Robin insignia was making him feel broken, like a part of him had been taken out.

 

Nightwing, hearing the kid's faintest sigh, looked at him while calibrating his escrima sticks voltage and saw how he was looking at his costume. He knew that look. And he knew how much it hurts to look at yourself like that too. 

 

He got up from the couch and dropped his sticks on top of it. The noise they made woken Damian from his thoughts as he continued to at least act like he was fitting the costume to himself till Dick came in front of him, between the mirror and then bends down to his level. 

 

Damian didn’t say anything, neither Dick did. They were together long enough to make a conversation without words. Dick put his hands to the youngest member of their Bat-pack’s shoulder, grounding them both to the earth. “I know leaving the symbol feels wrong Dami, but this is what we have to do for the mission, remember ?” He said and a memory started playing in his head. 

 

It was maybe his fifth month as Robin and he loved every second of it, the flying on the city, helping people, being the light figure this city had desperately needed. He was looking around for a copycat that night, some girl that people called batgirl. She had shown up only five times so far, helping people from what the CCTV’s been showing. 

 

Bruce (Understandably) didn’t trust it, so Robin, while not with Bruce’s permission, wanted to do his own search. He might be mad at him later, but with good evidence Dick could prove himself once again to Bruce and his superpowered friends that have been teasing him about it for the last couple of days. Besides, Bruce was busy with his new ‘Justice’ buddies. Pfft. If you asked him he would say they were overcompensating. Well, almost all of them but Superman.

 

Of course he would never tell that infront of Bruce. He was nine, not stupid. And he knew Bruce secretly was very jealous of Superman’s powers, even though Dick didn’t think he needed any of them. 

 

The night was long, windy and worst of all, raining. But of course that didn’t deter him from the mission. His teetering teeth or shaking bare legs didn’t deter him either. But after a full tour of the city’s worst corners like Bowery, he had to give up and go home empty handed. It seemed like the severe rain did what they were trying for a couple of months in a few hours; Stopped criminals. 

 

When he got back to the cave in his ‘Robin Cycle’ he immediately took a warm shower and slept soundly under heavy and warm sheets. Unfortunately for him, that did nothing as he couldn’t get out of bed the next day. 

 

Before, he would say the worst person he had ever fought off was Bain, the others in the Bruce’s gallery were still trying to hurt him, would be slow against him, either because he was so much faster then them or because they took it easy on him. That was not the case with the burly hulk of a man though. 

 

He didn’t really care that Dick was hardly coming up to the man’s knees, he still fought on with all his power and speed no matter what. Thankfully the dude was as dumb as he was big and he could usually get a few serious hits and then take him down with Bruce’s help no problem. 

 

Now though, he realized that his worst enemy was not outside but within. The splitting headache, nausea and the pain in his nose was the worst thing he had ever encountered. 

 

Of course, as soon as Bruce came back, he ordered him to not get out of the bed, or his room till the illness passed away fully. Now there were a few things Dick didn’t agree with the big man ordering him. Firstly, his eyes and arms were working fine, so while he might not do several airflips for a while, he could definitely continue to kick ass. 

 

He continued to follow his own road, getting out of the house was easy enough, Alfred was a hard taskmaster but thankfully he was in the cave, being Bruce’s eyes and ears for the night. 

 

‘Friday the 5th, he will be around Old Gotham for most of the night, Think I can get to the East End and Bowery again before they realize I was gone.’ He thought and then jumped from their front door, of course they had stashed two motorcycles in the woods around there too, just in case. 

 

He was well in his search, it was hard he couldn’t lie, his head was killing him and his legs were wobbling, he didn’t have all of his equipment with him so he was mostly anchored to the roads, searching around the family owned markets and shops instead of market chains seemed like a good idea. 

 

That was till he saw what he was searching for, she was helping an street vendor when he saw her, two young kids behind them cuffed to a windows bars, the vendor was thanking her in a different language, it sounded like arabic but he wasn’t sure, it might have been turkic too. 

 

Suddenly they both saw him and turned towards him, she immediately took a fighting stance, looking like a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu stance, something Bruce hadn't thought of him yet because of how busy his life was. 

 

Of course, Dick being a runaway at the moment, wasn't wearing his usual uniform or his trademark smile because of the helmet on his head. But he did have his mask and his ‘R’ emblem on the top of his jacket.  So he felt safe while removing his helmet and congratulating her on the catch. 

 

Or at least that was what he planned to do, but something he forgot with his flu was that people usually do two things when they feel threatened ; Fight or Flee. 

 

The moment his feet touched the ground she showed which one she was as a round kick almost hit his helmet and threw him off. Thanks to his training, Dick dodged the kick almost instinctively and fell down, his vision which was already covered with the helmet and his mask started to go even worse when he started to dodge her attacks. She was fast, relentless and seemed a bit of a hot head. But maybe the last one was because of her crimson colored hair. 

 

Their dance continued for at least a minute, he didn’t wanna hurt her or get hurt in the process, so Dick thought of surrendering or running away, but before he could do any of that she landed a punch to his stomach which made him double down and start to couch. 

 

“Y- *Huff* You are better than your friends… Are you their- leader or- or something?” She said while also doubling down from the exhaustion. He was good and she gave him that, but not that good. She beat him didn’t she ? 

 

Hah! of course she did, and now they wouldn’t be bullying random street vendors in the middle of the night anymore. Though she was sure she didn’t put full power to her punch, why was he still coughing instead of getting up ? 

 

“Umm… You good, leader - gang member- man ?” She asked uncertainty and then the vendor who was watching the fight came close to the Dick who couldn’t breathe properly and bent down to help him. 

 

“Child are you okay ?” Asked the man as he took a hold of the helmet and tried to remove it while Dick was losing all his functions and felt like his lungs wanted to get out of his throat. 

 

“H-Hey, I-I didn’t mean to hit you that hard! Can you hear me ?!” Asked Barbara, now panicked out of her mind, she was sure she had hit his stomach, but maybe she miss calculated and hit his ribs ? The industrial oven gloves she had bought off were a bit too bulky after all and they did make it hard to tell. 

Seeing the worry in the girls eyes Dick tried to get up and in progress finally completely got rid of the helmet, both the vendor and Barbara had to take a double take when they saw the all too often shown face of the new Batman’s partner. 

 

“Didn *Cough* meant to- to *Cough* scare ya *Cough* *Cough*” He was barely able to speak between the Coughs and then he finally succumbed to his illness and his eyes started to roll back. 

 

Barbara was in shock because ‘HOLY SHIT DID I JUST KILL ROBIN !?!!’ But it seemed like the vendor was calmer than her and while she was losing her mind with what had she done, he took a closer look to the boy, his voice seemed stuffed when he talked, but his nose was quite runny, he of course didn’t touched the kids mask even thought he couldn’t see his eyes from the white lenses of it. He touched his throat and felt his heart rate, it was strong thank god. 

 

“Girl!” He yelled to the youngster who had saved him from those two kids with knives a few minutes ago. That cool, calm and collected girl seemed to be somewhere else now. 

 

So he tried again when she didn’t answer him the first time “Girl come. See he okay!” This time Barbara turned towards the man. What was he talking about ? 

 

“See good… umm…” He drew a heart with his fingers in the air. “No good english sorry but he is good. Healthy boy.” He said and with that Barbara also came close to the Robin's corpse-like statue in the ground, she slowly took out one of her gloves and then touched his throat. He was right. There was a strong rhythm there. 

 

‘Alright, so he is not dead -Thank god! - But he is unconscious and I can’t leave him here. I have to do something.’ With that thought Barbara took out her phone and called a taxi. 

 

Dick didn’t remember much of the night after he was flat on his ass. He remembered little crumbs of images, like how he was led inside a car, then he remembered Gordon’s worrying face, how Bruce’s serious face slipped up as soon as he saw Dick’s corpse-like body in the hands of the commissioner and called the Batwing. 

 

After he had gained consciousness, there was a lot of stern talking made by both of his father figures. Alfred, while worried sick for him, let him go with a ban on his cookies for a week. But Bruce thought he needed to learn a lesson and locked his costumes and all of his equipment for a whole ass month, and banned him even going down to the cave with foolproof security A.K.A : a very determined Alfred. 

 

He felt like he had been red of his humanity when Bruce took his mask the first time. The manor was always depressing but now it was suffocating, consuming him to do nothing.  

 

His father also punished him like that once, when he was getting close to one of the lions he wasn’t supposed to, his father had banned him from performing with them. But this was different, before he wanted to perform and not doing it made him feel empty and depressed. Now he needed to be Robin, his real self since he found his family's killer. He needed to stop the other like that man was. 

 

Who was there to help Bruce without them anyway ? Bruce himself hated to work with the supers. 

 

He learned his answer too soon, it was Batgirl. He had been given the boot because he broke the rules once and now he was next to a total stranger. 

 

Needless to say he thought he would be mortal enemies with that girl that night. 

 

‘Oh how the turns have tabled.’ Nightwing thought as he gave Damian his symbol “Keep it in one of your pockets, you feel less exposed that way.” He said with a smile and Damian did as he was told before saying an embarrassed thanks and going to the computer, trying to look like he was busy. 

 

“Tonight it’s only the cat that is patrolling, he usually starts it from 9 PM to 2 AM.” 

 

“Huh, you really acted deaf when Bruce said Don’t follow them closely huh?” 

 

“I had an adequate distance between them.” Said Damian and then turned towards him, "He usually chills at Arc de Triomphe and that would be the best palace we can interact with him.”  

 

Nightwing scratches his chin, something he imitated from Bruce even though he doesn’t like to grow even a beard shadow. “How can we talk to both of them at the same time ?” He asked Damian and the kid showed him his three fingers “We can wait till tuesday, for some reason that day is almost guaranteed at least one Akuma. We can still talk to one of them and wait for the other one. Or if you want, we can cause an Akuma and then let them come to us. I have some people in my mind for that one” 

 

The gleaming eyes and hopeful smile on his face told Dick he wasn’t kidding. “Well, last I checked we are the smiling heroes, sooo let's go with option two.” 

 

To his answer Damian did an ‘Tt’ sound with disappointment and then turned to his computer before opening Youtube and starting to search for Batman fight videos “In that case we have to wait. Cat’s usually go to Ladybug’s house on Thursdays and don't get out till 8 to run home. No sooner than that can be done.” Said the kid and turned back to his computer, it was showing Bruce going hand to hand with a really pissed off looking Lady Shiva while the guy who was filming was commentating on them loudly. 

 

‘Huh, I thought they said they didn’t know who each other was in an interview… Probably to cover up for the fans and media.’ Thought Dick and then moved back to the couch in order to get the last of his costume piece : The Long hair he had to cut down like the first year he had started. 

 

But before he could his phone rang with a tune that he was most afraid of, Damian stopped the video and turned his head towards him with wandering eyes, watching to see what he was going to do. The incessant ringing of the phone’s finally became unbearable to Dick and he took it from his belt. The screen simply read ‘Barbs.’ 

Chapter 3: Winging in Paris- First Appearance

Summary:

‘God I love it when she talks with authority and sureness’ he taught while trying to stay on the topic “So Bruce asked you to cover Paris as well ? You need to ask him for a raise, babe” He was sure he could see the way she shyly smiled at his joke while not giving away anything on the comms. 

Dick wasn't able to open his phone till the fourth ring because he couldn’t even feel his fingers right at the moment. 

 

After a night full of activities (two robberies and three different gang fights) and only being able to sleep for one hour before his phone rang he was beyond exhausted. Maybe he really should cut the police work and focus on being a full time vigilante, but of course that would require his trust fund from Bruce, something he swore not to use because… Well because he was a bit petty at the moment. He needed at least two more months before he could speak to the moody decency again. 

 

He yawned loudly before getting the phone next to his ear, hopeful that whoever called him would get the hint and leave him alone. 

 

“Hello ? Officer Grayson here… almost.” He murmured before opening his eyes and let the barely visible morning light hit his eyes slowly, at least that was a nice change of pace, usually the sun just smack him on the face when he wakes up. 

 

Whoever was on the other side of the call kept quiet for a second before Dick heard a hiccup before the all too familiar posh accent said his name a little too choked up. 

 

He immediately got up from his bed and checked the clock, it was almost six and he knew Alfred wouldn’t call him at this hour if it wasn’t an emergency. His head is fastly filled with theories, his anxieties adding fuel to his nightmares. This was an emergency call, someone was critically wounded or worse. Was it Tim ? Last he talked with him Tim was distraught about his breakup with Steph which made him distracted. 

 

Or was it Bruce ? He is best at what he does no doubt about it but everyone has limits eventually right ?

 

Before he could go on and on about what horrific and agonizing way they had died Alfred’s -Now more controlled- voice bringed him back to the earth “Master Richard, please be patient sir. It’s- it’s horrible but it could be-” He couldn’t even speak normally. Oh god. 

 

Dick foregone every other thought in his head and started to put his uniform back on while stucking his phone between his ear and shoulder. Thankfully, since he was so exhausted he didn’t even get his pants off and just threw his armor-fined chest piece away from him with his mask. 

 

“Alfred I’m coming over there but tell me, is it Tim ?” He asked as calmly as he could. He wasn’t calm at all of course. He was panicking but still, his instincts were ordering him around so he wasn’t confused about what to do at all. 

 

“N-no, master Timothy is safe and sound master Richard. It’s...” He stopped again. Oh God! What had happened to Bruce ?! 

 

“Don’t worry Alfred, we know Bruce, whatever it is I know he will come through!” He yelled while putting on his mask and taking his keys and starting his motorcycle's engine. The good thing about living in your garage is the swiftness of living it. 

 

“No master Richard… It’s- it's miss Barbara.” 

 

Just three words. Three words were enough to destroy him as he had barely put his leg out to stop himself from dropping the cycle.

 

“Master Richard ?” He barely heard Alfred calling him, his own thoughts were everywhere at once. Barb… Barbara was… Oh no. no no NO! 

 

He wanted to scream out, throw things around, break something… someone. Whoever had done this. He doesn't even remember how he started the engine again, took to the roads and came to the Mansion again, at the moment he was only thinking about the girl he had fallen in love with, the smartass ginger with the cutest frickles he had ever seen on someone. 

 

*** 

 

Dick looked at the phone for a few more seconds and then opened it slowly. Secretly hoping the call would end before he could open it to be honest. He had no problem speaking with her now, but since the dreadful day (A.K.A Barbara’s birthday) was so close he couldn’t help but feel awkward about it. 

 

“Hello ?” Then the voice he hadn’t heard over a whole week came through and he felt all of his worries melting away. He wasn’t a good liar, he loved her and he knew it. Knew it since their second meeting over at the Olberg Tower, trying to convince her jumping down with a shitty bungle rope would break her arm.

 

And just like (Almost) all the heroes who are deeply in love with someone, it was difficult to act and sound normal while talking to her. “Hey babs. How was your day ?” He asked hoping his voice wasn’t too high pitched. 

 

Thankfully he stopped himself from letting an awkward laugh. “It was good, I had dinner with my dad like all Friday’s… you know, normal.” God he could hear the unsure almost stutter in her voice, it didn’t fit her at all. 

 

“Oh... That's good, I heard Gordon had his hands full with a few cases lately, glad he made time for you.” As soon as he said it he regretted it, of course he would make time for his only daughter dumbass not everyone is Bruce! 

“Well, yeah…” She said before clearing her throat and telling him why she had called at the first place “Bruce had ordered me to check on the cameras Damian had put out. It’s nowhere near as bad as Gotham but we can still clear some streets.” 

 

‘God I love it when she talks with authority and sureness’ he taught while trying to stay on the topic “So Bruce asked you to cover Paris as well ? You need to ask him for a raise, babe” He was sure he could see the way she shyly smiled at his joke while not giving away anything on the comms. 

 

“Maybe another fundraiser for the library would be good.” She said before her silence was taken away by the clicking of keyboards. “I don’t see anything that requires your attention for the moment, but I have to report a store robbery right now… So, Bye!” She said it in a hurry and then closed the phone, god his time in Paris was going to be rough with only talking but not seeing her. 

 

He put the phone down to his pocket back and turned towards Damian who was watching him with disappointment. “What ?” He asked and after another ‘Tt’ he got from the kid, Damian said “You two are sickeningly obvious and coward enough to not fornicate.” 

 

***

 

“So you see, the formula works just fine, you just need to follow it through and not look for alternative routes princess.” Said Chat while fixing Marinette’s last answer. Marinette huffed loudly before starting to rub her forehead, physics was her worst subject and she was thankful that Hawkmoth hadn’t made a villain based on it. 

 

“I guess I’m just not used to following basics… Which is really sad saying out loud.” She said with a pout and Chat immediately started to rub her left shoulder supportingly. “It’s a hard question in and of itself Marinette, don’t beat yourself about it.” 

 

‘Maybe he is right.’ thought marinette while watching his intense green orbs, they were glistening with enjoyment, figures. After all, he said he liked to teach and he had means to do so if you asked her. He was relaxed when he needed to be and firm when he had to. Most of all though, he was patient. 

 

“Alright, for the next one-” Before he could finish his sentence Marinette’s alarm sounded, waking them both from their thoughts. 

 

With the sound Chat got up from the chair he was sitting on and stretched up loudly before taking a bow next to her, closing the blaring alarm while in his pose. “Well princess, it is with great regret that I must leave now.” He said while not even hiding his grin, even a blind person could see that he loved what he was doing. 

“Oh no, my knight, how shall I get a passing note on physics without your help now ?” Said Marinette with the most disinterested way she could, she will be passing both the homework and the upcoming test. She never let anything in her life affect her career academically, her parents were counting on it and she didn’t want to let them down. 

 

Of course Chat being Chat, instead of understanding the joking tone, instead concerned for her and started looking at the trap door questioningly, while rubbing the back of his hair “I- I mean, I guess I can stay for like, another 5 minutes ?” Marinette smiled at him and then took his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, for someone that talked between making dumb puns, he really needed to understand the difference between joking and seriousness. 

 

“I’ll be fine Chat, if nothing else the internet is a thing no ?” she said smiling and saw his face get a little red, weird how he tended to do that from time to time. Probably because he was essentially a hairless cat and could get overheated quickly. 

 

He cleared his throat while taking his hand back and again started to scratch his hair. “Umm, then I- I’ll see you later Marin- I mean Princess.” He said with a forced smile and then fastly climbed the stairs and opened the trap door in one quick swoop, letting a fresh patch of air in the room and making Marinette shiver slightly. 

 

He stopped before closing the trap door and gave her salute with two fingers, their unofficial fistbump if you will. 

 

After he closed down the trap door and Marinette stopped hearing his metallic toes she let out a deep breath and then turned to her sewing machine where her miraculous, Tikki, was looking at her with worry and apathy. 

 

“Marinette, you told me you’d tell him to not come here today. What happened to that ?” She asked while flying towards her holder. She loved the girl to death and thought her as one of the best holders she had ever met, but Marinette had a knack for… What do humans say ? Drag it out. 

 

Marinette for her part did what she always did when Tikki confronted her on this specific topic, holded her left arm while looking down. They had been on this road before, since Chat started to visit him a month ago. That day Marinette made a promise to Tikki and told her that this wouldn’t be happening again. She has told her the same thing since then too. 

 

But what Marinette could do honestly ? She couldn’t say no to her own partner, someone she deeply cared about since the beginning. Also before, he had told her that this was a great escape from his pretty awful reality and he was always respectful to her and her passions, he was just genuinely a good friend to her. Something she started to lack out of since Lila came back and tried to show her as the villain, again. 

 

At Least this time her classmates were showing more than two brain cells and ‘Liela’ had to lower the intensity of her lies, the girl who once almost got her expelled from the school was now showing Marinette as a petty person, honestly she could live with that. It even helped her with how people finally returned their reading books in time. 

 

“I don’t know Tikki.” Said Marinette simply as the little god came to perch on her head. “I just don't want to cut ties with him Tikki. I was waiting for an opportunity to throw a tantrum, waiting for a slip up but he is always just so… Nice to me.” She said finally sitting down back to her chair and putting her head to the thick bundle of paper.moaning about how it was unfair that Chat was such a gentleman.

 

***

 

Luka was trying to breathe normally, he was also trying to look calm both for his sister and her girlfriend next to him. 

 

They were on their way home when he felt the stabbings of some guys stare on his back and told the two girls to move faster to the closest metro station. Unfortunately his master plan was ruined when they took a turn towards an alley and saw the two people that were waiting for them with wide grins on their faces.

 

They stopped immediately and tried to get out of the alley but before they could two more people came from behind them and forced them further in the alley. At this point Juleka had already pushed the panic alarm in her little bag and Rose was taking out her paperspray from her own bag. Luka, of course being the peaceful one in the bunch, put his hands in the air in order to show he was armless. “I know the price of gas is ridiculous nowadays, but what are you hoping to find from two students and one minimum wager’s bag ?” He said with a nervous smile on his face, the girls were behind him now they had been pushed towards the left wall of the alley. 

 

One of the thugs came close to them, he seemed around the same age as Luka with a purple mohawk and pierced nose. He had a psychotic smile plastered on his face, showing his two golden canines (Witch from the dirty biker attire he chose Luka was sure they weren’t real gold). 

 

“Boyo, if we were here for money we wouldn’t be looking at your brokeasses.” He said and started to laugh with the rest of his -seven in total- guys. Of course his words made Luka panic almost instantly and made him panic. If they weren’t simple thieves, why did they cornered three kids essentially ? 

The possibilities ranged from gang territories (which was stupid, they were in the middle of Paris, not on the back streets of it) to selling them to slavery or various black markets around the world… he might be exaggerating, but at the moment he was sure no one would blame him. 

 

Before he could ask the person with the mohawk what did that mean exactly, a man from their right stepped in front of the group and Luka unfortunately recognized the guy immediately as “Luis.” He said simply and everything in the puzzle piece suddenly made sense. 

 

“Hello Luka.” Said the blonde simplify and then started to swing the metal bar in his hand slowly. Of course he wouldn’t let go of their past that simply, but Luka didn’t think he would get this far too. “I’m sorry for what I did Luis, but this isn’t the way to fix it either.” He said coldly while keeping his piercing diamond blue eyes to the blondes timid yet unfazed ocean blues. “I thought you were different from the other man” He said simply and stopped in front of the mohawk, who was tall enough to put his hands to Luis's shoulders and bend down towards him. 

 

Luka took a deep breath, it’s been two months since he said no to Luis’s ‘Advancements’ and two months since he last saw him. He didn’t like the blonde that way and thought he was apologetic just in case he was giving the wrong massage to the boy. But since he had said no to the servant in the pizza place he was working at, Luis quit the job and never talked to him or anyone from the work ever again. 

 

At the time Luka had thought he was the one in the wrong and tried to apologize to the man but he couldn’t find him, until now anyway. 

 

“I told you before Luis, I saw us as friends and nothing more than that. Again I’m sorry if I lead you to a misunderstanding but-” before he could finish his sentence Luis fastly hit the garbage bin next to them with the metal bar in his hand, letting the metal box make an ear screeching loud noise in the process.

 

“I don’t care anymore Luka.” Said Luis and then they heard the mohawk laugh a bit louder than normal. “ You, pretty boy.” He said while pointing his finger to Luka “You have hurted him badly you know. Said out of them all, you were the final straw. He didn’t even care the first time we tried to mug him.” He said and poked Luis with his finger “Said he had nothing left to lose, so I gave him a goal to work towards.” His incessant smile was getting to Luka “Now he is at the end of that goal, which starts with your teeth on the ground.” 

 

With his words Luis moved towards the trio who had huddled together and was trying to cover themselves with Rose’s paper spray as the blonde came towards them.  Luka knew it would be useless against seven people, but he had one more idea in his head, an idea that focused on his sister and Rose. “Alright” He said and broke free from the other two people next to him. “You want to hurt me Luis. I get that and I’m ready for it. But let them go.” He said while moving his hand towards his sister who took it instantly and mumbled that she wouldn’t leave him here. 

 

“I don’t care what will happen to me, but promise me you’ll not touch her and I won't resist you.” He thought that was pretty reasonable since he was a whole head taller and broader than the blonde, if he wanted to he could hold his ground for a while. He was ready to lay his life down if it meant he could help his sister who was trying to get him back towards them. 

 

Suddenly Luka felt a throbbing pain as one of the guys that were surrendering them had come up and hit him right at the back of his knee. While he was on the ground he heard his sister crying out but before he could retaliate someone was already on top of him and had captured his arms. 

 

The other ones were busy with the girls, two of them trying to capture Rose and her pepper spray while two others were holding Juleka by the arms and bending her down to the ground. “Come now, pretty boy” Said the Mohawk and crouched down to his level, holding Luka through his hair and lifting his head in order to lock eyes with him. “You’re offending me, who said you have a bargaining chip in this situation ?” After the question Mohawk got back up and pointed to Luis “Lets see if you learned anything Luis. Now bash his brain in!” 

 

While Luis was coming towards him Luka’s mind was filled with the moments the two spended together. How they had met, how luka thought he would be good buddies with the shy boy, ultimately how they had ended up… it was too fast, their friendship had only lasted for two weeks. Can one really be that unhinged to hurt someone they barely knew ? 

 

Before he could get his answer he felt the cold metal on his chin and looked up to Luis’s eyes, the once blue and innocent eyes were now filled with red hot hatred. “Good bye. Luka.” He said as he raised the metal pipe, Luka tried to get away but the guy on top of him was too heavy for him to lift, he could yell for help but what good would that do while his head was split open ? He thought about calling for  Hawkmoth for a second, maybe hearing the name would scare them off, but what would he do if a hawkmoth actually sent a butterfly to him ? In his current stand of mind, nothing. 

 

“Luis… Please” He said one last time before closing his eyes and waiting for the impact. 

 

———

 

But nothing happened, for a second everyone just stood there as they heard a cackle that sounded like a hyena in the darkness. 

 

“Was that you Lui-” Before Mohawk even finished his question somethings flew up towards them in the darkness and hit Luis’s hand, making him drop the pipe. After a second a second one flew by and cut Mohawks hair in half before dropping down. Then another five flew and hit every mob in the face, mankind them retreat towards the -ex- mohawk who was trying to look to the sky “WHO DA FUCK DID THIS?” He yelled while still searching the rooftops and trying to cover his hair with his right hand. 

 

Suddenly a figure dropped down towards them with a backflip and landed perfectly between the three teens and their attackers while bowing down slowly. “That would be Ich” He said with a smile and then took out the bats on his back effortlessly. While he was swinging the club-thingys and making them sparkle with electricity Luka and the others were shocked, just when he thought he would open his eyes in hospital in the best case, this guy in black and blue spandex jumped down from gods know where and saved his life. “Now, before the cops get here, you chums want to do this the easy way, or the hard way ?” He asked nonchalantly but still didn’t break his fighting stance. 

 

For a second everyone was looking at the mohawk and he was glaring at the hero with venom from his eyes. He didn’t say anything, he didn’t have to, the people next to him knew him for a long time and they knew that when he got angry there was no way out but to fight. 

Notes:

Well well, boy did I ever bit more than I can shit. I’ve been trying to jump between three stories I’m writing at the moment, and isn’t it just sucks. So for now at least I decided to focus on this one and one other that I’m not writing in here. Have a great day/night and I hope your water is cold today. Don’t forget to comment and all that other things. Love ya all. 

Chapter 4: Winging in Paris - first sightings

Summary:

Searching about the heroes of the world was one of the few things he liked doing, and he knew you shouldn't be messing with anyone from Gotham’s bats.

Chat was perched on a rooftop, getting comfortable and waiting for his patrol hours to pass calmly by looking through videos in his staff. He loved the night time Paris, it was like an explosive mixture of lights and lives. Full of… happiness in a way. At least to him because he had to live in a dimly lit, colder than hell, soulless castle. 

 

He was paraphrasing of course, his house was never cold nor warm. The temperature was artificially controlled in it, the windows were specifically designed to not let anything (and he means anything) to let through. He sometimes wondered if he could choke in his room from carbon dioxide poisoning if the fans stopped swirling.

 

But right now… right now he didn’t look at his life from this depressing side, because right now he wasn’t the perfect son of Gabriel Agreste, he wasn’t the future fashion prodigy Adrien Agreste. Right now he was Chat Noir, the defender of Paris and all the purrincesses in it (which for him there was only one. but that's another story).

 

When his internet surfing was blocked with the police alarm. For a moment he thought of not responding, after all this was a police alarm not an akuma one, probably for robbery or something. 

 

Then of course his lazy cat side was overwhelmed with the worry that someone's life might be in danger while he could have helped them and then the inevitable side of guilt that followed with, making him tap his staff and change the screen to the police report. 

 

The location was a bit far away from him, but nonetheless, with his superpowers he was sure to make it there in under five minutes. 

 

***

 

While Chat was getting ready to jump up using his staff, in the crime alley Nightwing was staring down at the people that surrounded him. If he had to guess the leader was the only one with a gun out here and was probably hiding it behind his belt. 

 

The others looked a bit panicked, some looking around them for a way to defend themself, some (ones with bats and metal pipes) looked at him with mockery and only one with amazement. 

 

Luis, completely forgot what he was supposed to do and looked at the slightly taller man with admiration in his eyes, he knew him! That guy was nightwing! 

 

The symbol was enough of a give away, but then there was that easy going smile he had seen in so many videos and of course, even though Luis couldn’t see from his angle, he could still get an imaginative shape for his behind. 

Surprising even to himself, Luis started to talk and asked Nightwing what he was doing in Paris. 

 

The kids behind him were just as much amazed by the nonchalant way Luis was speaking to Nightwing as Dick. He was pretty sure he didn’t recognize him from somewhere else, but just so not to be rude he still lowered his escrima sticks a bit and asked “Have we met mr. Blonde ?” 

 

The wildness of the situation shocked even Leo, who was busy checking his cutted mohawk. He thought they were gonna fight, he wanted to fight for what they did to him, but he also wanted to know who was this guy that just jumped out of nowhere. 

 

“I- I don’t think so, I mean I’ve never been to the USA or- or Gotham for that matter.” Said Luis while backing up a bit. Searching about the heroes of the world was one of the few things he liked doing, and he knew you shouldn't be messing with anyone from Gotham’s bats. Especially if you don’t possess a superpower which to his knowledge no one in Leo’s group did. So, he tried to do the next best thing at the moment he could think of : Surrender. 

 

“L-l-l-look, what I tried to do was fucked up and I want to say that I’m perfectly fine with waiting for the police an-” Before he could finish talking Leo take Luis from his shoulder and punched him so hard in his stomach that Luis downed immediately while trying to hold the bile that was raising in his throat. 

 

“I knew you’z was a pussy boy, but you ain’t talking for the rest of us.” He said and after kicking Luis one more time for good measure, attacked Nightwing with a knife he had taken from his back pocket. 

 

Dodging the skinny guy was not a problem for Dick, but they were in a small alleyway and he had people to protect behind him, so instead of playing with Leo like he originally thought he would do, he just Weave out of his slashes before landing a kick to his shin and punching him square in the jaw. 

 

With his hit Leo almost instantly downed and his goons started to attack Nightwing at the same time. 

 

Luka had never seen something like this, this guy -This Nightwing guy was flying but also wasn’t… he didn’t know how to describe it as the man jumped between the goons, swirling around them in the air and just struck them on the way down. He had never seen something this… magical ? 

 

It looked like he was acting out, like all of his movement was choreographed, like he and the others had done this before and they were all following their steps. 

 

Of course he knew that wasn’t the case since the remaining three guys were yelling profanities at him while trying to hit him, also because while all of his punches and kicks looked to be fake movement you’d see in TV Shows, the crunch of the broken bones or teeths were real enough to scare even their little group who had now huddled together next to a big garbage bin. 

 

When one of the three attacked him with two metal bars in his hand Dick dodged his swings and took out his own sticks just for the fun of it. 

 

The moment he did the three scumbags looked at each other with worry and it was really easy what they were thinking at the moment : How can we get out of this. 

 

‘Awwhhh my fucking tooth.’ Thought Leo, as he started to open his eyes. There was a coldness in his face, like he was sleeping next to an ice cube, and his two front teeth hurt like someone tried to pull them off. When he finally got a good look around him, he remembered where he was. 

 

He was knocked off by that bitch with super speed. He was sure if this Nightwing didn't have superpowers Leo could have gone toe to toe with him no problem.

 

As Leo started to move a bit he saw the people around him,  his gang, all of his gang were dead! Wait, no Nicola was breathing, and so was the others, he saw Luis with the corner of his eye. God damn rat was sitting on a corner and watching the ongoing fight like nothing happened. 

 

Speaking of the fight, Nightwing was fighting with Arthur at the moment, or more like teasing him because whenever Arthur threw a swing at him he blocked it and then laughed at his face with that annoying ass voice. 

 

While this was going on Leo thought he had a good chance to get away right now, but of course he couldn’t. He was the leader, he was the one they all looked upon. And he liked to be the one looked upon. 

 

Directly attacking him was impossible, Leo was sure he would do his fast moving shit (Like the fast blows he is doing against Arthur at the moment, no one can swing batons that fast!) So he needed a new perspective. 

 

Thankfully he was a bit out of the eyeside right now so no one in the alley had actually realized that he was raising his head and looking around. More so his knife had fallen next to his right hand. 

 

He slowly gathered his knife and then fastly got up as Nightwing jumped straight for the last two people in the group when he knocked out Arthur. 

 

He could have gone for the two goth lambs and their sunshine looking friend, but that would be taking unnecessary risk as the man he hated the most was sitting next to a wall all alone. 

 

When Luis saw Leo had got up he was watching Nightwing use the metal fire escape stairs like a dancing pole and knock out the last two people he was fighting with double kicks. 

 

Luis tried to keep himself away from Leo as soon as he saw the maN running up to him, but the beyond pissed off Leo easily overpowered him and catched him over his throat. 

 

While this was happening Dick was busy with cuffing the other scumbags to the trash bins and he turned around to help as soon as he heard Luis’s scream but it was just too late. Now Leo, holding the smaller guy by his throat with his knife to Luis's neck told him to stay back. 

 

“If you don’t want the fairy here to be two don’t come closer!” He yelled and Nightwing actually backed down and raised his sticks above his head, showing that the electronic parts were deactivated. 

 

“Now you are gonna let my people go and then stop the cops from getting us, you hear ?!” 

 

Dick made a show with his head, showing that he understood before dropping one of the batons and taking a sharp wingding in order to cut his cuffset, Metal ones made too much noise for him. 

 

‘He is focusing on me’ Dick thought as he tried to focus back to the rooftop that was staying hidden behind a dense smog. ‘Your move kid’ He moved his mouth without making a sound and after a second heard the unmistakable sound of a batarang cutting through the air and sharply stopping in Leo’s palm. 

 

What followed the next 4 seconds was like this : Leo, after being ‘impalmed’ yelled as loudly as he could and left the struggling Luis. Luis, seeing this as a chance started to run until dropping down next to Luka with his head between his hands and lastly, Nightwing throwing his Baton to the corner at full speed, making it bounce off to the wall next, and then the next till the baton knocked Leo at full speed right in the mans chin. 

 

—

 

After the show had ended, Nightwing called Damian to come down and looked after the scumbags while he tried to calm the civilians down. 

“Calm down people and don’t worry, Nightwing and Kitd is here to keep you safe.” He said with the biggest smile he could make in order to keep the others calm, which seemed to be working as the triplets seemed to be getting away from each other a bit. 

 

The first one of them that talked was the young man as he started saying thank you “No need for it my friend, as long as you keep these here and explain to the police what had happened, it’ll be enough for me.” Said Nightwing while bumping Luka slowly on the shoulder. 

 

He then pointed at Luis who was still sitting on the ground in a comatose position. “ We didn’t really get the full image while trying to come here, but from what we heard he was… Involved with you ?” Asked Dick not really sure he had said the right thing, he always wanted to be sensitive (At least against the innocent people, he had no problem calling Riddler a numbskull dickhead.) But it was a hard thing to do in another language and not look like you are judging people. 

 

Thankfully before he could say he didn't mean to offend, Luka didn’t really seem to mind as he shook his head. “We knew each other from my job, but I only wanted to be friends with him and… I don’t know, I may have sent the wrong message.” 

 

“Well, things happen.” Said Nightwing while getting close to Luis, he didn’t want to cuff him, but then again, he seemed to be dangerous -both to himself and the people around him- and there were still metal bars laying around. 

 

“Eghm… sir” Said Luka after he cleared his throat and moved between Nightwing and Luis “ If it's alright with you, I would like you to not cuff him, I understand what he was about to do, but I don’t think we need to cause him even more stress. If he tries to run, I’ll stop him.” 

 

Dick thought about it for a minute, Luis hadn’t done anything yet , but then again, should he trust this blue haired guy ?

 

“Mohawk’s bleeding has been stopped, the others aren’t as bad as he is. Lets go.” Said Damian and then grappled up to the roof, leaving Dick with a scowl in his face. 

 

“Well, just don’t forget what he was about to do young man. Ladies. Have a good night you all.” He said and was about to grapple to the roof himself when Rose stopped him by holding his shoulder. 

 

“Umm… Before you go mister, what is your name ?” She asked with the most innocently sweet voice Dick had ever heard. So much so it would even fight Ace’s whimper when Bruce told it to get out of the cave… ‘Hold on, that doesn’t sound that nice.’ 

Dick cleared his throat before speaking “You can call me Nightwing miss, have a safe and good night.” and after striking one of his famous poses, grappled up to the rooftop. 

 

***

 

When Chat finally found the alley way that the police radio was speaking about, he jumped down from his pole with no hesitation, expecting a fight that he may be too late to stop.

 

But to his surprise, he found Luka and his sister huddled with Rose in a corner, with six people knocked out opposite to them. Now, from the talk around the class, Adrien knew Rose was attending Karate classes and he was sure both Luka and Juleka would be helping her… but that doesn’t really explain how they seemingly broke down six jock looking guys without any injury on them, and who was the little dude comatose in the corner ?

 

Before he turned around his friend he heard the blaring of the cops cars and the striking blue and red lights they emitted hit his eyes. “Just in time.” He said out loud and then looked at the shooked triplets with a questioning gaze “Well, which one of you was the costumeless superhero ?” 

 

***

 

Marinette was ready to go to bed, her homework was finished, she had helped her mother with the dishes, played a quick round of ‘SHB III’ with her father and had fed Tikki with a few cookies. A.K.A: Her day had officially been over. She could have drawn some costumes but lately, her head was swimming with the likes of Kagami, Luka and Chat Noir too much for her to focus on her designs. 

 

Also it was a fantastic feeling to get up at your designated hour and have breakfast instead of running on sugar infused coffee fumes and sleeping between class breaks. 

 

Of course as soon as she had closed her eyelids and covered herself with her soft blanket, Tikki tapped her forehead and woke her back up. “I’m feeling Plaggs pull Marinette, looks like Chat wants to talk to you.” She said with an apologetic look plastered in her tiny face, she knew her holders' bad habits and how they affected her negatively. She may not be a human, but she knew falling asleep on the school stairs is not a common thing for a child to do. 

 

Unlike her, Marinette, instead of being sad she might miss her sleep or being annoyed, immediately gets up and gets ready to call for Tikki. Chat would only call her at this hour if it was an emergency: which means an Akuma. 

After her eye blinding transformation, there was no more shy and clumsy Marinette but a confident and powerful Ladybug. 

 

She opened up her yo- yo as soon as she could, which meant outside of her street, couldn’t risk Chat seeing inside of her room or even on the rooftop accidentally. 

 

“I’m out Chat, where is Akuma headed ?” She asked as she ran between one rooftop to the other one. “Umm… come to the Arc my lady, but relax, it’s not an Akuma alert.” 

 

With his -not quite as enthusiastic as he normally is- voice Ladybug halted her movement and then looked at her yo-yo, seeing the lost look of her partner on top of Arc de triomphe. “I’ll be there, but this better be important Chat” She said with a fake scowl on her face, he almost completely cease his flirting towards her by now, and she liked to keep it that way because no matter how much she valued their friendship, his joke eyebrow raising was getting tired after a while. 

 

While she was on her way to the Arc her head was swimming with ideas, Chat would have called for an emergency, that much was clear. But what Chat could see as an emergency, now that was something else entirely. She remembered him stopping a pedestrian once because he was feeding the stray cats with cupcake frost. 

 

‘Get it together girl, he must have seen something horrible, or maybe something he couldn’t interfire. You can’t blame him directly like that.’ She scolded herself when she made the final jump towards the proudly displayed monument. 

 

Chat was waiting for him while pacing, this wasn’t good. He would only do this when he was under stress, which usually meant an Akuma. 

 

She landed with a thud and deep exhale, getting up from her spot. Chat immediately runned up to her “Alright Chat tell me what’s been bothering you and we will handle it.” 

 

Chat stopped before talking, forming his words at first, “I guess it’s not something that's super dangerous, but you know, I still thought you wanted to be informed about it immediately.” He was cautious with his words, something he was generally not, ‘Oh god.’ Thought Marinette while trying to keep her face as neutral as she could. 

 

“I’ve tried to help out the police with an emergency like ten minutes back, some people tried to attack m- I mean our friend Luka and his sister plus their friend Rose, you remember them right ?” 

 

Marinette shake her head up and down slowly, where was this going ? 

 

“Well… the whole thing is kinda long, but the shorter version is that I went there to help them, and then I found 6 unconscious graduate looking dudes around them, beaten up and moaning from the pain.” Now that catched Marinette’s attention, she knew Juleka didn’t have a violent bone in her body, unlike Rose. But honestly, she was sure that usually the cutesy blonde couldn’t take six people just by herself either. 

 

And then Luka, well Luka was like a combination of the two, she knew he would do everything to protect his little sister, but he wasn’t a violent person either, usually handling the problems with words then brute force. 

 

“Well, I was as shocked as you when I first saw them too.” Said Chat and stopped her train of thoughts right on their track “I asked them what had happened and apparently, a superhero from America is here.” 

 

… What? 

Notes:

Well well well, another week, another chapter. For the next week I will try to crunch as hard as I can and hopefully gonna make a chapter for my other ongoing series ‘Boogeyman’. If you are a Spy x Family fan -like me right now- check it out, you might like it.

Anyway, I hope you won't be caught lacking toilet papers in the porcelain throne and I wish you all a happy night/day.

Chapter 5: Winging In Paris - Research

Summary:

Lila didn’t understand what had happened between those four seconds or something. The last thing she saw before kissing the asphalt was a dark figure jumping towards her like a jaguar, the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was an incredibly cute man's sleeping face.
‘Huh! Wait what ? What’s happening?’ She panicked and jumped up, the man looked like he had hit his head on the payment but he was thankfully still breathing.

Marinette didn’t just feel exhausted as she walked to her school, she felt drained, emptied and then thrown out towards the strongest whirlwinds just so she could continue to suffer. 

 

She didn’t know why that was too. She hadn’t slept last night, sure. But she couldn’t. She had to search for this Nightwing guy. Learn everything she could about him and if it comes to, learn how to stop him. 

 

‘Stop it Marinette! You don’t even know why he is here.’ She chastised herself silently. That was true, she -and anyone else for that matter- didn’t know why an ally of Batman of all people would come to Paris and break the law here (Even though it was the stupidest law she had ever seen. She was still in shock at how people support it.)

 

She had learned a lot about him, a vigilante that is usually operating in Bludhaven, great martial artist and an infuriatingly good fighter if one of the videos she had watched told the truth. Super silent when he wants to be and… ugh have a great butt. 

 

Seriously, what is wrong with Americans when all they think about is someone's ass instead of the astronomically higher crime rates in two cities than anywhere else. 

 

She remembered the first time Superman had come down to Paris in order to help and how he got knocked around by the ‘Smasher’ as the villain called herself ‘I mean, we didn’t know he was weak to magic, he is the Superman after all.’ She thought while crossing the road, she still felt partially responsible for the Justice League’s collective banning. After all, if she just had said that these villains were made out of magic, superman wouldn’t be flying across town and triggering this -honestly quite stupid and petty- chain of events. 

 

She took a deep breath again, trying to keep her eyes open. She couldn’t fall asleep in the middle of the street and so close to the school. Also she had people to talk to, specifically Damian Wayne, Juleka and Rose. She didn’t even want to imagine how afraid those two might be. 

 

‘Deep breaths, you did drink your coffee and it should hit you right about-’ Before she could finish her train of thoughts she crashed with someone and promptly kissed the ground. 

 

“OH MY GOD MARINETTE!” Was the first thing she heard while her head was still spinning “Girl where did you learn to walk seriously.” Said Alya again while helping her get back up, she couldn’t see clearly because the blood flow in her body was a mess at the moment, but she saw the telltale sight of a black shirt with white jacket. “I’m so sorry Mari! My back was turned and I- I couldn’t-” Marinette stopped him before he apologized again. After all, it wasn’t his fault she felt like she was dying from exhaustion. 

 

“No no Adrien, I haven’t been paying attention to the road, I’m sorry !” She said while bowing down her head a bit, it may not be her first time making a fool of herself in front of, or directly against Adrien, but she really didn’t want to continue doing it. 

 

While they were apologizing fervently to one another Alya and Nino shared a look between them, both of their friends eyes were bloodshot and was twitching, Adrien’s normally non- styled but combed hair was a mess and Marinette’s clothes looked like she had rolled around in them and Alya (while would never tell this to her) could tell she hadn’t flush her teeth this morning. 

 

They usually were careful about their morning routines. Marinette, while getting up late or coming to class at the last second, would never do it without grooming herself properly and Adrien… Well, Nino knew Adrien couldn’t get out of the house if there were visible wrinkles in his clothes. 

 

“Alright then, spill it out you two, what have you been doing late at night both of you?” Asked Alya while putting her fist to her hips with her boyfriend next to her, supporting her claim from behind. 

 

The other couple was dumbfounded at first, ‘Did… together ?’ Thought Adrien for a second. Did Marinette sleep late or something ?

 

He looked at his exhausted friend and well, her eyes looked red but that doesn’t really mean anything right ? She usually wakes up later than them so her eyes probably just didn’t adjust to the light… 

 

“Umm… did you sleep late too, Marinette ?” Asked Adrien while looking at her worryingly “I had to… practice for the fencing match that is in a few days, I still have to be a bit faster, what about you Marinette ?” 

 

With the ball in her court Marinette quickly tried to get her composion back and with a forced smile said “After finishing the homework I started to draw clothes and, well, the next time I raised my head was with the sun, let's just say.” 

 

She didn’t like this. She didn’t like to lie to her friends but she also couldn’t say what she was actually doing. 

 

Unfortunately for Marinette though, Alya seemed to be not buying it as she bore her eyes to the brunette head like she was trying to read her mind. 

 

‘Come on Alya, just this once let your friend breathe a little girl!’ Marinette thought but didn’t say anything else as her smile was about to fade out, thankfully lady luck was on her side (Who would have guessed) as the exhaust of a loud motorcycle cut through their conversation and they heard a young man bellowing loudly to the lyrics of ‘The Wellerman’. 

 

When Dick and Damian turned the next corner and halted the bike next to the school people stopped getting inside(Or taking pictures of Adrien) and started to watch Grayson's antics, such as him doing a front wheelie next to the sidewalk before completely stopping the motor and putting himself and Damian down. 

 

Damian knew what Grayson was trying to do, cheer Damian up since he was pissed because of the other night. But can you blame Damian for being snappy, he wasn’t allowed to fight because of his way of speaking earlier. 

 

Him, the son of Batman, was not allowed to fight and just throw batarangs from the rooftop. That was humiliating and uncalled for, especially since he only was stating the facts. 

 

And now because of his antics people from the school started to come around them, another thing Damian hated. While people were taking Grayson’s photo and asking each other who he was, all Damian did was take his back and jump down from the motorcycle with huff, he didn’t have time for this. 

 

“Have fun Dami!” Yelled Grayson and Damian wanted to choke him, if anyone in the class -Especially a certain blonde and a copperhead- would call him by that abbreviation he was going to show them how his grandfather ceased the power in this city all those years ago.

 

“And remember, la taqtul alnaas, Mon garçon ”  Now that almost made Damian smile, he never asked for this from him or anyone else for that matter, but for some reason Dick had learned Arabic just to speak with Damian a few years back. Damian didn’t need it, he was already fluent in English when he first came to the states, it was his destiny to be there after all. 

 

But Richard, for some reason that he just kept sweeping aside whenever Damian asked about it, spent a whole eleven months learning Arabic just to talk Damian with and for nothing else. 

 

He didn’t like to show it but Damian was grateful for it in the end, it was… nice to speak his birth language from time to time. 

 

“la waed” Said Damian shortly and continued to make his way towards the stairs and failing miserably hiding his smile. 

 

***

When they finally entered class everyone that wasn’t Marinette, Adrien, Alya, Nino and Damian had swarmed around Juleka and Rose’s table. The timid girl was definitely having a hard time receiving all this attention while Rose was excitingly telling a story.

 

“And then something flew from the roof and he punched that no good punk so hard he flew to the garbage containers!” 

 

“Yeah it was really cool” 

 

“I know right Juleka? He was really cool!” Said Rose while holding Juleka’s hand till she got a somber expression down on her “You know, I don’t even want to think what would’ve happened if he wasn’t there…” 

 

With her words all of their classmates hugged them out and told them that they would be safe from now on, Kim and Ivan even offered to walk with them till they felt safe but Rose just said that wouldn’t be necessary. “I’m confident that we won’t be hearing from them again, and also because we won’t be visiting that part of the city again for a long long time.” 

 

“Ugh, what’s happening again ?”  Asked Chloe when she entered the class and saw everyone paying attention to the two losers at the back instead of her. And by everyone she of course only meant Adrikins and this Damian boy. 

 

She wouldn’t lie, he was kinda cute, in his own way. But what was the most attractive part of him was the fact that his father somehow was richer than her father. To her mom’s words that meant more than physical attractiveness and that’s why she was persuaded (Ordered) to either become good, ‘Real good’ friends with him or involve in his life romantically. To her mother’s dismay though, Damian was a tough nut to crack. No amount of accidental touching, insisting hugs or persistent calls for them to meet outside of the school did anything for the blue eyed kid and it was kinda getting on Chloe’s nerves. 

 

Here she was, generously offering herself to be with this man, something she would never, in a billion years have done, and here he is, listening to the two nobody's stupid stories while putting his bag. What a joke this was, an unfunny and cruel joke. 

 

“Someone had attacked Rose and Juleka last night, Chloe, can you atleast be a little less heathless today ?” Said Alya and got in front of the two girls in question, she had long realized there was only one way of stopping Chloe’s heartless rampages and that was by recording it and publishing it online. 

 

Which is why Markov was recording the whole thing at the moment. Chloe made a dismissive noise while sitting down next to Damian and accidentally touching his thigh. He seemed like he wasn’t interested but Damian always hated when someone touched him out of nowhere. She also knew that the damn robot was watching her and unfortunately she couldn’t pester the teachers about it since Max always hides it when the class starts. “Whatever hotheads, I was just being polite, but I guess you have all forgotten how to be” She simply said with an air of superiority. 

 

“I’m so sorry about the attack but really, what happened ?” Asked Adrien when he finally put his bag down and joined his friend's side, Rose started to tell the story again, how they had been trapped, how they tried to fight back and how Nightwing came to save the day. 

 

“NIGHTWING!” Yelled Alya and came super close to Rose’s side “You didn’t tell me that last night ! You just said a superhero had saved you!” 

 

Rose laughed at Alya’s angry face and then pushed her back with all her strength, which was hard since Alya was two times her size. “I knew you would be like this and I wanted to sleep.” She said shortly and smiled sweetly to the future reporter who was fuming because she had just lost a great thing to share in her blog. 

 

“Nightwing ?” Said Damian while taking out his reading book from his bag, there was not much to do in the class while waiting for the teacher to come back so he could at least familiarize himself with the subject of the day.

 

“Yea… Wait Damian you are from Gotham right ?” Said Rose while getting up a bit from her chair in order to see the boy in question better, everyone’s attention swiftly turned towards Wayne while his attention stayed on the pages. The school might see it unnecessary since they are using tablets, but to him nothing could replace the feeling of turning a page. 

 

“To my knowledge he is usually in Bludhaven and a few other places. Although he did save my life once.” 

 

He hated this, he hated to be the one playing the victim. More so because it was Riddler… The stupid Riddler! It couldn’t be Bane or maybe Deathstroke or someone else cool like that, no the pompous Riddler had to crash their charity party and had to take him as a hostage. Was the old, drooling hags of Gotham high society too hard for him he didn’t know, but right now all he wanted to do was cut this idiot's throat and vocal cords. 

 

“Wait really! What did he do ? You have to tell me everything!” Yelled Ayla as she walked in front of him with a determined look and her phone already in camera mod. 

 

This did annoy Damian a great deal and he wanted to dismiss her quickly and efficiently, but then that might impact his espionage to the school, he couldn’t start the fights. Also either these people were too soft or Hawkmoth was not picky at all because there is always a possibility for these people to turn into villains. 

 

And although he didn’t have a problem fighting off villains, his father would look down on him if he was creating them. 

 

Taking a deep breath and closing the book, he preemptively stopped Chloe from chewing both Alya’s and his own ear off and then got up from his seat. “It’s a long story and something I don’t like to think much” 

 

It was just a simple charity for the University of Gotham. It wasn’t even that lavish and it was filled with teachers much more than shareholders (Although it wasn’t hard to distinguish them from the rest) Which is why he accepted to come to this charity instead of the others. 

 

Everyone in the family hated charities, even Pennyworth who was the gentleman of the family. So much so Bruce had to pick and choose one person between them. He remembered a time they all did silly things to not attend these embarrassing parties. 

 

Only Dick was banned from the parties because he started to jump between the chandeliers… without using his hands. 

 

While at the party Damian talked a lot to the teachers and he had a good time discussing matters of great detail with the learned folks. It seemed like they also liked him because every teacher congratulated him on how much he was knowing or how smart he was. Even when he didn’t introduce himself. Regardless, he actually liked this party. 

 

Until a security guard got in the open area and revealed himself as the Riddler and told everyone to get down with a machine gun in his hands. His father unfortunately didn’t slip away and neither did he. 

 

“We had to wait about an hour until Nightwing jumped down and started to pick them up one by one. When the time came to the Riddler he was trying to negotiate with one of the school’s shareholders that was trying to bargain with the man holding a machine gun to his head.” The whole class (minus Chloe who was just applying more makeup) collectively gasped like they had never heard of a hostage situation. He knew Hawkmoth wasn’t above it. 

 

“And then what happened ?” Asked Marinette while trying to keep her eyes open, to his knowledge she shouldn’t be patrolling the other night, maybe Adrien had called her late because he was sure the black cat was knowing about them. 

To her question Damian just shrugged nonchalantly “He threw a stick to Riddlers head and made a joke about his head matching his hat… Riddler wore a purple hat that day.” 

 

People started to talk between them, a lot of them were praising the hero but few were skeptical about his methods it seemed. Like they had never seen a fight before. 

 

***

 

Dick was taking a breather while waiting for the school ring. He knew nothing bad would happen to Damian there, to be honest he was more afraid of Damian and what he would do there. After all, it wasn’t that hard to get a raise from him and he was sure that would end in only two very bad ways in Paris. 

 

‘ Noo, you shouldn’t be thinking like that, he knows what he has to do and how he has to act…’ He still didn’t move from the place and couldn’t stop himself from worrying about the little bird… A bird that was under his wings for now. He continued to stay there next to his bike, looking at the school with burning eyes. Some people tried to ask him questions but he just deflated them while pretending that he didn’t understand them. 

 

That was till he heard a ear screeching yelling coming from across the street and turned his head that way, a girl with light brown hair was talking on her phone and even though it was in a language he didn’t understand (Probably Italian if he had to guess) it was clear as day that she was pissed beyond belief. Not going to lie, he was wondering what would make someone that angry that you would start flipping people off on the sidewalk that told you to be quiet. 

 

She didn’t seem to be more than 15, if he had to guess maybe a year or older but she carried around herself like she was in her 30’s. But then she made a mistake that showed her mental age to Dick… She started to cross the road without even looking at the road, and he was sure you shouldn’t do that even in France. 

 

Case in point he saw a bakery truck was coming towards the street full throttle, and he wouldn’t be seeing her from the parked cars on her right and left. 

 

Without thinking or even attempting a plan Dick did a back somersault from his bike that he was slouching and threw himself towards the Truck, turning himself on the air and jumping at the last second towards the girl when his feet touched to the ground and tumbling with her to the ground. 

 

Lila didn’t understand what had happened between those four seconds or something. The last thing she saw before kissing the asphalt was a dark figure jumping towards her like a jaguar, the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was an incredibly cute man's sleeping face. 

‘Huh! Wait what ? What’s happening?’ She panicked and jumped up, the man looked like he had hit his head on the payment but he was thankfully still breathing. 

 

“tesoro, stai bene?” Lila heard from her right ear and realized that she was still talking to her mother. “I- I’m okay mama don’t worry- I’ll call you back.” She quickly said and closed the airpod while getting close to the stranger, the truck driver was also out of the driver seat and making his way towards them slowly. 

 

“Umm… Sir ?” She said and started to rub his shoulders, just in case he could wake up but to her horror he didn’t move and just stood there in the same way, the driver came up to her with his phone out “Oh boy why did you have to jump!” He said loudly and woke Lila from her thoughts. She took a look around and saw that now there was a crowd forming around them, some talking between each other, some calling the authorities, many just filming him silently. 

 

‘What the fuck is wrong with you all ?! He needs help, not inspectors!’ She thought and got up, was about to give the crowd a piece of her mind but stopped herself by the ever loud groan Dick let out as he got up from the ground. 

 

“Kid take it slow! You might-” The driver beat her to it so she did the next thing she thought would stop him and holded his left arm. 

 

“I’m good, don't worry. This is nothing” Said Dick simply and then turned completely towards Lila, for a moment she thought his icy blue eyes were searing her soul with how intensely he’s looking at her. “Are you okay, miss ?” He asked and Lila thought of lying to him for a moment, even if just to keep him around for a few more seconds, but for some reason she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. Also he looked way too intelligent to fall for it. 

 

“I’m… Good, but mister you hit your head we need to take you to hospital!” Grayson looked around him for a second and swore under his breath, a lot of people were recording him which was no doubt in his mind was going to be uploaded to the internet, and guess who was supposed to be watching everything that was happening in Paris ? 

 

He started to gently but firmly take his arm back from Lila. “You supposed to be paying attention to the road mini- Lady, that being said I’m also okay, so let’s just forget about this day.” He said fastly and tried to run away quickly but unfortunately this time some other civilians and the truck driver stopped him and tried to tell him to wait for an ambulance. 

 

Which he would not be waiting for, that’s true he had hit his head, but to the car’s  front that was parked to his right, not the pavement. 

 

He tried to explain himself but still, the driver and the others didn’t budge, saying things like he could have a concussion or trauma or internal bleeding. He knew he didn’t have internal bleeding or any other things they all said because he had them before and knew the difference between a cracked skull and a slightly bruised head. 

 

“Sir, if you are so insistent, please come to the school right there, we have a nurse that can at least take a look at your head, and also the owner if this car is the principle so you can talk about this dent you left here.” Said Lila while also taking his arm again and showing him the bumper that was damaged. 

 

Actually he didn’t do anything, it was Lila’s doing while everyone's attention was on the stranger, just so he would stop being so damn stubborn and you know, she could help him this way too. 

 

With very little alternatives and people still filming him (Oh my god I’m going to walk around with my ecm jammer from now on I swear to god!) Dick had left with very little options and finally signed in defeat and let Lila drag him to the school grounds. 

 

***

 

When Barbara was about to close her computers and finally get to bed her computer suddenly went on high alarm with a notification. 

 

                                                 !!WARNING!!

 

                                  Facial recognition had been found. 

 

                               Dick Grayson has appeared on videos. 

 

‘Dick ? Did he get into another argument with the police ?’ She thought as she looked at the links and started to watch the tiktok videos. Approximately fifteen seconds later she was on her phone trying to call him and getting frustrated because he wasn’t answering her. 

 

‘Calm down!’ She thought to herself while clawing the arm rests of her wheelchair, something she did to calm herself or atleast give her hands something to do. ‘He is fine in the videos, he is alive and he gets up immediately, there is no reason to panic!’ But she was panicking hard and she couldn’t stop panicking till God damn Richard Grayson opened his fucking p- 

 

“Umm, hi barbs.” She let out a sigh of relief as she heard his rough but gentle voice on the other line and calmed down on her wheelchair. 

 

“I’m guessing you heard it ?” He said far too jokingly, god she hated when he did that “I heard it ? I watched it Dick . What were you doing jumping towards a small gap like that and with that little girl too. You could also hurt her, you know!” She realized she was yelling and probably wasn’t helping if he had a headache from his injuries but she just couldn’t stop herself, she didn’t want something happening to him. She just wanted him to be careful. He never was good at that. 

 

“Barbs, you know my job and we both know you would have done the same no ?” It was both incredible and infuriating when he talked to her like that, of course she would have done the same thing and she knew she wasn’t right about accusing him. God, she… just wanted him to be safe but how can you tell that to someone that  goes toe to toe against Superman with a smile, several times against Bruce too. 

 

“I- I know but please I just…” 

 

“I know barbs. I know.”

 

“God.” 

 

“I know, but don’t worry about me, I just hit my head on the car's front, that brown one on the left I guess from the videos. But like I said, I just have a slight headache. Nothing serious.” 

 

His words always bring her peace and make her calm, but for the last year or so his words also worried her greatly, he always took good care of the people around him, hell he was always ready for Bruce even when he was unapproachable.

 

Being with him for about a year and a half she knew that, but he always put others before himself, it might be a commendable thing to the others but for her that was torture. So she was the one holding him, she was the one helping him because he would never ask for it, and now she was far far away from him, and he was hurt. 

 

“I know you worry about me Barbara, but trust me, you and I both know that's nothing compared to Bruce when he takes the training seriously.” 

 

That was also true. 

 

“Alright, tell me what are you doing now.” She said while checking the cameras Damian had put up, he wasn’t in the house and he wasn’t in the school which was concerning because one of the videos said he was going to see the school nurse. 

 

“I am taking a stroll around Paris Barbs, it's a beautiful city you know.” 

 

“Yeah, I guess so… so are you sure you are okay ?” 

 

“Yes I am Barbs…” He said then stopped, she waited for him to continue till he audibly breathed out “Can I ask for something barb?” He said and she was sure she hadn’t murmured a ‘yea’ this surely ever. 

 

“Please don’t report this to Bruce, I’m sure I worried Dami already and we both know I can’t apologize to Bruce with Dolma.” 

 

She couldn’t help but smile when she was talking to him and it infuriated her. 

Notes:

Hugs and kisses my beautiful readers. Have a good night/day and I hope your phone is charged up to 100%. (Also I'm kicking myself because I m exhousted about my Spy x Family ff and I'm angry at myself for it.)

Chapter 6: Winging in Paris - No More Hiding

Summary:

Dick took a deep breath and held it, he was never good with guns except when he had to drop them from others hands. Thankfully the scope was a big help, showing how far away the plane was and what not.

Notes:

Quickly, before you start to read it, there are some straight disgusting one sided crushes in this chapter, of course nothing too serious but you know, just to give you a heads up. Also I have watched the series fully finally and I have to say some of their choices with the certain characters were… Baffling. Which is why I didn’t write them according to the canon.

That’s all ! have a good read and I hope you’ll sleep with the cold side of the pillow.

Damian was fuming by the time their last class was about to end, he heard from Lila (Or ‘Liela’ as he once heard Marinette whisper, which was a good alternative) that Dick was in the nurse’s office. Not because Dick sent Lila as a messenger, but because it was easy to decipher Dick’s characteristics from Lila’s soap story about why she was, yet again, late to the class. 

 

The moment he heard ‘A foreigner with blue eyes and dark hair’ he was already halfway down the stairs, not caring about Bustier’s class because honestly, he really didn’t need to know why princesses were shown as damsels in distress in old stories. 

 

After an apology for leaving and an explanation later he called Dick and gave him an earful, which Grayson didn’t seem to care much about. He only said they can talk about it when he would come back to pick Damian and show that he was healthy. 

 

Now, let’s get to the infuriating part : Lila. 

 

Since he had said her description sounded like his big brother in front of the class he had abandoned, she just didn’t leave him alone. Asking pointless and quite frankly, outrageous questions about Dick’s personal life. 

 

Not only that, but her posse, made out of curious classmates was also following her and keeping the pressure up, it was thanks to his training he still wasn’t akumatized. But oh what he wouldn’t give in order to teach these hooligans how to respect someone’s boundaries. 

 

“Alright then, what does he like to eat ?” 

 

‘Anything with enough sugar to kill an elephant’ “Sushi” He said anyway, knowing that was one of Grayson’s least favored foods. 

 

“Oh! What kind ?” Asked Lila, and Damian just swirled his hand around in an ‘Any Kind’ Gesture, hopeful that would shut her up. 

 

Of course this was his luck, so she continued to harass him at any given opportunity, only making her followers grow in the process. He was getting sick of it but nevertheless he endured it. 

 

When the bell finally rang for the last time that day he was the quickest to get ready and leave immediately. Gone was the mild mannered nerd of the class with enough money to buy all the schools in the area ten times more, now he was a Robin on a mission, a mission to do a full check on his oldest brother. 

 

He didn’t even care as he jumped from the metal stairs to the ground and landed with a roll, Dick might be angry at him for dirtying his uniform (He wouldn’t, everyone knows that) but Damian didn’t care, he wanted to see the damage, and then berate Dick about it. 

 

When he finally came out of the big doors, he saw his brother in the same position he had left him in the morning, leaning against his bike and looking towards the school. 

 

It only took 4 seconds for Damian to run towards him and then kicking his shin hard, he blocked it at the last second by twisting his leg but the impact of it still hurted. “Ouch little bird! Why the sudden hate ?” 

 

“Like you don’t know why!” Said Damian half yelling half whispering. He was about to continue but then someone cleared their throat behind him and Damian turned around to look for the newcomer.   

 

Lila was breathing hard, she thought she was an athletic girl as she always cared gratefully about her weight, but Damian’s run towards the front door was so fast she could only see his bag at the last second when she came to the metal stairs inside the school. 

 

Now she was starting to sweat, both from running and the scrutinizing look Damian was giving her. But at the moment, she was much more nervous looking at the other man's intriguing ocean blue eyes, they were boring into her soul with curiosity. 

 

“Umm… H - Hello?” She said and immediately wanted to slap herself. ‘Really Lila, talking with a stutter ? What is wrong with you, you aren’t that Clumsette in the class!’ She tried to save herself with a forced smile, which she could feel how bad it was simply from the disappointed look Damian was giving her. The one she was trying too hard to ignore. 

 

Thankfully, Dick didn’t seem to be weirded out by this as he just genuinely smiled at her and said hi. 

 

She didn’t know why, but suddenly her heart skipped a beat when he did that. Her heart rate was suddenly picking up and her face was getting redder by the second. “Uh, umm… how a-are you doing?” She asked while still trying to control her body, her stomach fluttering and her fingers playing with each other restlessly from the adrenaline in her blood. 

 

“Ah, not bad. Like I was trying to say to the little one here” Said Dick and pointed at Damian who was at the moment looking angrily towards Lila “The fall wasn’t that bad and my headache had stopped a while ago.”

“Oh! It’s good then yes! I-I mean that you aren’t hurt so it’s good right ?” She was going to have a stern talk with herself against the mirror tonight. 

 

***

 

“I’m telling you Chat, she was like, slubberring towards him. It was creepy as hell.” Said Marinette as she told the story of the day to Chat who had come to visit her, saying tonight Ladybug and he were both patrolling, so he couldn’t make time towards the start or end like he usually does. 

 

“I get your point of view Princess, but maybe it’s just admiration you know. A lot of people throw themself at me for example.” He said while getting more and more comfortable in her long chair. 

 

Marinette gave him a dirty look for that comment even though she saw it happening first hand… multiple times. “Also you said he didn’t seem interested at all, so I don’t think there is anything to worry about.” Added Chat, swinging his tail in the air in sync with his feet. 

 

“I know, but you know, he is a bit of an oddball, the first day I saw him he did like a double jump just to climb the stairs. Although he did save her, or so she claimed, I know she usually exaggerates a lot.” 

 

“You mean lies outright” Corrected Chat and Marinette rolled her eyes. “Yes, she lies outrageously. But you know, I still wouldn’t want something happening to her.” 

 

Chat get up from the chair and come to the Marinette’s side, today was indeed a weird one but he truly didn’t feel like Lila had a crush on that man, it was kinda disgusting to even think about it yes, but like he said, he didn’t get that kinda vibe from Lila. And even so, Damian’s brother seemed like a genuinely nice guy and those kinda people wouldn’t even think about a relationship like that. 

 

“You worry too much about everyone, princess. That’s what I like about you.” Said chat genuinely and kissed her hand. From the sudden affection Marinette went rigid and tried to hide the rising heat in her cheeks, even though she could practically see them getting redder by the second from her computer screen. 

 

“Well, the talk of the day was good, but I better get going, we will be meeting like…” He took a look at the clock in the computer for a second. “In about ten minutes, see you later Marinette.” He didn’t even wait for a reply, though he probably wouldn’t even get one as Marinette closed her eyes with her hands and curled into a ball raising her knees to her shin, and started to curse Chat and his perfectly timed flirting moves. 

 

***

 

“You are blind if you can't see the fact that she is crushing on you, Grayson.” Said Damian as he was changing his clothes for the petrol, his equipment was ready since two hours ago, he only needed to wait for the time to pass. A unusual and cruel torture. 

 

Dick just rolled his eyes while still looking at the screen in front of him, the cameras showed him little to around, in one of them someone was flying an antique looking plane model, it looked fun. 

 

“And I’m telling you to drop it Damian. Accusing people, especially with something to this degree, is wrong.” 

 

Damian poked his head out of his room with an incredulous look on his face, his costume’s armor plated chest piece was only half way done. “Did you even see the way she was ogling at you ?” He said with an emphasis on ‘see’. 

 

Dick exhaled loudly with a tired look on his face, he really didn’t think this Lila girl was having a crush on him. That just outright sounds silly. And even if she does have a crush on him… Okay, so? He wouldn’t advance it in any shape or form, but really what he could do ? Just suddenly yell at her to love someone her own age ? That surely wouldn’t couse Hawk Moth to find her and akumatized her. 

 

Dick turned around from the computer screen and pointed at the clock in the wall,“What Miss Lila wants to do is only miss Lila’s business Dami, what we need to do on the other hand is a business assigned from Bruce. So I say wear your costume and let go.” He said it with a hint of spice in his voice as he likes to call it, just to hammer the point home a bit more. Damian, as a reaction rolled his eyes and “tt”ked at him before getting back to his room in order to put his costume fully. 

 

Dick breathed out slowly with relief that he didn’t have to push the little guy more, as much as he likes to think that the Damian had changed greatly from the first time they met, the little boy still had his fangs. He just hides them now. 

 

With that Dick turned back to the computer and did a sweep with the cams again, unfortunately nothing had showed up, no red with black polka dots or black with emerald green eyes. He saw the plane guy again though, he was fighting with a police officer, it seemed like the problem was the plane was disturbing people. He wasn’t sure since he couldn’t hear them, and speaking french doesn’t make you an expert at lip reading french unfortunately. 

 

While he was watching police trying to take the plane by force a dark butterfly came to the screen for a few seconds and while the police officer watching it in horror morphed in the toy plane. 

 

Dick slowly got up from his seat, the police officer immediately turned back and started to ward off the crowd around them while simultaneously reporting the akuma on his radio. 

 

The akumatized person didn’t do anything for a while, there was a faint purple butterfly shaped aura on his face and he seemed like he was talking through it, after the waiting was over, the guy’s entire body suddenly engulfed in a dark purple hue like he was lit on fire… Dick knew what that second one looked like from Dent. When the hue finally lifted he was on top of his once a toy Fokker DR-1 plane and riding it like it was a hoverboard with smaller versions of the planes suddenly emerging from the pilot cockpit. 

 

When the man started to take flight Dick was already starting the bike and Damian was jumping to the back side of it. 

 

***

 

Marinette really didn’t understand where Hawk Moth found these people. Sure there were some good finds with better reasons, for example when Luka turned to mister mute because of the kitty section, or maybe everyone else that Chloe pissed off, bullied, expelled or simply talked. But really now, you're gonna turn into a villain just because people mistook your toy plane with a drone and called the police on it. 

 

Where was the logic on that ? Couldn’t you just simply explain to the police it was a model you’ve built and it didn’t have a camera ? Was the police officer really that much against, what's essentially a toy that you thought they would destroy when they actually just wanted to take a look ? 

 

So many questions in her head were swimming with no answers and the constant gunfire from the ‘Propeller's (Yes, that’s what he called himself) plane didn’t really help her case. The bullets seemed to be turning people to other little planes he had (Another totally original magic Hawk Moth had given.) and their numbers were getting larger and larger. 

 

“Dreadnought little children! For the Propeller has no desire or ambition to make your suffering longer!” He yelled while diving on top of them with his plane and then going back up when he was getting too close, unfortunately neither Ladybug nor Chat Noir had come up with a good enough strategy to take him down from his plane since the little guys (Whos little bullets also turned people to planes) kept circling around him and jumped in front of their attacks every time. 

“It’s not that he is on top of an old and really loud plane that pisses me off, m’lady, it’s that he speaks like a gentleman from the early nineteens too. That’s my job after all” Said Chat while swiping away a small plane with his baton. Marinette nodded towards him, they needed to get to the same level with the propeller but since even flying up to him came off fruitless -again, small but many soldier planes- she was genuinely stumped. 

 

“I’m going to use the lucky charm Chaton, keep them off me for a while.” She finally said and while Chat got infront of her and started to swing his baton quickly she called for her ultimate power and after a second an object that formed from nothing dropped down to her hand. 

 

The Object looked like nothing she had ever seen before, it was like a little metal shuriken, but it only had two sharp corners and there was a middle part that looked like a bird head. 

 

Confused about the miracle this time Marinette started to look around herself, but unfortunately didn’t find anything. “Ugh, Chat I got nothing on this one, let's try to bait him towards the taller buildings. If we can make him land that thing we can have a better chance.” 

 

“Understood M’lady.” Said, Chat and started to follow Marinette towards the city's more work oriented parts. 

 

***

 

“Well they are surely harder to catch, don’t you think Dami ?” Said Nightwing while driving towards the last battle place he had seen, Arc De Triomphe. 

 

“All I know is these planes are annoying.” Said Damian as he threw another batarang to one of the planes that was following them, breaking it instantly and making it crush down, the problem was that his ammunition was getting low. Really low. 

 

“I hear you, on the next street we take the roofs, stay in the shadows and follow them hidden, otherwise these things don’t seem to be giving up the chase.” Said Nightwing and abruptly turned left so fast two more planes that were behind them hit a truck before they could turn around. 

 

When Nightwing was getting close to the next turn both of them started to jump and with a boost from their seats, they were up. The motorcycle automatically started to drive around itself till it (Or more precisely an ai Barbara had created) found a good space to hide. 

 

When they moved to the rooftops Both Nightwing and Robin pressed a button on their armor that switched their costumes to equal tons of gray and black, essentially hiding them better than before. 

 

“Well, what are we using to take that down ?” Asked Damian pointing to the villain that was doing tricks on the air while shooting down people below, the heroes were nowhere to be seen for now. 

 

Nightwing began to think about it, it was a slow plane and he was almost sure he could grapple to one of its wheels, but that way he would most likely turn into an attractive plane and nothing else. He wondered how much of the plane was machine and how much of it was magic because if the engine would act like a normal one then he could easily shoot it with a disruptor and blow it out of the air no problem. 

 

‘He does stop the engine when he gets high enough and opens it back up when he gets to a lower altitude. Let’s go with that one for now.’ He thought and took the disruptors three parts from his back pouches. “I’d say we shoot it with a disruptor, meanwhile you need to find and get the dynamic duo here Dami, drag them if you need to.” 

 

With his words Damian nodded and immediately opened up his phone to look for the sightings, after thirty seconds he raised from his crouched down position and started to move towards southwest without even uttering a word. 

 

Meanwhile Dick was assembling the gadget with as much of a precision as a cocaine bear could muster but it wasn’t his fault! Lucious had sent him the newest version of the thing and didn’t even give him a proper tutorial on how to put two things together. 

 

***

 

Chat was trying to catch his breath with Ladybug next to him, they were both exhausted and quite fed up to be honest. This was their third recharge because the damn thing was faster than it looked. “Honestly, it feels like zombizou all over again.” Said Ladybug while exhaling and Chat shook his head in disagreement. “At Least in zombizou they just said kissu and all that, these woodcutter plane noises are giving me a headache.” 

 

“Well, we need to do something if we want to stop it. The stupid miracle is only giving me the same thing.” Said Marinette while showing the two wingdings in her hand, she knew from speaking to Tikki that, if the miracle was giving the same object it meant that was the only way or at least the only way at that moment. 

 

“Follow me.” 

“Huh, did you say something kitty ?” Asked Ladybug while looking at his partner who was just as baffled as she was. “Uhh, I was about to ask you the same thing.” Said Chat while looking at her with uncertainty, they both have heard someone talking to them, but it was from neither of them. On top of a balcony…

 

Then Chat heard a scratching noise followed by a sharp ‘tspk’ sound, like something was shot with an air rifle. He tried to focus more with his ears and heard someone talking again, although this time it was directed towards him. “Follow me cat. And be quick” 

 

His senses and the time he was a hero warned him about danger, but then again, the akuma couldn’t do that, none of the planes were able to talk (Witch wouldn’t be at all weird come on now) and also the voice, while seemed urged and sharp, it wasn’t the same one with the akuma’s and it wasn’t as ear screeching as that one. 

 

So, while mister plane still rained metaphorical death from above, Chat made a decision and turned to his lady who was still looking around for something, anything to go with the shurikens in her hand and holded her hand “Listen Bugaboo, I know this is rare for me, but I think I have a plan.” 

 

***

 

When the call came, Nightwing was putting the small magnetic bullets in the chamber and reserve slots. The new and improved disruptor was basically a sniper rifle at this point as it had a powerful scope with an automated tracking system built in it that showed the user when to shoot was okay or not. The eight reserve was a good addition too, but at the moment he was sure if he missed once he wouldn’t be getting another shot. 

 

He stopped for a second and then touched his left ear, activating the earpiece. “Talk.” He said simply while getting up, the gravel on the rooftop was biting his thighs for a while now but only when he raised did they really hurt for some reason. 

 

“They are right behind me, keeping a good distance between us, but it also looks like the plane-man is also following them.” 

 

“Hell yeah.” Said Nightwing simply and then opened his wrist watch which projected a 3/D map of Paris, with two blinking red dots that meant for himself and Damian, it seemed like they were just a few blocks away from Rue de Condé.

 

“Come from the North side if you can Dami, I’ll take care of the plane.” He said and started to move closer to the edge, waiting for the rumbling plane to get in his eyesight.

 

***

Damian was having a blast right now, no not as in ‘He is having a good time’ kind, literally, the little planes were kamikaze diving around him and trying to take him down. 

 

But not gonna lie, he was also having a good time too. Especially after that gastly morning, with him worrying over Dick and Lila’s disgusting antics right in front of him. Just remembering it made him want to throw up. Which wouldn’t be a good thing at the moment because at the moment he was running as fast as he could against small planes, two magical superheroes and a magical villain. Hey, he knew that would be a regular occurance when he joined his father's side, so he wasn’t complaining.

 

His lungs were tho, with how much they burned and how much breathing became outright impossible for a while he thought he was going to faint on a random rooftop. But of course the mission would be in jeopardy if he did that. And he would never allow that to happen, not if he has anything to say to it. 

 

He shot his grapple one last time and finally saw the building that Nightwing had perched up, ‘finally’ he thought as he continued to get up with his grapple. The building he was moving up to was a lot taller than the one Nightwing was occupying which meant he had to glide towards it, which meant the heroes were going to see him rather than just hear him. 

 

‘Well, he wanted it from this side, there's nothing I can do about it.’ He thought and mentally shrugged off the worries creeping up around his mind, not right now, not when he had to perform perfectly. 

 

The line came to an end and he climbed up to the edge, got his footing for a second and then started to run towards the other edge, checking his cape on the last second and then jumping down. Of course, the cape was -just as much as all of Lucious’s little projects- worked perfectly once again, he wasn’t expecting it to be broken or torned up or anything, but you never know. That’s what his father always teached him. 

 

When he was in the air, for a second all that was left with him was his exhausted body, the cold air that was starting to hit his face and his thoughts. He did this a hundred times before, in a lot of different situations, for example, once they did it over an active volcano in order to see who would make it deep enough. Winner was Jason just because he didn’t bring a cape or parachute with him and said something like ‘I’d be back even if I’d be dead.’ Classic Jason reaction especially if it meant he was winning something in the end. 

 

He opened his cape and the normally soft but strong material suddenly vent rigid and took the shape of wings around him, stopping his downfall suddenly and moving him forwards fast. 

 

***

 

“Chat I heard his gun too, but are you sure this isn’t ‘Propeller's’ doing ?” Asked Ladybug as she was swinging next to her partner with a really pissed off villain behind them. He was trying to shoot them from time to time or cut them off, but thankfully his model plane was just as slow as the original ones, magical or not, so they easily countered the strikes and even tried to hit him a few times though that didn’t go so well. 

 

“I really don’t think so m’lady, otherwise wouldn’t he be at least happy ?” He said while jumping down from his pole for a second and running on the rooftop to his right, some old lady was looking out from her window and of course Chat winked at her with a little bow while moving over her head… And then heard her turn into one of those planes. God sometimes this job didn’t let up. “Not a lot of Moth’s villains are known for their cunningness after all.” 

 

Ladybug closed her eyes till they were a thin line (Don’t worry, she had swung around Paris blindfolded before, it wasn’t that hard to do.) That was true, only a selected few of Hawk Moth’s victims had tried to trick them into trust, none of them won in the end, yes, but to her they were the really hard ones because with each one her trust in the heroes around her were dropping expeditiously. Which made her worried, because if this person they were following wasn’t a trick by the biplane behind them, then it had to be the Nightwing.

 

Chat’s ears twitched again and then he pointed towards a building on their right side “He shot it towards there now.” He simply said and did a jump from his staff towards there, Ladybug hot on his tail. 

 

When they both came up to the rooftop, Chat saw a figure that seemed to be drenched in the darkness itself, standing on the edge before he jumped off with a fluttering sound behind him. “Come on.” Said Chat and started to run after the figure, when he came to the edge he could see the flying figure much more clearly. “Oh my god.” Said Ladybug as she also saw him and how he was going very fast in one of the biggest cities of the world with no disregard for his life. 

 

***

 

Dick first saw Damian as he thought he would, he was coming down towards the rooftop rather quickly, but knowing his training, Dick knew he would nail the landing no problem, then he saw the two heroes, one jumping from the building with a boost from his staff while the other one throwing her yoyo before hand and magically attract it to something, swinging down towards the street. 

 

Lastly he saw the villain on top of his plane, hurling bullets, insults and even more small planes at the duo who didn’t seem to be affected by it at all. 

 

He got his rifle ready and focused on the open engine part of the plane, eureka! it was actually picking a heat signal, which meant that the engine was in fact running and could be destroyed. 

 

He heard Damian kicking gravel up while landing, he saw the heroes were trying to get up to their building, it seemed like they were overshot a bit. Damian moved to his left side “It’s time for your part.” he said silently and bended down while adjusting his mask in order to use its binocular settings. 

 

Dick took a deep breath and held it, he was never good with guns except when he had to drop them from others hands. Thankfully the scope was a big help, showing how far away the plane was and what not. 

 

He still was the one making the shot of course and even with all the wonders of the technology that Lucious put behind this gun, it still wrecked his nerves. 

 

‘Stay still and take a deep breath.’ 

 

‘Why are we even learning how to shoot though Bruce ? We won't be using it after all right ?’ 

 

‘Of course not Richard, These weapons are used by our enemies and they will stay that way. But in order to win against our enemies we need to learn how their equipment functions at the core. How easy they are to use and how effective they are. How swift they are and how safe they made them feel.” 

 

‘I don’t think I understand.’ 

 

‘Well, you are twelve, you shouldn’t be understanding it. But you will when you grow up’

 

When the motor finally got in the effective range, Dick shot at it and when the small magnet landed on it it quickly turned on and started to tear the engine apart. 

 

“W-whoo! What the hell!” Yelled mister ventilator (Heh that was good one Dick, will have to use it later) As he was tumbling down while holding on to his plane with dear life, Thankfully heroes see this and stopped dead on their track before jumping down fastly and building a safety net around the dropping plane in order to catch it. 

When the plane did drop to the net it bounced once and Propeller went flying from it. Chat tried to get close and put him down but unfortunately the small planes came to his aid and started to fire at the two “Fools! While you may have downed my jewel of the sky, but forget not! The Crown comes with other pearls!” He yelled as all the planes started to swing around them and shoot at them. 

 

It quickly was getting overwhelming, there were just so many planes, some of them were diving towards them in like a kamikaze attack, the others were shooting at them from all angles. Chat and Ladybug did break down some, but you know it got bad when some of the toy planes started to get down to the ground, close their little engines and shoot at their feet like they weren’t taking them seriously. 

 

Meanwhile Dick and Damian were circling around them on the rooftops, silently getting behind the Propeller. He seemed to be in a good mood, laughing at the heroes while three planes circled on top of his head like he was an old cartoon character that was really sad. Or angry both fit. 

 

Dick pointed at the planes that were guarding him. “Shoot them down, I’ll electrocute and incapacitate him.” He started to charge up his escrima sticks for the usual 200 volts, but then thought about how he was a magical villain and decided to charge them up to a thousand. This way, even if the first touch wouldn’t stop him it would open him up for another, longer shot. 

 

Damian took three batarangs from his pouch and smirked at Nightwing, now that he was having fun, he wanted to extend it and show off. 

 

So Dick took the bait and instead of normally going down slowly and jumping from the fire escape that the mr plane was standing next to, he jumped down with a backflip and prepared himself for a hard landing on top of his sticks. 

 

***

 

The planes got hit first and downed around him and before he could even understand what was happening, a buff guy dropped down in front of him with an electrical bounce underneath and sent him flying towards the building. 

 

‘Wake up you idiot! You are so close you need to get up!’ Yelled Hawk Moth in his head and tried to force him to get up. He could feel someone was touching his prized plane, the source of his power. The toy plane that was hidden in the big one. He started to open his eyes slowly, the world was in a blur of darkness and street lights, someone was on top of him. Then that someone multiplied to four with his blinking and before he even knew what was going on he felt a sudden uprising from his chest, like someone was taking his heart and shattering it. Cleaning his rage filled soul and blurred mind. 

 

***

Dick watched the poor man (More like an old kid at most) detransform in front of him and when the purple hue lifted off of him came that civilian he had seen it the camera.

 

Before the streets could be filled with civilians Dick pointed the rooftop to Damian and then turned to the duo who was watching him with both admiration and caution. 

 

“We are shy and introverted by the nature of you two, before cameras and civilians could swarm here we best get going.” He said while extending his hands, which the duo took and shook it while still looking at him cautiously. “Dick looked at his watch before taking out his grapple. “I know we have a lot to talk about and we will not to worry.” He shot up to the building he had just jumped down from a mare minutes ago. “But let's do it tomorrow night with less adrenaline running through us and with you two charged up.” With his warning the two heroes looked at each other like they were doing a silent argument, weighing their options and looking for the best outcome. 

 

‘How unlike I did with Bruce’ Dick thought, they didn’t need to weigh options on the field, they had rules and goals, and they were not going to change or compromise them in any way. 

 

“Okay.” Said Ladybug finally, still looking at him and Damian skeptically “Tomorrow night at eight on arc de triomphe.” She said it with a finality in her voice, like she was trying to show who was the boss to them. Nightwing didn’t have a problem with that. 

 

***

 

Gabriel was scrubbing his eyes as Naroo flew alongside him, this was bad news. With how much he had talked to the president and put the no hero in Paris rule in more legitimate ground he had hoped they would stand down. Now there were two of them. Two new ones from god know where! 

 

Wasn’t the random new heroes they choose from time to time enough? Did they have to get global help now too! 

 

He took a deep breath while the window that was bathing him in moonlight closed behind him and caged him in an endless and soundless darkness. No matter. No matter how much help those two brats get, no matter how many heroes showed up out of nowhere, he was going to win this. Unlike them he had to. For emelie. 

Chapter 7: Winging in Paris - Prepping Before the Meeting

Summary:

The sky and the city itself was the most confusing thing for him here, the buildings around him were beautifully crafted, almost all of them on the same height, maybe one store big or small. No random skyscrapers jutting out in poorer parts, all of them were in the financial districts. Some might say that’s more cost effective or Paris doesn’t have the same financial playground that Gotham has, but Dick really didn’t care about that. He was just happy to see the ugliness Gotham pridefully worn in its back like a cape full of blisters wasn’t a common sight all over the world. 

‘Nope, it doesn’t work.’ Thought Adrien as he kept turning in his bed. He couldn’t sleep at all, the memories of the night too fresh in his mind. The picture of the dark haired hero and his sassy little copy just wouldn’t leave him alone so he could get at least a proper 2 hours sleep. It was already too late to ask for more than that, it was already 3 am in the middle of the night. 

 

With a frustrated huf he got up from his bed and threw the sheets to the side. If he couldn’t calm his nerves enough to get some shut eye, then the next best thing to do would be making some more research on Nightwing. 

 

With no help from his little friend of course, Plagg was busy with making soft snores, how a cat can even snore he didn’t know. 

 

***

 

Around across Paris, another hero couldn’t sleep, but unlike Adrien he had no intention for it right now. 

 

Marinette was swiftly writing things to her notepad and talking to Tikki, making plans for the next night and preparing questions for the new duo in Paris. She was almost (like %99 percent almost) sure that they had come to Paris for no ill intent, but after a almost full year of fighting with a magical terrorist she couldn’t be sure of anything. She couldn’t take chances, she couldn’t ‘wing it’ as Chat would say. 

 

“Alright, it says on this website that he once wore a different costume so maybe I can…” She couldn’t finish her sentence as the man in the photo smirked at her with all his hideous costume. “I… I think he lost a bet or something.” She murmured as she looked at the war crime in front of her, the now militaristic looking costume was switched with a Yellow flailed strong man suit from the 80’s. His chest was showing… Why ? Why would you show your enemy that you had no body armor ? The aforementioned yellow flail was standing for his signature blue bird symbol that he wore in his chest. His mask was lacking the white lenses that had been burning in her mind and she could see his blue eyes. The only thing that was the same about him was the unbothered easy smile he wore. The one that was full of confidence and comfort Juleka kept telling her. She could see it yes, like his face was telling her that everything was going to be alright because he was there now. 

 

That of course didn’t put her at ease, if anything it made her more awake then before, when people with no superpowers have a garage full of superpowered villains they are taking down daily, it doesn’t put her troubled heart at ease, it makes her question why they suddenly come down from their hometurf. 

 

***

 

In another house far away from the either of the heroes, Dick was fully awake in his bed and was chatting with Barbara via messages, Damian was sleeping right next door and everyone in the family knew the little boys habit of waking up to the smallest of noises (To be honest they all have that habit, but it was more important for a growing young boy to sleep fully than others.) 

 

Barbs : So, After all that you said in your report, what do you think they will ask you tomorrow ? 

 

“Honestly, I have no idea.”

 

Barbs : And somehow I knew you’d say that. Come on boy merveille, you gotta keep me on my toes when I interrogate you. 

 

Barbs : Otherwise these talking sessions would be as fun as the ones with Bruce. 

 

“Okeiy, Ouch first of all. I’m not that boring and predictable howdareyou. And second of all, well, what can I really do ? Martians have the brain reading, I only got predictions and lip reading 😭”

 

Barbs : You are about to make a videogame pun right ?

 

… 

 

“No.” 

 

Barbs : Omg you were! You just delete it half way. 

 

“Can’t prove it.” 

 

Barbs : Oh are you challenging me with technology mister “I learned programming from downloading mods ?” 

 

“Ouch, again. Also, do you have any idea how hard it is to integrate some mods to the games, you are lucky you never had to go through that kind of hardship and struggle barbs.” 

 

Barbs : Oh yes, because getting a degree in computer science is not that complicated. 

 

“Exactly my point. Also rubbing the degree is a d. move and you know it lady.” 

 

Barbs : You are censoring yourself… and also you are you. Which means I was in the wrong to even fight you because you can never be proven wrong unless you want to. I forfeit, let’s change the topic. 

 

“And the annual winning streak continues folks! 👏 So, what do you want to talk about, Barbs ?” 

 

Barbs : I don’t know

 

Barbs : What about Paris ? Did you like it there ? 

 

Dick thought about the message for a second, Paris, in his eyes, was beautiful enough to be not a real place while simultaneously as dirty as he imagined it. There were bad guys out here just as much as in the States. Maybe they weren’t armed with weapons of mass destruction per se, but in his eyes a weapon that could kill one person was a weapon of destruction enough. 

 

The sky and the city itself was the most confusing thing for him here, the buildings around him were beautifully crafted, almost all of them on the same height, maybe one store big or small. No random skyscrapers jutting out in poorer parts, all of them were in the financial districts. Some might say that’s more cost effective or Paris doesn’t have the same financial playground that Gotham has, but Dick really didn’t care about that. He was just happy to see the ugliness Gotham pridefully worn in its back like a cape full of blisters wasn’t a common sight all over the world. 

 

And the sky ? Oh the sky! It was sunny in the morning and just a clear darkness at night. Can you believe that ! It wasn’t smog filled depression centered dark, moody and always, ALWAYS raining Gotham or the always sunny because ‘You can’t sleep in the mega city’ light source Metropolis. 

 

“It’s” Wrote Dick before taking a pause, how could he describe what he was feeling right now ? The city of love, at least to a hopeless romantic like him, was not just beautiful or magical. İt was much more than that. So much more he couldn’t really describe it with words. 

 

“Do you remember the first time we met properly ?” He asked, even though it was like 12 years or more before, he still remembered their first proper talk. 

 

—

 

“Why did you call me here ?” Asked Barbara while trying to not make eye contact with the boy next to him. It’s been a month since the last time they had seen each other, or should she say the last time they had fought ? 

 

Dick looked at her with anger instead of that trademark smirk he always wore in his face. He was analyzing her, trying to look for weakness and the changes since the last month, it wasn’t much. She stood slouched on the edge of the rooftop with her hands intertwined with each other. Watching the night city while clearly ready and waiting but not in a full fighting stance. Her cape had changed, he knew that much because he saw Alfred make it in the cave with Fox’s help. Before it seemed just a piece of yellow cloth, now it was made out of bulletproof materials with that extra thing that made them glide (He was hardly ten, there was no way he would know what memory cloths are made out of !)

 

She had a grappler too, or more specifically his old grapplers that he very much liked. Of course when he whined to Bruce about it he said Dick was ready for a faster version while she needed to get the hang of it first so something slower was required. 

 

She had a belt like they had, but he knew Bruce only trusted her two Batarangs and nothing else which was showing as she had filled her belt of tricks with homemade stuffs like a low grade taser that was dangling from her right side. 

 

“I was surprised not to see you tonight with Batman again.” He said with the poison clear in his tongue. He didn’t care what her excuse would be, he was the sidekick and he was determined to be the only one Bruce needed. They didn’t need no meddling kids while down in the streets, fighting against the scum of the earth. 

 

She blew out a breath of air like she was trying to fly a piece of hair that was next to her eyes. A reflex-like movement that usually happened with long haired girls. He had watched some of Bruce’s… companies make the exact move when they were displeased. 

 

“Had something else to do, unlike you’s, I’m not getting funded by the government.” She said with confidence and turned towards him, she had a mischievous look in her eyes and a sinister smile to go with it. A combination he was familiar with and hated with every fiber of his being. 

 

But of course, so far she probably only saw that kind of smile on the TV screen, everyone that lived in Gotham knew who had that kind of smile plastered on his face. Even though they weren’t hurt by him yet. 

 

Dick chuckled a bit about her claim, the government had put a bounty on their head and the police force ‘Supposed’ to capture them on the spot. Of course Gordon had enough excuse in his back pocket to stuff any mayor and with a little help from the D.A Dent guy, they could mostly work together with the cops no problem… Mostly. 

 

“Besides… I had a lot in my mind tonight.” 

She said it with such a covered expression and turned back towards the edge fastly Dick’s confrontational behavior did almost an instant 180. He knew that look, after all, he usually wears the same look whenever he sees someone from his school hug their parents that have come to take their children. 

 

He wasn’t complaining about his life like he did for almost two months, he loved both Alfred and Bruce. Bruce, even though would never say that, was more attentive of his needs now and Alfred… Well Alfred was always the same, mildly mannered, always ready to help, father in his life that would take a bullet for him with a smile. He was almost ten, but he knew that much at least. 

 

But still, all of that didn’t really make him less sad when he got out of the school and he saw the only people that were waiting for him was always the professional gentleman Alfred and no one else. 

 

He moved closer to the Batgirl but instead of looking down like she was doing right now he stared at her and then tapped her shoulder slowly. “Who hurt you ?” He asked Blankly. He knew people like them hated the long and convoluted unnecessary talks. For a person that was hurt, getting to the point swiftly instead of dragging out was a much preferred option. 

 

She didn’t say anything for the next 30 seconds and just continued to look down from the building, watching the cars pass from the streets. He, at least for now knew nothing about her except the fact that she had long hair and green eyes, meaning the smooth red waves behind her head were probably not a wig. 

 

She finally started to move and made the worst fake smile he had ever seen, with painstakingly obvious pained, blurry eyes and a single tear that rolled for a second till she quickly swiped it away. “Ah, who cares, let’s go down and catch some thief or something.” 

 

With those words she put one foot forward on the railing and shot her (His) grapple to the building on their front, before he could even open his mouth to warn her she was off.

 

Which was bad because they were in Otisburg, one of the -starting to flourish- Residential districts of Gotham that was known for its weak infrastructure due to the poor management from decades ago making buildings not up to code. Worse still was the building she had grappled with was an abandoned orphanage that was funded by Penguin for his illegal weapon deals A.K.A one of the buildings that haven’t even seen painting for a long time let alone any government officials. 

 

He quickly flew behind her with his cape and just as he expected the grappler's attachment snapped and Barbara started to fall fast. 

Dick closed his cape and started to free fall behind her while taking his bat-claw out, the fall was around 60 meters or so, meaning she would be dead if she hit the ground. He was expecting her to scream, fiddle with her cape or try to grapple again but she wasn’t doing any of that. She was just falling and doing nothing. Maybe that was because of the shock, either way he couldn’t let her become a red mist on the ground. 

 

 They were closer to the ground now, Dick was still far away from her but thankfully not too far away to make the claw shot. He hoped the sudden stop wouldn’t cause her internal damage and then shot the claw directly towards her leg. The claw connected and he hopelessly grappled to another building on his right. He was lucky enough that the grapple actually worked and their free falling stopped suddenly and they started to swing 10 meters off the ground. Dick saw a good landing spot for them, next to an alleyway was a trash pile that was like two meters tall, he started to swing that way and when the time was right he dropped the claw. Barbara, like coming back with the sensation turned towards him on the air, like questioning him why he just saved her life. 

 

The fall happened with a loudness that would rival a pig's pen. Dick was about to swing right back and grapple down but unfortunately Otisburg showed his kindness again at that time and his grapple also disconnected. He managed to feel it before the grapple snapped off from the rooftops edge so he prepared to just glide down, the problem was that this time the distance was too little in order to use his cape efficiently, he hardly opened it to slow down, but still hit the garbage bags harshly, thankfully there was nothing sharp in there. 

 

“Aggh” He groaned as he took a second to take a breather… the girl! He started to get up, the pile was hard to move through but thankfully not all of the garbage bags were blasted open, making it a bit easy to get up. 

 

“Batgirl!” He yelled as loudly as he could and after a second of silence she yelled at him back, saying she was almost out of the pile, he was on the higher side of the pile. 

 

When they finally got out of the pile they were both stinking to high hell, she had something smeared on her chest that was looking like a mixture of moldy cheese and minced meat, he had a banana peel stuck to his head he wasn’t even aware of. 

 

İn short, they both looked like a mess. 

 

“Not the best landing on your career ?” She asked him while reaching to take the banana peel off his head. 

 

He just shrugged to her “Not the best but not the worst. Definitely the smelliest though.” He said while taking a wet wipe from his pocket, they normally used these for detective work, but there was no way he was going to wipe her chest with his gloves and spend the rest of the night with that glove. He may need convincing to take a shower, but even he had a standart. 

 

He started off slowly, she thankfully got a bit close to him so he didn’t need to reach out and they started to clear each other in a tense silence. “So, are you going to tell me why you thought falling to your death was better than talking about your problems ?” He asked as his job was finished, the weird substance in his wet wipes were making small bubbles and he was thankful that Bruce let him have his own detective set. 

 

She was sulking again, taking out small pieces from his hair. He didn’t want to push her too much, but he was dying from curiosity. A bad habit of being Batman's partner. 

 

“I-” She started and then stopped for a second to take a breather before starting again with a sigh “I asked out on my crush from school and he…” She stopped again for a second “He rejected me- harshly.” He could see the pain in her eyes now, even though they were so close and her eyes were covered by the night sky. “I- I think what he said hurted more than I realized.” She finished with a single tear running down on her slightly bruised cheek. 

 

Dick didn’t know what he was supposed to say, he never went through something like this. He did see Bruce rejecting some female advances… Numerous times in fact, but he was always a gentleman about it, the harshest one he saw was when some women tried to break into their house because she was, quote to quote ‘İn love with hubby Bruce’ or something similar to that. Bruce had called the cops on her and then told her to never bother him at 3 A.M ever again. They had a job to do after all. 

 

So he did his best to be the shoulder to lean on and tried to calm her down with slow strokes on her left arm. “Hey come on now, don’t hold back.” He said with a genuine smile “Even someone as fearless and perfect like me can cry in the costume.” His words did get a reaction from her, she laughed and it sounded good, of course she still holded her eyes (which was a bad idea because her hands were smelling horrible and making her eyes water faster.) and tried to not show it, but Dick could see that the tension on her shoulders were slowly fading away. 

 

“Oh yeah ?” She said “Tell me when you last cried.” 

 

“When Riddle called me a neanderthal buffon because I couldn’t solve a stupid rubix cube of his.” He said it with such seriousness she couldn’t do anything else but believe it and cackle like a mad woman. “What !? I’m ten, not Albert Einstein.” She laughed harder, he thought he would be mad at her but it… felt good for some reason, her face was beaming when she was laughing healthy like that.

 

“Honestly, as a twelve year old genius, I also have a hard time solving some of his puzzles, how Batman does it I’ll never know.” She said and continued to laugh, it was making him happy seeing the girl he only saw once before laughing like that, with no hint of hurt he felt before they jumped and the tears path being broken by her crinkles the moment she smiled healthy. 

 

He liked that face better than the one he saw on the TV sometimes. Before there was a competitive part to it, like she was egging him on to a fight or something like that. Now though, there was genuine happiness and he was glad to be the one making her smile like that. 

 

While he was standing there mesmerized by the sheer force of that smile his pager started to ring and woke him up from his supper. He took it out and checked what was going on while she also stopped laughing and bending down a bit to look at his pagers screen. 

 

‘11104’ 

 

“What does that mean ?” She asked curiously, she thought they were using a secret signal or something like that (Except for the bat-signal of course) But she thought they would be just chatting normally with addresses or something like that. 

 

“ 1- kidnapping, 11- barricaded and 04 means East End.” He said and then took out his motorcycle keys out of one of his pouches. “It’s a long road if you're gonna move with only the grapple, care for a lift ?” He said and pushed a button on the key, after just 30 seconds or so his bike appeared in front of them, she hardly even heard its engine running. She was a bit conflicted about riding the cartwheel behind a small child, but when he looked at her with a smile that promised mischief and more importantly a fun time she couldn’t refuse. 

 

—

 

“I feel Just like that when I first come here Barb, a bit intimidated and out of my element. Ready to put on the tough guy act but instead loving every second I spent.” 

 

She didn’t write anything for a while and Dick began to fear if he made her sad or embarrassed her. She wasn’t the type to be embarrassed by most things, but then again, he wasn’t the most things either. He was one of the only people who would make her feel a great range of emotions… be it a positive or negative one. 

 

Barbs :“Sorry, I had to report something to the group chat.” 

‘Thank god’ Dick thought. Sure if she had to report to the bats something it usually meant something serious, but he was just happy that she wasn’t angry at him. That was enough for him. 

 

Barbs : “So, from the corny way you said it you love there am I correct ?” 

 

“Sure just take the romanticism out of it nerdorhino.” 

 

Barbs : “You are officially banned from calling me ‘Nerd’ and if you put ‘Rhino’ at the end of it again you’ll be sorry mister.” 

 

“But why, they are majestic animals, they love belly rubs and only an elephant could challenge them.” 

 

Barbs : “Sure, they are also pretty blind and this is why they are known to attack each other from out of nowhere. Also I’m making this an ick of mine from now on so be careful while saying it mr. Grayson.”

 

“dadhaskdksahd -I thought you would only call me “Mr” when you were happy, Miss Gordon ? Or am I interpreting our word plays as if something more ?” 

 

Barbs : “Proper grammar doesn’t work on me when you hit your head to the phone in the first place Mr Grayson. But yeah, right now at least. I want a secret teleporting chamber in Paris just so you can come here for a second.” 

 

And thus, while Damian was in the next door sleeping calmly and preparing his body for the next day's challenges, Dick was in his own room, texting nonstop to the one person he had lost himself in. They've been separated for a while, a long while if you asked him and he wanted to fix that. 

Notes:

Sorry about the long wait, I was on a trip with my family, have a good day and don’t be afraid to ask me anything. 

Chapter 8: Winging in Paris - Trust issues

Summary:

“Hello again Paris’es finest.” Said Dick and extended his hand to them both, Ladybug looked at it for a few seconds like she was checking if there was any weapon, a silly thing to do but Dick understood. They were amateurs when it came to the professional criminals after all, the deadly weapon would never be next to the inner palm, wrist has dangerous arteries after all. Back hand is where you hide a shooting mechanism and shoot people. 

“Okay. Okay I’m ready. No need to tie my hair or anything like that because I’m gonna be in the costume. Costume makes everything automatically. I just need to calm down. He is just like us. Another superhero… Coming from the Justice League. Probably to check on us right ?” The sinister, crooked and way way too forced smile that looked back at Marinette told her everything she needed to know. Even her mirrorself was doubtful. What's that to say about her ? 

 

She finally stopped looking at her far-too-pathetic-to-be-Ladybug face and jumped back to her bed with a defeated sigh and eyes full of tears she was having a hard time holding on to. 

 

‘I thought I was doing okay, we were doing okay. Yes we can’t find this god damn Lepidoptera fetishist but that doesn’t mean we weren’t trying at all!’ She took a deep breath while covering her head with her arms and her long cat pillow. She would rather prefer the real long black cat that was always ready to help her, but she had no idea what he was doing or even what he was feeling. He must have been in the same situation as her and that broke her heart even more, in one of their nightly talks he had said he loved being a superhero because this way he could show who he really was. It broke Marinette’s heart back then and remembering it now… She didn’t want to be separated from Tikki but assuming what he was telling her was true (Witch it was, Chat would never lie to her) Being Chat was the only out he had, the only way he could feel better about himself. Only way he could express himself. 

 

“I hope you aren’t as pathetic as me right now kitty.” She murmured beneath her breath. 

 

***

 

“I’m so excited, Plagg! This is gonna be awesome !” Said Adrien as he waited for the meeting hour to come close behind his room. Doing nothing was usually not his style, he’d rather do something boring like playing his piano (or something he hated to do like pre-posing for the next photoshoots.) than just sitting on his bed or against his computer screen. At least that way the cold and claustrophobic atmosphere of his room could be forgotten or repressed for another time of the night. 

 

But right now, right now he couldn’t focus on anything because of how giddy he was feeling. “I always wanted to get some pointers from someone in the Justice League Plagg. I’m sure with his help we can beat that Lepidoptera lover in no time.” 

 

Plagg just rolled his eyes at the (admittedly funny once) awful joke his holder was making -non stop because his lady in night dress laughed once- and continued to fly away from the kid so he wouldn’t keep hold of him and interrupt him and his cheese- priorities. 

 

“Kid, you read the same report I -forcefully- did too didn’t you ? He isn’t a Justice League member, he just helps them out sometimes.” Said Plagg while hunkering slowly on his cheese, something like Roquefort was meant to be eating slowly and taking every taste in afterall. 

 

Plaggs harsh words didn’t really seem to have an effect on Adrien’s morale though, he just shrugged and continued to pace around him aimlessly. “So what ? He still helped them and there are tons of photos of him shaking hands with the Justice League members on different occasions. It just means he is a free soul and doesn't want to be hunkered down if you ask me.” 

 

“Or maybe he is not that good, did you think about that ?” Said Plagg and under his holders scrutinizing look downed the rest of his cheese in one go. “I need to get you just normal camembert from now on. When you eat other types you get meaner you know ?” 

 

Plagg gasped and then glided down to Adrien's head. “Oh how cruel of a master I have! He would be so crude to keep me from the different cheeses of the world!” He said dramatically and made Adrien giggle ‘Bingo! My cheeses are safe!’ Thought Plagg. And let Adrien pet him while getting him from his hair. 

 

“I’m just thinking, maybe you need to lower your expectations Adrien.” Said Plagg after a few moments of scratching. “I know you think that those guys are like the next things to the gods. But don’t forget that you are also sharing your room with a god of destruction. I know you are a great cat, one of the best ones I’ve had.” The redness around Adriens cheeks was almost cute enough for the little god to make a noise about it, almost. “But don’t let fangirling” Adrien was about to say something about this part but Plagg shut him down with one of his tiny paws “cloud your judgment. If he is here for a good reason it’s best to help him, but if he is here for anything nefarious… Just be careful and keep your eyes open, okay ?” The painful way Plagg said it made Adrien take a pause before speaking. Like he was speaking from experience.

 

He realized that neither he nor Ladybug knew why he was here to begin with. He didn’t think it was for a bad reason per se… but he couldn’t prove the opposite either. 

 

Adrien took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Plagg was right, he was fangirling. And he needed to stop that for now. When he opened his eyes back up the first thing he did was check the clock, still an hour remaining. He was still full of energy and he needed to do something about it. So he did the first thing that came to his mind and took out his phone, searing Marinette’s name on it and sending her a message asking if she was available to talk. From the messages they exchanged, she seemed to be stressed out too, and was looking for an outlet. ‘How strange’ Adrien thought but didn’t think any of it afterwards. 

 

***

 

“10 minutes left ‘Kidtto’ how are you feeling, nervous ?” Asked Nightwing while playing ‘Supes and Robbers’ on his phone. They were in the rendezvous point  a.k.a: Arc de Triomphe. Waiting for the home team to drop by. 

 

“No, what about you Grayson?” Asked Damian, he had a longing look towards the city. Even with the mask Dick could see and he didn’t even need to point out the mistake of saying his name. 

 

“I’m good and ready to meet and greet. What I worry about is you.” Said Dick bluntly without looking up from his game. He knew a blunt approach didn’t really matter when it came to Damian. If the youngster wanted to talk, he talked and that was it. Otherwise you had to pry open his mouth with a rusty can opener. Witch usually didn’t work too until Damian would botte enough inside and explode one day. Just like his old man. 

 

It was a Bat- Trait to run away from your feelings. They all did at one point or another. Regularly.

 

“I just want this mission to end as soon as possible.” Said Damian while still keeping his gaze at the buildings. “I saw Titus today in the call.” Ah. Now it makes sense. Dick stopped playing his mobile game for a couple seconds and died for it while getting up from his point and moving towards Damian. 

 

He sat down next to the teenager and bumped his shoulder, which was a dangerous thing to do since they were sitting on the edge of a 22 meters fall. “I’m sure he missed you too buddy.” He said while rubbing Damian’s shoulder. “ And I bet he will be the first one to jump on you when we are done here.”

 

Damian took a deep breath before speaking “I just… miss them. I even missed the sh- bad smelling Gotham rooftops.” Dick was so proud that his hamsfisted and petty teaching methods were working. 

 

“Yeah I know.” He said, most of his yesterday went by listening to Damian cry and moan about how hard this school was because of two individuals who wouldn’t leave his sight and he couldn’t kill them over it. 

 

Truly a tragedy to live through. 

 

“This city feels like survival on easy mode doesn’t it ?” Asked Dick and got half a chuckle from the youngster. It was the little things like this that build up their relationship. 

Suddenly Damian went rigid and then Dick also heard the sharp sound of a cable retracting, they were finally here. “Alright then ‘Kidd’ don’t forget your role and don’t get clammy in front of the audience.” 

 

***

 

Ladybug made a dive while in mid air and at the last second got held by Chat before both of them landed softly to the Monuments upside, Ladybug seemed to be having a inner battle and was staring at them worryingly, while in other hand Chat seemed to be holding himself by a thread and seemed excited, two things  Dick didn’t really expect but had to work with. So he took the adult role and greeted them with a smile since Damian seemed to just throw sharp glances at the two and fold his arms around his chest. 

 

“Hello again Paris’es finest.” Said Dick and extended his hand to them both, Ladybug looked at it for a few seconds like she was checking if there was any weapon, a silly thing to do but Dick understood. They were amateurs when it came to the professional criminals after all, the deadly weapon would never be next to the inner palm, wrist has dangerous arteries after all. Back hand is where you hide a shooting mechanism and shoot people. 

 

After Ladybug shook his hand he extended the same one towards Chat too and unlike Ladybug he shook Dick’s hand no problem with a big smile on his face, honestly, maybe a bit too strain on the smile though. 

 

“You can call me Nightwing, but I’m sure you already knew that.” Said Dick with a winner (A.k.a a normal) smile on his lips. “If you two didn’t do any research on me I'd be super sad.” 

 

Ladybug and Chat looked at each other for a few seconds like they had a silent conversation. Dick hoped that they were talking about how good his French was and not wonder if he was mentally there or not. 

 

“Ughm” Ladybug cleared her throat loudly before taking a deep breath and started to talk to Dick with a semi serious stance. The semi part was because of her incessant head scratches like she was trying to force her thoughts back up towards her head. “Nice to meet you… Um, mister Nightwing ?” She said it like a question and Dick could see Chat Noir trying to hold down his eyes to the ground like he would turn to stone if she looked at him directly, or you know, maybe he was gentleman enough to not laugh at his partner's face while she was in a tough spot. 

 

Still, Dick played cool, it usually paid off and made the other parties calmer. “Just Nightwing or Wing is enough.” He said while pointing at the ball of furious anger that was Damian behind him. Of course he was actually not angry, that was just his natural face. He felt like the two teeneger that were before him were a bit overtly awkward, but seeing them fight, he knew when they suppressed these sad looks. 

 

“And this cute little ball of fun is my apprentice.” Damian shot him an angry look, that wasn’t in the script that they wrote before coming here. “He doesn’t like to talk or seem fun most of the time, but he is good at heart and that's all that matters. Oh and his name is ‘Kidd’, or just ‘kid’ if it's too hard to remember.” 

 

The Parisian duo just nodded awkwardly and then waved at Damian which Damian just answered with a slight, really slight head bow as an acknowledgment. 

 

“Soo… Ugh, you know what, I’m not beating around the bush anymore. Don’t take this the wrong way but why did you two come to Paris exactly ?” Asked Ladybug while folding her arms defensively, she was tired of pretending to be nice quite frankly. And if being rude was gonna let her get answers faster she can be a bit mean too right ?! 

 

Chat, not expecting Ladybug to outburst like that, looked at both parties worryingly, he would always be on Ladybug’s side. No matter what. But he would also step up to help her when his lady lost her way. 

 

Dick, also wasn’t expecting the outburst, raised his hands in a surrendering gesture, he wasn’t there to fight them or show who was the alpha hero or something like that. He was there to teach them and help them find a seriously dangerous (And quite annoying if he had to be honest) emotion-terrorist. 

 

So he opted to tell the truth “Actually, I’m here because of the Justice League.” He said calmly but it still made them take a step back in a defensive gesture, they -With a lot of the public- knew Paris and France as a whole didn’t have a good reputation against superheroes of the world like JL. Till now the Justice League tried to move against their no foreign superhero policies in democratic ways but are they fed up with it now ?

 

‘No no Marinette! That's a big stretch even for you girl. They would never do that. I mean yes, Superman is the most strongest thing in the world that can probably take out the whole country off the ground if he wanted to… You know what ? That's a good reason to be scared actuall-’ Before she could even finish her thoughts her eyes saw that Nightwing’s lips were moving again and with great effort she manage to catch on a few things he was saying. 

 

“ -I know this is gonna sound really pretentious, but I was sent here on the behalf of Batman, in orde-” 

 

Marinette didn’t even wanna know what her face looked like when he said those words. She didn’t care what anybody said, she was scared of that man for a long time. 

 

I mean think about it, The Justice League has the strongest heroes in the world, not counting Superman and Wonder Woman as they are on another level all together. Then their leader is a normal human… Just how ? 

 

She was sure they stopped an alien invasion because Batman threatened the alien leader.  And now that guy send one of his soldiers to them because they were that incompetent and useless and they were the worst superheroes just next to the Hawkmoth-

 

Suddenly a really excited “FOR REAL!” Woke her up from her depression filled inner monologue and she slowly looked around herself in order to identify the shrieking voice. The literal banshee scream that she was sure even heard from below them belonged to Chat Noir if the sparks around his eyes told her anything. 

 

“You really gonna train us for real real!” Asked again Chat and Ladybug looked at them both with a questioning brow, training ? What training ? 

 

‘Oh no’ She thought as she realized that she had lost what was going on. ‘OH NO’ 

 

Dick let out a sigh of relief without showing to the other two when he turned to look at Damian, he was glad that they seemed excited about the mission instead of offended, that was the best outcome. Well, almost as it seemed like Ladybug had few worries in her head. 

 

He turned towards her, Chat Noir was almost jumping in his place and shooking Ladybug’ shoulder, telling her how cool it was that they were learning to fight from the Batman’s protege (Dick was definitely not reveling in the phrases and brushing like a schoolgirl, definitely not.) While Ladybug just nodded along slowly in her place, tense with a forced smile that was looking more grim with every nanosecond. 

 

Unsurprisingly Chat saw the clues that something was wrong and stopped his parade immediately while squeezing Ladybugs shoulders, with the worry spread towards him he asked her what was wrong, witch Ladybug as an answer just looked at her right fully, not wanting to make eye contact. 

 

Now that it was true that Chat could be… Naive sometimes, but he wasn’t stupid and he immediately switched from concerned to seriousness and again asked her what was wrong. 

 

While watching the superhero drama that was unfolding in front of him, Dick thought he knew the problem, she always seemed a bit too tense when talking to him -even though they talked like two times total- and she seemed to be not taking well about the training news. 

 

Normally people could say that was entitlement, maybe she just thought she didn’t need any training whatsoever. But he knew better, someone that is hard about taking help would hardly settle with a partner or multiple other temporary heroes, someone that is entitled wouldn’t need those things till they hit their heads hard enough to make cracks about their own image. 

 

She was afraid to be next to them. She wasn’t there thinking she was better then them, she was scared she wasn’t good enough to defend her city, and if you add the circumstance she is in as a hero -For example, Copy Chat and other impersonating villains- you can understand the reason for paranoia. 

 

Understanding her situation, Dick made a plan on the spot “Hey miss bug, it's normal to have trusting issues after the hell you two went through.” He said while moving

keeping Ladybug’s attention on himself. 

 

“I’m sure saying ‘I’m the good guy’ wouldn’t really ease the tensions here either, so I say let’s build up trust first, what would you say?” He said while looking at the duo, Chat looked like he wanted to jump in it too but still wouldn’t let go of Ladybug. If Dick had to guess he wanted the help but wouldn’t make the final decision on himself. Something Dick was sure someone with big pointy ears could learn about. 

 

Ladybug doesn’t say anything, her partner's arm secured around her shoulder and keeping her with a certain warmth. She liked to stay like that if it was possible, there were so few people she could trust, truly trust with her life. One of the bigger ones was Chat, he was everything she would ever want in a partner, in a friend that would have no problem going to hell and back with you. She didn’t trust them, but she also knew the fact that she was being unfair to them. They have been here for what, two days at most ? 

 

Hawkmoth usually couldn’t hold people that long, could he ? 

 

Regardless if Hawkmoth was that powerful or not, Ladybug finally swallowed her worries down and looked at Nightwings white lenses; he had every right to be upset with her if he was telling the truth, but instead he was looking at her with a patient smile plastered on his face, no judgment, just a reassuring and patient smile. 

 

“I say we gave you some time till you judge us to be trustworthy enough misses bug and mister cat.” He said before bowing down a bit and taking something from his belt, it looked like a mobile device. 

“Take this” Said Dick and extended the device to Chat, “With this you can contact us without it giving signals, if you don’t trust me on it you can hide it somewhere safe and keep it till you can use it.” With these words he again switched his sight to Ladybug “I know that trusting others takes time and patience, both of them I have plenty, but when you make your judgment for our next meeting Ladybug, please consider it from all sides. I’ll look forward to your answers.” 

 

With these words he made a two fingered salute and then whistled at the boy next to him that hadn't even moved so much as a centimeter both Marinette and Adrien forgot about him, they both jumped down from the monument and then Ladybug saw the two bikes underneath the monument that had been standing there invisible. While watching the duo blend in the traffic underneath them, Ladybug questioned what kind of fever dream of a life she was handed down to, and how to make out of it with her sanity intact. 

Notes:

Loves hugs and all that other things brothers and sisters, have a good night/day and remember to comment and kudos if you have questions or ideas, I’d love to hear them. 

Chapter 9: Winging in Paris - Ways to break the ices

Summary:

“You know, this might be a bit more risky than you previously though” She said to him while Nightwing look for a higher building to jump off of “They are teenagers after all, Chat might be intimidated by you” 

There was a deep silence among the world’s finest heroes as they watched the report Damian made without even making a peep. The only noise in the room was the constantly slow beeping of the main computer on the far right corner, scanning for close/incoming meteors. 

 

While giving the reports of their talking Damian was made sure to never miss details while writing on a way to keep the heroes interested, they were always busy with… too much bullcrap the life throws at them which in turn made them quite the hot blooded and action ready people, they would face a demon army with a smile no problem since it would be like daily training for them, but when it come to slowing down so much  the only exciting move they could make would be flipping a pen while just sitting and listening, then many of them folded. 

 

After all, Batman would always make summaries at the end anyway, what was the point of listening to the kid in the static tape while you could take a nap (Like Arthur) or sharpen your weapons (Like Hawkgirl). After all, Damian was just a low wage worker for them, he wasn’t that important after all! He wasn’t even wanted by his father after all, why would Bruce send him to half a world away in order to look magic. Fucking MAGIC!!!

 

Damian snapped himself away from his thoughts as the paper in his hands started to crumble a little, if he had to guess no one would have heard or cared enough about it, they were all too focused on his -Already memorized to the commas- report. 

 

“-And that is the conclusion Nightwing came to.” He finished clearly, he also felt the slight sting of tears in his eyes and the faint burning on his nose. He hated it, like this city was forcing him to show his worse qualities. Waking up the calmed monster back to the surface day by day, minute by minute. 

 

For a while no one said anything till Arthur loudly signed out. “So we still need to prove ourselves like we don’t do that every damn friday.” He said loudly, the audacity of humans sometimes even surprised him, a half human. 

 

Batman shook his head from side to side “It’s an understandable situation, given how much they had to fight on their own and against a fair few tricksters.” He then pointed at the monitor that showed Damian who was still standing there waiting for the orders. “I’d say we play by their rules for now, helping them was our first priority anyway. In the unlikely case of the demands being changed however, then we can force them to act like adults a bit more.” 

 

The whole room agreed with him, in the manner of nods and ‘Agreed’s. Only Superman seemed to be a bit put off by Bruce’s choice of words, but he didn’t interject either. Green Lantern did it. 

 

“I’m sorry about this in advance Bruce” He said as his green image flickered and smoothed out, he was still outside of earth. “I’ve only met your Nightwing once, and he seemed like a charming guy, he was a good fighter too sure, I mean he could even teach me a few things-” 

 

“Get to the point Hal.” Said Bruce quickly and without any emotion in his voice, a sure sight that he wasn’t angry just yet and that ‘Yet’ part was quickly getting smaller and smaller. 

 

“I mean he seems like a good guy… to a fault, do you think that he is the -um- persistent type ?” Asked Hal a bit worryingly, while he would almost never show it, they all knew Bruce took it personally when someone bad mouthed his kids. 

 

“He has been the leader of three different teams, been a hero since he was 9 and been in the role for more than a decade. He is the one training others when I’m busy and lastly, all of the family is behind him and Damian if they need our help.” Bruce stopped for a second to take a deep and calming breath, it was hard to do this in silence for an average human, lucky he was no ordinary person. “So, I think I can say in confidence that he is in good hands.” 

 

After Batman let out everything inside him to Hal in a verbal way, the room started to calm down and Clark thought about ending this meeting for the time as the report seemed to be on the positive side for them. But before that there was something else that was bugging him. “Damian” He said and the whole room started to focus on him. 

 

“Can you tell me, why are you the one making the report alone ? Where is Dick ?” 

 

Now that was a question even Bruce wanted to know but found too public to bring attention to. Of course before this official announcement, the family had heard the report first. In a much more relaxed place and that time Dick was in there with them, wearing pjs and drying his hair with a towel while telling them what had happened at their meeting. But now it seemed like the acrobatic prodigy had vanished to the thin air and was nowhere to be found in the clearly seen background. 

 

“I was coming to that.” Said Damian and then with a deep breath said “It’s a bit of a complicated plan.” 

 

***

 

‘Okay, she is finally dropping the headphones, time to make my move.’ Thought Dick as he was watching Marinette and her little flying bug friend from a balcony away. His plan for easing the duo to himself was simple and a bit risky, but all plans could be simple and effective and they all would carry a certain amount of risk anyway. It was inevitable. 

‘Operation: Friendship starting now.’ He thought as he swiftly grappled to Marinette’s open balcony and after sneaking up to it quietly, kicked the railing hard enough to drop one of the flower pots to the balcony. 

 

It hurted, a lot. So much so he was having a hard time convincing himself the swear he let out was part of the show and not because his shin was burning like someone poured acid to it.

 

It worked like a charm as he heard the sound of quickening paces come towards him, followed by the sound of climbing and lastly the creak let out by the hatch. Only by the last sound did Nightwing turn towards her while still holding his leg and trying to look hurted and caught. 

 

Her face moved from a mixture of amusement and slight worry to pure fear and anxiety in a few seconds, if Nightwing had to guess she probably thought he was Chat Noir at first, which was probably why she was checking the loud noises in her balcony instead of, you know, locking down her room and calling the cops with her parents. 

 

“Um-m-m-m-m y-y-y-you” Was all she could muster up before he quickly took her reddining face to consideration and smiled at her while waving and saying hello. “Hello madam, sorry for the disturbance but don’t panic please, I’ll be off your hair before you know it.” 

 

That seemed to calm down Marinette just a tad bit as her quicken breathing slowed down a bit and the slightly blurry vision that had started the moment she spoke up was fading away, opening her eyes to the hero in clear pain that was still trying to smile in order to ease her mind. 

 

‘Good, that seemed to calm her down a bit, now I have to keep the ball on me’ Thought Nightwing and after doing a two fingered salute and throwing a assuring wink towards her before moving to the edge of the balcony and promptly falling to the ground while holding his knee in pain and trying to give his weight to the railing. 

 

While he was huffing and puffing with pain, Marinette was looking at what was going on with both panic and fear. She didn’t know how to act in this situation, especially against someone that she couldn’t (Maybe shouldn’t) trust. But that all didn’t matter as she saw the pained expression on his face, in that moment, her legs moved on their own and she got up fully to the balcony before quickly moving towards him and trying to hold his arm. 

 

Without the costume she wasn’t that powerful, but in that moment this really didn’t cross her mind as she tried to squeeze under his arm and hold him, Nightwing first seem to questioning what she was doing, but he didn’t protest her and get up from the ground, Marinette realized that she might have chewed more than she could swallow as in his full height she was barely coming to the Nightwing’s chest, and him leaning towards her did point out that while he was agile, he was also a bit too heavy for her. 

 

“You are hurt *UGHGM* Come to the chair.” She tried saying it in English, completely forgetting that he could, in fact, talk French fluently. “I’ll lo-look for some medical… Things!” She said as she put Nightwing down. So far, Dick was really impressed with her actions, it seemed like she was hero material with or without the costume, and he was correct in his assumption earlier. Damian had called Ladybug a narcissist who wouldn’t realize her own flows when they go back to their house, but a narcissist wouldn’t feel the need to help him out of the blue. A narcissist in their situation would relish in his pain while consumed by their superiority. Because as far as Marinette could tell, he really did show inexperience back there. 

 

She was ready to dash down towards her room and to their bathroom when Nightwing’s hand stopped her and she looked back towards him with a questioning glare. “You did more than enough madam. Also please, I’ll be fine after a few minutes, you don’t need to look for anything else.” 

 

The smooth way he had said, combined with the look he gave her made her heart skip a beat for a second there and she just nodded slowly to his words. Damn, she was just judging people from the news that only talked about how handsome Nightwing was (She was looking for information about his hero life god dammit not if he was… ugh, ‘Snackable’ as some of the platforms said it) and nothing else, but she did give them credit right now. Even though he seemed so… illegal levels out of her range, can you really blame people for having a bit of fun in their own heads ? Maybe a bit. 

 

‘She seems stuck’ Thought Dick before clearing his throat and waking her up from her thoughts and making her jerk right back to that nervous state. “I’m sorry again madam, but if it’s not too much trouble, can I rest here for a bit ?” He asked as he showed the chair, she did look like she was having an internal battle there for a minute, but then Marinette’s morals came through and she said ‘Sure’ as clear as she could. 

 

After her brain restarted though, she just stood there, next to Nightwing with nothing in her hand to cut the heaps of tension between them.

 

They continued to stay there silently, just the noises from the streets down below could be heard; A cat growling to another one from the trash bins behind Marinette’s store, someone was yelling at their phone from the sidewalk.She tried to think of something to talk about again while Nightwing seemed to be content with watching the sky but unfortunately for her, only a slight buzzing noise could be heard from her head and nothing else. Still she thought that she had to say something, anything to burn this suffocating silent.

 

“Umm, so… come here often ?” 

 

The moment she had said that Marinette wanted to switch back to Ladybug, tell farewells to her parents and move to one of the remotest places in the earth like Devon Island or something. 

 

While her face was getting redder again Nightwing laughed a bit before straightening himself in the chair “Not really, I don’t even know what street we are right now to be honest.” He said it with enough conviction, enough proof behind his words and with the most believable fake smile on his lips, just like how he was thought to lie. ‘God I hate this.’ He thought while doing it. 

 

He truly did hate it, hate the lie and being lied to, but it was an essential tool to use in his line of work. No matter how much he didn’t want to do it, he was cognitive enough to see the merit in it and he would always use all the tools under his belt to reach a favorable result. He was taught by the best after all. 

 

“Oh really ?” Asked Marinette while trying to calm her speeding heart from her early screw up. “If you want, I can show you an app for Paris.” She said with another too large smile plastered on her face, she was trying dammit and that enough should count for something right ? 

 

Nightwing chuckled at her offer before raising his left hand and denying it, “I have one madam, if I wanted I would use it but… Well, I just wanted to see the city on my own I guess.” He said while raising his head again, his leg pain almost went away completely by this point but he still had to act as the hurted hero of the day. “I have to get a feel for the city if I’m going to call it my home… at least for a while.” Now that was a dangerous thing to say, she was scared of them at the moment and reminding her that they were here to stay might trigger more than what he could handle with words right now. 

 

“Oh, so you aren’t a new hero here ?” She said, it seemed like she finally was able to shake her nervous state and found a good way to interrogate him ‘Better late than never’ He thought while putting his hands under his neck and slouching a little to the chair “Yes madam, normally I’m from America, I don’t really know if the news here even saw me to be honest.” 

 

She shook  her head to that and started to lean towards her railing in a more relaxed but still distant stance, normally he would have called her out of it, but right now every moment was important. 

 

“So, why did you come here ?” She asked while trying to not look at him, he could see that she was still side eying him constantly though ‘Should teach her how to check people without looking’ He thought while raising his left hand and scratch his chin, a little bit of stubble was forming in the apex of it and he hated it. Unfortunately for him the best barber he knew was back at Haven. 

 

“Honestly ? Because I was kind of ordered to.” He said and saw the nervous look in her eyes quickly coming back, but this time she suppressed it and tried to act like she was surprised and intrigued, once again, he had to teach her how to do that without looking like you are trying to pull a cushion joke on someone. 

 

“The Justice League’s orders were clear. They think that the duo here is capable of defending the city, they just want to give them a bit more professional training and help them find the Hawkmoth.” He said it with the best neutral face he could muster up while laying there, the persuasion, for now at least, seemed to be on its way. She seemed more relaxed and less anxious. 

 

‘Alright, step two: Bribing’ He thought while getting up from his spot and flexing his leg while she watched his every move. “Which is why I’m here and also why I made a bad jump and broke that pot of yours.” He said with a sad smile on his face while showing the slightly cracked flower pot on the ground. Marinette seemed like she just realized it too and made an ‘Oh’ sigh while looking at the few spots that the dirt was spread. 

 

Nightwing bent down and took the pot and gave it to her. She took the pot from his hands with no problem, no trembling fingers or anxiously watching eyes, it was working well. “Since you madam… Umm actually, this whole madam thing makes me feel like a 16th century aristocrat, would you mind giving me your name ?” 

 

She seemed to be taking a step back at that request. The last time she gave a superhero her name without thinking, Chat Noir became a regular in her room and while it sounded stupidly stupid, what if it happened again ? ‘Wait, that is stupid though’ She thought, chastising herself while trying to swallow the rising wave of anxiety in her throat. 

 

He was still there, waiting for her answer, but it seemed like he thought he took a few steps too much and was ready to apologize to her, raising his hands a bit, looking like he was surrendering. “I-ı-ıt’s Marunet!” She said it too quickly and metaphorically fumbled on her words “I- I mean it’s Marinette… Marinette!” She said finally and the slightly worried and apologetic look on Nightwing’s face seemed to dissipate slowly “Nice to meet you Miss Marinette (You wouldn’t believe how much will power it takes to not call you Marunet right now girl) You can call me Nightwing, or just wing for short.” He said it and then took a little bow down before jumping to the railing in one smooth move, standing on the very tip of it with his boots it seemed. “This was a lovely talk. And, as a thank you for that, I will have a gift for you on… Well, let's not ruin the surprise.” He said and before she could say anything, he jumped off without a care of the world and grappled to the next building so effortlessly Marinette thought he was flying. 

 

When Dick got to the next building's rooftop, he started running and only stopped after five minutes had passed. He took a little breather while getting his right wrist to his face and clicking the call button there. Oracle, just like always, opens the call after two rings. “You think he gets all of that ?” Asked Dick while moving closer to the edge of the building “Yes he did, he was watching you since you two started to talk.” She said while her eyes were watching the camera that was showing Marinette’s balcony. At the moment, Marinette and Chat Noir were occupying it and it seemed like they were having a serious discussion. 

 

“You know, this might be a bit more risky than you previously though” She said to him while Nightwing look for a higher building to jump off of “They are teenagers after all, Chat might be intimidated by you” 

 

Nightwing laughed at her assumptions while calling his bike, and it seems like the experience he was looking for was not for tonight, “I’m only halfway scary to the thugs, also we both know kids love me.” He said it with confidence, but Barbara could see the sudden spike in his heart rate, it wasn’t for jumping to his bike and he would know it too. Dick was silently praying this small talking session would break the ice between them, not put more on. ‘We’ll see tomorrow’ he thought as he imagined what Damian would have to put himself through to have a discussion about the heroes. 

Notes:

Heyyyy, you look lovely today and that shirt you have over there matches with your eyes :) Have a good reading and a happy day. 

Chapter 10: Winging in Paris - Detente

Summary:

Damian took a sharp breath before drawing it out slowly, not because he was nervous -Though he was sure they would interpret it that way- But because he was losing his patience more and more by the second. God why did he even agree to be the agent in the class. “No.” He said sharply before adding “It’s a bad omen to see him in front of you.”  ( Warning: There is talk of human trafficing and talks of rape in this chapter though its small, if you are uncomfortable with it, you might want to skip it, even though its a small small part of it.)

Marinette needed to sleep. That was it. If she could sleep for like a full 45 hours or something maybe she could make sense of all that was going on in her life right now. First of all, she needed to figure out what was the deal with the new heroes, of course she had learned a great deal about them from the last night, but that wasn’t enough to calm her mind whenever she thought of them turning into a play by Hawkmoth. ‘God when did I become such a worrywart?’ Unfortunately, talking to herself about being more trustworthy wouldn’t transition into being trustworthy. Sometimes she wonders how she still trusted Chat Noir with her current mindset. 

 

Speaking of Chat… What was she supposed to do with him ? 

 

Last night, almost right after Nightwing left, he had jumped down to her balcony and started to question her. She made a tired loud noise while head down on her table in the class when she remembered how awkward they were. 

 

Thankfully the class was on a break, so the only person that heard her was her best friend next to her (Who she already lied about her sleepiness… again) that took her voice as a sign of distress and moved Marinette’s head to her lap while rubbing her raven hair slowly and smoothly. “There there.” Said Alya as she continued to play with Marinette’s hair, which was a bad idea since it felt so comforting that Marinette could actually fall asleep even when her body contorted like an sitting upside down ‘L’. 

 

“Girl, you really need to stop knitting after a certain hour.” Said Alya, and Marinette answered her with a soft and sleepy sound that even she didn’t know if it meant something coherent. Wish she could knit right now. It’s been weeks since the last time she knitted anything with her mom. She hasn’t been designing either for a while, how could she while she was this worried. 

 

And there was Chat too. The dumb and stupid suspicious cat… Ugh, no. No he was not, he was not any of those. He just came to question her about the Nightwing, nothing wrong with that since they both suppose to be watching them from afar anyway till they make a judgment call. She was just feeling like shit back then because she felt like she had been caught cheating! 

 

Now, in her brain, with the last few neutrons that -Somewhat- controlled her motor function knew how dumb saying that even in her own mind was. They weren’t dating, like in no way shape or form, she wasn’t flirting with Nightwing, Just talking till his leg felt better, a way to pass the time and break the awkward atmosphere so to speak. Chat, after coming down from wherever he jumped, didn’t accuse or even tease her about it, just asked about what they talked and what she thought about him, saying he was trusting her insight just as much as he was trusting Ladybug’s. 

 

So, why was she feeling like that ? 

Good question! She wanted to know too! 

 

“You are gonna hurt your back sitting like that Cheng.” Of course the new kid had to be the one waking her up from the dumbest theories she had been making in her head. 

 

“Come on Damian, you can be a bit nicer about it.” Said Alya in Marinette’s offense, she didn’t want to encourage her friends' bad habits, but she also wouldn’t let her catching bs for it, the only person who was allowed to diss Marinette was herself! Bff privileges. “No, no.” Said Marinette while getting her head up from her best friend’s thighs and stretching loudly. Sleep still refuses to leave her eyes. “Damian is right, also the class is about to start.” She says while turning her head to Alya, then Marinette looked at the young boy beside him, he normally liked to sit in his chair and not talk as much as possible, not make eye contact with anyone even. 

 

But now he was standing right in front of her and boring his eyes to hers like she was challenging him. From the first day that he came up Marinette thought he could get… intense for a lack of better word. But even then she didn’t think he would look at her like this; Like he was asking for a battle against her, a battle that he will be winning with no way of escape. “Umm, Damian ?” Thankfully Alya comes to her help (Once again) and breaks the tension filled staring match. “You wanna ask something ?” She asked gently but Marinette was long enough friends with Alya and could easily pick the subtle undertone that question carried.

 

To her question Damian finally broke his stare and started to talk “I need help… with Mathematics. Are you available since you said you’d help me ?” 

 

‘Oh. It wasn’t that serious.’ Thought Marinette as she was expecting something far worse than their last class “Of course, but the library is closing down today for maintenance. Would you like to come to my Bakery or should we meet outside ?” 

 

Damian, after giving a thought (Or acting like he did) Said Bakery if her parents are okay with it. 

 

“Cool. I’ll ask around for a few more people since my Math isn’t exactly master level too.” She said while pinching Alya a bit, this might be their little girl get together since the last one they did was weeks ago. Fortunately Anya understood her signal and immediately started to text the girl group up, she also asked for a few guys in there too since otherwise it might be a bit awkward for Damian to be the only guy among them. 

 

While they were writing to their friends Damian take the moment to quietly get back to his own seat, the first part of the plan was a success, though he still didn’t understand why would he need to talk about Nightwing or Justice League, they were credible enough if you ask him, the bug and the cat needed to grew a spine. 

 

***

 

“And that’s why, if you ask me, Wonder Woman could kick anyone’s ass in the League.” Said Anya while folding her arms as if her statement couldn’t be changed or questioned at all. All the other girls around them -Which consistent of Marinette, Rose, Juleka, some girl from another school called Kagami and Alix- were agreeing with her while the boys - Made out of Adrien, Nino, Damian and Max-  were holding Superman’s side “Come on now Alya, we all know in order to hurt Superman even she needs magical items. otherwise her chance of failing would be at 97.8%” Said Max while fixing his glasses like he liked to do after he finished his arguments. 

 

As an answer Alya just put her tongue out to Max and said “they can’t even measure her power correctly in the world” as a counter argument, well she was right, the problem was neither they can Superman’s. Damian would know, he watched it as his father drew plans for something like a 10 billion ton pressure machine (He couldn’t really remember the details because it was a hard night and he just wanted to sleep). He then saw Superman use the thing like a lightweight dumbbell on the hardest pressure one day. 

 

“Well, how about this ?” Said Adrien, getting between Alya and Max as both of them seemed to be going at it for a while now “I’d say, no matter the power level, Batman is the one looking the coolest, can we agree on that ?” With his words people seemed to be convinced, except for Rose and Nino it seems. “Dudes, I know it's not serious at all and what not, but between us, Batman is the only one giving me the scares.” Said Nino and people started to chuckle “Babe, they have an Amazon woman who, from all the information I gathered, don’t really like mens and see them as somewhat expandable. And the one person without powers scares you ?” She said while fixing her boyfriend's cap. 

 

“She is right, you know. According to my calculations, if Superman turned his back on humanity, there is about a million in 1 chance we can take him down. Meanwhile Batman has a 83.5% chance of successfully converting earth to his empire.” Everyone groaned a bit about Max's calculations(Except Marinette who looked like she wanted to get in a nuclear bunker and live the rest of her life there) and how he was using his free time wrong, while Damian was hating this little meet up with all of his fibers. Not just because they were throwing shade at his own father without knowing it, they weren't even talking about the heroes closest to them. The only reason he didn’t immediately finish his math work and get out was because Damian knew that would be suspicious. The conversation was officially too uninteresting for him. 

 

So much so, when they asked him a question he didn’t even hear them and it took Adriens touching his shoulder slowly to wake him up from his dreams of the manor. 

“What.” He tried to ask it as neutral as he could but even then his voice sounded like he was annoyed. 

 

“You said you saw Nightwing once right ?” Asked Alya, lasering her eyes at him with such intensity he thought he could get blasted off with it. “Yes.” Said Damian cautiously, not knowing if it was a good thing to meddle in their old discussions. “Well, have you ever seen Batman then ?” She asked and everyone in the room turned their attention to him. 

 

Damian took a sharp breath before drawing it out slowly, not because he was nervous -Though he was sure they would interpret it that way- But because he was losing his patience more and more by the second. God why did he even agree to be the agent in the class. “No.” He said sharply before adding “It’s a bad omen to see him in front of you.” 

 

Now they all looked at him confused, it wasn’t that hard to piece the puzzle to be honest, ıf you see Batman clearly, it means either you did something you shouldn’t or something really bad happened to someone you love. 

 

“İnteresting.” Said Alya while scribbling something on her papers, Damian couldn’t really read someone’s hand movements when they were writing in french. “We once saw Superman here! He seemed so cool and collected even after he took that big hit.” She said when her writing ended and she closed her notebook. “And then the President had to be petty for no reason!” Everyone in the room shared her views on what a bad move that whole ban was, but what was more shocking for Alya was the fact that Superman agreed to it. 

 

“He always acts like a jerk and then says one of his classics ‘For the good of Paris’ and other nonsense in order to not sway his votes. I really hate him.” She said while hugging her legs and trying to calm down her rising nerves with the breathing exercise they learned the other day. 

 

“Yeah.” Said Damian slowly and then turned towards his homework again. He did agree with her points, yes. But they were getting off topic again and he didn’t feel a need to sway them back. That’s when Adrien decided to take the point and make him eavesdrop again by mentioning Nightwing.

 

“I saw on the news that they were helping Ladybug and m-MR CHAT NOIR.” He said the last part so loudly Damian was amazed no one questioned him about it and was rather content with just lightly teasing Adrien. Man the Parisians were weird, maybe it was something in the water, it did taste odd this morning. 

 

***

 

That night Chat was having an internal struggle while moving around the buildings and listening to the police radios for anything too serious for him to intervene. He was wondering about the new duo, he was not opposed to working with them and learning from them like his lady was, and yes, while he saw her points, he also knew Ladybug long enough to recognize her patterns. Especially the ones about her trust issues. He understood it, it was not hard to build so many walls around yourself when everyone you might know or not can be turned into a supervillain and come back to hurt you in more ways than one. 

 

That being said, he -While vigilant in his own right- was never on the level that his Lady was and it was starting to worry him. He needed to talk to her and while he might not make her a complete 180, at least he could sway her decisions a bit. Hopefully. 

 

While he was thinking of calling her, he heard a scream coming from a few streets down to his right and completely halted his train of thought to go and look at what was happening. 

 

When he came to the rooftop of the building he heard the scream from, Chat took a deep breath and jumped down to the metal fire escape stairs below him. The screams had ended, but he could still hear the sound of ruffling around and could easily guess which window he had to break in order to surprise the unluckiest thief that night. He came close to the sound of disturbance and looked around the dark room for anyone but it was clear. 

 

Chat opened the window slowly with the help of his tail and then got in the building, the inside of the apartment building was dark as the abyss itself and the sound of ruffling was down to a minimum. Thankfully he could still hear and see everything because of his abilities. The sounds were coming from his right, next room to him. 

 

Now, he couldn’t really break the wall (Well, he could, in a multitude of different ways, but not without the miracle cure as then he would be just damaging property without a payback of some kind.) He opted to walk to the corridor that was connecting the two rooms as quietly as he could and get the drop on whoever that thief was. He moved to the corridor, when he was about to turn to his right and surprise the guy in the room, someone literally dropped on his head and closed his eyes and nose with one hand while choking him with their right arm. 

 

Of course, from the panic, Chat stumbled for a second before the overwhelming force on his neck twisted themself and made him tumble down to the ground. That was bad, Chat could feel his airway closing down by force and he was getting dizzy from it, everything started to get blurry, the dark corridor was twisting and turning around, choking his vision in a way. He tried to move his hands to the perpetrator on his back but to no avail, his hand just rose a bit before almost lifelessly dropping the hand on his neck. 

 

In his panic, Chat had only one more thing he could use, with all the air that was left in him, he tried to open his mouth and utter the words with a whisper “Cat-a-aa-cl-” Before he could even finish his sentence the hand that was on his nose moved down to his mouth, making it impossible to say the final syllables while making Chat breath a little since his nose wasn’t close now. 

 

The few precious fresh air he took with his nose didn’t matter that much in the end as his vision only partially came back before going back quickly to the lonely and constricting darkness he knew and hated. 

 

“D, STOP!” He heard as he was about to faint away and suddenly the stranger on his back -That held onto him like a monkey- let him go completely after he got up from the ground with Chat, making Chat feel down like a bag of potatoes to the ground in the process. 

 

As Chat’s vision started to come around he saw the worried look of the Nightwing on top of him, a hand on top of his heart while the other one was checking his left eye. Chat took a deep breath while getting up and pushing Nightwing off of him. “Get the-” He had to catch a breather before he could start talking again, meanwhile he realized that Nightwing was kneeling in front of him, telling him to take it easy and inhale deeply. 

 

“What…” He had to stop again before getting himself up from the floor and trying again “What are you guys doing here ?” He finally asked and looked at the duo in front of him, it seemed like they weren’t really affected by the darkness too, if he had to guess it was because of their masks. 

 

Nightwing said sorry about their way of handling him while giving the kid next to him an agitated look, the kid didn’t really look like he was even sorry. “Let me show you why we are here.” He moved in front of Chat and swung his arm, indicating Chat to follow him. 

 

Chat did as he was told and quietly followed the man to another room, when he was in front of the door Nightwing told him to open it and when Chat did he saw two guys beaten to a pulp and tied by their hands to the pipes of the siphon. “What-” He said and then stopped himself, it was clear what had happened. Nightwing and the kid with him beated these two and then locked them in the toilet, the real question should be why. 

 

He looked at the two guys, one was bald and had a black goatee, the deep stains of food in his white undershirt indicated that he wasn’t leaving large or caring much, the different dirt parts in his jeans might be an indication of his working conditions, from the muscled up upper torso, Chat guessed he might be an construction worker. 

 

The other guy was totally different from the first one, he had long blond hair that was tied from behind in a ponytail that was in dishave (Probably because of the fight that he was in just a moment ago). His face was clean shaven and his brown pants and brand made jacket were clean, except for the trails of blood stains that were coming from his busted up nose and lip. 

 

“They seemed to be out of place right ?” Said Nightwing sarcastically behind him while leaning to the doorway and pointing Damian to the room he was in before. They needed to find a clue fast. 

 

“Yes.” Said Chat while turning around “Are you gonna tell me why did you two just break in a house now ?” He asked while taking a step back, he was realizing how dangerous these people could be, the real thing was much more convincing than the tens of videos he had watched that's for sure. 

 

Nightwing rose back from his leaning position and raised his hand to the guy with the undershirt “Meet mister Argus, Chat. A construction worker by day, and a wiseman by night.” 

 

Chat looked at him dumbfounded, he was kinda happy he guessed right on the construction, but what was a wiseman ? Are they supposed to be philosophers for the modern time or something ? Thankfully before he could say anything and embarrass himself, Nightwing saw the confused look he had given and with a deep exhale explained the underworld terminology to the young hero. 

 

“It means he knows people and places. For example he knows which man leaves which place and at what hour, and he makes contact with the people who want that man.” He stopped and looked at Chat “Get it ?” Chat turned back to the guy sitting on the toilet bowl, he really didn’t look like much, but maybe being unassuming was one of his reasons ? 

 

“He doesn’t look like an informant” Said Chat when he turned back to the Nightwing, the ruckus kid made from the other room could be heard from the next roof. “What about the blonde ?” He asked. Chat couldn’t lie he was getting nervous. He knew they were tough on criminals in Gotham, hell he was a video of Batman breaking some guys arm right in front of his kid without remorse. But once again, seeing it with his own eyes right now was a different experience altogether. 

 

“Ah.” Said Nightwing before pointing at the guy “That’s mister Gustav Koroler. Part time daddy Koroler’s enforcer for their drug empire, part time entrepreneur and all time creep.” Nightwing switched his side on the doorway before continuing “He can get a lot of women with his money alone, but of course he chases after the one that doesn’t care about him.” 

 

Chat didn’t like where this was going. Not one bit. 

 

“So he decides a risky plan, kidnaps the woman’s daughter and then blackmails her to sleep with him. Because that would surely make them not call the police.” Nightwing continues jokingly “Surprise surprise, she goes to the police, they say there is not enough evidence for them to go on. But of course since this all happened in Metropolis, the commissioner calls someone super strong that knows someone super smart. And here we are because that smart someone pinpoints mister not so smart-” He pointed to Gustav “over there and we came knocking.” 

 

After his explanation, Chat somewhat still remained confused, not because it was hard to understand, duh, the strong one being Superman, smart one being Batman and then Batman finding the junior in here. What was confusing him was… the start he guessed. What kind of sick idiot would kidnap someone's daughter and then blackmail them for sex ? 

 

He turned to Nightwing and asked the question to him too “He seems like a young man, wouldn’t his type be more of the rich or famous womens ? Or you know… younger, non-experienced people if the cross chain on his neck is a lead to go?” 

 

Dick was kinda surprised how Chat described the mafia mentality very astutely, from what he read of their files, neither Ladybug nor Chat was involving themself with police cases. They would stop crime when it happened, yes. But other than that, no police reports show them anywhere near serious crime cases like murder or rape. ‘Might’ve been observing the police cases instead of involving himself.’ Thought Nightwing as he remembered the first time Gordon handed Bruce a mass murder case in front of him.

 

Back then Gordon was nervous to even talk about kidnapping in front of him while Bruce had already prepared him for the worst that humankind would be capable of months ago. 

 

Now he was trying to be Gordon to the heroes, not mentioning how much of a disgusting piece of garbage Gustav really was and what not. He didn’t want them to be scared if he had to guess. Because just as Bruce thought him, humankind was capable of some horrid shit that would explain why god doesn’t show himself. 

 

His train of thought suddenly came to a close when Damian yelled “FOUND IT” From the next room and called them over. 

 

It was a pink flailed hair tie, Damian had found it under a wardrobe next to a wall. The wardrobe’s handles were big and heavy looking if Chat had to guess, they would be easily held still even if you tie someone to it. 

 

Dick took the tie from Damian and then quickly found a single strand of hair on it. “Oracle, take an image and check if the DNA sample is matching with the one in our data.” He said and for a moment his mask’s eyelids flared up for a second. 

 

After a minute long waiting, Chat got the news he was expecting, it was a 100% match with the victim Elisa Gorbenet.

 

Dick took a deep breath before looking at the other two in the room with him “We got’em. Let's make them talk.”

 

***

 

It took about 10 minutes till they knew where the little girl was hidden. Five of those minutes were for the two creeps to wake up. It seemed like they were planning on auctioning the girl on an underground slave ring for revenge. Needless to say, the moment they learned the place this auction was happening, they bolted to the spot while Chat called Ladybug just in case they would need extra help. 

 

The auction was, to their surprise, lightly guarded and they only had to fight five people at total before they made their way through the old building and found what they were looking for. 

 

With the arrival of four heroes, everyone in the room decided that surrendering would be the better option then trying to break through the only two doors -One guarded by a very angry Chat while the other is by a Robin- in the auctioning hall.

 

It took around an hour, but the cops were able to restrain a total of 105 people in one bust for human trafficking with the help of the heroes. The little Elisa was with the other poor souls that was waiting to be sold out on the makeshift platform auctioneers were using and was promised by Lieutenant Roger Raincomprix himself that she would be returning home safely. 

 

All in all, it was a great day for the heroes. But just when they were about to say their goodbyes, Ladybug asked to be talking to the Nightwing alone for a moment if it was okay. 

 

Not knowing what was about to happen, Nightwing was a bit worried but still accepted her request no problem and both of them started to move a few feet back from their partners. 

 

“You know, we use microphones and cameras on our masks just in case we need to.” Said Nightwing as a warning with an apologetic look on his face“Just telling, this meeting wouldn’t be as private as you’d like and the little one will learn what you wanted to say sooner or later.” 

 

Marinette smiled at his warning and said they needed to move a few blocks away if they wanted to be out of Chat’s earshot. “Look.” She started to talk while nervously playing with her costume, how bad she wanted to have pockets right now. “I… I wanted to say sorry for my… Ineptitude. I’m sorry about me not trusting you two. I know you guys are good but I can’t just-” Marinette’s words were stopped with Nightwing putting his hand to her shoulder. Witch was creepy because Marnette was a few meters away from him and she didn’t even hear him move. 

 

“I understand Ladybug.” Said Chat calmly “I’ve been in this job for more than a decade myself, some people are in it for longer… And you both are teenagers under tremendous amounts of stress.” 

 

“May I make a suggestion ?” He asked while taking his hand back and moving next to the radiator on their right. “I’m trying to ease myself and the Kidd into your dynamic a bit I admit. But really, for all intent and purposes, we want to help in any way we can. And I understand all of this coming out of nowhere can be… a bit much.” 

 

Marinette continued to listen to him without interruption “I’d say, let’s make it like a trust based partnership. We won't bother you unless you want us there. Then both of you can join our nightly exercises and while in it, can learn valuable information about being a hero.” 

 

Marinette thought about it for a minute, it sounded less constricting not being with each other when they have to don the costumes, that’s for sure. She also liked the idea of learning on the job, as she had seemed to have less and less minutes for her hobbies. There was one more concern though and it wasn’t about her this time. “It sounds wonderful Nightwing” she said honestly and then with a pout voiced her last concern “There is someone else, someone that gave us our Miraculouses. He is also the same person that warned us not to give out our identities no matter what. I don’t know what he would think about a ‘Partnership’ like that.” 

 

That wasn’t a lie at all, when it came to Fu, she couldn’t understand him at all, or his methods, or his personality, or him as a human being. She saw him switch his words or teachings on the spot, making list seconds 180’s and even coming up with the strangest plans, declaring it for the best right before asking her opinion on it and switching his plans again. 

 

Although she was sure her face was made out of a mixture of worry and uncertainty, Nightwing didn’t really seem that worried about it. “I’m sure he would see the value of shared experience.” He stopped for a second and his heartwarming smile vanished for the first time since she saw him tonight. “Also let’s make one thing clear Ladybug, wanting to train under my watch is your choice at the end of the day, but we will find Hawkmoth even if this mysterious person doesn’t want us too. I won’t be turning my back to a whole city just because someone saw me as untrustworthy.” 

 

Marinette was shocked a bit she couldn’t lie, she had never seen this side of Nightwing, he was always a cheerful and happy-go-lucky kinda guy, but now, seeing him turning serious immediately, it was kinda reassuring she couldn’t lie. So she just smiled at him and said “ That, we can agree on one hundred percent.” 

Notes:

Hu-ey, I'm sorry if y'all forget about me or more seriously, about the story. The reason for this chapters lateness was becasue I was working on a book I'm writing to be published. I'm scared for it and I'm focusing on it far more than many things I do in a dayly base at the moment. So yeah, in short, I'm sorry this chapter was almost a month late from my normal one week breaks. Have a nice day/night. Hugs and kisses to you all. And I hope you like it :)

Chapter 11: Winging In Paris - Making new friends

Summary:

“Actually Papa.” She started the words with “I started to do sports because Adrien was in the same club. I just wanted to be… close with him.” She even pouted, wow, what a deranged lunatic she was! Lying like that towards her parents without remorse. 

Notes:

My steam accout has been hacked and burning in anger I wrote 5 more pages than I was intended. I sincerely hope you have a better time than I have right now :(

Be sure to leave kudos and comments if you liked it.

Marinette had entered her home, moved behind the counter, came towards the stairs that would take her to her room and then turned back towards the living room couch that was right next to her, considered her options for one second and then threw herself to the couch without care, leaving her backpack next to the stairs. 

 

“Ooghh…” Was the only noise that left her mouth somewhat coherent before she lifts her head and turns around. Everywhere on her body was sore beyond belief. She had done sports before, she had even done long runnings before. Hell she was a superhero almost all days of the week. Yet still, a two day training under Nightwing had put her body in such pain she wished they had never started the damn thing! 

 

Now, she wasn’t actually angry, she was just… tired. Beyond belief. She always thought that her normal daily life, A.k.a : being a hero, a baker and a tailor with school on top of it all was pretty hectic and tiring. That was nothing next to mister nightowls and their ‘Bored training’. 

 

“Marinette ?” She opened her eyes again in order to meet the person that called her and met her mothers worried expression. “Are you okay sweetie ?” Her mother asked while drying her hands, she must have made the dinner. Marinette took a deep breath, her lungs screamed at her like she was beaten with a metal bar. “Yes mama, don’t worry about me.” She said while trying to smile, it came out as a grimace more than anything. 

 

Sabin wasn’t convinced that her daughter was in fact okay, Marinette was talking about training after school for health for a few days now, the problem was that, in Sabine's eyes she was already healthy. Marinette was already thin enough, she was even showing some muscles, what more might Marinette want ? 

 

While she would back her daughter in every step of her life, Sabine didn’t think looking like a bodybuilder would make her little angel cuter in any way. Call her old fashioned.

 

“Honey, this training you do… I’m not saying stop it altogether, but please, put a limiter for yourself.” She said trying to be as soft as she could, the door next to them opened again and Marinette’s father stepped in the living room. “The last orders have been handled, now what do we have for din-” Tom stopped himself when he saw what was going on in the house, his daughter -Who seemed to be in a lot of pain- was seemed to be having an argument with his wife -Who seemed to be in a lot of discomfort- 

 

“What’s going on here ?” He asked, his voice trembling a little even though he tried to hide it. “Nothing honey, we were talking about Marinette’s new liking of sports and how it affects her.” She said, trying to calm Tom’s nerves, she was with him long enough to know how he got nervous when even a slight bit of inconvenience came about their daughter. 

 

In that moment Marinette tried to get up from the couch, already regretting even stepping foot to the living room and then watched as her legs gave up before she could even take one step forward. The ground was coming at her face like a car crash, fast for the outside viewer but like a slow motion to those unlucky enough to be involved in it. But before she could even yell out a figure befallen in front her and catched her midflight. 

 

The figure was her father, with an even grumpier expression on his face. He was beyond worried right now, he was beyond reasoned with. Marinette, even though rarely seeing it, knew that face. He was blaming himself and trying to find a solution. She had to move fast. “Sorry papa, mama.” A good start, showing she was willing to negotiate “You are right, I’ve been forcing myself too much, and I promise to not do it!” She said fastly but her hopes of buying time were extinguished rather quickly when her father picked her up princess style and started to move with Sabine behind her. ‘Oh no’ She thought ‘They are in full protective mode’ Now there was nothing she could do as she was carried to the stairs and was brought back to her room at lightning speed. She didn’t even know how her father managed to open her trap door while still carrying her. 

 

She was downed to her bed and while she tried to talk to her dad, Tom just told her to be patient and continued to wait for Sabine. Sabine came back with a few things in her hands, none can Marinette read because she was a disgrace to her ancestors and still couldn’t read Chinese correctly. 

 

She put the bottles in her hands to her table and then took the towel on her shoulder that even marinette didn’t see when she entered. She then opened the bottles and started mixing the oil-like liquid in them on top of the towel, then putting it to her thighs firstly. The towel was warm and cold at the same time because of the liquid on top of it but it did give Marinette a great deal of relief as she groaned with satisfaction. 

 

Sabine smiled at her daughter’s expression and then told her that it was the essential oils, good for muscle ache. “I’ll bring you hot water too, dip the towel in it whenever it gets too cold.” She said and moved out of the room, leaving Tom and Marinette alone again. Marinette was looking at her giant father with anxiety, worrying if and how he would punish her.  In contrast, Tom was greatly relieved. When he saw her daughter collapsing… oh god, he didn’t even know what to think back there. 

 

“Marinette.” He started with, his voice was rougher than normal, Marinette could see the wrinkles of self deprecation around his eyes when he squinted. She felt horrible for worrying her father this way. What kind of daughter would even do that ?

“Look Marin.” He started again, “You are old enough to make your own choices and know that me and your mom will always be there to support you. But please, please don’t hurt yourself over your aspirations!”  As he continued to talk his voice became more and more on edge, like he was trying to hold himself from yelling at her face. 

 

“Now tell me, why are you suddenly interested in sports? And this time, don’t try the ‘For health’ excuse.” He said, waiting for her to be truthful with her father, ofcourse, the real reason was something she couldn’t say. So instead, she tried to think of an excuse that would be believable enough to dupe her parents. 

 

What would it be though? Why would she suddenly want to lose weight and push herself too far ? It wouldn’t be about herself, her father would sniff her lie immediately since she was never that interested in sports, seeing it as just something to do when she overdosed on her fathers pastries. Would it be about someone else other than herself then ? 

 

But what, or rather who? Alya wouldn’t make a good enough person, she only liked to run after the heroes, not outside of that. Kim ? No. Why would she suddenly train with him? Adrien ? 

 

Yes! Yes she would surely run through a floor made out of glass for 5 miles without taking a break for Adrien! Wait, she couldn’t say that to her father! He didn’t know, didn’t need to know and absolutely didn’t need to learn abou- 

 

“İs it because of Adrien ?” Her mothers sudden voice -though however soft it was- scared her so much she almost hit her head to the roof. “NO!NO!NO!NOOOO-O! Neber! I mea- I mena -Never!” God she wanted to vanish from the face of the earth. “I-I-I mean, why would I do extra sports, try to lift better and be more athletic for A-Adrien! I mean, it doesn’t make sense!” 

 

Her mother didn’t look convinced one bit, her father on the other hand was rubbing his chin and thinking with a serious expression plastered on his face “I guess that makes sense” He looked at her with a hint of smirk “Also explains why she tries to deny it so fervently.” Marinette wanted to vanish from the face of the earth. “What I don’t understand is, why suddenly ? I mean we know you do move your schedule around for him without a problem but…” Her father stopped suddenly like he found the answer he was looking for, ‘Oh no’ Thought Marinette and waited for the bomb her father was about to drop, she was only hoping she could reduce the blast radius, a.k.a: Her father won’t turn to a Akuma from the anger. 

 

“Did he say something to you ?” He asked, obviously not saying what he had in his mind but the application of it was enough, ‘Did he say something mean about your body ?’ Basically. 

 

Marinette was about to, once again, deny it vehemently, but her earlier interactions reminded her that she needed an excuse, a reason, before she started to say no. So, she started to think fast. It was actually kinda impressive and disturbing how her mind could slow down, just to find a way to excuse herself. Guess that comes with being a secret hero. She didn’t really like it, but she couldn’t deny that it was something useful. 

 

Alright, why would I, Marinette Dupeing Cheng, want to exercise for Adrien… Other than to look better in his eyes…

 

Actually, the answer was rather simple: she would join a sports club because Adrien is in it! 

 

“Actually Papa.” She started the words with “I started to do sports because Adrien was in the same club. I just wanted to be… close with him.” She even pouted, wow, what a deranged lunatic she was! Lying like that towards her parents without remorse. 

 

“Hmm” Was the only sound left in her fathers mouth while he played with his mustache, he was thinking about it for a while, meaning he couldn’t find an obvious objection first, meaning it was working!  

 

“Well then.” Her mother, who also didn’t find any obvious blank spots on her daughter’s story, started “In that case I’m coming to the school tomorrow to have a talk with Mister Armand, in order to see what kind of training he is putting you through.” 

 

BADBADBADBADBAD! Marinette’s mind screamed at her and she tried to get up in a sitting position on her bed, hitting her elbow on the way and trying super hard to now wail like a banshee from the pain. “No no no mama! There is no need for that! Also tomorrow is Friday, you know how busy it gets tomorrow.” She was, again, astonished that she found forty different ways to get out of a pinch in seconds, though it also continued to make her feel bad about herself.  But this time, her parents didn’t seem to budge as her mother shook her head negatively and gave her one of those super intense gazes she makes. “I care about my daughter more than I care about my own life and it will not change for a day's sale.” She said, and her father also joined Sabine, though his looks were more angrier than intense. “I also want to have a talk with mister fencer.” 

 

‘THINK THINK THINK!’ If she said anything to mister Armand he would probably talk to her parents, if she tried to sneak in one of his fencing lessons her parents would get confused about its difficulty and turn on her, questioning what other activities she is doing to drop dead in the living room. ‘Wait a second, fencing ? I never said I was fencing!’ That was it! That was her exit route! 

“Mama, I didn’t say I was fencing.” She said calmly while trying to jump down from her bed in order to talk to them face to face, her father quickly got up from her long chair and stopped her. She didn’t need to hurt herself further. “I was doing athletics with… Mister Grayson!” God she almost forgot his name and fumbled the bag. “He is the big brother of Damian, the kid that was here a few days ago you remember ?” They both nodded along, they did remember the kid, he was kind but withdrawn. Seemed a bit distant too, but he also seemed to like the salad Sabine made for him. 

 

“Yes, so his big brother is… a gym teacher. Which is why Adrien wanted to take some lessons from him, which is why I said I would also like to learn alongside him.” Yes, yes it is going good, she wasn’t making any outstanding statement, Grayson was muscled enough with the first glance and he did show how agile he was the moment they met with his somersaults in the air that she would have difficulty performing as Ladybug. 

 

“Oh.” Was all her father had said as he and Sabine shared a look before ultimately deciding that they would still like to see him. “Since he isn’t Armand, I understand why he was pushing you two so hard, but still, having a heath to heath would be better than not seeing each other.” Marinette tried to object again, she felt really privileged and loved at her parents involvement in her life, but please! Her identity was at stake here. Unfortunately for her, Sabine shut down all of her attempts at objections and told her to sleep tightly and rest well. It was the only way for her muscles to feel normal. 

 

Of course, with no say in the matter, Marinette pouted and then got under her sheets until her trap door was closed. The moment sounds from the stairs cease to exist, Tikki flew through her mini bag that was thrown to her table and came close to her wearer “Told you suits don't affect physical exercises, just dampens the strains as long as you are in the suit.” Marinette nodded at the little creature painfully, Tikki did warn her about it and said if she wanted to train, she should've done it without the costume's magical attributes. 

 

But at the moment Marinette had a different thing to worry about then her body, she asked Tikki to fetch her phone for her and after getting it quickly dialed Adrien’s number, normally this amount would be enough to cause her to flush to a tomato, but right now Ladybug were behind the wheel and that car had to enter the station. 

 

***

“Aaagghh” Let through Adrien’s lips as he stretched in his bed, every part of his body was aching and strained, maybe not as bad as he was expecting but definitely still there. He wished he could find a solution to the soreness on his feet especially, unfortunately, it was impossible without his father or Nathalie putting their noses on his life… at least more than normal. 

 

“Plagg, can’t you cataclysm my pain and suffering from my body ?” He asked lazily while slowly turning towards where his rat- I mean his Kwami was overdosing on cheese. He laughed a bit before swallowing a piece of cheese that was thrice his size in one gulp and turning towards Adrien. “Sure thing kid! I can of course erase your pain, unfortunately your muscles are going with them though.” Adrien just rolled his eyes to the kwami, said something about his uselessness that the cheese demon didn’t listen (Because he was eating cheese again) 

 

He tried to close his eyes, he normally wouldn’t be sleeping this early but tonight was his turn to petrol, so getting some rest before it would be ideal. Of course, just when he was getting close to sleeping his phone started to ring and suddenly woke him up. He, although begrudgingly, reached for his phone without looking and only after his third time cathed his phone. 

 

Who was calling him this time though ? His father was unusually silent for a few days, canceling all his photoshoots and even a few new AD campaigns. Saying he has a delicate matter to attend to and even sending Nathalie to England for it. So he didn’t expect it was his father, maybe his friends but what did they want from Adrien ? The homework that day was so easy he finished in two breaks at school, the second one was for controlling. 

 

He checked the name and standed upwards too fast his whole body screamed at him, he clenched his teeth through the pain and clicked accept before stuffing the phone between his ear and shoulder while massaging his screaming thighs. 

 

“Hello Marinette, what do you need?” 

 

***

 

“This is the place sir.”

 

“Are you sure Natalie ? The last idiot didn’t really-” 

 

“I’m sure sir.” Said Natalie quickly and pointed at the entrance of the warehouse, there was a green mark on the door, pointing at the handle saying ‘Peekers get a boo!’ 

 

“Sounds like one of his jokes alright.” Said Gabriel while getting out of his car, Nathalie was waiting for him to show himself completely, in his villain form of hawkmoth before she got out of the driver seat with a mask covering every place of her face except her eyes. She was wearing colored contact lenses for that. 

 

Gabriel took a deep breath and told her to get the bags while he himself moved up to the door and knocked three times on it. Just as he was expecting, a big burly guy with a machine gun in his hand opened the door and pointed the gun at his hand. He had smudged face paints that were (Atleast in the theory) resembling a clown's makeup. His attire looked like an escaped convict though, white tank top and orange pants. “Who’s you clowns suppos’ to be ?” He asked, his breath was smelling of cigarette and cheap liquor, if he could, Gabriel would knock him up on the jaw just for that filthy smell. “Here to talk to your boss about a job.” He said shortly and while the gun still pointed at his jaw clicked his fingers for Nathalie to come forth, she was carrying two metal bags and as soon as she was close enough the guard dog pointed a pistol at her face and told her to drop the cases and open them up. 

 

Nathalie did as she was told and as soon as she opened the two cases full of gold bars the guard dropped his guns and with a sinister smile plastered on his mismatched teeths, told them to go right on ahead while getting out of the way. 

 

Gabriel did as he was told but not before returning to Nathalie’s side and carrying one of the cases, they were heavy and even though she would never admit it, he knew Nathalie had a hard time carrying both of them. They got through the door and Gabriel found himself in the fake front of the warehouse, inside was full of crates, some of them he could understand, like the medical items, the others were labeled in different languages that he didn’t know about. The guard moved with them after he closed the door and locked it tightly behind. Gabriel saw three different lock systems and a landmine on there, good thing he didn’t break it open. 

 

“This way” Said the guard and then took them through a small segment in the warehouse. If Gabriel had to guess, this was the administrative office, there was nothing in it that indicated that except two small cubicle tables, but that was enough for him. Guard moved to one of the cubicles and after shoving it out of the way, pressed a button that was under it. 

 

Suddenly the ground beneath them started to open up and an elevator started to rise, although the height of it didn’t seem that far, it was clear that this place was hidden enough to even keep ‘him’ off their tails. He wouldn’t say he was impressed because they had the same idea as a hiding place, because he would never be impressed with anything a psychopathic clown was able to do. 

 

They quickly descended, the hidden entrance on the warehouse was an entrance to an abandoned sewer system. He didn’t know how an abandoned sewer system would smell much worse than anything he had ever smelled in his entire life, but here he was. The corridor they walked through was full of thugs of different heights and builds, he was repulsed at the types were there, a black guy with the KKK and an Swastika tattoo on his open chest, a woman seemed to be in her thirties with a buzzcut and a pretty boy written on her face, drinking something with an awful smell from a chinese take out cup, some freaks of nature, hooting and hollering at Nathalie, one even showing his freakishly long… members to her. There were two of them, yes. He didn't even want to know. 

 

Finally, after they were through the sewer system of the abominations, they were in a big opening, probably the old sewers main system with a tons of pathways to the different parts of this god forsaken city. And the center of it was him: Joker. He was sitting on top of a series of mannequins in different poses, all of them were pointing at him like he was the main show. Although he may try to give the appearance of a king, his chair looked more like a cushion than a chair and he was sitting on it sideways. When they got closer to him Gabriel saw his face, it was in silent contemplation, Gabriel knew that look, he usually looked the same when he was thinking of… NO! 

 

He practically yelled at himself, this was nothing like that! Him and this disgusting man had nothing in common. What would he know about loving someone? Look at the supposed ‘love of his life’ , slouched under the mannequin throne, looking so bored and out of it she didn’t even seem to realize one of her breasts were showing through her ridiculous outfit with two hyenas licking her shoes and snarling at it. 

 

When they got close enough to not disturb them but enough to talk, Gabriel cleared his throat and everyone’s attention was snapped at the two of them in an instant. Everyone but Joker, he only glanced at them for less then a second and then turned away like they weren’t important to him. 

 

On the other hand, Harley Quinn immediately jumped to her feet and came up to their faces, Gabriel tried to be the gentleman he was and look away from her breasts that now was fully out of her red and black corset to look at her puppies instead. “Hey, who are you bozos ? I’ve never seen your type here.” Said Harley while trying to take a peek between Nathalie’s mask which was impossible, like seriously, who the hell would try to sneak a peek through snowmasks ? 

 

“We are not from here, but I need your help.” Said Gabriel shortly, he had enough of this disgusting show of the lowest low humanity can reach. Harley seemed like she was thinking his answer with a finger comically screeching her chin while she swung her lollipop colored bat. Her hyenas were coming close to smell him but right when they did they backed off while laughing maniacally. He knew why: the Kwami’s power was scaring them. 

 

“Well, we are not really a charity service here mister atman. Ha! Get it ? because you don’t have the big pointy ears of Batman!” She started to laugh at her own terrible joke and all the psychopaths around them started to gather at the opening, laughing with her. 

 

“Harley!” They heard the voice and with it everyone, even hyenas that were practically screaming till that moment shut up quickly as Joker made his way down from his throne and slapped Harley so hard the sound echoed all around them. “I’m thinking here you stupid girl! Did I tell you to make jokes!?” Harley was dropped on the ground, next to Gabriel’s feet and she was shivering from the panic while holding her cheek and lip, the bastard had actually split it open fully. 

 

“N-n-no Mis-mista j!” She said quickly while trying to look as small as possible, it wasn’t so Joker would show pity to her, no. Joker had no problem throwing babies or killing kittens, it's just so that he might miss the kick (that she knew was coming) because of his ridiculously big shoes.

 

“I -I was jus-” Before she could even finish her sentence Joker had kicked her in the stomach hard, when he readied himself to do it again Gabriel stepped in by blocking the clown’s kick with his cane. Everyone in the opening was tense now, the clown looked flabbergasted, Harley looked shocked and the goons, well, goons looked ready to fight for their boss, Harley was his toy after all. And no one can tell the boss what he can or cannot play with. 

 

“I’m sorry grandpa, but your cane seemed to be in the way of my anger outlet. Would you mind moving your ass before I use you ?” Said Joker and even bowed a little, no one seemed to knew why he was being nice all of a sudden, if any of the other goons stepped in to stop Joker from abusing Harley or anyone for that matter, they would be captured and forced to watch as Joker personally killed their family, loved ones and what nots. Before turning on them with a sinister smile and tortured them till they couldn’t take it. But now the boss was being nice ? It just didn’t add up. 

 

Nice or not, Gabriel fully got in front of Harley and with a sturdy voice said ‘No’. 

 

Joker, who seemed to be somewhat annoyed by this answer pulled his pistol from his back and pointed it straight to Gabriel’s head. Gabriel didn’t show any sight of fear, he knew the costume could take a good amount of trauma, even though he was sure that a shot to head from this close would still cave on his skull. “Now mr. Tourist, you might not realize it yet, but you don’t disrespect the house owner while you are in HIS house!” Joker was about to shoot, he really was, but then one of his goons (One from the door) that he didn’t know about coughed loudly and told Joker that they were here for good business. 

 

Joker looked at the man in front of him with an unimpressed gaze, this town sure liked to spill out the worst, the problem was that he didn’t know these people “ Good business ey?” He said while smiling widely, Gabriel had to clench his fists in order to not punch Joker’s lights off. He couldn’t believe himself, how much deeper he had to go down before he’ll just shoot himself to cleanse the world from. How desperate he had to be to be in this place, this trash compactor with all the remaining disgusting excrement of humanity, tossed away, forgotten and still refusing to die and be done with. 

 

He took a deep breath, not even caring how Joker interpreted it and opened the bag in his hand. The 20 pieces of 3 kilo gold bars smiled at Joker who looked happier than a moment ago. “Now that’s good.” He said while putting his gun back at his waistband and making a soft whistle. One of his goons (Who was so short it was a miracle his knees didn’t touch the ground.) came up immediately and raised his hand to Gabriel, waiting to receive the cases. “Don’t worry mister, Big boy Frankle here can lift more than you’d thought” Said Joker and laughed maniacally again, this time though, his crew also joined in till Frankle threw one of the burly-jail-breaker-guys some sort of water balloon. The balloon popped at the man’s head and the acid inside it quickly started to eat at his flesh. Some of the jailer buddies were also coughing in the crossfire and were swearing at Frankle while rolling on the ground yelling in pain. 

 

The guy with the acid thrown on his face was dead in seconds and Frankle clicked his fingers to the girl that was next to the guy. She obediently came forth and Frankle told her that she was his bitch now and waited for him in his room. The girl didn’t object, just merely nodded, took one last look at his dead ex-boyfriend and then started to run towards one of the pipes, disappearing shortly. 

 

Joker called him dramatic but didn’t say anything else while the little man started to count how much gold was in the cases. “40 pieces of 3 kilo gold bars.” He finally said and then automatically called the amount’s worth in dollars and euro. Honestly Gabriel was a bit surprised, he didn’t even believe these mistakes could read let alone count. 

 

“Well well well” Said Joker slowly and then called Harley to his side, the small woman was still downed behind Gabriel but with the sound of Joker’s call she dutifully raised up and moved towards him. Joker turned towards her with a smile before that smile turned upside down and he smacked her again, causing her to fall on the ground again “Idiot kid! How dare you disrespect our guest’s and show your chest to them!” Harley, for a second, didn't understand what he meant before looking down at herself and quickly trying to fix her attire. Gabriel really started to second guess himself and he was this close to exposing this clown's location to all of the police force in Gotham. 

 

“Sorry about her. you know how kids are mister, you need to teach them everything or they just keep drooling and drooling till you kick their head in.”  Said Joker before interlocking his fingers in front of Gabriel, he looked like he was praying. “Let’s get back to the business, what exactly do you want stolen, extorted, murdered or kidnapped ?” Even saying the words, there was a joking edge to it sure, but just looking at his eyes Gabriel was regretting every decision he made in his life that led him here. 

 

“None of that.” He said shortly and this gave Joker a moment of pause before he scratched his green hair “Well then… Do you want thermonuclear missiles ? For this amount I can only get you a small one, and there will be at least two weeks of waiting but other than-” Gabriel hit his cane to the ground hardly ‘God… FUCK!’ He thought and this time, even images of innocently smiling Emily can’t make him focus. He tried to breath through his anger, Joker was looking at him like he was a kid, not knowing what he did wrong. It only infuriated Gabriel more. His anger finally started to cool down when Nathalie touched his shoulder and took the reins of the discussion.

 

“What we want is you, Joker. Nightwing, one of the Batfamily members, is in Paris and we want you to stop him.” She said in one breath and then looked at the clown with expectations. Joker, for his part, started to scratch his chin while thinking and walked around randomly. When he came up to the dead thug his shoes made a squishing sound from the liquefied skin and brain matter on the ground. He made a disgusted sound but then continued to walk. 

 

“That s’range puddin normally likes to go huntin batboys.” said Harley with a hushing voice while coming close to Nathalie who pushed her back a bit harshly. Joker must have heard her though because he raised his head and gave her a scolding look. “He is one of the most stubborn ones. Maybe close to Batsy himself.” He clenched his fists “Oh how I want to rip his smiling face and wear it as a trophy.” He said and with a new found vigor and a far too terrifying smile, made his way back to the waiting couple, his feet making disgusting sounds all the way. “I accept, it will be a good show to the bat after all-” But before he could continue talking about what he would do, Nathalie cleared her throat and said that they didn’t want him dead. 

 

“What ?” Was all Joker could tell. 

 

“You can beat him up, Cripple or expose his identity. I don’t care. But you will not kill him.” Said Gabriel clearly. No way out of it. He was just trying to get rid of a nuance, not to bring his cavalry known as Justice League on top of himself. 

 

Joker looked at him like he had grown another head “Why would I want to know his secret identity ? He is interesting wearing the costume, not out of it.” 

 

Nathalie took out a tablet phone in her shirt pocket and extended it to Harley, who took it without hesitation and giggled when their hands touched “If you accept it, you will come to Paris. The money itself would be enough to cover for a private jet with your deemed necessary manpower and ammunition. 

 

Once you are in French soil, you can do whatever you want to lure them out, but the places that are marked in that map are out of order. If you attack any of those places, the deal is terminated and we will hunt you down ourselfs.” Said Natalie. Harley looked at Joker while showing him the map with the marked locations. No addresses, they were pointed with coordinates. Probably to make his job harder if he indeed wanted to go against the deal. 

 

Joker thought about it for a second before shrugging off “Then I don’t accept it.” He said and pointed his pistol at Gabriel once again, every thug in the room did the same too, although Harley seemed to be a tad slow about it. Thankfully Gabriel was Hawkmoth for a reason. He wouldn’t be begging for his life, no. He would make Joker beg one day for something too hard to get rid off. He smirked a bit, enticing the room, “Watched your last demolition.” 

 

Joker stopped for a second and bent his head like he was questioning what he was talking about. “ Really, the best thing that came to your mind was burning Batman inside a Fire Station ?” 

 

Joker’s brows knitted down “What was wrong with it ? It’s both poetic and comical, of course some corporate douchebag like you or Lexi wouldn’t get it since I’m sure the only fun time you have in your lives is when you lay off people like they are cattle.

 

I mean, at least lay them down a conveyancer belt to make it funnier, o-or make them fight for their positions to death or something. God, I’m getting boring with how boring you are, keep your bor-germs to yourself, will you pop ?” He said and got a few snickers from the people around them.

 

“You say all that. And Batman captured you before you could even set the building on fire.” 

 

Joker looked outright irritated right now “I don’t know which piss cornered part of Europe you are from old man, but I can promise to you, your going back will be a bombing if you continue.” 

 

Gabriel just scuffed at Joker and his pathetic attempt to scare him and Amelie. “I was actually trying to tell you the benefits of you coming to Paris.” He said finally, getting the man’s boiling point just the right amount, Joker wouldn’t listen to him if he was too much. He also wouldn’t listen to Gabriel if he had nothing. 

 

“What ?” 

 

“Both of you know Gotham like the back of your hands at this point right ?” He asked. Joker nodded slowly, his finger still on the trigger.

 

“No Joker, he knows Gotham more than you, more than any of you or even better than Police.” 

 

“Where are you going with this ?” 

 

“I want you to take down Nightwing, but I also know Batman would be on your tail as soon as he learns you are in Paris. And once he will be there, you will be tranched down already. Ready with the perfect trap, just waiting for him to land on it. Also remember, he might know Gotham like no one else, but I know Paris from the deepest catacomb to the highest tower.” 

 

With his words Joker stopped for a second, it made sense, Batman and his rag team of cronies were getting too good lately, diffusing his plans (And bombs) usually before he could even put it down. A chance in scenery might be what he needed. 

 

“Also-” Continued Gabriel, seeing Joker taken by his words, now for the kill shot “I have something for you and your team when the time comes. Something to put you above their simple brawls.” 

 

Joker asked him what it was and Gabriel just smirked at him “ No one likes a tattletale, why spoil it now when you can be amazed with the surprise in the first place ?” To these words, Joker looked at him with surprise before he started to laugh like a madman, hollering at the ceiling. He dropped his gun and straight up threw it to his right completely before starting to walk back to his throne. Laughing all the way up. “Tell me old man, what is your name so I can know my future friend.” 

 

Gabriel, while disgusted with the idea, clenched his fists and then told him “Hawk Moth. Ask around Paris and you will know what to expect from my surprise. Come to the city 2 days later. and I will get you to a safe place.” 

Chapter 12: Winging in Paris - New Arrivals

Summary:

“This is Orly airport control tower, flight number 334598, you are not registered to be here.Over”

“Thi- this is *Cough* This is the plane number… Fuck my eyes”

“334598 what is happening in the cockpit ? Are you or the crew in any danger, over ?”

“This is the *Cough cough* This is the co-pilot, we need to make an emergency landing tower! The whole plane is filled with some sort of gas!”

Adrien was waiting in front of the school, anxious as hell and so, so hungry. Because of his aching muscles, he couldn’t really bring himself to cook, or even bath for that matter. Gorilla, of course offered to cook for him and even -god forbid his father hears this- offered to buy him some takeouts, but in that case he couldn’t bring himself to overwork the poor guy. He already had to look after Adrien as his security, no need to overload him with extra, unnecessary side jobs that he didn’t sign up for. 

 

He saw Alya and Nino and saluted them away. He was early there for a reason and couldn’t really spend time with his best friend… at least not till noon so he continued to wait. 

 

While watching the Dupain’s bakery for Marinette and her father to come out he heard a strong exhaust from a motorbike that was becoming familiar since Mister Grayson always chose to leave his brother and pick him up in it and honestly ? Adrien was ashamed to say this but he was a little jealous every time. No not the bike, if he wanted it, he was sure Nathalie would buy him the same one in a minute notice. 

 

No, he was jealous of Damian always having a family member looking out for him closely and… you know, respecting and loving him and not just being a shadow figure that constantly rains down upon when Adrien tried to socialize even a little because oh nooo ‘What would people say if they saw you with uninteresting poor subhumans Adrien ? Think of the advertisements Adrien and I won’t take you out of the school if you misbehave Adrien!’

 

He took a deep breath and tried to calm his rising anger. It was not ideal to be angry in Paris after all, although the last two days were calmer than normal… that didn’t mean Moth was definitely out of their lives. 

 

“Agreste” 

 

Adrien opened his closed eyes with Damian’s voice, he and his brother Richard were right next to Adrien, how the hell he didn’t hear their footsteps though ? Normally, he didn’t have any problem hearing people when they got too close, a side effect of the Kwami magic Plagg had said once. He also could smell every different ingredient from a casual school sandwich, right down to the different ingredients in the sauce or to the salt itself. It was a weird feeling he had to admit, but at least this way he could sense what Gorilla was doing since he always used the same detergent to wash the car… Anyway, weird tangent aside, was he really that focused on hating his father that he didn’t hear two people approaching him ? 

 

‘Man, bugaboo would be disappointed with me’ He thought while exchanging handshakes with the other two and trying to look normal with no turmoil inside his head wrenching his brain from one side to the other. 

“So” Started Richard getting the attention of both Adrien and Damian “Dami told me what you need me to do, but before I or Damian put ourselves under the chopper, why are we doing this exactly ?” 

 

It was a fair question, one that even Adrien didn’t really know about. All he knew was that Marinette needed their help, and that was good enough for him. She had told him that he also needed to be attending and had to agree with whatever she said. She couldn’t give more details because the circumstances could change dramatically in a moment’s notice… whatever that meant. He only knew that his friend -Only friend with or without the costume- needed him and he would do anything for her. 

 

Still, saying this to an adult might not be the best way to go about it, so instead he tried to lighten the mood, putting on one of his fake smiles and saying she probably told their name accidentally while looking for an excuse on why she was drawing costumes in the middle of the night. 

 

Damian raised his right brow at that, was that really happening that regularly ? 

 

And, even though he didn’t say it out loud, knowing what he was thinking, Adrien said a quick “More than you’d believe.” 

 

Well, not really. Even if she did say their names accidentally, her parents wouldn’t be talking to them per se. They would just send specifically made baked goodies to the class, their own way of being passive aggressive. 

 

Adrien thought his own excuses were might not be enough to win over Mr. Richard, after all, didn't completely win over Damian who was looking at him suspiciously right now. Hey he was not the Marinette, she was the one getting flustered while talking and making incoherent noises. Even though he found that side of her more cute than anything, it was because he was with her for a long while now. It, understandably, wouldn't have the same effects for the Gothamites. 

 

Still, thank god (Not Plagg because the little thing was made out of bad luck) Mr. Richard didn’t seemed to be minding speaking with her parents as he just said a quick “aight” and take out his phone to play games on it while slouching to the stone handlers. 

 

Damian on the other hand just continued to stand there, intertwining his arms on his chest, looking like a smaller and angrier manager. His usual outfit of black turtleneck shirt and black pants didn’t really help either. And he started to wait for Marinette much like Adrien did, staring at their shop's direction. 

 

Thankfully they didn’t have to wait long as Marinette and her father and mother came out of the shop no longer than five minutes later. Adrien saw the look of anger on her father’s face, Marinette was holding his hand -if Adrien had to guess for calming him down- and trying to slow him down with not much success. 

 

Mr Cheng was looking and walking like a storm approaching, on the other hand Ms Cheng seemed much more calm and collected, or she did at first glance. When inspecting her closely Dick could easily see the hidden anger behind her eyes, the burning fire beneath her soul as she did her best to seem like the calm one. She was just as angry as her husband and she wanted to skin him alive too. Maybe he really did start the kids in advanced mode. He needed to correct that as soon as possible. Possibly tonight, if he could manage it and not make it obvious. 

 

“The show is starting.” Said Adrien while trying to hold a genuine smile and waving Marinette who was walking past the lights. She saw it and returned the wave even though she seemed a bit embarrassed by it. 

 

“Salut Marinette!” Said Adrien and enthusiastically kissed her cheeks, she did the same while turning into a tomato, so there was progression. Before she’d be resembling a pomegranate. 

 

“Hello Adrien.” Said Sabine as she and her husband shook hands with the kid. “And this is Mister Richard, Marinette told me you wanted to speak with him ?” Adrien tried to play it coyly, or at least as much as he could manage. Maybe he shouldn’t have said the last part though, if the scrutinizing gaze Sabine threw her daughter was anything to go by. 

 

“Hello Mister and Missus Cheng.” Said Dick calmly while smiling and pushed his right hand forward, he was trying to look as harmless as possible in order to calm the parents, but it was a hard task since reportedly they saw their daughter collapse because of his training. But he could use this too, one of his best attributes was adaptability, one of the first things Bruce had taught him when he was barely ten. 

 

He slowly turned towards Marinette while being sure that his face and eyes showed some sort of regret and asked her how she was this morning. Marinette, caught by surprise because she was much more worried about her friends seeing her and her parents out here interrogating Adrien and the foreigners. “Umm.” She quickly tried to pull herself together “I’m much better Sir, thanks to my mom.” Of course, hearing that made Sabine’s cold heart (Just for the moment, she needed to show she wasn’t playing around when it comes to her only child after all) melt for a second and she tried to hide the smile that was forming up, she was unfortunately, unsuccessful in that regard. 

 

“Well, I’m happy to hear that.” Said Dick before turning towards the parents once again and bowing down in front of them a little “I also owed an apology to the both of you.” Either Sabine or Tom talked as he explained himself, “ I needed to be out of town for a few days, which is why I upped the ante on the training yesterday sir.” His eyes were narrowing down as he talked and his hands were either rubbing each other or were hugging him defensively. Very basic sights of uncomfort. “I was hoping to teach them a lot of moves in one day, so I could tell them to do which move and when remotely, while I was away. 

 

But I didn’t realize how much I had pushed them. Even Adrien, while being next to me for a while also told me about his aching muscles. And for that, I’m deeply sorry.” You know, Tim and others keep saying he couldn’t play a role to save his life, but he felt that went really well as both Sabine and Tom looked at each other uncomfortably. At least he was sure the raging fire of anger in them was quelled at this point. 

 

Then the school's bell rang out and every person out in front of the gate started to gather around and get in, perfect timing Dick thought. “Seems like we are out of time for today, how about we continue to talk tomorrow ?” He asked while trying to keep his face as neutral as possible, if they said no, he had almost no choice but to do what they wanted. But seeing the doubt in their eyes told him that they wanted to close this case as much as he wanted. When they both said yes and affirmed his theory, he slowly turned while smiling to Damian and Adrien, wishing both of them a good day. 

 

Right then he saw something, or rather someone, Lila. She was standing in front of the first step, looking at them intensely, were they really gathering that much attention? He didn’t think so honestly. She also seemed angry for some reason, or maybe she was angry because of school ? He also didn’t like to get to the schools when he was younger after all. 

 

In reality Lila was angry because even ‘He’ was talking with Marinette. Why, though, she couldn’t figure it out. Also why did Marinette’s parents were there too ? She tried as hard as she could, but nothing came to her mind that made much sense, then he looked at her. ‘Oh my god’ Was the only thing she thought of as Lila tried as hard as she could to not blush in front of him again. She gathered that she had a crush on Dick, she wasn't a child after all. But for the life of her she couldn’t understand why this crush made her weak on her knees and always always made her stomach do flips when she saw him. 

 

She had a crush on Adrien too! He was handsome too! Why did she never feel this way towards him then! While she was thinking about this Lila realized the other people in that group also noticed her. While Marinette’s mother and father were looking at her with a mixture of anger and pity, for some reason Marinette and Adrien were waving at her and pointing towards the gate, she didn’t understand what they were trying to say as their voices were muffled by her headphones. 

 

The reason they were trying to warn Lila was because she was standing in front of four guys who seemed to be drunk out of their minds as they stumbled around, not even walking in a straight line. They were wearing formal clothes, white shirts tucked behind black, english cut suits with different colored ties. Or at least that was their costumes before they started to drink because, at the moment all of their shirts were untucked, ties either around their hands or heads and coats nowhere to be found. Two of them were still drinking from bottles as they -at least tried to- support each other by one hand behind their shoulders, one of them had lost a shoe but other than that seemed to be at least aware enough to look around himself (And his mates) with disdain and last one, one closest to Lila seemed to be looking for something in his coat’s pocket… The problem was that the coat was not on him so he was literally just randomly fingering his shirt trying to find a pocket. 

 

While Tom Sabine and everyone around the school seemed like this was a disgusting display of… everything really, neither Dick nor Damian minded the four fools of the finance department, making the sales of their life and celebrating. This was a really common scene in Gotham after all, other than the guy being somewhat clothed and not being bums with pistols. That was much more Gotham oriented it seemed. 

 

Of course, not knowing what Marinette and the others were saying, Lila stood completely still while trying to take off her earphones and collided with the man that was checking his pockets so hard that they both were about to fall off completely. Lila, not being drunk, immediately fixed herself back up and turned to the other man that was trying to get his bearings while his friends laughed at him loudly. 

 

“Are you out of your mind!?” She yelled at him while physically trying to remove the drunk man’s smell on her, it was so pungent that it was even making her gag, and in front of Dick too! 

 

“Whu-d byunü…” Was the only voice that come out of the man as he get up fully and tried to fix his -once again- coat that wasn’t on him, he then stopped for a second and then looked at Lila with fury before finally slobbery saying “You-d -y- you stole my wallaeth!” and tried to hold on to her. 

 

The drunk man was unsuccessful in his attempt as he took a step forward and almost lost his footing completely, only avoiding face planting with his hands. Lila didn’t even know why this man was trying to attack her, but she was sure scared about it as the man suddenly got back up and caught her on the arm before she could move out of his way “MEY MONEYH” He yelled once more and Lila, unable do much with the sudden panic screamed for dear life. 

 

“BOSS! The girl ain’t got your money!” Yelled one of the other drunkards, though it seemed like that one was the least wasted as he tried to calmly but quickly come to his bosses side and take him off from Lila, the other two were continuing to walk like nothing had happened. 

 

“Aro-n, My money wash inn my wol-” He loudly burped before completing his sentence “Walleth” 

 

With Lila’s scream, everyone’s attention was on them now, the people in the street that was either yelling the man to stop or quietly videotaping the incident, the students that were in the schools entrance had turned back and some of them were coming down the stairs to help their friend, Sabine was hardly holding back an angry Tom as she knew nothing good would come if her husband beaten the man up in front of cameras and catched an assault charge along with it. 

 

Personally, Adrien wasn’t really feeling that bad about Lila, honestly, with the things she did to get under his rooftop, trying to have an unrequited, uncalled for and unagreed relationship with him, lying to everyone about Marinette and being a general nuisance all together. Yeah, as he was trying to look for a way to disappear and change to Chat, he really didn’t see anything wrong with what was happening here, he only saw karma and it’s dirty ways to get the ones who deserve. 

 

Marinette on the other hand was horrified and wished her mother didn’t hold her hand too tightly at the moment because she NEEDED to get out of here and transfor right NOW! 

 

While all this was happening, Lila was scared to death as she tried to get out of the man’s tight grip with no success, in her despair, she even tried to claw his face but like a drunkard ninja he moved out of it at the last second, took a moment to realize what had happened and was about to punch her back. Or at least she thought so, because as she was closing her eyes, fearing for the impact, a shadow suddenly appeared upon the man, a shadow named Dick Grayson. 

 

Dick, knowing too well where this was heading from the bosses dialogue with Aaron (He guessed the name at least), knew boss wouldn’t be calmed down anytime sooner take actions on his own hand and as he pushed the kids that had started to form a circle around the boss and Lila and were shouting profanities to the man. When he was close enough, the boss's back was turned to Dick so he couldn’t see him approaching. Aaron did though and even tried to stop him, maybe to not escalate it further, but with one look from Dick he too stood down. 

 

When Dick was finally a few steps behind the man he did the only thing he was excellent at, acrobatics. He holded the man's shoulders, the boss was a bit shorter than him but not by a large margin. He then quickly jumped up and did a handstand on the bosses shoulder while opening his legs to the sides in mere seconds, with his momentum the boss already seemed to lose control and let go of Lila. with the ‘hostage’ safe, the only thing left was to neutralize the target now and he did that one quite easily too as Dick swung his open legs clockwise. The older man also turned with him quickly and was about to fall down, This time ass first. Although his actions may be called crude and old school, Dick wasn’t there to punish the old man, he was there to stop him from doing a stupid stupid thing and suffer the consequences for it for the rest of his life. With this mindset, Dick dropped himself from the man’s shoulders, catched him while he was falling and then swung both himself and the boss around one last time before gently putting the man down. 

 

Everyone was in shock at what they had just watched, the boss man, with the two sudden spins, was down for the count as he just slouched forward while in and out of consciousness. Marinette and Adrien were just watching Dick as he was checking the drunkard's vitals, only one question on their mind : How the hell did he do that ? 

 

Lila was in confusion, not from being saved by Dick, no. That only made her heartthrob harder when she looked at him, her hero in a city full of magical ones. The confusing part was why wasn’t he checking her out. After the initial panic of almost getting punched in the face, seeing her hero in a plain white and tighter than normal t-shirt, and the relief of being free from the drunk man’s grasp had worn off, she thought she could use this moment for herself. You know, a little ‘thank you’ kiss to the cheek, or a long hug for being saved at the last minute from the disgusting and vile drunkard. 

 

After all, it all starts small, that’s how you keep them interested. Or at least you could, if Dick had checked on her! But no, for some reason he was nowhere near her and you know who came running to ask her if she was okay ? Marinette Fucking Cheng’s family! Why were they blocking her right now god dammit! Couldn’t they see ? This was an opportunity she couldn’t let pass! 

 

But in the end she had to as the less drunk of the four fools came running to them and started to apologize profusely, trying to tell them that the boss had been robbed while they were getting out of the bar a few hours ago and lost his wallet and car keys as the result. She really didn’t care that much as the man made promises to her about compensations, the only compensation she wanted right now was carrying the drunkard on his back as the people around the school both praised Dick and showed their ‘discontent’ with the boss and his associates. 

 

Dick finally turned to Lila, who was looking at him with stars in her eyes and not even caring the teacher that was trying to talk to her, he come to her side finally and asked her if she was okay, Lila could only blush at his question and couldn't let a single syllable out of her mouth. “Might be in shock.” Said Dick and then turned to the teacher and asked “Could you please take her to the infirmary ?” 

 

The teacher just nodded as a response and started to carry her back in the school with the help of Ivan and Nino, other than them, Rose, Juleka and Alya also moved with her. 

 

While they were going away Dick quickly turned to the other drunkards who were being straight up harrassed by the crowd now and then let out a loud whistle out to shut the people down. 

 

Of course, like in many cases, Dick’s whistle wasn’t really louder than the singing of an angry mobs song consisting of profanities and death threats, but thankfully this time another teacher helped him, Mr. Armand blew his whistle that was bound to his neck and told the people there to be quiet. Finally, when the crowd around them started to simmer down a bit Dick moved to Aaron and asked if he needed help carrying their boss or should he help them. 

 

“I- I could if it was only Mister Erwin.” Said Aaron while pointing to the man Dick carried in his arms like a princess. He at least seemed to be sleeping soundly. “But these two idiots are also in need of help, mister.” He was looking so ashamed for what his associates did, plus he had to ask help from a total stranger. He was looking like he wanted to jump down from the nearest cliff. 

 

“Understood.” Said Dick then asked Sabine if she could call a taxi for them, she did immediately and then they learned the drunkards story. After making the biggest sale their fresh company had ever made, these four were called to calibrate by their boss (The man Dick was carrying at the moment.) and were expecting to go back by the bosses car “We weren’t planning on this party to be so long… but it did. When we were out of the-” He stopped for a second to not say stripclub in front of the three kids that were watching “ ‘Bar’, we were all out of it but before we could call a cab some thugs came out of nowhere and robbed us.” 

 

Now with the complete story, even the people that still looked like they wanted to record everything and blame the workers later were taking a step back. “Although, I don’t know if I call it a robbery since they just came up and searched these fools' belongings while they mindlessly droned about a… bartender's skill. I was the only one with some brain left and with the small knife they pulled I didn’t resist either.” 

 

“Well.” Said Dick when he saw the arrival of a police officer, he didn’t know the laws regarding public intoxication around Paris so he didn’t want to get in trouble. Thankfully, since he had stopped the boss from doing anything dangerous to Lila, the police officer that had arrived made a statement that he would take them to a holding cell till they are sober but wouldn’t find them because of the unfortunate situation they were in. “I’ll also have to take a statement from you about these thugs if you are going to report it.” It might have been a way Aaron tried to avoid since he would very much like to hold his criminal history non-existed, but it was still a good enough solution as he helped the officer with loading two of his buddies while he and boss had to wait for a separate car. 

 

“And you sir.” Said the officer suddenly turning to Dick with a serious expression on his face, came close to him and started to look him up and down “You are not from here I assume, but if what my daughter described were true…” Roger suddenly smiled and then shook Dick’s hand harshly “Welcome to Paris sir. What you did today, especially with minimal risk for either yourself or the people around, that deserves a reward in my eyes.” 

 

Dick smiled at the man’s words and then shook his hand again, saying thank you. “I just did what I had to de-escalate.” 

 

***

 

While Dick was outside, rubbing elbows with the people and getting their wows, Damian had moved in the school while no one was looking for him, he moved directly to the infirmary with his bag still strapped, for what he wanted to say couldn’t wait. He hated infirmaries, it meant something bad had happened, it meant one of them were wounded or maybe even worse. It meant the cave was going to stink blood for a week straight as a reminder. It meant one of them had lost and the bad guy had won. Something they couldn’t, and wouldn’t let go. 

 

He knocked the door and started to wait till Miss Bustier opened the double door and asked him what he wanted. “Sorry to disturb you madam, but someone was calling your name.” Which wasn’t far off true, some students were talking about Bustier, they just weren't calling her by any means. “If you want, I can stay with Lila and come find you if anything happens.” He couldn’t say he was trying to look assuring, but thankfully she took one look at him, then Lila -who seemed to be okay and was just lazily lying down- and said okay while moving to get out of the room “If she even wants to call someone come find me Damian!” She yelled while running back to the front door, making promises of coming back once she found who needed her. 

 

Lila was initially happy that Damian came to see her, this way she could learn what had happened to Dick and if she played her cards right, maybe even get his number, maybe a ‘Thank you for saving me, let’s meet again’ Type of vibe for the start. Then… Well, it was too early to think about more. At least for now.  

 

Unfortunately though, her happiness died down the moment she saw Damian’s face, the pure mixture of hatred, pity and disappointment so scolding hot even she for a moment felt her skin burn with it. Then came his words to burn her heart and left it scarred “You have no chance with him creep. Have some dignity and be a spectator like you meant to be before you do something you’ll regret for a very VERY long time.” 

He didn’t wait for her answer, he didn’t wait to hear her clumsily defend herself. He was there because Dick, while having the senses of a bat, could be as blind as a mole rat and Damian knew he would be too afraid to say the necessary things till it gets too late. In his eyes, there was no reason to let the cancer grow while you can cut it off. 

 

***

 

“This is Orly airport control tower, flight number 334598, you are not registered to be here.Over” 

 

“Thi- this is *Cough* This is the plane number… Fuck my eyes” 

 

“334598 what is happening in the cockpit ? Are you or the crew in any danger, over ?” 

 

“This is the *Cough cough* This is the co-pilot, we need to make an emergency landing tower! The whole plane is filled with some sort of gas!” 

 

“Understood co-pilot, we are opening the main landing site for you. Are there any injured passengers ? Over.” 

 

“I- I’m not sure tow-...” 

 

“Pilot, Please respond and stay on the line. Over.” 

 

“I-Im trying… the gas is burning my throat!” 

 

“I understand Pilot, your priorities right now are to bring the plane down safely and then we will help you and everyone on the plane. Stay on the line son, stay with us!” 

 

“I-” 

 

The line was cut completely now, the only thing the whole tower could do right now was to call the medical services and hope that the plane could land safely. 

 

—

 

“Well, that was a little too dramatic, Muco. Don’t you say so too Harley!” Yelled Joker as his man controlled the plane and laughed at his joke. The whole cabin crew, passengers and all the others were choking on the special gas that Joker had bringed to the plane. Of course, it wasn’t his preferred gas, for example, this one didn’t kill people with a sweet and lasting smile. But what can you do, sometimes the art of subtlety was rewarding enough when you can carve a small bat or two in the process. 

 

His other goons were going to transfer in different planes, their hideouts were already bought and prepped, this hawkmoth knew what he wanted he got to say. Of course him and Harley could go with the others too, but then, where was the fun in that ? 

 

He couldn’t stop himself from throwing the boy wonder number one a bone, there were a lot of different maniacs in Gotham who loved the smell of their own deadly toxins. Joker, for once, didn’t really like the gassing technique that much. Sure, it was as funny as beating kittens while using rats as makeshift morning stars but he still preferred the satisfaction that carving someone's chest gave him to be honest. 

 

“Mister J! Seemed like all the passengers passed out finally. Should we jump down now ?” 

 

With Harley's voice Joker woke up from his day dreaming and then took the parachute Harley was pushing on to him “Muco, after you downed the plane get control of the ambulance they are going to put you in. We will be waiting on you and you know I don’t like to wait.” With these words he took a deep breath, taking the fumes that are no longer making him or anyone in his crew dizzy and started to move towards the back of the plane, he thought about abandoning from there at first. But then he stopped Harley as the plane took another dive and moved back to the middle part, this way it would be much more fun he was sure. 

 

—

 

When the plane finally landed the first responders rushed in quickly but the scene they were expecting wasn’t as bad as they thought. While watching the plane they had seen it hurdle down for a while then head back up and for a while this up and down had moved on and with each passing the hope for the passengers were lowering tremendously. 

 

When they got in the plane they saw all the passengers were safely sitting down on their seats and were either snoring or huffing out loudly, the reason for it had become obvious as the face masks dangling from the compartments showed that one of the doors were opened. 

 

They found the pilot and co-pilot also knocked out cold and one man who had claimed he had prior experience with planes had made the landing. They would have welcomed him as a hero and probably even rewarded him in different ways for the heroic attitude he had shown, the only problem was the ambulance he had been escorted to had never made it to the hospital itself for some reason. One thing was sure though, while the Parisian police force had their hands full with this case, Gotham Airlines shareholders were holding their breaths as news outlets were making different stories depending on their stands and hospitalized passengers were demanding answers. While this was happening someone was looking at his computer with anger and wondering if one of his crooks did this attack. He knew the answer of course, after all, Bruce had learned there was no such thing as coincidences in Gotham from a very young age. 

Notes:

I’m sorry for making Lila like this, but I promise there is a reason for that. Can’t really say if I’m gonna make a Lila redemption though, maybe a bit later. Right now, let's just say she is my main villain but of course not as the show itself portrayed her, which was almost always half baked and not interesting at all in my opinion.

Anyway, have a good night or day!

Chapter 13: Winging in Paris - setting up the players

Summary:

“Mistah J! We got visitors!” Come the annoying voice he couldn’t seem to keep himself away from and he turned with an angry expression, he was making plans. Plans required a certain amount of calmness of the mind, and it especially required the annoying brats who kept bothering him to shut it up!

The smog and heavy air in the atmosphere was the first thing to hit his nose since he had perched on this gargoyle. You’d think staying a good 30 meters above the ground would make the sewer smelling air clearer but he knew, living in Gotham all his life Bruce knew that there was no escape from the smell of heavily industrialized air in gotham except for the Fashion and Diamond District, those places were smelling of powerful perfumes so the rich people living in it can confidently say they are not living in Gotham. After all, they are not carrying the stench of misery and poverty that almost all the other districts -to some degree- do. 

 

Especially unlucky for him, the normally rainy weather was, for the past two days at least, rather dry. You might think that's a good thing because no one loves rain. Especially caught under it. The problem is though the unrelenting rain in Gotham was meant to cover everything, from the smell of death that surprises you in every corner in some district to the poorly approved machines, endlessly churning clouds of smoke to the atmosphere and the city itself. When he was a child, his father would amuse them by thinking even the almighty was hating their city and trying to flood it down, and then, the Gothamites were showing their defiance by living in it as much as they could. 

 

A soft clicking sound woke him from his dreams, he hadn’t slept for a day and it was showing it effects on him, normally, this wasn’t that unusual for him, being a creature of night and the local billionaire businessman of the city meant he could be caught with bad timing and had to rush to meetings with no sleep at all. This time though, this time it was different. This time he was worried, he was so worried in fact he had kept himself up searching in front of his computer. Making assumptions all night, thinking of the worse case scenarios, searching for clues behind his screen. It had tired him, so much so Selina had to make a noise to wake him up. 

 

He turned around slowly, his cape swinging around with the sudden and soothing wind. 

 

She was beautiful. It made him feel somewhat superior when he saw that she was wearing the cat costume Bruce had made for her, normally she always said she didn’t need body armor because she wasn’t planning on being seen. Calling him out for his sometimes brush approaches (Within reasons) to the conflicts. Of course, repurposed Kryptonian body armor was far heavier than her normally leather clad bodysuits, but it was completely bullet proof. The trauma from the bullets would still hurt for weeks, but the outstanding benefits were worth it. 

 

She was looking at him with mischief, biting her lover lip and checking him up, he didn’t understand for a second and tried to call back to the time he had called her, he had said to meet on top a building in Little Italy, he had chosen the place because it was closer  to her apartment in East End and was significantly more quieter than the whole district. 

 

Oh… He understood why she was flirting this hard just by looking at him now. He forgot to say it was a business call on the phone. He had to fix this misunderstanding. 

 

He took a step closer to her while getting off of the stone gargoyle, she also took a step forward and when they were close enough jumped on his head. He catched her in mid air and felt her legs cross around his midsection. 

 

Before Bruce could even say a word she was attacking his lips with her own, so it has been a while after all. And he couldn’t lie, Bruce realized he also missed her as he returned the ferocious kisses and hugged her waist and kept her stable. 

 

For at least a minute they stood like this, occasionally taking short breaths and whispering words of… Encouragement to eachother. Bruce wanted to stop this, stop her from capturing him like this. They had a serious thing to do, he had to ask for help in order to learn what was going on in Paris, but he just couldn’t. He could only watch as his consciousness clouded more by her perfume, her everything captivating him more and more, making him falling deeper and deeper. Thankfully that all stopped the moment she tried to take his mask off. 

 

It’s not that she didn’t know who he was, of course she did know his secret identity. The real reason for him to stop was because of the physical mask itself, as he had added a new defense system to it that shoot out chlorine gas from the sides of the mask, if anyone without his specific finger patterns (Witch meant no one except Alfred and the family as they all use a specifically generated fingerprint in their gloves.) would try to move it out. 

 

So in a shorter version, if Selina removed his mask, that would be a short and unproductive night for him. 

 

Selina, knowing nothing of these looked at him with curiosity and an underlying worry that only he would see. “Bats?” She asked a bit more timidly than even she would like, but what she could do, every girl was entitled to feel a bit vulnerable next to the people they like/love/ occasionally hate/have a complicated feeling for and so forth. 

 

He didn’t said anything for a while and just continued to stare at her emerald green eyes, they were showing the worry she was trying too hard to hide and oh how he just wanted to continue and show her that she didn’t have to worry about anything ever, but he knew if he did that, nothing would stop it from escalating further than it needed to be right now. So, he took a slow breath and then put her down gently before apologizing and telling her that this wasn’t a social call. 

 

Upon hearing his words Selina put her right hand to her hip and bent down a little while looking at him, which Bruce had to look away from as to not get… Distracted. “Yesterday, around 1 pm locally, a plane landed at Paris Airport from Gotham with all of its passengers passed out on some sort of knockout gas.” 

 

Selina raised her eyebrow, She understood why he was worried since you know, he is the superhero, but she had no idea what Paris had anything to do with her. The last time she stole from there was a couple years ago and feeling no challenge or thrill from a certain someone that wasn’t located in the city of love, she had become rather bored of the place and left it in two weeks tops. 

 

“And you need my help because ?” She finally asked, getting a bit annoyed with his blank expressions, she wasn’t one of his soldiers that read criminal profiles on their down time, she was -or at least most of the time- more than that. 

 

Bruce took a breath, it was a shaky one Selina realized it, or as shaky as the brooding giant would allow it to be. Meaning he was scared. “Bats ?” She asked while holding his hand, hers were looking like a childs compared to his extra padded glowed ones so much you’d wonder if he could even feel it. He did. And holded her hand in return automatically. 

 

“It’s Damian and Dick.” He said shortly before continuing “I’ve sent them there for a mission, something League related. But now someone from here has landed in Paris and I need to find who did it as quickly as possible.” 

 

She had taken aback by his words, she understood Dick, he was old enough to go around with no problem, but wasn’t Damian a bit too young for it ? She remembered how hard it was for him to get used to the family and she knew the kid had separation problems if how he kept acting next to Isis was any indicator. That all aside, she knew he was also a bat too, they all were trained to be the best and the best focused on the mission no matter what. Or something like that, who knows, she was far more flawed to give a damn about their endless mission. 

 

“I still don’t get what it has to do with me B.” She said while crossing her arms and looking up at him with a questioning gaze. 

 

Bruce stops for a second to clear the doubts in his mind, he doesn’t want to send her to a dangerous place, but on the other hand, he really doesn't have much of a choice to begin with. So he takes a slow breath in order to resolve himself and then tells her his plans for tonight. “ I want you to drop by the Iceberg for me Selina.” Before she could even say no or why, he raises his right hand to stop her and continues to explain. “ I’ve checked the police reports for the plane, they found that a huge amount of Fluothane and other, harder to trace anesthetics were used during the attack. There is only one place in Gotham that produces and sells Fluothane in bulk, which is Ace chemicals.” 

 

“Tonight Tim and Steph will be going there, but I need you to go to Cobblepot and ask him if he knows the whereabouts of a former mercenary of his named Mucostra Alexis.” After he said these words he reached for one of his many pockets on that utility belt of his and got a picture of a short man with buzz cut hair and a small goatee. “He was seen by the news as one man getting out of the plane before anyone else and he might be the strongest clue we have right now.”

 

Selina took the picture from him and then put it in her right pocket before asking if Dick knew about what was going on. Bruce nodded his head, he had already reported everything to both of them and then asked them to stay put so as to not lure themself in an obvious trap “They are waiting for news from us before they can attack. Although I’m sure Dick is digging and sniffing around already for Muco.” 

 

Selina nodded along with him as he left an exasperated breath, Dick was a difficult child when he was young and he can be even more difficult now that he is older and can stay past midnight before being ordered to sleep.

 

 Then she realized a minor detail he hinted at but didn’t fully enclose as he was getting ready to shoot his grappler and move away. So she quickly holded his shoulder and he immediately stopped before shooting the pistol-like object in his hand and turned towards her with a questioning gaze. “You said what everyone was going to do, but then, what are you going to do ?” 

 

With her question his gaze stopped tracking hers and he started to look to the ground, he seemed… Super embarrassed and disappointed, somehow. Which was super weird because she never saw this side of him, even when they once got caught by Oracle because he forgot to close his transmitter he wasn’t like this. “I- I need to be off the planet for a couple of days.” He said it with a tramble and whisper, nowhere near his usually booming and attractive voice. “ A world called Austes has been devastated by a civil war that has been going on for who knows how long and now, after all the bloodshed they seemed to be wanting peace and asked us to be the mediators on it. The team wants me there in order to search both sides and help with the negotiations.” 

 

Oh, so it was something he had to do in order to save potentially millions of lifes and because of that he also had to neglect his children. Aww, who wouldn’t love an emotionally stunted man that is trying to show affection while still doesn’t know how to do it correctly ? 

 

She shook her head and then hugged him before raising in her tiptoes and landing a kiss to his masked nose “If you talk to them before going on a ‘Business trip’, then they would also tell you not to worry.” She smiled and then kissed his dried lips again because she was feeling good. “Now go, and let me and the kids handle the rest okay.” 

 

He exhaled loudly and then kissed her “Play nice when I’m gone, and don’t steal Alfred's silverware, he cares for them deeply and will hunt you down for it.” He felt weird smiling and joking around, but it still felt immensely better when she smiled back to him with that wickedly wide one of hers. 

 

***

 

“Again.” 

 

Chat swung his stick around, trying to hit Nightwing who easily blocked it.

 

“You are doing it again, Chat.” 

 

Chat stopped before he swung and rearranged his position, he was still using his stuff like a sword and they were training to not do that. Nightwing also relaxed from his fighting stance and came closer to the teenager and put his hand to Chat’s lower arm “You are extending far more than you need to with a stick Chat. Any competently angry akuma can dodge it and attack your hand, dropping the stuff.” 

 

Chat nodded along while he was trying to look like he wasn’t extremely disappointed with himself, ofcourse, his fake ears which were drooping at the moment, didn’t really agree with his level of control.

 

Dick saw this too and started to think of a new way to approach the subject, normally, since the stuff was made out of magic (And literally weight nothing as Dick took it for a spin in order to try it out.) and didn’t require much of knowledge in martial arts, Chat still wanted to do better with it, said it was something else to spin his stuff with the magical powers and him performing the same without it. So, Dick obliged and he was trying to teach the youngster how to use the weapon effectively while Damian was with Ladybug, teaching her how to be sneakier as she was by far the most noticeable one among them. 

 

“Stuffs are remarkably different weapons then swords because they allow you to stand back Chat, also unlike swords, they usually don’t come with sharp edges if you ever noticed.” Dick said with a sarcastic tone and it made Chat smile a bit, his ‘Emotional’ ears were still down, but at least he seemed to take the joke positively, it was a start. 

 

For a second then Chat’s face got serious again and he asked Dick if he ever trained with stuffs since he always seemed to have his electronic batons in his back. 

To his question, Dick nodded positively, he still  remembered how, in his first times -Witch was for a whole 5-7 years- Bruce had specifically teached him to use bostuffs before any other weaponry. “First time I’ve started. I liked the stuff, but these two gave me more freedom to engage with more than one or two adversaries at once.” He stopped for a second before taking out his escrima sticks “And also-” He said and then twist the underparts of his sticks together, the magnets at the end clicked together and activated the mechanics inside, making the sticks turn to a bostuff that also still recharged large amounts of electricity at the tips. 

 

“Some say I never outgrew my inner child.” He said with a bright smile and spinned the stuff, Chat, in amazement of what he saw, looked at him with amazement spanked on his eyes, his ears were no longer drooping but was up to attention. 

 

“Now.” Said Dick and was taking his fighting stance once again “Lets try it again, remember, a stuff is more than your arm, it’s your back that holds all of you together.” 

 

“Yes!” Said Chat with a wide smile and got in position to attack, but before he could do anything they both heard the sound of two metallic cables sprung on their heads and looked up. Ladybug and Damian were coming for them fastly, it was impossible for their training to end so soon, after all he only decided to soften up the physical sides of their training because of how much the magic actually helped them in that department, not the other ones. He didn’t want the two teenagers to be so dependent on their costumes, but for the time, their physical training could use a bit of a break. 

 

So, why were the two coming up to them this hastily ? He had no idea. 

 

When they finally touched down to the rooftops gravel filled floor Damian took a huge sigh of relief while trying to hide it as if he was out of breath, Ladybug come up to him with her hands in her waist and an irritated look plastered on her face “Now could you please tell me why you were in such a hurry to leave the Arc at least ?!” Her anger was quite easily noticeable in her voice and while Damian was cognitive enough to understand it, he was far too prideful to acknowledge it. So, instead of that, he ignored her and looked at Dick with angry eyes then pointed at his own ear piece on his left ear. 

 

‘Oh’ Thought Dick, so someone tried to call him but since he put his radio to silent while training couldn’t and then they called Damian, which only made him worry. He clicked a button on his metallic gauntlet which popped open a screen showing him the 5 missed calls from Barbara (Or Oracle as the screen name showed.) 

 

He bends his lips, this might be bad and calls Oracle while saying he needs to make a call and getting away from the group. The call was opened after two rings, she must have been really angry if she needed to take a breath before opening the channel. 

 

“Why hello there DICK.” She said with a frown and he could hear her anger coming from the line, he must have angered her even more than he previously thought. “If it wouldn’t be too difficult, could you please tell me why I couldn’t contact you while we are certain someone from Gotham has landed in Paris and we don’t know who it is ?” Nope, she wasn’t angry, if she was using proper language around him it usually meant she was seething. 

 

“T-training.” He tried to look like the big buff dude-guy stereotype around the heroes since this way they seemed to be feeling a lot safer being with him and Damian, but that role wasn’t sustainable with Barbara right at his ear, ready to grill him. 

 

“Oh really ? Well I’m happy you made some progress, since, you know, we didn’t find who had escaped from Gotham. Potentially coming there and definitely to find you and the kid!” 

 

“I’m sorry.” He said, feeling remorseful. He had closed the transmitter because he didn’t want to hear static while focusing on teaching people, he couldn’t do two things at once like that, his ADHD and Parisian smoothie filled brain would explode from the overload. 

 

Thankfully for him, his voice was carrying the sorrow he felt which made Barbara stop for a second, she was still angry, he had worried her so much she was willing to go there herself if Damian hadn’t answered. “I’m gonna buy myself a dress with your credit card… I’ll pay you later for it as a punishment.” She really didn’t care for new clothes (at the moment especially) and was bluffing more than anything else, but she still felt the need to punish her acrobat in some shape or form. 

 

Dick, who didn't seem to be taking the punishment harshly at all, smiled and told her to have a blast with it and apologized again while promising to keep the channel open from then on. After that little ‘Argument’ though, Dick asked what, if anything they could find about the incident which made Barbara sigh with barely contained anger “Like I said, nothing. No news on the ones that's still hiding, ones in the cells seemed like they don't even know what's going on.” She signed again but this time there was a hint of exhaustion on it too. Something Dick picked on immediately. 

 

“You haven’t slept for two days haven’t you ?” 

 

“I can manage.” She tried to cut short but in the back of her mind, she knew better to fight with a stubborn Dick, it was never a good thing and usually ended with either her losing or her losing while also breaking his heart. She liked to avoid either of it. 

 

“Oracle…” 

 

“...” 

 

“Don’t try the silent treatment with me, Oracle.” 

 

She finally signed out loudly and said fine while getting back from her desk, no way she was gonna close the system fully, but she was willing to put her headset to her bedside for now. “Just to get a shut eye, I still need to find what kinda danger you are in ‘Boy Blunder’. Don’t close down your transmitter”. The call then ended before he could say good night.

 

When Dick turned around he found a Chat Noir looking at him with an horrified  expression plastered on his face, the Ladybug and Damian were still fighting in the background, and didn't really bother with either him or Chat. So it seemed like Adrien was the only one knowing what he had been talking about on the comms. EARS. How stupid of him, of course he could hear better as a magically enhanced cat! God… At least he didn’t accidentally say Dami’s name. He was glad their policy of not saying names over the comms was implanted enough that these kinds of situations didn’t become even worse because of a slipup.

 

“N-nightwing…” Said Chat and the worry and anxiety in his voice made Ladybug immediately forget her fight with Damian and she quickly turned her head to Chaton. It was never a good sign to hear the bundle of joy of the group in a stressed position. 

 

Nightwing inhaled loudly while putting his right hand to his left shoulder, trying to calm the two heroes before saying what he wanted to say since yesterday “I’m sorry I haven’t talked to you about this, and you might wanna sit down for it. There has been a rogue villain from Gotham in Paris since yesterday, and we don’t know which one it is yet.” Maybe he could have worded that better, but then it wouldn’t be the full truth and he would be a PR teacher, not a police officer. 

 

***

 

Joker was looking around the map in front of him, the map of Paris. Oh it was so big and beautiful! Instead of the cramped alleyways you can run and escape to, a lot of the streets in Paris were big enough to be closed off with a double bus. The beautiful statues were everywhere and the people were helpful. There were even two heroes he can get to know better! O how great this little vacation was! He could hardly contain himself while his crew continued to build bombs and other trinkets. He simply wanted to get out there and shape this gorgeous city to his own desires, he wanted to make his name known globally as the great Joker Destroyer of Paris! 

 

“Mistah J! We got visitors!” Come the annoying voice he couldn’t seem to keep himself away from and he turned with an angry expression, he was making plans. Plans required a certain amount of calmness of the mind, and it especially required the annoying brats who kept bothering him to shut it up! 

 

“Harley!” He turned around fuming, she immediately understood that she was in danger and quickly ducked behind Hawkmoth who had come to visit their operation. He was looking around himself with disgust, the bombs, rifles, chemical agents… He hated himself more and more. He was aiding a terrorist- no he was aiding something far worse than that. How hard could someone fall ? 

 

How deep would he have to go in order to stop himself ? When will he just stop taking it ? 

 

He was never a religious man, but at that moment, he wished the god to strike him down so he no longer did these things. Of course those were just a bunch of thoughts behind Gabriel’s head, at the forefront was her picture, Emilie’s perfect smile as he promised her that nothing was going to happen to them. That he would be there for her always, her white knight in armor. Always have. Always will be.

 

‘And now that knight is making deals with the worst excrement of the human kind in order to get rid of a hero’ Sometimes the reaches he would go in order to get what he wanted even surprise him. 

 

He closed his eyes, enough doubt, he needed them. And that was the end of it. “Are you ready ?” He asked with a sharp tone as the young girl clinged his arm and tried to hide behind his figure. He didn’t understand it and he didn’t want to understand what this sick game of theirs was about. But just in case, he didn’t make her go away. 

 

Joker’s anger turned to a relaxed smile when he turned away from Harley to him “Ahhh, my second favorite baldie in the whole world!” He excitedly yelled and then shaked his left hand towards Gabriel. Gabriel looked at his hand with disgust, he could easily see the weirdly shaped needle between Joker’s middle and pointer fingers. 

 

After a few seconds of not moving, Joker gave up with a saddened expression and then called him a party pooper. “Yes yes, as you can see, everything is in order and my master plan, ‘make the boy blunder’s insides outsides’ coming out perfectly.” He started to move to the table he was making plans on and then threw a wrench on top of it to one of his goons that was busy putting c4’s together. After the goon got up from the ground with a grunt Joker ordered him to get themself some refreshments and called Gabriel next to him. “Now, there are some itsy, bitsy little ditsy details. I need your help with Mr butterfly. For example, your little surprise you have promised me.” The smile on his face was saying it all, the menace he wanted to unleash on the city- no, on the world. All of it was plastered on that wicked smile. 

 

Gabriel immediately folded his arm and told him no. Joker was the last result, he was not going to unleash something like that to the world if he could help it. 

 

Joker’s mood swings to the sad one once again but this time he returns to normal even faster and tells him that it doesn't matter and then with his finger shows harley. “Do it to her, and this way I can assemble the last bit of notches okay.” 

 

Gabriel looked behind him to the scared looking young woman, you’d think she would be afraid of Gabriel and what he was about to do, of course, just to go against Joker he would agree with her the moment she asked him not to do it. But you’d be wrong, she was looking scared while she was sizing up Joker, not him. Then she turned towards him and with a sweet smile told him to blow her away. ‘These maniacs’ was the only thing that was going through his head as he called down one of his butterflies in his pocket to his open palm. 

Notes:

Beginning of the partted chapters. Have a good night or day and I hope your internet connection is stable through the day.

Chapter 14: Winging in Paris - A city that always smiles - 1

Summary:

“Have you done something like that ?” Asked Chat, much less worried about the challenge ahead and more intrigued about what was Nightwing doing with the drone that was releasing a metal made rope now. 

Notes:

HEY Y'ALL! I have a question for you that I can't decide on my own... Should I increase the rating from teen (T) to mature (M) or not ?

I mean, I only just noticed that in this series, I'm talking about a lot of disgusting, degenerate and or awful things, of course that doesn't mean I won't talk about it because in my eyes at least, trying to write a "Sin" free ff about superheroes is kind of pointless, the reason why I'm asking this is more so because I don't want to give people falsehood when they see the warnings.

Anyway, waiting for your answers 😊😊

“Umm…” Chat murmured as he watched Nightwing prepare a bat shaped drone, not knowing what they were supposed to be doing. Kidd was right next to his master and was busy telling him he was an idiot while Ladybug was next to Chat and just like him, was watching the duo with both interest and concern. 

 

Nightwing, hearing the unasked question in the Parisian’s mind, turned towards them with a smile and swiped the sweat that was gathering on top of his brow. “Ah, howdy there heroes. I’m sure you are wondering what we are doing at the moment.” He said and then turned to the drone once again, it was a bigger size of the ones Bruce used for surveillance and whatever emergencies they might need it for. But this one was specialized a bit. It was for lifting people off the ground, usually for evacuating hastily. 

 

Because of this, it was using burners instead of blades, making the lift off a bit slow but in acceptable levels as the burners contributed to more weight that normal blades or floaters weren’t good enough for. 

 

“As you can see, today, we are focusing on improvisation.” He then turned towards the heroes again and pointed their weapons, asking for them to hand it over. After a couple of seconds worth of doubt and contemplations, Ladybug handed her yoyo while Chat gave his baton. Nightwing, like he was doing this for the past ten years, puts the baton next to his knee and then binds the yoyo on it with a quick move. 

 

“Now” he says after the small show and then pushes a few buttons on his wrist control to take flight with the drone. “Your obstacle, moving to the Eiffel Tower from here without your tools, you can use the environment around you however you like, but you need to be fast. As fast as you can manage.”

 

The Eiffel Tower was about a mile away from them, soft but powerful lights of the tower, illuminating  and enhancing the ground around it, tourists and street sellers were around the legs of the tower, either trying to make a day's living or trying to capture a once in a lifetime moment. It wasn’t too far that it would take the duo a long time to arrive at their location, but it was a tricky thing to do since there was literally no building around the tower they could boost each other from. So they either gonna run to the top of the tower (Which would be next to impossible to do in a timely manner even with their powers) Or as Nightwing said, they need to be creative. 

 

“Have you done something like that ?” Asked Chat, much less worried about the challenge ahead and more intrigued about what was Nightwing doing with the drone that was releasing a metal made rope now. 

 

To answer his question, Dick smiled in the same way that Chat usually does and nodded his head. “It is the end of every Robin’s engineering class. You have to build something, anything with the random trinkets that are given to you and then, you have to escape from an almost impenetrable room within one minute. If you can’t do it, a powerful knockout gas is pumped to the room and you wake up with a powerful headache, only to try it again and again till you get it right.” 

 

‘Huh’ Thought Marinette ‘If he wasn’t smiling like that, I’d consider that act as a violation of human rights.’ But before she could put her input in it, Nightwing holded to the rope that was now down next to him with one hand and then put his foot to the metal tube that was attached at the end of it that neither Chat or Marinette had paid attention to before. 

 

“Now” Started Nightwing as the cable in his hand became rising back up and lifting him off a bit from the rooftop “Of course, I’m too much of a ‘nice guy’ to do that to you two. Instead of that, I’ll be the record setter. You guys have as much time as I can to get to the tower, which I will be setting that time right now.” 

 

With these words the drone started to take off and Chat thought Nightwing was going to the tower with that. Which was a good thing right ? He didn’t see some sort of instant teleporter on the gadget and it was just moderately faster than a normal Drone, he was sure that he and his lady would be quick enough to surpass it.  

 

Or at least that’s what he thought would happen, instead of him though, Ladybug was watching the kidd Next to them, his grumpy and small but noticeable worried expression behind that mask he is wearing was making her doubt. After all, Nightwing was full of surprises. 

 

When Dick was in a good enough location, dangling from a rope in mid air and feeling the chilly air hitting his face and moving between his hair, he called Barbara with the push of a button on his wrist. He probably didn’t even need to do that since he was sure she was watching the whole ordeal from his mask anyway. But still, one must be considerate to the ones they love, especially if that loved one has to keep tabs on 7-8 usually around 10 more people not including you. 

 

The call was answered in the first ring, so he was right. Still, being considerate. “Hey Oracle” He said to the open air, not wanting to risk it with Chat Noir’s hearing even though he was a good 20 meters away from them and was dangling on top of them. “I’m ready for the ‘Fly out kid’” He said it with a smile, this was going to be fun. She just sighed loudly, they had better and more urgent things in their hand, like the unknown villain that was freely prowling around the streets of Paris. 

 

Still, she stopped herself from saying anything, they had this talk yesterday and back then, Dick was right, unfortunately. With the lack of… everything to be honest, all they could do was wait for the inevitable. They had tried to found some leads on the Gotham, about the gang member Mucostra, but unfortunately, that end also was empty as the guys name was plastered as one of the Cobblepot’s ‘No business for traitors’ list and he had promptly said Selina that he would rather kill him for being a traitor than talk to him. 

 

So, with no choice and no way to persuade Dick, she just did what he had been telling her to do and lowered the drone remotely. The machine fastly started to move downward but just as fast as it was descending, it stopped and started to rise up again, the rope Dick was holding moving from relaxed to taut in just a second and throwing him upwards. 

 

Now that he was in a free falling state, The Drone started to move circular motion, carrying its cargo and swinging Nightwing like Ladybug’s do to her yoyo. 

 

The three heroes on the ground level looked at the display with horror, worry and disgust respectfully, the duo playing their own version of ‘Three monkey’ While Kidd just trying to understand why they are doing this in the first place. “Is he gonna be-!” Asked Ladybug, can’t taking it anymore, she thought Nightwing was about to either pass out from the amount of g force he was taking on his face with no protection or worse, and in this case the worse was him to lose his grab and turning to a red mist on the ground below, both scenarios scared her imaginary boots off and she wished she had her Miracle with her just in case. 

 

But to her loud questioning, Kidd just ‘tsked’ and told her that this was nothing new for him and just when he said that Chat let out a loud ‘Whoa!’ as Nightwing had let go of the cable that was swinging him at high speed and basically slingshot himself towards Eiffel Tower like a speeding bullet. His raise was praise worthy if you asked him, he almost was high above the clouds there for a second, just mere meters apart from the closest ones. But before he could appreciate the clean night sky of Paris, his descent started out and he was going down swiftly. 

 

Or it would seem so from the ground, but for him, it was nothing new as he positioned himself properly, arms at his side and straightening his legs, clicking his heels together. The last part was something he wanted Lutious to install as the wingsuit would still work without it, but then it wouldn’t be cool like he was making it now. 

 

With the opening of the suit, his straight downward spiral was interrupted as the opened up parts of the suit suddenly started to move him towards his ultimate goal, the tower, at a high speed. When he was close enough to the tower he counted his lucky star as he was raised up even more than he thought he was and as a result of that he was almost next to the big antenna on top of the tower while hurling towards it at high speed. 

 

Of course, being in a wingsuit and moving towards an object that is bigger than a pebble can turn you into a fine looking jello in seconds, that is, if your suit can’t close itself. 

 

It was a tricky thing to do though, all things considered. He was not in a position to just close his suit and then do a superhero lending towards the civilians that were on top of the tower, neither he wanted to since it would most likely mean murdering someone and crippling himself in the process. 

 

So, he waited for a while to descend further down and then close his wings, take out his grapple and then shoot it to the metal hand railings that was a few meters above him. At that point, the civilians on top of the tower had seen him hurling towards them and opened up a space for him to climb up which was nice of them to do. Usually people in Gotham didn’t care about it and continued to walk in front of him, it was something that made him angry sometimes. 

 

About a mile away from the Eiffel Tower, three teenagers were watching the smiling figure of Nightwing that had climbed to the highest point on the tower from the front side of the drone. He was waving around the tourists that were either clapping for him or silently filming him. After waiting a bit more, Nightwing turned to the drone that was finally coming close enough to the tower that kids didn’t need zooming in order to see him and waved at them too. He then clicked a few buttons on his wrist and suddenly Damian's communicator went off. 

 

“As you can see, you have 2 minutes and 25 seconds to come here, godspeed you two.” He said, knowing full well Damian had put it through the speaker. 

 

***

 

Nathalie needed sleep. Although she wasn’t sure even sleeping would fix her tiredness at this point honestly. She was stuck in front of her computer for two days straight at this point, waiting for Nightwing to show himself somehow. The Ladyblog- the official page for her information gathering platform- was quite dry about him. Sure, just like Batman himself, Nightwing also seemed like he was rather camera shy. The big difference between them was that it seemed Batman didn’t like the cameras (As she watched a video of the man deploying some sort of EMP in order to disperse the reporters in front of an international courtroom once) while Nightwing didn’t seem to be against it, just not that interested. 

 

And because of this, you’d think people would post their newest heroes on the Ladyblog much more, well, you thought wrong. There were just a handful of pictures of him, smiling, saluting, or somersaulting. None of them really gave her any information and just irritated her more than anything. How could she hunt down the man liking the shadows while she didn’t even know where the shadows were even forming from ? 

 

She tried to play it cool too, acting like an overly enthusiastic member of this hero worshiping club of the kids. Calling herself Her0LovER21 and saying she is working as a paramedic but couldn’t give more details because of security reasons. It worked so far too, people gave their addresses when she asked them about it and even admins made her an honorary member of the page for it. So it was really frustrating that, when she asked for the addresses of the recent siding of Nightwing, all she got was either a street name that didn’t exist, or cricket noises as the victims didn’t reply to her at all. 

 

She was starting to have doubts because of it. This overly excited community that was accepting her role with jubilation was now giving her the cold shoulder, why ? 

 

She was suspecting that something fishy with a third party was at play here. Something or someone was trying to remotely hide Nightwing’s tracks and it was pissing her off. And now we are in the present, where she is waiting on the front page for the website she despises the most, waiting for something, anything about Nightwing. 

 

Their deadline was getting close, according to Gabriel, Joker had almost planted all of his bombs. Harley was helping the gang be discreet and open up pathways for them underground, and she was behind a screen she didn’t want to see anymore, dreaming of a hot bath and a liter of Jasmine tea just so she could sleep soundly. 

 

Her dreams were stopped with the sound of a loud “Bllep” from her computer, the program she had to buy alerted her on the newest entry containing the word ‘Nightwing.’ She clicked on the post, not really caring that much since she was expecting it to be a random discussion again. Imagine her surprise when the link inside of the post sent her to a live video from the Eiffel Tower, which was filming a relaxed Nightwing, talking to his wrist and waving to someone they couldn’t see. 

 

***

 

She couldn’t believe it. Barbara simply couldn’t believe his guts. Or maybe his lack of intelligence. She couldn’t believe he would just sit there in front of civilians (Let her reprise DOZENS of civilians) and show himself up like this. What was he doing ? Was he trying to get himself killed ? Why didn't he open up his jammer already god dammit! She didn’t even need to hack into the Ladyblog either, she was sure there were at least ten different live streams of him on the internet right now just by looking through his mask. 

 

It wasn’t long before she heard the police chatter from another tap in his computer, the translator said the police force was mobilizing to move towards the tower. They were talking about capturing him and bringing him in by the orders of the president. 

 

Again, Why was he doing this ? 

 

***

 

‘Why are you doing this ? Would probably be Barb’s question right now.’ Thought Nightwing as he signed someone’s arm. He didn’t even know which of the civilians that was up here bringed a pen, he was just handed one from a red headed boy and then the others piled on. 

 

This felt weird. Like really weird. He wasn’t opposed to giving out autographs or taking pictures like Bruce was, he understood that some people wanted to touch and display their achievements… Well, Bruce also did that now that he thinked about it, he’ll find a better metaphor later though, right now he was trying to stay away from the people that turned taking a picture to taking a selfie. Personal space. No matter how much he was trying to seem less intimidating and more approachable, he wasn’t going to hug people out of nowhere. He was still a bat at the end of the day, a less traumatized one yes, but a bat nonetheless. 

 

‘Now back to the topic’ He taught as he saw both Ladybug and Chat Noir come towards the tower with a motorcycle from a side glance. Not bad, they still had a minute and if Chat’s driving skills showed anything, they’ll be in front of the tower in the next 30 seconds. 

 

But that’s another story, right now the main question was Why was he doing this ? 

 

Simple answer was because he wanted to provoke them. Think about it, whichever mentally deranged maniac had come here right when he did, they were probably looking for him and he knew that now, they were getting ready to destroy the whole city in order to attract his attention. It wasn’t that hard to understand since this was almost always Slade’s M.O to kill him. from one murderer psychopath to another wasn’t really that different. 

 

So he wanted to skip that initial part, he wanted to save people by just showing himself early. True that he was painting a giant target on his back right now, he could hear the blaring police sirens coming from around the buildings from even that distance, a color of red and blue illuminating the streets as they rushed towards him. 

 

Like he said, if he could help save people from an unnecessary death, he was ready to face a disgruntled president’s army of blue collared soldiers anyday.  

 

***

 

“What ?!” 

 

With the sudden yell Hawkmoth let out, Joker jumped from his bed where he was playing with a set of cards he specifically made to resemble the Bat-family. “Jezz baldy, can’t you see some of us are doing important work here ?” He said without really much menace in his voice and turned back to his dishaved set of cards, although his attention was completely on Hawkmoth right now. 

 

They had done assembling the ‘Surprises’ As Joker liked to call them and now they were on the delivery part of it. Of course, this part meant that Joker wasn’t gonna do anything because what kind of a crime lord would lift the same weight as his gangsters ? This isn’t an office job and he isn’t a manager, he has far too many standards for that kind of insulting title after all. 

 

So, that was why they -As in Hawkmoth and himself- were sitting on the empty hideout and trying to kill time. Or at least Joker was trying to do. Hawkmoth just simply sat on an empty chair the whole time and sometimes either talked to Harley (Who was watching the deliveries just in case) or that assistant of his. Joker didn’t really care either way, he was just waiting for the opportune time to show himself up and steal the spotlight, after all, he was very curious about these magical powers of Hawkmoth that the grumpy didn’t share with him. 

 

It was a smart thing to do of course, but it was also killing Joker’s mood expeditiously. A mistake not many people lived to see fixed in their, or their offspring's lifetime. 

 

Suddenly Hawkmoth turned towards Joker and told him to order his man while a purple, Butterfly shaped hue of light appeared on his face, something Joker knew meant he was talking to Harley “You are up now, move towards the Eiffel Tower, and make sure to deal with him!” 

 

Queen let out an affirmative noise and ordered the grunt around her to hasten up while she started to jump up from building to building, moving towards the big bright tower while laughing maniacally. 

 

***

 

“One and a half minutes left!” Yelled Ladybug as she watched Chat fiddle with a motorcycle. They had been running for a while from building to building but it was clear that they wouldn’t be making too far with their legs alone. So when Chat spotten an parked Motorcycle he pulled her to a stop and said they would be faster this way. And sure, they could, but how were they supposed to drive the damn thing ? She couldn’t see a key on the compactor after all, was Chat gonna Cataclysm it ? But then wouldn't driving the bike be super unsafe ? After all, even though he can control the power of the destruction, it would only take one loose screw for the whole thing to break down. 

 

Of course, Ladybug didn’t need to worry about any of that since Chat did none of those and instead opened the contractor with his claws and then started to hot wire the bike. In less than 15 seconds the bike came alive and started to purr like a -hehe- kitten. To this he smiled while getting on the bike and turned towards Ladybug who was looking at him with a flabbergasted expression on her face. 

 

To this he just quickly said ‘Things you can learn from the internet’ and extended his hand for her to hold on to, they didn’t have the time to take things slow after all. Fortunately she didn’t push it further and just told him they will be talking about this later and got behind him when Chat started to drive away. 

 

The bike was faster than she anticipated and she almost fell off of it when they moved down some stairs. It was gonna be a bumpy ride for sure, but more importantly, a ride that wouldn’t last them for too long “This was a good one Chat, but what about the Tower itself ? You think we can ride this one up to 1000 steps ?” She asked while hugging his waist from behind for safety, she thanked Tikki for keeping her hair immaculate and out of her eyes as the costume would never let her hair fall down, because with the speed Chat was moving and dodging every obstacle on their way (Pedestrians, animals, cars, road bumps etc. The cat’s reflexes were a great power to have) she was sure she’d be eating out half her hair by now. 

 

He just shrugged casually as he narrowly drew around an old lady “1,665 steps actually my lady.” Him and his cheek. “Also he is on the second floor, which means only 674 steps to clear, I guess we can use some sort of contraption, but do we have time for that, I don’t know.”  

 

Ladybug was thinking about that too, with their weapons it would’ve been the easiest thing to do, but without it they seemed to be as powerless as a kitten. She realized just how much they were counting on them, personal skills be damned, who needs them when you have magical objects in your hands right ? Well, they need it, it seems. Just one more reason why the other heroes were staying away from Paris even without the president’s stupid order, who would want to take care of two teenagers while also trying to stop a villain. 

 

“My lady!” She woke up from her somber slumber and automatically started to squint her eyes while focusing on Chat's back, he needed her right now, she can feel sorry about herself later. 

 

“Did you find anything interesting, because we are getting closer!” He yelled once more just so she could hear his voice from the wind, now they were about to enter Champ de Mars and then that would leave them with only half a minute at best and with the speed the bike was putting on, Ladybug was sure that time might as well be cut in half. 

 

She was doing her best god dammit! But there was literally nothing she could find to use as a means to boost themself, there was just trees, street venders and people. And it was continuing like that for a very long while as the clear picture of Eiffel’s legs were getting closer and closer. In her desperation Ladybug even thought that Chat should cataclysm the tower itself just to lower it, but that horrible idea left her mind just as quickly as it entered. Eiffel was one of the few things in this city that never slept, so the people that wanted to see it too. Not even including the tourists that were up in the tower with Nightwing. 

 

“Seems like our best shot is to climb Chat!” She yelled back while still looking around herself for something, anything they could use. In her haste an idea formed in her head and she pointed at one of the street lamps they were going under and told him to cut one off so they could use it as a hook. 

 

Understanding what she was saying, Chat jumped up a bit and gave the reins to Ladybug as he waited for the right opportunity to jump up from the bike itself. There it was, one point that the road was calmer than normal and they didn’t need to dodge cars and people alike, he saw his target, jumped up from the seat he was standing up and cataclysm the lamp in front of him while being careful to let the cables live as they’d be needing them real soon. 

 

Chat dropped back of his seat with all the grace of a platypus as he was trying to juggle a really big street lamb in his embrace while also trying to cut its cable so the hook of the lamb wouldn’t eject him prematurely as the cables were coming behind them.(God he wished he could say this one to Ladybug but he knew she wouldn’t find it funny at all) 

 

When they were right in front of the tower Chat told her to continue driving and get up from the bike once more, this time to throw the lamp up as a hook, which was damn hard to do since the damn thing was seems to be more than 20 kilos, and he needed to throw it as high as he could, preferably to the midsection of the tower. No problem, child game really. Especially for a super cool superhero like him. Fortunately for him, his math was on point once again as his estimates were correct and the lamp actually connected with the right side of the mid section, a bit lower than what he preferred but hey, they were trying their best with very little time and preparation!

 

“Chat!” Yelled Ladybug as she was trying to drive around the tourists, thankfully many of them were stirring away from the duo while yelling at them from different languages “We only have 10 seconds left!” She yelled as she saw the digital cloak on the motorcycle’s screen. 

 

‘Now or never’ Thought Chat as he told Ladybug to floor it and holded her left arm tightly, waiting for the cables to become tout and throw them. 

 

9 Seconds, the cables started to get rigid, but not at their fullest yet.

8 Seconds, the cable became tout and took both him and Ladybug with it on the recoil. 

7 Seconds, Both Chat and Ladybug were suspended in the air as the cables that refused to be torn were taking them through the sky at a high speed like a very, very unsafe bungee jumping set. 

6 Seconds, the duo was now clear off of the first floor. Chat, of course, didn't miss his chance to smile and pose for a girl that was recording them.

5 Seconds, the cable that was carrying them started to move up past its hook, making them both worry as they haven’t slowed down and can easily overshoot, and excited as they haven’t slowed down and might just make it to the second floor no problem.

4 Seconds, there they were ! They can see the smiling face of the Nightwing that was saluting them with two fingers! They did it, they really did it! 

3 Seconds, they couldn’t slow down. They were about to overshoot. 

2 Seconds, before they could fly off to Belgium, Ladybug automatically took control and swirled around herself to hold the cable with Chat and without wasting any time, pulled both of them.

1 Second, they crash landed to the secondary balcony unceremoniously and their movement unhatched the hook that was stuck to the tower. 

 

‘We did it ?’ Thought, Chat while trying to breathe out, this was probably the most stressful moment of his life and if it was for neigh and Nightwing told them they lost… Well, he might have legitimately cried. 

 

Thankfully before he could embarrass himself like that Nightwing’s wrist thingy went off with an alarm and he came up to the heroes with a smile. “With one second to spare on your first go, you guys are amazing!” He said while helping them get up. His praises were making them both blush and act like shy teenagers (Like they aren’t) instead of the renown heroes that are known as. 

 

When the duo got up fully he patted both heroes shoulders for a second like the proud bat he is and then gave them their equipment back while joking with them about them not needing it. They, of course laughed with him too but also take their weapons back, it was a painful ride and made them realize just how much they were prone to use their magical weaponry as a crutch, it also made them realize just how powerful they can be with them. 

 

“Well.” Said Nightwing while the duo was reacquainting themself with their weaponry and moved towards the edge while people behind them were cheering them on “It seems like the boys in blue are coming to talk with me and I’m sure they aren’t happy with me being here so…” He did an exaggerated bow, one that Chat usually liked to do, but when he did, he saw a bright light flash right behind him and before he could fully turn back, the sound of the explosion collided with them and made some of the civilians fall down. It was Pont d'Iéna. Someone has bombed Pont d'Iéna. 

Chapter 15: Winging in Paris - A city that always smiles - 2

Summary:

‘Endure god dammit!’ He was getting deeper and deeper, the boulders in his shoulder were getting heavier and heavier, the darkness around his eyes were starting to win against the light more and more… Suddenly his (Thankfully invisible so far) whiskers felt a movement in his right and Chat turned his head towards there expecting to see someone from a fire department, maybe Ladybug herself or maybe just another civilian that had come up to help. 

Notes:

Welp, no one really said anything at the last chapters question, so I'mma just keep the rating as it is. Have a good night/Day, lots of kisses (On the cheeks)

“Why do I need to do this again? I already know how fireworks work.” Said Dick while trying to put the right amount of powder to the tube. 

 

They were in the cave and Bruce was -for some reason- insistent of him learning the makings of a strong bomb. Of course, both for safety and because of common sense, they were starting off with the easy to do and much less lethal options like fireworks. 

 

What Dick didn’t get was why he had to do fireworks over and over, he knew how to mix the powders and what not since they used fireworks in the circus too. Also, the usual explosive device on Bruce were flashbangs and smoke grenades, two things that are equally harmless next to fireworks if you asked him. 

 

“Because we need to start from the basics doofus.” Said Barbara who was sitting one table away from him and calculating the ingredients with a spoon. Dick gave her a nasty look, for some reason Bruce had taken her under his wing as well and at this point she was a frequent neighbor in their house. Which he thought was highly unnecessary but hey, ‘I ain’t Batman I guess!’ He thought and put the gunpowder he was pinching in his hand to the small tube on his own table. 

 

“Maybe you do miss ‘I didn’t know batarang could be folded’ but Richard Grayson doesn’t need to learn a lesson twice to master it.” He said it with confidence and stuck his tongue out towards her, she may be a bit older than him but that didn’t mean she was decent at being a normal human being sometimes. 

 

“Oh yeah ?” She retorted immediately while also getting a bit up from her chair “ I’m sure you are always great at what you do mister ‘I didn’t know that console controlled the Batmobile’ Grayson.” She also stuck her tongue out to him. 

 

Bruce, at the moment was trying to find a pathway from two different museum attacks, the stolen valuables were cat themed artifacts and even thinking about that made him feel uneasy, he thought Selina had left town after all, he didn’t need a new Catwoman running around. Of course, all this was what he tried to think, at the moment he was busy eavesdropping on Barbara’s and Dick’s argument, wondering if he should interfere or not and trying to look like he wasn’t paying attention. 

 

After a solid five minutes Alfred came down from the stairs to his side with a deliciously smelling cup of coffee. He eagerly accepted the bitter drink and took a big sip from it, the burning sensation upon his upper lips waking his cloudy mind right back up “Should we stop them Master Bruce ?” Asked Alfred while nonchalantly pointing at the duo that was (almost literally) at each other's throats now. 

 

Bruce took a deep breath before taking another sip from his coffee and then turned from his computer to the yelling ‘proteges’ and cleared his throat loudly which made them all turn towards him with a worried expression plastered across their faces. 

 

He didn’t say anything for a second, waiting for the silence in the cave to get a bit heavier and cover them up slowly, the only noise inside was the random bats that were screaming at eachother and the occasional noises the computer made. 

 

When he thought the timing was correct and the both of his helpers were finally calmed down enough he cleared his throat once again and get up from his chair while pointing to the tables in front of him “I see you are finished with your fireworks, so how about we fire them outside instead of wasting them in here huh ?” With these words he started to move towards the stairs since he wasn’t in his costume at the moment and didn’t need to change before going up. The other two, while dumbfounded about the fact he wasn’t angry at them, tried to collect themself (And the fireworks) and follow the bigger man to the outside. 

 

Dick wouldn’t forget that day easily, he had seen and even fired fireworks before, but he couldn’t say he ever fired one while racing someone and then watch them go off while his mentor watched them with a calming, soft smile on his face. 

 

Now, back in the present, the sound of the explosions were mixed with the screams of people and the honking of the cars, and the only expression Dick saw while jumping down from the Eiffel was the worried looks Ladybug and Chat Noir were giving each other while following him. 

 

From afar, the whole bridge looked to be destroyed, blown to pieces and drifting pointlessly in the river. People that was close to the Pont d'Iéna was trying to escape from the explosion zone, cars thrown out and in abyssmal condition, the drivers either trying to get away from them or trying to save their passengers, Ladybug saw a man trying to get to the back door and kick it open while his wife and baby were crying next to him. 

 

She didn’t hesitate while coming close to the car and cut it in half with her yoyo in a second. The family was about to thank her but she just quickly pointed at the nearest exit and then moved on to the next victim, an elderly woman who was in shock on the sidewalk. 

 

Chat opted for the further end of the bridge and with the help of his baton moved there in one leap, he knew he didn’t have much time, his ring already lost one paw print, but he had no intention of leaving these people alone. 

 

The middle part of the bridge, the most damaged part, didn't have anybody on it as the cars that were crossing the path had been thrown to the Seine and the civilians… There was not much to see on that side other than some visible bloodstains. The pillars of the bridge were even holding barely and the middle part of it, the part with less support, had already turned to dust. 

 

He was slower in his approach as he didn’t have neither Ladybug’s nor Chat Noir’s magical abilities, unlike them, he couldn’t jump down with no fear and be there in a second. So he was there in the air, both trying to move towards a car he saw drifting slowly down to the river and trying to keep an eye out for any suspicious person. “Dami.” he whispered shortly to his earpiece, he was sure that the little kid was already trying to come to them, help out in some way. 

 

“Try to make a clear path for the ambulances Dami.” He was so stressed he didn’t even realize he used Robin’s real name not once but twice. Some great teacher he is. 

 

For a second all he could hear was static from the other line, but he couldn’t worry about that right now the car he was keeping on his side stopped moving with the current and started to sink, fast. He was close enough to the ground, just 12 meters above them, so he did one last rise in order to catch the wind and quickly closed his wings in order to dive. The wind started to hit his face quickly, but it felt weird. This wind felt like it was trying to wrap him around a soft blanket, the kind of feeling you get on a hot summer day, in those days (At least in Gotham that is) the much more windy weather stops being so bothersome and becomes a welcoming change. 

 

Right now it shouldn’t be feeling like that, he was dive-bombing from 12 meters height, the air should be slapping his face harshly and leaving a prickly feeling behind, like needles poking you. This immediately started to blare alarms in his head but the nearby screams, and the quickly approaching water didn’t leave him with much choice. As he hit the water hands first he immediately took the breather from his back pocket and put it in his mouth, thankfully, their newer, pencil shaped models were designed to be worn while under the water instead of above it. The other, masked models were only superior at gassing attacks nowadays. 

 

He started to look around the riverbed and immediately spotted the red car before swimming at it as fast as he could. He was there, right at the time too because he could see the two people that were crying in the car, almost chest deep in river water. He moved to the front window and then took out one of his sticks, the usually dangerous side of his sticks were the ones with the tasers, usually. The other side had two functions, one was the understandable, hitting someone hard part, the other one was dropping a small sticky concussion grenade to someone unlucky enough to be standing after a beatdown from him. 

 

These grenades were, of course non-lethal, but aside from that their area of effect was a marvel of engineering, especially when you consider their sizes being as big as a button. 

 

He put the butt end of his stick to the window and then warned the people in it with his hand, thankfully they listened and moved back, letting him work and getting ready to get out of the car. The grenade stuck to the window and with Nightwing’s control exploded, breaking the window completely with its effect and letting a huge amount of water rush in the car, scaring the occupants. 

 

He also immediately rushed in the car from the opening with no problem and then helped the two people in the car get out and swim upwards. He was about to follow them too, but then he took one last look in the riverbed and saw a dozen more cars that were in the same situation. 

 

***

 

Ladybug was trying to lift a motorbike out of some poor driver, she was at it now for at least 10 minutes, where were the damn ambulances god dammit ?! The guy underneath groaned and then thanked her. She didn’t say anything while looking for any other victims in the area and immediately finding someone else in need of help. She jumped in to help people that were getting out of a van, for some reason there were still both people and cars coming through the -Now smoke filled- bridge entrance. She never knew just how busy this bridge could get, she guessed. 

 

For a second there she thought she saw someone move behind her and reflectively turned around, expecting for someone in need of help, but to her surprise, she didn’t see anyone and even weirder was the noises. Since she had touched down all she had ever heard was a constant cacophony of different pinches of screams, tire screeches and blaring horns. But the moment she had turned around quickly all of those noises stopped immediately, like someone had pulled down a plug on a computer. She didn’t understand it and turned around again to the person she was helping before, a kid that was around her age. 

 

The moment she turned back she was about to ask the boy if he also felt the silence, but the moment her ocean blue eyes met with the boys chestnut brown ones the noises came back in a flash and before she could even understand what was happening the kid holded her arm tightly and begged for her help. Something she was of course answered immediately and started to help the kid look for his parents. 

 

***

 

Chat was having a difficult time holding up two different bounder size rocks from collapsing down to the bus that was right behind it, he couldn’t move at the moment without setting at least one of the boulders down, they were weirdly shaped, like the explosion had happened in the river and the ground had blown back from it. To be honest that could be what had happened, none of them actually saw the explosion after all. More bad news though, came in the form of his ring, he had lost two more paws while trying to save the people from this goddamn boulder. He was lifting it alright, it wasn’t the problem, the problem was that he was an idiot and instead of extending his stuff and holding the rocks that way, in the moment he had opted to just get under them himself. 

 

He could keep the rocks like this for at least another hour, but he had no idea how to get out of this predicament as the rocks were sinking deeper and starting to trap him more and more under their shape. He couldn’t lift them enough to throw, he couldn’t lift them with only one hand (He tried that and almost lost his arm and the civilians that was still getting out of the bus) and he he had no idea how to live through this in the next 2 minutes because after that his cloak will run out and he will only be remembered as a handsome squash mark, sandwiched between two hard and heavy boulders in the dirty, slimy pavement. 

 

‘No matter.’ He thought calmly, he could still lift it after all, his arms were screaming at him but as long as there were people to save, he had no desire to listen to his own body. ‘Once in my life I got to use it for something more than glamor, I’m happy because of the pain!’ His mental screams were turning physical as the crumbling pavement under his steel toed boots were swallowing him slowly, Jesus christ how many people were in that bus?! 

 

‘Endure god dammit!’ He was getting deeper and deeper, the boulders in his shoulder were getting heavier and heavier, the darkness around his eyes were starting to win against the light more and more… Suddenly his (Thankfully invisible so far) whiskers felt a movement in his right and Chat turned his head towards there expecting to see someone from a fire department, maybe Ladybug herself or maybe just another civilian that had come up to help. 

 

No, it was none of them, instead he only found empty, soulless and pitifully weak winds in his side, the weird thing was it felt like the winds were moving in a coordinated way, like they were moved by someone or something. Before he could even mutter about that he felt the slightly warm wind to be going back, staying away from him like he caught it doing something naughty. Like he wasn’t supposed to feel it. 

 

But that was not all of it, suddenly the weight in his shoulders were cut in half, then another half and for a second almost completely lost. What ? What was going on ? He didn’t know it but he still tried to get out of his place. The rocks weren’t heavy anymore, yes, but they were still the size of a massive car and shaped in such a way that they would crush that bus on the road no problem. 

If he could just take out his baton… 

 

Right that moment, the reality set back down in the form of a couple tons of rocks as the massive concrete he tried to hurdle over gained its weight back and set him down harshly, his alarm went off, only one minute left. ‘Guess that’s that’ He thought as he planted himself firmly under the rocks once again, watching the endless passengers coming out of the bus… he chuckled himself, in all his like he had never even set foot in one of those, but if that much people could fit in it than it must have been a good place to socialize he thought. Shame he could never get in one it seemed, just one more thing to add to the list of things he can never do just because of his birthplace. 

 

The bleeping on his ring was getting louder, he guessed because his time was running out since it did do that, but the constant beeping was usually accommodated in the last 15 seconds, he was quite sure he still had 45 more seconds to gloom and hate his life fo-

 

***

 

“ANSWER ME DAMMIT!” Yelled Damian as he sped up the motorcycle he was riding towards the giant, yellow dome. At night time the thing looked like it was in a state of perpetually exploding nuclear bomb, not expanding or moving but staying still and casting lights all around it. It was a work of Akuma that was sure, but he had no idea who or what kind was making it, all Damian knew, that thing was large enough to swallow the whole damn Eiffel Tower and expand around the surrounding area, it almost completely covered half of the park in front of the tower and even the back of it, he couldn’t see some of the buildings across the bridge behind it. 

 

His communicator still came off without an answer, it wasn’t damaged, it wasn’t closed off or turned off, Dick just wouldn't open it up for some reason. Some reason that was worrying him more and more the closer he got to the dome. 

 

When he was finally next to it he was in front of the Bassins du Champ de Mars and all that was standing in front of him was a large police force that was trying to keep the people out of the area while also making plans to get in the dome if ever it comes down to it. Unfortunately before Damian could turn around and high tail it out of there to a more secluded area, one of the officers saw him and called for him, making the crowd around them turn towards him, including other officers that were in the crowd making checks for injured people. 

 

He could still go for sure, but it would be a little harder if they tried to stop him and he really wasn’t in the mood to fight cops at the moment. Not when Dick was in danger. He was the priority number one in his eyes, he had to save him no matter what. 

 

With that in mind Damian jumped down from his bike -still keeping it turned on though, just in case- and approached the officer that seemed to be in charge there. He remembered the guy, he was the father of the ginger girl in Damian’s class. Weird, he didn’t seem anything like his daughter, if he remembered correctly -Witch he did because he spent the last few weeks in that miserable class next to them- she had a way more… obedient personality. She was shy, easy to push around and bully. And also Chloe seemed to be having an invisible leash around her neck, making her more of a loyal dog than a human being. 

 

Not much like her father after all. Damian told him that he was going to look at what was going on in that dome and then pushed a few buttons in his wrist controller, activating their drone that was now sitting on top of the eiffel tower. Sabrina’s father Roger come close to the kid as he was playing with his wrist controller, he knew, as an order from the president himself, he should be arresting the kid, but to be honest, in his -who-knows-how-long of a career as a police officer, he had never disliked a law as much as he disliked that one. 

 

So for now, as long as they didn’t do anything illegal, he was just going to look the other way just like all of his men were doing. Witch is why, instead of fighting him, Roger decided to help and started to explain what had happened since he was one of the closest personnel when the weird explosion occurred, he was luckily lagging behind Nightwing when he started to appear in the live, otherwise he would be too right next to the Eiffel right now and inside this weird mushroom cloud-Dome thingy. 

 

To his explanation Damian didn’t say anything but listened nonetheless with interest while still controlling the drone. Because of the general darkness of the night and the clouds from the explosion, he couldn’t see much at the moment, he needed to get closer to the ground and the moment he did, he saw something he definitely didn’t expected, he was so shocked in fact, he had to take a moment and rub his eyes out, which is why his movement caught Roger’s eye and he took a dip on to the boys height and looked at the small screen on his wrist. 

 

It was clear, nothing seemed out of ordinary in the ground level of the dome. There was no destroyed bridge, blown up cars or injured civilians. There was however, a very distinct stench of magic in the air as Damian took the drone closer to one of the civilians that was launching on the ground, smiling and laughing to a… tree, calling it Julen. 

 

One other seemed to be in a nightly stroll as he was running, or at least looked like running while face planted to the sidewalk. He was even checking his watch as if he was calculating how far he had gotten. 

 

“Must be an Akuma’s illusions.” Said Roger while still looking at the screen from the boys shoulder and scratching his chin. “Yes.” Said Damian while flying the drone a bit higher in order to cover more area and see the other heroes. 

 

“They were in the mist before, they must be here somewhere.” Says Damian as he continues the search for it, he can hardly hold himself back from just saying ‘Screw it’ and go in there with his bike, but thankfully his trained mind and controlled body kept his wreck of emotions at check and stopped him from doing something truly idiotic. He needs to help them, yes, but going in alone, in a mist cloud that seemed to be having the same effect as a reverse scare gas and was powered up by magic wasn’t the correct way of helping. 

 

He needed to find a way to nullify the gas and he wasn’t sure his breather could save him there. He needed Dick, he had to save Dick. 

 

Damian took a deep breath, or as deep as he would allow himself to with Rogers watching and calmed his nerves that were spiking out of control. Yes, he needed to help Dick, and he will be. As always, they were there for eachother. He was there for his big brother. 

 

Right that moment Roger shook his right shoulder aggressively and told him to turn the camera towards the left side again. Damian didn’t understand it, but nevertheless, he did what Roger asked him to do and immediately saw what Roger meant. A civilian, for some reason,  was getting in his van, getting to the back, and then getting out of the back door constantly like he was forming some sort of ritual. Damian immediately moved towards the scene to get a closer look at it and saw Ladybug helping him get out of the back, wait a few seconds, then help him again while he was saying ‘Thank you’s to her. 

 

“Now that’s bad” Murmured Roger to himself then with another strong tug to his shoulder asked Damian if he could do something with the drone. Of course he could, their drones were equipped with the latest weaponry (With live rounds since they don’t use drones against anything that resembling to have a heart rate) but unfortunately, this one wasn’t made with that kind of purpose in mind, there was only one kind of ‘weapon’ in it but you needed to-

 

Right in the middle of his thought process something tugged on his drone hard by the cable that was still open in the way, stupid mistake he made. 

 

“What’s happening ?” Asked Roger and as if answering his question they heard a long and forced laughter in the background, suddenly the drone stopped going lover and the camera of it turned towards the right side like someone switched its position and was holding it in their hand since Damian couldn’t control it anymore. 

 

“Look what’ve we got ‘ere ?” They heard but didn’t see anything in front of them, the most Damian could make out of was a static in the air, a really finicky and almost non-existent static that showed itself as an outline of someone. 

 

Thankfully, after a second the wind-person-Akuma holding the camera of the drone turned it around a bit and Damian saw something that made him open up his console menu again. Technically, this version of their drone was for rescue, but his father, being always careful, also installed a ‘Fail safe’ so to speak if someone tried to use it for nefarious purposes. Like the Akuma that had wrapped their arm(Probably, the cable seemed to be wrapped in air after all) around the metallic cable in order to pull the drone.

 

With the menu opened, Damian clicked a button and a holographic keyboard appeared in front of him that only he could see, he quickly typed in the air the code “bzzt MX” and with his approval, the drone he controlled instantly let out a 90 thousand voltage and their ears were filled with the scream of the Akuma who had almost fried themself if Damian hadn’t let go of the taser.

 

Tazing the Akuma caused it to be come out of the weird mist and be visible again, a purplish pink and green color palette covering the Akuma from head to toe, her  pigtail hairs were all risen because of the currency running through her, a mask covering her face and her blueish eyes poorly as she keeps twitching in the ground. Her one piece costume seemed more like a canvas as the aforementioned Green and Pink colors keep changing places, without even needing to see the all to familiar smile and the clown flail she wore Damian had easily understood who he was staring at, the real questions were what Harley Quinn was doing in Paris and how did she get Akumatized. 

 

With her fall she had lost control of her illusions and while she tried to get herself off of the floor she felt her surroundings clearing up from the clouds and people quickly getting their cautious back. 

 

“Ah poop!” She said loudly while trying to focus on the damn Drone that was still flying on top of her head and seemed to be watching her ‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING ? GET UP AND CAST THE DREAMS AGAIN’ 

 

‘Aouche.’ She thought as she tried to move her limbs and get rid of the numbness, while she initially thought him as an misunderstood guy with a heart of gold that just wanted the best for the people around him, she was getting sketchy with how he kept yelling in her head. But hey, he did give him directions when she almost fumbled completely on Chat and showed herself and even praised her when she put the Ladybug in a loop. So you know, there was still hope. 

 

While thinking about the pros and cons of Hawkmoth and -in a silly manner- comparing him to her puddin, she managed to get up finally and take a look around herself in her feet finally, the image of the three really pissed off heroes that surrounded her wasn’t a welcome sign though. 

Chapter 16: Winging in Paris - A city that always smiles - 3

Summary:

“Hey kid.” Said Plagg and flew to his face smoothly before letting out a guttural belch to Adrien’s face. “Ewww! Plagg!” He tried to apprehend the small god while swatting the horrendously smelly air around him “You are not sleeping in your bed tonight for that!” He said and got up not even waiting for an answer “Plagg, transform me!” 

Dick was beyond furious, he was livid at the moment and he was sure his clenched teeth and furrowed brows were showing it to the people around him. The people around him consisted of Chat Noir who was looking around himself worriedly, Ladybug who seemed to be just as angry as himself and lastly, Harley Quinn who was looking at Nightwing with a mischievous and easy going smile on her lips.

 

The civilians around them had cleared off in a record breaking ten or so seconds which had stopped being surprising for Nightwing at this point. After his first meetings with an Akuma he realized that the Parisians were quite quick on their feet when it came to a random maniac and their whatever -was -convenient -at -the -time problems. 

 

One of the things he thought the Paris had Gotham beat at it, common sense since everyday Gothamites usually liked to watch from the sidelines with their phones out in order to capture the raging -Literal- maniacs instead of running away to save their lives till the gun pointed at them. He always thought it was a horrid side effect of living in a place with such a high crime rate, people getting desensitized to such a point they don’t even care about their own lifes that much. 

 

But his city's depressing dystopian culture was for another time, right now he had to stop someone from it and she seemed to be far too stronger than the last time he had seen her. 

 

Normally Harley was a lightweight when it came to their criminal collection, sure she was fast and agile, acrobatic to a high degree and knew how to use her weapons which were usually consistent with knives, bats, guns and comically large hammers. But none of these facts are really that worrying especially when you put it next to ones like Deathstroke, Mister Freeze and of course, her (Usually) boyfriend Joker himself. 

 

Add the years and years of training under their belts and you realize Quinn is just a special grunt to the most people in the bat family, not that threatening as the big boys but not to be ignored as the everyday run of the mill meathead number #45. 

 

Now infused with the Hawkmoths powerup, he had no idea how dangerous she had become. 

 

Still, that didn’t mean Dick wasn’t going to be his original self, the bad guys got more and more powerful and they always found a way to beat them through, it wasn’t that serious when your life never leaves the danger around it. He took a deep breath before talking and taking Quinn’s focus away from Chat Noir. 

 

“Hey quinn.” He said and the moment she turned towards him Dick saw Chat lightly tapping his ring and then running towards the side of the bridge, jumping down in a blink of an eye and disappearing. 

 

So far she didn’t realize the playing field was getting smaller as there was just Nightwing and Ladybug had left on the bridge, she was focused on Nightwing mostly “Heya Wing!” She said happily and then waved at him with the big hammer in her hand. If Dick had to guess he was almost hundred percent sure that the Akuma was in the hammer itself, though he had no idea so far how to take the thing away from her grip. 

 

“Last time I saw you, you were busy turning my puddin to gravy.” She laugh right after those words “An I believe you haven’t been reprimanded fo that.” Sensing she was about to attack, Nightwing took charge of the conversation, he needed time so both Damian and Chat could come to the playing field.

 

“And the last I heard you and your clown had gone into hiding, didn’t realize he was so scared of the Bat to change continents.” To his words she stood there for a good five seconds, wide eyes showing her disbelief upon the uttered words. It always had the same effect on her whenever they talked smack about her boyfriend, like she had never seen someone talk disrespect to the man and live to tell the tale… Well, the numbers weren’t that high, true, but there were some other than the family too. 

 

When she finally get out of her small trance her shocked eyes were turned to small slits as she licked her lips to speak once again “FYI, ‘Wingding’ we are here for a reall serious business transaction.” She pointed her finger at him “Which is about you, being removed from here.” She said while pointing to the pavement under Nightwing’s feet. “Which is what I’m doing right now!” She said as she raised her hammer again “Also, while in this costume, please call me Delirium, it ‘suits’ me better!”  

 

The moment she had raised her hammer Nightwing threw a batarang at her head and the moment she ducked Ladybug yoyo-d her left leg and then yanked the cable with all her might. The hammer flew from her hand as Harley lost her balance and butted the ground. Nightwing jumped forward in order to catch the hammer, realizing that Harley quickly got up from the ground with a spinning tornado kick and in the process, yanked the cable Ladybug was still handling and made her fly towards the nearest street lamp. 

 

She sprinted towards Nightwing while her hammer had fallen somewhere behind her and she tried to knock him down. She was faster than before, Nightwing had to give her that, her reflexes seemed to be faster too, like she was watching him in slow motion and anticipating what he was going to do before he could. 

 

She had a good run with this advantage, punching him in the guts and then kneeing his head as he tried to recover, but in reality, that was all she could achieve. Nightwing had been friends with two different speedsters in his time, he had trained with them and most importantly learned from them. One of the most important lessons he had learned from Wally for example was about beating someone who can read your moves faster than even you can deliver it. It was actually a really simple trick : You either surprise them or come at them when they can’t see your movement. Lucky for him, he can do both of these. 

 

***

 

“Come on Plagg I can hear them fighting out there!” Yelled Adrien as the small cat took the smallest bites that was possible. Adrien was cursing at his luck because of the little gods laid back attitude, of course, in his mind he knew why Plagg was this beaten, after all he really had to count on the last seconds under the bridge before Adrien could find a maintenance door there and break it open with a strong kick, bending the metal door in half and hiding behind it next to the hundreds of different electric cables. 

 

It wasn’t the best hiding space he had to use, anyone from his right side would peek at the box and would probably see his boots easily, but times were hard at the moment. People should definitely still use telephone booths, if nothing else it would make a convenient hiding place for him and Ladybug.

 

“I’m… trying…” Said Plagg while still chewing his food slowly, he must have been really tired if he still couldn’t hurry up after taking his first two bites in. “Think… about the…” Plagg stops for a second in order to breathe and Adrien was about to tell it to stop talking “Think about the villain.” He finally says in one go and continues to nibble at his cheese. 

 

With nothing better to do than listen to the fighting grunts of Nightwing and Ladybug, Adrien listened to the advice his little god had given and tried to remember what he had heard about Harley Quinn. 

 

After they had made their training official (At least to themself, of course no media source ever heard about it) Chat had thrown himself in a Batman shaped rabbit hole, almost every night before sleeping, sometimes on the car while going or coming back from the school, in between shoots, almost every time he found himself some peace and quiet, he made researches on the big man’s even bigger enemies. After all, Nightwing was, in a way, Batman’s extension, he even found a voice recording of Batman, telling Nightwing he was the next in line if anything had happened to him. 

 

Of course his research didn’t automatically start with Batman… At first at least he was focused on Nightwing, that is until he realized Nightwing was, for a lack of better terms, a newbie. Of course he wasn’t new to being a hero, but the term ‘Nightwing’ itself was fairly new as he had found much, MUCH more about him when he searched the first robin then when he did his new, two years old persona.

 

which is what had brought his attention to Batman in the first place as Nightwing’s mentor was holding the title of Gotham's protector for about a good 7 years now. 

 

And in those documents he had seen a Harley Quinn. She was Joker’s girlfriend and just as much of a maniac as her boyfriend was, he remembered a video of her trying to shoot Batman out of sky and Batman dropping on top of her head and tackling her in the ground before throwing her towards the next wall, instantly incapacitating her and moving to capture Joker. 

 

If he remembered right (Because there were like 80 different villains in Gotham that Batman had taken down, no way he can remember all of them like it's homework) She was a psychiatrist in the Arkham Asylum before choosing the life of crime and had a ‘Bright career ahead of herself’ As the news had put it. He had no idea how someone, a psychiatrist nonetheless, could be turned around like this, but it had shown that Joker, even though personified himself as the worst plague in Gotham, can be incredibly shrewd when he wanted to. 

 

‘Speaking of’ He thought as Plagg took the last bites from his cheese, already looking to be ready to transform. She almost always acted as the side character, and happily stayed under Joker’s thumb, there was no way she could make the decision to come here alone, Joker was here too, and probably watching her right next to Hawkmoth. 

 

“Hey kid.” Said Plagg and flew to his face smoothly before letting out a guttural belch to Adrien’s face. “Ewww! Plagg!” He tried to apprehend the small god while swatting the horrendously smelly air around him “You are not sleeping in your bed tonight for that!” He said and got up not even waiting for an answer “Plagg, transform me!” 

 

***

 

Damian was on his bike again, driving down towards the bridge in a hurry, the police force had stayed put, saying that them being in the fight meant more headache to the heroes usually. Which was a good call to make in his eyes, there was no need to worry about casualties if both Police and civilians knew to get out of the way. When he was close enough he saw the only person fighting Harley was Dick and it seemed like he was in defense which was never a good sign. Dick’s usual fighting style was about delivering concussive blows, not as brutal as Jason’s and not as defensive as Tim’s. 

 

Dick wasn’t like his father in defense, he usually opted to put his superior athletic figure to good use and dodge the incoming attacks instead of blocking. Of course it didn’t mean he couldn’t do it, it just meant that him doing it now means his dodges weren’t as effective as they normally are. 

 

He also took a look at Quinn while taking a turn, she seemed faster and by the small creator she left in the ground while trying to kick Nightwing meant she was also stronger than before, her normally random fighting style seemed to be more refined now, or at least the illusion of it were there as she could jump up to two meters now with no problem it seemed. 

 

She also seemed to have lost her hammer. After fighting side by side with the Parisian heroes for more than two weeks now, both Damian and Dick had learned that an Akuma’s weapon was usually where their butterfly was hiding, meaning if they wanted to stop this fight from getting worse, they needed to find that hammer and destroy it. ‘But not before stopping the threat in some ways.’ He thought as he took the last turn in the empty street and came face to face with Quinn who had finally captured Dick and was holding him in the air by his throat. 

 

Seeing this, Damian’s vision turned red as his blood started to boil from anger, no matter who they were up against, no one could hurt Dick like that and get away with it. He screamed at the sky while accelerating the bike, effectively gaining Quinn’s attention and even through his bloodlust, saw the little smile in Nightwing’s lips gaining ground. 

 

“Think fast.” Said Dick as he took out a small capsule from his back pocket and broke it to pieces right under her nose. The Anesthetic gas in the capsule worked its magic almost immediately as Dick felt the arm that was holding him up trembling before going limp and dropping him. The moment his feet touched the ground Dick made a backflip as he knew what was about to happen and didn’t want to be in the way of Damian as the little guy drove directly towards her chest and slammed at her full speed. 

 

With the force of the bike Quinn was thrown to the air and made a few flips, covering the moonlight for a few seconds before gravity took hold and pulled her towards the river. Thankfully before she could take a dip in that icy cold water, Ladybug appeared while holding her back and quickly fished Quinn out of the air with her yoyo, making her come down towards the bridge while also letting the yo-yo’s string to wrap around her. 

 

With Ladybug’s pull Quinn quickly moved towards them and Nightwing could hardly hold her before her head made connection with the ground. “A little rough ha Ladybug.” He said while trying to breathe out loudly because the collision had taken his breath away. 

“Maybe” Said Ladybug while rubbing her waist, first time Delirium had thrown her Ladybug’s back made a hard connection with the street lamp, practically folding her in two in the middle, thankfully Tikki’s powers also gave her more resistance, turning a deadly blow to an very very sore bruise. 

 

So yeah, she might have been a little bit angry, just a tad bit more than she normally is. “The important thing is that we got her, now we need the weapo-” Before she could even finish her words, Chat whistled loudly while raising on top of his stuff from under the bridge while holding Harley’s hammer in his right hand. He smoothly took a step forward and got on the bridge while closing his stuff with the back of his foot and flicking his weapon to his empty hand. 

 

“Special delivery to someone with awesome powers!” Said Chat while taking a bow and handing the hammer to Ladybug so she could break it in two with a huge grin plastered in his face. He always looked like this Nightwing realized, whenever they dealt with an Akuma, Chat Noir always smiled like that in the end. Ladybug took Delirium's hammer, it was not as heavy as it seemed, more shockingly was the balance of the weapon, you’d think it would be heavily unbalanced since, you know, it's a giant hammer. But Ladybug saw that the thing could be even holded with one finger from the handle, sometimes even the most basic stuff of the magic (Like defying common rules of physics) still managed to amaze her. 

 

“Well, let’s get this over with, we got questions to ask her.” Said Kidt next to Nightwing and interlocked his arms like he always did. Ladybug nodded along to his words “I agree.” She then thrusted the weapon to Nightwing’s hand while under his questioning gaze. She turned her head a bit, looking into his white slits were sometimes really hard even when the reassuring smile underneath it made it bearable. “You guys were the heroes today.” She said with conviction while looking at Chat’s eyes. Her partner knew how hard it was to acknowledge help from others after a whole year of fakers, deceivers and surprisingly low decent people surrounding them. But it seemed like tonight was the last nail in the coffin for Ladybug’s doubts. She still had them of course, there would never be a time she’d be free from them, but at least now they were distant and hollow whispers. Nothing more than remnants of dead and forgotten ideas. 

 

“Are you sure ?” Asked Nightwing while looking at the hammer in his hands “To be honest with you, if we weren’t here, I’m sure she, or her clown boyfriend wouldn’t be too.” While his face only lost its signature smile, Ladybug could easily hear the guilt seeping from his voice, the tone itself spoke volumes better than even he did. “And ?” Asked Ladybug while turning towards the duo with Chat next to her “If you weren’t here, we may not be able to fight someone that is more than a powered up civilian.” She put her hand to the hammer between them “What if Hawkmoth had enough and called for an infamous hitman and sent him to face us as an Akuma ?” Her words carried their weight as everyone in the small circle imagined the scenario “Hate to say it because I’m the best one here,” Chat’s voice had lost its charm as he spoke even with the small joke he made, holding his lady’s empty hand “Without your help, in every aspect, from the training to the fighting alongside us. I don’t even want to know what would’ve happened.” 

 

Nightwing was about to shed a tear because he really wasn’t used to people praising him in general, let alone as a teacher. The last time something like this had happened was when his students in gymnastic class were talking about his body , not about his skills. What was there to be dignified as a teacher when all you were in others eyes were a (Debatably) better paid stripper. 

 

Thankfully before he could shed that singular tear, -because come on, he is still a bat at the end of the day and they ain’t about that ‘showing your feelings’ notion- someone else made a crying sound and everyone's attention turned to the right side of the bridge. Suddenly, before any of them could move the Harley sleeping in the ground and the hammer Ladybug was still holding from the hilt disappeared in the thin air while the real Harley appeared right in front of them, unbound and slouching to the bridge's handling. 

 

She seemed to be annoyed at something with a very visible frown in her face, right under the familiar butterfly shaped purple neon light that showed Hawkmoths talking to the Akuma. “But I’m in the best part mista Hawk, Wingding over here was about to cry from joy and I was gonna save it to my phone!” She had hardly finished her words when Chat’s stuff and Ladybug’s yoyo flew towards her at an alarming speed. Thankfully (For her) she was quick enough to duck down and made both weapons collide in mid air, right above her head. The purple hue on her face appeared again, but this time she yelled in panic while moving erratically, it was such an unexpected thing that even Nightwing and Damian had stopped their incoming attacks. “What do ya think ya doin yo-” Before she could even finish her words her mouth trapped shut suddenly and she jumped down to the river. 

 

‘She is getting away!’ thought Dick and quickly got to the bridge's handles, where she was a couple of seconds before and tried to throw one of their ‘Quarter markers’ As he liked to call them. In truth, they were nothing more than simple gps trackers, but hey, he liked to name things since he was a child, and Bruce didn’t have any problem with it. 

 

She didn’t see the tracker as it landed on her back, the problem was that this wasn’t Harley either, the moment tracker hit her back, she started to dissipate just like the other illusions. Before Nightwing could even understand what had happened Damian came next to him and pointed towards one of the pillars “There!” He yelled and with his words both Chat and Ladybug jumped to the water, right above Delirium. 

 

Unfortunately, the moment they hit the water Delirium was nowhere to be found no matter how much they looked around. By the time they were out of the water, Delirium was on her way to the hideout, running along with the river's current till a certain point.

 

***

 

“Yes! They are focused on the İllusion, now attack!” Said Hawkmoth while watching Delirium circle around the heroes, going right behind Ladybug and raising her hand in order to strike at her neck. 

 

“Actually.” Yells Joker right beside Hawkmoth, making the man turn around and taking a few steps back “Harleyyy, take a little break for me darling while papa butterfly and I talk business here.” Said Joker, coming closer to Hawkmoth. He was so shocked by the Joker’s actions he didn’t even cut the communication till he heard Harley’s affirming words in his head. In one quick move Hawkmoth jumped up a few meters and came down to Joker like a bag of bricks, immediately pinning the slimmer man beneath him while holding him down with his cane. 

 

“Ohh, tamper tamper little butterfly.” Said Joker while trying to breath out, he expected some kind of aggression but didn’t really know what the man can do till now, Thankfully he was able to cover his chest as he didn’t want his big surprise to be broken without even opening it up “If you won’t be careful, you can accidentally say bye bye to your city after all.” 

 

To his words Hawkmoth just pushed him down further to the ground “I was the one with the idea, imbecile, what made you think I would care about this city ?” As an answer Joker laughed aloud so much he physically started to squirm. “Oh Hawky, you have so much more to learn! Especially about me.” Right at that moment 5 people get in the room, Joker’s gang, all with their guns drawn. “Get off the boss before I put another hole in that mask of yours bitch!” Yelled one on the front, that was the ‘Big Boles’ as Joker once called, Joker’s right hand man right  after Harley simply because saying his name out loud made Joker laugh like no other did. 

 

Of course that threat didn’t scare Hawkmoth, he knew that bullets would at most hurt really badly, not really penetrate his suit or even cause internal damages to his organs, add his heightened reflexes, speed and strength to the equation and his odds of winning were more than likely. While Hawkmoth was getting ready to jump up to the goons something he didn’t expected to happen, Joker, from his position in the bottom turned his head sideways while looking at Boles and yelled at him with fury “What do you think you are doing - INTERRUPTING ME WHILE I’M TALKING!” 

 

With Joker’s voice other goons lowered their guns for a second, not really knowing what was going on and what they should do, they were ordered to cover the boss, That was always the first thing to do unless Joker himself explicitly said otherwise. So, should they still defend him or not ? Afterall, he didn’t say anything about this in their original plans. 

 

Seeing the opening, Hawkmoth was about to jump at the goons, he already had a plan in his head, the biggest man was the one in the middle, Boles, there was two of them in his far right and far left side,  circling around him and Joker, last two people were next to Boles sides and were aiming their guns at him. If he could hit Boles directly, Hawkmoth was sure he could use the man as a wrecking ball, knocking the other two next to him then throwing the guy to the one goon that is currently at his left side because the other one had a pistol while this one had a machine gun. 

 

“Hey, Hey Hawky! Focus on the main attraction now!” Said Joker, while waving at Hawk Moth's face in order to get his attention back which he gradually did. “We don’t need to fire a single shot in here now Hawky and you don’t have to fight your way out of here either, after all, you are my volunteer hostage at the moment.” 

 

Hawkmoth looked at Joker with a face full of disgust, he should have just killed them in that damned sewer. “You see pigeon- '' He laughed at his own lame joke for a while til Hawk Moth pressed on his chest heavily, immediately shutting him up while he tried to breathe. “You made a fatal mistake by showing me your weaknesses too early Hawky, I now held hostage everything you hold dear to you, every place in that map you gave me has now been trapped!” Hawkmoth looked at him with disbelief, but even he knew Joker didn’t have a poker face, he was a murdering psychopath, not a liar. If he lied in order to get what he wanted, it wouldn’t be a satisfying game to him. 

 

But still, there was some hope for Hawkmoth “There are no special places in there, how would you know which building to trap in an area spawning several miles you blubbering idiot!” There may not be an ounce of anger in his raised voice, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t fuming at the moment. 

 

In contrast, Joker seemed to be having the time of his life as he just snickered and shrugged his shoulders “Wrong question pheasant-y, the real question you should ask is why would I care which building is the one you are hiding under ?” He laughed once again while new members opened the door behind Boles and entered inside, they were the ones sent to plant bombs in the sewer systems, which were supposed to be the majority of the plants, but now Joker had betrayed him like this, he had no idea where would these human excrements would hide the bombs.

 

“Wanna know something really funny Chicken-moth ? I only had to spend around 20 percent of the money you gave me in order to buy more ingredients for the bombs” He stopped for a second while raising his legs, he looked like he was sitting in a chair with one leg over the other. “Something so devastating is always so cheap for some reason.” He started to laugh again but this time stopped midway and menacingly looked at Hawkmoth’s eyes  “Now little Duckie, my back starting to hurt so get up if you don’t want to see something you love to be broken in to itsy bitsy pieces.” 

 

Hawkmoth begrudgingly did what he had asked while the other still pointed their guns at him, the moment he was fully risen, someone from the group come close to him and pointed their revolver at his head, at first Hawkmoth thought he was doing it in order to threaten him, but to his surprise he actually pulled the trigger and shoot him in the head. 

 

Ofcourse, the bullet didn’t even pierced the suit, but it did hurt a lot and made Hawkmoth down to his knees while groaning and holding his head. A strong headache started to show its ugly face immediately. “NOOOO!” Yelled Joker and within two seconds took a metal pencil from the nearest table that was in his right and then started to stab the guy who had shot Hawkmoth. while doing this he also started to yell at the guy that was wringing in pain that he needed Hawkmoth. After a whole minute Hawkmoth was already back at his feet, watching the psychopath continue to stab his goon with the -Now broken to two- pencil, the goon was dead after one of those strikes pierced his heart, of course that wasn’t until Joker gouge out his eyes, opened his stomach almost fully (Which is how the pencil was broken) and stick one of the pencil to his… Privates. 

 

After Joker thought that was enough he got up again and threw his blood soaked hair back in one move before turning around and seeing Hawk Moth in front of him. “Oh.” He said with a befuddled face “I thought you were dead. Why aren’t you ?” He asked if it was at all important right in the moment. “I mean I killed Jesse because I thought he killed you, and he was the only competent enough person in the group that knew how to make some great coffee you know.” 

 

When Joker didn’t get any kind of reaction -outside of a resentment and hatred filled stare- from the Hawkmoth he dropped the matter with a shrug and then opened up his suit while turning his back to Hawkmoth “Now, before we continue to out talks, how about you call Harley back huh? She might be annoying, but that little minx makes me feel better after I unnecessarily kill one of my own mens.” If he hadn’t said it with a wide, creepy smile on his face Hawkmoth might’ve believed him. 

 

“Harley, come back to the base immediately”

 

“But I’m in the best part mista Hawk, Wingding over here was about to cry from joy and I was gonna save it to my phone!” Seeing from her eyes he wanted her to attack them, but unfortunately, he didn’t have time even for that, so instead of arguing with her he took control of her body. It was not something he liked to do since the pain it bringed to the others made her sick, there was a reason why he didn’t control every other Akuma he released over Paris. He knew the pain of not being able to control things in front of him, having no power against an enemy. 

 

She screamed when he took the control and even tried to argue with him but he didn’t have time for that either, so he quickly made her escape the area by the river and then lifted his control, saying if she won't be here Joker was going to be mad to her, unsurprisingly that did the trick and she stopped struggling against him. 

 

“She is on the way.” He said while grinding his teeth, how he could have fallen for these idiots games, was he so desperate for a victory that it blinded him this easily, or Joker was a better actor than he previously thought of ? 

 

“Good!” Said Joker and finally turned back to Hawkmoth, his whole chest was open except for a small box he had strapped to his heart, a monitor on it showing his heart rate. “As you can see Fowl-moth, ıf you try to do anything to me, my man and I will be informing my boys in the field to activate the bombs. Of course you can always kill me anyway.” He then touched the little monitor on his chest “ But in that case my man will see that something had happened to me and make a 10 seconds long call before activating the bombs.” 

 

After these words Joker walked back towards a mini fridge in the corner, his men relaxed their stand but never completely lowered their arms, he could feel the burning gazes on him while watching Joker’s movement. “Now, just in case you went crazy and tried to attack me anyway, BOLES!” He yelled while taking two energy drinks out of the fridge and tossing one to the goon “Please tell me, how many buildings were you able to trap in the A sector ?” To his question Boles tossed the drink to someone behind him, he learned long ago to never take Joker’s ‘Gifts’ because he was not a man to be tossing one to start with. 

 

“We were able to cover 95 percent of it, boss, only two houses were impossible to plant.” To Boles words Hawkmoth thinked at least his house was safe, he didn’t know where was this ‘A sector’ located, but he knew his house was designed as a castle and since his last ‘Renovations’ there was no way to enter through it through the sewers, he had closed off those sections the night Ladybug and Chat Noir move down there to hide from an Akuma. He was determined to not have such a weakness. If you even wanted to try it you had to swim up steam and somehow cut through 8 cm thick metal grates while doing it, twice, after that there was the last measurements he had installed, mainly two automatic turrets and a tripwire designed to cut through metal let alone a human foot, hidden in the ground and waiting for an adversary. Since Boles didn’t mention anything like that he was feeling confident at least on the lower side of his house, the garden was another matter though… One that he couldn’t predict easily. 

 

“Now then!” Said Joker while taking a huge gulp from his drink, almost halving the can and strutting towards Hawk Moth's face again. “I’m sure you know what I really want at this point, no ?” He asked with his signature grin plastered on his face, his yellow teeths are colored more than normal thanks to the drink. With no hesitation Hawk moth slapped him in the face, making everyone agitated again as they raised their weapons again but no one dared to be the first one to shoot. Joker, for his part, took the slap like a champ and after spitting a bit of blood from his splitted lip turned towards him with a questioning gaze, he seemed more surprised than angry actually. 

 

Hawkmoth didn’t break his stand as he coldly said “For breaking our agreement you animal.” Joker needed him to turn him into an Akuma, there was no way he was going to use force upon him, that's why he had taken hostage the most important things in Gabriel’s life, like his building, factories, possibly his house and definitely his son’s school. He didn’t care for the school itself, but unfortunately, Adrien did and whenever he tried to stop him used his own media influence against Gabriel. He already had child protection services knocking on his door once, he was not going to be having them in his house again. 

 

While he was thinking that a loud sound took his attention away from Joker as he looked for the source of it with the rest of the goons, Joker didn’t look for it. It was one of his goons dropped on the floor with no sign of life, his mouth was full of white foam like he had rabies and he was clenching hardly the energy drink in his hand. “Well then that’s your own fault.” Said Joker while taking one last sip from his drink and then throwing the empty can towards the dead guy “Boysz! Clear up this mess will you ?” He said quickly and then turned back to Hawkmoth while three other goons were carrying both the dead body and the empty can towards the exit. “ Who said to you that I was a man of my word if the ending wasn’t fun enough ?” With these words he started to laugh again loudly while going back to his chair, sitting there and waiting for Harley to get back, he could hardly stand still as even the thought of superpowers he was going to get made him giddy with excitement. 

 

***

 

When the call came through Barbara was busy cooking herself a dinner, egg fried rice with some shredded chicken on the side and  some juice as the drink. Not really her preferred meal, but it was one of the fastest dishes she could whip up while still looking over calls from the family. The consequences of leaving the library at a late hour unfortunately came through in her diet.

 

With the distinct beeping she had sat for Nightwing she quickly wheeled to the next room, the main part of the cloaktower and her surveillance center. “I’M HERE!” Barbara screamed as she didn’t know if the call rang more than three times or not, she preferred to open it in the second ring at most. 

 

Dick’s voice came through the call and he started to explain to her what had happened slowly while not missing key notes of their encounter. With the knowledge of Joker’s being in Paris, so close to both Dick and Damian her wound started to pulse out of worry and she bit her lower lip in order to not give away the pain. “Explain these to the family, I’m pretty sure they can’t come in here on such a short notice, but it can be an opportunity to check for his hideouts in Gotham.”

 

“Got it.” She said shortly while readying to open their comms in a group chat setting, something she usually did in emergencies, but then she stopped for a second and looked at the name in front of her screen, the next person to notify was Bruce. “Do you want me to inform Bruce as well ?” She asked, voice coming more timidly then she had intended. “He is out of the world at the moment, but I know he will be quite angry if he learned he wasn’t informed beforehand.” She had a point, Bruce did take it quite personal if he won’t be informed in a matter that concerns the family. Unfortunately for him, Dick didn’t have time to care about it at the moment as he had a villain to catch and a call to make “Do whatever you want Oracle, but I need to close it now, we will be chasing Harley and I need someone special for that.” 

 

Barbara wasn’t angry because he was cutting it short, but she did felt a clenching in her heart for a moment, the feeling of being helpless and not being able to help was crushing her, she wanted to be at his side, swinging from rooftop to rooftop right next to him and soaking all of that stupidly addicting smile he can give her. But as she ended the call, she knew she couldn’t do that, not with what had happened to her. So she did the next best thing in her condition and called the family in order to inform them. 

 

Dick took a sharp breath after the phone call, he wanted to talk to her more, but they both knew they had things to do, so he tried to get his head back at the game and opened his communicator once again, this time calling someone under the name of Zatanna Zatarra. 

Notes:

Kudos and Comments are appreciated. Btw, you have no idea how hard it was to resist the temptation of making Joker griddy on Hawkmoth 😂

Chapter 17: Winging In Paris - A City That Always Smiles -4

Summary:

He should have seen Joker’s betrayal coming from a mile away. For the first time in many many years, he had no one but himself to blame, he tried to think the new heroes being here was the reason for nearsighted foolish acts, but he couldn’t really blame them when it was him that panicked and tried to fair the playing field with the stupidest idea ever. And now he was paying for it… He thought he was about to pay it with the only thing he had left to care for as he saw a 5 meter Joker coming closer and closer to where he leaves.

Three last whooshes, a flash and the main attraction of the night will be taking the stage. A smile big enough to break the coldest of hearts, a small bow that would woo the most professionals and taking the hat off. Just like always.

 

Zatanna was waiting on the back stage, listening to Miquel's signal for her to appear. They were in Moscow tonight and she wanted to make her first visit to this cold, harsh and feisty city a good one. So far so good, the comedian of the group, her friend Alex, was making moves with the crowd even though she was sure half of them didn’t understand his language. 

 

Their “Boss” So to say Miquel had ended his part and was trying to hype up the crowd even more because she was the next one. The main attraction for this particular show. 

 

Second whoosh. She got up from the small chair she was sitting in, her makeup was perfect as always, her costume spotless and designed perfectly to show her… ‘Assets’ without being too scandalous, that is if the crowd could take their eyes off of her magical show first. 

 

“And ladies and gentlemen!” the Russian translator started to talk. “We’ve come to tonight's last but not least performance!” The translator, once again filled the gap and informed the crowd “She is the protege, and the daughter of the most recognizable magician on the earth!” She couldn’t really disagree with that, her father was on another level when it came to many things, one of those things was being a strong name in the entertainment sector.

While the line was getting translated Zatanna was already murmuring the words she was about to say, but right at that moment her phone started to ring and made her stop, if this was her normal phone she wouldn’t care about it, but this was her ‘T’phone’ As beast boy liked to call it. She opened it up and was face to face with one message from Robin -Sorry,sorry Nightwing or whatever- It was pointed as most urgent and had a set of coordinates attached to it. 

 

“The daughter of the Giovanni Zatara, Zatanna Zatara!”

 

‘Shit!’ She thought and Quickly said out loud “Ereh mih gnirb” (Bring him here) with her words Miquel had teleported to infront of her in an instant “Egats eht ekte, em rehtona” (Another me, take the stage) A carbon copy of her come out of the smoke in front of the crowd in the theater, following the whoos and cheers that was so loud it almost masked Miquel’s falling down, poor man was never used to this magic for some reason. 

 

“Ay Zatara! Why do you hate me like this girl?” He asked while getting up with her help. Rubbing the back of his head and swiping the sweat in there,Miquel didn’t wanna waste time as he wasn’t dumb, he knew there must be a good reason for her to teleport him back and then send a copy to the front instead of herself. “Tell me, what happened in the world now ?” He asked when he was risen fully, the others in their rag team of entertainers might not know her true powers, but Miquel had worked with Zatara’s father long enough that they didn’t need to hide something from each other, and after all this years and even after her father’s… unfortunate circumstances didn’t break their bond. 

 

“I don’t know either Miq” She said while biting her gloved nail, something she did when she was worried. “All I got were coordinates and that's urgent.” 

 

With her quick explanation Miquel nodded slowly, it did seem to be something to worry about, being all mysterious and ominous. If it was up to him he wouldn’t go to this… whatever it is. But he still knew he couldn’t change her idea even if he tried, especially not for such petty things like their show. He loved the entertainment business, but he wasn’t about to endanger lives if he could help it. So, he took a deep breath and then put his right hand to her right shoulder before saying “When should I go upstage then ?” 

 

She shrugged at him “I honestly can’t be sure, I’ll try to hold it for 10 minutes, would that be enough ?” 

 

As a response Miquel rolled his eyes to her with a big huff “Why are you still thinking of the show girl ?” He then lightly squeezed her shoulder “Just go and save the world, I’ll just wait by the curtain side, even though it’s visible from the sides.”

 

She smiled at her friend before hugging him, he had helped her tremendously while she was still struggling with her fathers condition and beyond, it felt great to know that she had someone who would be by her side. “I’ll try to make it back quickly.” She said before ending the hug and moving a bit back, closed her eyes and interlocked her hands while Miquel moved from his spot to the left curtain, he was thinking of excuses for her while doing so.

 

She remembered the coordinates before slowly whispering “Ereht em tropelet  (teleport me there)” With her words she felt a surge starting from her legs, a puff of smoke quickly followed the sensation and before she could even open her eyes came up to her eyes. She felt the familiar, strong pull that the magic made, felt her legs and arms turning to jelly for a second before all of these sensations stopped and she felt a mildly hot air hitting her face and legs. 

 

Opening her eyes she met with the worried look of a group of heroes, she knew Nightwing from the group, if she had to guess the small one with the mask was the newest Robin that Kori once told her months ago, but the other two didn’t really strike her as familiar faces. 

 

As of any long teleportation, she hold her swinging head while her legs almost gave up on her, Nightwing, being able to worked with her before in the titans knew she get queasy after a long distance teleportation and immediately moved in to help her stand up by taking her right arm over his shoulder. 

 

“Are you okay ?” Asked Ladybug to the stranger while also coming up to help her, she seemed to be in her mid twenties with hair darker than hers, as Ladybug’s wasn’t as shiny. Other than the ‘Appearing out of nowhere’ trick, she was dressed as a magician too,  black, three piece suit on top with white waistcoat and a small red bowtie as the finishing touch, her legs were covered with non-transparent black pantyhose and she was wearing velvety, almost purple thigh high boots. Lastly, she had a short waist size cape behind her that was red inside and back outside, Marinette could easily see the immaculate makeup she was wearing that made her blue eyes pop-up and for completing the look she was also wearing a big black magician hat with a white bow tie on it. 

 

Strangely, Marinette thought she would also be having a rose too since, you know, stereotypically magicians did have a red rose in their breast pockets, but to her surprise this stranger didn’t have one. Of course, seeing someone appear out of thin air right in front of her did mess up her logic a bit as she didn’t even notice that she wasn’t wearing a mask. 

 

Zatanna hurled once like she was about to throw up but stopped herself before the others could even get away, Dick rubbing reassuring circles in her back didn’t really help considering how he usually didn’t know or cared how hot it was when he did that and she didn’t really wanted to blush in front bunch of childrens. Or in front of his old flame or whatever they called it these days. 

 

She focused on the voice that said something to her in… Maybe French ? Moving her head and taking a deep breath, Zatanna finally opened her eyes and took a look around herself while three pairs of eyes were watching her worriedly, yep she was in France alright. The Eiffel Tower that proudly stood strong from her right side was evidence to that. She turned around to the group then and with a loud voice said        “Emas eht skaeps lla (All speaks the same)” Marinette and Chat Noir, not knowing what she just said looked at each other with a questioning gaze before Chat shrugged and asked her what she meant by those words. 

 

Smiling to the cat themed boy, she bowed a bit while taking out her hat and making a few twists with it “Sorry but my French is next to non-existent, which is why I made a shortcut for now.” She said before smiling at them and raising her hands to shake with the two heroes “Even though you probably won’t remember it later on, my name is Zatanna Zatara, the Supreme Magician” 

 

They shook her hands with a bit of worry plastered on their faces but didn’t say anything negative as they introduced themself. After the small introduction Nightwing cleared his throat in order to get everyone's attention, Damian already right by his side, he showed around himself while turning around “We are looking for a magicalized Harley Quinn, Z. Do you think you can find out where he might’ve been moved to ?”

 

Marinette thought about what Nightwing had said, so this supreme magician could find their lost akuma and to an extent, Hawkmoth himself ? Then why didn’t no one from the League send her here from the first time! Did they wait for it to get this serious so it would be worth their attention or something ? She knew they usually moved beyond earth and helped other planets, once, about 3 years before, an alien race ‘Representative’ had come down to Germany and wanted to present the League with a weird looking gift because they had apparently saved his planet from deadly virus. So she knew they must have some kind of a response tier or something like that. Like the one police officers use so they won’t send tanks to a domestic dispute or something you know, but couldn’t they put the earth they live in it in the first place ? 

 

With these thought running through her head she started to breath faster, they could have stopped Hawkmoth before all of this had happened, before she had to lose so much sleep, friends or family time, before she didn’t had to put her passions and her future career to hold because a magic fuzed terrorist wanted to ransom a whole city. And they could’ve stopped all of these but they didn’t. 

 

Her breathing was getting faster, she was on the verge of hyperventilating because the feeling of being betrayed like this was crushing her and feeding her anger to next horizons that even Chloe or Lila wasn’t even able to reach. The walls she had put around were there for a reason and she still opened them up for someone that wasn’t her partner she had to trust someone unknown because, because… Thankfully before her condition gotten worse her partner, her one and only true friend holded her hand, they were behind the still talking group so no one seemed to noticed her condition, even the always vigilant Nightwing seemed to be in a deep conversation, explaining what they were doing who they needed to catch to Zatanna. 

 

Chat squeezed her hand in a reassuring way, when she looked up to him he only gave her a side glance but she still managed to understand what he wanted to say, he was feeling the same way as her but this wasn’t the time for it. Not while there was a normally dangerous criminal fused with an akuma. They will be talking about all of this, no way around it. But that will be after they catch the akuma first. 

***

When Harley finally entered the hideout Joker slapped her right cheek so hard she fell to the concrete ground face first. 

 

“Why are you being tardy when I specifically ordered you not to HARLEY!” He said while kicking her in the stomach, the blows he delivered seemed to be more aggressive like he knew the costumes give the wearer resistance. Harley quickly tried to crawl away while explaining that she did her best coming back “The buildings here looking too similar puddin! I was trying to find the correct building I swear!” After her words Joker punched her cheek harshly and then told her to get back up. 

 

He abruptly turned to Hawkmoth who was sitting awkwardly in a small chair across the room, the disgust on his face could be seen from miles away with how hard he was frowning. “Now then my good little bug, transform me to one of your Akuma’s too!” Yelled Joker while opening his arms to the sides fully and posing. Hawkmoth kept trying to find a way to escape from his situation but nothing was coming up. If he had Ladybug’s miraculous he wouldn't even need to think god dammit! 

 

With nothing to do but accept his fate and the consequences of his actions, Hawkmoth took a deep breath and let it out with a defeated sigh. “Alright.” He said shortly before extending his hand towards Harley who was fully up by now. Just  so he wouldn’t be caught in some technical magical mambo jambo, Joker decided to not bind down Hawkmoth as he wasn’t in the mood for complications. Also because he still had all the aces in his hands, Hawky couldn’t do anything as Joker’s goons were watching him like a -HEH!- hawk if he tried to do anything to him while he was under his purple little cane.

 

In one swift swoop the magical power covering Harley disappeared from the girl as the butterfly in her left glove flew back to its owner with Hawkmoth’s command. Joker watched the small creature fly lazily towards Hawky’s hand, just imagining what kind of power it was carrying made him giddy like a pitbull about to enter a preschool for lunch time! 

 

Normally he wouldn’t mess with magic because he didn’t trust it in the first place. Of course there were times he did dabble in so could mess with Batsy in more ways than one, but pointing towards a direction and blowing it up with your mind wasn’t as exhilarating as blowing it up with a hidden switch behind your back. 

 

Also there seemed to be no rules to magic, if someone was stronger than you in the pixiedust it seemed like they could stop you and mock you and even throw tomatoes at you in the span of one second while making it feel like an eternity. Bad experiences from the past, one that involved a small man with a small hat that had an impossible name to say. It may be a bit ironic, him literally being the symbol of madness and chaos looking for rules, but he liked to think when he saw a thick vault door, it wouldn’t be opened up with a light breathing on it. Or maybe it could- Oh new idea for pranks! 

 

“Are you ready!” Yelled Hawkmoth and awakened Joker from his night dreaming abruptly. Joker didn’t really like when people ınturrupted his train of thoughts and usually liked to put people on train tracks as punishment for it, but unfortunately he didn’t know any train tracks in Paris. Also, Metro tracks didn’t really give the same vibe as the normal train ones. 

 

With a sigh he started to smile again, the small, purple black butterfly in Hawkmoth’s hand had turned to a complete white one while he was imagining his vault doors, with his smile though hawkmoth put his hand up on the butterfly and suddenly small, deep purple hues of magical balls (Hehe) appeared out of thin air and fastly traveled towards the butterfly, immediately consuming it and turning it back to its evil looking state once again. “Just so you know, I will kill you for this.” Said Hawkmoth slowly while making eye contact with Joker, Joker on the other hand didn’t seemed to care much about it as he just shrugged slowly “Better get in line then, there is a lot of bald, angry and rich folks hating me pal”

 

The butterfly flew towards Joker, he, for at least a second thought if he would indeed be safe. After all, doing their research on Hawkmoth (Harley’s incessant blabbering, he didn’t really cared about it much) he did see in some instances Hawkmoth taking control of his targets with ease. And being threatened by him, Joker was sure Hawkmoth was looking for a way to get revenge, he could get him under his control and then make him say stuff in order to confuse his henchmen… Nah! He could definitely try, but hey, if his henchmen couldn’t understand a not so clearly fake order from a real one then that was their loss. Their and their families!

 

The butterfly injected itself into the small, fake flower in Joker’s breast pocket that was filled with acid strong enough to melt metal, he hoped that these magical things were immune to it, he didn’t want to smell a melting evil butterfly! Those things are probably smelling horrible like a Burger King fish menu. 

 

Suddenly Joker heard a very angry Hawkmoth swearing at him in three different languages in his head before a sudden darkness started to overcome him, filling him with dreadful thoughts, horrifying images and a ceremony made by hundreds of people’s screams. Just as he liked! 

 

“Joker, I’m giving you the power of hysteria, all I want in exchange is-” 

 

“TO LIVE! AHAHAHAAHHAH”

 

***

 

Zatanna clapped her hands once before saying in whisper “Live eht kcart dna flesruoy wohs (Show yourself and track the evil).” For a few seconds nothing happened as they all just stand in the empty bridge, but after ten seconds or so a light started to form around Zatanna as it started to glow around them and marked the Bridge, it looked like her magic had revealed the step harley had took as it showed everywhere, from the both sides of the bridge to the handlers were filled with small footprints. For a second everyone let a huge sigh of relief as the magical glow even showed where Harley had jumped it seemed, Nightwing and Ladybug was about to look out for the way Harley had swam in order to see if she had resurfaced in a close proximity, but they stopped in their track by the sudden loud scream Zatanna let out as she dropped to the ground while her eyes rolled back. 

 

Quickly, Chat jumped to action and thanks to his reflexes catched her before she had hit the hard ground.  Damian, who was closest to the two, immediately started searching his belt for small medic kits they all carried while Nightwing and Ladybug moved towards them with haste. Damian shortly found what he was searching for, an ‘Awoker’ as they called, a stimulant that was designed to wake someone within seconds. Before he could use the strong mixture though he had to be sure that she was unconscious as injecting someone awake with it might cause their heart to overdrive and lead to a heart attack. 

 

He slowly touched her throat, his wristwatch told the heart rate as 75 and thank god he was precocious as she just started to wake up while growling about something hitting her, it was hard to understand since she was speaking backwards. “Z!” Said Nightwing loudly while taking her right hand between his “Are you okay Z? Can you open your eyes ?”

 

As an answer Zatanna slowly opened her eyes to the starless sky of Paris and blinked a few times before turning to the faces around her with a grunt “Owww” Her left hand moved towards her forehead and she slowly started to rub it before Ladybug gently stopped her and did it for her while carrying her head to her thighs, at first Zatanna thought Ladybug’s honeycomb shaped gloves would hurt her but instead they were super soothing for some reason.

 

“Take your time miss, don’t hurt yourself.” Said Ladybug while still slowly massaging Zatanna’s forehead, because of the earlier scream and the fainting she was worried that the magician had pushed herself too much, she looked around herself while Zatanna let a sigh of relief and relaxed herself almost completely, crinkles around her eyelids smoothing over and a pleasant smile taking over her futures. 

 

‘Maybe a bit too relaxed’ Thought Chat as he tried to hold his tail that was trying to move towards Ladybugs stomach with a small frown and slitted eyebrows. Thankfully he didn’t have to hold himself for too long since the woman suddenly holded Ladybug’s hand and moved it aside while opening her eyes slowly and getting up from Ladybug’s legs “Sorry about that.” She said with a forced smile and snapped her fingers quickly. Suddenly a big bundle of money appeared out of thin air and landed on Zatanna’s open palm, she looked at it questioningly before extending it towards Ladybug who seemed shocked at what she had seen. 

 

“Seems I’m a little weaker than normal” She said before swinging the money infront of Ladybug again “For that amazing massage young lady, you deserve it.” She was smiling widely while saying it but that smile turned to a frown when Nightwing crouched in front of her again and asked about what had happened. 

“Ancient magic happened, Robin.” She said quickly while still trying to give money to the buffered Ladybug who was having a mental crisis about taking the bundle of 50 dollars or not, in one hand she of course didn’t rubbed the magicians head because she was expecting something in return, it was actually kinda insulting to think that way too. But on the other hand that was a good amount of money that she could use in so many different ways like buying materials for her projects or saving it for any emergencies in the bakery or buying snacks for the strays or buying snacks for herself… Honestly the bundle suddenly looked so big that she was sure she could do all of that and still have leftovers from it. 

 

“Ancient magic ? What is that exactly ?” Asked Chat while taking the money from her hand and then handling it to Ladybug’s since he knew she needed it (If their nightly talks told him anything about it) and was too shy to take it. She deserves it for more than just a simple massage. 

 

Zatanna scratches her chin while watching the young -Couple ?- and thought about a way to explain what magic is to someone else. She never cared about it in an intellectual way since magic itself could hardly be defined by conventional means. You can’t really grasp it out of thin air till you order it to and then it suddenly feels both like silk and sandpaper in your hand. It doesn’t have a shape but can also coil around your hand no problem. It doesn’t change like a material till you order it to. Finally, after starting to get another headache she came to the conclusion that she wasn’t going to explain what magic is because explaining something this complex was above her pay grade ‘Thank god he just asked me about the ancient type’ She thought before taking a deep breath and started explaining it. 

 

“Ancient magic is the purest kind there is, think of it as Iron ore before it is carved down and processed thoroughly.” Just for visual effects she quickly created a huge iron ore vein above their heads and as the stone fell down slowly touched it which turned the rock formation to several Iron bars before all the bars collided with the ground and ricochet upwards while turning to nickels. While watching the show Marinette was fascinated with what she could do and slightly terrified because Zatanna could easily collapse several countries' economies with just being herself it seemed. 

 

“As I just demonstrated” She said while the coins started to jump towards her hat which was in her hand upside down “It is a much stronger and hard to work form than my type of magic which was the nickels in this case.” 

 

“So you are useless.” Said Damian not even changing his posture even though Nightwing was shooting daggers at him with his eyes which was a rare thing to see for everyone in the bridge.  

 

Zatanna, instead of saying anything, just looked at him with a frown and snapped her fingers which turned him to a rabbit with Robin’s cape and mask still on its face. Damian just said ‘Real mature’ but didn’t continue while Ladybug tried to hold herself from laughing. Chat didn’t as he kneel down with tears in his eyes, the kidd in his eyes was a dickhead for many, many reasons which was impressive since he didn’t even talk much. It was usually his body language that pissed him off, the superiority complex he seemed to be having while -probably- being the same age as them, he was even a bit shorter then Chat, he never understood where this ‘I’m too important for doing this or that’ attitude could even come from, even though he knew several people with the same shitty attitude behind his mask. 

 

“Sorry about that.” Said Zatanna towards Nightwing with a face that showed no remorse “I can find weak spots in the ancient magic, the problem is that it will take time and if we are talking Harley and her boyfriend, I’m sure time is not on your side.” 

 

As if approving her words they soon started to hear noises coming towards Beaugrenelle and the 15. district, people screaming their lungs out, cars honking and crashing around, buildings combust to flames and of course, a really loud and bone chilling cackle like laughter that followed the mayhem starting there. 

 

While the others were looking towards the 15. district and contemplating going over there to help people Zatanna quickly whispered “Klahc (Chalk)” Which made one appear instantly in her left hand and gather the attention of the other heroes back. Without saying a word she started to draw on the ground, making a circle first before adding symbols and hieroglyphs before drawing another circle around them and closing it. She lastly drew another symbol in the middle, the symbol of Ankh if Chat remembered correctly from his extended classes. 

 

After her work had done she wiped her forehead out because she was starting to sweat out of nervousness, they of course didn’t need to know that so she decided to say nothing about it, even though Nightwing was already looking at her with sadness, he knew who was she summoning before she even needed to explain it. “I may have difficulties with ancient magic, but this person won’t have that problem.” She said shortly before kneeling down to one knee before starting speaking in what seemed to be pure gibberish as Ladybug couldn’t even understand where the backward speeches started and ended. 

In reality all she was saying was “Nabu the great, bless us with your presence and decide the fates of evils around us.” in old egyptian as Nabu mostly answered to its call since it was the first civilisation to materialize it. 

 

The moment she said the words the second time the graphs started to light in pure gold before a giant ankh shaped light form started to appear and hover above them. Everyone stepped back, even small Damian who was clinging to Nightwing’s foot for speed. 

 

The light suddenly cut down in the middle and opened up like a door would and inside it a man come down. 

 

The man was wearing formal looking clothes, blue pants and shirt that seemed to be a onesie, gold yellow gloves and boots that were longer than necessary as they both exceeded further than the wrists. A big yellow cape that seemed to be capable of swallowing them all and the brightest gold helmet with no space on it that Chat has ever seen, needless to say, he thought Jesus Crist would be wearing something different than these. 

***

 

Hawkmoth was trying to hold his head high, as humiliating as he was at the moment anyway. He was chained down to a wooden chair so he wouldn’t try to run away, his feet at the moment were swimming in two cement buckets like this was a bad mafia film, but he had to say, even with how little the cement had been hardened, it was not letting him go. Lastly he was being watched by a very loud and obnoxious Harley Quinn who was not watching him but instead of the news and eating chips with her mouth open. 

 

He thought he couldn’t get lower than this, him; The god damn Gabriel Agreste! The emperor of the fashion world, leader of one of the biggest corporations in the world let alone Paris, the owner of the butterfly miraculous. And somehow this man couldn’t stop digging himself a deeper and deeper hole by the second. 

 

It was evident two weeks ago really, when Aundre had called and yelled at him for the law he had passed and how the parliament was getting nervous about a JL member being in Paris, the crooked oaf! 

 

He should have seen Joker’s betrayal coming from a mile away. For the first time in many many years, he had no one but himself to blame, he tried to think the new heroes being here was the reason for nearsighted foolish acts, but he couldn’t really blame them when it was him that panicked and tried to fair the playing field with the stupidest idea ever. And now he was paying for it… He thought he was about to pay it with the only thing he had left to care for as he saw a 5 meter Joker coming closer and closer to where he leaves. 

 He wanted to scream, throw or rip things apart or something else. He wanted to cry and hold Emilie, feel her small hands caress him and calm him down like they did when they were young, when he had hard working days. He could almost feel it… actually he did feel it as he quickly opened his eyes and saw Harley caressing his face with her fingerless gloved hands, she was bending over to be in his level and giving the two goons behind her a hell of a scene while her bosom was making him stare at her hair instead of her eyes. 

 

“Mista Hawky are you oki dokie ?” She asked while putting her hand to his forehead like she could even feel anything through the suit. Gabriel just huffed out and told her to stop touching him “Like you’d care what's happening to me” He said shortly and closed his eyes again, he didn’t want to look at his empire as it crumbled to dust. 

 

She made a noise like she was thinking before dismissing the two goons with them in the room, the idiots left her with him without resistance because only Joker could mess with his own toys, no other man can without paying dearly for the coincidences. 

 

As the duo left the room Harley pulled a chair for herself in front of him and sat down backwards. “Wanna talk about it Mr. Hawky ?” She asked while still eating the bag of chips and this almost made Hawkmoth crack a smile with how absurd she was being. Like she didn’t know what had happened barely ten minutes ago, like she wasn’t the one chaining him up, like she wasn’t the one that eats these goddamn chips with her mouth open making the most disgusting and distracting chewing noises! 

 

God what had he bringed himself into and more importantly how could he get out of it ?!

Notes:

Hello y’all, small announcement: in Chapter 8, I must have felt pretentious or something and made a name for Damian as ‘Teufel’ Which means demon in german. After that chapter though, he stayed as kidd in both my head and (I’m guessing I haven’t checked tbh) in the story. Which is why I will be fixing it now.

That was all, have a good night/day and I hope your pillows stay cool :)

Chapter 18: Winging In Paris - A City That Always Smiles -5

Summary:

Out of the 5 people on the bridge, only Zatanna felt something was wrong, she felt the time around them was… dull, slow and disturbed. Someone had to stop it then, and with the process of elimination making her job quite easier she quickly realized it was Fate and seeing how she couldn’t even wake up from it made her angrier. As the group around her tried to tell Fate what was going on she was wondering what he was doing while he stopped time. 

Notes:

Not gonna lie, this chapter feels a bit like a filler, but I still wanted to write it this way so I did it, hope you guys enjoy it too!

Have a good night/day, let me know if you find anything wrong with the chapter and lastly, I hope y’all a happy day and an even happier tomorrow! 

“... And so, I found one of his hidden stashes as he had instructed me before, took out all the toy guns I could and blew up the asylum to help him escape! And that’s how mista J realized he had found his soul mate, his one an only. Ah, just remembering that day makes my stomach do flippers!” Said Harley and let out a sigh of longing while stuffing her hand with a big bucket of ice cream she had started to eat right after her chips. “An ever since then we’ve been goin stedy, can you believe that mister butterfly?” 

 

Hawkmoth just shook his head slowly from right to left, why did he have to listen to Harley’s stories? Just what kind of punishment was this god dammit! He could get out of this chains and could shut Harley easily, but since the two goons Joker had put in there with him was waiting just outside of the small administrative room from there, and he could easily see their silhouettes over the white colored glass, anything he would do will be heard immediately and a small part of Paris (Along with the big part of it that he didn’t care, just happen to be close by) would be blowing off. It wasn’t a risk he could take, even though the torture was becoming unbearable by the second. 

 

“But enough about me-” Said Harley while stuffing herself with the ice cream and chewing it loudly, Hawkmoth had no idea how she could do that without her brain freezing, but then again, she was a psychopath that jumped in a wad of weird chemicals just because someone (another psychopath that seemed to be good at manipulating people) told her to do it. He was beginning to think she just earned that PHD she talks so much about with sucking someone off. 

 

After those thoughts though, Hawkmoth frowned to himself ‘Look at me, losing my manners and attitude and wondering why I’m deep in this mess.’ He wondered if his situation was the result of his anger issues, correlating with his overall mental stability.  After all, looking at 2 million people’s thoughts and choosing one that is less homicidal than the rest was a hard task for even his iron will. 

 

“HEEEEYYYYOO!!!!” He was rudely awoken from his thoughts with a snapping finger right in front of his nose, Harley was poking at his arm with her other, chocolate ıcecream covered fingers. “I thought we were going pretty well mista butterfly, I told you my love story, itz only fair you tell me yours too now isn’t.” She said and returned to her couch back, he could see the news talking about Parisian heroes being nowhere as Joker’s rampage continued in the background. 

 

Hawkmoth was about to tell her off when he felt a stinging, deep pain in his chest that made him down to the ground violently and struggling to breathe. Harley was immediately on him and was checking his vitals, he felt like his heart was about to explode, what was happening god dammit ? 

 

***

The moment Dr. Fate touched the ground Nightwing felt a strong tug at his heart, he hadn’t changed at all since the first and only time Dick had seen him. Of course he hadn’t, the helmet of Nabu was made to last after all and the same thing was eligible for the wearer too. He was wearing what every user of the helmet had worn, blue pants and shirt that made him look like he is wearing a onesie, gold yellow sash as belt, gloves and boots that are too long, almost reaching for the man's knee and elbows, also in golden yellow. The big (almost bigger than Bruce’s) cape that seemed like Nabu was having a golden waterfall behind him that never touched the ground, just flew back up by the winds that Dick was sure to be made out of magic. 

 

And of course, that fully closed off, almost completely made out of magic helmet. Behind it,  a man he once saw as genuine, trying to cover his daughter through the harsh world outside and willing to do anything for that kind of man. The same man now emotionlessly watched his daughter as if she had bothered him. 

 

But even then, Dick could still see a small glint on the frozen yellowy blue eyes that Nabu was now fully controlling. 

 

Dr. Fate looked around himself for a second, two minds in one body, fighting for the control at the moment, Zatara begging Nabu for it as he just wanted to see his daughter, Nabu on the other hand was looking around, trying to find a source for the disturbed ancient magic that covered around the bridge. 

 

Suddenly Nabu’s eyes focus on the two heroes in full body spandex and what he sees even shocked Zatara enough to give up on fighting. 

 

Not knowing any of this, Dick tried to talk first and let Nabu know what they needed, but before he could even step forward the time around them stopped fully with one finger snap from Fate. He came closer to the two heroes, like everything around them, they were also frozen solid, boring their eyes at him. 

 

Oh mother of all, 

first of creator, 

bearer of all, 

mother Gimmi, hear my call.

 

Suddenly, the moment Nabu’s chant ended, the two miraculouses flew out of their owner and unified in mid air, making a bright light that could be seen from miles away if anyone could. 

 

After the light had ended Fate bowed down to one knee as his mother, Gimmi, appeared in front of him in a new form she seemed to be using, this one seemed more like a strange bug, with cat ears and antennas on top of her head, big, almost bus size butterfly wings behind her and a lower body that resembled a mixture of a praying mantis with paws and a long, swaying tail. 

 

“Oh Nabu, it’s wonderful to see you again!” Said the god of reality as she also bowed down for her son, her one and only son fate. “And you too, human Zatara. I can feel my son’s power surging through you in waves, you two make a good complete.” 

 

Living with Nabu as just another body that the helmet needs to use, Zatara wasn’t so sure that was the case. Sure, he knew he was much more powerful than anyone else that wore the helmet of Nabu and much more in tune with his magical power, but that doesn’t really mean the helmet was not taking its toll on his body and, even though it was for a favorable trade at the time, Nabu, after being cheated for so long by so many, was made its mission to remind him everyday why he was not to see his family. His daughter, though he only saw her for a few seconds, had grown so much, had it been that long ? What did he miss ? What was she doing now ? When was the last time she had eaten ? These were the questions that wouldn’t leave the weary man’s mind while someone else used his body in order to right the wrongs in the world. 

 

“Mother” The words of Nabu awoke Zatara from his dreams as his body suddenly stood back up “I sense you are not complete, Some part of you is missing.” With Nabu’s words god in front of them take a moment to look at herself and after inspection was over droop her cat ears while making a noise between “Awwww” and “kkkkchhh”. 

 

“It has been so long since I was complete, I forgot I had other parts, my son.” She said while giving the most creepy-bug smile one would ever make. “I sense I am mostly missing two parts of myself at the moment… And I’m feeling those two are not happy wherever they may be. Other than that, I feel fine” She said while her ears drooped once more, Zatara wondered if all her emotions were this easy to read. Though, if he had to guess, you wouldn’t need to make poker faces when you are the most powerful thing in the universe. 

 

“I probably was called here for this matter too mother, but seeing two parts of you, I couldn’t stop myself from waking you up, sorry about disturbing you.” Said Nabu and felt a dark presence surrounding him, Zatara’s voice ringed in his ears, telling him how much of a hypocrite he was since he never let Zatara even see his daughter. 

 

“Ohh!” Said Gimmi with jubilation, raising her arms up “You want my help my son? Oh, you don’t even need to ask for it, just wish away and I’ll make everyth-” Before she could even finish her words Nabu cleared his throat loudly and told her that wouldn't be necessary. “But why ? I can feel they are trapped with magic but I am highly confident I can crack them down with no problem!” She seemed to be angry for a minute there, but after she finished her words and took a second to collect herself, she understood why she couldn’t help and with a loud “OOOOHHHH” Nodded towards him, saying she understood.

 

Nabu, letting an regretful puff of air floated up to her height and after almost several ions, hugged his mother once again as he himself become giant, it looked like he was hugging a praying mantis as Zatara felt the omnipotent beings hands hug him back, “I understand you want to help mother, but we both know this is not the time for this and it’s not my place to make a wish for my own gains. My own fate forbids it.” 

 

She looked at her son with a small smile, she never imagined that her own son, the thing that almost co-assigned with her the moment she had started to think, was burdened with so much responsibility. Although he never complained about his origin, and was always nice to her, making changes as she granted wishes, creating balance in a universe as best as he could and so forth. 

 

“These last year or so, I have only been with Zatara and his thoughts were about his daughter constantly. I guess his feelings correlated to me too, after all this time that is.” Said Nabu looking innocently up at his mother with a hint of embarrassment that he was trying to hide. Zatara, on the other hand was trying to control his anger and not cuss in front of a god “You really were cognitive enough to understand my pain and heartless enough to do nothing about it huh?” He asked as calmly as he could, he may not be able to control his body but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be able to mess around in it, after all, Nabu may use his body freely but he can’t get rid of Zatara’s soul, and Zatara knew just what he needed to do in order to anger Fate beyond belief. 

 

“I can sense your discomfort, little human.” Said Gimmi all of a sudden, surprising both Zatara and Nabu as both of them didn’t expect her to be this perceptive. “You feel… anger towards my son.” She said the last part like this was the first time she had ever felt someone disliked Nabu. “Did you know that he needs to be fixing balance all across universes one by one so that the whole structural integrity of it doesn’t collapse down on itself?” 

 

From the way she talked; hand on sides and posing in a defensive gesture, it wasn’t hard to conclude that she was trying to defend her son’s questionable actions. Although it was a bit hilarious since she had to defend her son while still looking at him with anger. Well, two could play this game, after all, Zatara was also a parent and knew what kind of torture it was to be away from his own child. “I know your highness. After all, I’m a part of him and I have been helping him. I’m one of the best bodies he had ever binded to -Which you already agreed to it too- and I’ve been cooperative with him. Still, your son likes to hold all the control madam, not giving me one moment, one minute or even a second so I can be with the person I’ve missed the most.” 

 

He felt the harsh but short tug of Nabu for a second, like a big brother poking the smaller one when he snitches on their mother. Or at least Zatara thought it would be something close to this since he never had a sibling.

 

Gimmi looked deeply towards them while getting closer, one of her antennas touching Nabu's helmet “It’s strange.” She finally said with a questioning gaze before continuing “I felt every word you said, the strange thing is that you are not hating him. When I looked into your soul, I was expecting to find a deep hatred towards my son, Nabu. But you seem… frustrated more than anything.” She then touched Nabu’s helmet and for the first time in over years (Or so how long since he had merged with Nabu) Zatara felt his body again, looking down he saw his fingers first before all of his body come to picture, his legs were functioning again, he could feel them even though he knew this was just an illusion. When he tried to make a fist his hand partially deteriorated to dust before re-aligning itself. He was wearing his usual get up, his magician costume and black cape. He could feel the shash he used as a belt even though he was sure it would deteriorate the moment he took a step forward. 

 

Looking up again Zatara saw Fate, looking at him with empathy, like he wasn’t the reason for his pain. So he was just out of Nabu’s mind and his own body, ‘Probably the work of the illusion’ Thought Zatara as he realized how hard of a spell that was to make, not the part of taking him out of his own body, a skilled spellmaker could pull it off with a bit of time, but taking his mind out of Nabu’s… now that was something he had never seen as even the stranger had a hard time distinguishing host from the helmet. If he had to guess, only Spectre, or someone in that same level could do something like that, which is to say, a god-like being.  

 

“Frustrated ?” Asked Fate, without Zatara, his eyes were pure gold colored and without emotions, but even then the magician still saw that Gimmi’s words had confused her son. “I have made an oath with you Nabu, it wasn’t in the spur of the moment and I knew the risks. The only thing I wasn’t expecting was you to see me as hostile. Not giving me a chance, not letting me help, not letting me live at least a little.” Said Zatara as calmly as he could. He tried to lean towards the cane he’d normally carry but forgetting where he was he stumbled forward. 

 

“I cannot!” Yelled Nabu suddenly, his eyes glowing even more “What if you take off the helmet completely ? What if someone steals it from you ? Are you really so desperate to see your family that you are willing to risk the balance of the cosmos all together ?” 

 

To his barrage of questions Zatara adjusted his suit while taking a step back before that frustration turned to anger and he felt justified to speak his mind at least this once “And what about you Fate ? What are you doing right now exactly ? We both know we can’t help Gimmi to be whole again but you are still trying to find a way!” 

To his words Nabu came closer to his projection but didn’t say anything else, he knew Zatara was right and was just trying to look tough, failing miserably as Zatara had experience talking to angry children. 

 

“My mission, my being , is to cast down the order and keep the universe in a constant balance. Are you really expecting me to have ‘Breaks’ as you keep calling it, because I don-” 

 

“I know dammit!”  Said Zatara finally and felt a sudden power surge through his body “I know what you are doing and I know how busy you are Nabu. I’m you, remember.” He said finally and then took a step back “I just wish you remember that you are me too.” He said finally and snapped his fingers, personally taking himself out of this argument because they were going nowhere with this. 

 

Impressed with the humans power to actually break through her magic easily, Gimmi made a noise that showed her amazement even though the magic she had performed was a really simple one. “I’m guessing you need to talk more with him son.” She finally said to Nabu who’s eyes had turned normal, blue of the Zatara’s. He was looking at the ground and the heroes on there, the two heroes that separated his mother especially. He knew he couldn’t make his mother whole again, it wasn’t a decision he could make, nor was it in either of their fate. But talking to her again, after so much time had passed felt good, he felt… rejuvenated almost, even though it was impossible since he couldn’t age. 

 

“Nabu.” He looked up from the heroes to her mothers face when she called him “I wanted to say, after all this time, it was good to be meeting you once again, even though we both knew it wouldn’t last, and I feel like I’m already making myself known at the moment.” Even though Nabu saw her smile while she was talking, he knew her presence was changing everything. If they stayed like this for some more, she’d probably be changing the time itself and he was already having a hard time keeping her powers down. “I know mother” he said calmly and then hugged her again. She slowly dissipated in his arms, coming down from her giant form to that of a big bug in his palms “I liked this one too Nabu, I wish for you to keep him happy!” She said as a final with laughter and then dissipated in his hand to dust. 

 

Nabu, once again stood still in an empty space with only himself and the host -he had been rude- to keep him company. 

 

Out of the 5 people on the bridge, only Zatanna felt something was wrong, she felt the time around them was… dull, slow and disturbed. Someone had to stop it then, and with the process of elimination making her job quite easier she quickly realized it was Fate and seeing how she couldn’t even wake up from it made her angrier. As the group around her tried to tell Fate what was going on she was wondering what he was doing while he stopped time. 

Dick was trying to tell the story while small (and admittedly cuter, he is only human) Damian was biting his ankles, trying to bring him away from the man as if he was carrying a bomb. Which would be hilarious if you asked Nightwing. 

 

Just think : You are like one of the most powerful magic users ever, and after fighting for so long you feel tired, you just throw a homemade c4 at your enemies head hoping to catch the other magic user off guard as he tries to take out his pistol or something. ‘Man my mind is a wonder, I should make like, comics or something out of these things.’ He thought while still relaying information to the gold face in front of him. He could think and talk different things at the same time, a highly necessary skill if you have to attend Gotham high society events, a.k.a the only thing that makes watching paint dry enjoyable. 

 

“Understood.” Said Fate when Nightwing stopped talking and pointed to where Harley had jumped off. “I can sense the residue of the magic itself, if you want to follow it, I can help you, but I suspect…” A car blows off in the distance, following maniacal laughter and agonizing screams “That your problem is in another place.” Said Fate and then moved a bit back while standing still, his cape wasn’t even affected by the wind his movement made. “Choose carefully what you want to do.” Said Fate and shut himself up completely while crossing his arms at his chest. 

 

The group gathered again and started to make a plan immediately, Nightwing and Ladybug taking the leader roles as it was expected “I say me and Chat move towards the akuma while you guys follow the residue and hopefully catch Hawk Moth and the rest of the joker's gang.” Said Ladybug and both Zatanna and Nightwing nodded along to her suggestion while small Damian tried to climb out of Nightwing’s embrace and away from his pettings. “We’ll do what we can, but Ladybug, don’t attack him just yet.” Nightwing said quickly and made the duo stare at him with puzzlement.

 

“But he is attacking people! We need to help them an- and save them and-” Surprisingly it was Chat who had stopped her instead of the other heroes with his hand gently resting on her shoulder “Calm down my lady.” He said quietly in her ear “They must have had good reasons.” 

 

“We have.” Said Nightwing, getting closer to the two “Joker wasn’t the first one to be the akumatized, it was Harley; who might be the only one he has that knows more than to shoot people when it comes to fighting.” He took a deep breath before continuing again “She had us for a while back there too, fighting her ghost and whatnot. She then suddenly called back.” 

 

“Because Joker had something to do with it.” Said Chat, finishing Nightwings words for him. “But how, I refuse to think that Hawkmoth can be controlled that easily, if he didn’t want Joker to be akumatized in the city, why isn’t he just- You know, take the butterfly back?” 

“He’d never give up on control that easily, there must be something holding him off.” Said Ladybug, remembering all of their encounters so far (Which could hardly count in two hands.) He never gives up without a fight, never backs down even once for anything, she once watched one of his akumas destroying small animal shelters in a park without a care. (Long story about a woman's hatred for cats because of her allergies.) What could Joker have done to him to make this heartless of a man submit she wondered. 

 

“Exactly what I was about to say.” Said Nightwing with a small smirk and a wondering look behind his white lensed domino mask, making both of the heroes take a second as they realized that he had said it as a compliment for them. They were learning quickly and making the acrobat proud. 

 

“In that case, new plan” Said Ladybug and gathered all the attention on herself “We are moving towards Joker, see if we can sway him around less populated areas while trying to save as many civilians as we can till you call us back.” With her words Nightwing nodded and clicked his wrist controller, making Ladybug’s yoyo ring. “We’ll assert the situation, capture that bug lover and then make him call off the Joker if we can, keep your ears open.” Finished Nightwing and pushed his punch forward, asking for a fist bump which everyone joined in with jubilation (Except for Damian and Dr. Fate,Damian was still in his special bunny corner which was Nightwing’s head this time and Fate was… well, Fate.). 

 

“You gonna join in too ?” Asked Nightwing to Fate who was still eerily hovering a couple centimeters above the ground. He simply shook his head, only opening his arms a little. “My involvement would make things… messier than they need to be, besides, even this will be shaking the scales.” After his last words Fate pointed at Zatanna and called her to step closer to him while the Parisian duo started to make their way towards the akumatized Joker. 

 

Zatanna took the challenge, moving forward with clear anger and resentment on her face, when she got close enough though, Fate bent down a little and whispered in her ear. Because of the big golden mask, Nightwing couldn’t really read the man's lips but whatever he had said made her eyes swell up before she scaredly moved back. 

 

While Zatanna’s movement caused her tears to drop, Fate raised his left hand towards her “We’ll get to the harder parts at a later date… Zat. But right now this amount should be enough for you to control.” With the words clearly said by Zatara himself She let go of her tears that were hardly contained to begin with and holded the mans hand with her right arm, a golden light made out with their contact and in one second that felt like a couple weeks, Zatanna learned how to call down a path with ancient magic. 

 

***

 

The pain was excruciating, like someone was trying  to peel off his skin. All of his senses were on overdrive, an unending pain all around his body as he started to stroke out on the ground while Harley tried to hold him down and turn him to his side in case he’d vomit. 

 

Hawkmoth really thought he was going to die with the searing pain but just as the pain suddenly started, it also suddenly stopped after almost a minute. In the aftermath of the strange phenomenon he was trying to breathe with difficulty as his lungs were burning like he had huffed a whole can of paint, he started to feel his legs again slowly but still couldn’t stop them from shaking. His arms were as non-operational as his head was, his vision blurring in and out. Letting him see the deeply worried expression of Harley between the blinks. 

 

“Oh my god you can’t die now Mr. Butterfly, come on wake up!” She yelled at him while checking if she needed to do a heart massage, or should she bring a defibrillator in the form of a car battery. “If you die, who's gonna know your story Butterfly !? Come on, stay with me!” 

 

Her yelling was the final draw that made the goons outside come back in as they thought she was just torturing him before. But now that she had started to scream, that was a problem. When they entered though, the scene before them didn’t make much sense, she was trying to do chest compressions on the unresponsive man. If she was torturing him though, why would she care about it ? Did they need this man to be alive again ? The idiots didn’t know since they were from the bomber crew who had rigged Paris to blow, not the head team in here, as they now changed shifts and were guarding the bombs. Before going out the head crew had told them to watch the masked man and tell them immediately, since Hawkmoth had done nothing at that point though, the bombers were just relaxing, watching the boss -Powered up Joker- ruin the city. 

 

Suddenly Hawkmoth woke up and started to moan in agony, making the two idiots look at each other in clear confusement since they didn’t know what to do. Harlet took control once again while strapping on the mans chest, checking his pupils and grunting with dislike “Come on Mr. Butterfly! You need to stay awake or mister J is gonna be super duper mad at me!” She started to slap him for a while but when that didn’t do anything either she decided to bite the bullet and started to give him mouth to mouth. Of course, the reason he was suffocating had nothing to do with his earlier bizarre illness, it was because of the woman that was sitting right on top of his chest, pressing on to him more and more with anxiety and not helping at all. 

The other two in the room didn’t know what to say about the encounter or if they should even talk about it in the first place. Yeah sure, Harley was Joker’s squeeze and no one with two brain cells would even flirt with her because of it, at least from their organization. But the butterfly was definitely not from their organization, did that change things then ? 

 

Unfortunately, they didn’t find the answers to their questions as they were busy kissing the ground with a concussion after a single second of hearing a shuffle. 

 

Zatanna, Dick and Damian (Who was a normal human at this point and not a rabbit) find the warehouse Joker was using rather easily, Zatanna pointed at the north side of the building, saying there was an entresol, Hawkmoth was in there and not alone. Damian did the next part faster than Zatanna’s magic and surveyed the room, three assailants, two unknown male and one Harley Quinn from the squeaky voice, all armed on top of another man that was making their detective vision blurry for some reason. 

“There are about twenty people around the building.” Said Nightwing, checking the surrounding area of the building and the other apartments just in case. “I say, we go in silently and capture our little moth, question him on what is going on and then move on from there.” The other two had agreed and Zatanna opened a portal in front of them to jump down. It had sent them straight down to the security room of the warehouse which was empty and all the cameras were closed off. Of course Joker wouldn’t care about an adequate surveillance system, being all chaos driven and what not. 

 

They opened the door slowly, Zatanna made a spell about making them invisible and then they started their short journey towards the big room where the Joker’s goons were hiding Hawkmoth, the door was open fully as the two aforementioned bad guys had left it like that while getting in the room because of Harley’s screams. Which is why, all it took for Nightwing and Damian to drop the two goons was just a good conk to the head. Harley, still unaware of the world that goes around her was still trying to wake Hawkmoth via mouth to mouth while sucking some air from time to time herself. 

 

Nightwing, now out of their invisibility spell, took out one of his batons from his back and charged to full, she didn’t even seem to hear it as the only reaction Harley gave was yelling loudly to ‘Lower the damn TV’. That was, of course, until the brightly shining baton’s tip had come in her eye side as the rest of it creeped up her shoulder. “Shhh.” Whispered Nightwing to her ear while slowly grabbing her midsection. “If you scream, 50,000 volts will be hitting your head.” To his words she made a condescending noise and told him that 50.000 volt was for executing children and wouldn’t do anything to her. 

To her answer, Nightwing changed his target place from her forehead to the top of her head “But it can still burn all your hair easily.” He said and she changed her attitude real quick this time. After all, who would want to be bald near Joker who hated them all and called them names. She didn’t want to be called Lex Luthor while they were sleeping! 

 

He slowly raised her from the Hawkmoth and the man let out a huge sigh of relief with the women out of his chest cavity. He even tried to get up but both Damian and Zatanna were fast enough to point at his mouth with two projectile swords. Damian, who was  still angry at Zatanna till now, thought the act of her making a sword for him was a good enough apology. 

 

While that was happening Nightwing had already taken a pair of handcuffs and put it on Harley's hands. He wished he had a muzzler too, something they used to keep the felons silent, but unfortunately he had left his muzzler at home because they usually didn’t use them that much (Head traumas and or knock offs are also a good way to keep criminals silent after all). 

 

He finally settles on a dirty rag he found in one of the cans around the room and tied it around Harley’s mouth, under her, really pissed off gaze. “Now” He started to rise from his crouched position when he finally cuffed Harley’s leg to a radiator pipe, “Mister Moth, you have some explanation to do.” 

Chapter 19: Winging In Paris - A City That Always Smiles -6

Summary:

His son… Poor Adrien. He knew he was distant with him, he was doing it in order to protect him, keeping his distance from the boy so he wouldn't be caught in the crossfire, so he can forget about his father faster if necessary, so he can focus on the future instead stucking in the past like himself. He would gladly kill for his son, his one and only precious gift from Emilie, if Adrien wasn’t there when it all happened he’d be on a high enough bridge already. No… his son cannot learn his identity, not like this, not when Gabriel is too far from his goal. Not when he can’t make amends. 

Notes:

So far in my plans, I'mma make two more parts for this arc, then it will continue in other ways. Also, I don't know shit about explosives plz don't bully :(

Other then that though, have a nice day/ night and I hope you a fly free night!

In their almost a year old time as superheroes, Chat thought he had seen almost everything. Of course, the only reason he is saying this is because Hawkmoth’s inconsistent villain schedule as it sometimes gives them nightmarish foes and at other times another mister Pigeon. 

 

In their time, he had seen, smelled and (unfortunately) even tasted some of the worse things their villains threw their way, he had heard their victims talk crazy, try to kiss them, stop being themselves or even try to set them on fire. It was kinda normal to Expect to be honest. After all, understanding that they are the best duo there ever is, and his chance at success is in triple digits downwards, Hawky usually ‘tells’ his victims to not be alone, gives them powers to numerically be the superior. 

 

Of course there were exceptions, and those exceptions usually hurted the next day. But this was a first for him, Joker, or in his new form that made him look like an orange loving cowboy with a tornado around him that shot people with his hands and called himself ‘Pandemonium’ (Real original there mister J!) was doing the opposite of gathering force. The people he shot would start to hysterically scream, laugh, run, hit things or harm themself. Needless to say, he had never seen something this disturbing and he even once watched Attack on Titans with Marinette, he was scared back then, he was terrified right now. 

 

Speaking of the beautiful girls in his life that he enjoys spending time with, Ladybug was not much of a different state then him, even still, she was holding herself much better as her focus was mainly on the 5 meters tall man that was sprinting down a street at the moment, somehow making even the parked cars scream and act out in panic. 

 

They were trying to save people before confronting him, at least that was the initial plan which was terminated after the first victim they tried to save struggled to eat Chat’s face off. The victims were clearly too unpredictable to be safely evacuated, they needed to capture Joker’s attention, drove him to the same place quieter and then waited for Nightwing to give go ahead. Nothing really, just another casual Friday for them. 

 

“See his wrists ?” Asked Ladybug and woken him up from his thoughts, she was using her yoyo as a binoculars and zooming on the Joker’s costume. Like he said before, Joker was wearing a two piece suit which was made up from a mixture of Black and Orange, a disgusting combination if you asked him. He also had a trench coat on him that was open all the way and also was barely hanging by his extended arms, so much so it looked like the neck part was touching the waist. He had a type of bolero hat on top of his head with two Joker carts sticking from the band of it. His footwear was -Surprise Surprise- also were made to complete the cowboy look, with spurs at the back that turned more like chainsaw than anything else, leaving marks at the ground while also creating small sized tornadoes around the man. There was a cloud-like substance coming out of his wrists that scoured the area frantically till they found a victim and stuck to it. Making the person convulse for a second and then become another one of Joker’s playthings. 

 

“I see it my lady.” Said Chat while jumping to the next building, you wouldn’t believe how fast a five meter tall cowboy juiced with magic could run. “You think the akuma is in there ?” He asked, already not believing in it if he had to be honest. After all, it looked too obvious, one of the patterns they had started to realize after fighting against Hawkmoth for so long was that he never made it this easy when it comes to making actually strong villains. 

 

He might not be having a say in it (Just a hunch because of the costume color scheme, it was worse than Hawkys normal ones) but this also meant he wasn’t allowed to slack off, a worse food for thought at their current predicament. 

 

“No, I don’t think so.” Said Ladybug when she landed right next to him, the vapor- cloud-thingy was coming out of his boots and mouth too after all. So, in short, unless he had like a machine for making sentient clouds that strapped around his chest, it was probably one of those non-weaponized Akumas, ones that are usually the hardest to deal with. 

 

“Well, whatever it is, it affects the civilians.” Said Chat while aiming with his baton to a car that was closing the road for a few civilians that were trying to get out of harm's way, with one thought his baton expanded quickly and pushed the car in one go with the momentum. “Maybe we need a really big fan, my lady ?” Might not be one of his best jokes, but he was in a super stressful situation right now, cut him some slack. 

 

Ladybug smiled a little to his lame joke, in such a short time (As in a couple of weeks) her life was upside down, first she learned that there was much more to being a hero then a costume from one of the best ones out there, now she is fighting one of the worst human beings in all of humanity and she can’t even swing once. But, at least Chat was still the same, still the goofball sunshine that's been with her since the beginning. 

 

She felt the tears in her cheeks only when Chat touched her shoulder with a worried expression written all over his face “Ladybug are yo-” before he could even finish his sentence Ladybug stopped him with her finger while clearing her cheeks swiftly. Not now, they were on the mission. “Later” She said while inhaling sharply in order to stop the fresh tears that were about to spew from her eyes. “I don’t even think a giant Fan can stop him since all of his moves so far were on civilians trying to run away.” She said and just as in que, someone cried from one of the buildings in agony. “Imagine what that vapor looked like if he was giving his all.” 

 

‘True’ Thought Chat while looking for anything that could help them. He had one idea though, If the Joker in front of them was made out of clouds maybe they could freeze it. Of course a plan such as this would be extremely dangerous, but then again, all of their plans usually involve some risks. “ How about freezing him, my Lady ?” He asked and then started to explain his points when he saw the slightly confused and mostly terrified look on her face. 

 

It wasn’t a bad idea, after all, this way they wouldn’t need to detransform him, meaning whatever that would happen in case he was injured wouldn’t happen right ? 

 

Okay that was a big stretch, but honestly, if they didn’t do anything quickly, there wouldn’t be a city to save soon. “We can meet with Nightwing or Kidd, we know they have some of those ‘Super Cooling Pills’ or whatever Nightwing called them.” Said Ladybug and threw her yoyo to a street lamb “But before we even think about that we need to steer him away” With her words, a lightbulb blurred its brilliant dome shaped head in Chat’s mind “Eiffel Tower. It’s always the first place to be emptied, no dumdum villain thinks it's disadvantageous to fight in an open area and also they always want a monumental palace to end us right ?” 

 

To his words Ladybug nodded slowly, it was true, almost all of their villains were trying to take them down in Eiffel, the poor tower being abused for too long. “Then it’s settled.” She said and moved down to the street lamb which shook slightly with her weight. “HEY!” She yelled towards Joker and unsurprisingly (Or rather surprisingly since he was laughing like a maniac) he heard her immediately and turned towards the lamb she was perched on top of. 

 

At first he had a surprised look on his face, like Joker was trying to remember who she was. To be honest, he didn’t even remember his own name at the moment he was having such a blast! Thankfully, his brain started working again mostly through irritation, no one should be stopping his fun and live to eat again after all. He remembered the photos, she was  one of the rookies that Firstborn was here to train. Hawky had told him to not mess with them and just focus on the Nightwing, which only meant more opportunity if you asked Joker. 

 

He bowed down extravagantly, one foot crossing the other while his left hand opened up fully. “Hello young Lady!” He said through the screams of the city “As you can see, I’m having a bit of fun for myself in here, now would you be a dear and come give me your powerup. Pretty please?” His grin that showed all of his teeth didn’t seem to be working on the girl. ‘Huh’ He thought, ‘She must be one of the boring sane ones, ugh. I’m sure she takes out her trash to the dumpster like a good citizen’ The last line of thought actually made him cringe internally, everyone knows the most fun way to get rid of the trash is to dump it to the nearest river while his legs are cemented down. It’s the most fun method of doing a chore god dammit! 

 

“Sorry pal, but you are way too creepy for those moves to be effective” Said Chat landing down to the lamb that Ladybug was standing on, swinging his tail in his hand lazily. 

 

To his words Joker let out an exhausted sigh before the small sized storm around him picked up and got stronger “Well, I wasn’t going to kill you if you did give me your wonders as to make my one good deed of the year for christmas. But thanks to you, it seems I’m getting coal this year too!” The storm picked up even more and both Ladybug and Chat started to run away from the area with Joker slowly but persistently flying behind them, screaming and laughing towards them while trying to catch them with his new powers. 

 

***

 

Crack

 

She didn’t answer him the first two times, but the third time did the trick and Harley, while crying over her broken toe started to talk. “You assole! Do you know how long it takes to manicure a broken nail like that!” Nightwing, not caring for her useless jabber, hit her toe again with his stick and this time let it sit there, electrocuting the woman. 

 

“TALK!” He yelled while the others watched him, contemplating his brutal methods but not stopping him. Hawk Moth still had his cement boots on while his hands were cuffed behind his back, he told them everything, how it was his plan to cover the city with the bombs, how Joker had altered it and how he couldn’t turn him back. He even gave them a map of the city with the point of interest marked as evidence, even though it was useless since they didn’t show where Joker’s man had planted the bombs. Though regardless, Nightwing had taken the map and hid it in one of the compartments under his wrist. 

 

Zatanna had tried to force a confession out of both the goons and Harley herself, but it didn't work unfortunately. Since the magic was specifically making them not lie, it didn’t mean they couldn’t change the subject entirely though. Since all who worked with Joker knew it was better to not die than take a beating all they get out of the goons were: Why is the government made out of alien kangaroos, the 9/11 being a commercial lie and lastly, how Zatanna was hot as a Dutch oven/Bugatti or a leather chair… Nightwing didn’t even want to know the last one.

 

“He didn’t make any maps or nothin Birdy boy! The only way to find bombs is by finding the dumbasses guarding them.” She put her tongue out afterwards as a last way of defiance. Although that defiance died down pretty quickly when Zatanna came down and made a spell to heal her broken toe and other injuries that Nightwing had caused in order to make her talk while Harley just looked at her in amazement “She is telling the truth, Wing. I’m gonna get her to a police station, before coming back for the rest, tell me if you find anything.” She was about to make the spell when Robin stopped her by holding her shoulder “Don’t take the others, Just her and Moth, wait with them till you hear from us again.” She thought about turning the boy into a squirrel this time, whenever he opens his mouth and talks in that condescending tone it was like nails on a chalkboard for her. She still remembered the first time she had met with Dick, he was a good leader and a warm friend, so much so she never believed the rest when they talked about him being super cold at the start. That is until she had seen it with her own eyes, the time Deathstroke made his debut as the man who will be killing Bruce Wayne. 

 

She had never seen Dick more serious, more in focus and more dominating. It was the Batman effect she guessed, whichever child of Bruce she sees, they always act like goofballs around good company till the things get serious, then they are the least approachable people to be around a hundred miles away. Except this one, this one seemed like a dickhead from the get go. ‘No, that's not entirely true…’ She was being unfair, she saw him hold back when he was a bunny, not attacking her and only trying to run away when Dick aggressively petted him. So maybe, under all that dark and gloomy mask, there was a person to be redeemed. 

 

She sighed and nodded, she wasn’t a good detective like them, and usually a magic of ‘What happened here’ Would mean for her to fall to the ground with a headache because ‘You can’t pry with fate changing actions’ or whatever. Ugh magician rules were so boring sometimes. 

 

“WAIT!” Yelled Hawkmoth and gathered everyone's attention “Let me go and I’ll tell you an easier way to find them.” Dick squinted at the man before Rabin told him no and pointed his sword at the man's throat “You are lucky to be still breathing, don’t force it now.” 

 

Hawk moth fearlessly moved closer to the sword till it hit his costume and then dug deeper in his throat, the moment he stopped was when the blade was starting to tap into his breathing tube, too close for comfort for many people, superpowered or not, he was not most people. “Kill me and the city will blow up, keep me prisoned, and I turn him back to normal, I'll let you guess what will happen in that case.” He said with genuine hatred in his eyes. “I want you to kill him, and I will even help you in that case, but if you are hellbent on capturing me that is something I won’t let you do.” 

 

His last words were directly targeting Nightwing who was in a staring contest with the villain. His position was a hard one and he needed to play his cards right “You can’t.” He said simply while putting away his escrima sticks back and folding his arms “If those bombs are indeed blown up, you will lose something far more important to you then even the miraculouses. Otherwise you wouldn’t even consider surrendering in the first place.” 

 

Hawk moth seemed a bit taken back at first as he literally took a step back, away from the blade still trying to cut the indestructible fabric, the kid was strong he had to give him that, standing like that, that long and not even lowering your arms? No wonder these were better at saving a megacity than the damn police officers in it. 

 

He thought about what Nightwing had said, he was right of course, he didn’t want his empire, his home or his family to be destroyed in the middle of the night. But then again, he could make arrangements: 

 

His empire, the Agreste tower and the factories in and around Paris. He had more stocks than he cared for, the buildings were just lifeless, concrete prisons, the people finding life in them even less. Also he wasn’t even that old, he could handle working everywhere when he needed to. 

 

His home was one of the only things left from his father whom he had never liked that much, it was made to suck out people’s soul, creativity, will… everything. It meant just a place to hide for him. To be away from prying eyes, he can also do this in hotels. 

 

His family, he could always hire another security guard, pay them extra to be nice to his son too if Adrien were to feel sad. Natalie… Natalie was his one and only friend in this world, he wanted her to be happy while all she wanted was for him to be happy in turn. The last thing he wanted in this world was her to get harm, but he knew if his identity was to be known she would be hunted and prisoned too, she could fight against it, hide or go away, but considering his wrongs the law would never stop searching for her. He didn’t want to leave her with a burden this big, he was ready to face the consequences for his actions as long as those were his. The last thing Gabriel wanted was to drag his one and only friend through the mud with him. 

 

His son… Poor Adrien. He knew he was distant with him, he was doing it in order to protect him, keeping his distance from the boy so he wouldn't be caught in the crossfire, so he can forget about his father faster if necessary, so he can focus on the future instead stucking in the past like himself. He would gladly kill for his son, his one and only precious gift from Emilie, if Adrien wasn’t there when it all happened he’d be on a high enough bridge already. No… his son cannot learn his identity, not like this, not when Gabriel is too far from his goal. Not when he can’t make amends. 

 

He took a deep breath before starting to talk, the ball was in his court now and he had to play both cautious and fierce. making his moves at the right time in order to mask his true intentions. “You are right.” He said and then pointed at Harley who was pouting at the heroes “These idiots keep something precious to me hostage right now, but if my identity is revealed -Which I know you will try to make it-” He said the last part directly towards Nightwing “Then I lose regardless. Which means if you are still determined to go through with it, I have no reason to stop this mass bombing.” 

 

After his speech he waited, his eyes on equal levels with Nightwings, but unlike his, Hawk Moth’s were calmer, waiting for the next move, preparing for a counter just in case while Nightwing seemed to stare at him with anger. 

 

The next move Dick made was a turning point for Hawk Moth, as he punched the man in the guts hard before kneeing him in the face when Hawk Moth bent down. Hawk had to give it to the man as he was falling to the ground, it hurt like hell and he was almost sure that his upper lips were busted, that is until Nightiwng kneeled in front of him and forcefully opened his mouth. He tried to resist him till the kid  captured his extended arm and twisted behind him, bending him down while Nightwing was still looking to his open mouth, then it hit Hawkmoth ‘Blood, he is looking for blood so he can identify me later’ He quickly closed his mouth with all his force and get a punch from Nightwing again. 

 

“D, that’s enough!” Said finally Zatanna and held him back from going in for more. Harley made a hurrah sound and tried to kick them, which only resulted in her kicking the air as the group was away from her position. “Get it together man, you are not the one with the pointy ears!” To Zatanna’s words Dick looked back at her, she was interfering with the interrogation and against someone she had never dealt with before, for a second he thought of reprimanding her but abandoned the idea. She was right, he wasn’t Bruce and he usually didn’t deal with people this way, but this was different dammit! They were against Joker, one of the worst plagues humanity had ever seen and still refused to kill for whatever reason. He couldn’t help it, whenever he saw someone dealing with the clown he couldn’t control his anger and he lashed out, choosing the more brutal options out of instinct. 

 

Just like how he dealt with Harley, she was a murderous psychopath, but that didn’t mean he had to get down to her level and treat her just like how her boyfriend does. He took a deep breath before he was about to tell Zatanna that she was right, but then Hawkmoth spoke again in a raspy voice “Your time is running out hero, instead of trying to find me later, shouldn’t you focus on the real threats?” He was smiling even though you could see the pained expression in his eyes, clear as day. Nightwing locked eyes with Robin who was pushing the man once again, he looked back at Nightwing and then looked down two times, he had successfully planted a bug at hawkmoths collar. They had him now. Nightwing nodded a bit and with that Damian let him go. The moment Hawkmoth was free he runned at the neared window and crashed through it. When they were on the window he was already two buildings away, jumping from one rooftop to another still in handcuffs. 

 

“Let’s hope it works.” Said Nightwing while getting back in and getting close to Harley, she was pouting in her corner, cuffed to the radiator by Robin after Nightwing was finished with her and wasn’t even rescued by Hawky! “Hey!” She yelled at him and tried to kick him again which he easily stayed away from her range “If you let ME loose I can also tell you whats the code these meatheads are using!” 

 

Without even looking at her, Nightwing casually said “It’s 19-40.” Definitely and continued to put a gizmo in the teams radio relayer. “What!” Yelled Harley while still trying (And falling) to kick him “How’da hell you know that you birdbrain loser!” To her demand Nightwing turned towards her while Robin moved behind Harley to open her cuffs, he had to cuff her like this because he thought their little talk with Hawk Moth would be longer than that. On the positive side, she tried to grab him and he kicked her in the stomach which led to him relieving some boredom since the idiots around the building didn’t do a good job about it. Small wins. 

 

There was a small smirk on Dick’s face that had been erased for the last few hours, he felt better that it was back to its rightful place. He wasn’t made to be moody. “It’s the first time the Joker, or rather, ‘Red Hood’ figure has been used, as he accepts ‘that’ incident with the origin of the mask itself, he always uses the same date.” She just looked at her with her mouth on the floor, she even didn’t know why Joker insisted on using the same password for everything. 

 

Courage by the way Harley was acting Nightwing turned towards Zatanna and told her to call him instead of meeting with them, even though it was taking a bit of time for feedback to met with every radio that frequence was using, he already knew there was too many bombs to be disabled by one group and he was confident on the people around himself to be able to handle few meatheads. If they needed help with the bombs themself (If Zatanna needed it, Damian knew how to disable 30 different types of it by the age of 10. So was he and the rest of the team… fun childhoods they were living) he could always direct them. 

 

Zatanna nodded to Dick’s idea and then take Harley from the Robin while she was busy cussing them out with great lines like “Dorkwing” Or  “Jokewing” but she did made a coherent sentence at the last second before she was about to be teleported with Zatanna “Wait wait wait! Tell me something before I go to the twilight zone!” Zatanna, while rolling her eyes still stopped, it was the courteous thing to do after all. Even though it was against a mass murderer. “Joker never told me why he was using such stupid code. How did you rodent boys learn about it ?” Before answering her, Nightwing heard a ping and looked at his wrist, Oracle had updated a map of the planted places and there 65 places in total. Which was concerning for so many reasons, the least one for it was the radio signal.He had already made the feedback loop, whenever someone called it it would be down to Oracle who would answer it automatically. 

 

He took a deep breath, it was going to be a long long night it seemed, he couldn’t call for help from outside forces because if any of those goons saw an awesome ‘S’ symbol above them they could trigger a catastrophe, he also couldn’t ask for locals help because they were busy holding off a bigass Joker. 

 

Well, as he always said, the best way to get over in tense situations is to start it with small wins. So he put his softest smile, the one that looked like you are humiliating people while snidely regarding why their entire existence is garbage. He normally didn’t like that one, but then again, he normally didn’t like criminals too. “You see Harley, because if I have to simplify our villains, you and your -still just a boyfriend- would be the missionary position, you have long lost your flavor and still trying to prove a meaningless point on why you aren’t boring. Making yourself even more boring than the other boring ones.” 

 

Harley stopped struggling for a few seconds and tried to digest the words she had just been shot with while Zatanna was trying to hold her laughter. Robin looked between them questioningly, it was a good thing the kid still didn’t know what he was talking about, this way he could just not mention this part to Bruce whenever he would call and ask for updates. 

 

“Oh yeah ?!” Yelled Harley once again while struggling against Zatanna “Well then… you are the hero's version of blow-” Before She could even finish her words Zatanna said “That’s enough” and snapped her fingers, making Harley’s lips disappear and closing her mouth like it was a cartoon. She bid the two heroes goodbye and then disappeared in a tall smoke with Harley. 

 

After she left, Nightwing checked the map Oracle had updated on their interface, also, hearing her snicker silently while on the comms was a small morale boost for him; she hadn't talked since the bridge, just silently listened to them. He knew Joker and anything tied to Joker was still a touchy subject for her, she would still help them of course, it was just that, knowing she gets withdrawn at times like these were hurting him. 

 

He inspected the map, two points closer than the others, both in lower points which probably meant sewer. Of course it had to be sewers. He took a deep breath and told Robin which point he should take and how careful he needed to be, four people or more, with or without guns he was to wait, never break through stealth and most importantly, never close down communication. 

 

Damian nodded along to his words, he wasn’t planning on going rouge anyway. But there was one last thing that kept nibbling back at his head and he needed an answer for it, “Dick.” He said when both of them were out of the warehouse and were next to a manhole. “Why is the missionary position bad ? Isn’t that how you make babies?” 

 

***

Both Ladybug and Chat Noir was running out of fumes at this point, they were at the legs of the Eiffel Tower, the Joker made, hytery spreading tornadoes were all around them and it was really hard to dodge one since something that was around a kilometer tall and moving in a speed of a car would make everyone tired in a short amount of time. 

 

One good thing though, Joker couldn’t move that swiftly, he was still a couple streets away from the park and was just throwing the tornadoes at the heroes. That of course didn’t mean he wasn’t dangerous, the tornadoes were causing havoc while coming towards them, destroying everything in their path. 

 

“Well, we are here M’lady, and I really like a plan of attack right now!” Yelled Chat while using his own baton as a giant fan, trying to blow the winds away, it was kinda working, till the magical tornadoes magically come back that is. “Actually” Yelled back Ladybug, it was getting harder to hear one another in this catastrophe “I am open to try any ideas Chat!” At that moment her yoyo started to ring loudly and when she opened it she saw Nightwing's name on it, she answered the phone immediately while getting behind Chat who happily covered her. Nightwing  sounded like he was running, his voice was raspy and he was breathing fastly. “Ladybug” He started and then stopped to grunt loudly, it sounded like he was lifting something heavy, she heard a metal scraping sound, just what were they doing ? 

 

“Sorry about that.” He said before she heard a splash sound, were they at the river or something ? “I’ll tell you what we found later, Ladybug, but for now, we need you to continue stalling him, if you win, we will be saying goodbye to a good portion of Paris. I will contact you both when all is clear.” With these words Nightwing closed the contact and she closed her eyes to take a deep breath before opening them up to the horrendous situation around her. 

 

“Bad mews I’m guessing ?” Said Chat with a pained smirk on his lips, Ladybug responded with the same one before swinging her yoyo to defend the tower and themself “We need more time Chaton. Unfortunately we can’t win against him right now.” To her words, Chat sighted loudly and then turned around to hug her, it was so sudden she didn’t know what to do, the Joker was close crossing the bridge, there were two tornadoes roaming around them, and she didn’t have a plan to save the day. With a small tear she also hugged him back, raising on her toes to do so properly. “You’ll save the day Ladybug. I know you will.” He said to her ear and just as when they heard Joker’s laughter, he turned around suddenly while bending down and put his baton on her stomach like he just stabbed her, before she knew what to do Chat had already extended the staff to its full capability, launching Ladybug towards Notre Dame. All she could do while moving back from her partner was scream as loudly as she could. 

 

“Well well well, you moved her away just at the right time, kitten.” Said Joker while coming closer to Chat Noir, he didn’t seem to be having any intention of harm by the way of his calm manners. Also he stopped the tornadoes around them with a snap of his finger. Of course, being a juiced up Joker, Chat knew not to trust anything and he wasn’t gonna break out of his guard no matter what. 

 

“Really bad weather around here.” Said Chat, smirking a bit “Didn’t want her hair to be dry and sticky.” Joker laughed at his joke while hitting his knee “Ahh boy. That was a good one.” He said then made a pose like he was slouching with a cane, which would explain the small tornado under his hand that was holding him up actually. He seemed to be thinking, or at least he was mimicking with his other hand under his chin rubbing it extravagantly. 

 

“Alright then boy, it’s been a while since I have fought someone with a sense of humor, the ones in Gotham are what keeps the city dark and gloomy most of the days I swear.” Joker rolled his eyes after that sentence “You know what boy ? Just because you showed me your skills in banter, I’ll give you a chance. Tell me what special power you have and I might not kill you!” Even in his -fake as hell- chipper pitch, Chat could easily understand he wasn’t going to let him go easily, but still, if he kept him talking Joker might waste more time than he realized. So, with new found vigor, Chat relaxed his guarded position, leaning on his baton just like Joker was doing, still holding the staff under his thumb in case he needed to suddenly raise up swiftly. 

 

“Alright then Mister, let’s see…” While he was making a conversation in his head he was only hoping Ladybug wasn’t coming back. Not until Nightwing contacted him, he heard clearly that he would be calling, his ears were sharp enough to make that out and not just imagine it… God he hoped whatever Nightwing was doing he'd inform him too. He really didn’t want to be under this lunatic's thumb. 

 

***

 

“STUPID… DUMBASS… CHAT!!!” She yelled out loud as she kicked Notre Dame's empty rooftop. God she hated him. Him and his obsession about being the sacrificial lamb! Why did he have to throw himself in front of her every time! Why doesn’t he care about his life at all but does everything to save hers ?! 

 

Of course, when she demands an answer from him, time after time, he always gets the default ‘CuZ YoU cAn fiX it LaTeR’ excuse. And what if she can’t god dammit! They are a team, they work great together but why in the hell does he have to throw his life away at the first sight of real struggle like it has no value ? Also, he continues to use that stupid-ass excuse even against her civilian part, you are not Superman or Batman or whoever that is bulletproof in the League and- and she isn’t Wonder Woman, who always gets back up to fight more. She isn’t… She isn’t a good hero, but why does he always think like she is and throw himself into danger ?

 

Her eyes were burning when she swung towards the building because of the air (And her somewhat longer than she would normally allow hair) hitting her face, right now her eyes and her face were burning from the anger she felt towards Chat, the tears that followed were burning her soul more than anything. She was crying yet again. She was being weak in her own eyes. Not emotionally stable. At first she thought it was because of the combination of things these last few weeks. Fighting crime, trying to be a normal teenager, being mentored by a real hero from Gotham and then fighting against a total psychopath. But then she realized that this wasn’t it. 

 

She had fought against Hawkmoth more times than she wanted to count, she always tried to find a way to balance her normal life with the abnormal one and she had been teached by Fu even though it was relatively short. She had done all of that but right now something was different, she didn’t know what it was but there was something that was holding her back… She needed to figure it out and fast because she was going back to Chat, if they are going to be captured, they are going to be captured together dammit. She needed to be the grown up one of the duo and if necessary drill to his head that her life is not more important than his is. 

 

***

 

“HOLY SHI-” Before the one person in the group without a receding hairline spoke up, Nightwing kicked his knee and made the man tumble down to the dirty sewer water he himself was hiding just moments ago. 

 

The others were already done as he had thrown two cryo bombs at them and both of the men were standing still in a block of ice, only capable of moving their eyes at him. He quickly got the one man in the sewer water and punched him so hard the sound echoed around the tunnel. Nightwing quickly turned to the other two that were watching him with fear, kept hold of their head and with all his might pushed it towards each other knocking both men to the ground. He then quickly searched the three, two of them had pistols and the idiot that took a good bath had a knife. None of them had a remote controller for the bombs they were protecting. He looked around himself just to be sure, there were two boats full of barrels that were ducked to a piece of metal floating on the water, all the walls were covered in barrels and barrels of explosives. He opened his detective vision just to be sure and just as he expected, all of the barrels were almost full of Nitra. Joker’s favorite. 

 

He took a deep breath after carefully handcuffing the three dumdums to both each other and a rather large pipe line he found and he sat down to the main bomb in the corner. The system was an easy one, you punch the code down, it counts down to one or two minutes (Depending on how smart the goons are) and voila! You can destroy some buildings and bury several blocks down to the sewers. 

 

good news though, it seemed Joker needed to have some cut backs because the barrels weren’t planted with dynamite or what nots. No, the cables protruding from the main mechanism were going directly towards the barrel's mouth and inside. Probably to ignite the nitra electrically this way. He thanked his lucky star and quickly froze the cables before breaking them, just in case he didn’t want to yank them down. 

 

Not long after he was done, Robin spoke in his ear “Three goons, two armed, bombs were connected with cables, cutted down the cables.” Nightwing affirmed the kid's call and started to run for the next one while calling Zatanna. She opened the communicator after four rings which worried him initially till she said she had to wrestle with Harley for a while. “I told the police the location of the warehouse. The captain said he’ll just arrest the gangsters and promised to not touch anything else.” Now these words come like warm water to him, hopefully his trust wouldn’t turn around and hurt them badly. “Good, I’m giving you a few of the bombing locations, these are far away from us, once you infiltrate there, quickly knock off the perps and disable the bombs.” He stopped for a second while breathing heavily, he was getting old if he was getting breathless just by simply running and talking. “I’ll send you a picture of the bombs that we found, if it’s the same type, just cut the cables a little far up and that's it, don’t yank them though, just in case!” 

 

He turned a corner and tried to text a message, it was a hard thing to do especially in a damp, moist disgustingly smelly place like the sewers. If his ‘job’ didn’t basically make him a cave dweller, he was sure he would be in tears right now. He saw his next target, still the same setup, three idiots and one mechanism for the bombs. He used the same tactic as before, slowly getting down from the sidewalk and into the putrid water, swimming slowly till he got close enough and threw a cryo bomb at the perps. He was luckier this time as this time all three decided to play cards it seemed and was caught in the blast radius. 

 

You might think with what they have to protect they’d be on high alarm, but -At least to Nightwing assumption- this was an impossible task while in the sewer itself, think about it, if you are lucky you are next to one corner, all around you you hear dripping noises, rats and bugs are crawling everywhere and even the sound of your breath echoes around you, how can you stay alarmed, getting your sensors bombarded every second, without going mad ? 

 

Oh wait, they are all probably mad or crazy anyway since they are working with Joker… In that case, maybe the disgusting sounds and creepy atmosphere just felt like home to them which made them relax. Who cares, they were careless and Nightwing beat em up like Donkey Kong bongos in 10 seconds flat and defused the bombs in another ten. 

 

He was in the process of tying up the idiots with their own clothes, honestly, if he knew this night would turn like this, he’d be bringing all of his cable ties. Just when he was about to finish it, his communicator rang once and he immediately opened it, waiting to hear Zatanna’s voice. 

 

“Hey wing.” She said and it almost blew His earpiece off, it was definitely her voice, he wouldn’t mistake it, but it was echoing so loudly, he thought there were ten of her or something. “Girls hush!” She said loudly and then Nightwing heard a group of giggling, apologizing or scuffling people with exactly Zatanna’s voice. What ? 

 

“So… firstly, I defused the bomb and threw the goons to the nearest jail. probably… Like I’m 95% sure I did mean.” There was more booing and cheering after those words which absolutely did nothing to Nightwing’s beating chest. Zatanna was known to be reckless at times, especially when it involved making something monotonous. He stopped her hushing the other ‘girls’ and asked her plainly what was on her mind. “Oh you see, I thought since it was such an easy job this one, why don’t I just make 60 of myself for the rest of the bomb and then defuse all of them simultaneously? So yes I made 60 copies of myself.” 

 

Even in her cheery voice he could hear her doubt, it was dangerous on so, so many levels, but they were also running out of time, he had no idea what was going on with the Parisian duo either, if he had to guess, they were at least close to be done too. With not much choice in his hand Nightwing closed eyes and said a silent prayer. “ I’ll send you the coordinates, just be sure that the copies can take out the goons swiftly, otherwise we are doomed.” 

Chapter 20: Winging In Paris - A City That Always Smiles -Final

Summary:

“STOP!” She finally yelled with all her might, like she had to break all her barriers to do so “Stop hurting him! It’s his rin-” Before she could even finish her sentence both Ladybug and Joker heard a sharp ‘Tzzp’ sound and not a second too soon something heavy fell to Joker’s head.

Notes:

Sorry about the - even more than- long wait, I had a medical emergency and couldn’t write for like two days. Anyways, I’m back now and I want to thank you all for reading my story :)

Chat needed a vacation after this. Not because Joker was hard to fight… Well, yes he was hard to fight true. But the real reason was because of the amount of jokes he heard. Now, normally he loves to fight with some banter thrown in there, unfortunately, Akumas, usually being angry to point of attempted murder on the spot, doesn’t really give him that much come back, he was always the annoying one not the strict one, that one is almost always reserved for his lady but man fighting joker was something else entirely. Not because the jokes were funny and it was making him uncontrollably laugh out loud, it was the opposite, they were horrifying! 

 

Not like his clever and admittedly cringe-y at times puns, but genuinely terrifying scenarios. 

 

“What’s the matter Kitty? You were getting good with the banters, did your owner beat your head in with a puppy or something?” Joker jumped up and came down with a chop kick, trying to hit Chat, only damaging the pavement. He was laughing like a… Well, like himself to his own joke and was getting ready to attack him with his weird tornado arms again. Now these ones were a bit harder to dodge than the physical attacks since even Chat was having a hard time running away from the gust of winds that was attacking him from all around. 

 

Thankfully, it seemed like the Joker was also getting tired because his magical power had so far touched him twice and other than making him completely immobilize for a second and showing him some of his worst nightmares, their effects seemed to be dissipating quickly without continuous connection. 

 

He was breathing hard, two news helicopters swinging on their heads as they were fighting at the bottom of the Eiffel, Chat was just hoping that whoever was reporting the news to whomever listening now, they would stay at a safe distance. He really couldn’t deal with them right now. 

 

When the small but quick tornadoes started close in the distance, Chat started to climb to Eiffel. He had a plan about it, but he had to admit this plan was pretty much left to luck, a subject that he always had a problem with. He turned around when he could and loudly announced that Joker’s new costume looked like a knock off version of Deathstroke's, making the clown take a deep look at himself and start to climb right behind him while hurling swears, insults and even more horrifying scenarios like “When I get my hands on you, I’ll turn your skin into my personal toilet paper you damned brat!” 

 

It was a hard climb, with the lunatic that seemed to want to eat him right behind, dodging delusion inducing tornadoes and the trash they bring with them to his level, he was having a bad bad time. When he finally came to the top he almost dropped to his knees trying to breathe out. He was a good enough distraction so far if he had to tut his own horn a little. But when he finally saw Joker directly standing in front of him with an shit eating grin plastered on his lips he realized where he went wrong. Right behind Joker, between the iron bars and the city down below, there were six tornadoes, swirling around him, closing all of the exit routes he was planning and keeping him in with the man himself. On top of the tower. 

 

Joker, while breathing heavily, reached out with his left hand slowly “The game ends here boyo, it was fun though, so just give me your power thingy and I’ll make you a laughing one instead of the face-tearing one.” 

 

Chat thought about his options, which there were not many of, he was planning to escape before, buying some time that way, but it was clear that he couldn’t do it now with what seems like the whole atmosphere swirling wildly around him. If he stayed and fought though, Joker still had the advantage as he could just easily drive all those tornadoes on him, leaving him no space to attack effectively. There was one last thing he could do, but it required Joker to be right next to him and literally not move. It was super dangerous, but it was also the only way. 

 

He slowly closed his baton and put it back to its holster before slowly raising his hands “Okay Joker.” He said slowly and then started to get down to his knees “I will give you my miraculous, but you need to be closer to me in order to catch it. Otherwise it will fly away and find someone else.” 

 

Joker, upon receiving this information moved back further than coming close. “Boy you really need to work on your speeches, like, that was obviously a trap. Like, are you thinking because I’m an unhinged psychopathic maniac, I don’t use this brilliant and ‘magnefic’ brain of min-” Before Joker could even finish his words Chat had already took out the extinguisher right next to his leg harshly and started to spray the clown till he was coughing hard on the ground, Chat knew he didn’t have a lot of time, so he run at the man fastly and after hitting his head with the extinguishers blunt side two times, hugged him tightly and whispered one of his favorite words while touching to the metallic platform “Cataclysm.” 

 

***

 

Gabriel was in his house, in front of a television he rarely ever used, still in his Hawk Moth costume with a pissed off look plastered on his face. He was watching the grim news while contemplating to just say ‘fuck it’ and take Joker’s powers back. Both Nathalie and Gorilla were in the gardens, searching for secret bombs or any kind of other contractions, while he was left to contemplate on his own actions. 

 

At least Adrien was in his room sleeping soundly. The boy's safety was important to him on so many levels, much more than even he realized at first. If Natalie hadn’t stopped him he was about to barge in the room in his Hawk Moth costume. 

 

He took a deep breath and buried his face in his palms while watching Chat Noir destroy the Eiffel Tower in order to slow Joker down. He had no sympathy for the kids, two brats in their own hero fantasy, always coming up with an absurd way to stop him and his dreams. Always blocking his goals. And he couldn’t do nothing as these two brats were cleaning after his mess while he was in his very own timeout corner. 

 

***

 

‘What did you do Chat!’ She thought as she tried to fasten up, the clever cat knew there weren't so many higher buildings in the direction of The Notre Dame. After all, even though the yoyo is magical, the physics aren’t and she still either uses it like a grapple hook or needs space to swing and let go. ‘Which is a hard thing to do from two floor houses!’ She was clenching her teeth from the anger, she just couldn’t wait to get her hands on that stupid cat and his stupid suicidal tendencies! 

 

‘For the good of your bones, Eiffel better be an accident’ She was close to Les Invalides, close to fighting, just a few more jumps and grapples, then she can join in with him and after they defeat Joker can grill Chat to her heart's content. Now that was a good mindset to have right ? 

 

She jumped once again, swinging through the streets as swiftly as possible, clashing to the outlets in her panicked state, doesn’t matter, she can fix it later after all. She can fix the eiffel too, it was just another object after all, and even if she couldn’t… even if she couldn’t they can always build another one. Especially with today's technology it would be easy, but if something happened to Chat- 

 

While swinging she literally slapped her left cheek in order to wake herself from her own thoughts, this -unfortunately- wouldn’t be the first time she had to get him from the brink of death. But, this time is different, everything is different. They are against a super villain, a psychopath with the powers of an akuma, a strong akuma at that since Hawk Moth, who had cursed this maniac on them didn’t slack off on the design  and made it as powerful as he could be without a miracle to back it up it seems. 

 

So yeah, she had every right to be panicked, but, she was also needed to control her feeling right now, her friend, a friend that never given up on her, someone she could always trust to even share her deepest secrets with if not for the secret identity rule was in danger, she was the closest one to attend to him and she needed to find him, she didn’t even wanted to think of what would happen scenarios, because with her imagination there would be no limit to the horrendous possibilities that would haunt her dreams. 

 

Thankfully she was close, close enough to see two helicopters circling around the crush side, close to the ground but not so much to be in the way it seemed. The tornadoes that were surrounding the monument, thankfully dissipated completely, whatever Chat had done to Joker, it seemed to make him weaker at least. 

 

—

 

Nadja was in one of those helicopters, one hand holding the side door for safety while the other one holding her earpiece, trying to cover the microphone from the overwhelming sound of the machine even for a little. 

 

She was yelling loudly about what they had seen; About how Chat Noir jumped to the man, pushed him down and then destroyed the tower while they were on top of it. When suddenly the chopper shook violently and both her and the cameraman had to held down with both of their hands, Nadja’s hair going all around her face because of the sudden shift of the gyroplane, while she is trying to comprehend what was happening the other chopper’s light suddenly hit them, the pilot let out an expletive while telling the other to not do that again. 

 

Just as it came, the light was gone and Nadja was hoping the pilot’s foul mouth hadn’t been caught on live TV, for his sake at least. “Nadja.” With the voice coming over from her earpiece, she calmed herself once again, although the other chopper still flying close to them was concerning her with every passing second. “It seems like there is a guest on your helicopter’s leg at the moment.” Both Nadja and her camera man Alex looked at each other baffled, was that sudden shake because of this uninvited guest ? And more importantly, who was that guest ? 

 

Her usual optimism was unfortunately snuffed out with the current state of, both Paris and herself in so she was thinking of the worse, and at the moment, the worse was just under that pile of metal bars. She gulped loudly, trying to clear her head and *NOT* try to look out of the chopper. It was much more dangerous than she wanted to test it out right now. Thankfully the host came in just at the right time and said “Ladybug seems to be back in action! She is currently under our reporter Nadja Chamack’s helicopter, scanning the remaining rubble which was once the Eiffel Tower.” 

 

Those words were like literal warm water for her heart, making it relax and stop beating so hard, she took a deep breath with it too and once again touched her earpiece while the choppers continued to shed light to the ground and circle the demolished statue. 

 

—

 

Ladybug was searching the ground with her yoyo, using it as binoculars, the lightning from the two helicopters helped her tremendously to be honest, even though one of them almost blinded her alongside the pilot and the reporters inside it seemed. But thankfully the other chopper was quick to lower their light back to ground once again. The real problem was that she couldn’t find Chat even from up here. She had no problem going down to the ground level and continued the search, except she didn’t have time to do all of that, Chat had already used his ability and that was two minutes ago, she didn’t have the time to do a through research down there right now, his identity was in danger, all assuming the clown ( Who was beneath the rubble with Chat ) hadn’t already found him and took his ring that is. 

 

In a, blink-and-you-missed-it moment she saw some of the debris move from the corner of her eye and immediately jumped down from the helicopter to the ground, she used her yoyo on the chopper one last time in order to slow down her descend and the softly touched the ground. One second, she had evaded her eyes for just one second in front of the debris in order to look up and retrieve her yoyo but the moment she looked back a horrifying scene welcomed her vision. 

 

Joker, trying to get his jammed foot beneath a pile of metal, one hand trying to yank the leg, the other holding an unconscious Chat from his throat, tightening up from time to time and shaking his body like a ragdoll. Until Joker looked up to her she didn’t even realize that she had yelled his name out loud, she was about to run up to him too till she saw his eyes opening up in a rush and he let such a blood curdling scream it immediately made Ladybug stop with the shock of it. Following the scream Joker dropped the blonde boy and started to cackle like a hyena, his right hand, the one that was holding the boy just a second ago, moved to his left eye, she released that it was bruised, even in his akumatized state, one of the metal bars might have landed on his face.

 

She tried to take a step closer, all her senses enhanced, ready for a fight. The moment she did take the step Joker stopped his laughter and then raised his left hand, a slow cloud started to rise up, but instead of moving towards her it started to circle around Chat who seemed to be in a state of coma, eyes open with no emotions, looking to the ground while kneeled down. 

 

The loveable guy she had been friends with for well over a year now, a guy that had a gold bar for heart. He’d make her feel secure and brave even in the most dire situations, and now he was kneeling on the ground, next to the worst plague ever unleashed on this world, and she couldn’t even help him get to safety. Anger was swelling inside of her, an anger she hadn't felt since the first time Lila had made horrendous accusations about her.But this time it felt different, normally she had an absurd levels of patience and control over her emotions, it was needed when your villain is exploiting people with negative emotions after all. But right now she just wanted to rip Joker’s head off clear from his shoulders. 

 

“Now, now little lady.” She looked up from Chat to Joker when he started to talk “This little minx here almost killed me! Can you believe that ?!” He held Chat’s left cheek and started to squeeze and pull, and while Chat still held no emotion on his face, she could clearly see the redding around the part Joker was holding. 

 

“I’d say.” Joker let go of Chat’s cheek finally and cleared his hand with his jacket, “Doing something so heinous needs to be punished, don’t you think so too little lady ?”

 

The cloud around Chat started to swirl faster and Chat started to cry while holding his head, every teardrop from his eyes made Ladybug more angry, fueling her hatred more. The only thing that was holding her from attacking right now was the small voice behind her head that was telling her to wait for it. A voice that sounded like a mixture between Chat and Tikki. If she attacked him right now she was sure she could kill him, but that wouldn’t solve anything, it would endanger the city even more. Finally she dropped her yoyo to the ground and yelled at Joker to stop torturing Chat. 

 

With a shit eating grin he did stop his attacks, Chat stayed still on the ground but at least he wasn’t crying anymore, even though Joker was still holding the clouds around the teenager like a leash. “Now then.” He finally said, the spotlights were on him (Literally) “Since you look like you are really constipated, I’ll keep it short lady, I want both of yours powers. This little one didn’t really give me an answer.Though, to be honest, I did more hurting than asking under this metal hell, but that's beside the point.” He laughed at his own joke before pointing at her “Now, please do tell me, how do I get your magical items ?” 

 

***

 

Dick was waiting. He hated waiting. He hated waiting idle even more. He needed to do something, move around, jump between some obstacle, hell he was fine with even just reading too. But he hated just staying put, he was on top of a rooftop, waiting for Damian to come so they could both wait for Zatanna to finish the job. The job that requires you to be fast and agile in order to not alert anyone. A job where the risks are too great. He wasn’t designed for this, he was made for the action, he was the man on the front lines. He was a good leader a few times, but that's because he was still in the thick of it, he was still useful in the battlefield. He was never good as a general, always the one sticking to the captain when soldiers were one too many already. 

 

Needless to say, he was about to lose his goddamn mind at the moment. He was too far away to see the battlefield, smell the smokes and see the destruction around so he could strategize. He was in a place that was too comfortable, which was the thing that was making him uncomfortable. 

 

He took a deep breath and shook his head. He wasn’t helping himself like this, he wasn’t keeping his mind clear too, and he needed to in order to wait for a call that he was hoping to never come. 

 

By his calculations Zatanna and her clones should be getting all the bombs in about five minutes at most, they had already cleared almost half of the city anyway, which was an astonishing feat since she had told him that making even one more of herself would always half her magical powers, making 60 of yourself with powers should mean they were much more close to human then she was letting on. But he also knew her, she was tenacious and she would never give up, especially if it involved innocent civilians. He knew she could do it, he was just hoping that she would have enough energy to move afterwards.

 

Someone moved behind him, slowly drifting the gravels on the rooftop, Dick knew it was Damian, he was just so worried and alerted that the sound automatically made him flinch and he turned around quickly while raising his hands. He saw Damian looking at him with bewilderment. Child knew how much noise he was making, afterall, he wasn’t trying to hide, he just didn’t expect Dick to be this much panicked. 

 

Dick, unaware and far too occupied with the hunting thoughts in his head, just told Damian a quick hello and then turned towards the communicator in his hand once again. Waiting motionlessly and wanting to be anywhere but here. 

 

Damian come next to him and harshly holded his left wrist, for a second Dick didn’t understand what was going on till kid started to press some of the buttons and opened his wrist video feed, after clicking some more buttons he located what he was looking for, the next second a live feed of the fight happening on Eiffel Tower started to play, the reporters were quickly telling what was happening as the cameras were filming Ladybug drop her yoyo to the ground while Joker seemed to be having Chat hostage. 

 

Damian turned towards Richard and lightly tapped his shoulder, made him take his eyes off the feed, automatically cutting the video from his lenses “I know you are worse than me when it comes to waiting, at least strategize when the time comes and we go down there to kick his ass.” 

 

With Damians words Dick stopped for a second and started to calm himself down, kid was right, he needed to be the calmer one, he was the pseudo leader at the moment after all. And him panicking wouldn’t help anyone else. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath like he was trying to choke his anxieties and hugged Damian with one arm while exhaling. “Thanks Dami, I needed that.” 

 

Damian just nodded along, but didn’t say anything else, being under Dick’s arms was comforting enough on its own, you didn’t really need a way to express it. After a few seconds they departed and Dick focused on the live feed once again. His brows almost knitting together under the mask because of the situation, he really wanted to help her, go in there and throw Joker an electrically charged wingding or something else, really anything he was fine with, if he could go down there in order to trade himself with Chat he’d do it in a heartbeat but he knew Joker would never dare to make a trade like that, he can be cautious when he wants to, especially if he can extend the play time in the end. 

 

“It doesn’t look good.” Said Damian right next to him, also watching the live feed, “We might need to go with the contingency plans.” Dick shook his head at the idea, it was still too early to use a tool with so many variables. It might not even work after all. 

 

Suddenly they heard a loud crash behind them and quickly turned towards the noise. It was Zatanna, down on the ground, arms and legs stretched far while she was heaving loudly. Both Damian and Dick rushed towards her in order to check if she was okay and they both stopped abruptly when they saw her face.

 

Once a porcelain white skin with no wrinkles or any other kind of flaws was now so thin her veins were making a labyrinth, her eyes bloodshot and twitchy, like she was trying to keep them open and failing, her nose was bleeding alongside with her mouth, which was a concerning sight to behold even though both bleeds seemed to be stop. Dick immediately kneeled next to her and told Robin to keep her head high, just in case the blood in her nose hadn't stopped and needed to be out. He himself  looked for an ‘Awakener’ in one of his pouches, a mixed adrenaline shot, something they used on unconscious people. 

 

“Wing… stop.” She said slowly and Richard immediately focused on her again “I’ll be okay, too much magic… usage. Bombs are… finished.” She stopped herself and tried to breathe out of her mouth, “Joker.” She said simply,  and absently pointed towards the ruins of once Eiffel Tower, “They need you.” She said simply before trying to get up once again. Dick stopped her, told her to get rest and promised her that he will be helping the heroes as soon as he could. She simply shook her head and then with a broken smile told him to wing up. 

 

He realized what she meant too late as one second he was on top of a random rooftop and the next he was free falling out of the sky. 

 

Turning himself in mid air Dick immediately opened his wings and started to slow down, his communicator came to life one second after and he heard Damian’s worried voice on the other end, asking if he was okay. “I am, Dami. Get her to the safehouse and then come back here if you can.” He said while quickly asserting his situation, if he had to guess he was a few kilometers high from the ground, and he could still see the ruins of Eiffel from there as smoldering black smoke kept rising from it. He closed his wings suddenly and exhilarated his dive. His wings wouldn’t have a problem from this height, they have only been torn apart in fights not from freefalls, but they were also slowing him down tremendously, he needed to be fast if he wanted to help the heroes, he also needed to look out for the two helicopters, swirling right below him and he also needed to time his wings perfectly too. Too late and he’ll be a fine red mist on the ground, too early and he might have taken too much time in order to dodge both the choppers and the aforementioned splattering part. And while all of these thoughts were swirling in his head, all he was really focusing on was the fact that he could just call the heroes and tell them to not hold back anymore. He saw how they fought, he also teaches them too, so he knew they both can take an akumatized Joker one on one. 

 

‘But of course not, that wouldn’t be as hard now would it ?’ He thought begrudgingly, and if she wasn’t in a hospitalized state Dick would have even say some colorful words to Zatanna too, she didn’t need to jump to gun like this after all, and he was having a bad day, understandably, even he could maybe get angry from time to time towards his teammates… 

 

***

 

Marinette was trying, really, really trying to find a way to fight Joker without risking Chat in the progress, she had nothing, all the little things she saw were not helpful, no way to distract Joker long enough to attack him. So she just waited, looking at Joker’s eyes, challenging him for a fight, her fists clenched and her face showing hatred so pure Marinette was sure Hawk Moth could sense it. Joker on the other hand seemed to be taking his time, with a hostage right under his thumb and a hero with no way of attacking him, he was on cloud nine, at least that was what he tried to paint. Underneath all that fake, sinister smile though, every breath he took hurt like hell, his right leg was twitching from time to time and there were black dots forming in his left eye. So in short, even though he seemed to be fine, he was in a lot of pain and he needed to get more power immediately. 

 

Joker lifted his left hand once again, forming a cloud around Chat Ladybug took a step further with his movement but then stopped herself “You know little girl, this staring contest is starting to bore me, how about we watch something else more entertaining ?” He said and as soon as his words were finished Chat got up once again, but instead of screaming again he started to scratch himself. At first it was slow, but the more Joker raised his hand the more Chat seemed to agitated, scratching himself more forcefully, almost ripping his costume that even she didn’t know could be done. He soon started to talk to himself, speaking about bugs inside him and he needed to get rid of them. “Yes kitty, you need to groom yourself clean now.” Said Joker in the creepiest way possible while touching his shoulders. In his disgusting act Chat didn’t even seem to realize Joker was right next to him, focusing on scratching himself only, soon his arms and chest was riddled with scratch marks of all shapes. She was sure if he continued he could be ripping his skin off completely. 

 

“Now now kitty.” Said Joker while Ladybug was looking hopelessly towards her partner “You missed a huge spot.” He once again lifted his left hand a bit and Chat, while squirming on his spot started to scratch his face, in a moment, before she could say anything he was already leaving red hot marks on his face, marks that started to bleed rapidly. 

 

She was about to cry from the searing pain in her chest, the hatred that consumed her wanted her to move forward, do something to the clown, say something to Chat. But she couldn’t. All she was able to do was watch the poor boy in front of her about to claw his eyes off. 

 

“STOP!” She finally yelled with all her might, like she had to break all her barriers to do so “Stop hurting him! It’s his rin-” Before she could even finish her sentence both Ladybug and Joker heard a sharp ‘Tzzp’ sound and not a second too soon something heavy fell to Joker’s head.

 

—

 

Dick was falling fast, he could easily feel his mask starting to claw against his skin, his eyes, even with the mask was starting to burn, he could feel all the excitement from the fall, but unfortunately, he didn’t have the time to marvel at it, be with it. Because he was on a mission and it was critical to be aware of his surroundings. Especially since those surroundings consisted of the choppers below him. 

 

At the right altitude he opened his wings again and started to move towards the south in order to be out of the helicopter's meat grinder range and as soon as he was below them he closed his wings, turned towards the choppers once again and pulled two cylinder shaped objects from his pouches before putting them to his feet. He knew at the speed he was moving any kind of movement wouldn’t make a difference since he was,in simpler terms, an object in the motion. Thankfully he had something better than his athletic capabilities to rely on, with one simple push down to his wrist controller and immediately the thrusters on his feet started to come alive and throw him in towards the Eiffel at high speed. He immediately opened his wings again and even tried to raise a bit before the thrusters short life span of 10 seconds would finish. The moment the thrusters burned up he was almost one bridge away from the fight, so close he was sure if Joker looked up he could see him. He continued to get close, right above the two he closed his wings and took out his grapple, what he was about to do was super dangerous as, if he missed his target he’d be kissing the metal bar ridden ground and would at best break his back. Thankfully, he was used to doing this since he was ten, as a good way to traverse Gotham from up above.

 

The Claws metal grip captured the Helicopter’s leg and as the metal rope continued to extend he fell down more and more. They must have heard him, as both Ladybug and Joker was turning their heads towards him, he clicked to the grabble and the rope immediately stopped extending, slowly becoming tout as he was calculating the distance before the rope became tout fully and stopped his descent, just about six feet above Joker’s head. 

 

Before the clown even reacted to him he let go of the grapple and downed the surprised clown with all his weight, immediately crumbling Joker and swiftly kicking him in the jaw when he tried to get back up. 

 

Huffing his breath and getting back up again, Nightwing saw Joker trying to get up once again, but before he could do anything against the clown, suddenly Ladybug’s yoyo captured Joker’s legs and completely threw him a good 15 meters away. Nightwing exhaled as Ladybug was coming to his side swiftly and saw Chat Noir who was in a horrendous shape. The poor boy had scratch marks all over his body, from his calves to his face, all red, some still pouring blood and a mile away look on his eyes like the ones you see in war movies. 

 

Ladybug didn’t pay mind to Nightwing as she immediately crouched next to Chat and hugged him while crying and apologizing to him, her words were incoherent, Nightwing only being able to make out bits and pieces from it like “Please talk to me, stupid cat, I’m sorry and don’t leave me” It was an heart wrenching thing to watch, but they still needed to capture Joker, so, even though he felt like an asshole for doing it, he moved to shake Ladybug off and get her back to her feet. “We need to stop Joker Ladybug, save your tears to Chat when we save him.” He said quickly while pointing to the figure slowly getting back up from the streetlamp while rubbing his head. At first she seemed confused, like she didn’t know who the Joker was and what they were doing there, like the orange colored clown wasn’t the reason for her still shedding tears. Thankfully her confusion ended as soon as they heard a groan from Joker, in fact she made a complete 90 and seemed very… angry, which was something Nightwing wasn’t really used to seeing. Even in their harshest training days she would at most quietly complain or loudly exhale. 

 

Now her brows were knitted together, her hands balled into fists and Nightwing could hear her teeths grinding together. She quickly threw her yoyo into the air and yelled “Lucky Charm” With frustration. Even before the magical object fell to the ground she was letting out a blood curdling scream and rushing towards Joker while swinging her yoyo. 

 

Nightwing thought of helping her (More like stopping her) but since they were essentially facing against a jacket up Joker that he didn’t know how long could be kept down, Dick let her handle him. He, on the other hand, looked at the magical item on the ground. The item was a brooch made to look like a butterfly. It was exactly the same one as Hawkmoth’s. 

 

***

 

Hawkmoth was sitting in front of his TV, still in costume and feeling sick because of how long he was using it. His worries were a bit calmer at this point, Gorilla had made a full sweep of the entire property and found nothing in it, Natalie made sure to call down everyone that was even close to working under him and told them to stay away from the factories and other buildings. But most of all, at the moment Ladybug was beating the snot out of Joker, he had never felt this kind of anger from her, it was so raw, unchained, captivating. On one hand he wanted to grant her the gift of an akuma, making her his perfect little soldier that he knew she would be. On the other hand, the amount of anger she was feeling was actually giving him a headache, making him realize if he ever did akumatized her, he needed to be in control all day or she can easily turn her anger towards him too. 

 

Gabriel took a deep breath, he needn’t think of these right now, right now what he needed was something with higher alcohol content then a 60 year old wine. ‘A Jack would do in that regard.’ He thought and got up from his chair, slowly walking towards the kitchen in order to get a cup for himself. When he was back, Ladybug was still going town on Joker, punching his face and even breaking his hand when he tried to swipe her. ‘Good’ He opened the little fridge with different brands of alcoholic content in it, he would never drink in front of Adrien as a rule, he needed the boy to be staying away from this numbing devil as long as he could. He would also never drink something like a Jack Daniel’s casually, something this stingy was meant for the depressive moments and for self harm. 

 

After he filled his glass he took the whole swing in one go, even with the costume’s power ups the drink managed to hurt his throat, a liquid of stabbing going down his tube. This was why it was invented, for punishment. 

 

“And while Ladybug is trying to subdue the villain, it seems like… Alex, get a close shot of the hero there! Look he is showing something to us… yes zoom on it.” Hawkmoth was half listening to the news while pouring himself another glass, this stuff didn’t hurt if he didn’t drink it after all. “It looks like a… Brooch ? I’m not sure what it is, it seems like a ladybug themed butterfly.” 

 

Hearing those words piqued Hawkmoth’s interest and he turned towards the TV once again, Nightwing was holding an exact replica of the brooch in his neck, the message was clear as day, he wanted Hawkmoth to clear Joker which Hawkmoth agreed to it with jubilation. In one moment Joker’s form disappeared like half a bottle of Daniel's in his hand. A small victory for him as he helped at the end, ultimately meaningless and humiliating. He needed to drink some more.

 

***

 

Marinette was seeing red as she was continuously punching Joker’s face, breaking his nose and even cracking his jaw. She did not intend to stop, she could only see poor Chat’s beaten, scarred face in front of her whenever her self control tried to barge in, telling her she was doing too much, telling her she needed to calm down. She wasn’t going to. She was Marinette right now, far more emotionally charged and now all her pent up anger was pouring out. 

 

While continuing to pummel Joker like a loaf of doe, suddenly Joker’s whole body started to turn purple, making Marinette close her eyes. A butterfly flew out of the small flower on Joker’s breast pocket, and started to form lazy circles around her head. Not understanding what was going on (Or not caring in the first place) Marinette turned towards Joker once again, he was no longer wearing the black and orange abomination of a costume, but that face was the same, same hazy, wicked smile from ear to ear. It was convincing enough for her to continue punching. 

 

Marinette was sure she had broken his nose once again but she wasn’t sure how much damage she had cost after that. Nightwing had come to stop her from behind and forcefully taking her off of the Joker whale she was screaming and kicking. “Let go of me!” She yelled and tried to move around but he fully captured her upper body and was keeping her a few feet above the ground, telling her he knows how she feels and to calm down. Once she was able to breathe again she finally caved in and started to go limb, feeling like she had lost more than anything. 

 

“I know, I know.” Said Nightwing as his iron grip on her started to loosen up before he put her down while still hugging her “Think about the mission, distract yourself with that. We can let go later.” She shook her head mindlessly, she couldn’t think of the mission anymore, she could only think about… Chat. 

 

“Chat!” She yelled and then turned towards the still flying butterfly on her head even though it could go back to its master long ago. Must be his way of saying sorry. 

 

She left Nightwing’s embrace and untangled the yoyo on her waist. Capturing the akuma swiftly and releasing the purified butterfly not long after. She took a brief sigh of relief before panicking and looking for the magical object she hadn’t even seen. “Guess you are looking for this.” Said Nightwing and threw the broch towards her, she captured it in the air and threw the object once again, letting it purify everything to their original state. Normally she would watch the magical show with enthusiasm, but right now… Right now she just wanted to crawl in a small orifice and not talk to anyone for a while. 

Chapter 21: Winging in Paris - Tending the wounds

Summary:

He wanted to help these kids, he needed to help them as it was a mission from Bruce too. You can’t leave a mission half finished or you risk people’s lives. But what if something more comes to the city of lights ?

Dick took a deep breath as he slumped down to his bed face first, half dead and fully exhausted. All he wanted to do was close his eyes and let sleep take away his pain for this whole night.

 

Tomorrow was gonna take a lot more out of him anyway, that was for sure. 

 

—

 

Damian was checking Zatanna’s vitals as she was sleeping on their couch, her horrendous appearance somewhat turned down, color back on her face and heart beat at an acceptable rate. Her chest was raising and falling softly, meaning she had no problem breathing normally either. That was good. Because his chest compressions left something to be desired. After all, there was a reason why Alfred was their family doctor and none of them could treat their wounds sufficiently. 

 

He signed slowly, Alfred and the others were outraged by the developments.Tim and Cassandra wanting to fly over Paris for help while Jason saying he’ll be there with his own band of misfits. 

 

Worse of all was Bruce. Damian really didn’t want to say what had happened and the entire family was in agreement to be quiet. Of course, news getting involved with the Joker, Dick and himself, made from local news quickly became global and that caused some honorary members of the league to snitch to the big seven. Which is how he had to talk to his father about what happened three times and somehow convince him to not leave his mission on another planet. 

 

They got Joker, all his goons and the police force was busy sweeping both the hideouts and the planted tunnels. 

 

All in all, it was an acceptable night in his eyes. Not so shallow and not too deep, with just the right amount of action and risks. He took another look at Zatanna when she turned on the couch and coughed up slowly, still letting some blood. Thankfully the two drops she spilled out of her mouth didn’t land on the couch but to her costume, small wins cuz he wasn’t gonna clean that. 

 

He turned her back once again and then moved to sit down on Dick’s armchair, watching the woman carefully just in case before sleep slowly tucked him in too. 

 

—

 

After what had happened, Adrien didn’t really remember much of the night, he remembered Joker, his fiendish powers and his sick sense of humor. He remembered fighting against him too, defending himself against his ‘Doom Tornados’ as he started to call. But that was it. 

After the destruction of the Eiffel Tower (Caused by yours truly) he didn’t remember anything. But for some reason Plagg was looking at him with both worry and fear. Like he was going to hurt the little creature. 

 

‘Okay, he is annoying sometimes, but I would never do something like that, he is my friend.’ He thought while raising his hand to the small god that was swirling on his head. The deity immediately moved back a bit, not so far that he was on the roof, but far enough that Adrien couldn’t touch him while lying down on the bed. 

 

“Whatever I did Plagg, I want to say I’m sorry for it.” Said Adrien and opened his hand, inviting the tiny creature to sit on it. Plagg took a moment to think -breaking Adrien’s heart in the process a bit- before sitting down and looking at his face between Adrien’s fingers. “You didn’t do… Well, you didn’t do anything willingly. I could feel that much.” Said the tiny god and then disappeared between his fingers before coming out of his arm and to his face. 

 

“I’m sorry about how I’m acting, kid, but that’s just what cats do. It’s easy to break a friendship then build it you know.” After those words landed on Adrien's cheek, the small heat radiating from the creature burned him a bit, or maybe it was the feeling of disgust he felt with himself. “I know you didn’t do anything kid. It’s just kind of hard to shake it off sometimes.” 

 

Adrien closed his eyes, Plagg was asking for space, that much was understandable, but he really needed to know what was happening. He really didn’t remember anything from the moment Akuma took control of him to Ladybug freeing the akuma. He knew it was something serious based on Ladybug’s reaction to seeing him get up (Which was hugging him for a second before flinging him to a rooftop with her yoyo, telling him to get out of there.) and he knew it had something to do with Joker since he saw Ladybug punch him repeatedly even though he was non-akumatized. 

 

Speaking of, he had never seen her that angry. Adrien saw her ‘angry’ when people made inappropriate comments about them, or that time they were on live TV with the unnecessarily personalized questions, heh, he even remembered the time she found a smut fanfiction written about them in a video posted on Ladyblog. Though, the last one was more frustrated than angry if he had to guess. 

 

‘I mean I understand, it’s Joker but… She had never been that brutal to a thief or something.’ He thought while looking to his ceiling, the mouse-sized god started to close its eyes on his neck. His eyes, shifting to the computer in his room maybe for the hundredth time. 

 

When he got home, all he did was take a shower, giving a good enough excuse to Nathalie for the late night shower and then slouching on the bed. He needed to know what happened at that fight, he saw two news helicopters while he was on the rooftop. it wouldn’t be hard research at all. But he was afraid, after all, whatever he did under akuma’s control didn’t just affect Ladybug, but also Plagg too. That was a first for him and learning what he did was terrifying. ‘They say ignorance is bliss’ He thought shifting his eyes to the ceiling once again. They were gonna meet tomorrow at 20:00 to talk. At least that's what Nightwing had said. He had time to learn what happened at that fight, let him live with his ignorance for just a bit longer. 

 

—

 

Marinette was in her bed in the fetal position listening to the news on auto mode from her computer. The news was speculating what she did and how right or wrong she was because of it. Tikki tried to help her by closing the computer but she begged her not to do that, she needed to hear about it. She needed people telling her it was wrong, she needed to remind herself that it wasn’t the right thing to do. She, with her enhanced power, shouldn't be beating up bad guys to a pulp. 

 

It was useless, everytime she closed her eyes she saw the plump face of Joker, looking at her with that evil smile still carved up his face. Her hands are scarlet with his blood. Her mask can’t cover all of the splutter from him. All she can think of is doing it again and again. 

 

She couldn’t help herself, all she wanted to was go back to the prison he is held right now and puke some more of her anger at him. She didn’t just want him to be beaten, broken and away, she wanted to… kill him. 

 

‘THEN WHY AM I NOT FEELING BAD ABOUT IT ?!’ Marinette wanted to scream at her pillow, she would definitely do that if her parents weren’t asleep at the moment. Her parents, her papa, who would get her anything she wants even if he had to work extra hard for it. Her mama, who’s always ready to protect her no matter what. And she is honoring them both, thinking of murdering people. 

 

“I’ve been telling you Adam, these are just two kids, forced to play dress ups. I’m honestly feeling bad for them, I mean we all saw what happened tonight. Can anybody, in good conscience, tell me why we needed to see a boy scratch himself to death while screaming?” 

 

She raised her head a bit from her pillow with the words from the video, she couldn’t see her screen nor she needed to, she did know who was talking, a man by the name Lucas Roux. A psychiatrist that is heavily against her and Chat being heroes. Usually saying that adults should be the ones to take the responsibility.

 

“Also Ladybug. I have to, of course, say that she tried her best. But the beating up afterwards was an impulsive action rather than a necessary one. Did he deserve it? Well, I’m a psychiatrist, not a lawyer, judge, jury or an executioner. All I know is that that little girl didn’t need to live through a trauma like that.” 

 

Adam scoffed for a second before speaking, saying that nobody would want them to live through that before asking the doctor what advice he would like to give. 

 

“Well, personally, I’d like to talk to both because that would look amazing in my credentials.” He let out a small giggle, Marinette hadn’t even seen him smile in an interview before to be honest. “But if we are going to be realistic, I would advise them to give this huge responsibility to the adults they can trust the most. Hopefully this way these two kids can live the life of normal teenagers.” 

 

Marinette pondered on the words while the spokesperson thanked and sent off the doctor. The channel switched once again, this time to the more familiar voice of Nadja, who was congratulating the heroes and (presumably) showing graphs on how effective they were. 

 

She wasn’t very good with mathematics, so the program shortly became boring and even let her close her eyes. Sleep shortly followed her eyes and soon she was in a dreamless slumber. 

 

***

 

The next day came with a lot of nuisance, first things first, they needed to somehow get Joker, all his doofus goons and Harley out of the Parisian jail and get them back to the state for prosecution. The problem is that last night was just a one time thing and the police chief had put an order to arrest Nightwing and Robin on site. Dick thought Zatanna could help them but that hope quickly dried up when she could hardly walk the next day. 

 

She argued of course, said she could do it, she was helpful like that but Dick didn’t let her. He was not going to kill one of his closest friends just because he needed to get some ding dongs out of the jail. 

 

As good news though, Barbara called and after letting out a five minute long dialog on what he could’ve done differently (Her way of showing concern, something he knows how to deal at this point.) told him that D.A was making phone calls on a way to get the criminals. 

 

This was good, by the sheer number of the goons, he was sure that plane was gonna be a private one and he had a hunch that Tim and Cassandra would be in it too. It would mean Signal, Batwoman and huntress -Maybe Cat too, who knows- was gonna do more tours, but that was an acceptable risk for one day. 

 

More good news, with the combined minds of Alfred and Barbara, Jason was finally given up on coming to Paris all the way from egypt. He was glad he didn’t need to hold back Jason as it was a real hustle and something he really didn’t have time to deal with right now. 

 

So, with not much to do, Damian had to go to school in order to check the holders (Beside it being Monday that is) and Dick made through the day checking inventory. Asking for new things from family and having an awkward yet short talk with Batman and the League. Apparently, their peace operation was going swimmingly, and they would be back approximately in two to three earth days later. As the hours drew on alongside the city's shadows, he started to dress up for a long and painful talk. 

 

When he was about to open his door Zatanna let out a sigh from the couch she was crushing on and made him turn around. “I know that look boy wonder.” She said while changing her position “Don’t let them know how you feel right now, it usually brings the morale down when people see you sad.” 

 

Dick couldn’t help but smile a bit before closing the door behind him and taking a breather on the small roof. She was right, he was blaming himself with good reasoning. And he was about to do something drastic that might upset the two.

 

—

 

When Dick landed at the meeting point he took a second to look around, hoping to find the duo or Damian but to his surprise they were late. For a second Dick couldn’t help but worry for the kids, especially for Damian since whatever holded the two down usually couldn’t hold him too. There might be a bigger, much more serious reason for them to be late, he thought, pacing between the radiators uncontrollably. 

 

Thankfully, without the darkness getting longer Ladybug and Chat Noir dropped down behind him, a bit out of breath and giving excuses for their tardiness. He nodded along, pretended to be eating it up before writing Damian what had happened and where he was. Damian gave a quick answer with “Long class omw.” Huh, so the lessons were longer today for some reason, he wondered why but didn’t push more out of Damian, they’ll talk about it later. 

 

In the meantime, he let the heroes know where the Kidd was and then gestured to them to follow him. He showed the two the sandwiches he had made at home, salad and salami with some yogurt mix that Alfred had taught him when he was small. Nothing crazy true, but it was both filling and delicious if you asked him. 

 

They first rejected it, Chat saying he couldn’t eat outside of his designated diet and Ladybug saying she wasn’t feeling that good to begin with. He could see the differences they had since yesterday. Chat was far too shy and withdrawn while Ladybug was far too fidgety and anxious. Playing with her gloves, grasping her hands in the air and what not. 

 

He didn’t push them, just eat on his own with a smile and told them that they didn’t need to restrict themselves with the masks. Soon after, both Ladybug and Chat joined him, slowly melting the icy air and converse with him. Ladybug said the yogurt needed a bit more salt just to brighten out the ingredients while Chat said she was exaggerating and the sandwiches were good enough on their own. 

 

This conversation continued on for a while while they ate till Kidd dropped down and -in his own way- greeted them all. Dick, already having the vegetarian version of the sandwich, threw the closed off loaf to the youngster and he opened it up like he had found a drop of water in the middle of the desert. 

 

After everyone had eaten, Dick stood up from the radiator tube he was sitting on and yawned, flexing his muscles and cracking his back. He took a deep breath before turning to the others, from their expressions, he guessed that the duo was expecting this speech. 

 

“Look guys.” He started as, sitting back down to his place on the radiator and clasping his hands together. “Firstly, I want to say that I’m sorry.” 

 

It seemed like his apology was an unexpected sign since both Ladybug and Chat noir asked him what for. “I mean about the Joker. It’s clear that Hawkmoth hired him to get rid of me.”

 

“You can’t know that!” Interjected Ladybug, finding Nightwing’s reasons to be numb… that psychopath didn’t work on any principles or under someone else. He worked for himself.

 

“We do.” Said shortly Damian, still nibbling on his sandwich with his mask's mouth open, kinda uncomfortable since his upper lip was hitting the sharp side of the mask but what can you do, he couldn’t take it off. 

 

“When we were in the warehouse, Hawkmoth explained his plan to us. He had hired the Joker and all of his goons, he had come up with a plan to plant bombs underneath Paris. All Joker had to do was up the ante and then steal the spotlights.” 

 

The duo was looking at Nightwing with their jaws down to the floor, Ladybug had thought he was there to work alongside Hawk moth and the idiot accepted it, only realizing what kind of mayhem the clown was capable of when it was too late. She had no idea it was going that deep. 

 

“On the other hand.” Said Nightwing and then took out something like a map out of one of his pockets. It was the same map Hawk moth had used in planning. He quickly explained what was the purpose of the map and how Joker altered it in order to use it as blackmail. 

 

“But this map is also giving us a good enough tip for finding Hawk Moth.” Both Ladybug and Chat nodded along to Nightwing, understanding what he was ensuing on. The marked places, however unmarked, did make the searching area smaller. “We are deducing almost half of Paris this way.” Said Ladybug, opening her yoyo and quickly searching a map of Paris using the internet…  or whatever the magical equivalent of the internet is. 

 

“İt's a good start.” Said Chat, still a bit away and whole lot of serious for anyone's taste “But there is still more to do, I’d say we expend the patrols around these points. Just for the off chance we can catch an Akuma.” Ladybug agreed with Chat, it was also a good idea to search the marked areas, but she didn’t say her idea because when she raised her head from the map she saw the sullen expression on Nightwing’s face. 

 

“Nightwing ?” She asks, afraid to touch him but also wants to assure him. 

 

He let out a small smile before whistling to Kidd and getting back up again. “There is also the question of us.” He said, pointing to himself and Kidd who was putting his mouthpiece back. “It shows that Hawk Moth’s want to get rid of us and have no problem using innocent lives for his goal.” 

 

“But that’s nothing new.” İnterjacked Chat, already having a good guess where this talk was going. “His whole thing is risking civilians so he can get our miraculouses after all. You can’t blame yourself for his disgusting methods.” 

 

“Chat is right.” encouraged Ladybug “Also, if you leave now, there is no way he will know or believe it.” 

 

“But-” 

 

“But if you really leave now and he sends someone far more experienced to deal with us, then what will we do ?” 

 

Nightwing stood there in silence. They had beaten him to the punch. In reality, he was going to offer them a chance, if they wanted to continue training with him he was okay with staying. But he wouldn’t be angry if they had indeed blamed him for Joker being in Paris like almost all of the news broadcasts did. 

 

“I was here to ask you guys first.” He said, making the heroes tense once again “I wouldn’t be away without at least enclosing Hawk’s location though. He made it personal at this point with Joker.” 

 

Ladybug could see his jaw clenching while saying Joker, it was clear that the clown was a sensitive topic for the two heroes, and probably something they didn’t want to talk about. Honestly, she could relate easily. 

 

“Soo…” Said Chat, opening his arms like he was waiting anxiously for an answer that he was afraid to hear.

 

Nightwing took a deep breath, he liked these kids. From the first day, he thought they had great potential. They were tenacious, strong willed and kind. Perfect heroes. The only thing they lacked was training and they were focusing on their shortcomings too. He didn’t forget the fact that they passed his race test to the Eiffel after all in that mayhem. Which is why he was feeling so conflicted. 

 

He wanted to help these kids, he needed to help them as it was a mission from Bruce too. You can’t leave a mission half finished or you risk people’s lives. But what if something more comes to the city of lights ? 

 

He was Nightwing afterall, he had more enemies that wanted to kill him in international TV then he had Wingdings. What if one of them popped out here ? What if Hawk Moth hired Deadshot, or Lady Shiva ? 

 

What if his old enemies, a.k.a ; Bruce’s villains come crashing down too ? They already fought against one of the worst, Joker. He really didn’t want to have a go against Poison Ivy or god forbid, Riddler… No one wants to fight Riddler for long, it's not worth the headaches. 

 

He trusted the kids, they already showed that, time and time again they can hold their own. But then, when ? When should he say ‘Enough’ and go ? Dick knows that Trigon is still holding a grudge against him for saving Raven. 

 

“I’m gonna be honest with you guys.” He started and clapped his hands once nervously, honesty was a rare thing to do for a bat. Kinda feels wrong to not deceit people. “I have many, MANY enemies, all over the world that want to kill me in different ways. From assassins and killers to maniacs and even some deities.” He let those words sit for a while, being sure that the two heroes in front of him understood what he had just said. “I’ve been trained by the best in order to get over all kinds of obstacles and achieve my objective.” Corner of his eye captured the smallest movement Damian left when he talked about Bruce. Kid was the biggest fanatic of his dad. Just like himself, Dick guessed. 

 

“If you want it, I will train you two to the best of my abilities. I’ll make sure you two are gonna learn everything that made me, me today.” He saw the small glasses of hope on their eyes “But, if you think me being here isn't worth it. That you can learn everything with time too. Then I’ll be gladly taking my leave and make sure none of my enemies come to Paris for another round.” 

 

Dick thought with his words they’d take some time to comprehend, maybe argue with each other or ask for a time out. Something else really. But no. Almost as soon as his words ended Ladybug springed up from her position and with confidence, said neither she nor Chat Noir would want him to leave them. “You’ve been essential in taking down Joker Nightwing. I’m afraid to say, without you, Paris would be a very different land right now.” Said Ladybug and Chat Noir get up to praise his training “I’m pretty sure I couldn’t hold my own that long without your teachings.” He said and then bowed down like Nightwing was his kung fu master or something. 

 

These words and the validation they bringed were good yes. But it seemed the two were disregarding the real issue “Thank you for the nice words guys, but please consider that, without me being here, Joker wouldn’t even be here to begin with.” He didn’t want to upset them, but sometimes cold water was the best way to wake people up. 

 

“And what of it?” Asked Ladybug, coming closer for a second before instinctively moving back to Chat like she realized how bad that sounded to a victim at the last second. “You are saying Joker wouldn’t be here, true. But who knows what Hawk Moth will be coming up with next ?” 

 

“Ladybug is right.” Said Chat, tangling his arms at his chest. “ It was getting worse day by day, the real question wouldn’t be if he was going to create a Joker like or not. When will he create one and if we could beat it on our own.” 

 

Nightwing let out a sign dramatically, at least their reasoning was convincing, at first he thought they were risking far worse for so little. But they had good arguments. He was beaten and his little work vacation got longer. “Alright alright. I get that I’m hard to resist, so I’ll give in and help you cut this stupid butterfly.” He finally let out a big smile after these words and made the other two crack up too. Chat even started to laugh. 

 

Unfortunately, the bittersweet moment short lived as both Chat’s baton and Ladybug’s Yoyo started to blare loudly with alarms. “Our song is playing.” Said Kidd as coldly as one could and without even waiting for the report started to walk towards the edge of the rooftop. The others watched him silently for a while before collectively shrugging and following him to the edge. After all, who could say no to that upside down demon smile of a mask. 

 

***

 

AFTER 20 MINUTES 

 

The call for action was noting that serious, an helicopter raising faulty and losing control in mid flight. They all made use of their gadgets, Ladybug making a safety net under the chopper, Chat jamming the tail router so it wouldn’t swing the helicopter out of control on the net, Kidd using his drone to save the civilians without risking his own neck and lastly, Nightwing shooting the machine with a disruptor shot and killing the roaring engine. 

 

“See nightwing ?” Said Chat when they met again on the closest rooftop “Teamwork makes the mews work!” While the others groaned and moaned on the lame joke Nightwing let out a small snickers. It was good to see the kid get his confident form back. He knew from the experience, putting on a real mask usually takes your metaphorical one off. In other words, he was happy that Chat could act like himself without worrying again. 

 

“Enough stalling.” Said Kidd and pointed towards Notre Dame, he wanted to move with the petrol. Typical. Just like his old man, the kid didn’t know when to stop and smell the flowers for a few seconds. 

 

“Race you there then!” Yelled Chat and jumped to the air with his baton. Kidd right behind him with his grappler already shooting. Nightwing was about to follow them too, but then Ladybug suddenly stopped him and then told him to wait for a second. She didn’t say anything else till Kidd became a shadow in the distance and Chat was already out of earshot. 

 

“Yes Ladybug ?” Asked Nightwing, kneeling a bit to be at her height. She didn’t talk for a solid minute before she moved next to a creepy ass gargoyle statue, Nightwing didn’t know those existed outside Gotham to be honest. Didn’t really give good vibes to the ‘City of Lights’. 

 

“It’s…” She hesitated before speaking, keeping her head low and her eyes at her toes, occasionally she would look at her hands but then sulk back again. Finally, she decided to rip the bandaid and with a deep inhale turned towards the man that was waiting for her with the patience of a monk. 

 

“There is a psychiatrist named Lucas Roux. He was talking about what we… I did last night.” 

 

Nightwing didn’t interject, he had a few idea where this talk was going but decided to wait for the finale before saying anything. 

 

“He was talking in a news broadcast last night. I don’t know which one. And he was arguing about how our miraculouses should be handed to some others… Some other adults.” 

 

She didn’t say anything else, just kept her eyes on him like he knew all the answers in the universe. Okay, probably not that deep, but it was clear she was waiting for him to say something, maybe reprimand her ? She looked at him like she did something wrong, the same look when Alfred catched him stealing cookies. Guilty. 

 

He took a deep breath, he wasn’t expecting tonight to be going this way, to be honest he wasn’t expecting to work with the Parisian duo from this night on. But here they were, he was still their mentor and she, his student in some way, was asking for guidance. “I know how hard this life is to balance Ladybug, from the stress of everyday on top of being a hero is not an easy thing to handle. Especially for your age- Group!” 

 

Clumsy! He almost let out an important information and even his cover up came out strained. Bruce would be disappointed immensely. Thankfully, she didn’t pick up immediately that he may know more than he lets on, and simply asked him what he meant. 

 

“Well, you can keep the ‘I am older than I look’ act with Chat well enough Bug, but a keen eye and an excessive amoun t of inquiry seeking leads me to believe that you are between the ages of 13 and 17 at most.” 

 

To his answer she let out a shy smile and just said ‘Lucky guest’. His cover wasn’t blown and they still trusted him. Big win. 

 

“Like I said.” Nightwing started once again, keeping the conversation going. “ I know how hard it can be since I was doing it when I was a child too.” She knew that, from pure speculations around the internet, he was around 10 when he started to wear his Robin costume. Much younger than her and in a worse city. He still endured till now though. Still believed himself enough to be his own person and continue to help in another city. 

 

“I know the road we live in is a bumpy one, and sometimes it feels like that one, big one is the one that will make you quit it.” He put his hand to her shoulder while she looked at the ground. She was on that big bump right now and she did want to quit this road. “I can’t and won’t stop you if you want to quit Ladybug. I believe you will choose a worthy successor to hold your miraculous. But I do recommend you to continue driving. The road is a beaten one, yes, but every now and then, you see some good reasons to continue from the sidewalk.” 

 

She let out a snort, he was taking the metafor a bit far. But at the end he was right, it was a hard road with happy pedestrians watching you from the sidewalk. Still… “This was the biggest bump I’ve ever felt, Nightwing.” She said, crossing her arms and covering herself, images from last night’s beating still flashes behind her head.

 

Nightwing nodded along with her while slouching to the aforementioned gargoyle “Joker usually is.” He said, nodding along with her, she was looking down the half busy streets, the nightlife of Paris was slowly coming alive. Drunkards, skimpily dressed women and clearly rich douches were slowly filling the streets. 

 

“If it's any consolation Ladybug, you handled him better than I did.” She shook her head to that comment “I almost killed him Nightwing” She said before turning towards him “I wanted to kill him for-” 

 

“I know.” Said Nightwing, cutting her out “I see the look on your eyes when I lifted you up from him.” 

 

She didn’t say anything for a while and just waited for a comment about what she did was wrong. A comment that never came. Instead Nightwing stopped slouching and took out his own grappler before slowly walking towards the other side of the rooftop “Don’t take it personally Ladybug, Joker had that kind of personality on everyone. Which is also shows why you are better than me” 

 

She didn’t understand what he meant but still followed him, he shot his grappler to the next building, she threw her yoyo to the one next to him. “Unlike you, I couldn’t hold myself even with others around me.” She still didn’t get what he meant by those words before they both jumped down and swung. Nightwing hoped that she was imagining him beating the Joker. She didn’t need to know that he had killed him. 

 

Notes:

Sorry for the long await, I was writing my all time second smut so it took a bit of time. I'm also going on vacation for a little while. Kudos and such are appreciated and have a good night/day. Hopefully your day is more windier then mine.

Chapter 22: Winging In Paris - Calm After The Storm

Summary:

‘Of course she was searching for him online.’ Thought Damian while trying to not bite the tablet in his hand from anger “My brother is a very busy person and he doesn’t have time for our shenanigans.” He said quickly, hoping (and praying) that this amount would be enough for Bustier because he knew for a fact Dick would accept the role in a heartbeat if the teacher talked to him directly. 

It has been five days since Joker’s attack. On the third day, a special team made out of Gotham’s District attorney, a whole lot of cops and hidden Tim and Cassandra in tow come to Paris in order to make the exchange for the criminals. Dick had a little bit of time meeting with the two, hiding under one of the two planes that had been sent. 

 

They hugged, congratulated each other and then argued on how Hawkmoth had contacted Joker. It was a dry subject for now but Dick still ordered Tim to look into it. Joker might not need money to be motivated. Especially if it was going to annoy one of the bats, but that doesn’t mean he is stupid enough to not take it. “Follow the money. If we are lucky, we can find a good enough clue in there.” 

 

Tim nodded along, it was a good idea and something he and Cassandra could do without leaving the city. “Something else.” Said Cassandra suddenly before nodding towards Tim. Unfortunately, no matter how hard they tried, she still had communication issues and would still rather listen than talk. Tim took over while rubbing his neck, something he does when he is nervous. The question is, what makes Tim nervous ? Dick saw him greeting presidents without much of a sweat or talk down to the Wayne Enterprise shareholders. These things weren’t really the things that scared him, then what did ? 

 

“Tim ?” He asked, bracing himself for whatever category ten bomb younger Robin was about to drop. 

 

Tim took a deep breath and then swayed his eyes, another telling sigh of his. “Wellll- the thing is, it seems like Bruce is coming back sooner than later.”

 

The unimpressed scowl on Dick’s face replied more than his words could ever be able to. So, he was coming back… In the middle of his own mission, on another planet, while the said planet is about to burn down in a civil war. He wasn’t sure if he should feel honored that Bruce was able to let go of a situation like that because he was caring about them just that much, or should he be insulted because he wasn’t trusting Dick one bit and was ready to drop everything to save his hide. 

 

Considering Bruce’s personality, adding to the fact how furious he is normally when the clown is involved, minus the fact that he does care but incredibly bad about showing it; he was going with the option two, and it showed as even Cassandra seemed to be moving a bit back and avoiding making eye contact with him. 

 

The worst part is though, he knew Bruce would try to come back early. He was just hoping League, or at least Clark and Diana would be able to hold him down there. Guess even they didn’t trust him, or thought he needed help. One would wonder why they even considered him as a candidate for the missions above catching petty thieves if they had that little trust on his abilities. 

“Now now wait!” Yelled Tim when Dick was about to make an angry retort, stopping him momentarily. “It’s not as it seems, trust me and let me finish the story k?” Dick looked at Cassandra. She was pointing towards Tim and nodding along with him in sync like she was trying to say he was right. So, Dick did the mature thing and crossed his arms, pouted a bit and waited for what this ‘Oh so different’ reason Bruce was coming back for. 

 

“Alright.” Started Tim, trying to not roll his eyes to the childish behavior he was seeing from the most mature member of his family. “The thing is, the League got the message way after you had dealt with the clown. So Bruce already knew the threat was eliminated and locked away.” 

 

“FYI, Horrible way to make me feel better Tim.” Said Dick and received a light slap to his thigh from Cassandra who was trying to hide her smile. 

 

“Anyway!” Said Tim once again, a bit frustrated to be cut like that “Apparently, Bruce was so worried about you and Damian, he had lost it on the planet. Get to the king's personal room silently and find enough blackmail material to make the king secede some of his demands to come to an agreeable position with the rebels.” 

 

“Wait what ?” Said Dick, he didn’t really have the time to look for what The League was doing on another planet for long, all he knew was that they were on a planet to prevent a civil war. “Apparently, the King was having an affair with another princess from an enemy planet, and if the public of his homeland would know about it… well, you can guess that far.” 

 

“Good man king, turns bad man. No one likes, bad man.” 

 

“Bad man would be dethroned, probably killed. Who knows what catastrophic events follow him on his departure.” Said Dick, finishing Cass’s sentence for her.  

 

“And he was about to do that much, just to hurry it along and come back ?” Asked Dick, his voice in a different tune because he knew how Bruce thought. He didn't try to come back because he didn’t trust Dick. He was trying to come back because he was worried about him. 

 

When Bruce doesn't believe in someone's abilities, he has contingencies. Something to soften the blow, prevent the worst. When he was already doubting, he always made a plan B and C and even D. Just so he didn’t need to jeopardize his own missions. If Bruce made a hasty decision, broke the treaties League set out while helping the other planets and even risked something so catastrophic he wasn’t making plans. He was moving on impulse, he was worried and he was probably sweating bullets. 

 

He was trusting him from the beginning, the reason for him to come back is because he is a big rough and dark teddy bear who is worried about his sons. 

 

Dick couldn’t help but smile a bit, it had been a long while since he saw that caring side of the big bad bat. Since he was 15 and almost died while fighting Deathstroke in fact. 

 

“Aww, look who’s trying to look cool and all.” Said Tim while poking Cass with his elbow. “Deserve it. Bruce worried.” She said and did the same to Tim, the underside of the plane they were hiding in was now filled with strangled but still hearable laughters. 

 

Since then, Joker and Harley had been sent to Arkham as expected while all the others were sent to the newly reformed BlackGate Prison. Hawk Moth hasn't made another Akuma since the attack which only made the heroes more nervous. They all were waiting for the next big attack, the next big monster, the next big catastrophe. A part of Dick actually believes that the man behind the mask was on the hold right now. The reason for him not attacking Paris wasn’t because he was waiting for a bigger opportunity, he was contemplating. 

 

Dick knew what dealing with Joker and Harley could do to someone. At the age of 18 he once was tasked to spy on them from the inside and after only two weeks next to the mad clown he had a hard time not asking for professional help. He was a hero, he was also a human. He saw people die in front of him, people trying to pull a fast one on him and try to kill him while he wasn’t paying attention. He had seen so much and even then, those two weeks were hell. You had to do the most heinous shit in that gang just so you could drink without being poisoned. You had to fight, torture and he once was about to kill - Thankfully he had a safe way out of it because he wasn’t gonna cross a line like that.- someone even. Even after all of that, with just the wrong look, the wrong step or hell sometimes even just for the kick of it, you could bring Joker’s ‘Banter’ to your head. 

 

‘Banter’ was his favorite revolver till Dick finally captured him and broke the gun in front of him for good measure. 

 

Long story short, he knew dealing with Joker for an extended amount of time could make anyone contemplate their life choices. He was just hoping they could find Hawk Moth faster then he would get out of his depressive episode. It sounds wrong, sure, but terrorists are most vulnerable when they start to question their lives. It’s the most opportune time to strike them down.  

 

Speaking of, unfortunately, their search had hit a bit of a snag. Hawky was smart enough to not make too many waypoints in his little map. The pointed out safe zones were big enough that they couldn’t search them all in one night. Hell, they were big enough that it took them a whole night to fully search one of the zones and still more places to go. 

 

He knew it would be like that though… Even though he was a pathetic terrorist Hawk Moth was also shrewd enough to hide himself till now. He knew he had to dig deeper, search for the property owners of the area, that kind of thing. All in all, he had his job cut out to him but not for now. Now he was talking to his little sister and brother and had to go to school later in order to pick up Damian. Hawk Moth was gonna be there tomorrow too after all. He saw the look of determination on the man's eyes last time. Dick knew he had no intention to give up. 

 

—

 

It has been such a long time since Gabriel set foot in his own company building that the security didn’t even believe him. Till he showed the man his I.D of course. He briefly thought of firing the guy, but then disregarded that thought as the man was doing a good enough job letting no one in. He was even gentle enough to not throw him away when he tried to barge in. That was a good quality in today's climate. He took a deep breath when he entered his office. It was much smaller than his home office, walls full of different ideas for various clothes. It looked more like an unhinged  shizo's padded room than a normal office did. His table, stacked up with papers he had no intention of even eying from far, his computer closed and kind of dusty from not being used for a long time. His assistant in the office did a good job cleaning his office regularly he had to say, Gabriel only wished he could also do his paperwork. ‘No, he doesn’t have clearance for it. He did the correct thing’ He thought while dropping himself heavily to the big leather chair behind his desk. 

 

And then he just sat there. Not moving or sometimes not even breathing. He hadn’t been in this office since that day, since he lost his beloved Emelie. He had failed her back then and he was failing her right now. 

 

He was facing a reality he was not ready for, that's why he was in his office to begin with. He couldn’t stay in his house, and the next morning he couldn’t look at his own son even. He was scared. No, he was beyond scared. He almost made the biggest mistake of his life, believing that psychopath. He was ready to die for Emelie, but he was not ready to sacrifice the boy for it. Nathalie didn’t deserve it either. Or Gorilla. 

 

‘They didn’t deserve it all, none of them did. But I’ve put them all in danger.’ He thought as he was playing with the butterfly brooch in his neck. He didn’t have long, he had learned that Nightwing was a brilliant detective outside of the beating scene from a few news reports. He knew he had left him with pretty huge evidence and even though he didn’t believe the young man would find him that instant, he knew he was on clock. 

 

He had to be even more careful, more immaculate, more calculating. He had to select his targets bigger. He needed more messed up people. Before this, before those two came to his home he would not control certain people, criminals of all kinds; Murderers, psychopaths, robbers. The kind that does not like to be ordered. The kind that doesn’t hold back with his orders. 

 

Now though, he had to risk it. Before he didn’t want to kill the kids, even though they were more than irritating, he wasn’t a murderer, especially for kids. But now, for all he knew, he was already tracked, he couldn’t risk it, wait for an innocent person to get angry. 

 

They were playing 4 against 1 god dammit! He had to make it fair somehow! Nathalie suggested that she could use the peacock miraculous, which he refused immediately. It was damaged, it was the thing that started this all. He will not let her waste her life like that. She deserved to be with them, she deserved to be with her best friend. Not be a martyr in the way. 

 

Gabriel signed loudly and took off his glasses, rubbing his eyes and then his forehead. He could see the shadow of someone moving in front of his door, probably his office assistant who had nothing to do except forward emails and calls to him while he was in his house. Hell, he didn’t even know the boy's name. He didn’t even know his assistant here was a male to be honest, they must have fired the last one in his absence. 

 

When the incessant and anxious walking started to make sound he let out an explicit and yelled at the boy telling him to just enter it. He was expecting some kind of invite to some famous and uninteresting jerks party, a party that he would be declining. But no, to his surprise assistant told him that someone was about to make a video call with him on a website he had never heard of. 

 

At first Gabriel was confused, it was clearly some kind of scammer, trying to get a hold of him like it was a possibility for those lowly people. But then the assistant told him the threat they had proposed. Whoever this guy was, he somehow knew their next three seasons of style in detail. Something only the exclusives and the tailors who were actually working on it knew. Now that piqued Gabriel’s interest. He didn’t really care for the seasonal parts of his company, an artist like him would make singular pieces. Not for everything and not without inspiration. Though he also knew being that stingy wouldn’t make him much. 

 

“He said he had the means to leak it if you wouldn’t talk to him… Sir.” Said Gabriel’s assistant and then waited in there, worried and scared beyond. Gabriel thought about it for a while, he was the head of the most known clothing company in the world. Not everyone could wear his clothes, you had to be prestiged, rich, more important than the common man or woman. Next three seasons of his clothing line leaked would certainly hurt his image and even his pockets to some degree. But leaking it also makes the clothing cheaper, meaning none of his competitors would try to replicate it. Why not sell the design to one of his enemies and roll in money ? Why not keep it shut and presumably, continue to learn more about his line, search for a bigger prize ? 

 

Whoever this guy was, he wanted something else, that was clear. The question was, why ? 

 

“Umm, Sir?” Asked his assistant before continuing “He said you have an hour to get on the website and register as this name.” Assistant handed Gabriel a piece of paper, on it only one word was written “Petaloúda”. If he wasn’t wrong, it meant ‘butterfly’ in greek. 

 

“Get out of my room, don’t take anyone in and don’t tell anyone what I’m doing or you’ll be losing more than your job.” Said Gabriel to his assistant swiftly and opened up his computer without even waiting for an answer. He didn’t need to, the assistant learned about Gabriel enough before even applying to this job. He wasn’t going to question him and face the wrath of that phone book of a contract he had to sign in before even stepping in the building. 

 

Now that he was alone, Gabriel quickly took a breath in, trying to calm himself down. Whoever this guy was, they didn't have many means to expose him yet. He was always careful enough to not leave too many breadcrumbs. They might have found him, but that doesn’t mean they had enough evidence to even arrest him. He opened up the browser and the website this mysterious perpetrator asked him to do. Website firstly asked him to enter with a password and nickname like all the others do, but not asked for an e-mail. Maybe because of how primitive it looked. He thought that maybe whoever was the maker of this site hadn’t been using his computer for a while at all. 

 

Of course, all that changed when he finally got on the site itself, it was disgusting to say the least. The back wallpaper used in the website seemed to be made out of different cartoon highschool girls in… compromising poses. It was quite nauseating to be honest, on the top bracket there were different categories about different shows, he tried to click on one and it showed him a cartoon porn video. ‘What in the name of god is this lunatic wanting from me!’ He wanted to yell out but couldn’t without raising suspicions. He had to keep it in and look through this degenerate site in order to find his mole. 

 

‘Had to be me, of course it has to be happening when I’m at my lowest.’ Nothing he clicked offered him anything god dammit! One time opened a new window and it sent him to a discussion site where people were arguing which superheroine would be  a great… He didn’t even want to finish reading that since the title was about laying down. 

 

Finally he gave up and clicked the ask for help button. A white fat cat with a monstrous smile and a full set of teeth that shouldn’t have popped up on the screen. The cat was pointing to a box while saying ‘We’ll turn back to you as soon as we can.’ 

 

You asked me to be here, I’m here. Now tell me what I need to do god dammit and stop wasting my time with this garbage site.

 

After pressing send Gabriel’s hand automatically went to the close but he was able to stop himself from pressing it. He had no idea what to do, but he was fairly sure that a website this loose wouldn’t be able to send him messages when it needed to. 

 

So he just sat there and waited. And waited. And waited. 

 

He checked the clock, it had been five minutes since he sent that message and no answer came back to him. He was about done, another five minutes and he was ready to lose a dozen million dollars or some. Hell,he was ready to lose that amount just to get out of this disgusting fetish website. Then a big bell icon appeared right in the middle of his screen, asking him to have earphones and soundproof atmosphere. Thankfully, he had earphones in one of the drawers of his desk and he was in his office. Asked not to be disturbed or whatever that last request meant already. 

 

Then came up a warning that the website was asking to connect his webcam. He stopped before clicking it. His work computers were meant to have every piece of equipment already installed, like the webcam. The problem was that he didn’t know if he could close the webcam with his finger for as long as this ‘talk’ will take. 

 

‘No reason to risk it.’ He thought and laid the monitor in order to not be seen by the camera. His ceiling wasn’t really looking that special to be honest anyway, he didn’t think whoever this person was couldn’t find him based on that. Closing the camera with the sleeve of his shirt, he clicked accept and started to wait once again in a much more anxious state. 

 

As soon as he clicked a new window opened and he saw a young man (Around 20 to 25) eating chinese take out. He was clearly fat, his orange shirt was having a hard time holding his belly in while blue jeans seemed to be about to burst. He had one of the messiest beards Gabriel had ever seen, glasses half down and a dumb look on his face. If Gabriel had to guess, the young man wasn’t smelling his best either. “Ah, Sorry about that Partner! Had a problem with the doordash you know. That's why I was away from the computer!” He yelled in a very thick Texan accent. 

 

Before speaking or removing his sleeve of the camera, Gabriel tried to take a look around the man's room. It was dark but he could make around some shelves full of different toys from the small, fluorescent lights he had decorated his room with. There was something written with the lights to the wall too, Brooker. 

 

“Hello ?” He asked and then took a huge bite from his food, the sucking sound coming from the noodles almost made Gabriel gag. “I’m here.” He said calmly and then removed his sleeve from the camera, he had nothing to hide for now. “Wow, cool and soulless Ceiling you got there mister.” Brooker said with a mouth full of food, continuously chewing and making Gabriel feel sick. Clearly, no manners were teached at that backwoods country. 

 

“Anyway, sorry about the delay, mister. I’m about to transport you to the main man. Have a nice day.” Before Gabriel could even ask him who this main man was, the call paused for a while before the screen came back again. This time however, instead of the imbecile Texan there was someone else on the call. 

 

“Hello mister butterfly. My name is Deathstroke, also known as Slade and a few others too.” 

 

***

 

You know what was more boring than the classes Damian had to attend and try to look mildly interested in them ? The classes with no teacher in it, meaning he had absolutely zero things to do. 

 

For some reason the Principal had called Miss Bustier to his office almost 10 minutes ago. In that time frame, the class had relaxed, people started to talk to each other, play on their phones and whatnot. He couldn’t do any of those. He was scared if someone (Mainly the blonde sitting next to him and kept staring at him) would look at his phone. What if he got a message from the family ? They were notoriously bad at keeping the chatting system ‘bat-clear’ after all. He didn’t have anyone to talk to in the class too… or at least didn’t have anyone he wanted to talk to. 

 

He checked his bag once again, trying to look for a book he had forgotten home. Why was he doing this ? He didn’t know himself either. 

 

Suddenly he heard that ghastly laughter once again and faster than he could react an arm suddenly engulfed him and pulled him back “Ah, you silly willy! I told you before that you don’t need books here! Your tablet is good enough to have all the class books!” After these words Chloe let out another nails-on-a-chalkboard laughter and Damian had to count to ten slowly in order to not suplex her from the nearest table. 

 

He had never been this annoyed with any villains before, and somehow miss rich asshat was making him see a flashback to his family’s unapproved stares. She made him so angry, he had to mentally imagine what his father and all the others would react to him finally shutting her up. 

 

God he hates rich people. The other disciples in the Nepal mountains when he was training were the best people to be around… And there, he couldn’t even take showers regularly. He took a deep breath before closing and opening his eyes and telling Chloe, in the most plain way to let him go. She wasn’t slick. He knew she was doing it to get a reaction out of him, maybe so she could play the victim role or something else. He wasn’t interested in kindergarten level plays. 

 

Thankfully, before this petty squabble could continue, Miss Bustier came back to the class and everyone shut their trap before returning to their seats. “Alright class” She said before her signature smile turned down, now that was mildly interesting. Damian had never seen the women stop smiling even when she was scolding others. Indeed, something had happened. Apparently, their coach Mister Armand had sprained his ankle badly and couldn’t be out of his house for at least 2 weeks. “I’m sorry kids. But without Armand being with us, we have to cancel our school trip to Espace Sportif Pontoise unfortunately.” 

 

To the bad news, Damian didn’t really say anything.After all, if he wanted to swim, he would be staying in a hotel, not the building he shares with Grayson. But apparently his classmates didn’t think the same way because they all started to yell at the teacher, saying ‘You can’t do that’ or ‘we were waiting for this for so long’ or whatnot. Miss bustier didn’t say anything for a while and waited for the class to calm down a bit, she then took a deep breath “I know how you feel guys, and believe me, if it was up to me, I would not be canceling it. But the pool wants supervisors from the school committee and can’t provide one themselves. I’m sorry guys but neither I nor the other teachers know how to save someone if they are drowning.” 

 

“I do! I can help.” Said Kim and made a few people giggle. “And I’m sure Ivan can just lift people up from the water without it reaching his chin.” Added Alix and high fived the goliath sized dude behind her. A few other people also tried to add excuses, like Nino saying Adrien was a great swimmer too or Nathaniel saying the pool was gonna be a great inspirational place for everyone. Unfortunately, none of those suggestions got past the teacher because she would never let a student take charge in a situation with dangers such as this. “Kids, the pool's deepest point is taller than even Mister Armand. The only reason we accepted it was because Mister Armand has several medals in swimming.” 

 

With her last explanation people stopped arguing and started to sulk down. Bustier tried to lift their spirits with a promise to a picnic which didn’t even make Rose smile.

 

‘Well, instead of a boring pool, we are going to a boring picnic, what a great difference really.’ Thought Damian while turning the pace in his tablet, he had already read out the whole history book of course, he was just looking at the pictures right now. They were the only mildly interesting things in the digital book. 

 

Suddenly, from the back of the class someone shouted that they had an idea for the pool. It was Lila as she got up from her seat and quickly came down next to Bustier “Miss Bustier, Damian’s big brother, Richard is a gym teacher and has a couple of rewards on various sports.” With those words she pointed at Damian and the whole class turned their attention to him “I’m pretty sure he can help us if one of us were drowning.” She was smiling sweetly towards the teacher while saying that, but as soon as the teacher turned her gaze at him, Damian saw that sinister smirk form on her lips. 

 

‘Of course she was searching for him online.’ Thought Damian while trying to not bite the tablet in his hand from anger “My brother is a very busy person and he doesn’t have time for our shenanigans.” He said quickly, hoping (and praying) that this amount would be enough for Bustier because he knew for a fact Dick would accept the role in a heartbeat if the teacher talked to him directly. 

 

“Really ? I thought you said he was here for vacation ?” Said Lila, coughing him red handed. At least to her own standards that is “Even though our last names are different, he is still a Wayne through and through. A Wayne is rarely free from his or her responsibilities.” 

 

He thought this would be a satisfactory answer, but this time the whole class started to moan and beg, telling him to ask his brother anyway and whatnot. These ‘people’ acted like a pool was the only important thing in this world. Young generations are truly doomed. 

 

After a bit more prodding (A.K.A a whole minute long back and forth between him and the class) Damian finally relented and told Bustier that he would call his brother in the next break. Of course, he wasn’t gonna do that. They were there for a mission, not to have fun. Last time they tried to have fun in an exercise, almost half of the city was blown to pieces. So he took the reins and made an executive decision. No more fun was allowed. 

 

Unfortunately for Damian and his plans though, Bustier told him not to bother with it and she could talk to him after the school. That’s right, the teacher that couldn’t understand one of her students being bluntly bullied was sharp enough to remember who was taking Damian after classes. “We also need to talk about other responsibilities and have to prepare a few documents together anyway. So it would be best that I talk to him.” 

 

Damian didn’t say anything other than letting out his signature ‘Tt’ and silently getting back to the history book pictures. He had no way out of this it seemed. 

 

***

 

“How did you learn about me ?” Asked Gabriel, cutting the chase short and immediately wanting to learn who he needs to capture and imprison underneath his house. 

 

“Your informant, or should I say, your assistant’s informant told me.” 

 

“That’s impossible.” Said Hawkmoth cutting Deathstroke almost before he stopped talking. 

 

“Why ? Because you two used fake names and hid your faces, people couldn’t find you ? We live in a bureaucratic hellhole my friend. Of course he was able to know who you were the moment you were contacted with him.” 

 

Gabriel shook his head while holding his chin with two fingers. “We met in his office, no electronics to track, no vehicle to follow.”

 

“A really big load of cash to be made on the line daily. Do you really believe that that kind of business doesn’t take precautions for that ?” Suddenly Gabriel heard a loud blast and the small room behind Deathstroke shook up, some smoke and dirt started to rain down from the ceiling “The body mirror you saw in the door of the office, there is a small magic trick in that accessory. It shows you in your… honest state let's say. Everything you try to hide has been shown from it. Though, since you did pay your debt quickly, Mister Nicolo hadn’t blackmailed your nudist form.” 

 

Deathstroke laughed after that, even though his half orange and half black mask couldn’t really show that at all. Another blast shook the small, dark room Deathstroke was standing in, this time more powerful as it almost made Slade fall down from his chair. Somebody entered the room in front of the Deathstroke, saying something in Greek before rushing back. 

 

“I’m guessing you are busy ?” Said Gabriel and when he saw the man nod in confirmation continued to talk, asking him why he was just calling him and not upper handing him to the police already.

 

“And why would I do that ? the bounty on your head is laughably small and wouldn’t even make pennies next to the job you will give me.” 

 

“Excuse me ?” Said Gabriel, having a faint idea where this talk was going, but still continuing in order to find a weakness while Slade talked. Mutual destruction was avoided for a reason after all. 

 

“The pest heroes you are fighting against. I’m offering to take them all down for you. Or, for the right price, if we need to be technical.”

 

To the offer, Gabriel straightens his back. This, he didn’t expect. But he still needed to keep the situation in control right now. “I resigned myself from outside help after what had happened last. Unfortunately, you are a bit late for this Mister Slade.” He said, testing the waters and what he could still get out of the man that seemed to be in the middle of a trench warfare. 

 

“Well, it’s your own fault thinking Joker could be trusted mister. You were looking for the worst while what you needed was a professional.” Another explosion shook the dark room behind Slade. This time though, instead of disregarding it Slade got up from his chair and took an AK-47 next to his table, reloaded it and then hanged on his shoulder. “Of course, as you can see, I myself am a bit busy at the moment too as I think you are. So, how about this for an offer mister: Watch the news on how I do my job and then talk to me about the details again. I believe you did find your way from that weird site and I assure you, you can trust Brooker on not recording anything. He knows the price to it would be his own head after all.” 

 

Slade stopped for a moment to weather more things from the table the camera was located on, two pistols, several grenades, two swords and one long metal staff. As he was turning towards the camera again, someone entered the room and shouted that the general was visible from the horizon in english. Slade quickly turned the man and sent him a quick nod. Gabriel, this time looked at the man more carefully, he was wearing some soldier equipment,like a rifle, grenade belt, one helmet and some kind of weak looking armor. But other than that he was in dirted up jeans and a white shirt. 

 

“Ah, Greece is such a beaut this time of year wouldn’t you say so too.” Said Slade, fully looking at the camera and coming closer to it “You have till next Tuesday to answer me back, mister butterfly. Otherwise I won’t be opening on my schedule I’m afraid.” With those words the screen turned black and the pop up site automatically closed itself. 

 

Now, Gabriel was alone in his office once again. Wondering just how deep this abyss he had landed himself would go down. 

Notes:

Kudos and comments are appreciated :) Have an amazing day/night! 

Chapter 23: Winging in Paris - Fathers and Sons

Summary:

“Sorry, I had to check. Last time you were this talkative was when Riddler broadcasted verbally quizzing you.” Bruce just rolled his eyes to that answer. Whatever, it was better to be safe than sorry after all. “It’s been a hard week for me too I guess.”

“On the breaking news: Greece Prime Minister Vasileios Galanis has confirmed that he will be making a ceasefire with the rebel forces lead by Nikolaos Papadimitriou. The Prime Minister had made the announcement with the condition that the firing upon Yanya be stopped immediately. 

 

So far, the only official reasoning for the ceasefire from the once optimistic Prime Minister was that of the civilian losses to be lessened. Although, that seems to be more of an excuse than a reason if you’d believe the enraged the rightwing parties of the parliament.  

 

Many people from the nation actually believe the ceasefire reasoning for it to be sudden assassinations of General Adonis and the high rank officers traveling with him. 

 

Speaking of, while the autopsy of the general shows only bullet wounds, there were also big slashes found in the general's thighs, making everyone question: what had happened two days prior. 

 

“Dad ?” 

 

Gabriel quickly muted the massive TV in their living room, that neither he or Adrien were in for more than a few minutes daily. “Yes Adrien, did you have something on your mind ?” He asked quickly. It was kinda embarrassing to be caught off guard by his son while he was doing reconnaissance on this mysterious Deathstroke fellow.

 

“Umm, actually there is…” Said Adrien and pushed a piece of paper and a pen towards the older man. Gabriel raised his right brow while taking the small paper, he quickly read what was written on it with a blank face. It was one of those Parents- consenting- to- the- trip- paper thingies schools sent. Normally he wouldn’t really care about them and either rip it out in front of Adrien or just told him no. But this was a bit of a weird circumstance. 

 

A few months back, Adrien had learned to stand his ground against Gabriel’s wishes with the threats of coloring his hair or his nails. It was basically blackmailing if you asked Gabriel, but he couldn’t make the brand's face disappear from too many Ads. He also wasn’t gonna use harsh chemicals and damage the boys hairs as his FATHER but that was another thing entirely. 

 

Long story short, since that day Adrien would use the same intimidation tactics on him about every school activity, from the smallest things like joining the Art club for a few lessons to the bigger things like this trip in front of Gabriel. Then we come to the weird part of this whole ordeal, Adrien, even though he seemed to be excited to go to this pool, wasn’t carrying any blackmail material in his hands. Upon a few seconds inspection, Gabriel didn’t even see a can shaped object on him like before. Where was this trust coming from and why ? 

 

“Do you want to go to this ‘Swimming Event’ Adrien ?” Asked Gabriel slowly, his face was blank and his expression was as natural as a tree trunk. But behind his cold and unnerving eyes he was making calculations. 

 

Just by looking at him you’d get that Adrien wanted to go. Of course he wanted to go! He wanted to spend time with his friends, get some relaxation and get his focus back. He also wanted to learn a few new swimming styles from Damian’s big brother too. All he knew was basic stroke and dive, anything other than those were deemed unnecessary by his father. 

 

But he also talked to Nathalie before coming in. He knew his father wasn’t feeling good. He had gone to work for example. Or you know, stepped outside. That was pretty rare too. He was clearly troubled but Adrien knew, from experience, that his old man would never talk it out loud. He would rather swallow it all and let it poison him from the inside. Like father, like son he guessed, he wasn’t keen on talking through his problems either after all. 

 

Still, the point stands. His old man was dealing with some heavy stuff that he didn’t know about, and he didn’t want to add on to it if he could help it. “Yes I do father. I believe that it would help me to exercise my upper chest muscles.” He said while pointing to his arm and chest. 

 

Gabriel thought about it for a couple of seconds, normally he would just say ‘no’ and be done with it. But his son seemed to be trusting him enough to come up to his side with nothing to deter him and a weak excuse. He is either too sure of himself, or he was trusting Gabriel enough to not threaten him with something. His logic was sound with one exemption, Adrien was looking at the ground the whole time, hands locked behind him and one foot kept tapping to the stone floor off beat. He wasn’t sure of himself, and he was shaking like a leaf. 

 

With a sign, Gabriel snapped his fingers in order to get the boy's attention, when Adrien did look back up Gabriel pointed to the pen still in Adrien’s hand and asked for him to handle it. 

 

After quickly signing the consent form Gabriel handed the piece of paper back to his son and for a second the smile it bringed to the little boy’s face almost made him smile too. 

 

Gabriel cleared his throat in order to hide his face and closed the news, he had seen enough anyway. He got up from the couch and started to walk with Adrien towards the main entrance. There, they saw Nathalie was waiting with a serious frown plastered on her normally natural futures. Gabriel looked upon her with a raised brow but she didn’t talk to him, instead she went directly to Adrien, and bent down to his level and asked how it went. 

 

Not knowing what was going on Gabriel just watched the two as Adrien told her that Gabriel had indeed signed the forms. She gave him a stingy eye to that report but only told Adrien to go back to his room as his physics homework hasn’t been done yet. Adrien, upon hearing it smacked his forehead slowly and told her he’d be on it now before moving to the stairs. 

 

When he was on the last stair though, Adrien turned around like he remembered something to the two people watching him “You can talk to me dad. You know… If you want, that is.” Gabriel just stood there still like a statue. What should he do ? Should he reprimand him for assuming his father, The Gabriel Agreste, was needing help? Should he thank him for assuring his father that he was not alone in his quest ? 

 

Thankfully he didn’t have to do anything because Nathalie just told him to hurry up before turning to Gabriel and pointed to his home office. Not knowing what was going on, Gabriel quietly followed Nathalie. If his luck nowadays was anything to go by, he was fearing for another lunatic trying to contact him or something. They entered the office and Nathalie swiftly locked the door and slapped him so hard he didn’t even have time to defend himself. 

 

“OHMN” As the sound left his lips as Gabriel fell down to the marble ground,he felt the sudden taste of iron in his mount and quickly concluded that his lip was split in two from the impact. “What in the hell are yo-” Nathalie suddenly caught him in his collar with both hands and raised him back so fast his head turned for a second. “What are you doing Gabriel ?” She asked him calmly, even though the red hot irises that threw lightning bolts at him indicated she was anything but calm. 

 

“What are you talking about !” Finally said Gabriel and then harshly ripped her hands out of his collar, he would never hit her even if she’d kill him, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t be standing his ground. Their friendship shouldn't have standed if they both weren’t headstrong people. “I heard what had happened in the office, you were blackmailed, someone directly requested to talk to you and then threatened almost the entire staff there if they talked about it to anyone.” 

 

She took a deep breath before her eyes locked on to him once again, even though the significant height difference made her look non-threatening to an outside observer, Gabriel knew too much about her to know that was far from the truth. “What had happened Gabriel ? What was this threat about and more importantly, why didn’t you say anything to me ?” 

 

Gabriel didn’t say anything for a few seconds, he was just watching her, remembering the times they had spent together, the victories they gathered, achievements they succeeded, pain they have endured. She was his longest, and only real friend in all the damn world. She was there from the beginning, since his world was brightened up by Emilie, since he stopped seeing more than the different tones of gray, since he felt alive first. And that was a long long time ago. 

 

“Nothing for you to worry about.” He quickly said while clearing the few drops of blood that started to flow through his open wound. She looked at him incredulously, like this was the first time he had talked to her like this. Witch it wasn’t. So he didn’t really know why she was giving him this attitude right now. 

 

“I don’t know what you are dragging yourself in to, but if your choices ending up hurts Adrien I will-” 

 

“Do nothing as I’m the boy's FATHER. Whilst you are nothing more than his caretaker.” Said Gabriel with clear anger present in his face now, he stopped applying pressure to the small cut in his lip as it already started to heal. His hands were on his sides, waiting for another surprise attack from the smaller woman in front of him that was clenching her hands. 

 

“You’re trying to push me away. It didn’t work when Emilie left us, and it won’t work now either. Now you are gonna tell me what’s going on or I will be contacting the heroes, would you want the Parisian ones or the Gothamites ?” 

 

Gabriel didn’t want to talk to her. Hell he wanted to just throw her out to the cruel world outside and let it eat her. She didn’t have any second plans like he did, she consciously never made what if scenarios. It wasn’t in her blood to doubt herself. She also was a warrior to the core, she’d fight against him too if she needed. Even if the consequences hurt her too. He didn’t say anything else to Nathalie while moving towards his computer and gesturing to her to follow him. “It was a contract. I haven’t agreed to anything yet, but this man did prove himself in a lot of ways already.”

 

Nathalie was angry at him, she wanted him to care more about his family, be with his kid. But then, she also wanted to be with her best friend too. So, with no objection, she once again followed Gabriel while he moved towards his own destruction. She was going to follow him without a second thought. 

 

***

 

Nightwing was on his own that night. The training session had already been done, Ladybug and Chat volunteered to be the lookouts for the night. Even though they were probably sore from the workouts alone. Or maybe they were getting used to the brutal regime and the diets. He did give them tips on what to eat and whatnot after all, just because he doesn’t follow it doesn’t mean he didn’t know how to form a healthy diet. It was just more enjoyable to eat fast food all day. That was all. 

 

Though he had to say, the burger options in Europe always seemed to be healthier than the states, like what the hell man ? Who asked to eat a less heartclottering burger ? Just give me that extra greasy, super unhealthy, body crushing goodness! 

 

Needless to say, he was very overwhelmed by the quality of the common street burgers. Though, he had to say, it was a good change of pace not seeing a couple doing drugs in the restroom. Speaking of which, he was also surprised by the amount of clean toilets he saw, which was 2 out of 5 for now. Two more than he saw living in bludhaven for 5 years… 

 

“Speaking of turds” He said under his breath and turned around from the confined sitting place he had found out which was a gargoyle, holding his hands out like he was waiting for something to drop, a.k.a Nightwing’s butt. The rooftop seemed dead after him, no marble rocks moved, no antennas swayed with the wind. But he could see a shadow inside a shadow between two radiators. “ You know that won’t work on me anymore right ?” He said and the shadow he saw suddenly raised up to its full length.  

 

“Wanted to see when you’d noticed it.” Said Bruce, coming from between the radiators, it was such a small space that you’d wonder how he managed to fit there, for you know, being a massive guy and what not. Although that wasn’t all that surprising to Dick. He knew what kind of holes Bruce managed to get out of when he was a youngling next to the big bad bat. 

 

“I noticed when you first found us training. Poor Damian probably didn’t though. He and Ladybug usually butt-heads like that a lot.” 

 

“Do you know why?” Asked Bruce, now next to him and squatting down on the handrails. His cape was moving around them and the tips of it were almost touching Dick’s face. “Because she doesn’t think bullying is a healthy teaching method and fights against it every chance she gets ?” 

 

“Hm.” 

 

“What are you thinking of them then ? Did you see any improvements ?” 

 

“Couple in fact. Girl seems to be understanding the meaning of teamwork more and the boy seems much more focused now. From the older recordings, I thought the boy was either intentionally bad at fighting or he really didn’t know how to. Good thing we know it's the first one now. ” 

 

Dick nodded along to Bruce’s analysis. He wasn’t wrong, yes, but he also didn’t expect him to be this robotic about it. Then again, it was Bruce. Maybe watching him train Tim and others made Dick think he was less soulless about it. So his fault in short. 

 

“Hm, then do you have any recommendations for the individual fighting styles I’m teaching them ?” It was a sneak question. Bruce probably knew it too. You know, being the ‘World's Greatest Detective’ and all that. Bruce just shook his head slowly while looking down at the city below them, it was now even late for the usual night owls to be out. People had started to leave clubs and whatnots like an hour ago. Now the only things awake were homeless people, a couple of cars going who knows where and the street lambs. 

 

“You did an exemplary job Dick.” Said Bruce before finally relaxing on the handrail and sitting on it instead of trying to prove whose calves were stronger. It was Dick’s. Obviously. The gargoyle he was sitting on might’ve been larger, and he might’ve had a better overall position, but still, don’t hate the player, hate the rooftop with smallass rails. 

 

Also, did Bruce just congratulate him ? 

 

That part kinda flew over his head since you know, it was more important for Dick to show he was the more athletic of the two. Still, he had heard Bruce clearly and was watching him with a dumbfounded expression. 

 

“Close your mouth before a bird flies in.” Said Bruce casually, he was swinging one of his legs from the rail like a schoolgirl, he had a small and relaxed smile on his face. What was going on exactly ? 

 

“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…” Was all Dick could say as an answer. He made a joke too. It was more like an insult but it was funny… in 1930 standards that is, but still, it was a joke. Bruce didn’t know the first letter of a joke even if you hit his head with it. “Who are you and when did you switch your body with B ?” He asked half jokingly. He didn’t know what to do to be honest. Bruce was an emotionally stunted man, he once watched Brooklynn 99 with them and then got angry at the show for hiding the signs the captain was gay before the big reveal! 

 

He was the even more robotic Holt if you continue with the example. You know, an even less approachable version. 

 

As his answer Bruce smiled once again before explaining to him how brain-numbingly stupid that extraterrestrial mission was, how everything would have been resolved if the king just realized that there could be more places in his world than the one he controlled. “That planet was at least 2 times the size of ours and even then the biggest city they had was half the size of London.” Bruce paused while taking a deep breath “They had two continents they haven’t even discovered yet. But still, the king was hell bent on not losing maybe 2% of his populus. Rebels didn’t even want to dethrone him either! They just wanted to create a separate country. A homogeneous country for their own race.” 

 

‘ OMG WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW ???!!!’ Thought Dick, internally panicking but trying to not show it out. Was Bruce, the guy who’d volunteer for watching security tapes if he can’t operate (Which is the most brain numbingly boring thing ever) was ranting about his mission because of how frustrating it was ? Who was this guy, a normal everyday superhero ? He had never, never seen Bruce this fed up about a mission. Even against Condiment King. 

 

Dick cleared his throat while trying to sit straighter, successfully gaining the man's attention too “I’m sorry but can you tell me real quick ‘1939 equals-’ ?” 

 

Bruce hit him with the most deadpan look he could muster, so much so Dick could see the disappointment and apathy seeping out of the white lenses of his mask. “Then you guys ask me to be more open about myself.” He said before answering the secret code with ‘1940 first time.’ 

 

“Sorry, I had to check. Last time you were this talkative was when Riddler broadcasted verbally quizzing you.” Bruce just rolled his eyes to that answer. Whatever, it was better to be safe than sorry after all. “It’s been a hard week for me too I guess.” 

 

Dick snickered to that idea “I bet, making forged alliances on an alien planet would take a lot out of someone right ?” He laughed at his own joke before something came to his mind. “Wait a second, you ranted about the planet a lot, but how did a planet with less population and discoveries than ours called you guys in ?” 

 

Bruce, once again rolled his eyes before getting up from the ceiling and finally standing on solid ground again. “For some reason they are just now starting to realize the possibility of different cultures while manufacturing energy weapons. Don’t ask me how, I’ve already given up trying to figure out. Every answer frustrates you more. Do what Clark told me to do and just accept them as they are.” 

 

“Huh, now that's weird.” 

 

“Their king is as tall as my knee, while the ‘enemy’ he is sleeping around with is as tall as Shaq and looks more like a humanoid Rhino than anything else.” 

 

Dick smiled at his old man now “You need to get a good night's sleep, it seems, wanna crash at our place ?” 

Bruce took a deep breath once again before nodding along, it would be good to actually sleep and let his body heal for a while at least. Gotham was safe after all, since the Joker’s little tour, all of the members had come back from their out of Gotham missions, searching the suspecting safehouses and keeping the city calm while the clown was escorted to his usual cell in Arkham. And the fact that he hadn’t slept in almost four days combined with his missions were taking their toll on him. “That would be good.” 

 

When they moved to the rooftop of the apartment Nightwing and Damian were staying in, the sun was starting to show a little, creating an annoying but pretty shine over the horizon. Dick moved towards the trap door on the rooftop, for whatever reason, it seemed like the concept of a dedicated stairwell for the rooftop was an foreign idea to the city. He moved down on one leg to open the lock when Bruce stopped him to get him back to his feet. 

 

Confused, Dick raised his left brow and was about to ask him what was going on when Bruce, out of nowhere hugged him. 

 

‘Huh ?’ Was all Dick thought about. What was going on exactly ? Did Bruce see a tracking device behind him ? Did he see a red laser on him and instinctually drove forward ? 

 

None of those ideas made sense, his costume was designed to detect foreign objects latching on him and always send a signal to him. His mask didn’t detect any kind of laser sight either. Was he just… collapsing on him ? 

 

That might be it, he must be so tired that he couldn’t stand still. It wasn’t the first time this happened either so it was all good right ? No, he was awake and he was shivering slightly. 

 

“Um Bruce ?” He asked finally, a lot more frightened than even when they were fighting each other. “Shh!” Said Bruce and continued to hug him before finally letting him go, a minute later! 

 

This was absurd, Bruce didn’t just give hugs willy nilly. He actually hated physical contact in general and would only let his closest friends (Like Clark and Diana) or his family touch him without permission. But even then these interactions were limited and usually broken up by a throaty grumble leaving Bruce’s gravel covered vocal cords. The only times he saw Bruce genuinely hug someone could be counted by his fingers and usually the receiver had a horrific incident beforehand and needed a comforting figure. 

 

“I’m sorry for being so emotional.” Said Bruce while taking his mask off. What. Was. Going. On ! Did they hit him with a ‘Be happy lol’ laser beam on that planet without Bruce noticing or something ? 

 

“When I heard the news, I was knee deep in historical search, trying to find a way to appease both parties in a civil war. The moment I heard what was happening I wanted to come back, I didn’t want to leave you two alone with that psycho. The only thing calmed me down was Clark’s words.” The sincerity in his eyes could be picked up by a two year old. This was a really new territory for Dick. The man he always thought wore a brick for heart was now opening up to him without him almost dying. This felt super weird. 

 

Bruce showed the trap door with his finger “When we go down there, I will be talking to Damian primarily because I’m sure he is affection starved from his biological father.” Well, he wasn’t wrong to be honest. Dick was THE big brother figure of the family (A title no one was good enough to take from him thank you very much) but that wasn’t the same as your father. He might get teased by the others by it, but he wouldn’t dream of being the other’s father figure. He had enough responsibilities already, and a brother figure is like 98% of the time the cool one while father clocks in at 70% max. 

 

Bruce cut his line of thoughts by putting his hand to Richard’s right shoulder. “I want you to know this Dick. I’m proud of you. You lead the team without pressuring them or yourself. You didn’t get distracted because of the freak. And you certainly didn’t lose your cool. I’m glad that you both stayed unharmed through this whole ordeal.” 

 

‘*uck it, I’m crying!’ Thought Dick and hugged his old man, almost bending him if he was a bit shorter. You really don’t know how good it feels to be praised by your father (Yes he is right now shut up I’m having a moment here!) especially if it's this rare. It sounds cruel yes, there was a time that he would just roll his eyes at the idea that he wanted Bruce’s praises. He was far too busy being brooding then. He wasn’t starving for his attention, but from the time he had sworn with him under that cave, he wanted to impress Bruce too. When he was a child he wanted to be Batman when he grew up. 

 

Then a lot of things happened between them, some good and a lot bad things. He grew up, resented the old man and then decided to fly his own way. But, even though at the time he wouldn’t admit it to anyone, he still followed in Bruce's footsteps. He still felt a great deal of joy whenever he murmured a ‘good job’ towards Dick. 

 

Now, all of this was behind them, he no longer yearned to appease Bruce and Bruce no longer tried to put his nose in Dick’s business in Blud. He was grown up certainly, but at this moment, it felt good to be with his father once again. It felt good that there was still a very very strong oak tree behind him he could lean to. 

 

After around 10 seconds they finally broke from the hug. Dick couldn’t help but get a bit emotional, he wasn’t stunted like Bruce dammit! And now his eyes were slowly giving away their sad juices! 

 

Bruce patted his shoulder for one more time and started to move towards the trap door. 

Notes:

This was a good filler ep, not so long or crutially important, but still good to read. It was funnier then my other ones too if you asked me. Have a good day/night and don’t forget to leave kudos and comments if you don’t want me coming down there. I’m talking to you Edward Clusman!

Chapter 24: Winging in Paris - Coming down to the showdown

Summary:

He took a deep breath and stretched his arms while letting out a big yawn. Suddenly someone knocked on his door and then Dick came in with a cup of tea in his hand. Bruce looked at the cup Dick was carrying with a questioning gaze, then his look turned to his first son as Richard rolled his eyes and put the cup down on the table. “I know you prefer coffee at this hour, but you are still here for a vacation.”

Notes:

It took a while, but the new chapter is here wooooooooo

Have a good night / day 🙂 🙂 🙂

“Alright kids, you know the rules. Stand in two rows, Follow Miss Bustier as she will be in the front and come talk to me before you want to head to restrooms or any other places. Be nice to each other and the other swimmers or you will be seeing me after the tour.” Said Miss Mendeleiev with a bored expression while measuring every student in the bus. Of course, everyone in the bus knew how quickly that expression could be turned worse, so they all nodded understandably while murmuring their own acknowledgement. 

 

Bustier looked at the woman sitting opposite to her with a smile, she was not that easy to approach normally and her overly strict policies would normally make Bustier frown. But she couldn’t lie, Mendeleiev came in very handy when they were on a school trip and kept everything organized. 

 

The bus was relatively free, Adrien, Chloe, Damian and Sabrina were coming to the pool by themself. But there was still enough of her students to make a fuss, which is why she had personally asked Mendeleiev to be with her. She didn’t have to since Mendeleiev was the head of teachers console. She was probably obligated to be here but Bustier didn’t want to leave it to chance. 

 

“We are almost at the Pontoise ma’am. Might wanna get the kids ready.” Said the bus driver, he was an elderly man with a beard that was longer than her hand. Looking at his eyes you’d see the annoyance on it, as if he really, really didn’t want to do this. “Thank you sir.” Said Bustier and smiled at him in order to ease the mood a bit. Of course, she also saw the leering stares he was giving her from the corner of her eye. It was disgusting to think this guy was checking her out as he was falling short in a lot of points that made her attracted to someone. For example, hygiene. 

 

“I wonder if Adrien is also on the way.” Said Nino while looking out from his window, he could clearly see Chloe’s car from his point in the far back. He could also see one more car that was following them, but he was sure that wasn’t Adrien’s. He out to know, he was one of the few people that always left his bro right next to that car's door after all. Other’s usually left them in the stairs or on the sidewalk. 

 

“I’m sure he is.” Said Marinette while trying to not doze off on Nino’s shoulder. Unsuccessfully mind you as she did in fact dozed off two times in 30 minutes of driving and had been teased about it by Alya. 

 

“Wait, that black car behind Chloe’s wasn’t Adrien’s ? I thought they were following us from the beginning.” Said aforementioned Alya while pointing at the window, which was a hard thing to do since the car was currently behind their bus and out of their eyesight. 

 

Nino shook his head as an answer while subtly pointing at his GF to not climb to the seats “Adrien’s car doesn’t have tints on the windows. My best guess is Damian and his brother.” 

 

“I thought he had a motorcycle not a car ?” Said Alix, also climbing her seat in order to look at her friends behind her. “I mean, they are rich right ? They can have a bike and a car. I guess ?” Said Nino, not really sure what owning a car was this weird for Alix. “Man, cars are super lame though. I thought he was cool when he did that backflip when we first saw him.” 

 

“Excuse you Alix, but did you see the car they are driving right now?” Said Kim, climbing from the back seat of Marinette (More like just standing up a bit since he was tall enough) “That’s a Rolls Royce Alix! And I’ve never seen it before which means it’s not one they manufacture and advertise! That car is probably worth more than every one of us!” 

 

“Ugh! It’s still a car Kim, they have airbags and seatbelts! Who’s gonna say they are cool when they have safety nets like that ? He was much cooler with a Bike.” 

 

“Excuse me, but can you guys do this talk anywhere else besides on top of my head ?” Asked Marinette finally and made the two rivals apologize and bend down. To the right corner. Now they can continue their argument from Marinette’s right side. 

— 

Adrien was in his father’s car like usual, but this time Gorilla wasn’t driving him to the school. This time his FATHER was driving him to the pool event as he called. He was super nervous since they left the home, his heart rate was around 120 for most of the ride but can you blame him ? His father, whom he never even saw anywhere beside the back seat was now driving him to a school trip! 

 

How was this possible ? Well, officially at least there was a good explanation for it, Gorilla was helping Nathalie with something that happened in one of his factories and his father had to meet with an investor later that morning anyway. 

 

This all sounds dandy but the holes in the story become really apparent when you squint your eyes. First of all, what happened in the factory ? His father didn’t say anything, claiming that he was too young to understand. This made him believe that someone had died in the factory but he couldn’t find anything on the internet about it. His father was good when it came to ‘hide somethings’ . As he saw him silence the media around a couple of times before from some embarrassing events. But he was sure even his father wasn’t strong enough to cover up someone dying. 

 

Also what do you mean Gorilla was needed in paperwork ? Man hated doing that and was officially just Adrien’s bodyguard and driver. Adrien knew that kind of thing bored the big man so much he wouldn’t even want to hear about it. 

So of course it would be falling to Gorilla to drive his father to meet that investor he was talking about (Also since when did his father speak to investors face to face ?) after they dropped him to the pool. 

 

He was scared to be honest, not just for his own well being because he didn’t want to be in the vicinity when his father did eventually blow up and punish him for it, but also because of his father. Gabriel was looking more and more stressed as the days passed, he was always nervously biting his nails (Something he hadn’t done since Adrien was five or seven) and he was acting all out of character. Yesterday he asked Adrien how his day had been. Like, who does that, seriously ? 

 

He wasn’t eating that well, sometimes closing himself to his own panic room (A.K.A, his home office) locking the doors and even the windows. Always either dodging Adrien’s questions or straight up grounding him for it. Right now the situation hadn’t been improved either, he was looking around the road with worry, checking the side mirrors constantly and wiping his sweaty hands to his two piece suit. Something else he would never do. 

 

For a second there he seemed to be more worried than normal, almost forgetting to break when the lights came up. He was watching a black car behind them with clear fear behind his pupils. “This car…” He murmured after a while which made Adrien more and more nervous. That nervousness jumped up big time when Adrien saw his father fiddle with something under his seat and Adrien saw the easily recognizable handle of a pistol. 

 

“DAD WHAT ARE YOU DOING ?!!” Yelled Adrien while forcibly trying to push Gabriel’s right hand that is patting the pistol. His father seemed to be only minorly annoyed by his actions but still, he stopped touching the pistol and told his son to sit still in the front seat “That car behind us, ones with the tinted glass, ıt’s been following us for a while now.” He said, still not lifting his glares from the side window. 

 

With his father’s answer, Adrien also looked out to the car following them, it looked expensive and it wasn’t really following them, mostly staying close to the bus that they were also following. It wasn’t Chloe's car either, which only meant one thing to Adrien who was trying to solve this mystery “It’s Damian’s car dad. The Wayne kid I told you about, remember ?!” 

 

His father didn’t seem too pleased with that answer and was still holding one hand on his thigh, dangerously close to the pistol still under his driver seat. “I’m telling you the truth dad! Why are you so paranoid about it ?” Asked Adrien, angry at his fathers actions and fed up with his silent treatment. “Also when did you buy a gun ? And how did you even do that ? Isn’t that… Like, illegal ?” He was, in fact, so angry he was stepping over his own words but his father stayed as stoic as ever. 

 

‘That it.’ Thought Adrien while slouching on his seat and interlocking his arms together. When they were back at home, he was going to have a talk with his father. With or without Nathalie, he was determined to give a piece of his mind to Gabriel. 

—

“That was really unnecessary, father.” Said Damian for the tenth time as he was suling on the back seat of the car. Bruce did what he always did when he had to talk with Damian about something the little guy was obnoxious about, and didn't say anything back. 

 

“Why kiddo ? Cuz it’s gonna show how cool and rich you are ?"said Richard in the front seat, trying to put fake skin on his scars. Thankfully the car was tinted and you couldn’t see the inside of it. “I’m sure they already know you are cool and rich Dami, you don’t have to be shy about it.” Damian didn’t bite back the obvious bait and  settled to just glare at his big brother from the back seat. “Besides, this small gesture could be used to straighten Bruce’s image as a family man you know.” Said Dick while trying to close off a knife wound on his back. Of course he had to be stabbed from a place he couldn’t get. 

 

To his words both Bruce and Damian rolled their eyes, god, the resemblance was sometimes uncanny. Damian pointed to the med kit in Dick’s lap and waited for him to give it. After Dick did indeed give Damian the med kit, the kid came closer to the middle seat and raised himself from the seats. Slowly and carefully applying the fake skin to the Dick’s back. 

 

“The better part will be that a bunch of kids can freely swim in a magnificent pool without interference from adults.” Said Bruce, not really connecting to the conversation but still listening to it nonetheless. “Aww, how considerate of you ‘Doveman’ .” Said Dick from his bended position and started to laugh at his own joke. 

 

“Doveman?” Asked Damian, stopping for a moment to look at his father with a raised eyebrow till Bruce pointed at Dick’s back, indirectly telling him to continue applying the makeup. “Yea, I couldn’t tell you because you were sleeping when we were back, but our Batman seemed to be retired and given his position to his much softer and considerate counterpart, The Doveman!” Bruce just shook his head slowly to the banter between his kids, he hadn’t drunk his coffee yet and he was not in the mood to include himself right now. Just driving the car was giving him a headache. “Don’t forget to apply the cream to your legs too, no child would like to see the scars in your calves.” 

 

To his words Dick gasped loudly and told him how offensive and body shameful his approach was. “If I’d known better, I'd say you don’t want these kids to make a connection between Nightwing and me too !” Ugh, Bruce should have gotten Alfred here too, then he wouldn’t be coffeeless.  

—

When the bus finally stopped they were very close to the Pontoise but because of the narrow street they couldn’t stop in front of it. Everyone started to slowly climb down from the bus and form neat two person rows right next to it. Just as they talked before, Miss Bustier took the front while Miss Mendeleiev took the back of the column. Seeing them in the street like that, a guard came up to them and asked for Bustier’s identification card in order to confirm the group on the list. 

 

Meanwhile, both Adrien’s and Damian’s cars finally found parking spaces around and were on their way to the group. The others would expect them to be hyped about the activity, just as much as the other kids in the class at least. But right now, Adrien was far too worried about his fathers mental being while Damian… Well, he was Damian. There wasn’t that much thing that made him excited to begin with and a pool certainly wouldn’t do that. Especially when they are in the middle of a mission. Unlike his big brother who seems to be hopping in his steps like a schoolgirl about to be asked to prom. Or something like that. He wasn’t good with American analogies that much. 

 

“Miss Bustier, Miss Mendeleiev” Both Dick and Bruce moved up to the teachers that were coming in the front in  order to greet them while Damian and Adrien took the last row in the back. 

 

“Mister Bruce Wayne I presume ?” Said Bustier with a smile while raising her hand to the giant man. Bruce took it firmly and shook it like he was finishing a deal or something. The small whispers from the students who were looking at him with awe could be heard easily. 

 

“It’s a pleasure Miss Bustier.” Said Bruce before turning to the other teacher and going through the same procedure, they heard a few clicks from the children's phones that were taking their photos which made Bustier angry “Kids! Please ask for permission before taking pictures of mister Wayne!” 

 

“Please, I'm flattered that some people think I’m photogenic at all.” Said Bruce with an easy going laugh leaving his lips. “Still” Said Mendeleiev and looked at the kids with a glare so powerful it could rival one of Bruce’s. “They still needed to ask for permission beforehand, Mister Wayne, sorry about that.” 

 

Bruce let out a disconcerting sound while swatting his hand in the air “I’m not really that worried about my ‘Celebrity’ status Miss, and if they can get a few bucks by selling the photos in a news channel, that's just smart business.” 

 

Like a switch being turned on, everyone that was about to share the photo in social media immediately stopped themself or tried to delete it hastily. It was fun to be Bruce Wayne sometimes, especially when it ended up making a kid happy. 

 

“We, as in all the students here.” Said Bustier, more nervous than normal. “Would also like to thank you for making this tour more memorable by closing the pool for the day.” 

 

Children started to murmur between them a bit louder till Kim jumped up with his fist in the air and yelled an “Hells yea!” With all his lungs. Making almost everyone (Even Bruce) laugh around him. “Thank you all, but it wasn’t a serious problem to be honest. And if it's gonna make these kids happier then I’d do it again.” Said Bruce, trying to hide his real smile with his hand. Others wouldn’t know, care or separate one of his real smiles and the fake ones but Dick and Damian could. He had been teased enough for the day and was planning to sleep the night without being made fun of. 

 

“Oh, well but still…” Said Bustier while signaling the kids with her left hand, suddenly, all the kids said “Thank you for your help Mister Wayne” In french like they were rehearsing this performance for a day. As a reaction to this unexpected gesture Bruce smiled again and bowed down in front of the kids in a joking fashion “In that case, I’m taking these ‘thank you’s for a rainy day.” Bustier laughed at his lame joke while Mendeleiev just nodded along while raising her eyebrow. 

 

“I thought your French wasn’t ‘up to par’ As you’ve said, Mister Wayne ?” 

 

Bruce shrugged at her question “It’s good enough to receive heartfelt ‘thank you's Miss Mendeleiev, it feels good in every language after all.”

 

Bustier was laughing again while getting a bit red till Dick involved himself by asking the kids where his ‘thank you's' was, after all, he was the one that was gonna save them today. Some kids laughed, some rolled their eyes and one of them tried to hide his face in shame. 

 

Bruce also laughed at his son’s joke and then patted him on the shoulder, telling the kids they didn’t need to fear for anything as Richard would be there to save them no problem. “He might act like a kid, but he takes his responsibilities seriously like an adult.” While Bustier, again, congratulated Bruce on what a fine young man he had raised, Mendeleiev continued her silence and watched the group, they were getting a bit restless for staying still for less than five minutes. Kids. 

 

“Well then, I’m off, be sure to have fun everyone.” Said Bruce quickly and started to move back. Of course, not before shaking both Bustier’s and Mendeleiev’s hands for one last time. 

 

“Well, we should be going in too.” Said Bustier, red in the face and trying to cover it with fake coughs. Mendeleiev stayed with her while the kids and Dick moved towards the street . “Clear your drool Caline, your wife will worry otherwise.”

Because of the way she had said it, Bustier actually thought that Mendeleiev, the woman who had once told him that she wasn’t her psychiatrist just because Caline said ‘her wife couldn’t give her a lift for the day’, was seriously snitching on her. Of course, she then remembered that Mendeleiev hated all kinds of interactions, especially if they aren’t teaching related. Oh, she was (most probably) joking then. She smiled a bit while they started to move behind the students “He is handsome and well mannered. He is also rich and responsible. Maybe not my type completely, but he sounds like yours Olga.” 

 

Olga made a scuff before speaking “He also fakes it a bit. I don’t like liars.” 

 

After these words she took a look at her colleague who seemed to be baffled by her assumption “You see the world too pink for anyone's taste Caline, no wonder he charmed you that quickly.” 

—

Bruce was about to be next to his car when someone clears their throat behind him loudly and makes him tense immediately for a second. Still keeping his calm and cool persona, he immediately fixed his stance and unclenched his fists before turning around and finding a tall and slim man behind him.His hair was almost graying white while his attires were almost all white. The only thing that was contracting the color was his red striped tie. He was trying to look calm and collected, having a regal stance and an authoritarian flare about him. He was Gabriel. Adrien Agreste, A.K.A Chat Noir’s father. Though, none of those things really worried Bruce, the out shape of a pistol in the mans jacket did though. 

 

‘His stance indicates stress, he is trying to hide it. And he is fiddling with the jacket too much, maybe the pistol is making him uncomfortable.’ Thought Bruce before stepping towards the man a bit and smiling at him. When the man took a step back quickly he raised his hands in order to calm him and asked what he wanted. 

 

Gabriel stopped moving, trying to control his heartbeat that was going in a mile a minute. He needed to confront this man, he needed to confirm that he was not going to harm him or Adrien. He had to. He couldn’t risk it. 

 

“Excuse my rudeness sir, I haven’t seen you before in the parents meetings so I was just wondering who you were.” Said Gabriel as calmly as he could. He wasn’t that good of a liar to start with but this was a scratch even for his own ears. Like, seriously ? Parents meetings ? He had never attended one and was not planning on attending in future either. If this man had gone to one of those he was sure his lie would be exposed immediately. 

 

‘Sure, mister father of the year.’ Thought Bruce but didn’t say anything as he knew how unattended the man was with his son. Hell, if it was up to Bruce, he would take the little kid under his wing and give Adrien the attention every kid deserves without a second thought. 

 

“Well, my son Damian is new to the class. He had been here for like 2 months at most” ‘44 days exactly’  But of course he couldn’t say that. He was still the aloof rich asshole in the public eye. He had a cover to protect. “He was having difficulties in his own class in Gotham, so I thought why don’t I do the same thing I did when I was around his age and send him around the world for his education.” 

 

“Huh…” Said Gabriel with his left brow raised, his arms were crossed and he seemed to be raking a back with the relaxed stance Bruce was making. “Aren’t you worried about him mister… ?” 

 

“Bruce. Bruce Wayne. And no because I’m already providing everything he needs here. I also trust him to do the righteous things and not start trouble. He is very mature for his age.” He might’ve said this words with as much condescending undertone he could muster, but he was still secretly hoping Gabriel wouldn’t take it the wrong way because he really didn’t need an assault charge over his head in here. 

 

Gabriel didn’t say anything back for a solid ten seconds, afterwards he just bowed a bit out of respect and then apologized again for the intervention before turning back to his car. He, of course, knew who Bruce Wayne was. If you even remotely cared about celebrities, you’d have a hard time not hearing his name come up once or twice. He was The Heartbreaker of Gotham, The Shining Bacon Of The City, The Most Prestigious Bachelor In The World. There were more examples and nicknames to go through, but Gabriel didn’t know, or cared about learning more. Also, he knew Bruce from another time. 

 

He was in his second year in the university, already head and shoulders above in his class. Or above the trade in general if he wasn’t feeling generous that day. A hard worker to his core, a perfectionist on his way to shake the world around him. Then he came, Back then Bruce Wayne was still known as the lone orphan, the unluckiest kid in the luckiest position in life. His university didn’t just accept him with jubilations, the university even went as far as to announce it in the middle of the day. 

 

He had seen him the next day, his head down in two books in the cafeteria, eating a chocolate bar without care. Some people tried to talk to him which he immediately swatted their attempt away. He wasn’t there to make friends it seemed, he was there with a purpose. Just like Gabriel. And even though he was a lot younger than even the first years, his genius level intellect was astonishing. 

 

‘What a pity to see all that thrown into garbage and churned to be this pathetic man in front of me.’ Thought Gabriel while opening his car’s door. He couldn’t believe this man was stupid enough to let his child live like this. What kind of parents would throw their blood for the wolves and tell him to do something about it ? 

 

What kind of parent would trust their kids this much and just let them be ? 

—

 

Slade was sitting in the bakery Gabriel had said to meet with him. He already knew the two people sitting behind him were Gabriel’s helpers. A big ass man with jeans and a t-shirt that seemed two times smaller for his chest and a small woman in business attire. Still though, credit where it's due, their disguise would probably con a lot of people. He wasn’t a lot of people, he was Slade Wilson.

 

On the good side though, while he had been keeping his vigilant like a hawk, he was also watching his surroundings a lot too. The city of Paris was a real beaut. It had its downsides too, sure. But as a tourist in the city, he really didn’t see a lot of things to be mad about. Maybe the constant forced smile on everyone's face was a downer though. He had to give credit where it was due, he had never been scared enough to enforce martial law on a whole city. On the other hand, it would be really hard to do contracts if it was the case. 

 

It was probably because of the hiding. To his knowledge, the amount of people that knew Hawk Moth’s real identity could hardly be counted in one hand. He probably couldn’t work like that. There is no such thing as a work from home assassin. 

 

Suddenly he felt another set of eyes on him, someone else other than the two behind him was watching him. He slowly swooped over his surroundings. One person, a blonde with a beard, was coming up to him. He was wearing simple attire, jeans so blue they were almost black, a whitish t-shirt and an orange hoodie above him. His Beard was dirty and his head was covered by a simple blue colored cap. He had to say, Gabriel knew how to put on a dirty look. 

 

He seemed a bit too worried, constantly taking one step and then two steps back like a scared little girl, afraid to tell something to her parents. He also kept fiddling with the breast side of his big hoodie, probably because the pistol he hid there was hitting his skin and annoying him. A rookie mistake, keeping the pistol near your waist is always better, it also won’t nick your skin as easily. 

 

Finally, after 2 whole minutes of this dance Slade let out a bored sign and loudly called him to his side, calling him Aaron for now. Gabriel, being suddenly and loudly called down now, slowly started to move towards his table. His hands were clammy from the stress and his heart was beating a mile a minute. When he finally arrived at Slade’s table he sat down quietly and just… waited there. Neither of them were talking now and it was getting more and more awkward. Thankfully, a waitress quickly came towards their table and asked for their orders. 

“Herbal tea with a touch of honey.”

 

“ A cold cola. and your number if you don't mind.” Said Slade with a smug smile, the girl’s face turned red for a moment before she quickly walked away from their table, clutching the menu in her hand harshly. 

 

Gabriel let out an exasperated sigh “Do all of you need to be this creepy towards women or am I just that unlucky ?” He finally said with his hands on his face. 

 

“Hey, I’m a man barely out of his 30s, it's natural for me to want to spread my wings.” Said Slade as an answer and slouched in his chair, putting his hands behind his head. 

 

“Gross. Also you look older than me.” 

 

“Genetically modified perfect soldiers do come up with one or two down sides.” 

 

Gabriel didn’t say anything to that answer as the same waitress came up to their table with their orders, Gabriel could easily see a small piece of paper stuck between the napkins she had laid in front of Slade. Speaking of, the assassin also saw the paper and after winking at the girl with his glass eye while Gabriel said that’ll be all, took the small paper and put it in his pocket. 

 

“The other waitress is sizing us up because of your shenanigans.” Said Gabriel while taking a small sip from his tea, it was just as he remembered, not too hot nor lukewarm, this place was the best for it. He was also looking around them, especially to the other waitress/barista that was watching their table behind the counter with an angry expression. Her nails trimming the counter while her eyes throwing lightning to the killer. Before giving an answer to Gabriel Slade takes a large sip from his cola, almost half emptying it in one gulp. After that he just shrugged nonchalantly “Ehh, she can be jealous, I don’t have a chocolate moma fetish.” 

 

Gabriel stood there for a second, stunned out of his mind with the words that the killer uttered. Though, should he really be surprised that a despicable human being like that could also be a raging racist. “I don’t even know if I should be surprised or not. After all, you are American.” 

 

Now, with that insult Slade seemed to be taking a back seat as he stopped drinking his cola with a raised brow “What ?” He asked, putting the drink back down “Hey, I ain’t racist, if I was I would have called her a dirty ni-” 

 

Gabriel hit the table hard enough to both shut Slade up and quite literally, attract everyone's attention. “You are the worst type of human being I have ever seen.” He said as silently and calmly he could “You are nothing more than a racist dickhead killer who couldn’t find any way to live his life, other than to make others miserable.” He was about to get up from his seat with those words, an hired killer should be rich enough to pay two drinks after all. But when he was just rising from his seat Slade talked and stopped him in his tracks “And what does that make you mister butterfly ?” 

 

“You just acted with such gusto right now, how about back it up and hand yourself to the nearest police station ?” 

 

For a whole ten seconds they just stand like that, looking at each other. It was stupid to even listen to the man sitting across from him, his and his pathetic attempts to show how similar they were. They weren’t similar at all, Gabriel was doing all these heinous things for the woman he loved and he was ready to pay the ultimate price in order to get her back. He wasn’t killing people, he wasn’t causing irreparable damage to the world around him, he was ready to fix everything he caused the moment he got his hand on the miraculouses. 

 

Slade was just killing people for the money, he was creating chaos around the world for his own gain in it. They were not similar in the slightest. “You do not know me at all.” Said Gabriel, adding as much spite in his comment as he could. “You don’t have your own beliefs or reasons, you are just an unhinged dog, following what your ‘weekly masters’ tell you to do. Just an caged animal trying to fight his way out of life because that’s all you know how to do”

 

For a few seconds Slade didn’t seem too talkative, that was until he let out an ear piercing laugh, making everyone turn towards them once again for a few seconds. “Shit, that was good.” He said while clearing the tear that was slowly coming towards his cheek. “That was deep enough to almost hurt me too bro. Lucky for you and your denture, you didn’t say anything that couldn’t describe yourself too.” 

 

Gabriel rolled his eyes and was about to retort when Slade made a ‘shh’ sound and shut him up “If you don’t believe me, here is another challenge for you: Go away from this meeting. We both know what you will do in order to succeed on your own, and we both know how that story is gonna end. After all, the second best of that damned family is after you. And let me tell you little butterfly, prodigal son doesn’t fall far off the prodigal father in this case.” 

 

Gabriel clenched his fists, he was about to get up once again and leave all this on that table to rot. All his ideas, about how to fix everything, how to not kill three kids and a superhero, how to earn forgiveness from his friend, how to bring back what he had lost. But Slade was right. Gabriel knew it too. 

 

He couldn’t defeat those two brats on his own, which is why he had paid Joker to come here because he wanted to soften the blow from the new arrivals. He didn’t need two more extra hands around his throat, especially since these two seemed to know how to choke him better than the kids.

 

Slade was right, he had called for help because the arrivals of the heroes had almost completely nullified his effect on the other two. They were getting better at fighting with each passing day, they were cornering him more and more, they were making him desperate. And he was indeed desperate, he had gone down from genocidal maniac to professional killer but should that make him feel better ? 

 

With a sullen face and taste of metal in his mouth, Gabriel finally bowed down his head and let out a defeated sigh, he was here on purpose, no one had encouraged him at this meeting. He raised his head, no mask to stay behind, no excuse to force himself into, he was what he was, whether he was always like this or the loss of his wife affected him didn’t matter anymore. He finally understood that he was indeed a horrible person, and he was about to become something worse.

 

“Let's talk business.” 

 

 Slade had a grin on his face when Gabriel raised his head, no snide comment was made, but you could just read it in his face how much he enjoyed toying with Gabriel. “Yes, let’s.” 

 

***

 

“This day was super unnecessary!” Yelled Damian while trying to get out of his brother's chokehold.

 

“Oh come on Dami! I saw you racing with Adrien and then cheering on as you won! You can’t lie your way out of this!” Yelled back Dick while trying to hold the kids arms apart from the front. 

 

“I did not, in fact, have fun!” Yelled Damian, denying the allegations as the whole family watched the two in two different computers laughing along with Dick and telling Damian to admit it. 

 

Bruce just shook his head while watching them, kids. Especially his kids. But to be honest, he hadn’t seen either Damian nor Dick this cheerful in a long time. What they did daily was a draining task and it took a lot out of people. They both deserved a break while still somewhat working. While the kids were in their small ‘HQ’, chatting with the family, he was in the living room looking through the news on his phone. 

 

Nothing too exciting in there, some countries could never let their petty squabbles go and prevent a bloodshed after all. Although he was kinda surprised that this time it was Greece. Usually European countries wouldn’t let their problems get out of hand and prefer the quiet methods of ripping red flags or ‘convincing’ problematic people. But hey, even a broken clock is correct two times a day, maybe it was just that devising… No, his hunches were telling him to look deeper into it and he immediately found suspicious acts just from reading the rest of the article. A general and his command center killed and with that the prime minister ceases fire immediately ? Why ?

 

This kind of an attack would probably cause a big setback for the world's 32’th strongest army, not a total withdrawal. There was something wrong. So, he started to dig, news sites were the first ones. From the most obscure ones to the most widespread news. Then came the internet, from a few trustworthy, independent journalists to the borderline crazy conspiracy theories he looked at them all. When he was done the hour had struck midnight, he had been on the computer for almost 5 hours now. He blinked and tried to clear the haze in his eyes, small dots and blur coming and going with each blink, reminding him that he was indeed getting old since he didn’t have to deal with this when he was younger. 

 

He took a deep breath and stretched his arms while letting out a big yawn. Suddenly someone knocked on his door and then Dick came in with a cup of tea in his hand. Bruce looked at the cup Dick was carrying with a questioning gaze, then his look turned to his first son as Richard rolled his eyes and put the cup down on the table. “I know you prefer coffee at this hour, but you are still here for a vacation.” 

 

Bruce didn’t let his look drop but still sniffed the tea nonetheless, it smelled like the one Alfred usually used. That was weird, Bruce didn’t even knew ıt was a brand, he always assumed Alfred had his own brew that he made. He took a small sip from it cautiously, it was hot and almost burned the roof of his mouth. It felt new as the ones the Alfred made never was this hot, but it was also the same as far as the taste goes. 

 

“So…” Said Dick while performing a one handstand on the table and shaking the electronics on it, Bruce knowing what was coming had already taken the cup in his hands no matter how hot it was. “What were you looking for here all alone ? You missed the long distance movie night by the way, might wanna apologize to Damian tomorrow.”

 

Ah, he knew he had forgotten something. He’ll have to make it up by tomorrow night he guessed, he’ll find a way, he was the goddamn Batman after all. “What did you tell them ?” Asked Bruce while taking another sip from the cup. Before answering Dick pushed himself with his fingers and made a 360 turn while in the air (Showoff, he could do that too.) “When you didn’t answer the first call I came up and when I saw you in detective mode just told them that you were sleeping.” 

 

“Did they believe you ?” 

 

“Maybe. You’ve been acting out of character for a few days so no one questioned it at least.” 

 

Bruce grunted while nodding, this few days vacation was good, it helped him to center himself on a lot of subjects in his life, mainly his family but also his relationship with others. He had called Selina today for example, that was something new too since she didn’t believe him and thought he was a scammer at first. But of course, some part of him could never turn over. He’d never leave Gotham for too long for example, he also couldn’t stop himself from searching for an answer. In this case, the answer being the murderer. 

 

He turned the monitor towards Dick and Dick bent down to get a better angle. On the screen was a checklist of… abilities ? 

 

Clean cuts: indicating some sort of bulky knife (Or a sword)

 

Bullets: all special made, hollow points, no use on penetration

 

A blunt weapon: Some of the soldiers had head traumas and one even seemed to be impaled. Some sort of bulky baton or stuff. 

///

Kill count : 21 + 1 intentionally wounded, all high ranking officers several miles away from the battlefield. 

 

Main Target: General Adonis, the head of the infantry force and the main player against the rebels. 

 

Methods : All deceased members have different wounds on them, but all of them (Except of the intentionally wounded) have been shot in the face with a .45 hollow point bullet (Mercy kill or execution ?) There are rumors of 7.62 bullets also being found but no official explanation given (Suspect might be efficient in using rifles as well as pistols.) Because of the amount of bodies the suspect’s dominant hand hasn’t been discovered ( From the pictures it is clear that he is Ambidextrous). The shot wounds are all in the same place, a dangerously accurate person. 

 

Note: Since the announcements Prime Minister Vasileios Galanis hadn’t come out to the public eye, his wife and kids (Whom always sits behind him for political reasons) Also hadn’t been seen or made any announcements.

 

Dick read the whole thing and then did it again and again, blunt and slashing weapons, efficient in different types of firearms, Ambidextrous by nature and brutally effective. “Slade” He said silently, he had come out of the shadows once again it seems. 

 

Chapter 25: Winging in Paris - Not So Explosive Entrance

Summary:

“You really didn’t need to come this far Dick.” Said Bruce as he was hugging his sons before entering his private plane and departing “Yea yea, play the coal heart as much as you want we both know you want a hug secretly.” 

Notes:

This chapter was taking longer and longer than I expected as I was writing the [redacted] parts more and more, so. I decided to make this two chapters instead of one really long one. Have fun and tell me what you think of the lenght of this chapter since its shorter than my normal ones (According to my word documents as I usually write around 12- to 14 sheets while this is around 8)

“Ugggh! Why did I have to swim so much ?!!!” Yelled Marinette as she tried to move her legs from the bed. Everywhere in her body was screaming in pain, her joints stalling her movement and making noises like they were calcificated in one day. It was all her fault too, Miss Bustier or even Damian’s brother had warned her to not stay in the water for too long, but how could she know this would happen ? She was always athletic and with the later increase in training she had, she thought these warnings were not needed. Turns out, swimming for straight up 5 hours almost without any break to a non-swimmer was not a recommended thing to do. 

 

But can you blame her that much ? She couldn’t really afford to, or even trouble her parents in order to go to a pool, or to sea. Those were specifically designed for her holiday trips, not for her school times. 

 

She took a deep breath while trying to flex her arms, her shoulder declared her action as a war crime and screamed in protest. God she felt pathetic, she could hardly move and she had training to attend to. She was being late god dammit ! 

 

“Told you to take it easy, Marinette.” Said Tikki while flying around her back with a singular ice cube, constantly dropping it to her bed and then picking it back up. “I know.” Said Marinette with a defeated sign, yesterday was even worse than today, she couldn’t even move a muscle back then and had to call in sick from school. Of course, she thought with some quality sleeping time and some massage from her god sent mother she would be okay the next day, but nope. Today was not that different from yesterday, she was able to sluggishly drag herself to the school (With  the help from Alya Adrien and Nino) but then she couldn’t even move from her chair or hold a pencil without twitching. 

 

“Maybe you should ask for time off for today too Marin ?” Asked Tikki, now using the small cube as a surfing board on her back and only causing Marinette goosebumps the further down she goes. “I already used our chance yesterday, Tikki. We didn’t attend the day before either. I can’t make my absence for three days straight, I have to go.” Said Marinette with no joy detectable in her voice. She got up from her bed, her legs screamed in agony but she tried to ignore it. She called for her transformation and after a second, dreadfully hurt Marinette was gone, now she was Ladybug. A much more agitated Ladybug as the magical power of Tikki didn’t do much to her body as she thought. But hey, now she could walk around. That was a plus. 

 

She just had to climb buildings, swing and swirl in the air and pull herself with her yoyo now… 

 

Before the dread could take her, her yoyo started to ring and she reached for it swiftly, that was what she needed. Some discipline and some harsh words from authority figures! Some yelling from Nightwing, A.K.A basically her mentor for this last couple of weeks would whip her quickly. Her teacher's pet persona was not a weakness, Alya! Also I love and cherish you and our friendship bestie! 

 

“Hello!” She yelled to the phone so loudly she thought she might’ve even woken her parents up. “Umm, hi bugaboo.” Her morale and high hopes had immediately plumed as she knew her partner Chat Noir could never be a serious authoritative figure. She needed to be yelled right now, not softly spoken to. 

 

“Just wanna tell you that Nightwing was busy tonight my lady, he tried to call you but you didn’t answer.” Chat said quickly as he heard the trademark grumble she made when she was angry. It was not a good time to be around Ladybug when she was angry. As soon as she heard the news Ladybug let out even a louder grumble and asked him why Nightwing couldn’t meet them tonight. 

 

“He said something about a family matter… Though I don’t know what that means exactly.” Wait, ‘us’ ? Chat first thought he heard wrong, wasn’t she still in hospital being treated ? “Wait a second Bugaboo, aren’t you still in hospital ? What do you mean by ‘meeting us tonight’ ?” 

 

Ladybug rolled her eyes, of course, her horrible lie. “I’m better now Chat, it wasn’t even that serious to begin with anyway, I just couldn’t leave the hospital room.” She said quickly, trying to not moan out of pain while moving around her room slowly. She had to open up her muscles and joints somehow. 

 

Chat let out a gasp in the phone “Not serious?! You said a car hit you, Bug!” With the raised voice, Ladybug kept the phone a bit away from her ear. That was not true by the way, she hadn’t said a car hit her. “I said a ‘cart’ Chat, a shopping cart hit me while I was between the aisles bending down to look for sweets. They didn’t see me and hit me accidentally, for the last time.” So yes, her lie wasn’t really… anything proof. But it worked for the time, didn't it ? A bit too much for Chat though it seems. 

 

“I mean I get it” Said Chat with a panicked tone, “You are so small and hard to spot with your build that it’s easy for someone to miss you completely.” Ah Chat, always  ready to steal her heart with these kinds of words. He was lucky she was in a lot of pain right now, damn blonde giraffe. 

“What I don’t understand is why are you so fast to come back to the field, Bugaboo?” Marinette took a deep breath in order to control her anger before speaking, but thanks to that pause Chat acted quicker than her and continued to speak some sense to her. “ I know your reasoning Ladybug, I also know all your excuses for pushing yourself too far. We have plans if an Akuma attacks, Nightwing and Kidd are still a call away and we both know I can take care of the daily naughties myself no problem.” 

Marinette stopped for a second before speaking, he was right of course, they had plans in places if an akuma attacked, even if she was incapacitated they’d be able to get rid of it. Chat could also take care of himself just fine, especially these last times he had been on his game and he even proved it with Joker. 

 

With the thought of the clown her hands itched and her heart rate raised, images of Chat’s scarred face come back to haunt her once again. She wanted to be with him, she wanted to keep him safe. Yes, everyday burglars or an armed robber can’t really do much to either of them even before their training has started, but is it wrong of her to want to be there next to Chat ? They were good friends and exceptional partners, hell she even told some secrets of her that not even Alya had heard and he took it all with a smile. 

 

She wanted him to be out of danger.She also knew it was impossible and wrong to ask for his miracles to be returned. It would maybe keep him safe from the everyday dangers of Paris but it would also erase everything they did together and Ladybug, and marinette didn’t want that to happen. 

 

“Just sleep in for tonight too.” His words shook her (literally) as she held her head while silencing her thoughts. “You’ll come back tomorrow stronger and more determined than ever Bugaboo!” The way he said it was the final straw as she finally let a small smile creep on her face and let her body fall down to her bed back. “Just for tonight then, and call me if anything happens, no school tomorrow anyway…” She finally said as she leaned back to her bed, her unoccupied arm immediately crawling to the big plush cat on her bed. “Understood Bugaboo, Cat out!” 

 

***

 

“You really didn’t need to come this far Dick.” Said Bruce as he was hugging his sons before entering his private plane and departing “Yea yea, play the coal heart as much as you want we both know you want a hug secretly.” 

 

To Dick’s words Damian ‘tch’ed before hugging his father “Tell Ace and Titus I’ve missed them. Tell Alfreds that too.” Bruce rubbed his back before holding Damians shoulders in order to nod at his request “Anything for the others ?” He asked while taking a step towards the plane's stairs. “No.” Said Damian quickly, but then changed his attitude with a look from Dick “Hope they are safe… and whatnot.” 

 

“Angsty teens.” Said Dick while harshly scruffing Damian’s head. “Be sure to let us know when you get to the manor.” 

 

“I will.” Said Bruce while finally climbing the stairs to his jet. When he came to the door of it he stood still for a second and then turned around towards them “Be sure to let me know if anything bad happens here.” He yelled as the engines of the jet got louder than before. Dick also said ‘I will’ But his sound couldn’t really compete with the screaming engines and was easily drowned by them. Still, Dick knew Bruce had understood it somewhat. He knew how to read lips after all. He took Damians hand as the kids looked at the jet plane with misty eyes and started to go back to the terminal. 

 

When they finally found their way to the autopark and started to put their helmets on Dick slowly rubbed Damian’s shoulders “I know you already missed them Dami.” He said as calmly as he could. “We will see them again soon, kid. Have no doubt about it.” 

 

Damian didn’t say anything while trying to order his eyes to not release anymore tears and just nodded along. Thank god he was wearing his helmet already, he couldn’t let his image smear like that. He was Batman’s son, and Batman wouldn’t cry. 

 

“Let’s get back home.” Said Dick and turned the keys, the bike came alive a second time that night and both of them drove off towards the already peaked noon. Their hearts are heavier than before and their heads cloudier than the sky itself.

 

***

 

Chat was jumping from one building to the next, fastly searching his surroundings and then moving to the next streets. He couldn’t lie, it was a really calm night, and calm nights meant boring nights to him. Still though, jumping from one building to the next, doing somersaults in mid air and only letting his senses take the wheel was also fun.

 

Especially when you compare it to just sitting in his house, only surfing on the internet or working on his academic career that he really didn’t care about these last few weeks. God his home life sucked some serious ass! 

 

Yes, he could also curse in peace out here too, the only thing stopped him was his internally gentle side. But even that side couldn’t look for a positive and kind way to describe his house life god dammit!

 

—

 

“Are you sure they are supposed to be together ?” Asked Slide while watching the lone hero from a distance. He was moving swiftly, not staying on the same spot for too long, he was also using the shadows in order to hide himself if he could. 

 

Slade let out a smile, his little robin was really growing up and teaching the new meats the ropes. How inspiring it was. His little bird, making daddy proud once again. “I told you, they are supposed to be together on fridays. Maybe something happened to the Ladybug, don’t go down there and miss the element of surprise, we’ll try it the next night.” Said Gabriel in his ear and woken Slade from his train of thoughts. Slade pressed the earpiece before speaking and told him that he was disagreeing. “You said they were trainin, I wanna see what I’m up against tonight if you don’t mind.” 

 

“Just wait then idiot. Continue watching from afar, he’ll come up against some robber sooner or later, this is Paris after all.” 

 

A low growl left Slade’s mouth “You sayin my little Robin trained them, There ain't no way a couple of dumbasses made them sweat.” After these words Slade took the earpiece out and put it on one of his pouches on his belt before jumping down and rushing towards Chat Noir. 

 

Chat had stopped to eat a bit the gummy worms he had packed from his house. (Well, actually he bought them in school and hid them in his room. Small details, but still.) To be honest, he wasn’t a really big fan of anything that was just sugar and nothing else, but Nino had persuaded him to buy these sour ones. He had said that Adrien needed to expand his palate and experience new tastes all together from it. With those thoughts he took one from the package while finding himself a comfortable shadow to sit down and eat it. It was sour. Like, duh, it supposed to be. But to be honest he wasn’t expecting it to be this sour, it was like an all on assault on his tongue. God was it supposed to be this inedible or was it something to do with his Chat senses ? 

 

“God they are awful, blegh!” Said Chat as the taste got more and more insulting and actually made him get up from his perch. “God every second it gets worse!” He took his tongue out and even started to clean it with his hand. But the awful taste just wouldn’t leave him alone at all. Suddenly he heard someone grunt silently, then he heard a heartbeat, coming closer and closer. His cat ears twitched like warning him and he felt the hair on his back stand up. He could feel the danger that was approaching him in full sprint. 

 

Immediately forgetting about his pained tongue, took his stuff from his back and expended it while searching his surroundings. His cat vision came in clutch as he had to look around a lot of dark places between the buildings. Suddenly he heard the heartbeat again, it was coming from behind him and made him turn around swiftly. 

 

“Good job kid, caught me red handed.” Said a mysterious figure that was previously hiding behind a bunch of Condensers. “What gave me away ? Cuz I was sure even my old boy couldn’t see me there.” He said, weirdly relaxed for someone with a rifle on their back. 

 

He had a two sided mask, half fully orange and half black with white lenses on both sides. His clothes seemed to be a mixture between specially made soldier equipment and civilian clothes. He had a kevlar plate on his chest and shoulders that seemed to be made of independent parts but also, he seemed to be rocking some non-stoned blue jeans. His neck was covered with a green and white colored ‘puşi’ scarf. His gloves seemed to be biker ones but he didn’t have them fingerless. Honestly, the only part of the man that seemed to be a ‘Villain’ part other than his chest place and his mask, was his boots as Chat could easily see the boots he was wearing were orange colored and going up further than his ankles. 

 

Ah of course, also his weapons. The two pistols on hips, the rifle hanging on his back next to the two swords really did give the man a menacing aura and Chat was like 98% sure he wasn’t going to a bank to fill up a deposit or ask him where he could find a good diner.

 

“Who are you ?” He asked as calmly as he could, not wanting to agitate the man but also not taking a step back, even though all his senses almost screamed at him to run. 

 

“Names Slade, at least that’s the original one. I knew that I was called here with a different nickname than other places. Can’t really remember it though, it has been a long time since I took a contract in this city.”  Slade started to move towards the left, Chat never let the man get past his eyesight, moving to the opposite direction as he was doing while hard focusing on the man. His shoulders were tense, all his muscles hardened with the rush of adrenaline and his senses heightened to the max, he could even easily hear a rat rummaging through the trash cans below them, 5 streets away from their positions. 

 

“What do you mean by contract ?” He had a good idea what it means, he was an avid action movie enthusiast even when he was 7 years old. “Oh you know,” Said Slade while casually taking out a small device from one of his pouches, it looked like a metal cuban cigar. “I was entrusted with about 35 million euros to kill you all. 10 for the big birdie and ten each for the two of you.” 

 

“What ?” 

 

“Oh, it’s because you two are using magic and shit you know.” Said Slade like Chat’s question was a real one, twirling the small device between his fingers. “One’s without powers are always 5 mil. Except for the Batman types. But, since I’ve never seen the kid with him ‘Wink wink the new robin in disguise’ I couldn’t bully another 5 mil for him too.” 

 

“Who wants to kill us ?” Asked Chat, now panicking out right and just trying to find a way out and stall the tall man in front of him. He had a pretty good idea who wants them dead after all. Unfortunately, even though he seemed happy to just talk, Slade wasn’t an idiot and gave him a look before mockingly asking ‘Really ?’ 

This was bad, he had never fought off against an hired killer before, one especially this menacing just by his looks. He seemed to be content on killing kids and didn’t even seem to be fazed by the fact that he had magical weapons in his hands. 

 

“Seems like you all made the old bug mad or desperate enough kid.” While nodding as if he was showing sympathy “Sometimes there are dangers like this when you make people desperate. Though, I guess the congratulations are still in order, you all did scare him enough.” After these words he clicked on the cigar case in his hand and it started to expand till it had turned to a stuff as tall as Slade. 

 

“Now, before we start, I’ll have to say: I want to see what my little birdie was able to teach you all. Don’t disappoint me and I’ll promise you a mercy kill after the fight.” Said Slade while swinging his stuff. 

 

“That was not the agreement!” Yelled Gabriel as he was watching what was happening from Slade’s mask camera. Of course, his words dropped dead to the deafened ears as Slade had already taken the earpiece off even before meeting with Chat. “Listen to me you chip idiot!” He yelled again “I don’t want you to kill the kids you hear?! If you kill them like dogs I’m not going to pay you shit!” 

 

“Seems like you got to be gentle with me” Said Chat suddenly with a small and nervous smile slowly creeping on his lips. “Butterfly is yelling at you from your pouch, telling you he won’t pay if you kill me.” 

 

Slade indeed seemed to have taken a step back as he stopped swirling his stuff around. That was good, he had to hold back while Chat could go all out and then open up an escape route to himself if he needed to be. Slade let out an unimpressed grunt before starting to tap to his mask's black side lens. “Those kinds of threats don't make our relationship any sweeter honey. Now you either stop interferin, or I’ll start to give some hints towards your livin.” 

 

Chat tried to not flinch as he heard those words, he knew! Slade knew who the Hawkmoth was. They had a lead, a stronger lead then the ones they ever had. “I heard him, he said the second option is good enough for him.” He said with a smile, trying to bait him into it. Anything he could learn would be a good step forwards in capturing Hawkmoth. But his dreams shattered with the sudden knife that was thrown towards him. 

 

He blocked the small knife easily with his stuff and then retreated a couple of steps, expecting another attack. But Slade didn’t throw anything else towards him, only looking at him like a disappointed father. “Adults are talking business here, kid. Let a few stubble grow on your chip before buttin in.” After these words he took his earpiece back from his pouch and moved to his ear “Do we have an understandin ?” He asked without moving his eyes from Chat. Nothing comes up from the earpiece except for the static sounds of someone’s breathing for a few seconds, after that a simple and short “Do it” comes close to Chat’s ear. Slade lets out a smile that was even evident from the full covering ballistic mask he had “Pressure doing business with you.”

Chapter 26: Winging in Paris - Slade style affection

Summary:

While Slade was pacing around erratically and shaking his head in a disappointed manner, Chat finally managed to get up from the ground without holding his stomach for the pain. He was clearly not that good against the man with the expert marksmanship as almost all of their regular Akumas would be ordinary civilians. They usually would try to overpower them with long range, not play tricks and catch them slipping like this man. So, for round two, Chat decided to go for another approach. He didn’t know if this would be a good or bad thing, but he just thought that anything would be better than getting shot by a rifle again. 

Notes:

The second part of the chapter I was normally going to reliase as one. I gotta say, I'm saying 'stuff' (as in Chat's baton) too much in this part but hey, what can you do when you have only two options, call it a stick ? Anyway, I still hope you'd be likign this mainly fight focused chapter. Have a good night/day and have an even amazinger life :)

Chat had seen the earpiece fall to the ground and immediately readied himself for the bigger man's attacks. He was coming at him with speed, holding his own stuff in his left side and his right arm right behind him. The moment they clashed their stuff together Chat felt an immense pain shot at his right leg. But it wasn’t from the big man's attack, Chat was actually holding his footing better than even he thought he could. Slade was pushing him back with the stuff at first but then Chat put his foot down hard, the one that was hurting nonetheless and threw the man back harshly. 

 

In the few seconds he had gained Chat immediately looked for the source of the pain and found nothing down at his right leg. That was until he had found a few shrapnel like metal pieces littering the ground around it. Confused on even what he was looking at, he heard the slow and mocking laughter of the assassin, rising from the ground with a double kick. “Didn’t think Hallows would be able to pierce anyway, though it was a good test.” 

 

Chat, not knowing what he was talking about, readied himself again for whatever he was about to throw at him next. He thought about attacking too, but not knowing his enemy and what he was capable of, he didn’t want to push his famously bad luck and opted to play it smart. Nightwing had taught them that knowing your enemy could lend you more victories then brute force. 

 

“So, how about some FMJ ?” Said Slade suddenly and threw a smoke grenade to the ground. Chat, thinking this would be a good opportunity to make his retreat, was about to run towards the edge of the rooftop, but stopped himself  when he heard the sound of a gun's trigger going back and barely dodged a bullet that was aimed at his head. 

 

The next hail of the bullets came at him silently, he was smart enough to use suppressors and the whistling of the bullets couldn’t be heard from up high. Rendering Chat’s hope of someone calling for help zero. Thankfully his senses were quick enough to see the bullets and he could block them with no problem thanks to his stuff. 

 

When the first hail of bullets had stopped he quickly extended his stuff and swung towards the smoke. Breaking several ventilators and clearing the smoke but not capturing Slade with the ruble. He looked around himself worriedly, he couldn’t hear any footsteps, he couldn’t see any figure in the shadows. He had lost him.

 

Still not releasing his ıron grip from his stuff, Chat continued to check his surroundings till his nose got the scent of Slade's sweat and he quickly turned around to face him. 

 

The moment he did he was also striking with his stuff high on top, Chat was planning to cut his movement off or just, you know… Bonk Slade in the head hard enough to give him a concussion. Of course, what he wanted and what had happened was two very different scenarios, as the older man easily swiped from the attack and pin the stuff to the ground with his foot. Sudden pull on the stuff made Chat stagger for a moment before he could gain his footing again and lift the weapon with all his might. 

 

When he did put his back to it, the stuff almost flew upright while Slade, once again, side stepped from the attack to not get caught by it. He then raised the AK in his hands once again towards Chat and while he was busy, trying to make the stuff smaller than what was now (Which was almost 10 Meters in height.) Started to shoot him once again. 

 

Chat thought fast and immediately broke his stuff in two, making the now almost 7 meters metal bar into a 3 meters immediately. Unfortunately, Chat normally used his staff when it was 4/3 of his own height. A.k.a, when it was close to 1 meter 70, not three meters tall and looming above him. He still tried to stop the bullets, it wasn’t his first rodeo while he was disadvantaged, but it also wasn’t Slade’s first shootout, he quickly realized that the taller stuff was not being handled better by the Kitty themed hero like before. He couldn’t do that annoying twirling shield move like before for example. 

 

That in mind, he started to shoot towards the ground right under the kid and sure enough, his second shot connected and Chat dropped to the ground with a grunt while holding his stomach. 

 

Chat tried to regain his breath, the bullet had emptied his lungs, he took a look at his wound with fear, normally, he knew the only way to damage the suits were with magic. Or at least, the only thing THEY have come across that worked was magic. They had never gone against bullets as it was easier to dodge them and it was only used by street gangs, not by Hawk moth's amalgamations. 

 

He checked the hurting point but the suit was intact, it still hurt like hell and he was almost sure he had broken a rib or something as breathing had started to hurt in of itself, but at least he wasn’t gonna die from bleeding for now, he hoped to at least. “Aw come on now kid.” He heard from the front and tried to raise his head to the voice “I thought you'd be made stronger than 47. I mean, where is the fun in it if I can’t even begin to sweat, kid ?” 

 

While Slade was pacing around erratically and shaking his head in a disappointed manner, Chat finally managed to get up from the ground without holding his stomach for the pain. He was clearly not that good against the man with the expert marksmanship as almost all of their regular Akumas would be ordinary civilians. They usually would try to overpower them with long range, not play tricks and catch them slipping like this man. So, for round two, Chat decided to go for another approach. He didn’t know if this would be a good or bad thing, but he just thought that anything would be better than getting shot by a rifle again. 

 

And that’s exactly why he shortened his stuff before putting it on his back and then raised his fists up. At the start Slade stopped his pacing before he started to laugh and told him to not kid himself if he ever thought he could keep up with him. 

 

“Why not ? Can you show me or are you just gonna self medicate for yourself from afar ?” Said Chat, trying to aggravate the villain. To be honest, he didn’t even know what those words meant as he only heard it from Nino while they were playing multiplayer in Nino's house. Like he said, he didn’t really know what these words meant, but back then it had worked and a really annoying (And foul mouthed) guy from the enemy team did get angry enough to duel Nino and Nino… With his own words, shit on him (He was really letting himself go with these words) 

 

And just like the last time, insult had worked and Slade accepted his invitation by hanging his rifle from his shoulder like a bag once again. He also had dropped the stuff that was dangling from his hip and started to walk up towards Chat without even raising his hands or taking any kind of fighting stance. Just cracking his knuckles and his neck. “You’ll be needing more chest hair to be talking down to me like that boy, and I’d be gladly show you why” 

 

When they were close enough Chat started to duck a bit while raising his fist to his face in order to protect himself, he could probably see the moves Slade would make before they connect to his body, but instead of taking the chance, he rather be extra safe as he was about to duel it out with a fearless assassin that had openly admitted to wanting to kill him not even 10 minutes ago. 

 

The first punch had come from Slade and he had retreated his hand without Chat could grab it. Slade was testing him, trying to see how much of his attacks could Chat read. ‘And I’m giving him enough like a dumbass’ Thought Chat, dodging the next punch instead of trying to block or trying to counter attack Slade.

 

 Slade let out a ‘tsk tsk tsk’ While shaking his head once again, like he was getting more and more disappointed with the performance as the time ran out. Which would be an effective way to rile Chat up before he had met Nightwing and learned the power of holding out and NOT raising for the bait. Hey, he never said he was trying to be careful while in his Chat persona, have you ever seen a cat taking the most unnecessarily dangerous route to walk ? Of course you did, and he had the same mentality like 95% of the time. 

 

With all that being said, he had also learned reading movements and waiting for openings, which is why he had thrown a high kick towards Slade’s face the moment his head had lowered enough and was swinging. That was his first mistake as Slade casually dodged his leg before turning around himself and hitting Chat's face with his elbow. 

 

The hit had connected with Chat's face, or rather, with his nose harshly and Chat almost lost his footing because of it. He wasn’t sure if his nose had been broken or not as there was no blood in sight, but the hit itself had been hard enough for him to try to retreat. His eyes foggy with tears from the hit and his legs wobbling, he tried to take a couple of steps back and lost his footing to the small rails before falling down. 

 

He closed his eyes in anticipation, it was his first fall from this much height but it wasn’t his first fall from a building. Before, he had fallen (Or rather, thrown away) from other rooftops that were half of the size of this one and it had hurted. A lot. For days to come. Making the calculations on his head, Chat was pretty sure he had to be bedridden for a whole week when he had fallen from here, assuming of course, his powers wouldn’t let him become a mush on the ground. 

 

He was feeling the vertigo, the wind, hitting his face from an awkward angle and he had seen the pavement even from there. He began to fall and suddenly stopped, feeling like he had just bungee jumped. Chat slowly opened his eyes one at a time, the tears were slowly dissipating and his senses were coming back to him with the effect of the hit lessening. He raised his head and looked at his foot, Slade was up there, holding him from his foot with one arm while the other one holding the railings that was hardly making up to his waist. 

 

“Can’t save ya like this kid, gimme your hand!” Said Slade, yelling against the deafening winds. Chat, lost his thoughts for a second with the incoming events, just stood there dumbfounded, why was Slade helping him ? Wasn’t he just announced that he would kill Chat and others ? Or was he just acting ? To be honest he had never heard of a hero, or a villain named Slade before. He might be one of those morally ambiguous ‘Anti- heroes’ from America, you know the ones. The “I only kill the ones that deserve” Kind of people. His voice wasn’t as gravely as the ones he had seen in the movies, but not everyone can be perfect. Maybe he was here in order to trick Hawk Moth and his fight was just so Hawk would trust him more. 

 

With these thoughts he raised himself with his abs and held Slade’s arm that was holding his leg with both hands. Slade immediately started to move and get back to the other side of the handlings. When his feet touched the ground Chat had taken a knee, Slade was still holding his hands with one. His hands looked giant compared to Chat’s own. The vertigo, hanging upside down and the still kind of effective earlier punch had made Chat’s heart pumping irregularly, now it was like two times the normal and it was making his breathing sync out of order too. “Thanks.” Chat managed to let out before taking another break in order to breathe “But why did you… save me ?” He asked finally and then felt his hands getting crushed under Slade’s intense hold. 

 

“Cuz it ain’t gon’ be that easy.” said Slade before giving chat a left hook and missing his head by just mere centimeters, grazing the poor boy's hair like it was wheat ready to harvest. The next move was a kick directly towards Chat’s stomach, and since Slade was still holding both of his hands it was far easier to land the blow. 

 

With the sudden pain Chat dropped to his knees, hardly seeing the ground anymore, but it seemed like Slade was still not finished with him. He raised the boy high, still holding him from his hands, and readied his empty hand to deliver one final blow to his chin. Finally, Chat stopped feeling dizzy, the rooftop stopped turning and with his senses coming back was able to quickly analyze the situation. The moment he started to get down, Chat raised his leg for a devastating kick right at Slade's face. Dropping him to the ground with himself.

 

Although Slade’s punch had missed Chat’s chin, it still hit him right under his rib and almost broke it in two. Chat fell to the ground while holding his bruise, it hurted like hell and with every breath he took, his pain was rising tenfold. “Fucking brat.” He heard and looked at Slade, his mask had been blown to two, the black side of it completely cracked open and an eye pack with some horrendous scars welcomed his sight. 

 

“He teaches you the dirty shit too course!” Yelled Slade while trying to power through his own pain. The kick was far stronger than what he had anticipated. hell, he was sure if he wasn’t wearing his mask, half of his face would be caved off with that kick. 

 

He finally managed to ignore the pain in his neck and shoulders and get up to his feet with Chat following him by mere seconds, both of them were holding their wounds while looking at each other with clear hatred painting their faces. 

 

Chat moved first this time and tried to throw a flying kick towards Slade. Slade easily sidestepped the attack and then took out one of his swords while charging back in, Chat turned towards him and catched the blade with both hands at the last second. Slade, catching the opportunity, pressed further down and then swatted Chat’s legs with a clear kick but Chat simply jumped up and double kicked Slade in the chest, sending the older man a few feet back. 

 

That was a good attack, but it wouldn’t do much against the murderer, thought Chat and looked for his baton in order to have at least somewhat of an equal footing in the fight. Heartbreakingly though, his baton was dropped a good few meters away in front of him. A.K.A, it was covered by a very pissed off looking Slade, who was taking his second sword out of its sheath. 

 

“I told you I would have made it easy if you had surrendered at first. Now I’m gonna chop you into bite size meat for street dogs.” Said Slade and without even waiting for an answer rushed towards Chat once again. His swords were next to his hips, scraping the ground with their dull side and somehow leaving marks on the concrete rooftop. The first swing had come from Chat’s right and he had enough stamina to dodge it outright, the second swing coming from his right was a decoy as Slade switched his handling in a millisecond and instead of swinging fully, stopped his hand halfway and thrust the sword towards Chat’s face. 

 

This time Chat wasn’t so lucky as he was caught right up in the air and couldn’t move out of the attack’s range. Thankfully the thrust had hit his mask and instead of ripping the fabric and his skin outright, the attack bounced off from it and only left a stinging (Hehe) pain behind it. When Chat landed back down he swung around himself while reading his right hand for a knockout. He had thought of using his claws as all cats would like to do, but the amount of damage Slade’s armor could withstand had scared him. After all, he had put all of his power to that kick that broke Slade’s mask, the same kick that was usually reserved for breaking concrete or bricks. 

 

Slade saw his attack and immediately tried to counter it by cutting his arm off, of course, the blade bounced right off of that hit, but the pain did stay after it. Chat’s fist still connected to Slade’s liver and made the assassin back pedal for a moment. Chat wasn’t gonna let him regain his strength back that easily, so he intensified his attacks, punches, kicks, jabs and even a lone microwave that he had no idea why was there. He had thrown everything in order to tire the man and even managed to bring him down on his knees. For a moment there Chat thought that he had the upper hand, maybe he wasn’t as bad as he had previously thought. He was dodging his attacks and countering him, he was making the assassin back down and he was making Slade retreat. Maybe he did get better with the training. 

 

Finally Chat kicked one of Slade’s swords and catched it in the air, turning it around in his hand and slapped Slade’s head with the hilt of it. Slade grunted and fell to the ground finally, his pouches full of little gadgets scattered around them. While Slade was trying to regain consciousness from the hit, Chat came up close to him and held the sword's pointy end towards the man's exposed, patched eye “I don’t want to do this, so come quietly and don’t make it harder than it needs to be.” Said Chat, almost out of breath. Every time he tried to breathe it felt like a hot,searing rod was touching his lungs. the pain was so intense in fact, his eyes were getting watery from it. But he didn’t care, he couldn’t at the moment, he had a super criminal to handle after all. 

 

Slade didn’t say anything for a while, laying there face down on the ground, Then he suddenly hit his knee and started to laugh like a maniac. The blade that was touching his eye was moved up and was now digging to the man's head. Making blood flow on Slade’s face. Of course, Slade didn’t care about that either, he just continued to laugh and talk to himself like a lunatic, saying things like how proud he was of the boy and how he couldn’t wait to see his improvements after so long. 

 

“Hey!” Yelled Chat, finally shaking the shock that the outburst had made and trying to regain control of the situation. He even thought of sticking the blade deeper but didn’t want to risk shish kebabing the man in the name of justice. So he tried a different approach when Slade didn’t change his stand and kicked the assassin’s calf harshly. That seemed to do the trick as the assassin eerily stopped laughing and turned his good eye towards him in a millisecond. Now, with the atmosphere around them thicker than before with anticipation, Chat realized how close he was to the man and tried to take one step back. As soon as his foot got up from the ground Slade held his own sword from the middle and made Chat tense up immediately. 

 

Now even waiting, Chat immediately tried to take the sword back with both hands, but Slade's hand seemed to be glued to it as the sword didn’t even move an inch in from the assassin’s embrace as he slowly moved his hand forward to be sure that the sword wasn’t touching him. 

 

“My Robin teached you good, kitty cat.” Said Slade, Chat realized that he was planning something and readied himself to cataclysm the floor just to get away from him. He raised his hand, one hand still holding the sword just in case and yelled his catchphrase. Before Chat could even finish forming the small ball of destruction in his palm, Slade finished his words “‘But a hunter should always watch where he steps.’” 

 

With his words three disc looking gadgets in the ground around Chat suddenly opened up and a really powerful electric current started to run between them, capturing Chat. The moment the current hit him, he felt his face involuntarily convulse, then came his heart as it stopped for a second completely, then the rest of his muscles came forth as he screamed in agony. He felt his face was burning up, then he smelled cooked meat before completely losing his motor functions and dropping to the ground, hitting his head harshly to the concrete floor. 

 

Slade, completely unaffected by his ‘shock pellets’ thanks to his armor, started to rise up from the ground and stretch in order to rid his body from the stiffness. While he was doing that, Chat was convulsing on the ground, in a comatose state with smoke coming out of his head, literally. 

 

Seems like even the magically enhanced costumes were susceptible to 150.000 volts. Normally, these pellets weren’t for incapacitation, they were for quiet killings. ‘Well, so much for that.’ Though Slade as he come closer to inspect the boy's body, miraculously Chat was still alive. His breathing came in short inhales and exhales, his eyes were closed and he seemed to have no control of his own body, but he was still alive. 

 

Slade opened his pouch while watching the kid just in case and tried to find his earpiece. Realizing that he had lost it with the rest of his gadgets, he started to look around, grunting about how hard he had to perform in order to sell the role of the weak and what not. He finally found the earpiece and put it on, checking on the boy again just in case and not seeing any improvements. 

 

He pushed the small button on the side of the piece “Hey there Hawkmoth. I almost finished your critter problem but managed to leave a few breaths on him. What do you want me to do now ?” 

 

Gabriel couldn’t talk for a while, mostly because he had thought that he already lost the fight. Someone as paranoid as Gabriel hadn’t trusted Slade from the beginning and had put some countermeasures so Slade wouldn’t cheat on him. One of those were the earpiece which went nowhere and one other was the live camera recording in Slade’s mask. Specifically the black part of the mask, the part that Chat had blown to smithereens when he kicked Slade’s head.  

 

So while Slade was on the field, fighting and playing mind games with Chat, Gabriel was in his house, making evacuation plans for Adrien. He was thinking of making a carbon copy villain of himself in order to distract the while he had sent Adrien to England, in order for his kid to live with Felix. He tried to get himself together, he wasn’t expecting a call back so he had been caught with his pants down for a lack of better terms and the sheer shock of the news had made his jaw lack its function completely. 

 

The Chat Noir, black cat, the second worst thing that ever happened to him was now defeated, and alive nonetheless! He was actually about to tell Slade to take his ring and come back immediately, but then his insecurities showed their heads again. A voice in the back of his head kept whispering to him the power of the ring, how luring it is in of itself. How it would switch the loyalty to an enemy in an instant with its power. He kept himself silent for a while, then, when Slade asked if he was in there he told Slade to bring the boy back to him. Alive and tied down. Slade made some comments about how soft he was and he just had to be crueler if he was going to defeat Robins and what not. 

Gabriel didn’t care about it all, all he wanted was that ring right now, not the horrifying stories the man kept telling him. “Bring the boy just as I instructed or you will get nothing for the job you completed.” 

 

Slade grunted some more about Hawkmoth’s threats being irritating, but didn’t argued much more than that as he found a garrote wire in one of his pouches in order to tie Chat’s hands behind. When he moved around the kid and took a knee he heard Chat grumble some incoherent sentences and wondered if he lobotomized the boy. Don’t get him wrong, he had no problem with delivering vegetables, but he was worried that Hawky would try to cheat on him with some bullshit excuse. So he moved the kids hands behind and then lightly touched Chat’s cheek “Hey princess, grunt something if you can hear me yeah ?” Chat did in fact grunted as an answer, but this time Slade clearly heard the word “Gotcha” as he started to fall down. 

 

It was too late for Slade as he didn’t understand what was going on as the ground he had kneeled down started to turn to dust and he started to fall down with it. Chat took a deep breath (Even though it hurted to much.) while rolling out from the corner. He thanked his stars while trying to stand up, Slade’s fall has been going on for a while now, he wanted to explore just how much of a damage he had caused to the building, but then his survival instinct yelled him to get the hell away from that roof top as soon as possible and he started to jog away from the hole. 

 

They were on top of a big building and the sound of the crush was going on for a while. Thankfully, or more so if he was lucky, Slade was also falling down with the concrete rocks. He got his hands to his stuff finally and breathed a searing sigh of relief, at least now he had a weapon again. 

 

Of course, he had no intention of staying put and fighting Slade again, one time was too many already and he was sure the moment Plagg’s power ran out, he’d be dead. So, with his option as few as his broken bones (At least he hoped) he pointed his stuff towards the ground and flew away. He first thought of going back to his home, but with how much pain he was enduring and the possibilities of what could be happening in the morning if his father found out his injuries. He had another idea, although he was sure she wasn’t gonna like it one bit. 

 

***

 

Marinette was in her bed, scrolling through social media and searching for inspirations. Probably she didn’t even have to say it, the modern dress codes of ‘Whatever that goes’ Wasn’t really her style. She was much more fond of the classicals with some touches of modernism carefully put in there. She was getting bored and was starting to yawn out while her eyes were getting blurry. Then something banged against her trap door harshly and woken her up from her slumber so quickly she almost hit her head to the ceiling. 

She slowly got out of her bed and moved towards the stairs going up to her balcony, getting a big book in her hands just in case, since Chat wouldn’t be here this late at night normally.

 

While all her joints were almost screaming at her she moved slowly and started to climb to the stair, listening to the trap door just in case she could catch something, only getting some ragged breathing in response. Finally she took a deep breath, adrenaline hiding her pain momentarily and opened the trap door swiftly, ready for anything except for the thing that was waiting for her. 

 

Chat, with a painful smirk in his lips said his hello’s before completely falling to the ground and letting out a breath he was holding in. Unconscious and in the mercy of Marinette’s care.

Chapter 27: Winging In Paris - Revelations

Summary:

“Welp.” Said Dick while putting his hands behind his head and slouching even more into the quite comfortable couch. “The first thing I’m asking you to do is to go and get us a few sodas. I think the cashier woman understood my heritage and was giving me dirty looks for a while.” He stopped for a second before continuing “I mean, she might’ve just don’t like people in general too. After all, who’d want to see that many people on a daily basis right?” 

“You know you can’t even imagine beating me, right?” Said Dick, power oozing out of his posture alone. Looking at Damian with a sneering glare. The little kid fall for the bait and ‘tsk’ed immediately while raising his left eyebrow like he was the superior one in this situation. “And why is that, my beloved ‘Abi’ That you think you have what it takes to take me down ?” 

 

Neither of them were falling out of their positions, muscles tense enough to ache and minds sharp enough to detect the quietest footsteps and reflexes on high alert enough to react immediately. Both of the brothers like tigers, focusing on the kill and perfecting their hunting. 

 

Dick smiled again, an air of superiority in his eased moves but the keen eye like Damians could easily see that all of that was a charade. Dick was just as much focused as he was and was only trying to lure him away from the victory. Or at least trying to since there was no way Damian, the demon head’s grandson and the son of Batman would let Dick Grayson get in his way and defeat him. “Well kiddo, because unlike you, I’ve been training for this moment for a while now. And unlike you again, I know every move you can make and have prepared myself according to those rules.” 

 

Damian ‘Tsk’ed once again, he was bluffing. He had to be. There was no way Damian could become predictable this quickly. He wasn’t a ballet dancer like Cass after all, he was the youngest one of the Robin’s and it was literally his ‘Job’ to learn new movements and implement them to his regular schedule. But what if he wasn’t ? 

 

‘No! He is trying to get in your head. Give an inch and you’ll lose your arm!’ Thought Damian while readying himself, he wasn’t gonna let his big brother three wins over his head. He could hardly accept two at the moment. 

 

Richard came at him with his basic, but quite effective moveset, throwing a few punches before attacking from below and jumping over him in order to continue the combo. Of course, Damian was waiting for this and he had a good counter on his own, his kicks. 

 

And that was when his dreams shattered with his kicks connecting but not stunning. “WHAT!” He yelled, clutching the controller harder as if it was gonna make the character attack harder. He managed to get out of the combo string once again and landed another big kick to Dick’s character, which didn’t get stunned again, and then landed another combo on Damian’s character and then finished the fight with a headbutt. 

 

“AGGHH” Yelled Damian while trying to strangle Dick who was holding him up by his sides and laughing maniacally. “How did you do that! Captain Rodger cannot stop Wu Pi’s kicks! Did you cheat and disabled the stuns ? Answer me Grayson before I demolish you in real life!” 

 

Dick continued to laugh till Damian accidentally kicked his stomach while struggling on top of him “Okay okay hellfire, calm down!” Said Dick, dropping the kid to his chest as his lungs let go all the air they stored with the kick and made him lose his own balance. Damian sat on his stomach, still angry while he slouched on their couch, trying to get the controller on the small sofa in front of them so he could get back to the main menu of the game ‘Urban Battle’ . 

 

Damian was angry at first because Dick had the audacity to lift him like he was five years old. Now he was a bit sad because he had called him hellfire. It wasn’t in the same wavelength of Jason calling him a demon maybe, but it still didn’t feel good hearing Grayson call him that. 

 

He knew if Dick would see the sad little quiver in his lips that he was hiding with his hand, he’d be hugging him apologizing and promising never to call him that again. Well, at least that was what he did when Jason once called him a lab made fetus devil that no one wanted in one of their fights and Grayson almost choke slammed Jason, making both of them apologize to each other forcibly. Grayson, by his very nature, would rather solve the conflicts peacefully then build them up enough to explode but even he had limits. 

 

Jason didn’t speak with Grayson for a whole year after that incident for example and Grayson, like the big brother he is, just said he would do it all again if they talked mean to each other again. 

 

Back to the present, Dick lightly jabbed the kid's stomach in order to get his attention back and then showed him the TV. They were on the recent patches pace and while reading the updates to the game Damian’s face took many different shapes:

 

 Firstly it was boredom as they had buffed up Mr.Dee, a character that no one wanted to play with how dumb his moveset worked around and then to confusion as he read the next update. They had nerfed Wu Pi’s kick stun ability. He would still do the same amount of damage, but the kick stun only applied when the enemy was moving now, something you can’t do while getting combo-ed on. 

 

Now with the next expression as he read the developer announcement. They had nerfed Wu Pi because people were too dependent on the stun based combos “WHAT !?” He yelled again while finally lifting himself from Richard’s chest with anger. “But that was the whole point of the character! I played him because his biggest damage comes up from the stuns! Are these incompetent monkeys not even playing their own game and just throwing out their stupid ideas for the end meetings or something!” 

He was setting with anger, his beloved chinese myth based monkey soldier was nerfed to the ground. Non playable now with the way these idiotic yes man black suits. He was also hearing the soft snickers Grayson was letting out behind him. 

 

“So, with this, I believe I have the right to tell you what to do for a whole week and you aren’t going to let a peep about it to anyone. Or should I go get the written, copied and publicized agreement papers for you to take your anger out of it ?” 

 

For a few seconds Damian didn’t say anything, just breathing deeply and clenching and unclenching the controller in his hand. Finally he let out a deep breath and let his anger go before turning around. “How did you know Wu Pi would be nerfed ? Yesterday we played and he was working normally.” 

 

Dick finally got up to a sitting position and launched his feet to  the small sofa, right next to the ps5 box. “Because unlike you, I like to read the development notes and they said they were planning to do something about Wu Pi’s cheese stun stat. Last month.” 

 

Damian looked at him with a baffled expression that soon turned sour. “You won against me by being a nerd ?” He said quietly, like he was having a moment and was holding it hard not to scream. “But you are the best one, not a Drake wanna be!” He finally said while rubbing his eyebrows. Dick just laughed it off. Even though he would normally be angry Damian was talking to Tim this way, it was acceptable now since he had lost. None of the members in his family take lost with grace. They were all their own drama queens. 

 

“Welp.” Said Dick while putting his hands behind his head and slouching even more into the quite comfortable couch. “The first thing I’m asking you to do is to go and get us a few sodas. I think the cashier woman understood my heritage and was giving me dirty looks for a while.” He stopped for a second before continuing “I mean, she might’ve just don’t like people in general too. After all, who’d want to see that many people on a daily basis right?” 

 

Damian just murmured something under his breath that Dick didn’t quite catch while moving to his room in order to change his clothes. He had lost and disgraced his name, yes. But he wasn’t gonna sully it lower by pulling out of the agreement. “And what if she is racist ? If she realized the fact that you are romani, she would be quick to realize I’m arab too you know ?” He yelled from inside. Speaking by not really caring about it, honestly, he was much more focused on which tie to wear. He might be just going down two streets, but being presentable doesn’t stop at his father’s office. 

 

“Ahh, you’d figure it out I’m sure. Also if she does try to yell at you or something that would only make her look bad now does it not?” 

“hu-uh. And what would you want me to do when her words hurt me deeply and emotionally, big brother ?”

 

“Ahh, I’ll figure something out by then. Plus I’m pretty sure she’d only yell at you right now because of how late we are.” 

 

“You are the one forgetting to buy the ‘groceries’ Grayson!” Yelled Damian lastly and out in a full, three piece suit. He looked like he was about to attend a wedding, not going out to buy some snacks for them to enjoy. 

 

“I didn’t forget it. I just didn’t buy it because I knew I was gonna demolish you tonight. I have to savor some victory from time to time too, you know.” He then pointed at his suit “Also you look really weird going out like that at almost 12 pm. Please wear something else lil bro.” 

 

“Don’t ‘lil bro’ me, Grayson. I’m an emotional wreck at the moment and I have to deal with it in my own way.” Damian finally said while trying to look for his shoes. Normally, these words would worry Grayson if it came from literally anyone else, but the expressionless face Damian was wearing on his head now was a good enough indication to the fact that he was joking. He had a… weird sense of humor, to say the least. 

 

Nightwing’s phone rang while Damian was wearing his shoes, he slowly took it and read the caller's name, it was Barbara. “Hello greatness, calling for a chat ?” He said with a smile, Damian made gagging noises while rolling his eyes. 

 

“Something serious just happened, Wing. I need you to move immediately.”

 

***

 

“Bathroom is clear too.” Said Damian, coming out of the small bathroom right next to Marinette’s bedroom. They were both gone but where he hadn’t had a clue. “Find anything interesting there ?” He asked Robin, they were quiet enough to talk without waking up the parents that were sleeping one floor below them. Robin just shook his head “I believe he had been transformed in the bathroom, there were his hair examples in the bathtub.” He nodded along with Robin’s report. 

 

If there were no blood samples, maybe Oracle had the wrong impression and Chat wasn’t injured and was just moving sloppily. ‘Yeah, I made the idea and even I’m not believing that.’ Thought Nightwing while moving around the girls room, what had attacked Chat out of blue he wondered. If it was an akuma, everyone on the city would be warned with the alarms, let alone them since Chat would immediately call Ladybug. 

 

Was it just some punks who had the numbers advantage, maybe guns? After all, even though he was pretty sure their magical costumes aren’t bulletproof, that doesn’t mean bullets would stop hurting all together.

 

They heard a movement under the stairs and readied themself, Nightwing checked what was happening with his ‘Bat-vision’ (He was creative enough as a child okay! And ‘visual modulator v2.8850’ is a considerably worse name) and saw that the father had woken up and was moving towards the kitchen. Probaby to drink something. He signaled Robin that it was time to go, and started to climb the stairs in the room with little to no noise made. They would probably not make much of a noise even if they were talking, but there was no reason to risk it and risk Ladybug’s identity. 

 

When they were on the balcony they started to brainstorm again, Oracle couldn’t be with them because there was an escape attempt at the Asylum as they were speaking. Something considerably worse when you think of all the psychos in there. “Would you like to recreate it ?” Asked Damian, reading his grappling hook. Nightwing nodded along, moving a bit back in order to give the kid more room. Just when Robin had launched his grapple, Nightwing's comms flared with a call. He looked at the ID, it was Ladybug. 

 

Swiftly stopping the boy, Nightwing answered the phone and before he could even speak, Ladybug’s teary gurgled voice filled his ears. “Hello ?Nightwing, you have to come here immediately !” She yelled before stopping and letting out a few hiccups. It was clear the poor girl was crying and also was trying to put up a brave face, something you can’t do. He knew, he tried one too many times before. 

 

“We are in the Hotel Grand. Room number 150- It’s the highest one with the lights on. Looking towards Montaigne Avenue. Please hurry, the windows are open.” She closed the phone with these last words and Nightwing raced towards the hotel that wasn’t too far from there with Robin following behind him. 

 

***

 

It wasn’t hard finding the room considering it was the only one with both lights and windows open. Also it wasn’t a room either, it was a suite. Nightwing remembered this, once in their petrol Chat he mentioned that the president had given them the room permanently as a gift for saving his daughter. They wouldn’t really use it much but it was a good hiding place if they needed it and it had a playstation. Nightwing, of course, never has been in the hotel ground, let alone the suite itself. Which is why he didn’t remember this place existing.

 

He should have remembered it. He should have connected the dots and come straight for this place instead prancing around a little girls room, looking for evidence. 

When they entered through the window they found The Ladybug, sitting upon one of the big king sized beds with a pillow enclosed in her chest. Trying to bite her nails through her costume. 

 

She didn’t even realize they were even in there at first, Ladybug was just staring at the ground with no emotion on her face other than worry. Nightwing came by her side slowly and gently called her name before touching her shoulder. She slightly jumped up with the connection at first, but as the seconds continued to flow, her expression relaxed a bit as she started to breathe a little easily. 

 

“Where is Chat ?” Asked Damian looking around the room till his eyes focused on the closed toilet door. He was slumped to the bathtub it seemed, not a bad idea if you think about it. Though the weird thing about it was the seemingly flying bandage on the air, twirling around his head.

 

‘What the hell ?’ thought Damian but thankfully before he could go in there to check what was happening Ladybug explained that his Kwami was taking care of him.

 

 “I - I can’t go in there!” She said, the panic that evaporated from her face was coming back with a vengeance it seemed. Or was never left, just hiding. “I-I mean I can’t make anything without looking and I-I can’t help him like this I-” Grayson once again put his arm to her shoulder and this time shook her once, trying to center her for the moment. Keeping her in the present, not in the future or in the past. 

 

“Calm down.” He said as coolly as he could. He didn't really feel confident at the moment either, but he had two heroes down in his hands and he had to be the strong figure at the moment. It wouldn’t be a problem. He had been a supporting member before, one too many times. “If a medical profession is needed, I’ll be in there no problem Ladybug. Your secrets will be safe with me.” 

 

To his words Ladybug seemed both worried and relaxed at the same time. Of course, he had already known their identities, but seeing her face discord with even the concept of someone knowing her identity did remind him that they were not ready to reveal themself to even each other. 

 

At that moment an angry looking rat-cat amalgamation appeared right in front of Dick’s face. “Can you guys be more quiet ……. needs his quiet time okay!” The moment the little creature muted itself, there were green bubbles coming out of his mouth. If Nightwing had to guess, the little gremlin had said Adrien’s name and the magic automatically censored it. Which was a good thing, because both Dick and Damian were shocked at the moment and couldn’t have stopped the little thing from spilling the beans even if they tried it. 

 

Dick tried to get a hold on himself, clearing his throat before looking at the miniature god and asking what was the situation with Chat Noir. 

 

With his question Plagg’s anger dissipated slowly as it left its place to desperation “I…” He said before he got a craving for a safe place, some place that is far away from the human eyes that were watching and judging him. He raised himself a bit higher than them before started to speak once again. “ He is… breathing. I’m sure of it but I’ve never seen the insides of a human before so I have no idea what to do and how to do it.” He finally confessed, his tail sticking between his small little legs as he ashamedly had to explain his inexperience.

 

This was all too new to him after all. He had never had to attend to one of his wielders, they’d either die on the spot or break up with his connection after their agreement had ended and never to be activated again. He was good as a prevention of injuries, as a costume. Not in the ‘living god of destruction’ format. 

 

“In that case.” Said Nightwing before moving towards the bathroom. Before he could get to the door both Ladybug and the little god stood in front of him, preventing him from entering and checking on the boy. “But our identities! We can’t let anyone know who we are. I-if Hawkmoth captured one of us… We can’t take that risk!” She said, clenching on Nightwing's arm. Almost cracking his wrist communicator in the process. 

 

“Trust me Ladybug, if I won’t help him, we might be risking more than your identities.” To his words Ladybug stared at the ground, she wanted to help him too. Of course she did. He was her best friend and in some aspects even more than that. She just… couldn’t bring herself to break their truce, betray his trust. Having an advantage over him like this, this much she couldn’t endure. 

 

But, if she stopped Nightwing from helping her Chat, she didn’t even want to imagine what would happen to him. She let go of his arm slowly, seeing her move away, the little god that was flying on Nightwing’s face looked between the two before folding its little arms and saying he was going to be watching it. 

 

Ladybug moved back to the bed and once again hugged the pillow in front of her. Nightwing told Damian to stay with her and wait for him. 

 

Inside the bathroom, Nightwing saw that the boy was put into the bathtub carefully and a medium sized medical box was thrown around him without a care. “How did Ladybug carry him here from her home ?” He asked while bending down and checking the equipment in the box. 

 

The little god looked at him with a questioning gaze till that expression turned to understanding and pure horror “You knew ?!” He yelled and made Nightwing smile a little. “Wasn’t my idea, trust me. But yes.” He opened his Bat-vision and checked the boys injuries, on the analysis the heartbeat was at an acceptable level, no major bloodlust could be found but the boy's nose was busted and from the style his hair was rocking at right now, he had been electrocuted on high voltage. 

 

“But how could you ? Also were you lying to them all this time ?” Asked the little god, not entirely angry at the news, more so shocked about it. “They never asked. Also you might be invisible to cameras, but your man really needs to stop transforming out on the open or on the rooftops. Also, my question ?” 

 

Plagg didn’t know what to say at that moment, should he just… erase this man completely ? ‘I mean, he knows their secret identities!’ But then again, he hadn’t done anything malicious with it and seemed (More like, heard from Adrien’s stories) to be a regular sweetheart that would never become akumatized. Should he really trust a complete stranger with information this important ? 

 

He shook his head, he had to deal with it later, right now he had a bigger problem which was laying in the bathtub and not moving. “She covered her eyes with a cloth and I gave her directions. coming here.” Said Plagg “Once she put him in here for safety, she asked for this bag and I tried to do anything I watched on the TV.” 

 

Nightwing just smiled but didn’t say anything else till Plagg asked him how Adrien was. With the question, Nightwing took a deep breath before speaking “It seems like his Costal Cartilage is slightly damaged, it's not broken though which is good. His nasal bone also seemed to be caved in a bit, I am also worried about head trauma and -if I had to guess from the smell- electroshock damage.” 

 

“But- but I’m sure I make him resistant to everything right ?” Asked Plagg, not even sure if his powers were even made a play here. “I’m most powerful against magic, yes, but I’m sure I’m making the boy strong enough to get hit by a car and shrug it off no problem… right ?” He asked with his big eyes which Nightwing just shrugged tiredly while waiting for the picturing results he had sent to Leslie in Gotham. 

 

“Honestly, I’m not sure what to expect, little dude. I’m not a doctor but the ones I’ve sent the files to are.” After these words he took off his mask and the recognition appeared on Plaggs face so much Dick had to hold the little creature from screaming his name. “I saw you at the pool party thingy!” Plagg finally said when Dick showed him to be quiet with his pointing finger touching his lips. 

 

“I’m sure I’d remember you if I had seen you.” Said Dick with a smile and then asked Plagg to keep his identity a secret. 

 

“A secret for a secret ?” said Plagg, he honestly never got these secret identity things to be honest. Like, if you can’t scream to everyone what you were capable of, why would you even want to have powers ? 

 

But then again, he guessed it was important to be something else than the masks, after all, even Hawkmoth was hiding himself. Though Plagg was sure he was hiding his ugly mug with the abundance of ugly people in the world. He might be the ugliest, but it's hard to find the king's trash in a garbage bay. Or something, he was too worried to think of a good insult at the moment! 

 

Nightwing suddenly turned serious and then touched some buttons on his wrist, suddenly the wrist started to move and then projected an image. Or, at least it looked like it was projecting, two little dots at the bottom of it were moving like the big projector in Adrien’s class after all. 

 

Plagg couldn’t see what was happening but he did hear it from the earpiece. Apparently Adrien had something named head trauma, his nose and his rib was also in a bad shape but nothing to regard as surgery. Plagg hoped it meant that his little kitten was good to go because he didn’t know what this surgery thing was, but it sounded just as scary as himself. 

 

Nightwing said his byes after hearing the good news and closed his communicator with a deep, relief filled exhale. He didn’t need to tent the kids' healing progress it seemed. He was glad for it because his own body would tell a story on how bad he was at it. A long, dreadful and pain filled story. 

 

“Alright then.” He said and was about to get up and leave the restroom when an idea struck. If Plagg was able to resist the damages as the costume, would he also be able to heal the wearer ? 

 

He asked his idea to Plagg with the little creature nodded with excitement, it wasn’t his primary use true. He was the god of destruction after all, not creating. But he could do it with some adjustments. He just had to focus on destroying Adrien’s pain this time instead of the enemy in front of him. 

 

“One problem though, how can I be with Adrien ? He had to call out to me after all.” Nightwing had thought about it so he asked if a video player would work for it instead but Plagg shook his head from left to right immediately “The callout is not about the voice, but the wearers needing help. I can’t get that from a video unfortunately”

 

“So we need to wake him up.” Nightwing didn’t like this, after all, the kid needed all the time he could in order to heal up. He took out a greenish blue vial from one of his pockets, the whole thing was as big as an aspirin tablet, but seeing the oozing liquid in it with the Nightwing’s anxious looks, he didn’t really like where this was about to go. 

 

***

 

Adrien was having a nice dream, he was floating around the clouds as Chat, trying to heat up his body from the biting cold air while he did. He felt pain and exhaustion from his actions, but that didn’t mean he was going to stop. After all, he was on the chase right now and he was chasing his love. 

 

Ladybug was a few clouds in front of him and was taunting him, saying he was never going to catch him and what not. Of course, just like always, he didn’t care for these taunts while making his way, finally finding a cloud big enough to use as solid ground, extending his staff from it and coming above the girl of his dreams. The falling down felt invigorating as he felt all his body became alive with adrenaline. He finally collapsed with her and pushed her down to the big fluffy clouds. 

 

They both laughed up while the clouds made a thick smokescreen around them, so much so that he couldn’t even see Ladybug under him, he could just feel her shoulders. “Catcha my lady!” He said between the laughter, stopping her struggles with his own weight. She finally surrendered and stopped the struggle. She also stopped laughing and was now panting from exhaustion, the clouds around them started to settle down too. Taking their cover with them. 

 

“Yes, Chat. You got me.” Said Marinette as her face came clear from under the clouds and suddenly Chat’s world turned dark and started to disintegrate around him as he was being pulled back by a familiar voice. “KID! WAKE UP NOW!” 

 

Adrien opened his eyes in panic and threw a punch straight up. Nightwing, expecting this kind of a reaction had already cleared himself from the attack zone but Plagg was not that lucky as the sudden punch hit him with enough force to throw the little god to the ceiling. 

 

Adrien tried to breathe and felt a sharp pain in his lungs, he tried to scream when he felt his head was swinging. Everything in the room was swinging with him. It seemed like he was a drunkard in an old cartoon, seeing triple and tripping out of his mind. Thankfully Nightwing came by his side and told him to relax and let go. His voice had a calming effect on the young man. At the very least it was something he could easily focus on with how clear it was. 

 

“Calm down Chat. Focus on my voice and keep your eyes closed. You are in safe hands. Breathe slowly and count to 20 calmly.” 

 

Chat did exactly that and second by second he felt his nausea dissipating. His brain wasn’t banging against his skull like a pin pon machine either. “That's good.” Said Nightwing, boosting the boy's confidence. “You’ve been injected with a powerful drug in order to wake you up but its effects are relatively easy to solve. Now try to open your eyes.” At first Chat was a bit suspicious just because of what Nightwing had said, but nonetheless, his senses trusted his short time mentor and he opened his eyes slowly in order to get them used to the light in the restroom. 

 

He saw the ceiling and the fancy chandelier on it. Yep, he was at Grand, only they were this much of a show off to actually put a chandelier in a toilet. Even his father wasn’t this much of a stentorian. 

 

After the ceiling, his eyes focused on Nightwing that was looking at him while sitting on the floor, his eyes were focused and his hands were fidgeting restlessly. It was clear something was making him anxious, and Adrien learned what it was the moment he tried to hold the bathtub corner and he realized that he was not Chat anymore.

Notes:

Thanks for reading, I’m working on a MHA fic at the moment and that is gonna be a huge task for me simply because I’m not used to working with too many characters at the same time. But I’m ready for the challenge and would be happy if it would intrigue you’all. Have a good night/day and I hope your landlords won't bother you today 🤗🤗🤗

Chapter 28: Winging in Paris - A new side

Summary:

“Wing!” Finally, Damian’s touch and raised voice managed to snap him out of it. He finally took a look around the room, everyone was looking at him with worry. Wondering if he was going mad. Dick took a deep breath before finally succumbing to his body's need and sitting at the edge of the bed with his wobbly legs. He couldn’t help it, no matter how much he talked to Bruce, no matter how much he shared his worst experiences with the Always kind and understanding Alfred, he couldn’t get rid of this one man's voice in his head. 

Notes:

Have a fantastic day! 

“This is becoming too regular now.’ Thought Gabriel, sipping from his tea. He was sitting in the cafe he had the first time he made acquaintances with Slade. And of course, he was wearing makeup in order to somewhat hide himself again. The images of the last fight were going through his head, he couldn’t believe Slade was able to take care of Chat Noir that quickly. The whole video of their fight, from the starting blows to the finishing fall, was about 7 minutes long. Seven minutes might seem a long time… Against anyone that isn’t a magically powered up gremlin that is. So yes, while it was hard for him to confess this, he was quite impressed with Slade’s performance. So much so, in order to keep him in line and remind him of the riches at the end, he arranged this little get together before the night was even over. 

 

He was waiting for a while now, kinda getting suspicious. To be honest, Slade did say he’d be late, just didn’t tell how late exactly. “Would you like one more ?” Asked the waiter girl from the other day, suddenly appearing in front of him and scaring Gabriel a bit. He tried to not show it but he was sure he jumped up a bit. Nevertheless, Gabriel still tried to show his manners and cleared his throat before saying yes please. 

 

It must have been a tad bit weird to see the same girl working this late to be honest. It was almost 3 in the morning and the ‘Cafe’ Seemed to be mostly patronized by heavy drinkers right now, a couple of japanese businessman (If he heard right that is, his japanese were getting rusty even with miss Tsurugi’s “Help”) were celebrating something inside, two table next to him were merged and were celebrating a proposal it seems, and a few old fools like him, sitting alone and reminiscing through their bottles. 

 

He wasn’t a heavy drinker to begin with anyway, he also hated the idea of hangovers. He wasn’t twenty anymore, he was more refined both in his taste and his approach to ‘fun’ If you will. 

 

“No guards tonight ?” Someone said behind him before harshly holding his shoulders and this time the movement was so sudden, Gabriel did jump up and hit his knee to the table before yelping loudly through the pain. Slade, seeing his antics paying off, laughed loudly at the other man’s pain before slowly moving around and sitting at the table opposed to him. Gabriel first heard the silent words, a few rather rudely comments before Slade looked at their right and shut the people celebrating right next there. 

 

He had a bandage on his forehead, his face had few scratch marks and a few bruises too. But Slade’s smile didn’t show any kind of pain through it. The waitress came back to their table with Gabriel’s order and upon seeing, now banged up Slade sitting there, her face turned beet red before she quickly tried to get back inside. She moved so quickly in fact, Slade had to yell his orders behind her. Unashamedly attaching more attraction from the few people in the half cafe, half bar. 

“She didn’t seem too fond of you, not a good night I assume ?” Said Gabriel, letting a small smile creep up to his lips before taking a small sip from his tea. Yes, normally talking to his ‘employees’ was not something he did even in his best days, but right now he was in a good mood. Also he was against someone that he can openly show his hatred towards. He didn’t need to hold back his words since Slade wasn’t going to tattertale to the HM with the first insult he heard towards his family tree. 

 

“Says the guy with zero bitches under his mahogany table” Said Slade while loudly yawning and stretching “So, if we are finished with the niceties, why did you call me out of here at this hour ? Especially since I could rest up a bit.”  

 

‘Still as crude as he was in the morning.’ Thought Gabriel but decided to not comment on it before clearing his throat “We are here for a job well done, of course.” He raised his tea cup in the air a little bit like he was toasting and then drank from it. Slade’s chipper attitude seemed to waver a bit by his actions though, his smile had vanished while his left eyebrow had risen. “Are you firin me in the middle of a job Mr. Butterfly ?” 

 

“What? No! Of course not. Why would you even think that idiot ?” 

“Well, you sound like you were about to.” 

“Me, calling this a congratulations and toasting to your success on the job sounded like a layout ?” 

“With that monotone tune, unloving eyes and sarcastic attitude? Yes. It definitely did.” 

 

Gabriel just rolled his eyes to him as his orders finally came down (By a different girl Gabriel noted) and Slade started to eat a cheeseburger. Gabriel couldn’t believe it, but he was actually kinda offended by Slade’s comment. He knew he was always a harsh person, even before his love abandoned them. But he was still human, not a cartoon character that doesn’t know what happiness feels like. “Maybe this is just how I express myself in my happiest state.” He said before taking a big gulp from his tea. Slade hauntingly laughed at his comment while filling his mouth with french fries. 

 

“So.” He said, taking another bite from his burger “You just wanted to treat me to dinner, because I lost the first round ?” 

 

“You didn’t lose, you just got outplayed.” Said Gabriel, not even caring for the spiteful glare coming on his way from across the table. “You beat him, even though he should be twice as powerful as you. You showed your skills even though I’m sure you held back.” 

 

“That much is enough for me to continue this partnership. Which is why I’d like to give you this.” Gabriel leaned forward and took a small box out of his pocket, throwing the box on the table slowly till Slade held it with his fork. 

Slade didn’t say anything back as he opened the box slowly while raising his eyebrow. Inside the box was a small gold bar, about 100g if the inscription was correct. 

 

“Our ‘written’ agreement still stands of course, this is just a personal gift from me since I have wanted to see what you did for a long time.” 

 

Slade seemed to contemplate his ‘Gift’ as Gabriel called it. Fidgeting the bar in his hand, between his fingers. Gabriel wondered if he was actually thinking or was just showing off, but then Slade did something Gabriel wasn’t expecting. He got up from his table, moved to the ones that were partying on their side, and after talking a bit with the gentlemen in there, handed them the bar and then came back. 

 

“Nothing personal. Just don’t like to be handed unearned money.” 

 

“Didn’t ask. But surprised you have some kind of morals like this.” 

 

“Not morals. Getting compensations like these make people malleable. Making them soft, in a way. Making them not finish the job. Like all the second rates. I won’t be a damn second rate, that you can believe.” 

 

Just then they all heard a commotion happening inside of the cafe, one of the businessmen that were celebrating, was fighting with Slade’s girl it seemed. He was  a rather large fellow and was drunk enough to forget the fact that not everyone in French would be able to speak Japanese. She was trying to get away from the man while his friends were either so drunk that they had fallen down to the table or were laughing like idiots. 

 

The one that was making the commotion soon raised up and hold the girl from her arm, the moment he did the other bartender in there moved to help the girl against the larger man with little to no effect. The table right next to them, there were 4 males on the tables and it seemed like they were about to get up to help the girl but before they could Slade raised up and moved towards the fight. 

 

When Slade was right behind the man he grabbed him from his neck and then lifted him up with one hand. The drunkard immediately left the girl and started to flail his arms and legs helplessly before Slade harshly dropped him to the laminate ground and then started to drag him while holding his collar. The drunkard was slurring his words while trying to escape from Slade’s iron grip, trying to hit Slade’s arm that was holding his shirt and missing miserably. 

 

Slade completely dragged the man like this till Gabriel’s table and then threw him harshly towards one of the empty tables. The drunkard immediately went numb and just dropped his head to the table, sleeping his drunkass off. 

“Had to get him here right ?” Said Gabriel while the four males from the table next to them congratulate the man on his de-escalation. 

 

“I’m so sorry sir!” 

 

Both of them turned towards the new voice, a young man, in his twenties if Gabriel had to guess, had approached them. He was in a suit just like the rest of the people at his table, but unlike the rest, he seemed to be able to hold his alcohol down. “I’m so sorry, boss normally doesn’t drink like that, but when he does it's always a disaster!” 

 

‘Understandable.’ Thought Gabriel. If he was anywhere near this guy when he drank, he would never touch an ounce of alcohol again. 

 

“Call a taxi for them and we are even.” Said Slade simply before turning to Gabriel with a sinister smile plastered on his lips. “Now that I’m the local hero, I’m getting me that chick and a few hours of sleep. Don’t call me till afternoon tomorrow.” 

 

With those words he moved back in the cafe, acted as a concerned man with the girl and played sweet till he whispered something to her ear and made her face crimson. Gabriel took back everything he said about Slade’s morals, he was still just plain evil. He didn’t want to think about what that applied if he had to look at himself and just paid for his drinks before getting up and leaving the cafe. He needed sleep and forgot this little meetup ever happened. 

 

***

 

“B-b-but Nightwing! Agghh!” 

“Less talk, more asking for Plagg.” 

“Wha-?” 

“CALL ME DUMMY!” 

“O-okay. Plagg transform me!” 

 

The moment Plagg infused his powers with his wielder's Adrien felt the immense pain he was in dissipate. He let out a relaxed sigh and then drowned himself back in the bathtub, all mushed up with Plagg's help. 

 

“It worked. Thank god.” Said Nightwing and let out his own relaxed breath, although he had to sit on the hard, granite floor. “Yes it did.” Said Chat as answer, let out another sigh and tried to climb off the tub now that he felt better. 

 

Nightwing got up immediately with him and stopped him, checking his injuries and trying to match them with the before photos. It was incredible, he was healing in real time almost. His ribs were repairing themself and his bones creating new threads while he was watching. God he wished he could do that himself sometimes. 

 

“I’m not sure if these effects gonna continue outside of the mask too, but for now, you are almost back to normal.” 

 

“You sure?” Asked Chat, not looking Nightwing in the eyes and clearly meaning something entirely. Dick understood. He’d be pretty pissed off too if someone he barely knew suddenly learned his secret identity. Before collecting as much dirt as possible so he could blackmail that person. After all, knowing his identity usually meant knowing the whole family, and he couldn’t take that kind of risk without a deterrence in place. 

 

“I understand, Chat.” He said, holding his shoulder and forcing Chat to look his way, “I want you to know that your secret is safe with me and trust me when I say it: If there was any other way of helping you, I would’ve used it instead of learning something this significant about your life.” 

 

Chat nodded along to his words, for these past few weeks, Nightwing had shown how trustworthy and reliable he was, always there when you needed advice, never telling anyone (A.K.A Ladybug) what was bothering you and respecting his privacy. Because of these reasons, Chat thought Nightwing really had no say in this situation just as much as he had. Because of these reasons he fell for the sweet words Nightwing whispered in his ear and bought his lies. And because of these reasons, Dick felt like the biggest asshole in the whole world for openly lying to the poor kid. 

 

He was a good liar. After all, he learned it from the best, and the best usually praised him out of the others. Because he was the prodigal son. Something even Dick didn’t know he was till he decided to play solo. He was worried back then, the first few days without Bruce felt… wrong. After all, Robin needed a Batman just as much as Batman needed a Robin. They were the dynamic duo for a reason. So they were able to cover each other's weaknesses. Or so he thought. Till he had to play the bad cop and shocked himself on how close he was to Bruce. That’s why he always smiled while in costume. It was a barrier for himself, so he wouldn't be like Bruce. 

 

“I understand.” Said Chat and brought Nightwing back to the present. “I- I get it. And I was kinda expecting this… Just wasn’t expecting you to be seeing my face.” 

 

“Oh ?” Asked Nightwing, because for as far as he knew, Chat didn’t know that Marinette was the Ladybug. Maybe he felt safer in Marinette’s arms than in Ladybug’s or his own fathers. Yeah, saying it like that, he wanted to adopt the poor kitten himself. Even he wasn’t that distanced with Bruce when he left his care. 

 

Chat finally took a look around and immediately recognized the bathroom. “But that doesn’t matter, how did I get in the Grand ?” Nightwing helped him get out of the bathtub that he was still in and told him that Ladybug would fill him up on the rest. 

 

—

 

When they got out of the bathroom, Chat expected Ladybug to be angry with him. After all, he lost a fight, exposed himself to a civilian and then to Nightwing. He had -by the very definition- failed. So, the last thing he was expecting was Ladybug to hug him so hard his injured ribs started to hurt again while she cried on his chest. 

 

“Um- My Lady, I appreciate- OWWW!” Thankfully Ladybug let him go as soon as he screamed and apologized profusely. “You worried me, dummy! I- I thought I…” She didn’t have to say anything else, this time Chat hugged her and told her that he was also scared but not everything was okay. “Also, how did you know I was in Mar- I mean, with my friend ?” Asked Chat while still hugging her, her tears were an unwelcome sight to that powerful personality and he felt overly responsible for it. 

 

She let out a laugh before sniffing out and then told him that Plagg had found her and the ‘Friend’ in question hadn’t seen his face. “You were in her personal bathroom when I came back, she said she wouldn’t jeopardize your trust by learning who you are.” 

 

Chat let out a sigh of relief to the news. While yes, Ladybug’s words were just that, words and held no real evidence if Marinette took a look under his mask, but he trusted Marinette. The one he knew to be trustful and just both in school and in her normal life. 

 

“I’d hate to cut your happiness short, but we need to talk about what had happened.” Said Nightwing. He had moved away from the couple and to Damian. Both of them seemed a bit on edge. “If we can find your adversaries before the sunrise, I’ll sleep better tonight for sure.” Dick said with a smile. He truly believed that Chat had come a long way from the brash and undisciplined goofball to the admirable fighter that he was now. So, in order for someone to hurt him, he had to be ambushed or something. Maybe he was fighting a few people instead of one. Or was tricked into underestimating his opponent. 

 

Chat bit his lower lip with Nightwing’s words, he really didn’t want to talk about what had happened tonight. But he was outnumbered by three to one, if the furious looks Ladybug was giving him was any indication. 

 

“I- ıt wasn’t by a group. It was by one guy. He called himself Slade.” While the name was leaving out his lips, Chat saw Nightwing’s posture change from compassionate and serious to shocked and dreadful. 

“He said he knew you.” 

 

Nightwing didn’t answer him, he was busy with his own crumbling thoughts at the moment. Slade, Deathstroke. He found him again. He had to fight him again. This old fuck just couldn’t leave him alone! 

 

First when he was with the titans, then when he was teaching the new ones, then when he started to show up in Haven. Slade was always there against him. He always found some way, some method, some ‘ Job ’ in order to fight him. And now he was here, against two upcoming heroes and one of his brothers that have never fought against someone with a similar skill level of Bruce. 

 

‘He always does this, finds some weakness and tries to twist his intentions, but it's always me at the end. He will hurt them just to get to me!’ He was visibly shaking now, his anger (Which he always was able to keep in check) was starting to show its ugly face. His knuckles were getting whiter as he was starting to clench his fists. The images of that vile man’s tortures, his manipulative talks, the things he did to his friends… All of the trauma he had suffered in the hands of that disgusting man was starting to take shape in him. He was getting more and more pissed off by the milliseconds. 

 

“Wing!” Finally, Damian’s touch and raised voice managed to snap him out of it. He finally took a look around the room, everyone was looking at him with worry. Wondering if he was going mad. Dick took a deep breath before finally succumbing to his body's need and sitting at the edge of the bed with his wobbly legs. He couldn’t help it, no matter how much he talked to Bruce, no matter how much he shared his worst experiences with the Always kind and understanding Alfred, he couldn’t get rid of this one man's voice in his head. 

 

He’s been in hell, several times in fact. But he never felt as scared as he had to work under Slade’s hand. He never felt as defenseless as the first time he had fought him seriously. ‘But I also never felt as relieved as the first time I beat him hand to hand.’ He reminded himself. Yes, he had beaten him, several times in fact. He had sent him to jail several times. He had foiled Slade’s plans time and time again. 

 

Dick tried to not show anymore emotions then he already did, his voice was still gnawing at him behind the darkest corners of his mind, but he knew how to light him out from it now. Dick raised his head, beads of sweat were starting to form on his forehead he realized and used the back of his hand to clear it in one go. “In a way, he does.” Dick finally said, almost completely out of his panic attack and starting to slow his heart rhythm down. God, he didn’t even realize how elevated it was the first time. 

 

“He is a powerful assassin. One of the best in the world. But he can be beaten and he can be outplayed.” Said Nightwing. 

 

“He said he was ‘Proud’ of you. I don’t want to probe, but what did that mean ?” Asked Chat, Ladybug was still hanging from his arm while he seemed to be trying to get away from her slowly. He must be hurt worse than he thought. Nightwing held himself in the last second before a swear left his lips. Even when he wasn’t here Slade still found a way to make his blood boil. 

 

Dick didn’t want to answer for a second, in his mind he was doubting himself. He was doubting his own abilities. But then Dick heard the voice that always soothed him in the worst of times. Barbara’s firm yet gentle voice was telling him to stop  feeling sorry about himself right now and focus on the mission. She was right. Just like she was (Almost) always was. He had a villain to beat up and he needed the help of the kids with this. 

 

“We have a very bad past between us. Psycho held me hostage for a few weeks and thought he was mentoring me while torturing me on the side.” Before even his words would fully sink in, Nightwing quickly shook his hand and continued his word. He was not saying these for sympathy after all, Dick just answered Chat’s question and in the meanwhile tried to paint a picture on Slade’s brutality. “But that’s not the point at the moment. I will tell you his methods, his fighting styles, his way of thinking. Then, when he shows his ugly mug again, which he will definitely do, we will get him and use his head as a donkey kong bongo.” 

 

***

 

Slade lay down on his bed in the Le Grand, his room was, unfortunately in the economy part, little sacrifices he guessed. Although, he had a hot babe next to him to keep him company for a few hours. Though she couldn’t last longer than that, new generations. 

 

He was watching the ceiling as the woman tossed around beside him, occasionally hugging his arm then letting it go when his body heat proved to be too much. It was almost 7 in the morning, normally, right now he would be training, practicing his moves just so he wouldn’t start to rust. But not when he was on the job, and what a job this one was. 

 

It has been almost four years since he last saw Nightwing’s face, his Robin, the first and the perfect one. He, of course, had tried the other two, but wasn’t impressed with their tricks. Second one was overtly angry, always headstrong. Easy to read and easy to lead. No spark at it. The third one on the hand was almost the complete opposite of the second one, he was meticulous, rather stayed behind and strategized then fought himself. Third one was the hardest to meet face to face, and when they did, the fight didn’t leave him satisfied. Just because a puppy has grown its teeths doesn’t mean the fight will be different. He was still the puppy and Slade felt bad for beating up puppies. 

 

He once wondered about the women in the team of course, after all, he could have used them for both crimes and for… other activities. But unfortunately for him, the bigger one had left the service for some reason and the other two left his radar soon after that. 

 

But not Nightwing. His one and only protage. His golden boy. He never left pursuing him, after all, he was a responsible father. And no matter how hard his boy cursed at him, fought him and threw him to jail, he will always be back. 

 

‘After all, that's what fathers do.’ He thought while giggling to himself, the below average women beside him moved around a bit with his noise but didn’t wake up. He had to sleep too, he hadn’t for almost two days after all. And he needed to restore some energy if he was going to kill three kids and severely beat one. 

Chapter 29: Winging in Paris - Calldown to the showdown

Summary:

Marinette couldn’t focus on the classes. Well, duh. She couldn’t even answer the simplest questions, worrying her teachers and classmates alike. But she didn’t care or tried to fix herself. Her best friend was in her mind and she was still scared to death for him. 

Notes:

Sorry this chapter is kinda on the short side. I'm kinda getting burned out from the story, but of course that doesnt mean I'm not gonna finish it! By the emperor of mankind I will! I just need to write something else for a while. For a few weeks atleast.

Sorry about the tangion, just thought I should inform the people that are reading this series. Have a good day/Night you all and I hope you all got rid of that annoying pimples without doing anything!

The next day in the school Damian felt the heavy air without even moving in the classroom. Adrien was sitting on his clair, clenching his fists and trying to comfort his friend, who seemed to be accidentally hit one of Adrien’s injuries. “I’m really sorry man, I didn’t know it was this serious when you said you fell from the stairs.” Said Nino while slowly putting his hand to Adrien’s shoulder. 

 

Adrien was trying to look strong, trying to lessen his friend’s worry, but it seemed like Plagg’s powers had dissipated last night when he traveled to his house. “It’s not man… Just pulsates from time to time you know.” Said Adrien while trying to smile, failing miserably at the attempt. He came close to both, Adrien and Nino looked up at him with questioning gazes, He was never the social one after all. He was sure he only started a conversation in this school four times total, better then he was expecting to be honest. “Do you need ice for that Adrien ?” He asked as calmly as he could. Managing his best natural face in order to put the other two at ease, doing the complete opposite in the progress. Although, Nino seemed to be lighted up with the idea and after thanking him for it, runned full sprint towards the teachers restroom, not heeding to Adrien’s calls. 

 

Damian didn’t care. He just continued to move and get to his seat. While sitting down, he saw Marinette too. 

 

She was also not in her usual style, her head down on the table in front of her like she was sleeping but her eyes were wide open and you didn’t need to be a highly trained assassin to see the visceral anger spiraling out of them. So much so she seems to be lost to the rest of the world, her friends greeted her while walking to their own seats and she didn’t even acknowledge them. Hell, she didn’t even seem to comprehend that her “Sweetheart” As the other girls called it, was squirming in pain right in front of her. 

 

He had to be honest, seeing Marinette like that worried him, it just so… not her. So not the smiling and bossy girl he had to train with under the moonlit skies for almost a month now. She seemed empty of that happiness right now. Focused on a different level. He knew what it was only too well. He was the same way when his granddad once managed to kidnap Nightwing. She wanted revenge for what had happened the other night. 

 

When he was like that back then, his father had given him advice that he never forget “Justice and vengeance can be easily mixed. And it will never leave you once you make that mistake.” He wanted to tell her the same thing now, but he knew it wasn’t the right time. Probably the next time they put down the masks. After all, in this city it wasn’t that long before Hawkmoth found someone blowing a lit over the smallest things like getting fired or cheated on. 

 

It’s your fault for letting it happen after all, found some other thing to be truly angry at, like the blonde that was now moving to sit down next to Damian. She was the real villain in this story if you asked him. Hawkmoth usually helped Damian when he created another abomination and canceled the schools. 

 

***

 

“Nothing in the 5th district ?” 

 

“None. At this point he is either staying outside of the city or moving underground.” 

 

“No, he wouldn't dirty himself if he absolutely didn't have to. He also would never run away from a chance to mock me.” 

 

“The 6th district is also clear.” 

 

“Figures.” 

 

“...” 

 

Dick didn’t say anything to the small noises she made behind the comms. She wanted to talk, probably to tell him to call others again. But he wasn’t having it. He wasn’t gonna risk the chance of someone else getting killed because of him. They were enough. However Slade attacked them, whoever Hawkmoth threw at them, they will win. No two ways about it. He just wished he could say the same brave words to his shaking hands. 

 

“...Look, I know you don’t want to but if you just called-” 

 

“No Barbara. That conversation ended ten minutes ago and we are not getting back to it.” 

 

“Just call Kori and Raven then, they both can help you tremendously and they are also know how he fights, six against one even Slade have no chance to-” 

 

He closed the call then. Was he being childish ? Definitely. Does he need to apologize later ? Yes. Would he do it again ? Probably.

 

Dick rubbed his eyes in order to clear the fatigue from them, he hated this part. The waiting. Waiting to see what he was going to do. 

 

It was always the same game, Slade would attack, he got ready, he waited, and waited, and waited. Then, at some point, Slade would attack and kill innocent people just to lure him out. Can you guess what would happen next then ? He’d get lured to a trap and if he was lucky enough he’d stop him afterwards with several new scars decorating his skin. 

 

He was sick of it. All of it. 

 

Barbara called again then. He opened the comm but no noise came through. He apologized for closing the comm like that. And then cut the line again. He didn’t need to hear her apology because she didn’t do anything wrong. She was right, relying on numbers was a good plan. But Slade was known to be slippery in every situation. Known to his traps, he would separate them, kill them one by one and then come to rub it in his face later. He couldn’t allow it. He couldn’t allow him to kill his long-time friends. He couldn’t allow that monster to kill the new kids. He will not allow that degenerate to kill his family. 

 

At that moment he made a rash decision, while putting his casual wear over his armor, he already had an idea how to proceed. He knew Bruce would call this ‘idea’ stupid, Tim would call it suicidal, Damian would call it dangerous and Jason would call it cool. So, after so many years, he was going to pull a Jason. And he probably regretted it later since he would always disapprove of pulling a Jason in normal circumstances. 

 

***

 

“I told you I don’t need it old man.” 

 

“And I told you that you most likely will.”

 

“He wasn’t that tough. Based on that, little girl wouldn’t be a problem either.” 

 

“Do not underestimate them. I did it and looked where it bringed me.” 

 

“Yeah, to the best. So what’s your point ?”

 

Gabriel took a deep breath before continuing to speak as Slade ‘Somehow’ Always raised his blood pressure. “These brats were maddeningly crafty without training under Nightwing. Now they should be at least two times worse. Do the logical thing and let me akumatize you so you can fight in an equal footing.” 

 

Slade let out a scoff before speaking, there were some shuffling noises coming from behind him like he was dressing up just now. At two in the afternoon. “Yes yes I know. You see, as your employee, I don’t want to break your heart with mean words and condescending comments. You piece together what I mean from that and you’ll understand that I don’t need any magical fairy bullshit costume to go against some kids who can’t even drink the good stuff.” 

Gabriel breathed out loudly again like his lungs were trying to push out a small boulder stuck to his throat. “Can’t you idiot see the strategic point of having a superior power level then normal to go against people with equal powers? Are you that dumb or are you just trying to annoy me?” 

 

“No to all questions, boss.” Slade then yelled something incoherent to someone else in the room and after a minute Gabriel heard the faint sound of some scoffing and calling Slade an idiot fucker. The voice sounded female. “Sorry about that. Broad overestimated her skills.” 

 

“I don’t want to know.” 

 

“Good cuz I was about to close off too. So see you later with a hand and a head, hopefully tonight boss.” 

 

Gabriel hated himself for agreeing this for the hundredth time. He hated himself even more that he wasn’t disgusted by the proposition. A man, his standards and an uncompromised moral compass, down in the gutter like this. 

 

He was about to close the call and continue to watch the news when Slade let out a soft and surprised ‘Holy Shit’ from the other line. “What ? What happened ?” He asked urgently. Did the authorities find him in his hotel room ? Perhaps some other assassin was here to take Slade out for what he did in Greece. A million ideas and worse case scenarios runned through Gabriel’s mind as his hand holding on the phone started to turn chalky white. What was happening ? 

 

He was about to repeat his question when Slade let out a wheeze out and then whispered ‘Toying little shit’ with clear venom in his mouth “Hey hawky, you got a computer in your basement ?” 

 

Clearly confused out of his mind Gabriel left a few words that didn’t even resemble anything other than mumbling and then asked him why he needed a computer and what he had seen. “ Open the TVI and see it for yourself, wouldn’t wanna spoil the news.” He let out another loud laughter before closing the line. Leaving Gabriel confused and little else to do then move towards the living room, and open the TV in there. 

 

“Oh my god.” He said slowly, this was big. As in a big advantage, or a disadvantage.

 

***

 

Marinette couldn’t focus on the classes. Well, duh. She couldn’t even answer the simplest questions, worrying her teachers and classmates alike. But she didn’t care or tried to fix herself. Her best friend was in her mind and she was still scared to death for him. 

 

Last night, Chat had said he was okay. He said the pain was decreasing slowly and he could hardly feel it. Of course, she knew him for a long time so she knew when he lied too. So because of it, she was distraught beyond approach. All because she couldn’t be with him because she had to swim the other day. Because she wanted to have some fun with her friends, her best friend paid the price. So yes, she was blaming herself and spiraling out of control so much it was a small miracle (Bad pun Marinette, continue being sad you aren’t Chat) that Hawkmoth hadn’t sent an akuma for her. Here she was, hating herself for the choices she made and not listening to anything else. She was so distracted, she still hadn’t realized Adrien was hurt, even though both of the class slimes had attacked him with crocodile tears and non-heartfelt worries. 

 

Though, if she was going to be honest with herself right now, she hadn’t thought about Adrien for a long time. Usually something else comes to mind, or some else. When the mid break time came, Alya needed to touch her physically in order to wake her up from her depressive thoughts for the fifth time today.

 

“Come on girl, I know you don’t wanna talk about whatever is bothering you… But at least come with me to the cafeteria, it looks like you haven’t eaten anything for the whole day.”  

 

Marinette grumbled in her seat, her lips let out a half baked excuse that she didn’t even remember after seconds and then put her head back to the table, determined to stay there and feel sorry for herself. 

 

Alya, having not many other choices, left her friend in there to go and grab two sandwiches. She might’ve said she wasn’t hungry, but Alya knew how Marinette’s stomach liked to drop the act in the presence of food. She couldn’t get her a platter, let that be Marinette’s only self punishment. 

 

Meanwhile Marinette’s self loathing was continuing as a few more of her classmates (Even Adrien) tried to reach for her, she denied all of their invites, saying that she was just tired and needed to sleep. All baseless lies since everyone in the class knew how sleepless Marinette was supposed to be thanks to her costumed job. 

 

At the very least, they knew something was bothering her greatly, but since she had no intentions of opening up even to the ones that are closest to her, their hands were tied and had to just watch the poor girl with a defeated sigh. 

 

Alya had come back a few minutes later with two simple chicken with pesto mayo sauce and immediately sensed the dread in the classroom. Finding the wary looks around her classmates, all pointing towards Marinette. 

 

She sat down and touched Marinette’s shoulder slowly, making the girl get her head up with a grumble. She wanted to say something, telling her that everything was going to be okay, telling her to not worry about whatever was eating her. But, at that moment, seeing her red and puffy eyes holding back the river of tears, she didn’t do any of that and just simply hugged her friend. She wasn’t afraid, she was depressed, she needed to reminder that she had friends on her side. Marinette didn’t move for a second, dulled to any kind of touch this last day, she couldn’t even decipher what she should be feeling right now. 

 

Should she be happy ? She couldn’t even remember how that felt. Should she be angry then ? All she felt was anger after all, every time that two sided mask came to her mind she was angry, every time that sinister smile flashed she was angry. She was exhausted. She wasn’t really built that way she supposed. She could never stay mad at someone for too long, even Chloe was sometimes turned to a minor annoyance after all. Even though she had been with her for years. 

 

“I’m here for you girl. We all are. Never forget that.” Said Alya to Marinette’s ear and watched as her friend started to shake as she was trying to hold her tears. She was determined to not let one drop down and made the situation worse. She didn’t have the right. 

 

When she finally stopped the spillage about to happen, Marinette looked at her best friend with a weak smile and thanked her for the reminder, clutching her shirt as she didn’t want to let go. Alya smiled at her and told her that she would always be with her before extending one of the sandwiches towards her. 

 

Marinette looked at the food with a questioning gaze till Alya rolled her eyes and told her that she can repay her when she feels better with some pastries before taking her phone out to watch the news, one hand still holding her friend's side like a seatbelt. Marinette thanked her for the food while she turned around and started to eat her own sandwich with content. The class looked relaxed as their own ‘Everyday-Ladybug’ Was starting to turn normal, everyone but Damian who had watched the whole thing with a side eye in order to not be noticed. 

 

The chicken tasted… decent enough, Marinette thought. The sauce was hiding the lack of salt and pepper in there, even though you could definitely tell the difference in every bite. But that's what happens when you refuse to go to the “Slightly” better cafeteria food in order to sulk in your own desk so she couldn’t complain much. No, the one person complaining was Alya as she loudly proclaimed another channel had stolen a video she had posted on her own website and forgot to give credit. “I mean hello ? Is it really that hard to put a label on the videos when it says to do so in all the pages as a warning ?” 

 

Adrien, who was waiting for Nino to come back with two sandwiches because it seemed to be the norm to do things against your injured (Mentally or physically) friend let out a scoff while turning around and asked her why she still wasn’t calling them to inform. “ And before you say it, ‘Because everyone has the right to watch Ladybug’ was your last… fourth excuse so come up with something different this time Ally.” 

 

Alya flicked the small strand of hair downing Adrien's face as an answer while laughing and made the other two chuckle in the process. Marinette tried to close his mouth in order to not let a whole lot of pieces fly everywhere like a shotgun pellet does, Adrien moved a bit back as a reflex while fixing the strand and making it stand upright again while Alya suddenly stopped laughing and quickly puller her downed headphones back while all the color in her face slowly fading away. 

 

The other two next to her also stopped laughing when their friend looked so worried and tried to get close to her phone in order to see what had gotten her so shook. After all, this was Alya, she was known to be making interviews with akumas just for her webpage. 

 

On the screen was a TVI interview and the point of the debate seemed to be Nightwing. A very different looking Nightwing that is. He was in civilian clothes, a dark blue hoodie and some jeans. His mask was still on his face even though the hoodie was covering his face more than enough. He also was closing his mouth with some kind of cylinder shaped tecno device. 

 

For a second there Marinette wondered when this picture was taken and if he always wore these clothes in his own city. That is until her eyes captured the tip of the Eiffel Tower on the far right corner of the picture in the background. 

 

“What is this?” Was all she could tell from the shock of seeing Nightwing like that. What had happened ? Was he just out on a jog and he still kept his mask on for some reason ? 

 

Yes, it sounds ridiculous, like some people saying the world is flat or a gorilla can beat up a grizzly bear or something like that. But at that moment, she just couldn’t come up with a more conclusive explanation than that silly theory. 

 

Alya, hearing Marinette’s voice took out her headphones and then while the noise of the interview started to fill the almost empty classroom, closed the tab and started to type on a new one. Marinette and Adrien looked at each other while waiting for their friend to do what she was doing. The worried expressions washing their faces was a clear indication that, even though they didn’t know who they were with their masks on, they still had a mutual understanding that this would only mean bad things. 

 

Alya was able to find what she was looking for relatively easy as the video, even though it was updated by TVI a mere 15 minutes ago already had half a million watches under it. 

 

At first it seemed like a regular street interview, the news reporter was on the Place du Trocadero and was asking people about political moves and what nots, That is until a hooded figure (A.K.A Nightwing) seemed to be appear next to the camera guy as he screamed and took a step back while Nightwing get close to the shocked smaller women and easily took the microphone from her hand. “No more games. At 12 on the Notre. Come and have your fight.”  

 

The weird mask on his face seemed to be used as a voice modulator as his normally cherry, soft but still manly voice was coming out as robotic and gruff with a small sizzling between the points he was making. After those words Nightwing put left hand in his hoodie pocket and the camera signal suddenly cutted. 

 

After a few seconds the signal came back. They were seeing the floor as the cameraman was huffing and breathing hard as the reporter girl was yelling at him to fix the camera and run. They heard the distinguishable sound of a grappling hook ripping through and when the camera was uptight once again they saw the small glimpse of Nightwing before he disappeared behind the Trocadero’s roofs. 

Chapter 30: Winging in paris - Last Preperations

Summary:

“Ohhh, so that’s how you use those things.” Said Chat, crouching a little to get a better view since he was still the tallest one of them all not including Nightwing. Kidd nodded a bit and then clicked on a few, mid air buttons to open a map to them. Ladybug took a deeper look and immediately recognized that the street they were viewing isn't Notre Dome.

“That was pretty idiotic” 

 

“More like suicidal if we consider the current circumstances.” 

 

“Come on now, I thought that was pretty cool.” 

 

Everyone stopped talking and turned their gazes to the determined look Jason posed for his camera in the group chat. “What ? Everyone knows ‘good guy losing his shit’ is the peak of literature!” 

 

“Hardly, I believe it would be the hero's journey that much more positively received by the aud-” 

 

“NNNNEEERRRDDD!” 

 

“Enough.” Said Bruce, focusing the group back to the task once again because his children, who were almost all adults now, were still acting like preschoolers. “Barbara, I’ll speak to him.” He said before explaining his plan “Tim and Jason, you two are far away from both each other and from Paris. Cass and I will be moving there with the jet. I’ll ask Clark for his help.” 

 

“Isn’t that a bad thing though ? I mean, that stupid law still stands in there and they even tried to sanction the Justice League with Dick and he slipped away from it by being a vigilante.” 

 

Bruce thought about it, Tim was right, of course he was. But what could he really do ? he was worrying about his sons, he had trained them both to the bone. They both knew how to survive even in the most horrendous circumstances and could even overcome their adversaries. They both were great fighters, Dick being much more nimbler than everyone in the family and Damian being basically his own shadow when it comes to hand to hand fighting. While they weren’t the brightest they were still trained by him in the arts of mind games and manipulation tactics. Dick could solve a riddle puzzle faster than even Tim could and Damian knew how to play to his own disadvantages, playing as the frail and defenseless kid in order to lure people closer till he can truly show his hand. 

 

They were both great, bright and sound soldiers that he had trained. Never wavering in the cesspool of Gotham that is made out of criminals. But also, they were still his kids. Dick was his first light in this world. He was the one who showed Bruce that he couldn’t do everything alone in this big of a world. He was the light that Bruce created in this city. He was the hope part of his crusade. Damian was none of that. To Bruce, Damian would be the worst part about his nightly job. Stiff, standready, a stone soldier essentially. But Damian was the chance that Bruce needed in his normal life. He was the human part. A part that showed him that he could be more than the vengeful spirit of a barely held together city. Damian was his struggle to be a human again. A reason for him to look at the future instead of living in the moment and hating the past. 

 

“Bruce ?” Barbara’s voice cut through his string of thoughts like a blade and snapped him out of his status. “With my request Clark would do anything” He said and then felt a hand fall down to his shoulder, Cass, who had been watching the group from behind his massive chair had come closer and now was looking at his eyes. “No good. League… will call bad.” 

 

“She is right Bruce, you know it too.” Said Barbara, letting out a tired sigh “If you don’t hold down to your promises as the whole league, there will be talks and who knows how many bureaucrats want the whole to be dismantled and buried underground”

 

Bruce took a deep breath, they were right. Of course they were right, he knew they were right too. If any of the members had done what he wanted to do now he would be the one to reprimand their actions. He looked at the group once again, Tim in his two piece suit, ready to attend a meeting in China for his company. Jason, on top of a sand dune with a gorgeous view of sahara behind him, trying to keep his connection on with the few gadgets he had duct taped together. They were all so dissimilar from each other, none of them liked the same things except for stopping bad guys. 

 

But he still loved them all, he wouldn’t show it of course, ‘Emotionally stunted man baby’ he was as Selina called from time to time. He wasn’t afraid to make connections, he was afraid to deepen them. There was a reason for the cave and a reason for the secrecy. He couldn’t risk them. He was too afraid to lose them. 

 

But then again, he also couldn’t hold them down either, Dick was the first one to move for Bruce’s own stupidity. He was a flawed man and he knew it, still he wanted to be safe. Was it too much to ask the universe this for once. 

 

“Dick strong.” Bruce lifted his head to Cass who was hugging his arm now, trying to make him feel… safe, maybe. “Dick good fighter. Good smart. Let him show you.” Bruce took a deep breath and then rubbed his face. He couldn’t stop them. Not without compromising too much for the league and tarnishing their name in the future. “Alright.” He said, looking at the uncomfortably waiting members of his family around the call. “I won’t tell the others. But me and Cassandra are still going, the half member cart will have to do for us.” 

 

Everyone agreed with his decision, he couldn’t stop or interfere with the upcoming fight, even with his jet it was still around 8 hours of flight after all. The most he hopes for is to be there before anyone can be killed and that's a tall wish. Even if he was a priest he would be suspicious of a miracle like this to be happening.

 

***

 

Gabriel watched as a new man literally formed in front of him. From these last few days, he thought Slade to be aloof, serious when needed to be but mostly conserving his true potential. The man next to him that was trying to download different applications to his computer right now was nothing like the man he knew. Slade was cackling like a maniac, whispering swears, praises and shit that didn't make any sense under his breath. Nathalie, who was in the room with him and was watching the same unhinged man, looked at Gabriel with anger as if to say ‘You bringed a clown again’. He couldn’t really fight about it too since Slade’s behavior genuinely terrified Gabriel too.  

 

“Little shit, trying to play smart with me like he got the cojones after a few victories…” Finally, Gabriel couldn’t keep to himself anymore and pushed Slade’s shoulder a bit harshly in order to snap the man out of the fewer dreams he seemed to be having. He didn’t think it was too wise of a move to do that at first, but then again, he was holding one thing that would make Slade bow down in front of him: Money. Or, he hoped Slade would at least. 

 

“Can you please calm down and explain to me what the fuck are you doing with my computer since you’ve been in here ?” Wow, he had swore. How long had it been since he swore out of anger ? should be around the time Adrien was born. No, should be even before then since Emilie didn’t think it was suiting him to be vulgar like that ‘Your designs are the perfect balance between softness and firmness that reflects you perfectly Gabriel. No need to add jagged vulgar lines on them when they are perfect.’ She had said joking once when they were on a picnic, Adrien a distant memory by then. It felt more than strange to him, or even the people around him based on the looks they were giving him. 

 

Still, Gabriel tried to not show how shooken by the sudden outburst he felt as he tried to regain his stand. Slade didn’t seem to mind it either way. “Oh, sorry about that boss. I must’ve been seen crazy.” He laughed. Like this was a funny joke between two friends. “You-” Before Gabriel could reprimand him Slade shaked his hand in front of his own face then put the other one on Gabriel’s shoulder. Had to be said, the giant hand by his shoulder made Gabriel more tense, especially since he felt Slade’s hand automatically moving to his Clavicle, mostly to break it. It was an action that was performed in almost under a second before Slade maneuvered his hand towards Gabiel’s back. 

 

“Well, I’m downloading a few applications in order to decipher my boy's voice changer.” 

Gabriel tried to comprehend what he had heard, he was looking at the computer screen in front of him, a site about song deciphers with a quote that said ‘Learn the hidden meaning of songs’. He looked at Slade with a pure state of disgust. Like he was an unapproving father. Slade rolled his eyes before opening the program and downloading a video on the side. All Gabriel was interested in the moment was the blaring alerts his anti-virus program was giving at the moment. 

 

“You see, the big bird may want to fight me directly, but that doesn’t mean he will be fighting in the place he said he will, you know.” Slade took the video and put it in the program, waiting for it to make its magic slowly. Whatever that magic might be. “He wouldn’t risk civilian lives for his own amusement, none of them in the rodent family will. Which is why I’m 99% sure that the address he gave is just a place to gather attention and the only thing in there will be bobby traps and a hologram.” 

 

After a minute the program finished its job, and after a Slade choosed a part of the program did Gabriel realized he was right. The part was right before Nightwing said the church’s name, there was a bit of a sizzling and buzzing sound which when the first time Gabriel had heard it he thought was just the boy’s breathing making the sound. But apparently between those ear scratching whizzle was a hidden message that read a random business’s name. Upon looking more to it it appears to be a building north of Eiffel. Just a normal apartment. All in all, a shitty place to make your final stand if Gabriel had to be honest. 

 

After all, having your final battle on top of the Notre Dome would be much more appealing to do. 

 

Slade on the other hand, was thinking the choice was a good one in Nightwing’s perspective, it was a good distance away from any tourist attraction but it wasn’t closed off and could be fortified easily. Of course, having the address to this random building didn’t automatically mean that they could find a picture of the roof, which was a disadvantage. “He’d probably trap the corners, and try to throw me by them. It’s what I’d do after all.” Said Slade, pointing to a picture that was taken from the ground. “Don’t see any rails by the sides, the roof is closed off. Which means there won't be anything to cover you from the air.” He scratches his beard “He might be waitin reinforcement from the air in this case. The kids could make their way there quite quickly.” 

 

“So, in this case are you gonna take my advice and let me-” 

 

“Yes yes. I would be in an overwhelmingly bad situation if I went there alone. But there are a few things I want. First off-” 

 

Before Slade could start to say his terms someone knocked on the closed off door and a meekly voice asked “Father ? Are you in there ?” 

The discussion had stopped in a blazing flash, capturing the room in a thick cloak of silence for a few seconds before Nathalie had to assume the intelligent role once again and move past the freezed Gabriel in order to open the door a bit. 

 

At first she had planned to let the door adjourn a bit, she especially didn’t want the poor Adrien to see Slade just in case. But unfortunately, the moment she opened the lock the little kid almost threw open the door, making her stumble back a bit with the force of it. 

 

Adrien had also stumbled like a newborn calf and stepped in the workplace of his father for a couple steps before he could stop himself from tumbling down like an idiot completely. “S-s-sorry father! I thought you weren’t in there after you didn- you know, answer the knock.” He was feeling extra embarrassed now, he had almost dropped Nathalie, made a fool of himself in front of his father who had a guest and he couldn’t even talk properly, stuttering like a 2 years old. 

 

Gabriel cleared his throat loudly before speaking and berating his son about the proper etiquette. “If I wasn’t here Adrien, it wouldn't give you rights to snoop around my workplace now is it ?” 

 

His face was one of unbridled rage, brows knitted together in anger and pitchforks forming out of his eyes, shooting towards Adrien’s soul. He wanted to defend his actions as it was not in ill intent. What was there to be malicious in this room anyway ? What, was he gonna steal from his fathers non-existed artworks -Save for the one that was made for his mother- ? Was he gonna secretly snoop around on his computer ? Why would anyone like to do that? He is pretty sure with the amount of protective softwares in that machine his father couldn’t even open a single internet tab without half an hour of clicking on approval messages. 

 

But still, even though the need for defending himself made his heart swell, Adrien bit his tongue. After all, if he actually bites back his destiny wouldn’t be different, he was gonna be sent to his room either way and had to work on his bilinguistics. 

 

So, he took the humiliating but shorter route and apologized for his actions. He realized the slight venom in his words and wondered if his father did it too. He probably did. Just not act on it, sweeping it aside like everything Adrien tries to show off. 

 

“Go to your room Adrien, I’m in the middle of a serious meeting with this… gentleman .” The snare in the last words didn’t escape Adrien’s sharp ear and he involuntarily looked up at the man next to his father. 

 

He seemed too rugged to be a gentleman let alone a tailor brand ambassador. The guy was almost taller than his father, in both girth and height as his rippled muscles were open to everyone's eyes in the skin tight t-shirt he was wearing. 

 

He also had scars in his arms. A lot of scars. Adrien also finds it weird to wear sunglasses in a room. Lastly, the condescending and mockery smile that seemed to be hard glued the man's lips sealed for him to be someone other than his father’s business partner in Adrien’s eyes. He seemed too rough for it. Like one of those ‘How I became rich with a morning workout’ type of guys on the internet that Luca once showed him as a joke. 

 

Except this guy didn’t seem like a joke at the slightest. He also seemed to be successful too because of the fact that he was speaking with his father… in their house that his father doesn’t even let Chloe get in from time to time. 

 

“Don’t look too much for it brings bad luck boy.” Said the man suddenly and took a step closer, raising his hand in a fist and waiting for Adrien to bump it up. He didn’t know if he should be bumping this stranger but thankfully he didn’t need to do anything. 

 

His father, now filled with even more dark rage in his body, stepped forward and yanked the man’s hand back, saying to him something in a language that Adrien didn’t understand before turning towards Adrien and yelling at him to get back to his room. 

 

He didn’t stop to ask questions, he felt the disapproval frown formed at Nathalie while he runned up to his room, not knowing that it wasn’t forwarded towards him. 

 

Gabriel let go of the arm he was holding when the small pitter patter of footsteps started to cease their ears until a loud door slam finished it with a heavy finally. Gabriel was beyond furious at what Slade was about to do and wanted to punish him for it, knowing that any kind of attack on the man would be his own downfall. God he would give his miraculous for a sound and satisfying slap on this brutes cheek at the moment. 

 

Gabriel wasn’t stupid, he knew Slade could easily kill him with his bare hands and then hopefully kill Nathalie just as quickly. Upon seeing his demeanor around the opposite sex, including his long time friend, that would be the best option and even thinking of the others turned his stomach upside down. 

 

“Don’t twist your knickers now boss, just wanted to say hello. I am capable of that much at the very least.” Said Slade with a smile and opening his arms like he was expecting a hug from the ghoul of a man in front of him.

 

“Don’t. Ever again.” 

 

***

 

Adrien was fuming. He was angry, he was sad, he was about to rip his hair out of frustration and he was scared. He was scared for his father. Gabriel had never yelled at him before. Sure he raised his voice, he punished him to not leave his room or gave him some other monotonous, brain numbing and boring tasks to complete as a way of teaching Adrien his wrongs. 

 

He even once had to man handle him and carry him to their car, though Adrien was barely five by that time and was making a ruckus in a cinema. So he couldn’t really blame his father for too much on that front. Yes, he had done those. Yes, maybe Gabriel was not going to win much of any ‘Father of the year’ awards anytime soon. But, he was usually fair in his punishments, they were implemented when Adrien knowingly stepped over the lines. When he knowingly went against his father. Not when he just wondered if Gabriel was in his office because the house was super quiet. 

 

“Always finding something new.” Thought Adrien as he dropped himself to his huge bed face first. A pillow made out of goose feathers covering the lower half of his face while his eyes try to burn the bed's headboard with magical energy. Brows leaned down, eyes throwing fire, Plagg thought at this stage Adrien did in fact resembled his father, which wasn’t something he liked to see. 

 

Suddenly someone knocked on his door gently, Adrien didn’t even get up to his feet. He was busy being angry and he couldn’t listen to Nathalie right now. Nevertheless, the less raven haired lady of the household slowly opened the door and piqued inside in case he was in the bathroom. That was kinda amusing, after all, seeing the always proper and serious Nathalie crouching down in order to look at the room was a somewhat funny image. Even though it was a short lived one since he was laid down to the bed like a sad show leopard and was rather easy to spot. 

 

She opened the door fully then and cleared her throat slowly, giving him time to deny her entry he guessed. It was good that at least one person cared about him in this house. He didn’t say anything either way though, while she was slowly coming towards his bed all he felt was the same anger and nothing else (Also Plagg’s squirming in his jacket pocket in order to find cheese).

 

When Nathalie was close enough to touch him she sat down at the bedside, still giving him enough room if he didn’t want to talk about it but when no protest came her way she put a hand to the boy's back and slowly stroked it. Slowly turning his scarring gaze to one of sorrow. 

 

He didn’t know how she was able to do this but in such a short time he went from a flaring anger to a sorrowful ember. 30 seconds of back rubs and he was having a difficult time holding back his tears like a baby. 

 

“I’m sorry Adrien.” She said finally and Adrien had to let out a jagged breath in order to not spill any tears from his eyes “You didn’t do anything wrong.” He simply said and tried to enjoy the once again ruling silence, for he knew it wasn’t that long before it was going to be broken again. 

 

“You know he didn’t…” Even she couldn’t finish her words, even she couldn’t try to make it better for him and Adrien couldn’t blame Nathalie. He took a deep breath, one single tear managed to slip by his grasp and traveled from his cheek to his chin in one swift movement. “Just wished he had a ‘Don’t talk to me’ button on him so I’d know when to approach him.” He tried to sound nonchalant, confident. Like he was okay after all. But his voice cracked half way and two more tears escaped from his eyes. 

 

Nathalie continued to rub his back, trying to soothe the kids' pain away. But her own anger was flaring up further and further. She was loyal to her beliefs and she believed this guy for more than 15 years. She believed that this ‘wish’ could fix their problems. Make them a family again. Gabriel, Adrien and Emilie next to her, forming an everlasting bond. But it was doing the opposite. This whole miraculous business was dividing them away further. She didn’t know what to do, she couldn’t stand seeing this little boy she had been looking after for longer than she remembered saddened by his own father, but she also couldn’t stop his father from his plans since his wish was hers too. She wanted her friend back, no matter what. Nathalie knew there were going to be setbacks before things turned for the better, like in most things. In that case, would it be wrong to cut the middle part of this story and jump to the far end of it so they can all live happily ever after right now ?

 

She let out a heavy sigh, blowing away the silly ideas with her breath before speaking “He is just-” 

 

“Stressed? frustrated? Confused? Busy? Having a bad day? Don’t have the time?” Said Adrien cutting her short with the usual phrases that she had used on occasions. 

 

Nathalie smiled a little to that without meaning to do so, “No, I was gonna say an idiot and now doing something that he shouldn't do.” With her words Adrien lifted his head a bit and looked at her blue eyes “But I assure you, even he doesn’t like the… Deal he is doing right now. Which is why he is acting out like that.” 

 

Adrien stopped for a second, between the fact that she had not found an excuse for his fathers action and straight up calling him an idiot, he was flabbergasted to say the least. “I wasn’t gonna fist bump him though. He seemed a bit… weird.” 

Suddenly Nathalie’s soothing hand clasped his shoulder blade and almost made him wince with pain “Good. Stay away from that -Man-” She said the last part with such venom in her tongue it was a wonder she didn’t burn the computer that she was looking at with it. 

 

All of a sudden Adrien felt his phone vibrating  underneath his jacket, although it wasn’t his phone, it was Plagg, who was imitating a phone. Not making a good enough one, but still managing to be convincing enough to Nathalie. She got up from his bed and quickly fixed the few wrinkles that had formed on her pants before moving towards the door. Giving Adrien his privity while also reminding him to come down to the dinner at seven sharp. 

 

Adrien nodded while holding his jacket pocket like he was holding his phone, watching her close the door fully and listening to hear the three steps she had to move down in order to not hear the room. He had calculated this over the spawn of a full week with different people and the three steps were consistently the winner. Hey, when you are a secret superhero while also being a famous actor who has problems leaving his room, you need to do these types of things in order to be efficient. 

 

“Alright Plagg, what’s going on ?” He asked as the small god flew between his palms to his face, still making the buzzing sound with his mouth for some reason. “Someone trying to reach you kid. Though it isn’t ladybug as I can’t sense my sugar cube… ıt must be the newbies.” Adrien said he understood and quickly called down his other self, he was planning on going to their ‘Secret Hideout (A.K.A The hotel room)’ Anyway because of what Nightwing had done that afternoon. He opened his stuff next when his transformation had completed and took the call. 

 

Like Plagg had said, it wasn’t Ladybug who was calling him nor it was Nightwing, it was actually Kidd. “Come to the hotel room. We need to talk.” Kid of few words he always was. Just the bundle of joy he needed at the moment. Still, since he was wearing the costume again Chat’s still aching pain had at least subsided a bit. So that was a good thing. 

 

He closed the call and moved towards his window, opening it one hand like he always did and jumped towards the next building with the help of his stuff. Normally he would move forward with no remorse but this time he didn’t and stopped, turning towards his house and his room one last time. He wanted to go back there and with this… the more confident part of him, demanded to talk to his father. He loved the man after all. How could he not ? Even after all his harsh treatments, his merciless standards and his erratic actions, Gabriel Agraste was still his father. The only man he knew with so much power between his hands. The man who would even go a bit neurotic about his safety, carrying pistols and such just to protect him. 

 

Adrien couldn’t say he understood his father completely, but he knew his father was also fighting his own demons in his head like everyone else. 

 

Adrien just hoped that his face wasn’t resembling one of them day in and out. 

 

He turned around again, towards the city posed proudly underneath his steel toed boots and started to run. Not aware of the fact that, if he had looked at his house for ten more seconds he would spot the stranger moving towards his own car, and taking out two pistols behind his belt before tossing them in. 

 

***

 

Ladybug was pacing around the room like an nervous cat, trying to keep her heartbeat in a stable state which was not listening to her body and kept elevating itself from moment to moment. 

 

She was in their secret hotel room with Kidd who was looking at something in his gauntlet thingy, telling her every minute or so that Chat is on the way and they will talk once he comes. She couldn’t help it, she was way out of her element right now. She didn’t know how much of an occurrence this ‘Calling the horrifying villain to fight you man to man with no talking by your friends’ thing was with the Batman’s family, but she usually liked to call her friend, A.K.A Chat, when she was about to do something crazy like this so he’d know what to do and not watch from the sightlines. 

 

Ladybug took a deep breath, she needed to calm down. Nightwing was older and more mature than them. He himself had said that they would be taking down Deathstroke together, so there was nothing to fear, right ? 

 

She took a peek at Kidd who was mashing air like it was a keyboard in front of him angrily… yeah, Mr.Pigeon was also an adult she remembered and got even more nervous. 

 

 The moment Chat had flown through the open window Ladybug had hugged him subconsciously. She didn’t even realize what she had done and moved back while clearing her throat, making a half hearted excuse about his injuries and how he shouldn’t move like this for a while. 

 

Chat had smiled at her antics and told her that he was feeling better already since yesterday and was almost in tip top condition again. She wanted to reprimand him about his own damn health but before she could Kidd yelled something in another language (Might be Arabic or from that region) before telling them to get close to him, taking out two pairs of what seemed to be monocles out of pocket and giving it to them. 

 

Normally this moment would be a hilarious one since she had never imagined to be wearing a monocle let alone two of them, but of course, like everything in those belt of these two, this was serving a much larger purpose then just being weird fashion choices. 

 

She and Chat put on the monocles with an awkward movement, at first it didn’t show anything till they had put the second one of them started to light up like a computer coming alive. 

 

“Woah” Said Chat silently, he was bewildered by what he was seeing simply because, even though he had one of the best computers money can buy, he was hardly skilled enough to use a phone. Kidd snapped his fingers in front of them rudely, making them turn down and look at the screen that was now visible to them in his gauntlet. 

 

“Ohhh, so that’s how you use those things.” Said Chat, crouching a little to get a better view since he was still the tallest one of them all not including Nightwing. Kidd nodded a bit and then clicked on a few, mid air buttons to open a map to them. Ladybug took a deeper look and immediately recognized that the street they were viewing isn't Notre Dome. 

 

“Wait, where is this ? I thought the fight was gonna be-”

 

“He isn’t stupid. Wing wouldn’t risk civilians just for revenge.” He then moved his hand in the air, a picture of the aforementioned church came to play, with around 20 red dots sparsely pointed on it. “Shock mines.” Said Kidd looking up and assessing their emotions through their faces. “They can only be activated through a remote link.” He then pointed towards another blimp which was almost right on the middle, covered by what looked like five different red blimps on top of eachother. “This ones a decoy. A projectile. It will keep the idiots coming to see it entertained. Although… we believe that Deathstroke had already solved the secret message, but if he didn’t, that trap will also lure him into the other ones.” That ‘We’ seemed to be struggling to come out of his mouth like Kidd had to chew them thoroughly before speaking.

 

“This building is a far safer place, and has many more hidden places on it that you will be using. I will be a bit far away, controlling the Notre side of the plan. But if everything happens as we planned, then I will be close enough to support you.” 

 

Ladybug nodded while watching the projection, it made sense after all, the plan was sound. But still “Why does he want to face that maniac one on one ?” She asked, unable to hold back her tongue. After all, Nightwing had already explained what that monster had done to him. Kidd moved his head towards the floor a bit, Chat could hear his grinding teeths behind that mask. Trying to hold back a tornado made out of spiteful words. Finally he let out a slow breath before turning to her again and with the tiniest of voices saying “He has to fight his own demon. Once for all.” 

 

*** 

 

The night sunset was hitting his face with the gentle touches of warmth that he hadn’t felt for a long time. It was soothing, like Barbara tenting his aching scars after a hard day. Only now there was no aching for now, above this rooftop he left at the tip top condition. swirling his first batarang between his fingers. It was his own lucky charm, the first metal one he had created way back. One of its edges had gone dull from not using it, it was shaped to be more like a boomerang than something to be sticking to a surface. Actually, he had come up with the name after this one himself. Bruce didn’t seem to mind.

 

Suddenly a wind picked up in the normally mild weather, pulling at his hair and sticking to his skin with its coldness like glue. He closed his eyes. The faces of his friends come to him from who knows how long ago it was: Starfire, Cyborg, Raven and Beast Boy. The original ones. The faces of his family, Tim, Jason, Barbara, Cassandra, Alfred and Bruce. His father and mother. Their faces becoming so distant he was starting to forget the details about them.

 

They both hug him when he falls from performing an act. “When you fall, we will always be there to pick you up Richard.” He smiled at the memory, till he felt another kind of wind brushing his face. One that is much more impactful, much more real, much more merciless but also much more fair. “Why do we fall Dick ? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.” 

 

He opened his eyes with the sound of a zipping metal cable, if he was not used to the sound himself he wouldn’t care but he knew what was making that noise. He raised up from the radiator he was sitting on and moved towards the big opening on the roof, the sound of metal slowly creaking underneath his foot. Slade came up with a twist and landed with a flare that was not his usual style, he was feeling good Nightwing guessed. 

 

“Hello boy.” Said Slade, his sinister and borderline maniacal smile was even visible from behind that mask of his. 

 

“Slade.” Answered Nightwing, putting his lucky charm back in his pocket and taking out his escrima sticks, powering them up in a few moments. 

Notes:

That. Took. A lot. Out of me. Honestly, a bit dramatic here, but I feel like I'm experiancing a big burn up from this series. Though as I've said before, I will finish this series fully, just gonna focus on other projects in between. Anyway, gonna go, plummer waiting for me as I'm writing this.

Chapter 31: Winging in Paris- Final Fight- I

Summary:

“Maybe with some water, or some fire Nightwing could finally kill it.” Said Chat, trying incredibly hard not to jump down to help Nightwing. It stopped being strategical like two minutes ago, not it was like pure torture to just sit down and don’t do anything.

“Yeah maybe.”

Both of them held their breath. Who just said that last part ?

Notes:

These two weeks were hell on me, I caught the flu not once but twice and am still in the progress of the second one. My body is in pain.

Sorry about the drama dump, but this is basically why I haven’t worked on this chapter for like 4 days… I feel itchy when I don’t write for more than two days straight. Imagine my pain.

Anyway, with all these out of the way, here is the new chapter. Hope you enjoy reading it. I will write the next chapter AFTER I write another chapter for “A bat without a quirk” This way it’ll give me more time to branch out the fights too. Hope you all have a sunny day and don’t need antibiotics like me :)

The Nightlife of Paris was always lively. After all, considering its history, importance and people living in it, how could it be anything but. The streets were starting to open up to that famous life, sun almost down completely, casting its last rays over the horizon. 

 

Nightwing was not in the mood for his normal gimmicks. He wasn’t the annoying goofball with quips and jests. He was someone entirely different right now. He was feeling much closer to Bruce than ever before. 

 

He moved forward, not letting the man jump down to his level and instead readying himself to jump up towards the railing to hit him. He jumped, arched one of his arms and as he descended, readied his arm for the blow. 

 

A blow that never came as Slade took out his infamous staff and blocked Nightwing’s attack with ease, pushed down with him and let gravity take control as both of them landed on the roof with no significant damage on them. 

 

Nightwing didn’t let up as he rushed once again, making sparks with his sticks as the currency in them sparked to the metal objects around the roof. Deathstroke readied himself again when the blows came, One from upper and one from lower. He easily blocked the lower one with the rod and then ducked to the left as the descending strike completely missed him. 

 

As a counterattack, Slade quickly tried to hit Dick with the middle of his stick which the kid dodged perfectly, not overextending himself so he could stop the leg sweep he knew was coming and keeping himself steady. When the aforementioned sweep didn’t make the boy fall down Slade hit him with his shoulder hard, trying to make him lose his balance while Dick simply jumped from it with a backflip like it was an easy thing to do with a man right in front of you. 

 

They looked at each other once again, back to where they started. It seemed Nightwing wasn’t just being a show off with his earlier threats. Slade would be so proud if he wasn’t angry. After all, you don’t talk to your father figure like that. Who did he think he was talking to, Batman ? 

 

No no no no, Slade was the man of this little house they built together, and he was eager to show Nightwing how much he needed more in order to take the mantle from Slade’s hands. 

 

This time he attacked with a ferocious speed, if he was against anyone other than these freaks -that are somehow not powered like Superman and what not- he would have landed the hit. But of course, the bat kids were different. Nightwing Blocked the obvious strike that was coming from the left and then tried to hit him back with one of his escrima sticks right in the mask. Dick, of course knew his whole costume was probably shockproof, but still, if he could make him slow down then his chance of winning would be substantially higher. 

 

Slade parried the incoming attack with his staff and tried to stab the weapon to Nightwings foot, which failed and only made a dent on the floor. Nightwing chased the advantage and moved away from Slade before jumping back and throwing him three Wingdings while in the air. The small blades found their targets rather easily but unfortunately Slade had predicted his movement and accurately countered it by catching the shurikens on his gauntlet. 

 

Slade took his staff from the ground while moving towards Nightwing with blazing speed, he was practically almost one meter away from the man while he hardly raised his head from the backflip. Slade tried to capitalize on this with a punch to Nightwing’s cheek, Which missed Dick by just a few centimeters. He tried to backhand him but before Slade could do that Nightwing had already swiped his own feet while dropping down and a swift kick was coming towards Slade’s face before he could react. 

 

‘Right’ he thought as the kick connected with his jaw ‘Forgot how nimble and idiotic of a fight style brat uses.’ 

 

With the force of the kick Slade’s head almost made a 90 degree turn. To be honest, Nightwing wouldn’t be mad if Slade had been left paralyzed from the neck down after all he has ever done to everyone. At first glance even he was disgusted with the way he was thinking, Bruce’s rules drilled to him for years : We do not kill. We do not Maim. We do not torture. We do not corrupt. 

 

These rules were good enough guidelines that almost all of them followed and bent from time to time for one reason to another. Of course, he was old enough to know that these rules were designed specifically for Bruce, by Bruce. He had an anger inside him that he needed to control, he wasn’t allowed to do any of those things because then nothing would stop him from doing it again and again. One might think that  Joker deserved to die, he would be one of the first to say that actually. But he knew, with how Bruce operated and conducted Batman, if he did do the deed, his next victim might as well be a kid, stealing an apple because he was hungry. 

 

He was not like Bruce. His emotional scars never run as deep as his. He can control himself and he can stop himself. 

 

Then again, if he could do that, then Tim wouldn’t need to stop him from killing Joker on that church, right after that sick fuck shot Barbara. 

 

He cleared his thoughts, Dick needed to be sharper right now and he couldn’t focus on his past mistakes. 

Slade moved his head back as a reflex and immediately got hit by two kicks raising from the ground this time. The double hit had so much force behind it it actually made him fly for a second before Slade unceremoniously pummeled back to the ground. 

 

Nightwing immediately got up from the ground and jumped towards the now laid down Slade, a punch ready to hit him in the face. The punch connected to the ground as Slade moved towards left and immediately stopped when Nightwing flexed his leg and hit him in the Lumbal. His hand was hurting like a wave made out of pain, but he couldn’t care about it right now. He got up and this time was able to pin Slade to the ground when he punched him in the face and broke off a chink of his mask. 

 

Underneath the small crack exposed a few wires, a metallic alloy made to look like a jaw and teeth. Sladebot pushed him off before getting up and then removed its mask fully. A small screen for a face, just like before. “Wanted to feel a little nostalgic.” Said the robot. For something that lacked any and all kinds of facial futures, it made him immensely furious. 

 

“Thought you’d be more man than that.” Said Nightwing and charged up his escrima sticks to their full power, he didn’t need to hold them down against a robot after all. “Well, I’m still on a job and the boss is breathing down my neck sometimes you see.” 

 

Nightwing attacked again, getting close enough and hitting his sticks to each other, creating a giant currency that leapt to the robot for a second before it harmlessly dissipated. Leaving behind a heavy smoke and a flabbergasted Nightwing. The robot wasn't damaged at all, the more then 100 thousand voltage that it took didn’t do anything to it… 

 

“What, you expected me to be cheap for a reunion ?” Said Slade in that robotic way before punching him right in the stomach, toppling Nightwing to the ground harshly. 

 

—

 

“What is he doing ? Why didn’t that electric thing work?” Asked Ladybug as she and Chat were watching the fight from a few rooftops away. Neither of them was happy to be the spectator hero at the moment, but they were ordered by Nightwing to be vigilant and intervene if Slade played a dirty trick since it was basically in his middle name. 

 

Chat zoomed in on the fight with the small yoyo she was using as monitor and then they saw the small wirings covering Slade’s chin. “Is that a robot ?” Asked Ladybug, and Chat explained that in his last fight he had definitely seen some skin underneath the mask instead of cables. “ He also didn’t have a screen for a face, that one I’m sure of” 

 

I hoped so, wouldn’t want to think you were getting beaten by a microwave with legs.” 

 

‘What the hell was that ?’ Thought Chat upon hearing Ladybug’s jab. On one hand hearing her jest and seeing her letting out a genuine smile was reassuring. Knowing that she was feeling a bit better after everything that happened. That was on one hand, on the other hand, Ladybug usually didn’t joke around. Or stayed super close to him like she was doing right now. 

 

Granted, maybe he was just reading a bit too much between the lines, they were watching the fight from her yoyo after all, the screen wasn’t that big. She was also a bit more handsy towards him these few days. Maybe she was really… ‘No no no, you are reading too much. She doesn’t see you like that and is just probably worried about you. Stop being an ass and instead focus on the FIGHT that is going on!’ He felt like he had slapped himself but thankfully refocused on Nightwing, forgoing his childish dreams and trying to determine if Slade being a robot considered a trick play.

 

“Him being a robot… should we go down there to help Nightwing ?” Asked Ladybug, her leg swinging with anxiety from not doing anything. He felt the same way, the metal bars they were sitting on didn’t leave much of a room to let out their stress. Well, he could at least tap the ground on the balcony while still sitting on the railing. Best she could do was hit the metal bars itself which in turn made her unstable. 

 

Chat didn’t know what he should’ve said, on one hand of course he wanted to go down there and help his friend. The guy has been a better father figure then Nino at this point and knew his identity. On the other hand their plan was specifically made so the Duo wouldn’t show themself if they didn’t have to. They were the big last surprise and Nightwing had said in his note that he was the bait. 

 

Also it seemed like Nightwing didn’t have a horrible time with the terminator down there. He was landing more hits towards his arms right now, possibly to break them completely and then kill the robot's power source easily. 

 

In short, they didn’t need to show themself right now, but whenever Chat looked up to the robot's face he felt uneasy for some reason. He knew Ladybug was feeling the same way too, she was trying to zoom at its face every change she got, just like him, trying to determine what was going on there. 

 

“I think we need to stay clear, just in case Ladybug.” He said finally, getting another glimpse of the robots circular cables for a second before continuing. “Do you also have a weird feeling about that robot Ladybug?” 

 

She nodded without turning her head, biting her lower lip in concentration, trying to find what was so bothersome to both of them. 

 

Well, first of all, the robot didn’t really move like a robot. His movement was so fluid, so effortless and so professional. Ladybug would never say she was a master at artificial intelligence or computer science, but she was seriously skeptical that a robot could calculate the movement Nightwing was showing off and deliberately counterattack. 

 

That was the first point, the second one was the fact that it also easily defeated any and all of Nightwing’s deliberately chosen gadgets. It got hit with the electricity, and didn't even feel it, Nightwing deployed some sort of power breaker that affected even the small business underneath their building. Still nothing. Nightwing also hit it with a freeze bomb right on the face, the thing just hit its own face to break the ice and continue to fight. 

 

Now, like she said, she wasn’t an expert on robots and all her knowledge was coming from the TV shows and movies. But shouldn’t at least one of those work ? Like, at the end of the day, it was still a piece of cables and alloys wasn’t it ? 

 

“Maybe with some water, or some fire Nightwing could finally kill it.” Said Chat, trying incredibly hard not to jump down to help Nightwing. It stopped being strategical like two minutes ago, not it was like pure torture to just sit down and don’t do anything. 

 

“Yeah maybe.” 

 

Both of them held their breath. Who just said that last part ?

 

Turning around as slowly as possible, with horror and dread clear on their face, they saw Deathstroke casually lounging over a chair behind them. 

 

Both Chat and Ladybug jumped on the action immediately, Chat swinging his baton from below while Ladybug jumped in the air and threw her yoyo to Slade’s face. Slade also moved in a moment's notice, immediately turning towards the left side and dropping down from the chair. He gripped the chair while falling to the ground, twirling the furniture in the air which deflected Ladybugs yoyo and then blew to several pieces when Chat’s baton hit it in the air. 

 

He then moved forward towards a potted plant and then threw the pot towards Chat who was trying to stand up on the railing. Chat did manage to hit the pot in the air while Ladybug was about to fall down, which made her touch down to the dirt, slipping her feet and almost making her fall to the ground. 

 

“Now that was a warm welcome.” Said Slade teasingly before reaching at his back and took out a cylinder shaped object. He pressed a button underneath it and suddenly the object opened up to a full length staff.

 

All of them in the fighting stance now, they started to seize each other up for a moment before Ladybug and Chat Noir jumped towards their adversity together. The weapons clashed on the air, creating sounds can only be described as the start of war. Guttural, ear scratching and unavoidable. Chat tried to hit Slade on lower points, swiping on his legs and crotch while Ladybug aimed towards his head with her yoyo. 

 

Slade managed to avoid a lot of their attacks, but in the small balcony he couldn’t move away too much, he knew he needed to gain ground before hitting a wall. Instead of avoiding the next attacks he instead blocked them and tried to step on Ladybug’s foot which she moved away from. At the same time Chat got down and swiped his leg on the ground, lifting up dirt and Slade’s foot off of it. 

 

Slade managed to block Chat’s kick that was coming to his face while both of them were still on the ground but in doing so he exposed his left side completely and let Ladybug catch his arm with her yoyo. 

 

Ladybug knew if they were gonna do a tugging competition she would probably lose with her weight being nowhere near to trouble the huge man, so she did the smart thing and jumped down from the rooftop, holding the magical cable like her life was depending on it. A debatable thought process, considering the situation she is in. 

 

With the sudden tug Slade slipped on the ground towards the edge of the balcony, the cable almost yanking his whole arm off of its socket. He tried to get rid of the thing but unfortunately Chat Noir didn’t let him. Constantly attacking Slade and making sure that he couldn’t use his other hand while he was trying to keep his balance with Ladybug tugging at him from the streets. Slade, finally having enough of the cheap tactics hold on to the cable while Chat was a few feet behind and tugged upwards. The assumed result -A.K.A Ladybug’s body flying like a corpse- didn’t happen as Slade tried to lift with his legs as hard as he could. 

 

Ladybug, already knowing he would try this before she even touched the ground, had moved the cable to a car’s wheel and knotted it there. Slade was stronger than a lot of people, normal or superhuman like, but even he couldn’t lift a whole ton like it was nothing. 

 

Finding his chance at the man’s struggle, Chat jumped to his back like a cat and put Slade in a full Nelson chokehold. He tried to get rid of the boy behind him but unfortunately he literally couldn’t do anything about it. His legs were focused on keeping his balance while one of his arms was held down with the cable. 

 

After ten seconds or so, Ladybug came back to the rooftop, climbing with basically nothing except her enhanced jumps. She stood in front of the still struggling duo and slowly removed Slade’s mask. Meeting with the familiar scene to Nightwing’s advisory. 

 

“Alright tin head. Where is the real you? Tell me now!” 

 

The robot slade laughed at her before making a metallic sound that sounded so much like someone blowing raspberry. Something neither Chat or Ladybug wanted to imagine a world class assassin would do. 

 

Ladybug held down the robot's exposed cables around its neck, even though she had to raise on her tiptoes to get a good enough handle on them “Talk now, or you will be feeling a lot less below your neck.” 

 

“Try it princess, see if you can open the costume with your bare hands.” 

 

Ladybug, aggravated beyond belief, raised to the challenge and tried to find a connector that was keeping the costume together. Like a zipper or a button… or hell, even a strap would do. Nothing. She grunted, not wanting to give up so soon and considering Chat’s situation too, she started to look around the rooftop and easily find what she was hoping to see. 

 

With a growing smile she moved towards the small dresser in the far right corner and reached out towards its back to find the slightly rusted plant shears. She pointed her new instrument of war towards the other two “Now, are you ready to talk or should we start the disassembly ?” 

 

“Hardcore my lady.” 

 

“Why thank you Chat.” She said bowing a bit down and then opened up the shears, moving towards the robot's left leg. “If Slade made you feel pain I would really not want to do this.” 

 

The Robot continued its silence. 

 

Ladybug took a deep breath, it was just a robot. She closed the shears around the costume. A rip had been made. 

 

“Now you really did it.” 

 

Both Ladybug and Chat froze with the voice. It wasn’t the cocky robot's metallic, distinguishable voice but that of a human. She raised her head, only to meet her eyes with the slade’s purple ones. 

 

Slade suddenly flexed his muscles, throwing Chat from his back and ripping the car’s entire front below them while doing so. He looked two times the size of that robot before, his face open but morphed with the all too familiar black and purple streaks. A common effect of being powered by Hawkmoth. 

 

“Now then. Let's play this again girlie.” 

Chapter 32: Winging in Paris - Final Fight II

Summary:

“That was super cool.” Said Chat, looking at the men that were smiling at them with a wide grin. It was a shocking moment for her to say the least. After all, these few days Nightwing had kinda lost that charming side about him.

Notes:

My 9 years loyal, made out of prestine woods (That I don't know the names of) bed had collapsed yesterday, what even is life :(

Now I gotto sleep on metal frames like a common sleeper. Life is pain that is what it is.

Silence. 

While Bruce was watching the live footage of Nightwing fighting Deathstroke that's all he felt in the Batcave. A deep, consuming, choking silence. All the normal sounds of the cave; the bickering of his kids, screeches of the annoyed bats, swirling of the machines around them. All of them were gone. All he heard was his own voice in his head. Arguing with himself about how he should be there, helping them instead of being stuck in here, gnawing at a screen. 

 

His ears picked a small noise on his right side. Oracle, or as he preferred to call her, Barbara Gordon seemed to be in the same boat with him. Clenching the table that held the Batcomputer with whitened fingers and grinding her teeths. She couldn’t help it like him too it seemed. 

 

How could he ? 

 

Dick was his son dammit. How could he not help ? How could he just stay away and then call himself his father ?  

 

Because he would hate him for it. 

LET HIM THEN!

I can’t. Not after finally realizing how important they are to me.

IF THEY ARE THAT IMPORTANT HELP THEM! LET THEM HATE YOU WHILE STILL BEING ALIVE!

I can’t. He can win. I know he can because I trained him for it. 

TELL THAT TO YOUR BODY AND HEART!

 

Bruce took a deep breath, being alone with his thoughts and being in his own mind was not a pleasant experience in the best of times. Let alone a stressful situation like this. 

 

He realized how tensed up he was. His shoulders were screaming at him and his back cracked in five different places when he finally stopped to slouch while watching the computer. It took all his willpower to not let a groan with satisfaction right there. He had done nothing of satisfactory importance, he hated himself for it. 

 

Tim and Cass were watching the screen with moving lips. Silently contemplating their big brother’s moves. Cass focuses on his few mistakes while Tim counts Dick’s disadvantages. Alfred was there with them too, so was Selina. Both staying further then them, one trying to not cry and let his carefully mastered demure broken while the other focusing on anything else in the cave just so she wouldn’t have to watch the kid she considered a close friend and family be butchered in front of her eyes. 

 

He understood them. He wanted to do the same thing but he couldn’t. He was the head of the house after all. He had to be there for him. If not physically, then at least spiritually. 

 

He wished he believed his own words at that moment. He also wished he could be like Jason. Aggressive and blunt, always edgy and sarcastic. Full of love for those closest to him and determined enough to break the world in two for them. Of course his second son didn’t listen to him. He hardly did for a long while anyway. He was in egypt, devoid of all logical reasoning moving towards Paris with a motorcycle. He had no hope of catching up of course, Jason knew that too. But he had to try it. Jason was a man of action after all. 

 

Wish he could be like that right now. Wish he could just throw away this new, caring personality that kept crashing with his own self and go to help his son but he couldn’t. All he could do was watch Dick. From across an ocean and hope that he knew that his whole family was behind him. 

 

***

 

A kick landed on Nightwings calf, making him fall down. He managed to move his body and extend his other leg while dropping to land a successful kick on Robostroke’s head, making it swing for a while before it too downed to ground. 

 

The fight was not over, they still tried to fight even while downed to the ground. Robot tried to launch at him from his position while Dick rolled out of its way at the last second. The robot started to crawl at him on all fours, looking more like a messed up spider than a humanoid right at the moment. 

 

Dick rolled around once again, but this time, he had left a surprise to the spider on the ground. Spiderstroke broke the ground where he was standing only a second before and almost completely invalidated his plan. Almost. 

 

Suddenly the explosive gel on the ground blew up and with it, Nightwing finally rolled back toward the robot and stuck one of his escrima sticks to its neck before letting out all of its power directly to the robot. 

 

At first, Dick didn’t think something would be happening, after all, it was a spit at the moment plan. Not something he had been studying over for an extensive amount of time. Also because it didn’t work the first time he had tried it. He was sure the currency had moved towards the head though, so why it worked this time he wondered as the robot sizzled up a few times before dropping to the ground with a heavy thud. 

 

He came closer to it and took out his weapon from the robot's crook like it was the excalibur. He took his weapon and violently got it out, ripping a good part of the chest costume too. It seemed Slade had lied and he indeed came cheap as the innards of the robot didn’t seem to be made out of anything special. That is until some inconsistencies caught his eye. Like a bunch of wires starting on the costume and going… back to the costume for no reason. Or the chest part seemed to be made out of purple colored jello instead of metal. Only metal parts he saw were the bulging rib cage.

 

Why, though ? Was it more cost effective that way ? Maybe. Was it easier to control the robot that way ? Probably. After all, if he had made the entire thing out of metal alloy Dick was sure the robot would be quite slow compared to him. 

 

‘But also much more powerful and resilient.’ Something was wrong. He could feel it. 

 

He wanted to investigate more. Maybe open the robot completely in order to see what the lower half looked like, but before he could do anything else Dick heard a loud cracking sound from a few streets away. It sounded like a car had hit another one at full speed. 

 

Worse of all, the noise had come from the north side, which was used by Ladybug and Chat Noir for reconnaissance and watch point at the moment. He moved towards the edge, completely forgetting the robot for a moment while adjusting his mask. He saw what had caused that noise. Slade was in their hiding place, fighting against a very pissed looking Chat Noir and overpowering him. ‘Dammit’ He thought. Of course, while Slade kept spouting the same creepy things about him, he was also there for a job. That job required the miraculouses, not his head necessarily he guessed. 

 

For a moment there, Chat managed to throw him off of the building and Dick had to open up his detective vision because of the buildings between them. That, of course didn’t work as well as all he managed to see was the people looking out of their window to the commotion going on. Slade was not visible in his vision because of the magic he guessed and reminded himself once again how uncool that thing was. 

 

Oh sorry, I have the power of moving planets, but un-squishing you from a boulder would be impossible because of the magical powers and what not. Have a nice day though! Also if I do help you I’m gonna explode in a magical confetti and you’ll have to fight a monster form of me! 

 

Ugh, he was good with his very normal and scarred body and powers coming along thank you very much. 

 

Anyway, right after Chat had thrown Slade from the building, he got up and then jumped after him. Dick hoped that that's where the Ladybug had gone too. He was about to move towards them himself. He moved back and took out his grappling hook when suddenly an alarm sound buzzed in his ear piece. 

 

Without even looking, Dick ducked and then threw a straight kick towards his behind. His move was flawless, so much so that he'd make a Russian ballerina jealous. Or, impress Slade who almost got caught by the kick if he was a bit more closer to Dick. 

 

“Guess that was a hopeful one huh ?” Said Slade while cackling like a hyena, the costume was still ripped off as Nightwing had left except now the empty cables that were going nowhere had gone and the metal-jello mixture of a body possessed something much more real. He said much more because he was sure Slade wasn’t deep purple underneath that armour normally. 

 

“You seem confused Wing-o” Really. After everything the best he could come up with was ‘Wing-o’ ? 

 

“You see, normally I’d love to fuck you up like we usually do and send you crying back to your rodent. But, right now I’m on a business trip and my boss is really riding my ass about ‘Using every available asset’ and shit.” He used quotation marks saying that last part while mimicking a drunkard. Or an disabled person. With Slade’s abysmal level of giving a damn it was hard to tell really. “So it was either that I gotta be a magical sissy or have a tag along with zero ass to look for, you know. I decided to make it a bit interesting for this time.” 

 

Not even waiting a second, Slade moved forward like a speeding bullet. So much faster than before in fact, the only reason Dick hadn’t got hit was because of his instincts to move away. He hadn’t even registered Slade’s movement, only a blur standing where he used to. Slade attacked again, this time throwing a haymaker towards his stomach, Dick was able to dodge it to the left when it happened and thought he could lend a counter with his fist.

 

Before he could even raise his fist, Slade’s hand immediately captured him and then twisted it on his back. Dick tried to hit him with his other elbow but Slade saw it coming and threw him towards the edge of the balcony. Not soon after, Nightwing felt his legs touching the empty air as with one wrong step he was about to plummet to the ground.  

 

He held his body up. Managing to hold on thanks to his feet which were jammed to the metal bars made for handles. Only problem. He was now upside down, with his hands open and one of his feet solely focused on him not falling down while he was flexing his other muscles to pull himself back up. No wonder Slade came up to him quickly and then kicked the whole handle, vibrating and breaking the whole thing. Making Dick fall down. 

 

He didn’t panic, that was a normal occurrence actually. After all, how could you expect to be a bat without training yourself on flying ? 

 

His left hand automatically went for his grapple gun and before his consciousness (Which was having an abysmal day.) could even comprehend what it was supposed to do, he had already shot his grapple to the next building and started to swing. 

 

***

 

Marinette had to say, the meat Deathstroke was a lot more terrifying and powerful then the metal one. After all, the other one was able to throw her off of a building while kicking Chat so hard he had flown to the inside of the apartment. Breaking a huge tempered glass door on his way. 

 

Marinette was sure that that kick had hurted more than her fall. After all, it took like a couple of seconds for her to get her bearings and get back on the fight with her stranded Yoyo on the street (She was glad no one seemed to have picked it up because then that would be the worst thing to happen to her right now.) 

 

Right now, both her and Chat were fighting the robot wanna be loser on the street levels. He was good at dodging; she had to give it that, but it also had a hard time landing a hit. So their dance continued like that for a while. She was worried about Nightwing and how he handled his own robot at the moment. 

 

“LADYBUG! DUCK!!” 

 

She suddenly woke up by Chat voice as he forcibly pushed her to the ground and shielded her with his body. The crash came right after that dove. At first Marinette didn’t understand what was going on, she was distracted like she mentioned before and the sudden movement made her head spin. When she finally came to her senses, she saw the metal arm of Deathstroke lying motionlessly right next to her. 

 

She raised her head a bit, Chat was still holding her down and his own eyes were closed like he was preparing for something to hit them. 

 

“Am I interrupting something ?” 

 

Chat finally opened his eyes and then looked to his right side, she did the same even though Chat’s powerful arms were hindering her efforts a bit. Nightwing was right in the middle of a heap of trash made out of torn uniforms and metal alloys. She could distinct pick up a empty pelvis with legs attach to it, she could also see another arm (An exact copy of the same one next to her ) had been thrown to the other side of the sidewalk. 

 

“That was super cool.” Said Chat, looking at the men that were smiling at them with a wide grin. It was a shocking moment for her to say the least. After all, these few days Nightwing had kinda lost that charming side about him. He always knew how to be serious of course, he had never joined their fight against Akumas without serious preparation. He was cunning and agile. He knew how to throw someone off completely. Usually, when they would fight other Akumas, he’d be the funny one of the group right next to Chat, but that never meant he was careless. All his talks, all his moves, they were always calculated one way or another. 

 

Except for these last few days that is. So, needless to say, she was shocked by the chance, but infinitely thankful for it. 

 

“Can’t believe you just crushed that thing like it was nothing!” Said Marinette, taking the arm next to her and swinging it like a baseball bat. “Care to teach us how to do that really fast, like, immediately ?” 

 

Nightwing smiled at her remark and then showed her his boots. “Alloyed with honeycomb patterned metal of some kind that a nerd knows what made out of instead of me. The rest of it is to swing and then let the gravity take your hand.” 

 

“Sounds a bit dangerous and a lot awesome” Said Chat, high fiving with the hand Marinette was swinging. “Especially since I can do that too-” 

 

“Absolutely not, it hurts like hell on your knees and I don't want you to pop a kneecap all of a sudden.” Even though he knew his words were hurtful to Chat’s mischievous spirit, Nightwing hoped that he could get over it with time because they didn’t have time for it at the moment. 

 

“What we need to do at the moment is to know how Slade’s Akuma works so we can counter it.” Chat and Ladybug nodded to his words and right at that moment Marinette’s eyes got bigger while looking at him. Instinctively, Nightwing did a split and downed his body to the ground while Ladybug hit the incoming robot with the arm she was carrying which almost broke it in two. 

 

Chat didn’t hesitate as he took out his staff from his back and stabbed the head with it, Mortal Combat style. 

 

“Thank you both for the save.” Said Nightwing while twirling his opened up legs and getting up from the ground with a headstand. “I will never understand how you are so athletic while being that muscular.” 

 

“It’s genetics, you know.” Said Nightwing while getting closer to the -not impaled- robots body. “One day while you are a baby you say to yourself ‘Walking dumb, I’mma tumble to my mama’ and the next thing you know you are a superhero material.” 

 

“Huh.” Said Chat while putting his staff to his shoulders, massaging himself there a bit “Thought your origin story would have some government ninja’s trying to kidnap you and your family or something like that. Kinda took the excitement out of it.” 

 

Ladybug hit him with an elbow while Nightwing smiled and tried to look inside the TV screen-head. 

 

“The innards of these robots make no sense, and I’ve seen robots with needles instead of cables.” Said Nightwing, confirming, once again, that there was something wrong with the robotic bodies. They were definitely not robot made. 

 

“Makes sense, he also moves between them like a puppeteer.” Said Ladybug, also coming close to the robot head and checking the cables. Yep, she still didn’t understand how robots worked. That was reassuring to remember. “Actually, I know a robot fanatic from m- I MEAN from a school in MY daily path. His name is -Which I’m ONLY guessing here- Max. I once heard he won some type of reward for building his own little robot.” That was close, she almost gave away a huge secret back there and now made both of her teammates suspicious of her. 

 

Nightwing scratched his chin, he had no idea if the kid's knowledge of real robots could affect their chances against magically crafted ones, but to be honest, he didn’t have a lot of other options on the table either. “Well, it’s worth a shot. If we can learn how these robots are made, then we might make a half decent plan and have a better chance at apprehending Slade to justice.” 

 

Just at that moment, when the other two heroes were agreeing with his plan and were ready to depart towards Max's house, he got an urgent call, Which was from Damian with the ringtone. 

 

“Yes Robin ?” He asked, quickly answering his radio while taking out his grapple hook from its socket once again. “We are in the middle of a robot-” 

 

“Invasion ?” 

 

Dick stopped before he could fire his hook and then loved the weapon “Yes ? How did you know that ?” 

 

“Because their feeding ground is Notre Dame.” 

 

***

 

Robin took a deep breath before continuing to speak with his brother which was getting increasingly irritating to do so. “Yes, like I just said, two of those fake-Slade’s appeared out of nowhere and started to consume people.” 

 

Nightwing made an disgusted noise before Robin heard a few metal parts getting kicked around for a few seconds “I mean, we don’t really see any kind of teeths or jaws or… a lot of other facial features on ours. How do they actually eat people?” 

 

It took a lot of will power for Robin to not facepalm right there “They. Aren’t. Zombies N! They didn’t eat people. Their frontal sides opened fully before cables coming out of them and tying up their victims.” Robin's patience was really running thin at this point. “They then dragged their bodies inside, closing them up for a few seconds and then letting out an identical new robot behind them.” 

 

“So, like the computer zombies in Superman 3 right ?”  

 

Robin stopped before saying anything. In Superman what ? 

 

“I understand now. We need to get to the main computer, A.K.A the original Slade. Continue to monitor them from a safe distance, Robin. I’ll call you when the time is right.” 

 

Before he could add anything else, Dick closed the channel and left Robin in an even more frustrated state. ‘What is even Superman three anyway ? I thought there was only one Clark in this world.’ Was his last thoughts before he focused on the task he had assigned to once again. Following the Slade-bots from a good distance and hiding himself in the limited amount of shadows he could find. 

 

***

 

Nightwing turned to the heroes next to him with a nervous smile “So, the good news first: I’m pretty sure we can bait someone as petty as Slade to be out in the open for us to pounce. The difficult part will involve stopping him from transforming from robot to robot.” He took out a deep breath while the heroes waited for the bad news with worried brows and held breaths “The bad news is he already created an army made out of akumatized civilians and only getting stronger with time. So, you know. You win some, you lose some.” 

Chapter 33: Winging in Paris- Final Fight 3

Summary:

Nightwing runned. Then he kept running. And then he kept running. He didn’t even once look behind him since from the sounds they were making he made a pretty accurate guess as to what would happen if he ever stopped running. What the army behind him was capable of. Blessed thy the gods he didn’t believe but knew of (Such as Zeus, All Father, Ares, Wonder Woman and most importantly, Omnissiah) for giving him an amazing endurance. Otherwise he would’ve passed out by now and would be a pretty cute chew toy for the robot-zombies in the best scenario and knowing his luck, he would never be that fortunate. ‘Gods givin me their worst, god, I hope they stop soon’ He thought before letting out a bellowing laugh. He hadn’t felt this funny for a couple of days now. It felt good to be back. 

Notes:

I'm a bit back on my schedule. Got no excuses to be honest, burnout a bitch.

“Fascinating. Simply impossible to make even”

 

Ladybug cleared her throat in order to gain the attention of Max, who was carefully inspecting the body parts they carried to his home. “Ah sorry Ladybug. But you gotta understand, this is the wildest robot mechanics I’ve ever seen.” He took out a pencil from his desk while everyone (A.K.A, heroes and his mother) watched him and poked at the purple colored slushy parts of the chest. “The space between these parts and the metal parts are almost one to one for human upper chests.” He pointed towards the whole chest. “It seems to me that the metal parts might be replacements for bones and the rest of it had to be filled with something I guess.” 

 

“You guess ?” Said Chat while touching the jelly like substance and making a disgusted face when his clawed finger moved inwards slowly. Max shrugged nonchalantly “Mixed magic is not really my specialty to be honest Chat Noir. But I can say one thing for sure, the metal parts seemed to be a bit too large for normal human bones.” Ladybug and Nightwing looked at eachother, one thinking what that meant while the other thinking if this discovery led them to a victory. 

 

“Maybe there is something else in it ?” Said Chat, cleaning his hand with a few napkins that Max’s mom had set up for his son. “Hmm.” Said Msx while rubbing his chin slowly, “We may be able to learn it but I’m grounded from using my fathers saw anymore.” With the boy's confession, every pair of eyes in the room turned towards the mother who seemed to be regretting inviting three heroes in at once. She tried to put up a brave face for about five seconds before relenting and telling Max that this was only temporary. 

 

With the arrival of the handsaw, they all waited with held breath to see what was gonna come from the metal bars that were made to look like ribs. Max immediately started to cut small pieces from the left third rib, moving slowly and carefully in order to not cut too deep and ruin whatever they were gonna find out. It took three minutes in total and when Max finally was able to cut the rib completely, it fell off to the table, above the few elly parts they managed to remove and then showed everyone that… They were empty. 

 

Max took the fallen part, nothing in it, he then asked for help while putting the rest of the chest in a side and took a look at the rest of the ribs that he didn’t cut with his phones lamp, still nothing in it, it was just a thick piece of metal that served zero purpose as a holder. “But why ?” He asked loudly, his mother and Nightwing putting the chest back to the table front up. Heroes was as confused as he was, Nightwing guessed that the metal might be just so Slade could hit harder and take more hits, but then why was it so detailed. 

 

“Actually,” Said Max, fixing his glasses, “It isn’t that detailed.” He pointed towards the spine with his pencil and turned the chest piece back with Chat’s help. “I just realized it now, but if you look at the spine, assuming that they haven’t fallen while you travel of course, it only has 25 plates of bones there. A normal human has 33 and they all connect with flexible joints.” He pointed at the different parts at the metallic spine and especially towards the non existent joints of any kind existing.” My theory is that the Hawkmoth just has a basic knowledge in human anatomy and might’ve made these from memory on a whim.” 

 

This time Nightwing was the one in deep concentration. He knew Slade enough to know he hated anything magic. He would say so himself too. He remembered their talk before, how Slade had to make a choice between magic and a backup with no ass, which Nightwing didn’t want to even think about objecting someone that way. He guessed that if Slade had to use magic, he probably chose the one with the least amount of it possible. That somewhat explained the absurd part of the zombies at the very least. “Hmm, I know Deathstroke hates using magic in any way shape or form, so we might’ve got something that is far more normal then the other ones.” 

 

“Which means ?” Asked Chat, still touching the slimy purple goo and getting irked by it “It means we can find an easier solution.” Said Ladybug, opening her palm and hitting her other hand on it. 

 

“We need to collect all of them in a singular spot otherwise he will probably hide one and wait for us to activate a trap.”

 

“But how ?” Asked Ladybug in a silent tone, the question being more to herself than the others. 

 

“We can draw out a lot of them no problem, but without finding the original one, I’m not sure how we can truly defeat him.” Said Nightwing in a beaten tone in his voice. It was clear that he was blaming himself for Slade’s current rampage at the moment.

 Everyone stopped talking, they all had different ideas but they were also smart enough to shut them down too, so for the next two to three minutes, the whole room was slowed in a deep, uncomfortable silence that scratched everyone's nerves. 

 

Atleast, Max sighed loudly before getting up from his chair in a sure manner and then moved towards Ladybug and Chat Noir. “There has to be a way, and I believe this way can be achieved through these robots. I’d say, if you guys can get me a full one -one that is preferably alive- I will try with everything I have to find a way to isolate the original one.” He took out his Glasses and then cleared them with a piece of cloth before putting them back on. All this excitement was getting to him in a way, he was sweating a bit and his heartbeat was raised by ten points. “It’s a bit risky. But I’d say one of you might distract the horde while the other one can grab a body. 

 

All three heroes looked at each other for the plan. It was risky, sure, but it was the best they could at this moment so they really didn’t have much of a choice. 

“From what Robin told me, the robots seemed to be automated more than being true to the original. They are probably running a search team for the heroes but capture all the civilians.” Said Nightwing before smiling “I think I have an idea.” 

 

***

 

“This disguise will definitely NOT work Nightwing!” Said Ladybug angrily as she tried to tie the loose coat around her more securely. Her hat and sunglasses were also way bigger to her than normal. Mostly because they were designed for adult men and not teenage girls. “Hey it's the only open store closest to us, want to go to another one and risk us getting found out ?” 

 

“He’s right, My Lady” Said Chat next to him, completely changed his clothes for a much more professional suit and long jacket. He was wearing a fedora on top of his head and was getting a scarf for her. He would’ve looked cool, if the costume wasn’t three sizes too big for him. “For our faces. Just in case.” He said, pointing at the scarf. She took it and covered her face all the way to her eyes till her mask was almost indistinguishable. She took a deep breath upon seeing herself in the mirror. “I look like a cliche pervert. If this plan doesn’t work I’ll be more angry for this than for the end of the world.” 

 

Chat laughed at her joke while the only thing they heard from Nightwing was a small chuckle. 

 

“Are you guys ready ?” He asked after a few more seconds, they heard the sound of a cable being stretched. “Yes.” Said Chat, coming up to her and fixing her braid brim hat so it could cover her face more. “We are coming out of the back, we’ll tell you to get ready.” 

 

“Understood.” Said Nightwing shortly and started to wait behind the dumpster he was hiding. The smell was horrible but honestly, he had been in the worst smelling situations before. At his moment of silence Dick taught about pros and cons of calling the League. On one hand, if he knew anything about Clark for all these years he also knew that he was itching to come down here and help the people. He was always like that after all. He was never afraid to ask for help from him or Diana, though with his own nature he usually didn’t need to. After all, while he was not like Bruce and saw the value of teamwork more than him, he also learned the importance of self reliance, one way or the other. 

 

With the sounds of metal boots clicking to the concrete, Nightwing raised a little and saw the hero's disguises from where he was sitting. He wanted to laugh at how ridiculous the pair looked, but of course he wasn’t that cruel so he let it go and dipped down again. 

 

Ladybug and Chat got out from the small back street and started to walk in a somewhat cautious state, looking around the rooftops and waiting for something to jump at them. At the moment the streets were clear of any living soul as the curfew order had been forced with what Deathstroke made in the Notre Dame. Ladybug hoped at least the amount of metallic soldiers she had to fight would be reduced with the order, although she didn’t really believe that even while thinking about it. 

 

After all, a lot of people become liabilities while trying to speak to their heroes, and even though talking like that to her fans hurted her, some people (Alya for example) really needed to get it together and learn their own worth by stop being the first victims!

 

Not even two minutes later, a robot spotted them and jumped down from the rooftop to the ground “ Do not move.” It said with a mechanic, artificially created voice. Robot raised his left hand towards them, suddenly his whole frontal side opened up, legs, chest and arms. Everything except the head. From the inside of the robot five different mechanical tentacles flew and started to move towards them with great speed. 

 

Chat and Ladybug immediately run towards the back street that Nightwing was waiting for them on. The robot started to run behind them too, just as they hoped it would. Hand still up and tentacles hitting the ground, making ear scratching noises while sprinting. “Get ready!” Said Ladybug while running, warning Nightwing who was already waiting in his position and charging his sticks with as much power as he could. The container he was sitting behind was empty and as light as it could be. But if he was gonna get the damn robot, he had to make this trap fly!

 

Which he did. As the flying stinky piece of metal box tackled the surprised Sladebot. Nightwing started to move towards it. The metal can make more noise than he anticipated. Both Chat and Ladybug, being faster than him in their suits, quickly moved towards the mystery box that was hiding a highly skilled assassin’s duplicate right now and started to quickly wrap it up. Literally. 

 

Ladybug used her yoyo and wrapped the whole thing up like a christmas present. Chat did more than that as he flexed his muscles as hard as he could and started to bend the metal all together. After dropping her yoyo, Ladybug also moved forward to help Chat and together they bent the trash bin in a smaller shape while the robot wiggled in it and tried to puncture his way out. Thankfully, the metal was a bit too thick for the robot's arms; it seemed as his claws only made faint scratching sounds which were immediately silenced by Nightwing and his escrima sticks, sending a big shock and zapping the robot captured in there. 

 

Not even one minute late, the once two person girthy trash bin now was small enough for someone to carry it in their shoulders easily. Ladybug and Chat were exhausted beyond belief, muscles aching, sweat pouring from everywhere and their lungs burning from breathing too hard. They were more powerful than a normal person, duh! It would take at least half an hour and bloodied palms for Nightwing to be able to do the same thing they did in a matter of seconds. But of course, their magically enhanced strength didn’t really come anywhere near as overpowered as say… Wonder Woman’s powers. 

 

“Di- did we miss… anything up ?” Asked Ladybug, holding on to the barely one meter tall closed up box they had created, it seemed like she was less powerful than Chat as he had already got himself together and was making small warm up movements in order to get rid of the grappling pain that was aching in his arms and chest. “Shouldn’t… at least I think we got him in one piece.” 

 

“In any way” Said Nightwing shooting his grapple hook to the roof, “We did what we were trying to, go back to you know who and let him do his magic. I’ll stall and meet you there.” After these words he flew at high speed and as soon as his foot touched the rooftop felt several eyes watching him. They got the scent, now he needed to lose them. Meanwhile, Ladybug and Chat noir take their prize and start to move back, back to the manhole cover at the very end of the street. They were gonna be exposing themself a bit, but it seemed like all the slade bots that were in the vicinity (Probably checking the noises they made or getting a distress signal from the robot they captured.) were following Nightwing, howling insults and the nearest objects they could find like bricks or stones. 

 

***

 

Nightwing runned. Then he kept running. And then he kept running. He didn’t even once look behind him since from the sounds they were making he made a pretty accurate guess as to what would happen if he ever stopped running. What the army behind him was capable of. Blessed thy the gods he didn’t believe but knew of (Such as Zeus, All Father, Ares, Wonder Woman and most importantly, Omnissiah) for giving him an amazing endurance. Otherwise he would’ve passed out by now and would be a pretty cute chew toy for the robot-zombies in the best scenario and knowing his luck, he would never be that fortunate. ‘Gods givin me their worst, god, I hope they stop soon’ He thought before letting out a bellowing laugh. He hadn’t felt this funny for a couple of days now. It felt good to be back. 

 

“Stop running you piece of shit!” He heard followed by a couple of feets almost behind him, he started to run faster and faster, breaking his slightly slower but consistent tempo. The moment he was at the edge of the rooftop, instead of jumping to the next one, he twisted in the air, taking a peak for a second behind him and seeing the angered face Slade was carrying almost 2 meters away from him. He knew he was the real one, the closest one that is. He knew those hateful eyes for a long time. The callus and senseless killer that he liked to show himself as, erased the moment when someone one upped him at anything. 

 

Classic Slade. He was a bully at his core, and just all the other bullies, he was insecure at his based form. At the peak of his turn, Dick threw the ice bomb pellets he had in his hands to the nearest one's face. He started to fall down while a white, chilling cloud of smoke covered his tracks on the rooftop. The rush of the air hit his face for a bit before Dick used his grapple hook and swung towards the ground level as swiftly as he could. He wasn’t running aimlessly, since the start, he was trying to come to their house since a lot of their extra equipment (And his bike) was still in their apartment. 

 

As soon as his feet touched the ground he entered a quick code to his wrist key which made a man hole behind him open up just a bit while he got through the outer door of their apartment with his basic keys. Closing the door behind him as quietly as he could, Dick started to climb the stairs two, then three times at a time. Coming to their apartment door and opening it hastily, their systems were already opened and in alert mode since he entered the apartment with his passport. 

 

Moving towards the main computer, Dick watched the slade bots sweep the whole block, searching for him. If he knew Slade even a little bit he was sure the old coot had already smelled the deceit and was waiting for some form of surprise attack. Thankfully, before Slade would start to search the buildings, one of the bots finally found the slightly ajar manhole cover and then ten of them jumped down to the sewers, closing it behind them just in case something wanted to get out. The rest of the bots started to dissipate bit by bit, running after other innocent civilians, fighting against the police forces that were passing by or just, you know, screaming at the sky, yelling that he will definitely find Nightwing. 

 

Classic ones to be honest. 

 

With the slowly spreading robots, Dick gave out a deep breath he had been holding on to. He was lucky none of the morons could see shoeprints apparently, otherwise they would’ve been already on top of him in the first minute. He left the computer room in a hurry, moving towards his bedroom and after removing the fake closed off window frame, opening his small yet appreciated armory. He gathered almost everything, normally, when out on the petrol or when fighting against an akuma and what not, they wouldn’t take all of their equipment with them. More so, just the essentials. and the things that are pretty light and not clunky. 

 

Now though, now he could confidently spend their limited stock because if they were to say, fail horrendously, he was sure that the following shock wouldn’t just contain Paris, Or France for that matter.

 

He also had a few surprises for Slade, surprises he really, really wanted to try on the old goat.

 

***

 

“Hmm, trul- Uuggh- Truly fassinattiiiiin- agh!” Yelled Max as he tried -and failed- to remove the robot's left arm with all his power. The robot Chat and Ladybug had been captured and laid on the family couch, tied up by ladybugs magical yoyo to the cushions. Max stopped what he was doing for a second in order to breathe out loudly, the robot's head was covered by a large pillow just in case. Even though the robot stopped squirming a long time ago, like he had lost his will to fight. “Man this thing is sturdy, C, can you give me a hand?” 

 

As he was summoned, Chat moved towards Max and helped him rip the robot's arm with ease. Ladybug watched the two from afar, on a chair that Max’s mom graciously invited her into. If all was according to plan, Nightwing should be back in a couple of minutes, if not, she didn’t know what to do. Her eyes followed the polka patterned yoyo head dangling from the table's side. She wanted to make a wish but the first time in her Ladybug career, didn’t know if her answers were lying behind a random magical item. After a long time, since around Volpina, she felt conflicted. Back then, she didn’t take Lila seriously and because of that the upside down lamp head seemed to be trying to cause her problems whenever she could. 

 

Marinette wondered if the same thing would be happening with Deathstroke now, if she rushed ahead would he find a way to escape and cause more problems down the road ? 

 

Watching the two and a half geniuses working around the robot, she saw that this was gonna take a while. And there was not much she could do about it. ‘Knew knitting wasn’t gonna be helpful skills against fighting super villains’ She thought, sulking in the chair she had been given more, wishing she had her knitting kit, or a video game or something. This was beyond boring. 

Chapter 34: winged in paris final fight 4

Summary:

The table was full of different parts of the Sladebot, two hands and feets to be exact. Even if it was for a heroic business, Max would be looking like a younger Hannibal if not for the robotic nature of the limbs. Now he looked like a mad scientist in one of those futuristic movies that makes their own robot that somehow kills every human. Slightly better out came she thought.

“So fascinating.” 

“Please stop.” 

“But it is so fa-”

“We get it M! It’s fascinating! Please stop saying that!” 

“... You said it this time, not me.” 

“Oh my god…”

 

Ladybug barely stopped herself from screaming on top of her lungs. She was bored, she got nothing out of the whole time they stayed there and lastly: She really didn’t appreciate how one of her close friends from school was secretly the doctor Frankenstein in disguise. ‘Deep breaths’ She reminded herself, taking a second to calm her nerves as everything seemed to be crushing on her.

 

While Ladybug was having a small conniption, Chat seemed more enhanced with the robot then her worries. He always had a fascination with physics and anatomies after all, and this one was the weirdest body he had ever seen. The arms were empty of bones or muscles, only cables and metallic alloys that somewhat resemble hands. The legs on the other hand had meat. Which is what it was, there was nothing that resembled muscles, just the purple silicon material. The chest, having an attachment right now was the weirdest as it changed shape whenever they tried to open it up fully. Once it was like the first one they bringed, almost correct to a human one. Then the next time they look upon it and there is just an empty space welcoming them. Lastly, there were tentacles that attacked them when they removed the metal chest place for the last time. 

 

Chat’s running theory was that Slade still had control over it and was (sometimes at least) trying to escape from their capture. The robot never spoke, but that doesn’t mean that it couldn’t listen too. Which is why, after the first change, they agreed to use their initials instead of their names just in case. If Slade had a built in GPS for these things and was debating about saving just one robot, they didn’t need to do his job easier by announcing their residence now do they. 

 

This of course made the progress of finding some kind of weakness slower than they liked, but then again, they couldn’t do much about it. 

 

To be totally honest, Ladybug just wanted to switch places with Nightwing as he and Robin seemed to be having fun at least. They were fighting an army of slade bots as providing further disturbance and nightwing seemed to be having the time of his life. Beating and breaking as many robots as he could while using his gadgets with Robin on his side, covering his back. 

 

He was wearing something different too, it was like terminator armor, two times the size of any normal man that was equipped with two gauntlet guns that fired upon anyone getting too close. 

Robin seemed normal, at least on the costume side. The kids ‘'normal’’ was not the same as any other human being she guessed. He was jumping from the Nightwings armor to the robots, cutting them off with a sword or blowing them up with a few explosive batarangs. 

 

Surprisingly Nightwing could still do some of his acrobatic tricks even with the robot, Sometimes she wondered if this was like a regular occurrence in America. For if they needed these to fight their own villains, what are those villains capable of ?

 

She turned around, the team nerds seemed to be working on the head right now and since they still didn’t make any noise about anything they found, she guessed that the news was gonna be on the bad side. Which it did. Five minutes later she heard the frustrated growl Chat left and turned around to find him scribbling something onto a notepad with fury. And then she saw that the notepad flew off. “There is nothing in there!” He finally let out. Coming to the living room where She and Max’s mom was sitting and watching the news with an angry step. Literally, his heavy steps were making the carpets lose their shape. “It's only more metal and more wires. Some pink sludge if we are lucky, and nothing else!” 

 

Max came after Chat, he was covered in oil from head to toe and his hands were shaking from working for too long even under heavy gloves. “I’m sorry I didn’t make any changes, Ladybug. But I can’t find anything worthy of sabotage. No telecommunication, no signal receiver and no network connection. These are the unfortunately magic made parts it seems.” He was shaking his head with disappointment before his glasses seemed to have fallen slightly and he stopped doing that. 

 

Ladybug took a deep breath, there was only one more thing to do it seems: Their last chance, Lucky Charm.

 

She got up from the chair she was sitting on and moved to the other room to retrieve her yoyo. “We tried everything.  Now let’s just hope Lucky Charm can help us capture this maniac.” She said with the two boys on either side of her. The working room was a mess to be blunt. Every piece of equipment one can imagine, from the smallest screw driver to a huge saw were thrown out randomly, the smell of burned oil and grease almost made her cry. What a horrible day to have a perfectly functioning nose, she thought as she moved towards one of the working tables to take her yoyo back. 

 

The table was full of different parts of the Sladebot, two hands and feets to be exact. Even if it was for a heroic business, Max would be looking like a younger Hannibal if not for the robotic nature of the limbs. Now he looked like a mad scientist in one of those futuristic movies that makes their own robot that somehow kills every human. Slightly better out came she thought.

She swung her yoyo with swiftness, making a pink ring in less then one second and then threw it in the air while saying her catchphrase. Suddenly a giant mesh of cables dropped to their head, making all of them stuck in it. “Alright, I’ve seen some weird things the miraculous made, but that's gotta be up there.” Chat said frustrated a bit, trying to free his leg without making it caught more in the maze of cables. Ladybug shrugged, she was feeling the same way as she lay under a tone of the material. “This-” Said Max, trying to get under the haphazard that unfolded in their living room and knocking things under the cables. “In my professional opinion, I have no idea why Ladybug suddenly needed a bunch of- ugh, I guess this is copper we have here.” 

 

Two heroes who were struggling the same way Max did suddenly turned towards his voice. “Copper wire?” They asked at the same time. “Umm, I’m guessing it is based on the thickness of the cable end over here. Although it is a bit hard to tell with it being red with polka dots.” He said sheepishly and then saw the hand Chat was offering him to, grabbing it and being yanked up from the mess of cables. When he finally got his bearings he quickly thanked Chat and runned for the workshop, yelling he had an idea for a result. 

 

Ladybug didn’t really understand what was going on while helping Max’s mom to get away from the mess in the living room, thankfully the wires hadn’t fallen to her head as it has with the rest of them. Not long after Ladybug had safely removed the woman from the hazardous living room (With a promise to clean up of course) she saw Max coming back with a small lighter in his hand. “Don’t tell my father, I don’t need more grounding time.” He said and then moved towards the place where he had found the end of the cable. “I hope this works even if it's magic.” He said shortly and then lit the lighter, holding it under the cable. At first nothing happened to the cable and Both Ladybug and Chat felt scared that the protective magic wouldn’t let them understand the material. 

 

Thankfully, after three seconds or so, what Max had hoped would happen, happened and the cable bent down, starting to ball up. He closed the lighter, careful not to touch the hot metal part and slowly put it in his pocket. “See, that is the characteristic of Copper wire. If it was aluminum it wouldn’t ball up like this and instead look more like strands of hair.” 

 

“Great.” Said Chat, bending down with his legs under his bottom and watching Max work with utmost interest. Ladybug thought if he only looked at someone like this he wouldn’t be this lonely and then shrugged that idea off of her head. For some reason it was making her angry. Must be the day's stress. 

 

“Well, we know what we are working with now, what exactly we can do against these robots though ?” 

 

Just when Chat asked that a memory flared up in Ladybug’s head, a year ago from now, in a physics class about magnets and how to use them. Her eyes glared at the ground, what she needed started to blare more and more, first the wires, then the Nightwing who was on the TV and then the Eiffel Tower which could be easily seen through the closed windows. She smiled with the revelation. “Max, do one more test on the robots, see if they can be pulled by a magnet.” She said and started together the haphazardly spread out wires on the ground. “Some cable reeler would be awesome too.” 

 

The two boys looked at her dumbfounded for a second, so much so that she thought she needed to explain what her plan was. Or apparently not as both Chat and Max, instead of helping her started to criticize her thoughts. “I mean an electromagnet powerful enough to carry a man is hard to do, especially since there are a few hundred of them out there. I’d say if it's made out of indestructible magic just use the cables as handcuffs.” Said Max, mankind Chat nod in agreement “Also we need a lot of battery power and a lot of surface to work on if we want this to be successful, wouldn't it take too much time in the first place ?” 

 

These are all valid points in reality, except they seemed to forget something with her plans “Chat, once I stopped Mr Pigeon with a paperclip if you remember.” She said with a sarcastic smile, making Chat smile too in the process “You are right, forget how complicated you make the solutions sometimes.” 

 

The duo started to laugh while Max decided that the moment was too intimate for him to be there and left for the workshop once again, taking a quick picture of the moment while going out. After all, bragging rights didn’t come as often as one likes in high school. The test was a quick one, he took his fathers ‘nail holder’ as he liked to call the big magnet and then moved it towards the desecrated body. Pointing at different angles and distances. It worked. The magnet was attached to the metal in the costume, even with the outer layers. But it was barely there with a big magnet like the one he was holding with both hands. Max imagined they needed something holly bigger than the one he was holding in order to make this work.

 

He also started to dig around the workshop in order to find empty reelers and find two, although they were small and couldn’t hold even half of the wire in the living room. Of course, as it wasn’t a hard deal to make one, he could build a reeler no problem. But that would still take time. Time that they didn’t have. 

 

***

 

“Come forth the first one to die!” 

“The last one of you will be named the smartest upon your misbegotten kind!” 

“Being brave for your kind is a blessing received poorly!” 

“Wing, can you stop with the war quips please!” 

Robin yelled as he did a backflip from one of the robots and threw a freeze grenade to another one, making it immediately fall down and break. 

 

Nightwing laughed with a mechanic's voice, “whatchu mean bro, I’m just keeping the morale up.” He said, catching one of the robots in the air and breaking it in two in the mechanic handle. God he had missed their Dread Suits. Thank god Bruce had bringed in here in their first week in the city. 

 

Honestly, the first time he had suggested these costumes Bruce had thought that he was just fantasizing about what he was reading. Which he was true, but he also wanted people to understand how useful something like this can be in certain situations. For example: An Sladebotzombie apocalypse that he was fighting against right now. 

 

The suit had a substantial damage threshold, nothing Sladebots could find and try to fight against would break it that easily. They had learned that the hard way as the first twenty of the bots laid broken underneath Nightwing’s feet. Of course, he was just stalling, not knowing how much of these bots Slade had and trying to buy time for Ladybug and Chat Noir. He knew that Slade being Slade, he wouldn’t continuously throw his bots willy nilly. And he was right, the bots had stopped attacking in unison and were starting to come by a few soldiers at a time, probably Slade was gathering his forces somewhere close that he couldn’t see, probably about to bull rush him when he had enough power. 

 

All according to plan, he was the distraction after all, he had already decided to sacrifice the Dread Suit while escaping with Robin. That is till his earpiece started to ring in Ladybug’s tune. 

 

“Ayyup!” He said while another bot tried to attack his legs, he moved out of the way and then stomped its head. It was good to stop holding back once in a while. Ladybug told him her plan, she wanted to meet them at the Eiffel Tower and they needed to find a large electrical power. “Well, my suit is capable of running for a few months in full power if it doesn’t charge back up, but with what you are planning, we might have only five or ten minutes max I say Ladybug.” 

 

“Five minutes is all we are going to need. We are on the way, meet with us in the tower Nightwing, as soon as you can.” 

 

When the call ended he ordered his gps to open up and yelled at the address while continuing to fight, opening up one of the bots with his hands this time. It seemed like they needed to move for a few miles. ‘Better go quick then.’ He thought and then  opened his microphone again, just to whistle quickly at Robin. “Last one standing shall be the victorious one!” He yelled to the bots trying to come up to him to stop them, before the ejectors on his back and feet took them to the sky, Robin in his hands he started to fly towards the city’s main attraction. 

Chapter 35: Winging in Paris - Final Fight 5

Summary:

At first, Damian thought that the robots were trying to wait for smoke to dissipate, but to his surprise, even when he escaped from there, none of the bots were focused on him, they were all trying to capture Nightwing.

Notes:

And with that, the final fight is over.

Sir Andre was looking out of his window in his house. Ah what a beautiful city he was living in. Paris, the jewel of the world. A piece of perfection hand crafted with years upon years of dedication of the hard working men. A city with tales too long to write and tell in one breath. 

 

He truly felt blessed to be living in a city as grand as this one. His friends from his childhood would tease his dreams and his aspirations to be in here, telling him that the city was only there to choke you out of the magnificent countryside they were given but he didn’t care for them. For him, a man's mind wasn’t fully used if one doesn’t dream grander than the ones you receive with minimal efforts. He liked the picturesque nature of the farm lands of course, but he would never go back to those soils as his dreams were covered with grander buildings that weren’t made to be one floor. He looked out of his window. 

 

At the moment the streets were empty except for the few villains he saw from time to time. Ah, his beautiful Paris. She was facing  cancerous growths at the moment. He remembered his time in the military, how glad he was to provide for her, even outside of France’s borders. He didn’t like what he had to do back then, but he had to do it as it was ordered by France herself. He was ready to answer her call, always. Thankfully his 78 year old ass didn’t need to fight for her at the moment… Andre guessed that he couldn’t do much for her. Not much with what he got left. He made a good city, at least as much as he could that is. An architect’s dreams are usually broken by the mechanics, the engineers, builders and much more. 

 

But at least there were others like him, it was good to know that the spirit he felt from his city and country continued to live even though it evolved beyond his recognition. He watched the two figures that were running around on one of the rooftops that were a few hundred meters away from his own. The Black Cat of Paris and the Ladybug. He was indeed happy that there were others trying to take the cancer out. 

 

Then his happiness dried out when he heard the sound of a giant engine burning and a figure in blue cladded armor flew around his building. Yes. There were these too. Tourists. Poh! He needed a painkiller just because of the rambunctious music the armoured man was playing at high volume. Thankfully his grandkids were there at least. Some form of solace. 

 

***

Put the wrong label on me, I'ma get ′em dropped

Sweet Chin Music, and I won't pass the aux

How many stocks do I really have in stock? 

 

“Dick Please. Traveling like a koala stuck to your arm is hard enough, please stop singing with that robotic voice.” Said Damian, making his best attempt to scoff. Honestly, he didn’t really care for Dick’s singing abilities even though his voice was out of tune by a great margin. What he really didn’t like was that he was singing rap music. 

 

No son of the aristocracy like Bruce Wayne should be singing anything other than opera. Although, not even Cass was sharing his idea, even though she did ballet as a hobby. His family was weird. And uncultured. Still, it was a privilege to be a part of it. Even with everything wrong in it. “Chill out little bird. You know who doesn’t like me to sing just as much as you do ?” Said Nightwing before bellowing another part of that rap song. 

 

“SHUT THE FUCK UP NIGHTWING!” Yelled one of the Slade-o-bots behind them. There was a small army of them running behind, especially angry towards the two since Dick called him a pedofile with the rap music. “See ?” Said Dick, clearly chucking even though his voice sounded like a meat grinder with the voice modulator. “It gets him truly heated when I remind what kind of weirdo he is. Remember Dami, right now we need to make him angry.” With this message he continued to sing. Especially hitting the parts about being weird, which to Dick’s surprise even Damian joined in those parts. Ah, a true bonding experience between brothers. Who needs relaxing things like video games, fishing or camping ? Those options are lameeeee! If you really wanna hit a new high in brotherly bondage, you need to scream “PEDOFILE” To the villain chasing you! 

 

***

 

“We made it!” Declared Ladybug, finally being able to drop the almost two kilometer long cable she was carrying with Chat. But they couldn’t chill out and wait for the Nightwing, they needed to wrap the aforementioned cable around the tower immediately. “Chat! Hold from that end of the wire and move to the top. I’m gonna wrap around the lower part.” She said and then watched the goofy cat she had been calling friend for the last almost two years salute her before jumping with all his strength towards the tower, the wire secured around his belt like a bungee cable. except of course, if he’d fallen suddenly, the cable couldn’t save his life at all. And you know… He is rather reckless. Maybe she should just keep him in a safe distance from now on, for his own safety and whatnot you know. 

 

‘He is smart and handsome, he could definitely use his head from a distance too.’ She thought while taking the other end of the wire and using her yoyo to go towards the mid section of the tower. If her calculations were correct (Or rather, the amount Robin’s counted.) they were gonna need a lot of ground available on the legs of the tower. She just wished that the Slade was as impulsive as Nightwing had told him and would charge head first to their trap rather than keep one copy away from them in hiding. 

 

She wanted to believe that they were gonna be okay, she wanted to believe that this Slade was just another one for the rather high tally they’ve been keeping. But he was not. Hawkmoth especially chose the emotionally distressed people, whether for amusement or because he knew a murderer was too much just from some simple civility she didn’t know. All she knew was that this time was different. This time they’ve pushed too far, making him too desperate, she guessed. 

 

This time was final. And all of their cards were about to clash with Hawkmoth’s. If someone normally wanted to cover the Eiffel for some festivities, it should take around a few days at the least to cover the whole thing. But thankfully, they managed to finish what they were supposed to do in around five minutes. Just close to the time Nightwing made a drop down to the street level. Upon his arrival the two heroes followed suit, keeping the endings of the wire with them. 

 

“Thank god you are here!” Said Ladybug when they finally dropped down, there was less than a minute left on her earrings and an army of slade were running towards them. “I need to hide! Please be sure to connect the two cables to your suit for power!” She said before starting to run towards the elevator of the tower, yelling “I’ll need a minute!” While doing so. 

 

When Ladybug leave, Chat quickly tried hand Nightwings robot 

hands the cables but he refused before opening the mech and getting out of it. “Power from the gauntlets might not have a strong enough output for it to reach the top. We need to connect directly to the core.” 

 

Good thing in all of this ? The Slade bots, as they didn’t have any gadgets on them, could only run towards them instead of the usual throwing themself from the rooftops together speed trick. Small wins considering they were coming from all angles and not all of them had the huge open park future like the front side. 

 

So, you might be asking, what's the bad thing and consider counting the army of murderous psychopaths coming ever closer, them being one person down already, the complications this plan might have. But no. The bad thing, as Chat discovered, was the fact that the mech was running on nuclear power. “Umm…” He didn’t know what to say as the blue and increasingly bright light taunted him to do something about it. 

 

“What’s wrong cat ?” Asked Nightwing while Robin took one part of the robot's leg and it suddenly turned to a hoverboard. “I’ll stall, you finish it.” He said to the pair and started to glide without waiting for an answer. “Um, is this like a secret batenergy or something like that ? Because it seems very angry and explosive right about now.” He said, still not sure if he should also declare his fighting spirit and go to the attack. “Oh no no no, it’s just nuclear, nothing crazy like that.” The way he smiled told a story Chat did not want to hear. “Don’t let the light intimidate you though, if you stick it the wrong way it might fry you but  other than that it shouldn't hurt.” 

 

‘That’s reassuring.” thought Chat sarcastically before wrapping the wires around the both bolt looking outlets of the energy source. Now, doing that was really stressful, added to the environment of Slade bots fighting a kid, metal weaponry hitting each other, bombs being blown and Nightwing trying to ready himself for the fight also equals to a Chat that has never been more serious and attentive at the moment. He didn’t really vibe with that. He was the wild card you know, he was the one making the quips and jokes, jumping around the villain, distracting them while Ladybug took care of the planning. Now he was the one making the plan and she was the one relaxing in an elevator waiting for her Kwami to charge up. He was going to write a strongly worded message to the manager telling you what, these working conditions weren’t what he signed up for. 

 

‘Was that convincing’ he thought. He didn’t know since he never had the privilege to complain to someone. His father was sure to get him everything he ever needed, everything that could be bought, made sense, made his father content, passed his extremely strict tests and of course, things he asked while his father was having a good day. 

 

He wondered if it had always been like that, was his father always like this. He knew he wasn’t, or at least he thought he knew. His father from his kindergarten was a distant image that has faded with time. 

 

“I did it!” He said as the aforementioned electricity suddenly rose up from the tip of his claws to his arms but thank god it didn’t do him any harm. Honestly, his magical suit should be one of those never patented nothing-proof ones, but of course, since he liked to live, he had never tested the suit with electricity. Especially one at this degree. 

 

The wire came alive with the power and at some point it even went tout, but almost in front of their naked eyes, the power didn’t reach the top. “It’s too far for it.” Said Nightwing before touching his mask and activating his eyes. “The resistance of the wire, combined with the total power output of the suit, makes it stop half way.” He closed his eyes and moved next to Chat looking at the core with him. “Its conversion ports are custom made so it only lets out a certain amount. Fuck I forgot about that!” He hit the robot's leg with that last part and looked towards Robin. 

 

The small kid was doing everything in his power, flying not too high up off the bots, making them run into a frenzy with his close calls while also distracting the ones that still wanted to close the gap and came to the tower. Even then, he seemed to be getting close to knocking out as his near misses were getting closer and closer, Slade bots reacting faster and adapting to the threat. In short they needed to find a solution right now. 

 

—

“Come on Tikki! Hurry up please.” Said Ladybug, looking out of the window of the elevator, seeing the sea of robots quickly coming towards the tower. She was worried, of course she was. So far, this was one of the worst villains they’ve ever fought and right now they were down one member. 

 

“I’m *Cruch* eafıgn as bast as I can” Said the little god with a big piece of cookie hanging from her small mouth. She was trying to eat as fast as she could, that was true, but at the same time, the magic was clearly snuffed out of her body as her powers dwindled and she could hardly lift her arms. 

 

“Please Tikki. They need us out there.” was the final words Marinette muttered as the first wave of troops started to appear next to the legs of the tower. 

 

—

 

“Okay, I have an idea on how to fix our problem. But it's a bit on the crazy side.” Said Nightwing as the army of robots started to get closer. “I’m open to any suggestion at this point.” Chat also readying his staff and getting to a fighting position. At the moment, his mind was screaming at him to fight and unfortunately, while Adrien Agreste might look for different solutions for a situation, Chat Noir was rather single minded and chose the simplest path. That being fighting to death today which would definitely be what's gonna happen if they didn’t plan something soon. 

 

“As soon as I give you the signal, hit the mech’s power port with a cataclysm.” Said Nightwing and started to stand off with one of the robots that had passed through the front line. “What!” yelled Chat but before he could continue one of the robots coming from the left side sprinted towards him with more speed then others and took a giant leap to hit his head. Thankfully, Chat was watching that road with his peripheral vision and as soon as he saw something move that fast he refocused his attention to the threat, hitting the robot with his extending staff in mid air in such speed that the impact tore the robot in two. 

 

“Your power can easily break through the dampeners. I understand the risks, but the alternative doesn’t look too good either.” Said Nightwing, already throwing a few swings against the single bot that had passed, it looked different just like the one attacking the Chat mere seconds ago. So he was here also and switching between the bots frantically. Suddenly they heard a sound and even the robot looked at the source with them. One of the robots was holding the robot by his neck, squeezing the youngest member of the bat family between his robotic biceps and making him scream as the other also did the same and held on to one of the kids' appendices. 

Dick immediately threw a wingding to the robot next to him which pierced its stomach and then exploded inside. “It’s all going according to the plan, wait for my signal and till then continue to fight against them.” He simply said before running towards the literal wave of robots that was coming to kill him. 

 

Dick threw a few grenades he had left on his belt, two freeze and one explosive. The front lines crumbled by his attack and made way for the less prepered ones on the back lines that were trying to hold Damian. He threw two more explosive wingdings and free robin’s arms as the robots holding them down had blown to bits. Damian used the moment of confusion to his advantage and took out one of his own batarangs to stab the robot that was holding his neck straight to the face. As the robot let him go Damian quickly threw a smoke bomb and after freeing himself from the remaining robot's grip. 

 

At first, Damian thought that the robots were trying to wait for smoke to dissipate, but to his surprise, even when he escaped from there, none of the bots were focused on him, they were all trying to capture Nightwing. 

 

“You startin’ to exceed your worth boy, you know I’m gonna punish you for this later.” Said one of the bots while Damian tried to make his way away from the crowd of them as quietly as he could. Which was hard and he immediately started to fight again since there was still sunset and almost no shadow to hide inside. 

 

On the other hand, it seemed like only one of the bots were fighting Dick as all the others were made a chamber around him and were holding him in like he just involuntarily joined a cage match. 

 

“Are you sure about that Slade ? Since it's always been about you and me, I thought I was already your perfected version.” Grayson said with a sarcastic tune underneath the acid he spitted. His left lip was bleeding from a punch he received and his jaw was protesting the movement he made. Still he smiled with malice and defiance. “So ungrateful, so full of yourself.” Said Slade simply before attacking. 

 

punches and kicks were received and delivered at the same time, Dick managed to land a hard kick to his liver and managed to make him stagger back. “I’m already doing you a favor and not killing you, which was my job by the way. You know how fastidious I am of that.” 

 

This time Nightwing actually let out a hardy laugh without even listening to his protesting jaw. “The fact that you actually believed what you’ve just said… Oh my god you are just as miserable as you’ve ever been.” 

 

Slade gets back up, “Just because I know how valuable you are to me, doesn’t make it right when you say stuff like that boy. Now I’m gonna break your jaw for it.” He tried to do exactly that but Dick dodged him again and again, there it was, there Slade started to fight with his emotions. He never managed to be a good fighter when it came to that. Dick knew he could control the battlefield now and he needed to be if the plan was gonna work. He needed to push a bit further. “Really ? Valuable to you ? Might as well spit in my face if you think I’m that useless.” Slade slowed on one of his punches, the ones covering them were about to attack till Slade moved his head and they all stopped. So he was also trying to control them all at the same time too. Now this was going to be easy. 

 

“Yeah the people you take in with manipulation don’t have a great reputation to be a villain you know. Terra and Jericho were supposed to be your number ones, remember ? But that didn’t turn out too well for you at the end.” He attacked at head level, a kick that is normally too easy to see and therefore dodge, landed perfectly to his jaw and broke Slade’s mask. “What about Beast Boy and me ? We were supposed to cripple Teen Titans, the perfect weapon to use against a bunch of teenagers and in the end I broke you.” 

 

Dick threw a punch, he caught it till Dick decked him underneath his jaw with a knee. “Lest not forget, poor Rose was supposed to be my end specifically. Remember when you first introduced her to us ? And in the end I still won.” 

 

“Enough!” Yelled Slade as the others started to close up to Dick. “You're trying to rile me up boy, and it's gonna cost you a leg and an arm.” He said with a furious smile pressed on his lips “That way, you’ll learn your place in the food chain once again.” 

 

Dick laughed as one of the bots held his arms, with a quick peek he saw the many robots Chat had to fight had stopped entirely. Seems like Slade’s focus was only on him at the moment. He saw a pink light come out of the elevator doors that Ladybug was hiding in. This was it. “You still don’t get it Slade. Whether I’m under you or not, I’m already better than you in every way! You couldn’t keep up with a bunch of angsty teens while I moved on to create a league of them! Now Chat!” 

 

With the signal Slade stunned for a second before the robots that were supposed to attack Chat activated once again and tried to run at the boy with full speed but it was too late now. Chat had already uttered his phrase and had pressed on the robot with his corruption. Suddenly the robot's power plant goes haywire as a loud blue light starts to emerge that will soon be cut off with the even louder noise the Eiffel Tower makes as the currency starts to run through it. “What in the fuc-” Before Slade could even finish his phrase all the robots around them, all the parked cars, street lamps and even the metallic beams underneath the earth started to fly towards the most powerful Electromagnetic nail that the world had ever seen.

 

 Of course, that included the gadgets of both Nightwing and Robin which they made sure to activate their belt to self-destruct even before they started to fully fly as they didn’t want to give Slade anything to use and improvise. 

 

When the robots collectively stuck on the tower, Ladybug went to work and started to tie the whole tower with her yoyo, making sure to capture every robot one way or another. “We don’t have much time LB! Lets pull!” Said Nightwing as he and Robin made their short way to the duo. “I agree!” Said Chat and held Ladybugs waist. With their combined power and the fact that the magical yoyo’s indestructible nature meant that all of the robots started to wail in pain in a few seconds as Slade jumped between each of them, trying to escape. “Heave… HO!” Yelled Ladybug before giving a one last tug with Chat and completely breaking the tower in pieces. 

 

When the rubble stopped spewing clouds of dust, Ladybug was the first one to see the purple colored butterfly before capturing it with a small flick of her wrist and fixing everything with her magical powers. When everything was back to normal Dick checked his belt that the magic made and found a pair of handcuffs before approaching the man standing in front of them. 

 

They all looked at him with a certain amount of fear, Ladybug with the fear of a criminal as this was the second criminal villain she had captured. Even then, one might make an argument for the Joker since then it was Hawkmoth taking the clown's power back, not her. 

 

Nightwing looked at the old man's face with the fear he still felt even after all that was said and done. He was not afraid of him anymore, not really. But trauma had an ugly way of gnawing at your bones. His body tells him to give no quarters now. He was down but this was Slade. And those that are like Slade, did not stand down for long. He needed to make sure that this old miserable man couldn’t rise up again. Couldn’t hurt him or his friends or his family. Same thing whenever he fought against Slade. If he hadn’t broken his vow while fighting against Joker on that night, he was sure Slade would make him another time. 

 

Robin’s fear was the similarities between them, he was rustless just as much Damian was, he was a ‘know it all’ just as much Damian was and he was just as much murderous as Damian once was. Seeing himself in the man's eyes wasn’t hard. Seeing his future as the man that slowly getting up was even easier, and that terrified Damian. Growing up to become like this … that was terrifying for the young kid. 

 

But unbeknownst to them, Chat was afraid of something else. He was afraid because he had seen this face before, right next to his father maybe a full day earlier. He was terrified of what he had discovered. 

Chapter 36: winging in paris - No more secrets

Summary:

Chat couldn’t take it. He couldn’t bear it. He couldn’t talk about it. He turned swiftly and started to run. Not even looking where he was going, letting his legs take control as his mind was too busy processing what had happened. 

Notes:

Coming near the end, have fun reading it ✌️✌️✌️

‘One more fail. Over my own ambitions, over my own estimations, over my own plans’ Thought Gabriel, moving towards the exit from his hideout, the elevator taking him up to his house. Slade had failed. His last hope was crushed and the amount of eyes that would bring on him was worrying. He was smart enough to wear a disguise, he was sure that would at least make ‘their’ investigation a bit more harder. But of course, Slade the cocky son of a bitch didn’t even try to hide himself anywhere. He was sure the moment it was going to be broadcasted to who Slade was, there would be a lot of witnesses who saw Slade with him. 

 

There was another matter though, a matter more important than their meetings. The elevator came to a stop and Gabriel stepped out of it, moving towards the stairs with posh and etiquette while maintaining a speedy rhythm. His son, Adrien had also seen the psychopath. He knew his own son and he knew the boy would definitely either tell the authorities or come down waiting for a satisfying answer from Gabriel. He was heroic like that, his poor boy. He’d say one more reason to hate Ladybug and Chat Noir but he was sure Emile had more of an influence on that department then those two. 

 

So, instead of waiting, he decided to cut the film short and explain to Adrien how it was a trade deal or something in that format. Honestly, he didn’t really think of an answer that clever since he was sure Adrien would be bored out and half sleep by the time he heard the trade deal part. Then he’d just throw in some numbers for good measures which would knock him cold. Ahh, no matter how much of a star student and perfect in every way his son was, he really didn’t take Gabriel’s esteemed CEO side. He was half way through the stairs when he heard a crush though Adrien’s room and his blood ran cold with panic. He froze, having difficulty swallowing how a crush happened there. They couldn’t have found him this fast. This was too quick, Gabriel was careful enough to hide his identity. And Slade, that asshole, said he was revered by his royalty. He’d rather die than rat out his hirer. They said he saw this as a challenge and almost never said who contacted him. ‘Really, now! Mother fucker now wants to spill the beans ? I’m gonna kill him when I get away from here.’ He thought while his anger melted away the icicles around his veins. 

 

He ran up the last few steps, hearing a distinct door knob from behind, good at least Nathalie was also there, she’d also be able to help him, she was always good at giving false statements in the spur of the moment. Finally, after his nightmares about what was about to happen to Adrien took ten years out of his life, he was finally in front of Adrien’s door and it only took him one second to open it and run inside. Adrien’s light’s weren’t on but his gigantic windows let enough moonlight in to be able to see everything clearly. One of the aforementioned windows was broken and in the shambles were the culprit: Chat Noir. 

 

“Chat Noir ? What’s the meaning of this ? Where is my son ?!” He yelled, giving the role of a concerned but innocent father perfectly, which wasn’t that hard to do. After all, he was already concerned enough, the only part that needed to be played was staying innocent. 

 

Chat turned towards him, his hands clenched to fists, his eyes bloodshot and teary. He looked beyond angry. He looked beyond reason.

 

***

-10 MINUTES BEFORE-

 

His heart was beating in his ear, thudding with pain, bleeding out of his soul. Ladybug came to his blurred vision, he felt her hand touching his, a worried expression plastered on her face as she touched and raised his chin a bit. She was talking, her lips were moving. He couldn't hear it. He only saw Slade. He only heard his fathers scream. He couldn’t get them out of his mind. His eyes barely met with Nightwing’s for a second, he was relaxed before they stared off, but that relaxed smile on Nightwings smile turned down when he also understood what was going on. 

 

Chat couldn’t take it. He couldn’t bear it. He couldn’t talk about it. He turned swiftly and started to run. Not even looking where he was going, letting his legs take control as his mind was too busy processing what had happened. 

 

When he finally came to, Chat noir was no more and Adrien Agreste was dangling from a random rooftop. Except it wasn’t random at all, it was Marinette’s balcony. One of his best friends. Especially this last few months he had visited her more than normal, talked to her more than normal. He wanted to go in and explain himself, explain how much of a pain he was in, Marinette was a good friend… No, she was better than that. She was turning into something else with him. He didn’t know what their relationship should be called and he was too afraid to learn it. One thing stands though, he shared a lot of secrets with her that he always felt bad about afterwards. They were his struggles and he shouldn’t burden her with them. It just felt good to talk about things he couldn’t talk about with others with her. But this, his secret identity, he couldn’t. 

 

He wanted to. He wanted to show himself to her, fully himself not shocked by his fathers imagery. But he couldn’t. It would be too much. It would be too much weight on her. He couldn’t. He didn’t want to see her choking alongside him. “KID!” 

 

He turned around hastily, the small god of destruction tugging his jacket in order to get him back to the material world. Adrien looked down, the small god seemed rejuvenated instead of looking tired like they always do after the transformation. Was he just that much zoned out that Plagg had enough time to eat a cheese piece and return to his normal mode ? 

The aforementioned god flew towards his face, making him take a step back before their noses hit each other. “Kid…” Said Plagg, rubbing his feets to each other in an uncomfortable and stretching silence. It was clear the small god wanted to reassure him, but no amount of cheese covered metaphors could make him happy at the moment. “I’m sorry kid.” He finally managed to let out which made a small tear drop from Adrien’s eye. “You didn’t do anything wrong. We both know who needs to apologize.” He said. His eyes burned with an unlit fire, buried underneath the great ocean made out of his tears. He called for the transformation, Plagg hoped Adrien would do the right thing. It broke his little, non-existent heart that his chosen ones always had to go through something like this. Only part of him that he didn’t like. His famous bad luck always had to bite back in some way like this. 

 

Chat ran, he ran and ran and kept running. His misty eyes hardly saw the road while his burning legs screamed at him with every step forward. When he finally saw the Gabreste’s house, he didn’t slow down at all, when he was just one roof over theirs he still didn’t slow down, instead he sped up and then jumped towards Adrien Agreste’s room, breaking the closed window even though there was an open one next to it. With a roll he fell to the ground and raised back up, Adrien Agreste’s room was dimly lit, covered mostly by the street lambs outside but his vision covered him. He saw the picture Adrien and his mother had on the boy's computer stand and his heart broke for the thousandth time that night. 

 

He heard footsteps closing by and readied himself, ready to face the evil of Paris and put an end to this. Gabriel Agreste opened the door with panic and bewilderment, he quickly took a look around before focusing on him, saying what was going on like he didn’t know already. He had to take a breather, not to break before him, not to show weakness. Nathalie entered the room as well, slowly moving towards protecting the man of the house. He took his breather and moved his hand to remove his mask. 

 

Adrien had never done this, he didn’t know if he could do this. Some villains were lucky enough to try but none of them managed to rip it from his face before. He was scared he had to transform before them, that would be a huge disadvantage as a 16 years old kid against at least one professional fighter. The mask that always fits snugly to his face slowly slips, not hurting, not pulling his skin. In one second there was no mask to cover his face anymore. Both Nathalie’s and Gabriel’s faces move through several stages, at first it was the shock, then Nathalie’s quickly changed to an analyzing scold, trying to find if this was Adrien Agreste’s imitation or not, which then quickly turned to grief when she understand that he was in fact the real Chat Noir. 

 

Gabriel’s were much more simple, he was shocked at first alongside Nathalie, but that quickly turned to  sadness and then to happiness. “Adrien… You were all this time-” Before he could talk more, Chat took his staff and extended it towards Gabriel’s face, stopping it only millimeters away from hitting the man's nose. “You're miraculous. Give it to me. Right now.” There was no debate here, no bargaining in his eyes. Nathalie seemed like she might try to intervene but knowing who he was, she couldn’t hit the kid that was the last gift from her friend Emilie. Not that Chat knew or cared about that. If he needs to fight, he will fight. 

 

Gabriel slowly raised his hand and took his locket brooch from his neck, the dull velvet colors the brooch had suddenly worn off. He throws the brooch towards Chat and he catches it in the air with ease. Chat looked at the brooch in his hand, all this time. All this fights. He always guessed that Ladybug would be the one to capture it. He definitely thought he’d help but never imagined that he’d be the one to take it. Still, Hawkmoth was known for his trickery, so he took the plunge and put the brooch to his neck. 

 

As soon as he did, a small creature similar to Plagg except with a definite butterfly makeup, came alive from it. Nooroo took a look around, Nathalie and Gabriel were there with her but she didn’t feel the cold and oppressive grip of her master like normally. Now all she felt was a distant fuzzy warmth. Turning around she saw her new holder, it was Adrien, Adrien Agreste. She saw his costume and felt Plagg’s power through it. She could’ve never guessed. “Glad you okay little butterfly.” Said Adrien with a miniscule smile formed in his lips. “I’m gonna get you to safety. You don’t have to be afraid anymore.” 

 

After these words he took the brooch off and put it in his right pocket before closing his pocket shut. His calm eyes turned towards his father once again and with it bringed bitterness. “I will be back with police officers. If you try to escape, I’ll make sure that you won’t be walking. Period.” He turned around, about to jump back towards the city when Gabriel called for his son. “Adrien wait! You must see my reason son! Why I wanted the miraculouses. Why do I need your help son, please.” Chat stopped for a second before turning swiftly and hit the older man with his staff on the arm, quickly bringing him down to the ground. “Why? I already know why! Because you want to control everything! Because you want more and more and more! Because you are evil and nothing more!” 

 

“Adrien!” Yelled Nathalie, kneeled next to Gabriel and checked his arm. It was not broken but definitely bruised. One part of her, a sadistic side, approved Adrien’s actions as Gabriel deserved a good smack for a long time. But the more reasonable side of her knew this wasn’t and shouldn’t be the way to solve their screwed up family problems. A thought only shared by her apparently as Adrien’s hateful stares turned towards her this time. “And you… I thought you were different. I thought we were familiar. I thought you understood me.” 

 

“I do.” Said Nathalie while looking at Adrien with saddened eyes “I know how wrong this was, numerous times I wanted to stop it, stop hurting you. But the alternative… The alternative suggested a grand future. A better one for all.” 

“What are you talking about?” Asked Adrien slowly. Not sure if he really wanted to know what was going on. 

 

“Your mother Adrien.” Said Gabriel while clutching his injured arm “The wish I wanted to make was for your mother. I wanted to get her back. I wanted us to be whole again, son.” 

 

***

“Ugh! He is not here either!” Yelled Ladybug, flipping the small table in their hotel room out of frustration. She was on the verge of hyperventilation, worrying for her friend and partner. “He doesn’t open his cell phone, he is nowhere that he normally is…” She turned around swiftly, looking at Nightwing who was looking to the streets from the window with equal amounts of worry and anxiety. Where was her kitty lost all of a sudden god dammit !? 

 

But, on the verge of panicking, she realized something else about Nightwing. He was folding his hand in the back, looking at one specific location with eyes as sharp as razors. He knew something. She moved towards him and held his arm, shaking him with hers, “You know don’t you ? Please, Nightwing, you need to talk to me.” 

 

Nightwing looked at her with pain, putting his hand on top of hers. “I have an idea. I’ve sent Robin there to check up but… I can’t disclose the location without revealing his identity, Ladybug.”

 

Ladybug shook his arm again, desperation seeping through her face. “Nightwing” 

 

“I know.” Said Nightwing, slowly retracting his other arm and patting her shoulder with it. “I know Ladybug but you know I’m right. Just in case, just as a precaution. You know how important it is to keep incog-”

 

“I just want him to be safe.” She said, finally letting go of the tears she’s been holding for so long. “I don’t want to lose him. Please Nightwing.” Nightwing nodded along with her, he remembered watching Tim do his first solo run, he was just as anxious. Just like then he wanted to run there to help him. But what he thought was happening was indeed happening, he knew it was something Chat needed to face alone. He knew from experience that it usually didn’t help having guests as you try to fix your broken family. Though his mind was determined to make up excuses in order to check on the kid. 

 

Suddenly his communicator signaled, Robin was calling him. He took his hands off of Ladybug and clicked to his wrist, opening the line. “What did you find ?” He asked quickly, Robin let out a growl before speaking “You were correct. He is in the house, one window left open in his room while another one broke down. The trajectory of the glass suggests the breaking was recent and towards the inside of the house.” 

Nightwing took a deep breath, at least they knew where he was, small victories. He ordered Robin to be on guard before closing the communicator and turned towards Ladybug. Normally confident, brave and bold young lady was a crying mess that looked at him like a defenseless baby, asking for help because she cannot do anything else. What could he do ? He promised Chat that his identity was safe with Nightwing. “I know it’s gonna eat you alive, but please Ladybug, give him time. I’m going there to investigate, not to interrupt. Please hold on Ladybug, I’m gonna give him back to you safely.” 

 

With these words Nightwing got back up from his position and moved towards the open window. Ladybug was still looking at him with anxiety, they at least knew where her kitty went, but that was hardly enough for her. When Nightwing used his grapple hook and flew out, the only thing Ladybug could do was watch the blue emblemed hero move further away. “Please Nightwing.” She let out slowly “Please keep him safe and bring him back to me.” 

Chapter 37: Winged in Paris - Grand Discoveries

Summary:

When Chat entered his fathers work office he didn’t see anything out of the ordeal, the small chairs for his ‘Guests’ were there, the big computer was on the right side of the wall from the entrance and the giant portrait of his mother was still as spotless as ever.

Notes:

A bit shorter than I originally thought it would be, but then I decided to skim a bit and voila! Hope you like to read this chapter as much as I liked to write. Have a good day/night!

When Chat entered his fathers work office he didn’t see anything out of the ordeal, the small chairs for his ‘Guests’ were there, the big computer was on the right side of the wall from the entrance and the giant portrait of his mother was still as spotless as ever. “Why are we here ? I know about the safe behind the portrait, remember?” He asked his father before the man could touch the portrait. “The Miraculous book. I do remember that.” Said Gabriel, a small smile starting to blossom on his withered face, so that's how he managed to open it up that time. Not knowing what lies behind a few more layers of metal. 

 

Heh. That was a time he guessed. “Stop smirking and show me whatever that you wanted to.” Gabriel guessed he shouldn’t blame his son for the way he talked right now. He would be pretty devastated if the situations were switched too. Instead, he just took a deep breath before turning to Nathalie and telling her to stay there. This was something that they needed to talk about privately. As a family. He slowly pressed the buttons on the portrait to call the lift and after the wall behind it opened, invited Adrien inside with him. 

 

Adrien wanted to object at first, his logical side rippling from the emotional outbursts his brain creates and tell him that this was a bad idea. The elevator was too small, giving the advantage to the person who’d fight with fists rather than a big staff. But he needed to move. That elevator concealed secrets he needed to know. Also he wasn’t just average… Joan, he was the damn Chat Noir, and Chat Noir is always ready to fight… even if it's against his own father. 

 

With his own deep breath Chat moved in the elevator, immediately warning Gabriel that if he tried anything funny he’d have no problem blowing up the whole elevator. Gabriel didn’t appreciate his own son's threats, but he couldn’t really say or do anything about it except nodding along. Also, he was sure when they saw Emelie again, Adrien would be on his side and they would leave all this foul mouth business behind them then. He just needed to be patient. 

 

The elevator slowly moved down showing only bare cobblestone at first till that view turned to a giant cave that was around 15 meters tall and stretched about as far as the eye could see. “What is this place?” Asked Adrien, trying to hold his voice stable. If it was anytime rather than now, this discovery would make him the most excited man in the world, but with the circumstances, he had to hold on to his enthusiasm as it could be easily exploited by the cheat next to him. 

 

“This is ‘Grotte aux Papillons ’ as the older generations called it.” Said Gabriel, coming closer to the window side trying to be physically closer to his son who took a step back with his movement. It was clear that his guard still didn’t let up. “It was used by some of the nobles of Paris in the revelation time as a safe haven, but its creation is estimated to be around 100 Years War.” 

 

“Estimated to be ?” Asked Adrien, could hardly hold off his interest by that point. Gabriel nodded but waited till they were at the bottom floor before speaking. Opening the elevator door and stepping out of it, Gabriel nodded before speaking. “Yes. Before we bought this estate and turned it into our home, this place was a semi-popular coffee. The generations that used this cave were almost all forgotten or discarded as myths. But Emelie and I knew better. We knew there was more than dirt and stone in these depts. It was our own little museum if you will. That is, until we found more than we bargained for here.” 

 

Before Chat could ask him to elaborate, Gabriel started to walk towards the huge opening in the middle of the poorly lit cave and gestured Chat to come to his side. “When we first opened that shaft again, we were expecting to make some discoveries that would be around the crusades at most. What we found in the cut away waters though were two skeleton knights, fighting each other while wearing those jewels on their necks.” He pointed towards Chat’s pocket, signaling that this is where he had found the butterfly miraculous. But wait, two jewels?” 

 

“Two ?” He asked, only now hearing that Hawkmoth had one more miracle to fight them against but never used it before. Gabriel nodded. “It’s with Nathalie. Behind one of her displays. Peacock miraculous… The broken Miraculous.” 

“...What ?” 

Gabriel understood the boy's confusion. After all, he was still confused about how a miracle could be broken too. “I was going to bring proper equipment… y-your feeding time was also getting close. I-” He let out a choked sound. “I was out of the cave for a few minutes. When I got back, your mother was standing in the middle in a costume I’ve never seen her wear before. It was mesmerising Adrien, it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. How could we know what that accursed miraculous made that time.” 

 

He moved forward, hasting his pace till they both stood before a glass coffin. A coffin that was hoisting Adrien’s mother. 

***

“Good Job following the trailer D.” Said Nightwing, standing in the building opposite to the Agreste's mansion. “Wasn’t that hard.” Said Damian with a prideful air, bringed his attitude down after that, warning Nightwing that the house had a jammer inside. “Could only see the upper floors, anything under it scrambles the detective vision.” 

 

“Hm.” Dick tried it too and understood what Damian was saying. For some reason there was a jammer that didn’t fully encapsulate the house which meant what Mr.Agreste didn’t want to find should be even deeper than his own house. “In that case, I’m going in to see what’s so important to hide underneath like that. Stay here and wait for my signal.” 

Damian let out an approved grunt but latched to Nightwing’s arm before he could jump in through the window. “Don’t you think we need to talk to Ladybug about this too ? They are the original partners after all.” He said, surprising both himself and Nightwing in the progress. He didn’t know why suddenly there was a hopping pang where his heart used to be, he also didn’t know why he cared about it. Maybe this was that weird thing called ‘empathy’ Tim kept saying whenever they watched a romantic comedy and Tim ended up being the only one who cried at the end. Sure, he knew the meaning of the word empathy, it usually needed to be against someone who you felt similar emotions though, and he was sure he didn’t feel any kind of connection with Adrien. 

 

They were both rich kids who would never leave their fathers shadows, true. But unlike Adrien, Damian reveled in that fact. He wanted to be the continuation. He wanted to be the Batman that everyone in their family looked at as a curse rather than a great honor. He fought for it. He was ready to die for it. Adrien wasn’t like him. From the times he had spent with the blonde supermodel and with his friends, it was pretty clear that he didn’t want to continue in his fathers steps but was forced to do it. He didn’t want to be a model, nor did he want to run a corporation. 

 

Damian couldn’t really talk about his choices, after all, everyone chooses their own path and leads it no matter where it drags you. But… but he understood. He understood sticking to the only member of your family. He was like that once, thinking the others weren’t important enough and his father was everything he needed. Then comes Dick Grayson and teaches him the value of a complete family with brothers, sisters, one butler that can easily beat them all and a lot of animals. 

 

To be honest, he would also be pretty pissed off if he one day found out that Dick did something awful to this degree. He would probably seek help from his family, his father or from Alfred. He (Much to his own displeasure) learned that being  Mr. Vengeance at the ripe age of 15 wasn’t a healthy thing. One thing he wasn’t jealous of his father for. 

 

So, in short, he thought it was important for Chat Noir to have a shoulder to hold on to at the moment. Dick, quite easily understanding what he meant, took a deep breath before reading his grapple once again. “I kept her off of here because of their secret identities, if you truly believe that she also needs to be here, let her wait outside with you. I’m going in and checking on Chat.” 

 

With those parting words, Nightwing jumped to the night and used his grappling hook to make his entrance into the mansion while Damian looked at his wrist communicator with conflict. Dick had made a good point. Of course he had and of course Damian was smart enough to know the importance of disguise. He was trying to put one morally above the other and he was having a hard time while doing it. 

 

İnside the mansion, Nightwing opened his detective vision and moved in the teenager’s room quietly, seeing some fingerprints by the door he investigated. One hand was bigger than the other while the other one had a small residue of moisturiser, Gabriel and his assistant, Nathalie. He had seen the woman while searching the family, and it seemed like she was a lifelong assistant of theirs as she was with Gabriel even before Adrien was born. He wondered while moving towards the stairs if Gabriel had kept her away from all of his plans or was she a willing participant in his schemes. 

 

To be honest, he didn’t know how he couldn’t. Bruce always joked about how he’d blame Alfred if he was indeed found one day, while Alfred kept saying he had probable deniability since he couldn’t drive that tank of a car and was ordered to just clean a bat infested cave. Heh. Good old Alfred. Moving down the stairs without making a sound, Nightwing entered the dead zone and closed his vision as it was useless at the moment. Not knowing where he had to go to switch the damn thing off, he chose the closed up room at his right. Moving closer to it, he heard a faint hiccuping. Like someone crying silently. 

 

Opening the door silently was a tough act and was probably the only time he cursed at his built statue since it meant he couldn’t just enter the room with a small wiggle like Cass does. Snake Style or whatever she had called it that one time. He was sure she was just messing with him and mocking him for not having a lithe enough figure. Jokes on her, only one person in the family can throw batarangs while spread eagled in the air by two bed sheets thrown to the chandeliers… Great, now he remembered Tim’s 21th birthday where they all drank and did stupid things. His being the most stupid but hey, his competitive side did enjoy the fact that he could do it and no one else can. 

 

Back to the matter at hand, he entered the room as quietly as he could, his boots didn't even make a squeak while he moved on the white and spotless tile floor. Then he sees her. Remembering the family background of Adrien, he recognized Nathalie, average build and around her 30s. Red streak on her hair was a more striking recognition than her face to be honest. She was holding her glasses with one hand while slowly crying into her other. As if she felt his presence then, she stopped herself and quickly got up like she was ready for a fight and turned around. 

 

“Oh.” Was the first thing she said when she saw his face. Slowly retracting her stance and sitting back down to one of the small and -At least seems to be- quite uncomfortable half circle chairs. “I guess it took a bit longer. That’s why you’re here right ? Did Adrien wait too long and made you worry ?”  She hiccuped again while trying to hold her tears. She didn’t want to be perceived as weak in front of this hero, but it was a hard task when your whole life blows up in your face like this, she guessed.

 

“Actually, I’m just here as a backup. I know what Adrien is going to do, he is not like Mister Agreste after all. But I wouldn’t want him to beat up his old man if he tries to resist.” He said honestly before coming close to her and handed her a closed band-aid. 

 

When she looked up to him like he was joking with her he explained that it contained a mixture of mint and other herbs and used for relaxation. “You did what you did, I can’t and will not change that. But I know what it feels like to be stripped off of your power. Don’t dwell on the past, focus on what you want to do after you’ve done the time and have a clear head while thinking about it.” 

 

She looked at the offered item like it was insulting her till she started to laugh. “Maybe I should just attack you ?” She said with a small smile and hardly any malice behind her words. “Then, I’ll go down there, take those two hostages and then plan a way to kidnap Ladybug. All would be perfect this way, no ?” Dick snickered at her words before dropping the singular band-aid to the small table in front of her “Good plan. I’ll just be looking at a way to meet with those two in that case.” 

 

She nodded before getting up from her seat and putting her glasses once again “Try the computer then. I’m going to go outside and get drunk. Who knows, maybe I’ll even find a man to sleep with before some cops call me.” That wouldn’t be a healthy way to cope though Nightwing but didn’t stop her from leaving. She seemed wrecked up enough already, no need to bring her down even more and cuff her to the door or something. Before leaving, she stopped for a second and then turned to Nightwing who had moved to the computer in the middle of the room now. “Do you- Did you know him… I mean before all this-” 

“Yes. It wasn’t my call, but I did learn Adrien’s identity even before setting foot to Paris.” 

She took a deep breath and hugged herself “What will happen to him ?” She asked, afraid of the answer already as her mind was playing tricks on her about how bad he would be punished. “Hopefully, nothing.” Said Nightwing, turning to the computer and planting a weird rectangle device on it. It looked like one of those carryable phone chargers, but it had a screen on it and that screen soon popped up with different colors of texts too far away for her to distinguish. “On an act of justice at least. After that, I don’t know. I know he will be hurt for a long time because of this though.” 

 

She felt the nonchalant sting of that jab. It was well deserved, she thought. “Gabriel’s possessions should be standing with Adrien, at least he wouldn’t have a problem with money for a long time.” She said, slouching towards the door “The company would probably close down after a few years. Adrien’s aunt would be taking it over till Adrien came of age, but I- ‘we’ all know Adrien doesn’t have his fathers mind for fashion.” 

 

“I think you are missing a few crucial, necessary parts of a growing boy’s needs.” Said Nightwing, the small hacking device of his was making small ‘blimp’ noises randomly and flashing a bright green color, she didn’t need to be a computer wizard to understand what was happening. 

 

“Like a proper father figure, a family figure, an emotional helper if nothing else. Someone to help him get back up from his downtrodden stage, or hell, maybe just someone that would just cover him from the daily hate and harassment that I’m sure he will receive.” She sighed as he ranted, Gabriel wasn’t known for his emotional understanding after all. “I guess Gorilla can do that for a while, he was never with us after all.” She said while shrugging. “I’ll lend myself to the police if they can’t find me first tomorrow… Please don’t hurt him, he’s been through his fair share of trauma too.” She said before turning around as the computer opened, loudly welcoming Gabriel. Nightwing didn’t feel the need to call Damian in order to follow Nathalie. 

 

She proclaims a lot of things in their little speech just now and while he didn’t agree with some, he knew she was speaking her truth. He didn’t think she was a liar in the end. He turned to the computer and started to search for defense systems as all million dollar villas have these days. Sure enough, there is a program that controls the electricity of the entire mansion. Looking through his detective vision quickly, He swiftly found where the interference was worst and closed that whole segment, immediately getting his electronics back. Getting a better idea about the mechanics surrounding that room, Nightwing immediately saw the weird buttons made out of the portrait behind him. There were three buttons and they all seemed connected, so he pushed them all at the same time and the giant portrait opened up like a door to a deep hole that seemed to go for a long while. 

 

‘See kids, that's why you need to make the secret doors through the old ass clocks, nobody would touch that thing willingly and try to mess up with the settings.’ He thought before checking the hole. There was a dim, almost not even there, light at the bottom and from that point he could guess the depth to be around 50 meters. Give or take some since his mask couldn’t focus on that little of a light source to make an exact measure. Checking the surroundings a bit, he saw two silhouettes from afar, at least he was on the right track. 

 

Dick took out his grapple, it could only drop him to around 2 meters of course, he needed to use his wings for the rest of the fall which he was sure gonna be an enjoyable time. “Damian, the jammer is down, I’m going in through the office. First floor, left room through the front entrance. You can come after 45 minutes pass. No more no less. Let's give them enough time. Nightwing out.” 

 

With those words he put his claw to the edge of the drop and then slowly started to descend.

Chapter 38: Winged in paris-Major Reveals

Summary:

Gabriel had enough. He simply didn’t care when someone insulted his wife. He charged towards Nightwing full swing, missing a punch that was heading to the Nightwings perfectly shaped face.

Notes:

Have fun reading, not gonna lie, the burnout could be feeling through this chapter. I'm gonna finish it, of course, but man, sometimes you need more than motivation to write.

Waiting sucked. Waiting for a specific update, waiting for your time on the line, waiting for your food to cool down… These all sucked the joy out of things in Marinette’s eyes. Of course, the small things were nothing compared to the phone she couldn’t let go at her hand at the moment. She understood Nightwing’s reasons. She did. She agreed with it. She just didn’t care about it at the moment. Marinette needed to be there, she needed to be there for her Chaton. She was worried sick and beyond anxious at the moment. She wished she could live on this random rooftop that she had settled, go to her maman and hug her, ask her for advice. Mama and papa were always ready to help her and she needed it at the moment. 

 

She couldn't. She couldn’t talk about this with anyone, she couldn’t ask for assistance, she couldn’t help Chaton. She couldn’t do anything except wait on some random rooftop with her yoyo on phone mode.

 

Marinette took a deep breath and let it out slowly, her heartbeat didn’t slow down at all, or the queasy feeling in her stomach ceased to exist. But, at least now her eyes stopped being blurry. Marinette wasn’t sure if that was anything to be consoled by to be honest. 

 

At that moment of self pity, the phone she had been squeezing rang and it scared her off so much she almost dropped it to the ground. 15 meters down to the crowd. Marinette opened the phone, not even checking if the call was Chat or not and immediately asked what was happening. To be honest, Marinette was expecting to hear from Nightwing when she opened her phone, but to her surprise, it was actually Robin that answered. “How are you ?” Asked the younger boy, sounding genuine and not at all sarcastic like he had been since they’ve met. If she wasn’t in such a horrible mood, she would’ve been surprised by his way of speaking. “Horrible. How is Chat?” She said, already stopped sitting on the brick tiles and got up to her full height. 

 

There was a muffling sound on the line for a few seconds, like Robin was rubbing his forehead or something. “I don’t know. I’m right outside of the house that Chat is in right now. Nightwing is with him.” He said honestly, even though all of his instincts told him to stop, he had already called her and was too deep in it already. “B-b-But then how can you be sure that he is s-s-safe ? I mean why don’t you also go in to help him too!” She was so panicked at the moment that she didn’t even realize that she spoke half of her rant in french. 

 

“Calm down.” Said Robin, a hint of anger present in his voice even though it was behind a mountain of neutrality. “If he was in danger, Nightwing would’ve found a way to contact me. Also Chat is not alone down there either. The reason for my call was for you, Ladybug.” 

 

Marinette’s brow raised with his answer, her nervous pacing slowing down but not completely finished. “Me?” She asked as calmly as she could. Her heartbeat was starting to hurt her at the moment. “I know how uncomfortable you are. I know how it feels to wait on the sidelines.” The way he said the last part sting, the small voice crack in it was a solidifying fact that he was speaking the truth. “I know what will happen down there in about maybe half an hour. I know Chat will come out of it as broken. You are probably the only person he would want to see. Promise me that you won't interfere and I’ll give you the location of where we are.” 

 

Marinette took a deep breath and was about to swiftly say that she wouldn’t just get to the location, but then she stopped herself and tried to calm her beating heart. She understood the conditions, but she wasn’t sure if she could follow them. Maybe she wasn’t supposed to be there, maybe she would be just a hindrance towards a man she really cares about. But then that man's smiling face appeared in front of her, a smile so bright she was sure it could be compared to the sun. Then that smile slowly starts to turn around a frown. A painful one at that as Chat starts to claw at his own face while screaming with blinding pain. She could hear the deranged clowns, laughing at his predicament outside of that little bubble. 

 

No. She was going there. And if she is a hindrance, then it would be something she’ll deal with later. “Tell me.” She said shortly, getting ready to run without even waiting for Robin’s response. 

 

***

Chat heard the barely audible crack of stones towards the elevator first. To be honest he was expecting him to be coming here, after all, he had suddenly left the fight at the end and disappeared right then. It felt… good that there were people still caring for him, so much so they would come to check on him. He tried to not move his head towards the disturbance, but he had no control over his cat ears which had stood in attention the second he heard the cracking sound. Adrien could say many things about his father: obsessive, delusional, controlling, bossy, rustless, loveless-which-he-guessed-wrong-apparently and a terrorist. But he knew his father was never stupid. 

 

Contrary to his son’s abilities, Gabriel didn’t hear anything. Hell, he was sure that Nightwing could walk to his side and he’d still be unaware about it. But his eyes perked the moment Adrien’s ears shook suddenly and turned towards the elevator. ‘No no no! If one of his hero buddies are here then they can swing Adrien’s choice! If only I could-’ But, maybe it was a good thing that Adrien’s friends didn’t believe him, he could make a way out of it just yet if he could play his cards right. “One of yours I presume?” He asked, looking towards the elevator with a neutral face that was hiding a very nervous man. 

 

Adrien, understanding that there was no way to convince his father to the contrary, took a small breath and said that it might as well be Nathalie. Gabriel actually smiled at that statement before saying “I highly doubt that since she’d rather call the elevator than jump down slowly.” He also sighed loudly, giving an exasperated sigh of boredom. “Understandable, considering the situation you are in.” His heart hurted at those words. Yes he was trying to change Adrien’s mind about his villainous acts, but still, saying those words, even as a lie hurted him inside. Acknowledging that he indeed ruined his son's future, hurted more than he thought it would. 

 

“Should I introduce myself or do they know me ?” Gabriel asked, making his sound as pathetic as he could. “Probably they do.” Chat, waiting to see Nightwing’s body drop down from the shaft. “Well, I guess that much is to be expected.” Said Gabriel and started to wait with his son. A small part of him, a stupid, stupid part of him was yanking his arms, whispering to him that Adrien had dropped his guard. If he was fast enough he could hit Adrien’s head with a hard punch and lay him down. Gabriel hated listening to the stupid ones. 

 

They waited for a while, around 2 whole minutes until Gabriel started to question what was happening. “Does he… need help getting down from there ?” He asked, looking at his son who was continuing to look up to the shaft. “Well” He said, with a small joy “Maybe they do need to send more than one person if this was supposed to be your teacher.” Now those words did attract Adriens attention, even though it was in a negative way. He didn’t care too much about it to be honest, he might not be an ideal father figure or a man for that matter. But he always prided himself on giving people their just rights. He didn’t sugar coat, he didn’t gloat. He said it as it was meant to be. That was why his businesses stayed strong even through the harshest times. 

 

Adrien, after giving his father a ‘nasty’ look, started to scan the room, he knew Nightwing, he knew he wasn’t one to be asking for help much if at all. He had taught them how to be self-sufficient, how to rely on your own abilities and how to perfect them to suit you.Of course he was destined to make mistakes, they were all human after all, but Nightwing knew how to utilize it. He always had a backend, ‘always make a way out for yourself.’ It was one of his first lessons after all. With a sigh Adrien turned around, his nose collecting ten different scents at once but not the one he was hoping for. It was kinda hard to miss Nightwing’s colon with powers like his after all. 

 

He focused on unusual sounds: His fathers elevated heartbeat, the few pipes carrying water behind the walls of the opening. Then he sensed an unusuality in the air flow. It wasn’t windy but there was a small flow in the room, he guessed it was so that whoever moved down here wouldn’t be suffocated. He turned his head towards the small lake. Taking a step towards it, then another, then another. Soon enough, he was just three steps away from jumping to the small, pool size lake. He could feel his fathers questioning gaze at the back of his head. “Are you going to come out ? Or just accept his words ?” 

 

At first, Gabriel questioned the mental faculties of his son, and the next, suddenly there was a man materializing in front of him out of thin air. Gabriel took a step back while Adrien smiled with pain to the man that was looking at him with sorrow behind a mask covering his face. “You came.” Adrien said, his voice cracking even though he tried to hold it back. “I did.” Said Nightwing, fixing his opened up mask to its original form. “You find me easily. Still amaze me with your powers Chat.” He continued. Looking at the white haired man behind Adrien and his disgruntled face. “No maniac clowns or murdering psychopaths left ?” 

 

Gabriel puffed his chest for a second before opening his mouth and closing his eyes “You are the reason I had to call those things here! You are the reason I stoop so low and asked for help from those deranged mistakes! If you wouldn’t have poked your nose into it I would never have made the choices I did!” 

 

“Uh-huh” Answered Nightwing to Gabriel’s rant. “That was kinda the point though, you know ?” He took out his batons and connected them, scaring both Gabriel and Adrien for a second, they thought he was going to beat up the -has been- villain. But of course, Nightwing would never be that cold, it was usually Jason’s description. He used the staff as a leaning pool instead. “I mean, seeing how they were before me, I’m sure Ladybug and Chat would still catch you eventually. You are prone to make mistakes and miscalculate after all.” 

 

‘Calm down!’ Gabriel thought, squeezing his teeth so hard it was a wonder they haven’t broken yet. His hands turned to fists, white knuckles only hiding in the dim light. ‘He is trying to goad you into attacking. Clever boy wants to blame me. I won’t break and fall to the hands like yours, Hero ’ Contrary to his inner monologue, everyone in present could easily see how the taller man was on his last leg before jumping to attack either Nightwing or his own son. 

 

“No.” Said Nightwing, gaining Gabriel’s focus once again “I’m here because I need to be. Because sometimes the most heroic thing you can do is to help a child even if you don’t think he makes the correct choice.” 

 

“What?” Asked Adrien and Gabriel both at the same time. 

 

Nightwing sighed in, “I know what's going on in your life Chat. I know what kind of man you want to be and I know what your biggest wish would be.” While saying that last part, Nightwing showed the display that Adrien’s mother was entombed in with his head. “I don’t know what's going on with your mother -I know it's serious- but there can be other ways then asking for a wish. A wish that is designed to take something else in her stead.” 

Nightwing moved towards Adrien, putting his left hand to Adrien’s shoulder “Don’t think this as Chat Noir the hero, or the poor boy who has lost his mother. Think of your choice as Adrien Agreste.” He came close to Chat’s ear, even though he knew Gabriel could still hear him with how much echo this cave had. “I’ll hold your dad till then. Think about what you will do here.” 

 

“No Adrien! Don’t listen to this idiot! I’ve tried before! I’ve tried to reverse the magic effects! I called upon every known and unknown magician. All of them said this was beyond their capabilities! None of them could help us but this wish!” 

 

“And did you ever think that maybe there is a reason for it?” 

 

Gabriel had enough. He simply didn’t care when someone insulted his wife. He charged towards Nightwing full swing, missing a punch that was heading to the Nightwings perfectly shaped face. He tried again but this time Nightwing easily caught his hand and twisted it around before jumping through it like it was a rope. capturing him completely and hurting his arm quite much in the progress. Adrien, stuck between his inspiration of a hero figure and his literal father, didn’t know what to do when he saw his father attack Nightwing. He wanted to be away from there, really, really far away. 

 

Thankfully, Nightwing let Gabriel’s hand go as soon as the older man screamed in pain and then told him to not do that again ever. “With this out of the way, I can call someone else to take a look at your mother Adrien. Zatanna’s father, he might help us, or a dozen other, stronger magicians.” 

 

“Are you daft boy? I told you I couldn’t find one person to break that poisonous spell! Why are you caring for anyway? You and him are not on the same table. I know Adrien is hurted just as much as me when Emilie died. I know he also wants his mother back.” 

 

Adrien’s eyes went between Gabriel’s blue ones and Nightwings white lenses. He was telling the truth, Adrien never had much time with his mother and wanted to see her again. More than anything, he wanted his family to be full and stable. But it seemed like that wish had already spoiled. One side of him, a smaller but more convincing side of him wanted to thrust his father, they both wanted Emilie back after all. He wanted the image he saw day in and day out to be his too. In everywhere he goes, Marinette’s family, Nino’s family even Chloe’s family to a degree. He was the only one without a full family. He felt like an outsider for it all his life. He wanted to feel that love the other received daily. 

 

But his other side was disgusted with the idea. He wasn’t just Adrien Agreste, the sad millionaires son with a promising but a hollow future, he was the Chat Noir of Paris. He was the reason people walked at night safely, he was the reason the crime rate had dropped down significantly. 

 

Him and Ladybug. Oh god, The Ladybug. His eternal partner, how could he convince her ? How could he explain himself to her ? He couldn't. She was devoted to her task ust as much as he was. She’d be disgusted by him. Sickened to the idea of using the miraculouses for such a selfish desire. Without realizing his eyes had started to get blurry from the tears he tried to stop. Maybe his father was right, he might just need to close his heart to it. To all of it and do his job, the job he was trusted with. No one would probably care about what happened to him too. Adrien Agreste would be shunned in the streets for having a monster for a father, maybe just being the mask was the better option for him. 

 

While Adrien was in the middle of closing heart to all around him, he felt a hand on his shoulder again. He didn’t know how Nightwing managed to do it, but his touch, the gentle yet firm grip of his always assured Chat in some way. Just as it did right now. He looked up to him, the slight smirk he always carried with himself was back to Nightwing’s face and then he did something incredible. He moved his hand to one of his pouches and took out something that looked like a small nasal spray, and then he sprayed it to his face, specifically to his mask. 

 

Both Adrien and Gabriel looked at him as he removed his mask, even though his communicators were closed, he was sure he could still hear the disapproving grunts Bruce and the rest of them let out in the cave. Masks are always recorded after all. “Trust me Mister Agreste, I know how both of you feel about losing your family. I’ve gone through the same struggles.”

 

***

BACK IN THE BATCAVE

 

“Wow. He really did it.” 

“Uh-huh”

“I mean, it was a dramatic moment so I understand.” 

“hgn.”

“Then… should we be worried about our identities ?”

“I wouldn’t think that to be a necessary master Duke.” 

“Woff”

 

Bruce took a deep breath while reaching with his hand to Ace’s head in order to pat him. Everyone in the family; Barbara, Tim, Selina, Cass, Duke, Alfred and of course, Ace was watching the live feed from Nightwing’s mask. ‘How many times do I have to remind him not to show his face I wonder.’ Bruce thought, his arms were getting tense but thankfully Ace was doing his best to calm his nerves. They had this talk before, it was one of their core rules. Something that they wowed to only break when it was absolutely necessary.  Selina came by his side and slightly tousled his hair like he was a small kid. “Don’t be too harsh to him, think it as a good way to distract them, you know.” 

 

He grunted again, not really in the mood to be talked down to, but he had to admit, he also wasn’t as angry as he maybe should have. After all, even though he was trying to look like he was pissed, he also understood everyone in that situation. He knew what that obsession would make people do. 

 

Once in his life, in his early days of being Batman, when he was feeling most alone in his life, Spectre and Phantom Stranger played a game with him. Spectre gave him his family back in exchange for the whole city. He was almost about to take that offer. ‘Without your tragedy, there is no Batman, without Batman, there is no need for Gotham. A place so far away from the eyes of everyone, a place that is so uninteresting, so mundane, so boring, the only reason for it to spark an intrigue is you, Batman.’ 

 

Stranger gave him another sight,  a sight that he was married, had a family, kids and a wife. His father and mother had left the city with him, because the night that they were supposed to die was the night their mansion had broken into. He didn’t know how but Bruce suddenly remembered seeing poor Alfred being shot dead in that dream. In that dream, everyone he knew was dying, Jim was killed by a gang mob, his dying filmed and put on display. Barbara was about to die while holding Grayson at gunpoint, both of them unaware of the territory they broke into as Penguins men were getting ready to shoot them both. Tim was in an abandoned building, shivering, hungry and alone. The thing is, he didn’t know any of these people yet he felt connected to them somehow. 

 

He declined their offer, Spectre left him with an angry grunt, telling him that he better not slack off while Stranger smiled at him and told him to not worry too much about his friend. He raised his hand suddenly, creating a white light from his palms. “We haven’t met yet and I’d rather not have it in these conditions, so, for now, let's keep this moment of your… spectacle life in a box shall we ? The box would open itself up when all the puzzle pieces fit together later. Bruce Wayne.” 

 

It took him around 5 to 6 years till he could remember that moment. Needless to say, there was a very good reason he didn’t like magic users. 

 

Turning on the topic once again, he continued to watch Dick talk to the two Agreste’s while his mask shook in his hand. “He is his own man, if he decided this was a good option, I’m only going to lecture him later.” He said finally, making Selina bend down and leave a small kiss on his cheek. 

Chapter 39: Winged in Paris - The End of a Villain

Summary:

“But it doesn’t have to be.” Nightwing said and made him focus on the young man again “Bruce Wayne, under all his layers of lies and tricks will never let a kid's life to the gutter. Neither will I.”

Notes:

Have a good day/Night!

Marinette rushed to the coordinates Robin gave her in full speed, accidentally breaking a few street lambs and roof tiles. In her panic she didn’t even realize she was following a rather familiar road. At the moment, her mind was fizzling from overload, thinking what was going on with Chat, worrying about his safety, worrying about his future as Chat Noir and plus trying to run at her top speed. When she finally saw a vaguely visual shadowy figure in front of her for a second, she immediately threw her yoyo towards the figure and started to reel herself back when the yoyo’s head stuck to the chimney next to the figure. 

 

She landed down with the style of a gecko instead of a cat and almost tackled Robin in the process. Her shoulder immediately protested her actions but she didn’t have time to think about that right now. “Sorry about that” She said, not really feeling sorry for her blunder at the moment because of her state of panic. She practically dragged him back up and was about to ask him where Chat was when she finally noticed the quite familiar building shimmering with quiet menace. 

 

For a few seconds there Marinette thought her brain did a reboot before it could handle the grief she felt for her long time friend and crush. ‘Wait… Chat Noir, was Adrien AGRESTE! The Adrien Agreste that I’ve known for longer than a year and horribly downed bad for! Wait… I met him in my ROOM! I HAD Adrien in my room and I didn’t even know it!’ She wanted to bury her head in the nearest sand block so her face would never be seen again. She was embarrassed, well, embarrassed than normally she would when she was forced to talk about Adrien that is. What was she bubbling about? Who knows. She definitely doesn’t. For a whole minute she continued this, mumbling underneath her breath and pacing the rooftop where they were standing, making Robin cautious. Then she suddenly stopped and quickly turned to Robin with a horrified expression on her face. She had finally figured out the real problem, but she still needed to confirm it. 

 

In her body, she knew the answer already, after all the probability of someone else being him was lower than dirt. But still, she wanted to, she needed to confirm it. “If Adrien is Chat Noir, then that means his father…” She couldn’t even finish the sentence but the expressionless eyes Robin stared at her with said more than enough. All her life she saw Gabriel Agreste as a possible mentor, someone she wanted to work under, learn from and grow higher through. Admittedly, her admiration had cooled down a lot when she learned how strict he was as a parent, never letting Adrien out of his sight and how much Adrien despised that side of the man. But still, she didn’t see these things as necessarily bad, she found them negative and wouldn’t approve of some things if she had a say in it, but then her mama had been strict with her when she needed to be and Marinette was better for it in the end. 

 

To cut the story short, she didn’t see the man as evil, more like overtly strict. Now, she suddenly learned that the man she somewhat admired and wanted to be like when she grew up was the cancerous villain eating at the heart of Paris itself all this time. 

 

“Glad you realize the situation” Said Robin, knowingly sharp with his words because of how she was acting. “I- I… -I’m sorry.” Said Marinette, accepting her uncouth reaction to the information she just received. After all, Robin didn’t know who she was and why she was suddenly freaking out because everything she thought she knew turned out to be a play! ‘Calm down Marinette!’ She yelled at herself, she wasn’t the important person right now, it was Chatrien and she needed to focus on helping him get through this horrible time. 

 

“Heads up.” Said Robin, making her focus on their watchpoint again. She saw five police cars with GIGN Forces behind them coming through the road, two police helicopters were following them and even from this distance she could hear the distinct voice of Lieutenant Roger’s booming voice.

***

Chat slowly raised himself to the broken window he had come from, reading to jump away to the darkness he craved at the moment. Tomorrow he had a lot of things to do, but for tonight, just for tonight he wanted to be alone. He wanted to feel safe one last time before his life turned for the worse. He took out the wedding ring his father gave him, it belonged to his mother, Gabriel said. A last gift before he could give nothing else to his son. 

 

Chat wondered if Marinette was in her house, he wanted to go and see her, hug her and cry at her lap like a sad kitten would, after all he had done for this city was it too much to ask for a moment of weakness? 

 

‘No’ He answered his own question. He couldn’t drag her down with him, he couldn’t leave traces and he couldn’t make attachments. Better to be forgotten then be  remembered and hated for it he guessed. His name was about to be anyway, no need to make Chat Noir a second hand of it either. With that mental plan, he jumped to the next building and started to run with tears in his eyes and shaking shoulders, unaware of the two people behind him trying to catch up to him.

 

***

“Getting nervous at the end ?” Asked Nightwing as he watched the skinny man in front of him keep shaking his legs while sitting on the large contemporary couch in their living room. Gabriel slightly laughed at his question. Yes, in truth he was getting nervous. From time to time he imagined the ending, on top of a rooftop, in the basement next to his entombed wife, holding his cane as a sword in order to defend himself against two rabid dogs in superhero costumes. He never imagined it would be like this though. He never imagined he would be coerced to surrender this easily. Nightwing (Or Dick Grayson as his normal, human name) knew exactly where to push and where to stick when he was talking. 

Mere 5 Minutes Ago 

 

Out of all the things, Gabriel didn’t expect Nightwing to take out his mask and more weirdly, to recognize the person behind it after looking at his face more carefully. He was with Bruce Wayne when they met a while ago. He was there when Adrien wanted to go to that awful pool with his classmates. He must’ve been all over them for a while, watching closely but not showing his true colors like an iguana hiding from predators. “You were with Bruce Wayne! From that pool side thing weeks ago.” He said, unable to control his mouth due to the shocking news he received. Dick nodded along to him “Your memory serves you well.” He said with a quirky smirk creeping on his lips. 

 

“Wait.” Said Chat, putting the puzzle pieces together with incredible speed and realizing the guy who was sitting at his right side was not just an overtly emo boy whose father is a billionaire but one that was sent there to spy on him! Nightwing, as if he knew what was going on the poor boy's head, put his pointing finger to his sly lips slowly while shushing him “Trust me, he doesn’t like it when people realize who he is.” Dick said with a wink, reminding Chat how annoying Robin can be when dealing with him normally and how even more annoying he could potentially be when he holds a grudge. 

 

“So you were stalking my son from the very beginning.” Said Gabriel, still trying to make the most of what he had in order to make his son help him instead of the black and blue clad hero standing in front of him. “Such a great hero work, following a minor like a creepy fan just because of his hidden identity.” Dick wanted to laugh at the skinny man’s words but since he still had to make a positive impression, he held himself and turned to the minor in question “If it’s any consolation, It wasn’t my idea. I just found it rather more convenient when we split up after patrols. It lets me sleep soundly knowing you and Ladybug are safe and sound.” Gabriel was about to interject and call Dick a liar once again, but before he could Adrien beat him to it by laughing. 

 

Confused by the child's reaction, both of the adults looked at each other with one eyebrow raised till Adrien stopped himself and explained that Dick didn’t need to lie about something like that. “I learned how much of  a spy-like you can be, I’m just glad you won’t use them for nefarious purposes. Dick, smiling once again, said he shouldn’t be too sure about anything. Adrien just shook his head in disagreement “If you would, there were plenty of times for you to do it these last few months. Thank you for respecting it.” He turned towards his mother once after this little respite, it felt like his soul had taken a sigh of relief, however brief it was. He wanted to save his mother, of course he wanted that. But he knew he couldn’t do it without a substantial sacrifice. He wasn’t ready to make a call like that. What would be the point of saving the woman he loved with all his heart if that woman would be disgusted by his acts. 

 

With a deep breath he touched the stainless glass casing that his mother was entombed in. Her face was as clear as he remembered, not one wrinkle on it. A face full of serene and relaxed neutrality on it. She didn’t seem bothered by the world going around her while also a really small, pained smile was capturing her light pink lips like she’d still like to reject her situation. 

 

He wondered what would happen if he opened the capsule. Would she suddenly wake up ? Would she suddenly start to crumple like it happened in the crystal skull ? He didn’t know and after imagining such a scene in his head, he didn’t want to find out what would happen either. 

 

He wanted to be with his mother, with all his heart he wanted this. He would do anything for it, he’d fight Ladybug over it if he needed to. That was the thing though, he knew there was nothing to save his mother by conventional means. Not without making a sacrifice for it first and what was the point of saving someone if you had to kill someone else equally important. Of course, a wish granting god just doesn't have the power to kill some random dictator or a villain that collects kills like a candy addict kid, noooo, that would be too good. There wouldn’t be enough tears and curses that way. As someone who’s friends with the embodiment of destruction, he knew it would be boring this way. 

 

He let go of the glass tomb and turned towards the adults with barely contained tears. “I need to make it right. Father. For everything you did.” 

—

 

Since their talk at the hidden lair, they have moved up and suddenly Chat said he wanted to be left alone till tomorrow, then he will be coming back. Dick didn’t even have time to agree as Adrien didn’t wait for his answer and just moved towards the stairs leading up to his room. Dick looked at him from behind before sighing and escorting Gabriel to the living room. He made a quick call to the police, giving the coordinates of the house instead of the name because he had some other things to talk about Gabriel before he would be silenced for a long time. He moved towards the table in the middle and with a little push on it, opened the secret compartment, just as his xray vision said, there was a bottle of wine in it with three medium size wine glasses. “For relaxing nerves ?” He asked as he took out one glass and the bottle from there. “Usually for the other party, seeing the table open up with a button also impresses people more than one would realize.” He accepted the red wine that was reaching to him, taking a small sip and savouring the taste, who knew when he tasted it again after all. 

 

“You won’t accompany me ?” He asked mockingly. He was glad that this youngster wasn’t going to humiliate him further by touching his chopped lips to his glasses. “Not while I’m on the job.” Said Dick and then sat down at the table’s edge, it was mighty uncomfortable but he needed to see the man's eye because he was going to talk about some pretty serious stuff. “Wanna know why I’ve given coordinates instead of just saying the house's name ?” 

“Don’t know, are you gonna beat me up before the cops show up ?” 

“Could’ve if you resisted. But, the real reason is not really for you, it's rather for Adrien.” 

 

Gabriel looked at the young man in front of him and then drank the rest of the glass in one go, letting the little alcohol in it burn the back of his throat on the way down. “You did it, he is going to be living with his aunt and cousin.” He said with acid “Both of them can rot in hell for all I care, but at least he won’t starve.” Nightwing nodded, It was good to know Adrien had options. But he still wanted to present his idea nonetheless. “I had another idea for him. With your blessing and support, I think he can be more than just the son of Hawkmoth.” 

 

Gabriel’s eyes bore at him with contempt but he knew he couldn’t do much of anything, the only reason his hands weren't tied was because Adrien had asked Nightwing not to do it. Dick only did it with the promise that Gabriel wouldn’t try anything. “When everyone learns what you were up to, your company, your fortune and your name will be confiscated for sure. Everyone under you, everything under your thumb will be taken away and will be used for gods knows what.” 

 

Gabriel smiled at the last part before fixing his collars “You suck at giving pep-talks you know that ?” He said. Hiding behind his dry sarcasm while actually screaming at himself for being this weak, both of body and soul. Maybe he was ought to fight his son, then maybe he could’ve taken his miracle without hurting him and then he’d have a fighting chance… Yeah, even his subconscious thinking knew this was bullshit. 

 

“But it doesn’t have to be.” Nightwing said and made him focus on the young man again “Bruce Wayne, under all his layers of lies and tricks will never let a kid's life to the gutter. Neither will I.” Nightwing stopped, letting his words sink in while getting up from his uncomfortable ‘Chair’. “You said you did all of this for your son. In that case prove it. Have a talk with your lawyer- Which I’m sure is that woman with red strike on her hair- give your fortune to someone trustable if it's not Adrien’s aunt.”  

 

“What are you saying ?” Asked Gabriel, already having an idea what Nightwing was implying. Nightwing took a deep breath before explaining his crazy idea “I’m offering a clean state. Adrien comes with me to the Wayne mansion, lives in relative silence till he wants to quit and then sets up his path with your fortune, spending it however he wants to spend it. The rest of your assets rests with Bruce which in turn would be a guarantee for your silence about who we are… You know, other than the lack of credibility on it anyway.” With Nightwing’s words Gabriel stared at the young man in front of him with eyes as wide as binoculars, trying to gather if he was serious or was he making fun of him in a super elaborative way. Nightwing rolled his eyes to the man's silent treatment. “If you didn’t realize, Bruce Wayne doesn’t really need your money or your monetary gains. He does, however, work as a great vault which no one would be able to open up. Neither legally or any other way.” He sighed before taking the bottle he had put on the table before and gently giving it to Gabriel who hadn’t changed his expression in a while “This way, at least your son doesn’t have to start from the ground up. Also, if you get out of jail on a surprisingly short notice, you can continue to live your life economically safe if you really need it.” 

 

Gabriel laughed once again, the distant blaring of sirens were getting closer even though he didn’t really register it “Is this how Bruce became rich I wonder. Just giving a supposed saving hand to the desperate idiots and pulling the rug under their feet.” He sighed, taking the bottle of wine and drinking the fiery liquid from the spiteful source “If I need to sign something on you, give it to me.” He said, after almost halving the bottle. Adrien’s aunt is one of the worst people I have the displeasure of meeting. His child is a hell spawn whose only reason for existing is being a cheap knockoff of my Adrien.” He took a moment to breathe. Thinking how Adrien would react to his words. Probably poorly considering what had happened mere minutes ago. Still, that doesn’t chance the facts he just laid out there. Amelie always wanted what she would not have. Ever. “Ask Adrien about it then, I’m sure he will be away from my wings soon enough.” 

 

He shook his hand to Nightwing as if he was trying to swap an annoying fly. Trying to be left alone in the final hours of his freedom. In a cage he made himself, an empty husk he could hide inside and feel ‘safe’. “I had something else to propose too. Which needs to be done quickly if you agree to it.” 

 

Gabriel looked up upon the hero that had finished his life in all sense but literal, his eyes were shifty and his stance was oozing insecurity. Gabriel was a smart man, he knew his weaknesses and his strengths. He also knew how to read people, even though Nightwing wasn’t really one for hiding his emotions and ideals. “No.” Gabriel said quickly, his own pulse starting to rise up through the foggy alcohol's hold. “Not her, never her. You can kill me for it but no one can touch my Emilie!” he said the last part with a certain anger in it, an anger that had been controlling him all his life. He wasn’t fond of it but he was also not against it. That anger was reserved against anything that tried to harm his wife. 

 

Nightwing rolled his eyes, it wasn’t like he was going to hurt her, he wanted to at least try to revive her. “I want to help her. I can see that both of you are very attached to Miss Agreste and I would like to help her, or at least try-” 

 

“How many times do  have to say you stupid boy my wife cannot be-” 

“Then shut the fuck up and listed to me this time Agreste! If it's really impossible to help her then I promise to not hurt her in any way shape or form. If it is possible then you get your wife back, Adrien gets his mother and I get a giant t-shirt for you that says ‘I told you so.’ on it.” Said Nightwing, finally snapping out to the stubborn man's antics, even though he still managed to sneak in a joke there at the end. “In any case, she won’t be harmed and she won’t be turned into a trophy by a hospital or something.” 

 

The sounds of the sirens were much closer right now, the blue and red lights on top of the police cars were getting more and more visible from the reflections on the walls. Gabriel felt something wet hit his pants, he looked at it and suddenly two more of the mystery liquid dropped on the same spot. They were tears, he didn’t even know he could cry anymore. Suddenly, the situation he was in became too funny for him to handle and even in his infinite stoicism, he started to laugh slowly, his eyes finally hurting from the pain of the tears and his life broken to smaller and smaller pieces. 

Chapter 40: Winging in Paris - The END

Summary:

No summary this time. It is the end after all :)

The next few days were hectic to say the least. Chat remembered his talk with Marinette the next day, learning her secret identity was just the starting stone to the erosion of shocking news he had learned that day. Firstly, Marinette. The young girl he was starting to have feelings for was Ladybug. The ladybug he had been crushing for a long time, the same one he had been talking to Marinette about, was actually Marinette.

 

Well, that all made sense in some ways, he thought. Both Ladybug and Marinette were smart, gorgeous, courageous, silly from time to time and of course… Not caring about him. Yeah that thought made his spirit break a bit. He didn’t force his situation, didn’t want to burden her with his backbreaking load. He just thanked her for trusting him enough to keep Plagg as his companion and handed her Nooroo. He couldn’t honestly move forward without his small guardian. 

 

The next shock came by when he wasn’t under a mask that could cover him, his custody court. It was a swift one, both in the sense of speedy conclusion and in the sense of time as he thought it would take the system months to be called in the court, not three days. In that time Chat had talked to both Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, hearing their offer, it sounded like an escape route at first. But then, his other option wasn’t much to talk about either. He loved his aunt and didn’t have a problem with his cousin, but that didn’t sound enough for him at the time. 

 

It wasn’t distracting enough, he wouldn’t do anything while away from Paris, under the shadow of his Aunt who he knew hated his father. He wanted to… He didn’t know what he wanted. He just wanted to be away. Which is why he agreed to Bruce’s offer, shaking the rough and calloused hand that was in front of him. “We will be talking about your training later Adrien, that is, if you want to talk about it. I’ll respect it either way.” He had said and then made a masterpiece at Adrien’s custody case, showing evidence of abuse even Adrien didn’t know he was going through, learning about how jealous and spiteful Felix and his aunt can be in the meantime. He honestly didn’t know where Bruce Wayne got that much information about Adrien’s childhood, which then they all learned that those videos and pictures were captured by Adrien’s father, Gabriel. Bruce had said, while he had no idea about Gabriel’s secret identity, he had been actively talking and trying to gather a stronger bond with the man because he wanted to collaborate with his business. 

 

When the Judge asked Adrien what he wanted to do, Adrien answered easily, he wanted to get away from here. From Paris. Be with his mother even though she was in a giant capsule that was sent to Wayne Corps for analysis and to find a possible cure. All under the wishes of Gabriel Agreste. Of course, his say in wasn’t really considered that much since he was a minor, but still, he was sure his raw emotions had a few string pull on the judges cold and calculating eyes. 

 

Speaking of which, he had time to talk with his father before his incarceration. All his years he always tried to find a way to interact with his own father, try to create a bond. And now, while he only had minutes to talk to the man that was with him since his birth, he couldn’t say anything. In their five minutes of time, all they did was watch each other's eyes. Even then, seeing the always immaculately dressed, freshly shaven and hauntingly perfect man he thought about now in some rags they found in the police station was a sobering experience. It teaches him that even the infallible Gabriel Agreste could, in fact, fall. 

 

It took around a week for everything to be done, everyone asked his point of view like it mattered at all. From the biggest news stations to the smallest streamers.  What was he going to say ‘ Oh you know guys, my father is a villain but he made it for love and all that. I apologize on his behalf for now’ What, was he going to say Gabriel didn’t actually mean it and you need to look into it deeper or something like that ? Thankfully Bruce and Dick were there beside him, never letting the media vultures get too close to him and always keeping him on their side. Adrien couldn’t lie, he liked the feeling of protection. 

 

When The Supreme Court finally made a decision on Adrien’s life they agreed that the child should stay with Wayne Family which would be consistently visited till he becomes of legal age. Adrien’s aunt didn’t like that decision at all, even threatening to sue Bruce for it after the court. Bruce didn’t budge, said it was the least he could do for a man who lost everything he ever loved. Both Gorilla and Nathalie get away with community service for 300 hours when their involvement with the Gabriel’s crimes were without evidence. 

 

Of course, before he was gone Adrien made sure to visit both of them, Natalie seemed to be trying to hold her face as emotionless as possible. Of course, it was not that easy to do when all she did was throw lightning with her eyes to the two people behind Adrien. She said that her phone was always going to be open for him and if he ever needed anything she would be waiting for a call. Gorilla wasn’t as cold as her, he immediately hugged Adrien, not even caring for the cuffs he had on, lifting the boy to the air. 

 

He couldn’t lie, that was the one moment these last few weeks that made Adrien laugh out loud. He didn’t say anything as his usual self, but his eyes did enough of the talking. They told him not to worry. He would be there. It was good to know that there were still people he could trust without a doubt. 

 

His class was another story. 

 

Bruce actually tried to stop him before he could go in there. Maybe he should’ve listened to Bruce. 

 

All he needed to do was get to his locker and get a few memorabilia he held dear to his heart. Pictures of him and his friends, pictures of his mother and father, pictures of Nathalie and others. He wouldn’t need the tablets of the schools, he wouldn’t need his old notebooks or pens or anything else. All of these could be brought in the states after all. Damian volunteered to go in and get the rest of the items he needed in his locker but Adrien persisted. Said he needed to start apologizing from somewhere sooner or later. He thought it would be easier to do in his school but he didn’t expect what happened next. 

 

It started with a few murmurs, then a few yells and then it turned to chaos as books, papers, pens, tablets and whatever else they had on their hands. His teacher tried to protect him but it was all in vain as the protesters only grew stronger and stronger. As the teachers called the police, he ran away, trying his hardest to stay away from the public eye and finally finding himself in front of The Liberty, Juleka and Luka’s houseboat. He saw Miss Couffaine, their eyes met with each other and he thought he was about to get another earful from her. She didn’t blame him, in fact she quickly hushed him into her boat, saying it would be safer to stay there then anywhere else. 

 

He couldn’t disagree with her, he knew what he received was rightful, he was the son of a domestic terrorist after all. He couldn’t think of a better person to have a target on his back. While waiting he heard a few noises and when he got out of his… Cabin room? He met face to face with Luka. Luka, unlike he thought, didn’t blame him either, he just hugged him and said if Adrien needed anything to get through this time he and his friends were there for him. 

 

Not long after, the others also met with him, Marinette, maintaining her distance but still managing to rub his shoulder while the others kept reminding him that what Gabriel did wasn’t his fault. He thought he would suffocate in there, he thought he’d sense the crocodile tears if someone spelled them. He didn’t expect to be crying on the shoulders of his best friend Nino. 

 

While Adrien was on this rollercoaster of suppressed emotions, Bruce easily found him and came up to the ship, threatening to sue Anarka if she tried to throw him to the river. For a guy who was all about being sneaky, he could easily make sure that he was seen if he wanted to. 

 

He hated goodbyes. He hated goodbyes all his life but this one was the hardest one. He had to say goodbye to a lot of people, more people than he thought he knew. He started with the class, explained that he was going to continue his education in the states at least for the time being. They all said they’d miss him, he didn’t know which one of them meant it to be honest. Chloe didn’t seem that much bothered by it to be honest. Neither Lila but then again, what was he expecting on that front. The teachers came second, Miss Bustier hugged him with small tears forming on her eyes, told him that there was always a seat here for him if he decided to come back and apologized to him for what happened two days ago like it was her fault that the kids got angry. 

 

Miss Mendeleiev didn’t hug him, she shook his hand and told him to always keep his head high. “You are a few genuine gems I’ve ever seen in that class, Adrien. Don’t let a mistake done by someone else affect you.” 

***

The trip to Gotham wasn’t that exciting, nothing really happened in the plane and the others left Adrien to his own thoughts. He chatted with Plagg for a bit before his eyes started to get heavy and after a moment of weakness, he slept for a good portion of the flight out of exhaustion. The Wayne Manor was the biggest house he had ever seen. Yes, even bigger than his own house. In their house, there was a room dedicated to sewing machines for some reason. His father didn’t use sewing machines. The whole room was covered in thick dust because no one entered and he always wondered what was the reason for it. In Wayne Manor, there were 4 different living rooms. One that no one enters and two more that people rarely enter. Why though, he didn’t know. 

 

Bruce and his family were welcoming ones. They never imposed strict rules on him except for Alfred who said everyone eats breakfast at noon so the best he could do would be an assortment of side dishes if he was an early bird. At weekends. He didn’t understand at first but then remembered that everyone in here were heroes on their own account. 

 

The Family and how they interact with each other was the biggest difference he had seen from his own life. The first night they came, Bruce sat at the head seat of the dinner table and focused on his newspapers while drinking coffee and slowly eating a roasted pork dish. Dick was closest to Adrien, trying (and failing miserably) to subtly look at the poor boy, assess if Adrien was feeling bad. 

 

More than that, Adrien was focused on the sibling bickering going on between Tim Drake and Damian Wayne as both of them try to get the last sarma from the table. After the dinner, Alfred took him to his room, one of the many ones that was simply decorated. Everything essential was there, even his own bathroom. For entertainment, there was a TV and a bookcase full of range, from War and Love to the wimpy kid. The bed was comfortable, not as big or wide as his own back in Paris but it was nothing to complain about. Both Alfred and Bruce get his baggage and tell him to take it easy till a few days. Bidding him a good night's sleep before closing the door behind him. 

 

For a few minutes he just sat there looking at the ceiling. In just a few days, a bit shorter than two weeks of time, his life had changed dramatically. He never knew it would be like this when he first took the mantle of Chat Noir, he always thought he’d continue to fight against Hawk moth for a long time, maybe even years later. He always thought he’d be close with his high school friends even after a long time. They were some of the best people he had ever met and he wanted to keep it that way. 

 

Now though, his name meant danger, his friends looked at him with worry and he was living away from the city he loved and swore to protect. Honestly, if his father had found a way to make a butterfly out of his cell and made it fly towards Adrien he wouldn’t even be mad about it. He was devastated. Felt like someone pulled the plug on his life and left it to die in the wild winds. 

 

The Nightwing came to his room, not through the door like a normal person of course, but from the open window with his costume. He sat with Adrien and told him he could say whatever he wanted to him. Whatever he wanted to talk to or not talk to, he was okay with it and he was there for him. In that moment of confusion, all Adrien managed to gather from the sea of questions in his mind was why Nightwing was helping him here. 

 

To his question dick raised an eyebrow and laughed, saying he was the big brother of their little group and he was used to talking to others because of it. “Bruce is… a good man, but even he understands it's sometimes hard to open up to him. He is just… too big of a figure, no ?” Adrien couldn’t really disagree, Bruce Wayne was nothing but gentle with him so far, but even his presence was making goosebumps on his neck. It was probably the knowledge of the man liking to be under a haunting mask but that was a different story altogether. 

 

Still, Adrien was grateful for everything they did for him. He opened up to Dick slowly, explaining how bad he felt for what his father had done and what he had to do in that cave. Dick was easy to talk to, and Barbara Gordon was the best listener of the group. 

 

The others tried their best too from time to time but it was clear that they weren’t really good at it. Jason was more of a man of action, he liked to face the problems head on which didn’t really make a great conversationalist. Drake was usually sleep deprived and a coffee addict (Just like a black haired girl he knew in Paris) so Adrien tried to not bother him even though he said it was fine. Stephanie was a bit too hyperactive to have a talk, though she was a great partner when they patrolled at nights. Cassandra was a quiet person, she was good at listening but the talk usually went one way. Damian wasn’t a good listener or a talker, though both of them loved the animals in the property and Damian gladly helped him familiarize with them. 

 

The one person he really got along with was, surprisingly, Catwoman. Maybe because they both liked cats, cat themes on their costumes and both of them liked to speak with sarcasm then letting out much about themself. She was like a perfect copy of Chat Noir minus the powers. 

Speaking of powers, Chat was trying his hardest to not use them too much, gone was the Chat Noir, master of quips and puns. Now he was calling himself Black Cat when they went to petrol. Okay, maybe the naming could use a little work with how it's literally just Chat Noir in English, but with the changes he made on his costume with Plagg’s help, no one seemed to have caught on to it yet. So far, he was okay with it. 

 

His training under Nightwing turned to Batman’s training as he wanted to learn as much as he could in Gotham. It was hard, really hard. But thanks to Nightwing’s help it was still manageable. Of course, being away from his city didn’t mean he was also away from his friends. Nino, Luka and the others called him regularly either with phones or with webcams. Marinette, on the other hand, called him daily. To be honest it was usually the highlight of his day to day life. They had a lot in common, believe it or not. Of course it was a bit awkward to talk to each other knowing the masks they liked to don, but when that few days passed, it was rather smooth sailing from there. Sometimes they didn’t even talk and just texted memes at each other out of boredom. 

 

Of course, being in a house full of detectives, it was rather fast till the others catched on to what he was doing and how he was smiling whenever he opened up his phone. Of course, they didn’t have a problem with it, hell the most Bruce said about was to offer to make their connection to a private one but there was no need for it for now. They didn’t message each other while on petrol, just talked when they got a chance. Nightwing offered him some ‘technique's to swoon Marinette which made Adrien question how he could get a relationship with Barbara with those pieces of advice. 

 

And for the next 2 months, that was Adrien’s day to day life. Wake up to a house of crazy skilled goofballs, go to school, come back and do your homework and/or finish your files from the last petrol, Relax and/or train till its time to get out to petrol, came back from the petrol with as little injuries as possible (Gothamites were rather stubborn when it came to arrest them), sleep and repeat. 

 

It might sound like hell for anyone to do those things, but to be honest, Adrien welcomed the changes, he embraced this new life and hoped to stay being a part of it for a long time. At least he was in a family that cared about him now. That’s what he had to remind himself every night. 

***

4 MONTHS LATER

 

Today was just like all the others, middle of the summer, hot as hell weather, Marinette behind their families pastries counter. Waiting for the bell on top of their door to ring and serve some (Probably) melting Parisian food. This summer they couldn’t go on vacation, at least for now. Bills had started to pile up a bit, which is why Marinette tried to help her parents however she could. She usually babysits in her own room or at the park but today no one asked for it so she moved to the second best thing she could do around the house, which was being the receptionist. 

Honestly, she wasn’t expecting too many customers for the afternoon since people usually liked to eat a full meal on their breaks, or maybe it was because they didn’t have tables for people to sit and talk. Honestly, Marinette told her father about the idea but unfortunately they would need another permit for that so for now, they still focused only on being bakers. 

 

Her mind had started to drift from the boredom, the small fan by the counter top that was there to keep her from melting was making noises, maybe she should see Max about it. He always had a knack for these things. She liked to hold a plethora of skills but mechanics wasn’t one of them. While she was thinking that suddenly someone cleared their throat and made her jump with panic. So much so she was about to call for Tikki from the jumpscare. How did that happened she didn’t know, somehow this person had not only managed to ring the bell on top of the only door at their bakery, but was also walking silently enough to be not heard against the squeaky clean tiles of their floor “Who da-”

 

And just like that, seeing the slightly taller than before, definitely more toned blonde in front of her once again, Marinette forgot how to talk. “Hi Marin. Sorry if I scared you.” He said, talking out his sun glasses and putting them in his shirt pocket. A brilliant but shy smile on his lips “It's been a while hasn’t it ? Did anybody miss me ?” 

Notes:

Actually I lied, there will be a epilogue.

Chapter 41: Winging in Paris- Epilogue

Summary:

After a quick moment of respite and catching up, Marinette immediately called her other friends to share the news. Of course, he already knew Nino, Luca and a few more others were still in the city, but he was not sure if they all would want to see him.

‘You really don’t know how much you miss something until it’s lost.’ A legendary quote by Tina Reber that Adrien always thought would never apply to him. So far in his life before Nightwing’s arrival he had lost only one person in his life and while the pain of it caused him some restless nights, he didn’t remember his mother well enough to miss her when she was gone. 

 

He still missed her of course, but it never was to the same degree that of his father who had made it an obsession. Something that Adrien couldn’t really understand, all of his smiles with her were from photos. Photos that he doesn’t even know the dates to. 

 

But, Adrien felt what Tina tried to say in another way, the moment he got back to Paris, the unique air filled his lungs as he stepped down from the private plane and he fell in love with it once again. Going through the streets with Bruce’s car he kept looking around like expecting something to be different but it wasn’t. Gotham constantly changed, a warehouse would be destroyed on Friday and built to be a parking lot or a supermarket the next week. The change in there was constant, even though some of the things would never change like the gothic architecture that was the ‘Flare’ of the city (According to Batfamily that is) Or the hundred years old plumbing system on the apartments because who’d want to run it with reliable plastics while you have old ass rusty metal pipes moving water through your house right ? 

 

Paris wasn’t like that. Well, first off, Paris usually never had dedicated villains that are enjoying blowing up buildings and elevating the citizens blood pressures. But also because there was a certain beauty with it. The aesthetics of a city, the elegance of it that would make the others outside of it call you a snob for it. Of course, this effect was less likely to be caught on the outskirts than the city center but still, his point was still standing. That's why he had missed this city so much. He was born here, he loved it and he had promised to protect it. This was his home. 

 

Speaking of other things he had missed: Marinette. 

 

It was no surprise that he went to her family bakery immediately. So far, their ‘relationship’ was distant and therefore a weird one. He loved talking to her, listening to her or hell, he liked to just message her a silly joke from time to time too. But being there right now, with a countertop that comes up to his thighs he wanted to reach out and hold her hand. Hug her, kiss her and just… keep her close to himself. There was a time that he did some of those things to her in a friendly manner and thought nothing of it. Now those thoughts caused a great deal of embarrassment and a fire in his heart that always spread slowly, making his skin itch. 

 

She was surprised to see him at first which was expected of course. He wanted to surprise them and didn’t make calls or arrangements before coming in. It was a risky plan not knowing if his friends were on vacation or not, but on the other hand, if he had learned it beforehand, what could he do in all honesty ? Was he going to demand them to return to Paris because he was here ? Of course not! Though he was not above doing some surface level… ‘Fallowing’ lets say, in order to learn that Only Alya was going away to Germany with her family because of a boxing match of her big sister. Hey don’t blame him, he really did his skulking on the down low, hacking two personal phones was nothing compared to what Bruce was doing to his own teammates on a regular basis. Who the hell gifts their friends cursed artifacts as birthday presents with an activation code ? 

 

The slightly illegal methods of acquired knowledge aside, he was glad to see Marinette was just as happy to see him as he was her. After her initial shock of course. A big part of him was scared of this meeting, scared that she wouldn’t like to see him face to face, maybe she was just talking him out of pity, maybe she moved on from him long ago but didn’t want to tell him. These kinds of thoughts haunted him these last few days. 

 

He knew Marinette was not someone like this, he knew she would talk if she needed to. But still, his status hasn’t changed since he left. He was still the son of a villain. A villain that haunted the city and even her own family for a long while. If she hated him or didn’t want to associate with him he’d be sad, true, but he would also understand. 

 

Hell, he didn’t want to be known as Adrien Agreste that first week. How could he blame her for distancing herself? 

 

Thankfully those thoughts quickly erased when she hugged him first and even kissed him on the cheek a few times before letting him go. ‘God, she has to reach on her tippy toes in order to do that! She is so cute, what the hell!’ He thought while holding her hand and kissing it slowly. She was wearing a long sundress that almost covered her ankles with floral embroidery that looked too good on her. Too good that he was almost sure she was purpose made like some kind of magic mirror. 

 

God he was so lucky and unlucky in life. 

 

After a quick moment of respite and catching up, Marinette immediately called her other friends to share the news. Of course, he already knew Nino, Luca and a few more others were still in the city, but he was not sure if they all would want to see him. His doubts never left him, how could it after all. He can say as much as he likes that he was innocent, that he didn’t know his father was Hawkmoth. That would never change the hot brand of terrorist plastered on his forehead. Maybe he wasn’t hit as hard as the others, as his father to be precise, but it still didn’t change many things. He still felt a cold stare while walking down to the school, he still felt the judgemental eyes of his classmates and the pitying smiles of his teachers. 

 

Nothing could change what had happened. Even if he’d come up and showed that he was the Chat Noir then they would just laugh at the irony of his situation. 

 

And he deserved it. When Bruce offered to homeschool him with freelance teachers he denied it because of this reason alone. He felt responsible. He could’ve tried harder to get closer to his own dad, he could’ve delved deeper the first time they suspected him of being Hawkmoth. 

 

In the Wayne Manor Adrien understood why Bruce did what he did, why he risked his life like that night after night, how badly damaged that man was. He might’ve understood it better than even Dick Grayson for that matter. 

 

***

The meeting with his classmates was a long and fun one. Everyone that was there seemed like they wanted him there, they were glad that he came, that he came back… Well, come back for the holiday maybe but still. They asked him a lot of questions, questions that the media cannot cover for one reason or another like what was happening to his mother. Honestly, he couldn’t really explain it well when the scientific research pointed towards ancient magic. But there were small things that were easier to explain, his mother was held in Wayne INC. Research in Health and Curing Rare Diseases Center, a somewhat made up place that had almost zero workers on it other than Zatanna and few of her friends. 

 

For now, his mother was safe and healthy, just in a magical coma. She was alive, just not… well. That was good enough for now. For him. 

 

Thankfully his return party on the deck of Liberty didn't end on a sour note like that. Juleka and Rose had gone through the trouble of buying everything after all, from soft drinks with delicious carbonated mixtures in them to cookies, chips and chocolates and whatever they could get their hands on. Honestly he was extremely thankful for that action, he had missed the taste of a normal coke as Alfred normally didn’t allow foods or drinks in the house that he saw as unhealthy. Guess what was  his favourite game that he liked to play daily back in the mansion ? 

 

Something Dick called ‘Hiding snacks from Alfred till you can finish it’. After all, getting mad over spilled milk wasn’t Alfred's style. 

 

Back on the topic, the Party started to slow down as the night drew closer and closer, finally ending at almost nine PM. He dropped Marinette off in front of her house with a whispered promise to meet with her tonight at the Eiffel. She smiled and kissed him on his left cheek, whispering with a seducing yet shy tune “Don’t be late then.” 

 

He smiled and watched her disappear behind the closed doors of her family bakery, awe struck like an anime protagonist. At least he didn’t chicken out at the last second like so many MC’s do. Small wins in life. 

 

***

Marinette had to say, her Chaton must have gone through a lot in Gotham because he was a different beast tonight when fighting. His punches seemed to launch people backwards and Marinette saw him breaking an AK-47 in two with his baton, swinging it and hitting right in the middle instead of stabbing the gun on the ground. While his fighting style had certainly changed, his quips and barbs didn’t. They were still as awful as ever and she still somehow finds it enduring. 

 

His costume changed a bit too, now he was taller and more toned out and as if the costume wanted to show that fact, his front was open down till at the end of his sternum, his hair was longer and held back by a green ribbon at his neck, reminding her Nightwing’s early hairstyles that she saw in the internet pictures. Well, his new role model was definitely better than the last one she supposed, but didn’t say it outloud. That would be a highly insensitive thing to do, talking about someone's father like that. 

 

He was also more quiet, not in the sense of he knew when to shut up now (Cuz lets be honest, it was Chat, he never knew when to shut up) but in the sense of his movements. You’d hear his voice but couldn’t make out his silhouette, his footsteps non-existend, moving as if he could control the wind from touching him. Honestly, it was a bit scary watching him take down 10 armed guards in the span of ten seconds. 

 

When their nightly patrolling came close to an end they moved towards Marinette’s house, stopping a few buildings away from to take a breather. “You… Do you want to come over ?” Asked Marinette, blushing like a tomato from the suggestion. Before they knew each other's identities, this wouldn’t be something for them to be embarrassed over, but now, now it was different. Chat also blushed, scratching his arm in an awkward position he declined the offer, said he’d liked to but needed to to his own house. 

 

When Marinette heard that she snapped out of her awkward stance and asked him if he was okay to go back in that house. Chat shook his head, looking down to the ground before speaking “I’m… I’m not ready for that, Bruce has a safehouse in here. I’m standing here till I’m…” He couldn’t finish his words, how could he ? What was he going to say when even he didn’t know what he was supposed to do? Should he start to live in that cold, desolate and abandoned house on his own ? Should he just torch all his past and move forward with nothing ? 

 

He didn’t know. Honestly, for the first time in his life he was too free. There was no direction for him to move towards now. Before his path was chosen, before he had any say in it, he was going to be a model and could do whatever he wanted as a hobby as long as his father allowed it. He hated that life. And now, as if gods wanted to laugh a bit hard at his struggles, he was free from his fathers tyranny, had an almost infinite amount of wealth he could draw from if he so wished, and the freedom to do anything he wants. 

 

With extremes like these, he understood why Dent always relied on his coin before doing something. Why would you want to take responsibility when you can blame it on an object you can’t control. “I… I don’t know if I should or not.” He said while trying to hide the knot in his throat. He was a man after all, he didn’t want to be received as weak or helpless. Not by Marinette. She was the greatest thing in his world and he did not want to make her uncomfortable. 

 

Thankfully, he didn’t have to worry about it too much as Marinette came closer to him and kissed him on the lips so hard he almost lost his balance and fell on his ass. The kiss approximately continued for about a minute which felt like an hour for Adrien as he was swimming on the clouds from happiness. She let go of his lips first and he chased to continue it for a second. She stopped him, putting her pointer finger to his lips. Her cheeks are redder than her costume and eyes moving away with shyness sparkling. He could see she wanted more too. “Just wanted to say.” She said, stepping away from his steel toes, he didn’t even realise she needed to climb on his foot in order to kiss him a bit more comfortably “I- I like to be with you whenever you choose. I- I mean, if you are okay with it of course… Hence why I k-k-kissed you… unannounced like that.” She was getting even more embarrassed trying to cover her eyes with her hair that was nowhere near her face. 

 

Adrien laughed before hugging her. At least there was something positive in his life, someone that he always wanted on his side. At least he was lucky on that part, someone that wouldn’t abandon him and wanted to be with him. Those were the thoughts swimming on his head slowly as he bent down a bit and kissed Marinette again. Tomorrow he was going to see his father and he needed all the positive energy he could before it all would drain out of him. 

 

Thankfully there was Marinette. Marinette that wouldn’t abandon him. 

Notes:

And with that, my longest ever story has come to an end!

Not gonna lie, felt like it was only mere weeks before I've started to write this, but from the roughness of the first chapters ı know its longer than that lol. Have a good night/ day and have a enjoyful day.