Sorry, wrong number!

by PixieBuggieWrites

Summary:

When Damian Wayne receives a mysterious text message he doesn't know what to make of it. Little did he know that it would lead him down a rabbit hole of information regarding a villain in Paris and a superhero team led by a girl in red and black spots.

Meanwhile in Paris, the Miraculous team is struggling. Down a member with a new peacock in town, the teams only hope is to reach out for help-leading to new alliances, friendships, and romance.

This is a rewrite and continuation of Sorry wrong number!

Notes:

So! just to establish some changes I made to canon before starting :
-In this Marinette received her Miraculous at the age of twelve. She's a few months shy of being 17 at the start of this story so she's been fighting Hawkmoth for 4 almost 5 years now.
-in this au Miracle Queen never happened meaning Marinette is able to finish her guardian training before being given the title.
-This also means Gabriel never got the translated grimoire pages so the peacock broach is still broken.
-I wrote the original version of this story back in 2020 so a lot of the things that have been revealed in the show were not known back then plus I'm way behind so I'm not touching on things like the sentimonster stuff in this one.
Enjoy!

Chapter 1: So it seems I'm someone I've never met

Summary:

A lot has happened to Marinette in the past 2 years

Chapter title from 'That Green Gentleman' by Panic at the Disco

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was no stranger to having bad days. Quite the opposite. In fact, she was quite acquainted with them and had long accepted their presence in her life.

That didn't make them any less shitty though.

✧ ✦ ~.✿.~ ✦ ✧

If you had told her 14-year-old self that Lila Rossi would manage to actually eviscerate her social life, she wouldn't have believed you. She may have been a nervous wreck with a penchant for catastrophizing, but her friends were something she had faith in. She was class president for Kwami sake! She trusted them to come to their senses sooner rather than later. 

Perhaps she had too much faith.

It didn't really surprise her too much when some of her classmates began freezing her out. After all, it's not like they were particularly helpful during the Bourgeois reign of terror™. In that respect all that really changed was who was leading the charge.

What was shocking though, was that her closest friends left her as well. Alya had been enamored by the transfer students many stories about all of the celebrities, and more importantly, Superheroes that she had met in her travels. While annoying, it hadn't truly become a problem until those stories started to become about Marinette and all of the awful things she did when nobody was looking.

Just like that, slowly but surely, she had lost her Best Friend. That was the loss that hurt the most. Alya had been her Closest confidante, the first person to ever really stand up for her. Almost three years later and her absence still stung.

Nino-while remaining neutral and not really buying into most of Lila’s stories-was still dating Alya, so the two of them couldn't really hang out like they used to. Which just left Adrien.

And Adrien? What a bullet she dodged there.

The sweet boy who gave her an umbrella all those years ago. The boy who became her first real crush had proven himself to be a total doormat. While he never froze her out, his many speeches about the high road and how nobody was being hurt had chipped away at that crush until there was barely a spark left. She understood that the boy was a product of his upbringing, but that didn’t mean she had to just sit there and endure it.

She had also begun to understand that the way in which she had been handling her crush on the model was quite unhealthy, and more than a bit creepy. It was Marinette's choice to start putting distance between them, for both of their sakes. 

 And then she discovered that he was Chat Noir.

✧ ✦ ~.✿.~ ✦ ✧

Shortly after her 16th birthday, When she was deemed to be far enough in her training, Master Fu asked her to take over as Guardian of the Miracle Box. The man wasn't getting younger, and they had long figured out how to preserve his memories after passing on the Guardianship, so he was only a phone call away if she needed help. While apprehensive, She agreed.

She liked Master Fu, she really did. But when he dropped Chat Noir's identity on her right before boarding his train to London, it took all of her strength to not use Kaalki to go and strangle the man. Instead, she made the very mature choice to portal just outside Paris, where she could yell at the sky and think about some things.

Things that, honestly, she had been thinking about her partner for a while now.

Like the fact that sacrificing himself every other battle wasn't really that heroic, especially when the hits he took for her were usually ones she would have dodged anyways. Or the fact that anytime they got into a disagreement, he would punish her by showing up late to battles and sometimes, threaten to quit altogether. She had been considering talking to Fu about his behavior for a while before she agreed to take over Guardianship, but she always stopped herself. The two of them had been fighting together since day one, and while he wasn't always a great partner, he was her friend. Finding out that he was Adrien was her last straw though.

In his civilian life, he had remained passive in the face of injustice too many times. He had rarely ever taken any real action when witnessing Chloe's behavior, and he was even worse with Lila. Again, she understood that Gabriel, and his sheltered upbringing, was definitely the cause for his skewed worldview-but Adrien had been attending public school for 4 years now. Was he just not paying attention during all of those anti-bullying assemblies they had? Or the PSAs that they had filmed as Ladybug and Chat Noir? That he honestly still believed that his high road method would work was completely baffling. She cared about him, but at this point, she had to put Paris and the Miracle Box first.

Simply put, she just couldn't trust him to act as a hero should, Not anymore. She knew what needed to be done, but she would need help. 

✧ ✦ ~.✿.~ ✦ ✧

Luckily, despite Lila’s efforts, Marinette wasn't completely alone. Her parents were still amazing. Even though she- not wanting them to get Akumatized- hadn't told them the full story about what Lila had been doing at school, they could always tell when she was starting to run low on fumes and would know just what to do to make her feel better.

She still had her budding fashion career too. After that first commission all those years ago, Jagged Stone had basically begun to employ her as his own personal designer. The rockstar and his agent-turned-wife had become family at this point, frequently coming over to the Dupain-Cheng residence with Luka for dinner.

Not all of her friends left her either. Alix and Max both saw pretty quickly through Lila’s mirage and refused to indulge in it. While Max was planning on an early graduation and had no interest in becoming a more full-time hero, Alix had fully come-into her role as Bunnix. Marinette was pretty sure the girl spent more time in the burrow than in the real world these days.

She had made new friends too. Her and Luka had grown closer and even tried dating for a couple months before realizing that their melodies worked better platonically. They had been best friends ever since, not even needing to speak to understand each other. The two would regularly chill in near silence for hours on end, Luka testing out his newest songs as Mari worked on her designs.

She and Kagami had also grown closer, once they both realized that their blossoming friendship was far more valuable than a battle over a boy that both had grown out of their feelings for. They had begun meeting once a week to just enjoy some orange juice and fence, and it just kinda evolved from there. Marinette had even been the first person Kagami came out to, and Kagami was the first person she decided to share her identity as a superhero with. Luka had already known- a result of his second Akuma as Viperion- but it felt different and freeing to choose to share that part of her life with someone.

The most surprising addition to her life though, was one Chloe Bourgeois. Marinette wasn't quite sure what to expect when the blonde had asked to speak with her after school one day, but it certainly was not an apology. Chloe had explained that she had been in therapy for the past few months trying to better herself, Lila’s actions being what caused her to reflect. She promised she held no expectations for the other girl to forgive her, but seeing how vulnerable her former bully had been, Marinette wanted to try. Their newfound friendship was rocky at first, that much history doesn’t just disappear overnight after all. Over time though, it slowly grew as the heiress proved how she really had changed. Sitting silently next to each other in class had led to them passing notes, which led to them grabbing lunch together sometimes which, somehow, eventually, led to the two becoming pseudo-sisters. She had been the third person to find out she was Ladybug when one day Marinette had swung into her room mid-transformation only to realize that Chloe had shown up early for a sleepover. 

At some point in all of this, her three best friends also became friends with each other, forming a close-knit group. All of their varied personalities seemed to both compliment and balance each other out, making them the perfect team in more ways than one.

 

Which was why she decided to make them all permanent Miraculous holders.

✧ ✦ ~.✿.~ ✦ ✧

She had been planning to expand team Miraculous anyways, but the Chat Noir situation had been the kick she needed to set those plans into motion. Bunnix was great, but she wasn't meant to be on the front lines. Ladybug needed teammates that she could work well with, who would have her back in the field, and she just so happened to know three people who would make fantastic teammates.

Luka had already been appearing as Viperion more and more as Chat showed up to fewer and fewer fights, so the only real change that was being made there was that Sass would get to go home with him at the end of the day. Chloe was in a bit more difficult of a situation, seeing as all of Paris knew that she had been Queen Bee. Marinette was nothing if not determined though. After a few weeks of working with Chloe and Pollen on a new suit, Abeille Royale was born. After a bit of help from Trixx in making it look like the two appeared in the same place, they were good to go. That just left Kagami.

Her original plan had been similar to the one she had for Chloe, but there was one small issue with that. In order to preserve the Balance, If the Ladybug was to be active, so must the Black Cat. While she could try jumping into oncoming traffic, she wasn't so sure that was the best method for finding holders, even if it had worked out for her. She would much rather select someone who she already trusted. Chloe was a hard no, a team-up between her and Plagg would be a nightmare for everyone involved. Luka was capable, but Viperion was just too valuable of an asset to take off of the roster. But Kagami? Kagami would definitely work.  

While it was true that Kagami was more well fit to be the Dragon, She too possessed enough aptitude to wield the Black Cat. She enjoyed a bit of Chaos, but was disciplined and could keep Plagg in check. She also understood the responsibility of caring for such an important artifact, and she definitely wasn't one to skirt duty. After a serious discussion, Kagami accepted the offer, and became Kuro Neko. 

After that decision was made, they just had to retrieve the ring- which ended up being concerningly easy. Since Chat didn’t know she had given out more Miraculous again, She possessed the upper hand. All she had to do was wait for him to show up to patrol one night and play distraction, as Abeille snuck up from behind with a venom locked and loaded. From there she just had to revoke the ring and cast a secrecy spell. With it, she ensured he would not be able to share anything about being Chat Noir, and by association any knowledge about the Miraculous that the average citizen didn't already know. Marinette did feel bad about this, but she couldn’t risk Hawkmoth getting any intel if Adrien were to become akumatized.

And with that, she had her team. Things got easier for Marinette. Having teammates that actually helped her, combined with the seeming disappearance of Mayura around the same time, meant that Battles ended way quicker. It felt like she could finally breathe a bit, and start to make some actual progress towards finding Hawkmoth.

But when can things ever stay that nice?

 ✧ ✦ ~.✿.~ ✦ ✧

Again, Marinette was no stranger to bad days. Coupled with the week she had been having so far though? Her patience was wearing thin.

At the beginning of the week, Chloe had shown up to the patisserie a complete emotional wreck. After calming down, she shared the news that her Mother would be returning to America on Thursday, and that she would be bringing Chloe with her. While glad to be getting an opportunity to build a better relationship with her Mom; she didn't want to abandon her friends, or her team. And Marinette assured her that she wouldn't have to.

While Abeille Royale wouldn't be able to continue fighting on the front lines, that didn’t mean there weren't other ways she could continue to help. The young heiress was scary organized, even more so than Marinette. Abeille would still be able to remotely assemble reports on each Akuma, and keep tabs on any possible leads about Hawkmoth. In addition to that, the city Chloe was moving to had a hero team of its own. A team that had connections to the Justice League. Ladybug had tried to establish contact with the Justice League multiple times at the beginning of Hawkmoth’s reign, to no avail. She had no clue how news of what was happening never escaped France, but she suspected that it was a mix of magic and corrupt officials who didn't want to affect tourism. If Abeille could track down these heroes and explain to them the situation in Paris, then maybe they would finally be able to get some help. At the very least it would be a good first step in opening up a line of communication with other heroes.

After that, the next few days were spent with the four friends enjoying as much time as they could together, before their Bee had to move an ocean away. Chloe leaving was also the kick that she and Kagami needed to confess their feelings for each other. Both knew long distance would be hard, but they wanted to make it work. And hey, if Marinette lent out Kaalki so that they could see each other every once in a while? Well. that was just her duty as future Maid of Honor.

But still, Thursday came, and many tears were shed as Chloe boarded her family’s private jet. As hard as it was, the three stayed and waved as she took off, saying their goodbyes and then returning home.

That brought Marinette to today, her first day of school that she would have to endure without Chloe.

The day started off perfectly well- she even woke up on her first alarm, a rare occurrence even after all these years. The early start gave her plenty of time to engage in some morning meditation before getting ready and heading down to the bakery for breakfast. She enjoyed a heavenly croissant and some fruit while chatting with her parents, even having enough time to help out a bit around the shop before making her way to school.

That was when her day began to take a turn for the worse.

First, she “tripped” over somebody's foot while heading up the school's front stairs. Then in English, it was announced to the class that they would be working on an assignment in pairs, and that she would be working with Alya. Could've been worse, at least it wasn't Lila. Alya did try to get switched to work with someone else, but assignments were final, which meant Marinette and her ex bff spent the next hour working on the assignment in tense silence.

Things didn't get much better for her after lunch either. She came back to class early to avoid bumping into Lila’s group in the courtyard, only to come face-to-face with the liar minutes later. Lila had slunk into the room behind her, coming to the back of the class and spilling her iced coffee on the designer’s sketchbook as she passed Marinette's desk. Thankfully the designer had long learnt to only bring her travel sketchbook with her to school, after the first time someone had done that to her. It was still a bitch to clean up though.

After that, the rest of the school day passed by without incident. There were a couple of little jabs here and there from her classmates in the halls, but nothing she wasn't already long used to.

When the final bell rang, she breathed a sigh of relief. It was finally the weekend, she had a new bath bomb awaiting her at home, and she was excited to use it. She just had to get home without any further interactions with her classmates, which turned out to be easier said than done.

Adrien invited himself to walk home with her, which meant she was due for another speech about… honestly she wasn't even sure what he thought she did this time, but she didn't really care to find out. These talks had become such a regular occurrence that she tended to tune him out as he followed her home. They had started up around when he had his Miraculous revoked, Marinette's trace amount of guilt being the only reason she tolerated them.

It was slightly impressive that he managed to evade his bodyguard so much, but it was possible that Gabriel had given in and loosened the boy's leash after his assistant quit a while back. Or was she fired? Marinette wasn't exactly privy to that information, but nobody had seen the woman around for months now. It was more surprising that Agreste hadn’t replaced her yet, it had to be difficult to run such a large company while almost never leaving your house. She supposed that was what technology was for though. 

Eventually, they reached the bakery and Marinette was free at last, taking the side door that led right to the apartment's staircase so that the boy couldn't follow her inside. It may have been a bit petty to all but slam the door in his face, but she didn't really have the energy left to care.

The rest of her afternoon was spent in peace. She had already caught up on homework over lunch and it was a slow time of year for commissions, so she helped out around the bakery until they closed after dinner.

After wishing her parents goodnight, she was ready for her evening of relaxation. As she went to unwrap her fancy Ladybug-themed bath bomb, her room began to shake. The vibration caused the bath bomb to fall from her hands, shattering on impact with the floor. Before she could even mourn the beautiful cherry blossom-scented bomb's fate, the Akuma alarm on her phone began to blare.

While it explained the magnitude 5 earthquake happening in her room, having to deal with Hawkmoth’s fashion crime of choice was not how she wanted to end her already crap day. She had a job to do though, and walked back into her bedroom, grateful that she hadn't already gotten in the tub.

Tikki, who was already ready and waiting after hearing the Akuma alarm flew over and gave her the rundown on what information had been provided in the alert.

“It seems to be a new Akuma, abilities currently unknown but they're headed for the Eiffel Tower. Kuro Neko and Viperion are already on the scene since it was their night for patrol anyways.” The small Kwami quickly informed her.

Marinette let out a groan. New Akuma were always a pain to deal with. Going in without knowing the opponent’s powers and weaknesses was added danger, and the battles always dragged out longer than ones against repeats. Plus it meant she would have work to do after the fight too. The next day she would need to compile all information regarding the battle, track down and interview the victim about what led to their possession, and send it all to Chloe so that she could assemble a case file.

Accepting the fact that she was not going to get her relaxing evening, much less sleep that night, The heroine got into fight mode.

 “Tikki spots on!”

 And with that, she swung off into the night.

Notes:

Oh wow where could Chloe be moving to it's a complete mystery...
Thank you so much to everyone who were so patient with me and waited all this time for me to continue this story, I hope you like this version just as much if not more!

Chapter 2: I'm saying, "No, no, no, no more"

Summary:

Ladybug and her team face down Hawkmoth's newest Akuma, an old foe returns.

Notes:

Hi all! thank you all for your kind reception to chapter 1 it meant a lot to me <3

Enjoy Chapter 2 and make sure to read the end notes because I have a question to ask!

Chapter title from 'Feather' by Sabrina Carpenter

Being her night off from patrolling, Ladybug was the last one to arrive on the scene. Swinging down just out of sight of the battle, she landed on a rooftop next to Viperion. He let out a noncommittal hum acknowledging her presence as he continued to observe the Akuma, Kuro Neko already playing distraction down below them.

The villain of tonight appeared to be a boy around the age of the three heroes, but not one any of them recognized. His costume was…interesting, with a slightly oversized purple and blue three-piece suit with a crude lightning pattern running up his sleeves. His hair was shock white and seemed to defy gravity, and his eyes were protected by bright blue goggles- a possible location of the Akuma, Ladybug cataloged. He also held a laptop which, while another potential location for the Akuma, was more likely to just be a weapon. Overall it wasn't Hawkmoth’s worst design, not his finest work either. She couldn't really talk though, for it had taken her two years to figure out how to change from the spotted spandex she had started her career in. What was far more important than the Akuma’s outfit though was that he seemed to be absolutely covered in electricity, which would make it much more difficult to get any hits in.

Viperion, noticing the team leader's arrival began to fill her in on what they knew so far.

 “Akuma’s calling themselves ‘Elect-Trick’, he keeps sending out shockwaves to try and knock us back. Frustrating, but our suits seem to be taking the brunt of it, Neko’s staff is a no-go at the moment since there's no way to know if it’ll conduct the electricity.”

Ladybug bit back a curse. It likely would, something they discovered during the team's last encounter with a weather Akuma. While the staff was magic, it was still metallic in nature. This would also mean she’d need to be extra careful with her yo-yo, unsure what materials it would emulate.

“Alright. In that case, we’ll continue to keep him away from the Eiffel Tower, it’s likely the Akuma wants to use it as a large conductor. I’m gonna head down, stay up here for now and be ready to use your second chance at the signal.” She instructed.

Viperion nodded an affirmative and went back to keeping tabs on the fight as Ladybug swooped down to join in. She was just in time as the Akuma had begun to corner Neko, who had no choice but to rely on playing the defense with her staff out of the mix. The two heroes quickly met each other's eyes in greeting as Ladybug yo-yo's her cat-themed friend over, putting the duo back on even ground with the villain-who seemed to be ranting about a school election.

Well, that would provide an explanation to the first half of his name. 

The two girls continued to fight back against the Akuma, neither side quite able to take the upper hand. On one hand, Ladybug’s yo-yo turned out to not conduct electricity after all. With that, she was able to use the near-indestructible weapon to land hits on the Akuma without getting electrocuted. On the other hand, the Akuma had taken notice of the weakness in Neko’s staff and had been using it to his advantage, aiming a decent chunk of attacks at the feline heroine, and forcing her to go back on the defensive.

When the fight passed the hour mark, Ladybug decided it was time to bring out the big guns. Letting off her silent signal for Viperion to start his timer, she got into position to call for a Lucky Charm. 

But she didn't get a chance to. Just as she went to throw her yoyo into the air, Viperion called out a warning that sent a cold feeling of familiar dread through her.

“Bug watch out, There's an Amok headed straight for his computer!” Viperion shouted. 

Sure enough, there was a dreaded purple feather floating down through the air, Moving toward the Akuma’s weapon. Thanking the Kwami for the power of second chance, she quickly caught and purified the Amok before it could make contact. A Sentimonster was the last thing they needed to be dealing with tonight.

With Kuro Neko on the lookout for any more feathers, she finally manages to activate her Lucky Charm. Throwing her yo-yo up into the air, she calls out to creation and manifests…a slingshot! She could definitely work with that if she could find some ammo. She took stock of the buildings around her, eyes landing firmly on the windows of a small toy shop. The spotted hero quickly scans over the displays and-

‘Bingo!’ 

With Viperion ready and waiting in case he needed to temporarily step in as backup, she sneaks over and shatters the window with her yo-yo. While Ladybug would typically try to avoid this much damage to private property- especially without permission from the shop owners, tonight she was much too tired. She just wanted this fight over with, so that she could convalesce with her team and make a plan of action around Mayura’s seeming return. A couple hours of sleep wouldn't hurt either. Her Cure would fix the window and return the many stolen bouncy balls anyway. Il n'y a pas de mal.

Stolen Merchandise in hand, she swung back to the roof that Viperion was camped on, handing off the slingshot supplies before making her way back down into the battle. Kuro Neko had managed to keep Elect-Trick distracted enough for the team to catch him off-guard. On Ladybug’s call, Viperion began to pelt the Akuma with rubber balls, drawing his attention for just long enough for Ladybug to ensnare him with her yo-yo.

One Cataclysm later, the goggles had been destroyed and the teen successfully de-akumatized. Ladybug cast her cure, fixing the swath of property damage that was left in the fight’s wake. After she ensured that the victim was okay enough to get home safe and procuring his address for the interview she would have to conduct tomorrow, she turned sharply to her team.

“Good work today you guys, recharge and meet back at base in 30.” Her eyes communicating all of the urgency of the meeting despite the neutral tone of voice she tried to maintain.

From there the teens all departed in separate directions to feed their Kwami and head to the team's secret base.

✧ ✦ ~.✿.~ ✦ ✧

Okay, so ‘ secret base’ was a slight overstatement. While it was in fact a secret location that the team used as their base, it was less of a Fortress, and more of a repurposed executive suite in Le Grand Paris.

Chloe had been the one to suggest the idea, after one too many close calls with Marinette's parents while the girls were investigating Hawkmoth. Marinette had been all ears, remembering Alya’s tales about the fabled Batcave before the two’s falling out. It made sense, they desperately needed a secure location to discuss hero work without having to speak in code, but the question was where.

Obtaining an apartment would be next to impossible for any of them, as all but Luka were underage. Even if they could find someone willing to rent to a bunch of teenagers, there's no way that they would be able to manage the rent payments without some parental alarm bells going off. Luckily for them, they had Chloe, and it was surprisingly easy to just claim a hotel room without question when your father owned the hotel.

While it was no Batcave, their base was nothing to scoff at. The four teens had been able to pool together enough money in the beginning for the essentials- this meant that now any snuck-away bits of cash from commissions, music gigs, tournaments, and obscene allowances were all able to go towards improving things bit by bit. The room was already quite nice, having a separate bedroom that they used as a gym/sparring area and an attached kitchenette that was kept well stocked with snacks for the Kwami. The large main area was split down the middle. One side was for Miraculous business, with all of their materials pertaining to the Hawkmoth investigation, and a station for all of Marinette's Guardian supplies- including the Miracle Box itself. The second half was a designated hangout zone, where they could chat and decompress after any particularly rough fights. 

The base was also extremely secure. Marinette and the Kwami had put so many spells, glamours, and protections on the room that it might as well be a pocket dimension. The magic-based security system was extremely complex, being tied to the members' auras-the only way you would be able to find it without being part of the team was to be taken there by Ladybug herself. While it had all taken weeks to pull off, it was well worth it to give her team a place that was safe from the outside world.

Ladybug was the first to arrive at the rendezvous, flopping down into her usual chair at their meeting table as her two friends soon joined her. They sat in silence for a moment, processing Mayura’s apparent return. While unsurprising the Peacock was back in play, they had to curse the timing. She just had to come back when they were down a member.

“So what exactly is the plan?” Viperion asked, finally breaking the silence.

Ladybug sighed, running her hands through her hair. The team's workload was going to increase once again. At least it was close to summer vacation. Marinette collected her thoughts and addressed the two. 

“First we need to increase patrols- especially around the typical hot spots, Neko do you think we’ll be able to finish those jars by this time next week?”

The cat hero nodded “They're almost complete, we’ll need to test them out somehow though.”

The two of them had recently been working on a variation of an object enchantment technique mentioned in the grimoire. The original object was problematic in nature, having been designed as a sort of cage that the Kwami would be unable to phase through. Marinette was disgusted that anyone would try and create such a thing, though it furthered some of her suspicions about how the old Order operated. As she ranted to Kagami after deciphering the page, the fencer had gotten an idea for a way to repurpose the spell for a far more noble means. With some tweaks, it could be used to make objects that could trap Akuma when Ladybug was having trouble getting to a fight. This would also make it easier to prevent possessions when Ladybug wasn't actively on patrol, being able to distribute the jars to trusted citizens who would trap the butterflies in the jar until one of her team could retrieve it for study and purification.

“That's good. Lastly, I need Bee’s new number. I was going to ask you for it tomorrow but I need to give her a heads up to start on a new case file. We also might want to move up our plans to contact the heroes there.” 

Kuro Neko quickly jotted down the number on a nearby notecard and handed it to Ladybug. After hammering out a few last details about their new patrol schedules the heroes were all free to head back to their homes for the night.

The trip home was uneventful, and she arrived home to see that it was just past midnight. She also noticed that her bath bomb had been fixed! It was sometimes a gamble on if something like that would count as damage from the Akuma so it was a nice victory after the long day.

Marinette quickly put in Chloe’s new American number, eager to almost be able to go to bed. She sent the Blonde a summary of everything that had happened that night, and informed her to be on the lookout for an email tomorrow with the information needed to assemble a case file on the new Akuma. Satisfied she had done all she needed to, the designer drifted off to sleep. 

Marinette Dupain-Cheng had made a small mistake though. In her tired state, a finger slipped, putting a 5 where there was meant to be a 4. 

Meaning Chloe Bourgeois was not the recipient of her intended message.

 Good thing she wrote the message in code?

✧ ✦ ~.✿.~ ✦ ✧

Across the ocean, In a city named Gotham, Damian Wayne received a very strange text message. 

 

Notes:

Gotham next chapter yay!

Question about chapter titles: in the original version of this fic my chapter names were kinda jokey and I've been leaning towards switching to song lyrics for this rewrites chapters to help set the two apart, would you guys be cool with that or would you want the same naming pattern for this one?

Chapter 3: Dare me to jump off this jersey bridge, I'll bet you've never had a Friday night like this

Summary:

Chloe's first night in Gotham goes less than stellar.

Notes:

Hi! if you came here from the original version of this fic its at this point I would pay slightly closer attention because its here that I'm beginning to move things around and change certain events to make things flow better.

Tw for a character literally jumping off a bridge, they don't get hurt but I just thought I should put a tw in case.

Chapter title from King for a Day by Pierce the Veil

It hadn’t yet been a whole 24 hours since her private jet had landed down in Gotham, and Chloe Bourgeois was already missing Paris. The city was utterly dreadful, and she had no idea what had possessed her Mother to move them there. The entire city was covered in darkness and smog, even in the daytime. Not to mention, the city had one of the highest crime rates in the country, maybe even the world. But no, Style Queen just had to be opening a new branch here.

She would have been much happier to move to her Mother’s penthouse in New York. She would even settle for somewhere like Metropolis, they had plenty of attacks there too but at least there was sunlight for Kwami sake. If she got all pale and then died here, she was gonna be so pissed.

Maybe the ‘dying’ part was her being a wee bit dramatic, though the city had its reputation for a reason. Danger lurked around every corner, and there was a miasma of dread that seemed to soak the city down to its very bones. There was no Miraculous Cure here if shit went sideways, you were on your own. 

That was honestly too scary for Chloe to think about while unpacking, though, so she sat down to take a break, trying to instead look at the silver linings of her move.

She could let herself feel negative emotions again, that was pretty neat. While the wards in the base back home were top-notch, Chloe didn’t like risking it. Letting her walls down just made it that much harder when it was time to put them back up. 

Her new school seemed to be adequate. She wouldn’t be starting at Gotham Academy for another week, but she had researched the school during her nearly 9-hour flight to get an idea of what she should expect. The school was quite prestigious, and she was very happy to find that they had a robust business program. She was going to take over her Father’s hotel someday, after all. She planned to be well-equipped when the time came.

Her move across the oceans would also have possible benefits for her other life. While known for its obscene crime rates, Gotham was also well known for its high levels of vigilante activity. One of these vigilantes in particular, Batman, could be their key to finally finding Hawkmoth after nearly 5 years of nonstop fighting. The man was known as the World’s greatest detective, and it was time for her team to make a direct plea. While she and Marinette did their best, which was pretty good for two untrained teenagers if she did say so herself, they just didn't have the resources or the years of experience that someone like Batman would. If they could convince him to aid them, it would likely be the breakthrough the young team of heroes desperately needed.

Though it was a bit of a gamble on if he would help them. After all, when Ladybug initially reached out to the Justice League she never received a response. It was still worth a shot to take a more direct approach though, and Chloe was fully prepared to be as stubborn as she needed to be to get him to at least hear her team out.

So yeah, Gotham probably wouldn’t be so bad for her in the long run. At this very moment though? Chloe was not having a good time.

She was supposed to be sleeping off her jetlag, but she was finding herself restless. Back in Paris, she would usually be on patrol around now. It would be hard to get used to, not sneaking out almost every night to protect the city. She hoped that she could get Batman’s permission to patrol sometimes. She didn't necessarily have to have it-there were quite a few non-Bat vigilantes running around the city-she was fully aware it wouldn’t be smart to go pissing off the very person she needed to ask for help.

As she bemoaned the (hopefully temporary) loss of her nighttime escapades she was struck with an idea. A risky one, one that Dupain-Cheng would probably be against, but one that would let her get out some of her pent-up energy.

While true that she couldn't do any hero work here yet, there was nothing wrong with taking a little walk. 

She wouldn't be going out in civvies, that would be utterly idiotic. But as long as she was careful not to be seen, Abeille Royale could stretch her wings a bit. She just needed a disguise. Abeille wasn't supposed to make herself known for at least a month, so as to not draw any parallels to her civilian self’s arrival. Even though she had very publicly retired as Queen Bee, the timing would just be too suspicious to not question. If she was going to go out, she needed to be unidentifiable.

After quickly skimming through what clothes she had unpacked so far, she found what she needed. A black velvet cloak from an old Halloween costume laid at the bottom of one of the girl’s many clothing trunks, it was nothing fancy but it would do the job just fine.

Setting the cloak down on her bed, she went to get the attention of her Kwami friend. Pollen poked her head up, having been making herself at home in the new bedroom's plush carpeting.

“Hey Pollen, do you wanna get out of here for a bit?” The bee goddess perked up her holder’s question.

“Of course my Queen!” 

With that confirmation, Chloe started to get ready. She called on her transformation and when complete, layered the cloak over it, very careful to conceal distinctive features like her antennae and wings.

And just like that, Abeille Royal was off to explore the city of crime.

‘What could go wrong?’

✧ ✦ ~.✿.~ ✦ ✧

As it turns out, many things could go wrong. For example, she could fail miserably at her task of not getting spotted, and then she could end up getting chased across the city by two of the very vigilantes she was supposed to be avoiding. One of those vigilantes could also have a FREAKING KATANA. While the sword wouldn’t be able to cause much harm to the girl herself- thank you very much magic-the same could not be said for the flimsy cloak concealing her. As Abeille ran from rooftop to rooftop, her thoughts mainly consisted of one thing.

 ‘Kwami, Dupain-Cheng is gonna kill me.’ 

She was taking a short breather between rooftops when she had noticed the first one. Judging by the utterly ridiculous color scheme-and the sword-she would wager to say that it was Robin, one of Batman's main partners according to her research. This was probably the point at which she should have retreated, but her curiosity got the better of her, and she moved closer to get a better look at the vigilante. This was immediately a disaster, as she had moved close enough for him to notice her presence. She was apparently a big enough concern for him to call for backup which, while weirdly flattering, meant that she now had two highly trained vigilantes heading in her direction.

Snapping out of her thoughts, Abeille quickly fled from the rooftop. Predictably, the two vigilantes weren't planning on just letting her slip away, and they followed close behind her. 

She had hoped that her enhanced abilities would allow her to quickly shake off the unwanted pursuers- unfortunately for her, they were not. She ended up getting chased through what had to have been half of Gotham, leading them all towards the city borders. While Abeille had magic on her side, The vigilantes had both the training and familiarity with the area that she lacked. Every time it seemed like she was starting to lose them, she would meet some kind of dead end or obstacle that made her have to change directions, giving them time to catch back up to her.

It was on the bridge between Gotham proper and the neighboring Bristol that she had finally been cornered. With the two closing in on her, she began to panic.

“Hey it's okay, we just want to talk!” The one in blue and black shouted to her.

Yeah right, she wasn't born yesterday. That was one of the oldest tricks in the book, she would know considering she had used it herself dozens of times. If she got caught, Abeille knew she was in for a full-on interrogation. That could not happen, not yet at least. 

Hearing the rush of water moving beneath her, she realized that there was one last chance for escape. Before either could stop her, she leaped up onto the bridge's guardrail. Both vigilantes jolted at that, taking up defensive positions in case she pounced.

“Woah Woah Woah why don't you get down from there, yeah? I promise we aren't going to hurt you.” The Blue one continued to try and coax her down, but she tuned him out, needing to think. 

She really had only two options on what she could do from here.

Option 1: She could fly away, the wings on her costume having become functional when she turned 16 a couple months prior. It would be quick and convenient, but it would give away one of her major identifiable features. 

Option 2: Jump down into the water below. Her suit would absorb most of the impact and prevent her from being affected by any of the chemicals that were sure to be present in the water, but without Ladybug’s cure she would definitely be sore for the next week. She really didn't like option 2, but it would keep her identity intact. 

Knowing what she had to do, she grabbed her spinning top’s rebreather, and let herself fall from the ledge.

The fall felt like both seconds and hours. Abeille could hear the vigilantes shouting after her, but thankfully neither followed her. She crashed into the murky waters and began to swim. The water was disgusting, somehow worse than the Seine, and she could hardly see as she swam toward the harbor. 

When Abeille finally made it back to land she was absolutely sure of one thing: she hated Gotham. 

✧ ✦ ~.✿.~ ✦ ✧

After sneaking back into her bedroom-careful to detransform before drenching anything-Chloe flopped onto her bed with a groan. The night had been a complete and utter disaster. Her desire for a late-night adventure had nearly destroyed her team's plans. How was she supposed to explain that to Dupain-Cheng?  

While the selfish part of her wanted to just pretend the whole night had never happened, the hero part of her knew that she needed to tell her team leader. The hero part of her was the stronger one these days. 

While she was highly doubtful that the vigilantes had seen anything that could be used to identify her, they needed to come up with an explanation just in case. It was better to come clean now and deal with the lecture. Even if said girls' lectures were kind of terrifying in how gentle they were, it just made them all the more guilt-inducing. 

“I suppose I just have to bite the bullet, right Pollen?” She pondered. 

At the lack of response, Chloe looked over to see that the Kwami had once again nuzzled into the room's plush carpet, and had already fallen into a peaceful slumber. Softly smiling at the sight, she worked up the courage to finally open her messaging app, shooting off a text to her best friend.

With that taken care of, she was free to join her Kwami in the sweet embrace of sleep.

Notes:

Thanks for reading!

Chapter 4: Think I need a life or maybe nine/'cause I'm feeling like I'm running out of time

Summary:

What's the best way to pass the time when nothing else is happening in your night life? According to one Damian Wayne, its to launch a full scale investigation into a random text message.

Notes:

Sorry this took a minute, I felt like the original version of this chapter was lackluster and I really wanted to build on it a bit. Also something about these snowstorms makes me go into hibernation mode asdfgh.

Chapter title from the secret life of me by water parks

Hope you enjoy!

Damian Wayne was no stranger to odd happenings. In fact, most of his life would be classified as completely and utterly bizarre by anyone who had a ‘traditional’ upbringing. From dealing with freaky Rouges to potentially world-ending events, he had seen it all at this point.

This was why he had been so on edge lately. Things were quiet. Too quiet, in fact. Nothing big had happened in weeks.

All of the city's major players were in Arkham or Blackgate, and there was zero buzz of imminent escapes. Patrol as of late had been nothing but stopping run-of-the-mill muggings and amateur burglaries. His family had started to believe that he was just becoming bored, even encouraging him to go spend some time with the Titans. How ridiculous, he wasn't some child that couldn't handle a bit of boredom. He knew better, something big was coming.

It wasn't like he wanted something bad to happen, quite the opposite in fact. The whole situation was just suspicious. Something had to be approaching. That was just how things worked in their lives. He threw himself into monitoring the city, following every lead that came his way, no matter how small.

No matter what his family said, he was not bored. He was just being cautious.

It was ridiculous, his family was full of the most paranoid people he had ever met yet, somehow, he was the one who was “losing it”. As if his father didn't do the same regularly. At least he didn’t see an issue with what Damian was doing.

His siblings were another beast though. While he was not as averse to their existence as he was when he was ten, they could be…suffocating. Once they realized that Damian would not be going to San Francisco as they wished, they had taken to passing him around and dragging him to activity after activity in an attempt to “get his mind off of things”. Mini golf, Arcades, W.E. meetings, and anything else they came up with- He hadn't had a quiet afternoon in weeks. Still, no matter what he did, the teen vigilante couldn't shake the strange feeling that something big was coming. 

Something beyond even his control.

It came in the form of a strange text message from an unknown number. At first glance, it appeared to be a simple case of someone messaging the wrong number, one that he would typically be fine to simply delete and promptly forget about. And that’s what he would've done, if not for the contents of the message. 

The first half of the message was perfectly normal. It started asking its intended recipient (referred to as ‘Chlo’ by the sender) how they were settling into their new city, and if they liked it. There was absolutely nothing strange about it at all.

The second half was where it got weird. It had been written in some kind of code, one that he was unfamiliar with. It seemed quite complex, like something that Drake or Thomas would probably enjoy trying to crack. He wasn't going to ask his siblings for help though, lest he receive any more comments about his supposed boredom. No, he was going to figure it out himself. 

He would crack the code, first thing after patrol. He would stay up all night if he had to.

✧ ✦ ~.✿.~ ✦ ✧

It was about two hours into an otherwise boring patrol when Robin was overcome with the distinctive feeling that he was being watched. He began to look around and his eyes landed on a cloaked figure, hiding on the other side of the rooftop that he had just landed on. While not actively committing a crime, mysterious rooftop guests were never good.

Turning up his comms, he filled the others in on what he saw and was instructed to wait for backup.

Luckily backup quickly arrived in the form of Nightwing, who was always his preferred sibling to work with. The two went to confront the strange figure, who was still in hiding.

It was then that the figure noticed the two vigilantes approaching, and decided to make a run for it. The figure was fast, leaping from the rooftop before either could make out a single identifying feature. This was fine by him, it was the most action he had seen in weeks. 

What followed was a long and drawn-out chase that ended in the figure cornered on the Gotham-Bristol bridge. More specifically, the guardrail of the Gotham-Bristol bridge. While Nightwing attempted to coax the figure down, Robin got into position for a potential fight.

Though neither vigilante was quite prepared for them to jump from the bridge into the murky Gotham waters. They shouted after the figure but didn’t jump after them in time.

The rest of patrol went by as normal, but Damian knew there was work to do when they returned to the cave. 

✧ ✦ ~.✿.~ ✦ ✧

The nightly briefing was predictably short. The chase was the only thing of note to happen, and it’s not like there was much to go off of there. The cloak covered them well, and no cameras managed to catch a face. A cursory scan of the area told them that the figure had come out of the water eventually, but they had concealed their path from there. It was a dead end for now, but they'd all be keeping an eye out. 

Inwardly, Damian was steaming. If he hadn't been so out of practice, maybe he would have realized they were going to jump and could have acted accordingly. He was becoming too complacent, he needed to be more vigilant.

With everything technically wrapped up for the night, Damian turned his attention back to the strange message he had received earlier. He was determined to get to the bottom of it, though he wasn't quite sure where to begin.

He wasn't going to track the number just yet. He couldn't. That would be too much of an invasion of a random person's privacy, especially if he had no reason to suspect that the sender was even doing anything shady. No matter his gut feeling, if he tracked the number and his father or worse-his siblings-found out, he would be in a world of trouble.

But he wouldn't be in any trouble if he just texted the number back. It was simple, he could just inform the sender of their mistake and innocently inquire about the code. Depending on the response, he could determine if further investigation was needed. And if he also attempted to crack the code while waiting on said response, well nobody could fault him for curiosity.

He picked up his phone to send a response, none the wiser to the rabbit hole he would soon fall down.

Notes:

Hypothetically if I were to have Damian go to Paris, who of his family would you like to see going with him?
Right now I'm debating between Steph and Cass or Tim and Duke but I'm interested to see what y'all think.

Chapter 5: Ignorance is your new best friend

Summary:

Marinette runs some errands and tries to be civil with her former best friend.

Notes:

Chapter title from Ignorance by Paramore

Despite her slightly late return the night prior, Marinette was pleasantly surprised to find that she had hardly overslept. That was two days in a row, the girl was on a roll. Maybe she was becoming a morning person? Well, that, or all of the late-night Akuma had finally conditioned her to be a permanently light sleeper. Either way, she was glad for her newfound punctuality-she was going to need all the time she could get to prepare for the busy day she had ahead of her.

Her to-do list for the day was short, yet fairly time-consuming. First she needed to make a trip to the fabric shop to get supplies for her most recent batch of commission work. After that, she needed to meet up with Alya so that they could work on their English project (which she was very much not looking forward to). Finally, she needed to track down the previous night’s Akuma and interview him for his case file.

That reminded her, she should probably check and see if Chloe ever responded to her message. She opens her messaging app, and is greeted with two very different texts. The first is from the number she texted last night, which, apparently, belongs to somebody who is not Chloe.

(xxx)xxx-xxx8 : Who is this? I am not ‘Chlo’ but I too hope that they have not been attacked by any Rouges, though I do not understand the second half of your message. Is it a riddle of some kind?

Marinette was suddenly very grateful for the code that her team had concocted to be used when they talked about hero work. Hopefully, she could just thank the unknown messenger for alerting her of her mistake, and leave it at that. 

The second message had her worried. This one actually was from Chloe, and its contents were a tad bit concerning.  

(xxx)xxx-xxx7: Heyyy DC it’s Chloe. Can you call me when you get a chance?... I kindasortafuckedupreallybadlastnightanddidsomethingstupid??

Now Marinette was pretty sure that whatever Chloe had done couldn't have been THAT bad, that wasn't why she was worried. No, she was mainly concerned about her friend's emotional state. Chloe had come a long way from her 13-year-old self, but the blonde still had some insecurity issues. Judging from the text, Chloe was panicking, maybe even in a spiral at this point. She would need to call her as soon as possible to make sure that she was okay before saying anything to her about Mayura’s return.

There wasn't much she could do about it right now though, seeing as it was currently about 4 AM in Gotham. Instead, the designer set out to get ready for the day.  

After a bit of deliberation, with input from the Kwami, she settled on a cute outfit. The ensemble starred a black pinafore dress with a subtle floral motif, paired with a long-sleeve light pink undershirt. Both items were, of course, MDC originals. Shoe-wise she kept things simple, a pair of black high-tops and white knee-high socks. Deciding to keep her hair down today, she accessorized with a simple red barrette clip.

Now she just needed to choose which Kwami to bring along with her for the excursion.

Tikki was an obvious given, but Marinette had taken to wearing a secondary Miraculous, rotating them out so that the Kwami could experience a bit of the outside world. Even if it was just from her purse.

She thought about it, and decided that today would be a good day for Kaalki. It had been a minute since the horse Kwami’s last time out of Marinette's room, since her randomly wearing glasses was bound to draw questions. She was going outside today though, and the Miraculous could easily conceal itself as sunglasses.

Plus, she was meeting Alya at a café, which meant she would be scoring some free sugar cubes. While Kaalki would be bothered by the ‘free’ part, Marinette's wallet would be quite pleased. She may run a fairly successful business, but feeding a dozen small gods was expensive. She was just grateful that she wasn't responsible for feeding Plagg.

After slipping on the magical glasses and getting the two Kwami into her purse, she was finally ready for the day, and so made her way downstairs into the Dupain-Cheng bakery.

“Good morning!” She greeted her Maman, who was serving a customer at the register. Being a Saturday, the bakery was already quite busy, with a line nearly reaching the door. 

“Good morning sweetie, any exciting plans for today?” Her Mother inquired between customers.

 “Not really,  I just have to pick up some more fabrics and work on that English project.”

She left out the detail of who exactly she was working on said project with, but she really didn't want to risk having to lie about why Alya never came around anymore. Luckily, her Maman just nodded.

“Oh by the way Marinette, Jagged and Penny are coming over for dinner tonight, so make sure not to be out too late.” 

Well, that meant a slight change of plan. She would need to interview the Akuma victim during patrol, she supposed, instead of earlier in the evening like she had planned. It wasn't a big deal, but it was slightly inconvenient. Though she was happy that she would get to see her Aunt and Uncle, their schedule had been so busy lately.

 “Will do! I’m gonna head out now then, can you tell Papa I said hi next time he comes out of the kitchen?”

“Of course I will, sweetheart. Oh, and before you go Marinette? 

“Yes, Maman?”

“Don't forget to grab breakfast.” Her Mother smiled and went back to serving customers.

Smiling back, Marinette grabbed a fruit tart and began to make her way to the fabric shop.

  ✧ ✦ ~.✿.~ ✦ ✧

Luckily the fabric shop wasn't too busy, and Marinette was able to drop her newly purchased supplies off at home with plenty of time left over to get to the café early. After finding a decent table to set up at, she decided to go ahead and order a cappuccino to sip on while she waited for Alya. Now, she was more of a tea drinker these days, but she was gonna need all of the caffeine she could get for this.

After roughly ten minutes, Alya walked through the café’s doors. The girl attempted to give her a polite smile, but the knot in her stomach turned it into more of a grimace. 

While her former best friend didn’t take an active role in the bullying Marinette experienced at the hands of her classmates, she definitely didn't discourage it, especially when Lila was present. She just hoped that the fact that they were meeting outside of school meant that they could do this project without any trouble.  

And for the most part, things did go smoothly. Despite the awkward tension, they were able to delegate the work in a way that was amiable to both: Alya doing the research portions and Marinette assembling the presentation itself. They would have to meet up a few more times over the coming weeks but if today was anything to go off of, it would likely be smooth sailing so long as they only talked about the project. 

Just as Marinette was packing up to leave though, Alya stopped her.

“Hey weird question, but have you noticed anything different with Adrien lately? Nino says he’s been acting odd lately, we’re all getting a bit worried about him.” 

Well, that caught her attention. She couldn't care less about whatever stupid drama that was currently taking place in her old circle, but she was going to need to entertain this conversation. Sure he could just be lashing out, but on the off chance that he was experiencing side effects of the secrecy spell she needed to know so that she could fix it. She may dislike the blond, but that didn't mean he deserved the pain of a magical backlash.

“Strange how?” 

“He’s just been really distant, it's almost like he's avoiding us. I know you guys walk home together sometimes… Does he seem okay?” Alya asked, and Marinette had to push down the murmurs of loss she felt when she saw her ex-bff’s face of concern.

She paused for a moment and tried to formulate a response.

“Honestly? I have no idea, we don’t really talk much.” Not technically a lie, while he talked at her, she didn't bother to respond anymore.

“You didn't say something about Lila to him again, did you?”

‘Ah, so that's what this is.’ Marinette had to suppress a scoff at the redhead’s accusation.

“ No , I didn't. And don't worry, I'm not going to. I know none of you care what I have to say anymore. In fact, I think I should go now.” Marinette retorted as she got up from the table.

“Wait! No that came out wrong- it’s just, I know you're into him and just because Lila is too doesn't mean-”

 “Alya.” She cut the girl off “I’m going to say this once so you better listen. I haven't had feelings for Adrien since collège. I have no clue why he’s avoiding you guys or why you think I have anything to do with it. If you want to know so badly, ask him yourself.” She deadpanned. Alya just stared at her with a look of shock.

“Now if that’s all, I’m going” Marinette departed, leaving behind a very bewildered ex-best friend. 

She was glad that was over with, and that she could go home and enjoy seeing her honorary Aunt and Uncle. The two and their pet crocodile always did raise her mood.

But before she could forget, she had a couple of text messages that needed to be taken care of.

Notes:

Hope you enjoyed! we're officially caught up to where I was in the original version! don't be alarmed if I'm not around for a couple of weeks, I'm just really swamped with school right now (¬_¬) but I finally have a plan for where I want things to go!

Chapter 6: You coincide with fate, And you feel it's right

Summary:

Damian gets a response from his mystery texter, and proceeds to discover an odd situation happening in Paris.

Notes:

Hi! sorry it's been a minute school has been kicking my ass this term 😭 Also updates on this fic are gonna be a bit slow in general while I work on my bdbwm fic since that's coming up! hope you enjoy!

Chapter title from 'Are You Calling' by Flagship

Texting with (xxx)xxx-xxx1 

 

(xxx)xxx-xxx1 : Gah! My bad, that was meant for my friend. My finger must've slipped on the last digit. 

Damian shot up in his seat as his phone let out a chime. He had been waiting hours for a response to his message, as it was undoubtedly afternoon in Paris by now. Did they not read the second half of his message? Whatever, he had to play this carefully if he didn’t want the stranger to ghost him.

(xxx)xxx-xxx8 : That’s perfectly fine, it happens. I’m still curious as to what the second half of your message means though? I ask because it seems like French, but I can't quite translate it.

That was an understatement, not even the highly advanced translators on the batcomputer could make a dent in the text. Their decoders didn't fare well either, only extracting a single word, ‘feather’. It was driving him up the wall. He had yet to head upstairs from the cave, even though it was now the early morning. Had it not been the weekend, Alfred would have surely had his head. 

(xxx)xxx-xxx1 : Oh it’s just a thing me and my friend made up, it doesn’t really mean anything 

(xxx)xxx-xxx8 : Like a secret language?

(xxx)xxx-xxx1 : Yeah, something like that

Ugh, he wasn't getting anywhere… Maybe it was time to change tactics. What was it that Todd was always on about with his informants? Building a rapport? He could do that. How hard could it be?

(xxx)xxx-xxx8 : Interesting. I see from your phone number that you’re from Paris, do you like it there?

(xxx)xxx-xxx1 : Most of the time… don’t take this the wrong way but I don’t exactly make a habit of texting strangers. Is continuing the conversation like this typical?

(xxx)xxx-xxx8 : Sorry, I am also unfamiliar with the etiquette of such scenarios. I was only asking because I find the city quite interesting and hope to visit sometime. I hope I have not made you uncomfortable.

(xxx)xxx-xxx1 : nonono you’re fine! Sorry I didn't mean to imply you were a creep or something.

(xxx)xxx-xxx1 : To answer your question truthfully it is an amazing city though I admit that I am biased, how do you like Gotham?

(xxx)xxx-xxx8 : I would like it better without all of the supervillains.

(xxx)xxx-xxx1 : Real

(xxx)xxx-xxx8 : You have villains in Paris? 

(xxx)xxx-xxx1 : uhhh just one, well maybe two? 

(xxx)xxx-xxx1: sorry i have to go now, it was nice talking to you sorry again about the wrong number!

(xxx)xxx-xxx8: What? Why have I heard nothing about this?

(xxx)xxx-xxx8: Hello?

 ✧ ✦ ~.✿.~ ✦ ✧

Damian suppressed the urge to throw his phone. How dare the mystery texter leave just as he was getting somewhere? He was never going to decode that stupid message at this rate. 

Although, the information that there was something bigger occurring in Paris was something to look into. Surely he would have heard about something like that, right? He moved over to the Batcomputer and searched for any files on Paris.

Nope, nothing. The last mention of the city was over 5 years ago, and it was a small mission that had taken less than a week to wrap up, and it was not one that a civilian would have known about. So either the person he was talking to was a loose-lipped non-civilian, or something was happening that the Justice League didn’t know about. Not liking either option, he decided to look up Paris’s news feed. 

It too, was suspiciously barren. There were a few mentions here and there at Fashion Week, but for the most part, nothing. How was it that the City of Lights had seemingly gone completely dark? And how was it that nobody had realized it? He really should go get his Father, but he kindof wanted to figure this out on his own. He had a strange feeling about this, a pull similar to the one he had been feeling for the past few weeks.

Resolving to let himself follow that feeling, he turned on one of the family's personal VPNs and reloaded the page. Just like that, as if it was never even hidden, the screen filled with results. Hundreds of headlines that anyone not in Paris was somehow completely blind to. He quickly scanned through the headlines with the most hits, cataloging keywords to deepen his search. Each subsequent search brought him down a rabbit hole that painted an extremely odd picture of what was unfolding in Paris.

Hawkmoth: A madman who showed up almost 5 years ago, holding an entire city hostage and demanding two pieces of magical jewelry. The man didn’t do his own dirty work though, and had only been seen a small number of times. He instead elected to use brainwashed and enslaved Parisians to try and achieve his means.

Mayura: She was Hawkmoth’s Partner/Lackey, seemingly able to conjure beings that would assist Akuma’s in Battle. She disappeared randomly a few months ago, Whereabouts unknown.

Ladybug and Kuro Neko: Paris’s premier Superheroes. These two possessed the very magical jewels that Hawkmoth desired so badly. Ladybug had the power to conjure items that would assist in battle, and could also repair all damages incurred in said battle. She was the leader of the team, having been in the fight since day one. Originally she had worked with a different Partner, who had the power to destroy anything with a simple touch. For unknown reasons, he had recently been replaced by the aforementioned Kuro Neko. Whether he was fired, quit, or simply retired was anyone's guess as Ladybug refused to answer any questions about it.

Abeille Royale and Viperion: The new additions. Back when Chat Noir was still around, the duo would periodically call on ‘temporary heroes’ to assist them in particularly tough battles. As of late though, there have been two permanent additions to the team. Viperion was previously one of these temporary heroes, having been promoted. Abeille though, was a completely new addition, as the previous holder of her jewel had been publicly outed as the Mayor’s daughter.

Even with all of this new information, Damian was still left with many questions. How had this not gotten the Justice League’s attention? They absolutely had satellites in France, and there was no way they would have just seen a bunch of child heroes with no apparent mentor standing as the only line of defense against a Supervillain and just decide to leave it be, which meant something else had to be at play.

Damian opened another tab to buy a plane ticket. He was going to get to the bottom of this.

 

✧ ✦ ~.✿.~ ✦ ✧

 

“Damian… you can’t just run off to Paris. It’s the middle of the school year.” His Father looked at him exasperated. 

“I’ve found a perfectly suitable school that will transfer my records. They're also willing to be discreet, multiple children of celebrities go there. I can even use a fake name so I don't have to deal with the press while I’m there.” The school was also a hotspot for Akuma attacks, but his Father didn’t need to know that. “I already filled out all of the paperwork, you just have to sign it.” 

“Why exactly do you want to go to Paris anyway? I know your siblings have been worried lately-”

“It's not that. I just… want a change of scenery for a bit.” 

“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather spend some time with the Titans? Robin has no reason to be in Paris.” Oh if only he knew how wrong that statement was.

“I’m sure. I’ll stay in shape, so you don’t need to worry.”

His Father gave him an odd look, like he was trying to find some kind of hidden element in Damian’s expression. Finding nothing, he finally let out a sigh.

“Fine, you can go. On one condition.” 

“Yes?”

“You need to get someone to agree to come along and supervise you.”

Shit. Which one of his siblings could he convince not to snitch?

  

Notes:

Damian: wow I'm so good at this building a rapport thing

Marinette: ...why is this guy still texting me???

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 2 of Swn-verse