Chapter : Accident (Jay)

Five years later.

Jason Todd, doctoral student in English literature. Working part-time in a garage in Metropolis. Aspires to become a professor of English literature at the university.

A lot had happened in those few years.

First of all, Jason had finally confessed to his family who was Marinette's biological mother. The news had come as a huge surprise to Dick and Tim. Bruce, on the other hand, confessed to Jason that he already knew.

He learned that day that while he was away as Red Hood, someone had spread the rumor that Hood had died. The person behind the rumors was none other than Deathstroke. When Bruce confronted him on the matter, he simply replied:

"I'm just giving my son-in-law the best conditions to raise my granddaughter."

Bruce didn't know how to interpret this sentence at first, but it all made sense when Tim told the family that he had discovered that Jason was raising a baby. Deathstoke's sentence suddenly made sense. The identity of the baby's mother wasn't hard to guess.

As a result, Jason moved again, this time to a highly secure apartment, which was connected to the Manor, Dick's apartment, and Oracle Tower.

The apartment in question was on the top floor of a modern building. Jason had the entire top floor at his disposal. With a huge terrace, a swimming pool, a huge fully equipped kitchen... Bruce had seen things in a big way (Jason decided not to complain, it was not him who paid the rent and at least he was going to be able to raise his little Pixie in the best possible conditions).

Above all, he was the happy father of a 6-year-old girl.

Marinette was a very emotional little girl.

VERY emotional...

Jason had to be extremely careful what he said to her. Because otherwise she would sometimes overreact.

"Daddy, why isn't Grandpa here yet? He's already twenty minutes late... "

"Ah yes, it slipped my mind. Bruce is not coming today."

"Oh? Why?"

"He fell off his horse and-"

"WHAT?! OH MY GOD! We must go and see him right away! Did he hurt his head? Did he? A horse is huge, it stinks and it's scary! What if he doesn't remember me?! What do I do if I don't have Grandpa anymore ?! IT'S A DISASTER !"

"..."

Jason had to take it upon himself not to die laughing every time. Marinette had an overflowing imagination and came up with theories and absurd scenarios.

"Marinette... Why are all your clothes on the floor?"

"It is a DISASTER! I'm supposed to go with Rose* to the pool, and my swimsuit is SMALL! I'm going to look like a sausage!"

Marinette was running around and ended up getting her foot caught on one of her T-shirts. She fell on the floor. Then she lifted her head slowly and looked at him with exorbitant eyes. Jason couldn't resist.

"...Pfff..."

Jason started laughing in spite of himself.

"How can you laugh at a time like this?! I'm in the middle of a HUGE CRISIS!"

Marinette was so clumsy, that sometimes Jason wondered if one night when he came home, he wouldn't find Marinette's lifeless body, because she had slipped on a banana peel and snapped her neck when she fell...

She always had an aversion to heroes. She hated Batman, she disliked Nightwing, but for some reason he didn't know, she loved Robin (and only Robin...), the rest of the "Bat-clan" was royally ignored.

Marinette still loved Green Lantern, he was still her favorite hero. But now she also loved Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, Flash, Shazam and Aquaman.

And Dick had the good idea to talk to Roy about Marinette's tastes, and he told Oliver about them. So, to annoy Bruce, Oliver and Hal each gave Dick an autograph, and Dick immediately gave it to Marinette, to Bruce's exasperation.

The two autographs were now framed in his living room (Marinette took great care of them, and Dick became her favorite uncle -deleting Timbo from first place-).

According to Dick, Green Lantern never missed an opportunity to harass Batman on the subject.

Jason was fully satisfied with it (It wasn't because he was on good terms with Bruce that he didn't like to see him suffer anymore...).

Marinette was scared of everything and anything. Dick had a video of her screaming in fear and running away because she was afraid of her own shadow when she was two years old.

Pixie was also... incredibly materialistic and pragmatic.

He particularly remembered one trip he was doing with Marinette, where Dick accompanied them (he had intruded). Dick said that he was currently giving self-defense classes for free.

"Uncle Ric... We really need to treat your hero syndrome."

" Hero Syndrome?"

"There is only a hero to work without being paid."

Dick frowned and looked at Marinette strangely. He, for his part, remained silent.

"Heroes save people, Mari, it's not something you can buy."

" Bullsh*t! Doctors save people and they get paid for it. So are first-aid workers. And they are not even recognized as heroes! While the people called "Heroes" break a lot of things, put a lot of people in sh*t and they are acclaimed as gods."

"…"

" Mari, look, there's a shark "

Luckily, Jason manages to distract his daughter's attention to something else. Dick remained silent for a moment and then looked at him with an eyebrow raised. Jason just shrugged his shoulders.

Jason had never taught this to Marinette. Instead, he had always told her to think for herself and make up her own mind about things. Mari had never been particularly fond of "heroes," and this since she was a baby. If that's what she thought, he certainly wasn't going to change her mind. She had the right to have her own opinion on the matter.

And yet this clumsy little girl had an exceptional talent.

She was a true Cordon Bleu.

"Master Jason, this meal was absolutely exquisite."

"Al's right Jay, I didn't think you could get any better!"

"That's true, it was particularly excellent Jaylad."

"Thank you. But you're complimenting the wrong person. It was Pixie who made tonight's dinner. From the entrée to the dessert."

The three men turned to Marinette.

"Mademoiselle Marinette will become a great chef."

"OMG Mari, I absolutely must have a video of you cooking."

"It's really good work."

She became as red as Flash's outfit.

-XxxX-

Slade Wilson could be qualified by several terms.

All negative, of course: murderer, selfish, opportunist, arrogant, manipulative.

However, this apparently cold-blooded man had a weak point. A secret that no one knew, and that he did absolutely everything to keep it that way.

Deathstoke had a granddaughter.

Surprisingly enough, Slade loved his family. He certainly had a very special way of showing it, but the feeling was there.

And he would do anything to give his lineage the longest life possible.

Slade discovered that his daughter Rose was pregnant completely by chance. He always kept an eye on his children. She was no exception. The mercenary was at first surprised that his daughter could be so careless. He was even more surprised when he realized that she was planning to keep the child.

Then, like a good father, he watched her every move from a distance. Slade was there to intervene in case his stupid daughter put herself in danger.

Rose gave birth to a baby girl.

Slade quickly understood that Rose would not be a good mother. He didn't know what made his daughter keep the child, but if it was to neglect her like that, she would have been better off having an abortion. Rose was barely taking care of the baby. She would forget to change her, forget to feed her... She would quickly become annoyed with her crying.

Slade found himself, reluctantly, babysitting the baby several times. When Rose wasn't around, he would break into her house and take care of the baby.

The situation annoyed him deeply. He didn't have time to play "nice grandpa". So he came up with a plan. Despite her negligence, Rose was still attached to the baby (he would never understand his daughter).

So he came to her one night and told her that he was going to take the baby from her and give it to one of his clients who was looking for children to be used as guinea pigs for experiments. Rose's reaction was immediate. She took the baby and left to give it to the biological father.

Slade was extremely surprised to learn that his daughter had had an affair with one of Batman's sons. At least she had had the decency to choose the most interesting of the three.

He watched the boy from a distance. If the brat ever proved incompetent, Slade would kill him and find himself an adoptive family for his granddaughter. However, life was full of surprises. The kid behaved admirably. Beyond his expectations. The kid took care of the baby as if she were the most precious thing in the world.

Slade smiled.

Against all odds, Red Hood was a good father.

It was perfect. For once, his idiot daughter had made the right decision.

His granddaughter would have a great life, with a family that loved her, away from danger. And above all, normal.

That was all he couldn't offer.

Slade was content to observe things from a distance. He couldn't afford to get too close. No one needed to learn of the girl's existence. Besides, he wasn't an idiot. Red Hood had made a lot of enemies. If any of them learned his identity, the girl's safety would be compromised.

So he set about removing all traces of Red Hood's activities. He spread rumors of his death.

Time passed.

His granddaughter was growing up day by day in a very suitable environment. She had the good and the best. The kid was doing a good job.

The little one had the life she deserved.

Then one day, when he had just finished a job, he went to a bar. That day an incident happened.

"You've heard the latest rumors?"

"Which ones? There are too many at the moment."

"The one about the Joker!"

"AH YEAH! Are you talking about the rumor that the second Robin was killed by the Joker?"

"Yep, it seems that the second Robin is actually Red Hood, and that he has been resurrected."

"Don't talk nonsense, people can't be resurrected, it's impossible..."

"Besides, Red Hood is dead, everyone knows that."

"Yet I heard that Red Hood is alive, that he is just hiding somewhere."

"Seriously?! Where'd you hear that, man?"

"In Gotham the other day, there was this chick... The one hanging out with the Joker... I heard her boyfriend's up to something."

The conversation immediately caught his attention, as soon as the name "Red Hood" was mentioned.

The joker killed the second Robin?

Slade had always thought that the kid had just rebelled against his father and fallen into the dark side of his own will. But if that was true, and the kid was dead, then he did know a way to bring the dead back to life. Mysterious waters guarded by an old jerk and his petty girl.

But even more important than the kid's past.

The Joker seemed to know Red Hood's identity.

That meant only one thing: his granddaughter was in danger.

Slade finished his drink, paid and left the bar. His next destination was already decided.

He had a clown to exterminate.

-XxxX-

Jason will never forget that morning.

It was a Friday the 13th.

He was making breakfast for himself and Marinette, who was getting dressed for school. As usual, when Marinette had finished getting dressed, she turned on the television in the living room on the news. They always ate together while listening to the news.

"We learned this morning that the corpse of the Joker and his sidekick Harley Quinn were found by Gotham police. The circumstances of the death are still unknown [...]"

Jason dropped his cup of coffee which broke into a thousand pieces on the ground.

He was in shock.

"Daddy?! Are you okay?"

"…"

The Joker was dead.

Jason smiled, then laughed almost uncontrollably. It was too good to be true! He suspected that Bruce had nothing to do with it. His moral code forbade him to kill. Deep down, it didn't matter who did it.

He was extremely grateful.

Jason looked at his precious little Pixie, who looked at him worried. He put his hand on her little head and smiled.

"You know what, sweetie, why don't we go to the park today?"

"The park? But... What about school?... "

"Don't worry honey, just a missing day of school isn't a big deal. Daddy has a big event to celebrate."

"All right! I want to eat ice cream! And do a lot of rides!"

"Anything you want, Pixie."

She ate her breakfast with enthusiasm.

Jason picked up the pieces of the broken cup and went to make himself a new cup of coffee.

With this "accident", he would give anything to see Bruce's face at that moment.

This time he can't blame me for anything. I no longer live in Gotham. I am no longer Red Hood. I haven't been out in the field at all for years. To think that Bruce's "soul mate" would be eliminated by a complete stranger... Just thinking about it makes me want to burst out laughing.

It's going to be a really beautiful day.

*This "Rose" is the blondie girl, Marinette's classmate in Miraculous.

BONUS:

Tim was the babysitter of the day. Jason would work exceptionally late, so he volunteered to stay with Marinette.

He loved playing video games with her.

While they were in the middle of playing Street Fighter, Tim wanted to satisfy one of his curiosities.

"Marinette, can I ask you a question?"

"Yep."

"Why do you like Green Lantern so much?"

"Because his outfit reminds me of spinach. I love spinach."

"….. Green Lantern reminds you of spinach?!..."

"Yep! Green Arrow looks like a salad dish, Martian Manhunter looks like green beans, Flash looks like a tomato, Shazam reminds me of spaghetti Bolognese...".

Suddenly, Tim started laughing uncontrollably. He had finally understood the mystery surrounding Marinette's disdain for "heroes".

Marinette only liked "heroes" who reminded her of food.