Reviews:

Nameless Angel 00: Don't worry, I have planned a bonus that will tell the end of each story ^^

Chapter 3: Against all odds.

Marinette had lost her parents when she was very young. Her grandfather was the one who took care of her. And to take care of her was to be understood as using her as a slave.

Marinette had to do everything in the house: cleaning, ironing, feeding.

If she did anything wrong, her grandfather beat her. Her grandfather was a bitter old man who had an explosive temper and was an alcoholic. Her grandmother had divorced her grandfather a few years earlier because she couldn't stand his temper. The poor woman was beaten daily. Unfortunately for Marinette, she became the next victim.

One day, her grandfather was so violent that her screams disturbed the neighbors who called the police. It was a policeman who went to her house that day, a certain Gordon. The man was very kind to her. He convinced Marinette to tell what was happening to her. She hesitated a little at first, but because of Mr. Gordon's kindness (and because she really hoped to escape from this hell), Marinette confided and showed some scars due to her grandfather's mistreatment.

Her grandfather was arrested for abuse and Marinette was placed in foster care. Her situation did not get worse, but it did not get better either. Her foster family was taking care of several children. Marinette soon realized that these two new guardians were only interested in the money they were given for fostering children. One day, she noticed that one of the couple's boys was looking at her strangely. One night, as she was about to take her shower, this guy followed her and told her to shower in front of him. Marinette was petrified and had no choice but to obey. The same evening, Marinette fled the house through her bedroom window. She was certainly not going to stay in this house with this pervert!

The nights were cold. She was hungry, she was afraid. Marinette started to steal to survive.

Marinette always carried several knives to defend herself (which she had of course stolen) and pepper spray. She also dressed like a boy so as not to attract too much attention. A little girl alone at night was a prime target while a boy had a better chance of going unnoticed.

One day Marinette met a boy of her age who was about to be beaten by an angry shopkeeper. She only knew the boy by sight, having seen him a few times in the evening in the street (by dint of living in the street one ends up knowing the faces of those in the same situation). Marinette had never spoken to him. However, Marinette knew that this boy was like her and was just surviving on the street. So she decided to help him. She called out to the shopkeeper.

"HEY!"

The guy suddenly turned around. When he turned around, Marinette used her pepper spay on his face. The guy began to yell and curse angrily. Marinette then used her knife and stabbed him in the leg. The guy screamed again and fell to the ground. After living on the street, Marinette had no mercy anymore. Life on the street was the law of the jungle, only the strongest survived. Marinette ran towards the boy.

"RUN!"

She and the boy started to run. They only stopped when they could no longer hear the man's screams. Both needed a moment to catch their breath. Marinette then turned to the boy.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah… Thanks for the help."

"Hmm. No problem. I've dealt with this guy before, he's a big jerk."

"Yeah, no sh*t."

" The name' s Marinette. "

"Jason."

That day, Marinette gained a friend.

Like her, Jason was all alone. His father was in prison and his mother had died of an overdose. He had also been in foster care but had run away because of abuse. They were living in a really shitty world!

They were both 9 years old when they met.

From that day on, Marinette and Jason became inseparable. Jason was smart and he knew a good place to sleep safely. In winter, Marinette used to sneak into the homes of elderly people (preferably those with limited mobility. Marinette would spot them by spying on Dr. Leslie's clinic) to sleep in their attic. It was much warmer than outside. Jason, on the other hand, was used to squatting in vacated buildings. Jason quickly adopted Marinette's idea.

It was very wrong to do that. Marinette was well aware that it was abuse. But they had to survive!

Marinette also had a habit of going to all the department stores and rummaging through the garbage for unsold items. Sometimes department stores would throw away new items that hadn't even been used yet! Marinette found her clothes in these places.

Jason quickly got the idea to resell the items they found. Marinette had never thought of that. Jason already had contacts, so it was easier to sell. Jason also knew of places where it was possible to eat for free.

So, both of them exchanging experiences, their lives improved.

There were many homeless people who had a lot of experience in certain areas. For example, some had been teachers, others were former mechanics… In exchange for certain objects or products, Jason and Marinette had a form of education.

Sometimes, when they had earned enough money, Marinette would accompany Jason to a bookstore where a very nice lady was working. Her name was Barbara. This lady was always nice to them. Marinette bought herself a coloring book and sometimes some pencils. Jason bought himself a book or two.

Time passed.

The relationship between Jason and Marinette changed over time. From friends, they had become a couple.

One day, Jason and Marinette met another girl, a little bit younger than them, who was obviously starving. Marinette shared their food with the girl.

After that, the girl started following them. The only thing she could say was: "Yes", "No", "Cassandra".

Both assumed that "Cassandra" was her name. They started calling her "Cass". And the two soon realized that Cass was not like them. She fought like a ninja!

Cass began to teach them how to fight. Jason and Marinette began to teach her to read and speak.

Jaosn and Marinette were 13 and Cass was probably 11 or 12 by their estimation. Cass was actually 14 years old, but because she had been malnourished for so long, she was small for her age. Also, she didn't know her date of birth, which made it difficult to tell her real age. Jason and Marinette decided that the date of their meeting would be Cass' birthday.

A few months later, Cass disappeared for a while. Jason and Marinette looked for her everywhere, afraid that something had happened to her. When Cass returned, she was not alone. She had a little boy with her. He was 10 years old and his name was Timothy Drake. He was a child who had rich parents but whose parents neglected him and left him alone to go on trips. Cass came across him on one of her patrols and decided to help him because he was being assaulted by older men who wanted to steal his camera.

Tim went home one last time to get his computer, some clothes and blankets and then ran away from home to live on the street with Jason, Marinette and Cass. He preferred life on the street with his new friends to living alone in a huge house.

Tim helped them maximize their sales, (they always collected unsold merchandise from the garbage), this time using online sales. They had to steal the wifi code from Leslie's clinic first, but that turned out to be less difficult than expected, Tim was a genius. Thanks to Tim, they no longer needed to steal to survive, selling the items was enough.

So, they began to live by renting hotel rooms for a while. It was much more comfortable than living in old buildings.

Finally, thanks to Jason, they managed to rent a small apartment to live in together. It had three bedrooms. Normally, this type of apartment would be too expensive for them, but since it was located near Crime Alley, the owners couldn't afford to rent it. Since Jason gave him three months' rent directly, the man agreed. They no longer needed to steal Wi-Fi codes.

Jason and Marinette shared a room, while Cass and Tim had their own space.

Time passed.

Jason and Marinette were 17, Cass was 15 (according to Jay and Mari, but in reality, she was 18) and Tim was 13.

Jason, Marinette and Cass were well known in the neighborhood. Their code names were "Red", "Marigold" and " Crow".

They often came to the aid of people living in Crime Alley. They protected the street children together by giving them a warm place to sleep. They also hunted drug dealers. In other words, they were vigilantes. Not the same caliber as Batman, but they did their best.

Tim helped them with his computer and guided them through the streets of Gotham. He also helped to monitor the stores that threw away the most unused products. He chose to call himself "Ghost". Little Tim was a genius and had developed a headset system using old headphones.

Unfortunately, their little nightly activity did not go unnoticed.

It all began when Marinette fell ill. She was not well at all, vomited, refused to eat and had a high fever.

The trouble was that Jason and Marinette had flown to Dr. Thompkins' clinic when they were younger, so they didn't dare go, even though the clinic was supposed to be free. There was still the option of going to a private clinic or a regular doctor, but the problem was that it would be expensive, not to mention the cost of any medication.

Yet, all together, they earned just enough to pay for their apartment, electricity and internet. Their food budget was very small, they ate regularly at the Wayne Foundation, which distributed free food three times a week. To get enough to eat, they collected seeds from vegetables and fruits and grew them in their living room. Meat was too expensive, so they only ate it once a week, when possible. For the rest, they collected as much as possible of the unsold goods from the supermarkets. It was necessary to choose carefully, because sometimes, just to avoid that people came to serve themselves in the garbage cans, the big supermarkets threw bleach on the food whose consumption date was close to the end.

The clothes they wore came from unsold items found in garbage cans.

Marinette initially refused to let them spend any money on her.

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me. It's just a little stomach ache, I must have eaten something that went bad."

Unfortunately, as the weeks went by, Marinette's situation only got worse. She couldn't leave her bed and was coughing a lot.

Tim decided to take Marinette's place and help Jason and Cass collect items to sell. Without Marinette, they were collecting less and selling less and it was becoming a vicious circle.

While they were out, Black Mask men entered their apartment and captured Marinette. Black Mask wanted to get rid of them because they were making him lose money.

Black Mask told them to bring him $1 million to get Marinette back. They had one week, after which Black Mask would kill Marinette.

"Where the hell are we going to get a million dollars in a week?!"

"He's doing it on purpose, he knows we'll never raise that kind of money."

"We have to… find them… Save Mari."

After some discussion, Jason finally declared that they would just have to fly around and collect the money. That was the only way, no one would help them!

"We can't do that! This is exactly what Black Mask wants, for us to lose all credibility with the people we're helping!"

"And what do you want us to do? Give up on Mari?!"

"NO! There is still a solution! We… we can ask Batman for help…"

"Oh yeah? And why would that guy dressed as a bat help us? To him we're criminals, all he'll do is arrest us and hand us over to the police!"

"Jason, I'm sure if we explain the situation to him he'll help us, Batman helps people!"

"You're too naive Timbo. There has to be a price to pay. What do we do if he asks for one of us? We can't trust him!"

They continued to argue. It was Cass who stopped the argument.

"We… try… Tim idea."

"You're not going to get into it! Shit, I' m telling you we can't trust this guy, we don't even know him!"

"Try… If he says no… Then… try Jason's idea. For Mari's sake. Mari… sad if… we start stealing again…"

Jason had no confidence in Batman, but since his baby brother and little sister were so confident, he couldn't go against their decision. He would have a hard time stealing that much money on his own.

They set out to find Batman. It took them two whole nights to track down the bat. Finally, they found his car.

They had no choice but to wait for the Bat to return.

"I still say we're wasting time for nothing."

"Jason, please, this is the best way to save Mari!"

"Tim right… If we give money… We will… die."

"Tss… And then what? He'll kindly help us heal Mari and then give us a place to live? Better! He'll definitely adopt us and let us go to the most expensive schools in the country to get an education! Good joke."

"….."

"….."

Tim and Cass looked at him strangely.

"Don't look at me like that. Face it, Batman has no reason to help a bunch of street rats like us…"

"I think the best thing to do is to ask the person concerned, don't you think?"

"HOLY SH*T!"

Jason gasped. Batman was right behind him. So that's why Tim and Cass had suddenly gone silent!

Tim immediately jumped at the opportunity.

"Batman! We need your help, our friend has been captured by Black Mask's men. She will be killed in less than 5 days…"

Tim explained the situation. To Jason's surprise, not only did Batman agree to help them, but he already knew them. Well, he knew their code names "Red", "Crow" and "Ghost".

With Batman's help, they found Marinette.

Her condition had worsened to the point where she needed to be hospitalized.

They could not afford to pay for Marinette's hospitalization. However, Batman told them they had nothing to worry about.

Marinette was hospitalized. They found out that Marinette had come down with the flu and that the primary reason for Marinette's "illness" was simply that she was 3 months pregnant.

The most ironic part of the story?

All four of them were placed in a foster home. And the person who took them in was none other than Bruce Wayne, the richest guy in Gotham. Tim, Marinette and Cass were adopted by Bruce Wayne, while Jason was adopted by the butler Alfred Pennyworth (to avoid any incest…).

Less than a month later, Gordon nearly had a heart attack when he realized that Batman had not one, but three new protégés at his side.

Bonus:

Dick arrived in the Bat-Cave upset. Alfred had informed him that Bruce had adopted. Dick had heard that there was a new Robin. And Bruce hadn't even thought to tell him, let alone ask his permission to use his uniform and name!

So, it was with anger that he entered the Bat-Cave.

However, he stopped dead in his tracks when he found himself in front of four kids who were playing cards on the Bat-Cave floor. All wearing different uniforms. He spotted his Robin uniform and saw that it was a blonde girl wearing it.

One of the kids spotted him, her uniform was completely black with the batman symbol on the chest. The kid pointed at him.

"Nightwing."

The others looked up to face him.

"OH MY GOD… It's really Nightwing!"

"Yeah, thanks Ghost, we hadn't noticed. No need to be a fanboy."

"SHUT UP RED!"

The one in his Robin uniform looked at "Red" and "Ghost" exasperated. She turned to the other kid in the black uniform.

"They really are kids, don't you think Crow?"

Crow nodded.

"Don't be cocky Robin, you were even more excited than Tim to meet him.

"Red's right, you even talked about his great ass-"

"NO! T.M.I! "

Dick's confusion only increased when a young girl appeared in the basement alongside Alfred. The girl in question had a plump belly. The one called Red stood up and went to greet Alfred, while kissing the girl. Apparently, his girlfriend.

When Bruce finally deigned to appear, the only thing he was able to say to him, was:

"Bruce? WT*?!"