- Disclaimer: Batman and Miraculous Ladybug do not belong to me.
- The Miraculous are mentioned but will not have a central place in this fic. The Kwamis will be mostly absent.
- Rely heavily on comics (especially Nightwing from 1996 and 2011) but before the Rebirth period (I don't understand their delirium with this reboot but never mind...) and not on animated films. And I'll tell you right now, I'm going to arrange the events to my liking. It won't all happen in the same order as in the comics.


Chapter 1: The Blue Bird and the Guardian

Dick's life lately could be summed up in one word: complicated.

He and Barbara had broken up a few months ago, so he was in pretty bad mood. Their relationship had become utterly weird.

They simply avoided communicating with each other.

If he had to be sincere, he missed her voice very much.

To make things worse, he felt like he was going around in circles in this town. He worked hard as Nightwing to protect the town, but it was hard to feel the changes.

On the other hand, he had found a job that he really liked. Dick really loved his job as an officer.

-XxxX-

Nightwing was quietly patrolling the town - catching a few robbers, helping a few damsels in distress - he was confronted with something unusual. A group of people dressed entirely in black were jumping from roof to roof. They were all armed with edged weapons, such as swords, katanas... There were also knives on the front of their suits. The vigilant lurked in the shadows and followed them discreetly. The men stopped for a moment. The one at the head of the procession seemed to be talking to someone through an earpiece At least that's what Nightwing deduced from seeing the man with a hand over his ear, as if he was listening to instructions.

It was with some horror that Nightwing recognized the mask these men were wearing: they were Talons.

There were a good fifteen of them. Although he felt confident that he was capable of facing them alone, it was prudent for him to wait a little while to get more information about their objectives. Their presence in Blüdhaven was unusual.

Batman's former protégé asked himself many questions: What were they doing there? What were they looking for? Why were there so many of them? Who was the target?

The Talons moved off again. Nightwing was about to follow them but was cut off by a knife that barely missed him. He felt a cut on his right arm. It wasn't very serious, just a scratch. However, it meant only one thing: he had been discovered.

He quickly turned around to dodge the blows and face the perpetrator of the attempted murder. The vigilante found himself in front of only one Talon. The Talon's mask was different from the others and his uniform was also more imposing, looking more like the armor of a samurai.

This Talon must have been the leader of the others. His hypothesis was confirmed when the Talon whistled, and the whole group that had left came back to surround him.

The hero smiled slightly nervous. He was clearly in a bad position.

An inevitable fight ensued. Of course, he had no trouble getting rid of the minions. However, the vigilant soon realized that the number of his opponents was increasing. The more enemies he neutralized, the more they appeared. Unfortunately, he was soon outnumbered. While he was concentrating on defending himself against the horde of owls that were coming at him, the leader of the group finally decided to attack. Taking advantage of the vigilante's concentration on his henchmen, he stuck a knife in Nightwing's lower back.

The vigilant let out a scream of surprise, but still managed to neutralize his assailant by turning around abruptly and kicking him in the abdomen with a masterful kick. Another Ergot managed to remove the blade, causing the wound to open further. The former Robin clenched his teeth so to avoid a scream.

He barely managed to create a gap in their formation to escape. Nightwing was in a very bad way. His abdominal wound was causing him to lose a lot of blood, not to mention multiple wounds here and there all over his body. The vigilante was out of breath, but he had no choice but to run. His only goal was to find a safe place to call for backup. Something he should have done immediately, by the way. He'd been foolish to follow them alone.

His pursuers followed him very closely, making any attempt to communicate with the Dark Knight impossible. How was it that Talons ended up in Blüdhaven?

As he was about to jump off the roof on which he was standing, he was hit by another knife that came to rest on his left shoulder. Nightwing lost his balance and fell into the alleyway between the two buildings. As he fell, he hit his head several times against the walls and landed heavily on a pile of garbage.

His body was very heavy. The vigilant could hear that his opponents were approaching, he had to move and quickly, but his traitor body seemed not to want to obey him.

— Oh my God! Are you all right?

The voice took him by surprise. He thought he saw a silhouette.

A blurred vision, his head spinning, and sounds distorted as if he were underwater? It looked very much like the symptoms of a concussion.

But it was clearly not what he was most worried about.

This civilian was going to get caught in the crossfire!

— G-G-Go... H-Hurry, n-now...

But instead of running away, the person quickly approached him and helped him get up.

— Follow me!

She quickly dragged him to a door and opened it wide.

— Get inside quickly!

The woman pushed him inside and closed the door behind her. Then the civilian turned off all the lights in record time and came back to stand beside him. As he was about to ask her what she was doing, the woman put her hand over her mouth and whispered a "Shhh!

Then they heard footsteps and then noises of moving objects. Neither of them moved an inch. After several minutes when they could clearly hear the frustration of the men outside, there was a great silence. Neither of them dared to move.

Finally, the civilian decided to get up. Nightwing immediately held her by the arm. It was extremely dangerous, and the young woman had to stay out of sight. Yet her only reaction was to put a reassuring hand on his and whispered softly.

— Everything's fine, they're gone.

— Even if they were, I don't think it's safe for you to go out...

— I wasn't going to go out, just turn on the light.

— I don't think that's a good idea either.

A silence followed his words. The person in front of him clearly seemed to be getting nervous.

— All right, so listen, we're in the stockroom. If we open the door on the other side of this room, we'll find ourselves in the kitchen. From there these people won't be able to see us... I also don't think it's safe for you to go out in your condition... So... If you agree, we'll go into the kitchen and then I can help you get better. Is that ok?

Nightwing took the time to consider the young woman's words.

He could not distinguish it in the dark, but he did notice that it was not very large. Maybe she was a teenager.

Letting someone see him in this state of weakness outside his family was absolutely not a good idea. On the other hand, coming out now with the wounds he had would be suicidal.

And then... If this young woman wanted to hurt her, she would have done it already.

— Okay, Miss, I'm following you.

With all the kindness in the world, the young lady helped him up. They had to move slowly due to the lack of light, but they still managed to find the famous door leading to the kitchen. Once inside and the door leading to the carefully closed back room, the young lady turned on the light.

At first, he was completely blinded, but his eyes gradually got used to the light. His vision was still blurred, but he could still distinguish the figure in front of him.

— Oh God... you're badly hurt! Is that a knife in your arm? And... Oh no, there's too much blood! You're... you're... Please tell me you weren't just going to go home like that, mister Nightwing!

The vigilant felt a growing uneasiness inside him. He did his best not to wince in front of the young woman, while the pain spread all over his body. He felt his muscles getting heavier and heavier.

— Do you know me?

— Your face often appears in the newspaper so it's a little hard not to know who you are. You haven't answered my question...

— Hm... Well...

She sighed.

— Look, I can fix you, but I want you to promise me you'll never tell anyone about what you're going to see now.

— Why?

— I don't want to get in trouble... Promise me that.

— Um... I promise?

— Good. Now, don't move.

He looked at her intrigued for a moment.

She gently put her hand on his chest. Her hand gently lit up; a mark appeared on the back of her hand.

The vigilante widened his eyes, involuntarily.

Then Nightwing saw her join her hands and recite something in a language he never heard before. A reddish light emanated from her. He felt a warmth spreading from his chest to his abdomen and then the heat spread all over his body.

His wounds began to burn him. It was an unpleasant sensation.

When the light emanating from the young woman disappeared... The heat on his body disappeared immediately. To the amazement of the vigilante, all his wounds had disappeared, including the wound on his back.

— H-How?

The lady smiles softly at him.

— Let's say I'm magic...

Now that his vision was no longer blurred, Nightwing could clearly see the appearance of the young lady in front of him.

The civilian had crouched down to be at his level.

She was small, less than 5'6". The lady wore black jeans pants and had cat's head slippers on her feet and a white short-sleeved T-shirt with a ladybug in the middle. On top of her clothes their was a pale pink apron with a drawing of two cup cakes with a smiling face. Her bluish black hair was tied up in a ponytail.

Her skin was a very light color, and her face...

A real porcelain doll...

Her eyes were slightly slanting, blue enough to make the sky pale. A pretty fine nose, a pulpy pink mouth... Her cheeks were slightly pinkish as she smiled at him.

An adorable little angel.

He stood up while looking at her. She stood up as well, still smiling slightly.

Then her face looked a little more serious.

— Don't tell anyone, okay? In return, I promise I'll never say anything about you either.

— Yes, I promise and... Thank you... hmm...

— Marinette! I'm Marinette Fu, nice to meet you mister Nightwing.

— Just Nightwing is enough. Pleased to meet you Miss Fu.

She laughed softly. That sound rang like sweet music to his ears.

— That's not all, miss, but I must leave you now.

— I understand... Be careful mist- I mean Nightwing...

— I'm always careful!

— Yes... That's obvious...

Her smile became more sarcastic. She was making fun of him.

— I admit tonight may not be the best example... Anyway, thanks again.

Nightwing headed to the back room. The lady on his heels. He opened the door cautiously. After making sure he was alone, he walked out.

— Wait!

He stopped and turned towards the young lady.

— If... if you ever get hurt again or need help I... Well, I mean, I... I don't mind if I... What I'm trying to say is that... Come back! I mean, don't! Yes! What I'm trying to say is that if you need help... you... you know where to find me... I... I live right above the store... and... Anyway, I... Good night!

Completely embarrassed, the young lady turned around and literally ran away to her shop before he could answer.

A slight, tender smile appeared on his lips.

Adorable...

He moved away quickly.

If the Talons were still around, staying in that place could put the lady in danger.

He spent the rest of the night searching for the Talons but failed to find them. It was as if they had completely disappeared from the face of the earth... So he decided not to call Batman to tell him about it yet.

And so it was that an extremely tired Dick Grayson from his sleepless night came into his job. He had been with the Blüdhaven Police Department for nearly three years... Although he had no regrets at all, there were days like that when he would have liked to stay in bed.

Especially since the accident the day before hadn't left his mind.

Tonight Nightwing would have to work overtime again...

He yawned to unhook his jaw for the umpteenth time since the beginning of the morning. His partner, Officer Amy Rohrbach, laughed.

— Gee, Grayson, sounds like you had a pretty eventful night.

— You have no idea...

— It's almost noon. Let's get some lunch. I know a nice little cafe that opened three months ago near my house. It's on our way. The manager is a sweetheart, I'm sure you'll like it!

— If you say so...

Dick didn't pay the slightest attention to what his colleague was saying, he was too tired and above all too focused on the Talons story to give a damn.

They soon arrived at the famous place.

The dark-haired was dragged away by his colleague in front of a sign. There he could read "Les petites fours de Mari" (Mari's little ovens). Was it a French café? As soon as they were inside, a voice that Dick recognized immediately came to greet them enthusiastically.

— Oh, hello officer Rohrbach! How are you?

— Hello, little one, I'm doing great, hahaha! I brought you a new client. This is Richard Grayson, my partner.

— Nice to meet you, mister Grayson, I'm Marinette Fu. Welcome to my coffee house!

The young officer stood speechless in front of the lady in front of him.

He was so tired that he didn't recognize the neighborhood in which he and his colleague were patrolling... He had immediately recognized the young lady in front of him.

This time she was wearing a dark blue dress with an apron hanging from her belt. She was wearing black loafers on her feet. Her hair was now tied in a bun on the top of her skull.

Her doll's face was lightly made up. A thin line of liner underlined her azure gaze, while a little gloss made her beautiful fleshy lips shine.

— Dick?

— Huh?

His partner looked at him strangely before sporting a mischievous smile. Dick blinked several times. That smile didn't bode well for him.

— You did not answer the lady...

— I didn't what? Oh, uh, excuse me... I'm sorry. I... Nice to meet you. I'm Richard Grayson, but everyone calls me Dick...

She smiles for only answer. Then turned to Amy again.

— If you'll just have a seat, I'll bring you the menu right away.

The young lady left immediately.

They sat down on a table near the kitchen, where they could see the entire place. It wasn't a very big space, but it was very cosy.

The decoration had been done with taste, although a little too girly for the young man's taste. There were drawings of cupcakes on the walls, rainbows and teddy bears. The benches on which they sat were very comfortable. The chairs were of a very elegant English type. Next to the counter was a display case with beautiful cupcakes. While he was lost in observing the decoration, the young manager returned with two menus in her hands.

They thanked her.

While her colleague looked at the menu, he allowed himself to watch Miss Fu work. Other customers had just arrived. She greeted them enthusiastically and settled them in. He watched her navigate the room.

Who would believe this little woman was a meta-human? And not just any meta-human, one who possessed one of the most interesting powers he'd ever seen. To have the ability to heal any wound no matter how bad it is is truly an extraordinary gift.

The kindness with which she seemed to serve her clients showed that she was someone with a good heart. Anyone would not help a wounded stranger in an alleyway, let alone knowing he was been chase.

He would have to find a way to thank her someday.

— Hmm... Dick, your dish is not going to be chosen on its own, you know...

His attention turned again to his colleague who looked at him with a huge smile. Ah yeah, that's right, he wasn't alone.

Dick looked through the menu.

He had to be more careful, one could easily misinterpret his behavior...

How could his partner and friend imagine that the night before, this young lady had saved his life when he was in a bad position in front of a gang of murderous Talons?

They placed an order and ate quickly. The meal was really delicious, Miss Fu was a good cook.

As they were leaving, she gave them two pieces of cake for the road.

The two officers left the coffee house.

Dick couldn't help but take one last look back.

He'll be back in that place again...