It's been several weeks since the Red Hood met with Lady Chance on the roof of the Wayne Enterprises building. Since then, he's heard mutters about a new vigilante based out of crime alley, one in a black suit with red spots. His goons mutter about her being a new Bat when they think that he can't hear them gossiping, but he knows better. She's no Bat, she's just a meta with a hero complex. Unfortunately, that doesn't stop her from being dangerous. An incompetent hero could just as easily become an issue as a mob boss who thinks it's a good idea to make a grab at his territory could.
So far at least she hasn't made any move against him, and she seems to be sticking to taking out muggers and rapists, taking them out and leaving them for the police. Unfortunately, there's always a chance she'll get cocky and try and take him on, with no consideration for what would happen to crime alley if she actually succeeds in taking him out. He owns all the crime in crime alley, he sets the rules, he controls it. Taking him out would open up a power vacuum for every two bit mob boss in Gotham.
He slides out of the shadows and walks up to his gossiping goons. "I want to be kept updated on this new vigilante."
The group jump at his voice, not realizing that he was right behind them.
"Uh, got it boss, we'll make sure you're informed."
"Good, has she gone after anyone other than the riffraff?"
"No sir."
"Good, make sure I'm the first to know if that changes."
"Yes sir."
He pulls out his grapple gun and they flinch. He rolls his eyes before pointing it into the sky and swinging back into the darkness. Below him, the goons let out a breath of relief that he's gone.
—
It's a few days later when they meet again. He's tracking down a rouge dealer by the name of Freddy Davis. The man thought he could break the Red Hood's rules, and now he had to make an example of him.
He follows the man as he walks through crime alley. Silently jumping from rooftop to rooftop until the man makes a turn though an empty alley. The Red Hood hops down and looms over the man. "So Freddie, you thought you could break my rules, did you?"
"N-no sir, of course not! I've been following your rules, honest!"
Hood unholsters his guns, holding them out to the side. "See, that's not what I heard. I heard that you've been breaking my number one rule, do you know what I do to people who break my rules?" He swings the gun around and points it at the man's head. "I make them disappear." Suddenly there's the sound of something flying through the air and something knocks the guns out of his hands. The thing (a yoyo?) is pulled back, and a figure jumps from the roof. It's Lady Chance. She lands between them and throws a punch at Red Hood, yelling for the dealer to run.
He dodges the punch and swings back at her, but she moves fast. Pulling back so that she's out of his range. She swings her yoyo at him, trying to trap his legs and knock him over. He jumps, flipping over the yoyo and diving for his guns. He raises them at shoots her in the shoulder. The first shot lands, and she stumbles back, but she quickly recovers and starts spinning her yoyo fast enough that it's just a glowing blur. He shoots again, but the spinning yoyo somehow shields her from the bullets.
He snarls, closing the distance between them to try and grab her, but she jumps up and swings the yoyo out again, latching onto something above them. She yanks it tight and swings away from him. He curses and pulls out his grapple, swinging after her. He chases her but her yoyo (definitely magical, there is no way for that to work without magic) is too fast for him to keep up with on his grapple, and he loses her.
He swings back to try and track down Freddie, but the dealer has also disappeared into Gotham. He swears and punches the wall.
—
It's been two weeks since she fought The Red Hood in that alley, and she hasn't seen any sign of him in that time. Marinette spent a few days lying low after the fight. She's waiting for the bruising on her shoulder to heal mostly, her suit stopped the bullet from actually penetrating her shoulder, but it still hurt! A week later though and she was out again as Lady Chance.
She keeps an eye out for Red Hood as she swings through Gotham. Even if she hasn't seen him in the week since she started patrolling, she doesn't want him to get the drop on her. Unfortunately, she wasn't looking quite hard enough, apparently, because when Red Hood appears on the roof behind her, it's a complete surprise. He's just as quiet as Chat… as Chat used to be.
"Lady Chance."
She spins to face him. "Red Hood. What do you want?"
"What I want, is to know why you decided to stick your nose where it doesn't belong."
"You were going to kill that man. I would be a very poor hero if I didn't try to stop a murder."
"Murder, that was not going to be a murder, that was an execution. And you saving him just means that he can hurt that many more people."
"And how is that?" she asks defiantly.
"You really want to know?" She nods. "Then follow me."
He jumps off the roof and swings away. She hesitates a moment before following him.
—
Below them is the man she saved. He's standing in an alley, not hidden, but not too visible from the main street either. Before long, a man approaches him, they talk quietly before the second man hands him some money, and in return the man she saved hands them a small bag of white powder.
Her hand goes to her mouth. "He's a drug dealer."
"Ha." The Red Hood chuckles darkly. "You think that's the issue? I have plenty of dealers who work for me. Keep watching." She does, already starting to become conflicted about the fact she saved the man.
She watches as several more customers show up, and then the girl arrives. Lady Chance watches in horror as the girl hurries over to the man and pulls out a crumpled wad of bills. The man snatches the bills and counts them one at a time, the child watching anxiously. The man huffs and pulls out a bag and hands it to her, the girl running off immediately afterward.
She breathes in a shaky breath, turning to the man on the roof with her. She finds Hood's helmet staring at her, expressionless.
"I rule these streets, Chance. I make the rules and I enforce them. I don't try and destroy the drug trade. Others have tried, and they've failed every time. If they don't come to me, then they would go to someone else, someone who doesn't have a rule about cutting the drugs with other poisons to help their bottom line, or someone who doesn't have a rule about how much a single customer is allowed to buy at once.
"You want to know what my number one rule is, Chance? Hood pulls a gun and there's a bang. Below them, the dealer falls to the ground. "No dealing to kids." Hood jumps off the building and swings away. Lady Chance stares down at the body in shock, before chasing after him. He doesn't go far, only a couple of streets over, where he swings into a different alley.
Lady Chance swings up to the roof and looks down into the alley, half expecting Hood to have disappeared. Instead, she sees him crouched in the middle of the alley, not far from him is the girl who she'd just seen buying drugs from the dealer in the alley.
The girl runs over to him quickly. "Mr. Red Hood!"
He chuckles and ruffles the girl's hair, and the girl scowls at him. "Jessica. Good job back there."
The girl giggles, and holds out the packet of drugs. Hood takes it and the girl wipes her hand off against her ratty jacket. Pulling out a clip of bills, he hands it to the girl, who grins excitedly before shoving it into her jacket.
He chuckles again, before shooing her away. "Go on now, and tell the others I say hi, yeah?" The girl nods happily before running off.
He stands up from where he was crouched, grappling up to the roof where she's standing. She just looks at him for a moment, before speaking. "You really are trying to help, aren't you?"
He seems surprised by her statement, before shrugging. "You and the Bats are trying to win a war, against an enemy that has more heads than a hydra, you won't. I'm trying to tame it instead, and I'm succeeding."
They stand there staring at each other for a long moment. Before Lady Chance breaks the silence.
"Let me help."
"What?" Hood says, shocked.
"The magic of the Miraculous directed me to you. I trust it, even if I don't agree with your methods. Let me help."
Hood looks at her. "We'll see."