Summary: What with her secret out in the open─no, not that secret, the other one─Marinette must now deal with the repercussions of her father now knowing he's… well, her father. Oh, and Lila.

I'm gonna need you guys to tell me whether I did Cass justice. I had no clue what I was doing the entire time I was writing her and I hope I wrote her character properly. With Cassandra, I felt like she is certainly able to speak full sentences after learning languages with Bruce, but I also felt that she'd rather be quiet and speak in monosyllabic terms than be all eloquent and shit. Same.

Also, I somewhat mess with Death in the Family by changing the Batman-Joker interaction when he runs into him after Jason was killed. Instead of Bats being all like "I know he's alive because he never fucking dies" Bruce does think he killed the Joker.

Marinette gets her social awkwardness and anxiety from Bruce. I will not accept criticism.

Warning: Discussions of sex. In the 'we're-kinda-related-now-so-I-need-to-torture-you' sense. Siblings are assholes, man.

"Mlle. Cheng, there's a visitor for you."

"Who is it?"

"Bruce Wayne."

Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne is here. That is not good. That is terrible. Marinette couldn't deal with this right now.

Adrien's hand landed on her shoulder. Caution oozed off of him. Mssr. D'Argencourt looked rather uncomfortable with the situation at hand.

"Marinette," Adrien started. "You don't have to─"

"Tell him I'll be down in five minutes," Marinette interrupted, imperiously staring her teacher down. D'Argencourt frowned at them, but after a brief moment of hesitation, he complied.

"Marinette."

"Adrien."

It was funny how easily Marinette went from a panicked mess to angry. She was so, so, so angry. Marinette hadn't wanted this. She'd wanted to tell Mr. Wayne on her own terms. In her own time. Sure, she'd been given an ultimatum from Dick, but that hadn't been as bad as this. Having her secret exposed so publicly… what's next? Would the whole world find out she was Ladybug?

"Are you sure?"

She snorted. "No." Adrien moved to sit in front of her. Distantly, she heard the door open and close. That was probably Alya. "No, I'm not sure at all. But if I don't do this… what do you think he's heard about me?"

"'Heard about you'?" Alya quoted, dropping onto the bed beside her. Nino handed Marinette a bar of chocolate. It was French. He'd probably sneaked it from France with him. She loved this brand. "Girl, what do you mean 'heard'? Has he heard that you're a fantastic designer? That you're in league with Gabriel and Audrey Bourgeois? That you've designed entire tour outfits for Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale? That your parents own an amazing bakery in the heart of Paris that everyone knows? Girl, there's nothing but praises that are being sung about you out there."

Bullshit. Marinette's seen the Tweets. The articles. There were a couple that were more glowing than they should be, but a lot of them also detailed how Marinette was a 'gold digger just like her whore of a mother'. That was a direct quote from some gossip rag. Marinette knew what these people thought of her. There was no doubt in her mind that Mr. Wayne had seen all of these and had come to his own conclusions about her.

Well.

Her gaze hardened.

Well.

She'd just have to prove him wrong then.

"I'm not sure I like that expression," Nino muttered.

Adrien frowned. "What are you planning?"

Marinette ignored them, looking down at her outfit. "I'm getting dressed. Adrien, Nino, out." Nino left willingly, but Adrien protested. Marinette knew that he was just concerned for her, but she pushed him out of the door nonetheless. Before she shut the door in his face, she said, "I need you to trust me on this, Minou."

Adrien sighed, pressing his lips to her wrist. "I will always trust you, M'Lady. But I'm worried. About you."

"I'll look after myself," she assured him. That seemed to assuage Adrien, as he pressed a final kiss to her temple and muttered a final reassurance to her that everything would turn out okay.

Alya crossed her arms. "I, for one, do not believe you for a second."

"Then don't," Marinette said, picking up a pink t-shirt. "Yay or nay."

"If you wear that I'll be forced to disown you. Try the blue dress." Marinette picked it up but decided she didn't like it. She grabbed some dark blue jeans with gold stitches on the pant leg. "You know as well as I do that you're going to have seventeen heart attacks during this encounter."

"Yes." 'Which is why I'm going to pretend that he's an akuma and do my best not to run screaming.' "But I don't exactly have a choice, Alya."

"You always have a choice, Mari."

She snorted and rolled her eyes, pulling on a red cardigan. "How's the class reacting to this?"

"As well as expected… Lila's upset."

Marinette sighed. "Why?"

"She didn't know you were her boyfriend's sister. I'd be upset too if Nino lied to me about something so important."

"Damian Wayne is twelve, Alya," Marinette said. "Do we need to have this conversation again?"

Alya sighed. Marinette pulled open the door a tad forcefully and hurried towards the elevator. She slipped a hand into her purse. Tikki patted her finger reassuringly. Alya followed Marinette, catching up in seconds with the way she was running. Marinette jammed her finger into the elevator button.

"Look, Marinette, I'm sorry. That was… insensitive of me to bring up Lila at a time like this. I know how you feel about her."

"No, Alya. You don't. I thought that maybe ─ maybe ─ you realised that something was up with her after yesterday, but clearly you're still on the 'Lila can do absolutely no wrong and Marinette is very jealous of her' train. Use your fucking brain, Alya, and then we'll talk. Maybe you should do some of that 'investigating' you're so fond of. But I hear 'evidence' has been thrown out the window these days."

"Marinette, you're not─"

The elevator opened and Marinette stormed out. She could see the rest of her class sitting in a lounge to her left. D'Argencourt was waiting for her in front of the reception. A young man with blue eyes, a streak of grey hair and steel capped boots stood behind him. Marinette frowned. Was it just her, or did he…?

She whirled around when Alya grabbed her wrist. She could see some of her classmates standing from the lounge in the corner of her eye. Lila was being comforted by Rose and Mylène. "What? Am I listening? You'd know all about that, wouldn't you, Alya?"

"That's not what I was going to say─"

"Then what were you going to say, Alya? Was it that I'm not giving her a chance? Could it be that I'm jealous of Lila? Maybe I'm not serious. Yeah, that's what you were going to say. Clearly, clearly, this is all a hoax! I mean, why would I dislike Lila? It can't be all of the lies, can it? No? Then what is it, Alya? What is the fucking reason that you can't see it after all of the facts have been shoved right in your face?"

"You don't─"

"'You', 'you', 'you'. I've noticed a pattern, Alya. You always have to blame others for your mistakes. I mean, there's no way that you could be wrong, so therefore I mustn't have the facts straight! I obviously don't know what I'm talking about! I must be delusional, because Alya Césaire is never wrong! I mean, just look at when you thought Chloé was Ladybug! Or when you decided that you needed to post that picture of Ladybug and Chat Noir kissing when we still don't know the context! And don't forget about when you believed I was capable of pushing Lila down a flight of stairs! Or stealing her necklace or those test answers! 'You give me evidence, Marinette', you told me when there was literally no proof of Lila knowing Jagged. Or Prince Ali. Or Ladybug."

Marinette shook her head, backing away from Alya. She started back towards the elevator. "Mari─" Alya shouted after her.

"Don't bother," she called over her shoulder. "Mssr. D'Argencourt, tell Mr. Wayne that I'll have to reschedule. Now isn't a good time."

Marinette disappeared behind elevator doors and Alya was left standing helplessly in the lobby.

They were all too distracted to notice a certain liar slipping away, and when she placed a call to a certain supervillain whose identity she was determined to figure out (for her own personal gain, of course) nobody knew.

XXX

Marinette returned to her room, grabbed a hat and her Jagged inspired sunglasses and cracked open her window. She squeezed through it, jumping from one ledge to another and completely ignoring any safety violations she committed as she landed on one an American-style bin. You know, one of those really big green ones that are always in alleyways? Yeah, that one. They're very useful when you're escaping from awkward situations.

Just as Marinette was about to exit the alley, she heard a man talking and when her name was mentioned, she couldn't help but pause and listen. "This is the place she's staying at, right?"

"Dude, have you not seen the security the Wayne's have posted around?" their friend asked. "It's like a fortress there. Your only chance of getting in is if you're, like, the Queen of England or something. Even the reporters up front couldn't get in. Vicki Vale couldn't get in. This is suicide."

"And? It's worth the risk. If I get even a picture of her, my career will skyrocket. You want that for me, right?"

Marinette drew back, frowning and ducking behind the large, green dumpster. She barely even noticed as she drew up her knees and let her head rest between them and wrapped her arms around her legs.

"Okay," she exhaled. Marinette hadn't been expecting that. She knew that people were really enthusiastic about it on Twitter and stuff, but… holy shit. She didn't think that people would actually try and take pictures of her, and stuff.

But she should've known. After all, she remembered that time she and Adrien had been chased around Paris by his fangirls. And the Waynes were, like, gods compared to the Agrestes in terms of popularity. Marinette shifted as she heard footsteps approaching her, but relaxed once she caught sight of steel capped boots. Marinette didn't look up to meet Red Hood's gaze.

"We have got to stop meeting like this," she said. "If once is an accident, and twice is a coincidence, then what would you call this?"

"A pattern… a choice... enemy action… at the end of the day, it's suspicious," Hood said, leaning against the wall opposite her. "Why do you always end up in alleyways?"

"Why do you lurk in alleyways?"

"It's part of my aesthetic. What's your excuse?"

Marinette snorted quietly, rolling her eyes and ignoring the question.

The silence that filled the alleyway was almost serene. Marinette appreciated it. She could still see Hood's boots and knew that he wasn't going anywhere any time soon. She sighed. This whole situation was a fucking mess. It would have been messy if this hadn't gotten leaked to the public. Now it was just a huge fucking pile of shit.

Marinette didn't want this. She had wanted to think and plan and possibly even avoid the inevitable. She'd never wanted her secret to be exposed like this.

If the reaction was this bad when she'd been revealed as simply being related to a Wayne, then what would happen if somebody discovered she was Ladybug? God, she'd never be able to breathe.

To the silence, she admitted, "I don't even know where to go from here."

"You don't need to know anything just yet," Hood said. "You don't even need to go and see Wayne for now. But you do need to take care of yourself and establish your boundaries. Maybe go talk to that friend you fought with."

"How do you…?" Marinette looked up, taking in Red Hood once more. You could just barely see that, under his many layers of clothes, he wore a collared white shirt. A shirt she'd seen on a man with steel capped boots not twenty minutes ago. She frowned. "How long does it take you to put on your vigilante clothes, anyways? Because that's like, twenty layers and last I saw you were only wearing a white shirt."

Marinette wished he wasn't wearing a mask so she could see his face. The way he stilled and his head tilted down slowly to focus entirely on her was utterly hilarious.

He sighed. "You're telling me my clothes gave me away?"

"I'm a designer," was her only response. Despite Marinette now knowing his face and that he had some kind of connection to Bruce Wayne, he didn't reach up to remove the helmet from his head. That was probably smart. With all of the reporters milling about, all it took was one person spotting them to completely fuck everything up.

Hood crossed his arms, tilting his head and leaning back. "I see that you've inherited his IQ." Marinette didn't know what that stood for─she was rather fluent in English but the acronyms always got her. What does 'TTYLXOX' even mean? "You're not what I expected."

"Huh?"

"When I heard that Bruce Wayne had another kid," he clarified, "I expected you to be a homicidal maniac, like Demon Spawn, but you're somewhat well adjusted in society. You must've gotten it from your mother."

"Really?" she asked. "Mr. Wayne always seemed so… professional in pictures."

"Plainly for pictures," Hood said. "He's the most emotionally stunted man you'll ever meet." 'I definitely inherited that.'

"How do you know him so well?" Marinette asked. "Is your day job being a bodyguard for Bruce Wayne, or something?"

Hood snorted. "I don't work for Bruce Wayne. Sometimes, I cooperate with him and his family."

"Like you do with Batman?"

He laughed again. "Exactly like that, actually." A water droplet dripped onto her head from above. Marinette picked herself up off the ground, glaring up at the dark clouds. Gotham's weather was horrendous? Why had they come here again? Any other place in America would've been better. Except, like, Florida. Something about it just just scared Marinette. The amount of horror stories Marinette had found by searching up 'Florida Man' on the internet was enough to scare even Hawkmoth.

Marinette hummed, shifting to hide her purse from view. "I'm gonna go back to the hotel," she said. "Thank you for talking to me. It really helped me feel better."

Hood observed Marinette indifferently. "You're a horrible liar."

"What?"

"Did I stutter?" he asked, taking five steps to the left. Hood was now standing in front of the alley entrance. Not like Marinette would've taken that escape route anyways. She wasn't going to run right into a crowd of reporters. She wasn't that desperate yet. "You, Marinette Cheng, cannot lie to save your life. I'd almost feel bad for you, but you just told me a lie." Marinette crossed her arms and glared back at him. "Where do you plan to go, if not the hotel?"

Several beats passed and Marinette couldn't think of an excuse. Hood's stance suddenly relaxed as he exhaled loudly and leaned against the alley wall.

"You know what, kid? You can go."

"I… can?"

"Yes. As long as you tell me where you're going."

"Why?" Marinette asked, narrowing her eyes. "So you can follow me?"

"If you're not back at the hotel by seven in the evening, I'll come looking for you. And I will find you."

Marinette regarded the vigilante. "Aren't you working for Bruce Wayne? Why would you let me go? Gotham's hardly the safest place for a teenager."

"Oh, so you're smart enough to realise that." She could feel his smirk from here. Marinette stared into his mask, where she assumed his eyes were. It would be really awkward if she was actually staring at his forehead. Or his eyebrows. Red Hood sighed. "I… know what it's like to need to get away. Especially when you're a teenager and nobody listens. And I also know that if I don't let you do this, you'll run off without telling anyone and get yourself killed."

"Speaking from experience?"

He tilted his head. "I even died."

"You… what…" how the fuck did he die? How was he here? Was that even possible? Marinette had brought people back from the dead before, but that was during akuma attacks with her Miraculous Cure. How was that even possible?

"Crazy, I know. As far as the world knows, I died in a terrorist attack in the Middle East and─"

Marinette stopped listening. Holy shit. Holy fucking shit! That meant… this was… he was…

"You're Jason Todd!" she squeaked, waving her index finger around wildly as her legs bent slightly and her body reared backwards. It must've made for a very amusing sight.

Jason Todd paused. "Okay, I know for a fact that my clothes didn't give me away this time."

"W-wh─you─how are you alive?"

"Some pit made out of magic and assassins. How'd you figure it out?"

Marinette started pacing. "I knew I recognised you from somewhere, but I didn't know where, and then you started talking about your death… when I first found out about Bruce Wayne being my… thing… I did some research… and yeah. I didn't realise it was you, though. You look different then you did when you were a teenager."

"Death does wonders for the complexion." Marinette glared at him. She paused.

"Holy shit, that makes you my brother!" Jason merely snorted. Marinette shifted uneasily, tapping her index finger against her palm. Beats of silence passed between them. The chattering of reporters grew louder. An eagle passed overhead, squawking loudly. "So… I'm just gonna…" she gestured about vaguely. A crushed red can clattered past them. Rain pattered onto Marinette's face. "Yeah."

"Back by seven!" Jason called, lifting a grappling hook. "If not, I'll come get you." He was gone without another word. Marinette didn't even mention where she was going.

Marinette opened her purse. "My god, Tikki. What do I do?"

XXX

She ended up in an extremely shady part of Gotham. No, it was literally shady. There were shadows everywhere. This place was like… Nico di Angelo's haven. Everywhere you looked was darkness. And criminals.

She supposed that's why it's called Crime Alley.

It wasn't anything very special. Dilapidated buildings littered each side of the street, a flickering street lamp on the very end of the alley. A silver plaque sat on a bench, opposite of a dimly lit clinic where she could see an old woman tinkering about through the open blinds.

Marinette approached the bench, frowning down at the silver ornament.

'In Loving Memory of Thomas and Martha Wayne'

It was a simple thing. Most plaques had some sort of message engraved into it. Something that the person had done. But it wasn't mentioned that they were parents. That they had been friends to everybody in Gotham─the saints and the sinners. That they were some of Gotham's most famous elite.

But she supposed that was the point. Everybody knew Thomas and Martha Wayne. It was sort of a crime not to.

It was almost weirder for these two to be her grandparents than for Bruce Wayen to be her father. Thomas and Martha Wayne were like saints. They were celebrated every twenty-sixth of June and on their birthdays they were mourned. Even now, decades later, people still visited this memorial. Bouquets of red and pink littered the bench.

Marinette wondered what it would be like to know her grandparents. The closest thing Marinette had to a grandfather had been Master Fu, and he was more of a mentor than anything. Gina and Rolland Dupain were lovely to her, but they were barely in her life. Gina would sometimes show up for her birthdays and would leave before the day was over. She hadn't even known about Rolland until Tom's birthday. And nevermind Sabine's mother─they'd never even met. Marinette knew her great-uncle better than her only living grandparent. She didn't even know her name.

Marinette fingered the necklace that hung loosely around her neck. She should probably leave now. It was getting late.

Just as Marinette was going to transform with the Fox Miraculous, she caught sight of a person shrouded in black directly to her left. Marinette hadn't even heard them approach!

She tried to punch them, because there were many possibilities for who this person could be and Marinette wasn't about to take any chances.

Her fist was caught in a gloved hand. Marinette's eyes widened, but before she could react, her hand was released and the person stepped into the light.

Oh.

Cassandra Cain-Wayne smiled back at her. "Hi."

"Hi," she breathed. "I─uh─wow, um… hi?"

Cassandra smiled, ducking her head and looking at the bench. "Strange." Her fingers moved as she spoke. Was she… signing?

"I don't know ASL," Marinette said. That's what it was called, right? For some reason, a lot of English dialects had different types of Sign Language. Since they were in America, it must've been American Sign Language. That made sense, right? For all Marinette knew, she wasn't even signing. Cassandra frowned down at her. "I mean, I know a bit in French─we had to learn in school─and I know the alphabet, but I'm not sure if the signs are different, because I know that American Sign Language originally had a lot to do with FSL, but overtime it grew and changed and… I'll stop talking now."

Cassandra giggled softly. "It's okay." She pointed at Marinette. "Funny."

"I… thanks?" Marinette glanced around. "So… what are you doing here?" Cassandra pointed at the clinic across from them. "Ah. You know the owner?"

"B's godmother," Cassandra nodded.

"Oh." Marinette nodded, smacking her lips together with a loud pop as she glanced around.

"He is not angry," said Cassandra, trailing her fingers along the bench.

"What?" Marinette's head snapped up a bit too quickly.

"B. He is not angry. With you."

"I─I didn't…" Marinette cleared her throat. "Good… that's good. Um… I don't really want to see him yet."

"Why?"

A knife clawed at Marinette's throat as she desperately searched for the right words. "It's… um… well, you see, I… don't… I'm not ready?"

"You are scared," she observed.

"What?" She drew out the vowel. "No. I'm not scared. I'm just… wary. Of… new things?"

"He is… also wary. This is different."

"Different?" Marinette asked.

"Damian challenged our brother to a…" Cassandra's face scrunched up.

"Duel?" Marinette guessed. Cassandra grinned, her eyes shining as she nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes, duel. When he first showed up. It was funny."

"That's one way to find out you have a son," Marinette muttered. "But, wait. So he just… showed up on Bruce Wayne's doorstep, attacked one of his children and Bruce just… accepted him?"

"No," Cassandra said. "More happened." Well, obviously it was more complicated than that. Cassandra examined her with eyes she'd seen on every member of Bruce Wayne's family. The eyes were tired. They'd all seen more than they should at their ages.

Marinette recognised those eyes.

She cleared her throat. "I should go back. To the hotel. It's nearly seven and Ja─I promised to be back by then."

"Yes," Cassandra nodded.

Marinette smiled at her. "And… could you ask him to give me some time? A few days, maybe?"

"He will do it," Cassandra said. "Goodbye."

"See─" Marinette blinked and she wasn't entirely shocked when her adoptive sister disappeared into the shadows. "...You."

XXX

"If I ask where you've been, would you tell the truth?"

"Crime Alley." Marinette flopped onto Adrien's bed. "Can I room with you tonight?"

"Everybody was looking for you," he said, ignoring the question. "I had to tell Mlle. Bustier that you were hiding in my room to stop a manhunt."

"And what did Nino say to that?"

"He's currently comforting a crying Alya." Adrien smiled suddenly. "I can't fault you for that."

"What?" Marinette had expected Adrien to be pissed about that whole shitshow.

"Because it worked," Adrien said. At Marinette's look, he elaborated. "After you left, Alya was… distraught."

XXX

Nobody said a word as the elevator doors closed. Eyes fell on Alya. Everybody missed as three people disappeared. Adrien Agreste, Lila Rossi and the man who was there to bring Marinette to meet the Wayne's were gone.

Alya took one look at all of the gazes trained on her and turned tail and fled. She took the stairs, hopping up two at a time. Her boyfriend followed, but Alya didn't wait for him.

Eventually, she ran headlong into a certain model. Alya gasped loudly as she was knocked onto her back. Adrien barely stayed standing.

"Sorry, I can't wait! I have to go find Marinette!" Alya exclaimed, hopping up. Adrien grabbed her arm just as she started to sprint.

"No. You don't. We need to talk, Alya," Adrien growled. Nino looked at him warily.

"Bro…"

"I have to talk to her─"

"Not until you see all of the facts," he said. Adrien fished into his pocket, unlocking his phone and entering an app. "If Lila has so many connections, then she must have a Wikipedia page. I have one. Chloé has one. Even the fourth Jonas brother has one. So there's no way she, who is best friends with Ladybug and who saved Jagged Stone's cat and who is involved with hundreds of charities worldwide, doesn't have at least a Wikipedia page, right?"

Alya didn't reply. She shakily typed in Lila's name, making several typos as she did so.

Articles popped up. Ten Things You Didn't Know About Ladybug. LADYBUG'S BEST FRIEND. The REAL Reason Ladynoir Aren't Together.

What website were these from? Why, the Ladyblog, of course. Alya frantically scrolled through the results, even going so far as to venture onto the second page, which nobody ever did. The only other things to pop up were a bunch of Social Media accounts. Mainly Facebook.

"I─I─" Alya cleared her throat. "I need to go and do research. Excuse me."

Alya handed Adrien his phone, sprinting back to her room. "Dude…" Nino said. He sighed. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not mad at you. Or Alya." Adrien looked down the hallway where Alya had disappeared. "I believed her too, at first." He cleared his throat. "You know she threatened Marinette?"

"What?"

"On her first day back, when she was akumatized into Chameleon. Marinette didn't tell me that, though. If she had, I would've… I don't even know what I'd have done." Adrien frowned. "It's not me who deserves an apology."

"You're right," Nino said.

"Go to Alya," he said. "Make sure she's okay. That she doesn't try to make excuses for Lila this time."

"I don't think she will," Nino said. "I mean, you saw her face…"

"Yeah." Adrien had also seen Marinette's face not ten minutes ago. She'd been absolutely devastated at Alya's behaviour. "I did."

XXX

"Oh… wow." Marinette stared up at Adrien. "And… have you heard back from Alya yet?"

"Nino called me." He sat beside her on the bed. "She took it… better than I expected. From what I could hear in the background, it was like when Wrong-Hordak realised that Horde Prime was full of shit." Despite the situation, Marinette found herself laughing. Adrien had been the one to introduce her to that show and she absolutely loved it.

"I have to talk to her, don't I?"

"Not yet," he said. "You deserve a few minutes of rest before that landslide."

"If I take a few minutes to rest, I'll end up going insane," Marinette said. "Have the vultures disappeared?"

"No," Adrien said. "But only guests are allowed in at the moment. You're safe."

"Good," she said. Marinette picked at a loose thread on her jumper. "Good." Adrien slowly settled beside Marinette, lying flat on his back and wrapping his arm around her waist. She stared up at the ceiling above them.

Marinette missed these moments. When they'd take a few minutes to just sit with each other and truly listen. They didn't need to talk to know what the other wanted to say. What they really needed. The last time they'd done this… god, Marinette didn't even remember. It must've been before they revealed their identities to each other. Back when they were just Ladybug and Chat Noir. Marinette didn't know how to label what that had once been. Maybe 'partners' was the correct term. What she did know, was that if one person was never going to change, never going to leave her, it was Adrien. Chat Noir.

"Nathalie called me," Adrien broke her reverie.

"I thought she was sick."

"She was," Adrien agreed. "She's better, I guess." Adrien sat up, kneeling in front of her. "She and father know I'm in Gotham."

"What?" Marinette jolted forwards, nearly colliding with Adrien. She looked at him worriedly. "A-and do you have to─"

"He's not making me leave," Adrien hurried to assure her. "But…"

"But." Marinette frowned.

"You're the reason," Adrien said. Marinette raised an eyebrow. "They know about… yeah. He and Nathalie want Wayne Enterprise to form some business deal with Gabriel, and they think that if you and I are… entwined, then they'll have more reason to accept."

Marinette couldn't help the bright grin on her face. "So they want you to seduce me, your girlfriend, in order to do something business-y?"

Adrien ducked his head, smiling. "Yeah. Pretty much." Marinette broke into a fit of giggles, collapsing onto his torso.

Marinette didn't need to voice the fear she'd felt at the start of the conversation. Marinette didn't know what she'd do without Adrien. He'd been her rock throughout all of this. Even when Alya wasn't there for her, Adrien stuck by her. So if Gabriel had decided to take Adrien away, Marinette had no idea what she'd do.

"So you haven't told them, then?"

"No," Adrien said. "But now we know that if I do, he'll approve." Marinette snorted.

But Adrien was still here. And she'd be damned if she'd let somebody take him away from her.

XXX

Lila was tired of waiting. She tells Hawk Moth "Hey, there's a prime target for you to akumatize! You've been trying for months, so go ahead and do it!"

And you know what he says?

Wait.

Lila is a very patient person. After all, if she wasn't patient, then how could she build her empire? Only somebody as great as Lila could be bothered to ever listen to any of her classmates. They were so annoying!

"Oh, Lila! Please come here and do this extremely simple task!"

"Hey, Lila! Could you tell this random celebrity something that nobody cares about?"

"Lila! Are you able to support this completely bullshit charity that my parents set up?"

Most people would scream and give up. But not Lila. She is a good, patient person. Would a bad person tell people what they really wanted to hear? No.

But Marinette Cheng was a reason for Lila to stop being a good person. One look at that prissy, spoiled, goody two-shoes and suddenly Lila was a very good friend of Hawk Moth's.

Marinette had everything! She had contracts with Jagged Stone and her parents owned a famous bakery and her father was Bruce Wayne! Marinette didn't even have to do anything to have everything! All she had to do was sit still and look─well, ugly was the more fitting term, in Lila's opinion.

But wait? Why? Marinette would just calm down and stop being a prime target!

Imagine the destruction! The impact it would have on the class! To see their stupid 'sunshine' stop being so angellic! The class didn't even care that Lila was clearly being bullied by Marinette! Alya was literally the only person who actually cared about her!

Lila snorted.

That wasn't true. The entire class adored her. They just needed to see that she was the real victim. Because, how could Marinette do this to her! She was her Damiboo's sister and nobody had told Lila?!

Nah, too whiny.

What could possibly be done to bring Marinette to her knees?

She couldn't use Alya. Lila had the distinct feeling that she'd be losing that ally sometime soon. And where Alya went, her dog, Nino, followed.

Who could she use? Which of her brainless classmates would be perfect for her plans?

Alix? Kim? Ivan? No, perhaps Mylène? Or… oh, Lila had the perfect person in mind.

Marinette would never know what hit her.

First, she needed Chloé's phone, and Lila knew exactly how to get it.

XXX

Mlle. Bustier frowned down at Marinette. "I wish you would've told me about this, Marinette."

She fidgeted in her seat. "I-I never thought that it'd get out." Marinette looked anywhere but at her teacher. She hated disappointing people. "I wasn't even going to tell him, but then Dick found out and now everyone knows." Marinette slumped in her chair. Mlle. Bustier watched her with sad eyes, her hand gravitating down to her stomach.

"You know," Mlle. Bustier eventually said. "I was never meant to accompany the class on this trip. Mme. Mendeleiev was going to fill in for me, but then we changed venues last minute and she's banned from Gotham─" Marinette perked up. Mlle. Bustier didn't elaborate. "─So I had to come with you guys, after all. That's also why Mssr. D'Argencourt is here."

Marinette didn't get why Mlle. Bustier was telling her this.

"My point is," Mlle. Bustier continued, "that things don't always go the way you expect them to. Sometimes you'll have to take the more painful or dangerous route, but no matter how things go, you'll always have someone by your side when things are tough. We're all here for you, Marinette, so don't ever think that you have to hide this stuff from us. I made the mistake of trying to deal with something terrible on my own and I nearly got the class killed. Seriously, Marinette, I'd believe you no matter what."

Marinette turned to look at her teacher fully. "No. No you wouldn't."

"I'm sorry?" Mlle. Bustier asked.

"Do you not remember a few weeks ago? When I was expelled?"

"Ah." Mlle. Bustier looked down at her hands. "I have to admit, that wasn't one of my best moments." Marinette's eyes widened. Was… Mlle. Bustier agreeing? That Lila lied? "I'm ashamed that I didn't realise just what Lila was doing earlier, Marinette."

"Why haven't you done anything, then? Told the class that Lila was lying?"

Mlle. Bustier sighed. "It's not that simple, Marinette. I can't inform the class of Lila's compulsive behaviour until myself and Principal Damocles have had a meeting with Lila and her mother to decide what needs to be done. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get a hold of Mme. Rossi."

"Oh." Marinette looked down at her hands. "B-but you will? Tell them, I mean?"

Mlle. Bustier smiled. "I'm not certain that I'll have the chance. I heard that Alya's experiencing… enlightenment, one might say."

"Is that─"

"My phone!"

A screech rang out throughout the floor. Marinette lurched forwards, sprinting towards Chloé's voice. When she arrived at the scene, Kim and Max were poking their heads out of their rooms. Chloé stared at her own in disgust.

"What's wrong, Chloé?" Adrien asked, arriving equally as quickly.

"My phone! It's gone! Aah!"

Adrien frowned. "Are you sure it's not lost in your closet or something?" Adrien looked pointedly at the mess of clothes in her room.

"Yes, I'm sure!" Chloé exclaimed. "Oh, this is horrible! How am I going to tell Daddy to get me the new iPhone if I can't call him?! I don't know his number!"

"I'll text Nathalie and ask for his phone number," Adrien placated. "You can use my phone to call him, too. That okay?"

Chloé made a noise of begrudging agreement. "It's acceptable," she said.

Marinette's phone vibrated in her pocket. Looking around, their small crowd of classmates that had gathered each pulled out their phone. It was a Twitter notification.

Kim blanched. "What the actual fu─"

"Kim, language," Mlle. Bustier chided. "What is it?" Marinette opened the notification.

ActuallyQueenBee ChloeBourgeois · 12s

lol I know yall dont actually belief MarinetteCheng is anything unlike her whore mother she litterally hates a girl cuz she liked adrienagreste and bullied her for it

ActuallyQueenBee ChloeBourgeois · 9s

dont belief me? check this out

[Link to video(s)]

Marinette slowly opened the link. It was a montage of the times she had called Lila out on her bullshit.

ActuallyQueenBee ChloeBourgeois · 7s

theres literally no proof their related either i heard MarinetteCheng talking about how she was going to fake all of this too lol good plan too bad she forgot not everybody likes being her slave. ask anyone form our class she payed VickiVale of to write that article

Chloé looked at the Tweets over Adrien's shoulder. "What the fuck?! I didn't write those! They can't even spell!"

"So whoever stole Chloé's phone did it with destroying Marinette's reputation in mind," Max concluded, frowning down at his phone. "Who would do such a thing?"

"I have no idea," Kim said. "Could it have been one of those reporters?"

"You've got to be joking," Adrien said, rubbing at his temple. "Those clips definitely weren't on Chloé's phone. Who do we know that would have reason to record Lila's interactions with Marinette?"

Nobody answered.

"Oh my god. Obviously it was─"

"CHLOÉ!" Alya screamed, sprinting down the hallway. Nino ran behind her, waving at them to get out of the way. It would've looked rather comical if not for the clear intent to murder in Alya's eyes. Adrien pushed Chloé behind him as Marinette darted forwards, catching Alya behind the waist and stopping her in her tracks. "Let me go, Marinette! Did you see what she─"

"Chloé didn't write those! Lila stole her phone!"

"Lila?" Kim asked.

"It's rather obvious," Adrien shrugged. Max nodded, his chin rested on his hand.

"Lila did that?" Alya asked. Marinette let go of Alya, backing away. Now was the moment of truth. "I'm gonna kill her!"

"Kill who?" Rose asked as she, Juleka, Nathaniel, Alix, Sabrina, Ivan, Mylène and Lila approached. "Sorry, we were all in the lounge and heard screaming. What happened?"

"Check Twitter," Alya hissed.

The reactions were instantaneous.

"Oh my god!"

"Chloé! That's so mean!"

"I can't believe you'd do such a thing!"

"That's, like, seriously uncool."

"Chloé didn't write those messages," Marinette said. "Lila did."

Sabrina frowned. "Lila was with us the entire time."

"She was never on her phone," Alix confirmed. "Why wasn't it Chloé who wrote those?"

"Her phone's missing and there's no way she could've gotten those recordings."

"Lila could've preset that thread to go off at a specific time," Marinette pointed out.

"By that logic, Chloé could've too," said Ivan. "She could be lying about losing her phone."

"Chloé's a horrible liar," Adrien said. Chloé sputtered indignantly, protesting about how great at lying she is.

"I guarantee if we check Lila's room, we'll find Chloé's phone," Marinette said.

"That's an invasion of privacy!"

"Well, considering how you treat Adrien, you don't care much about that!"

"My mother is a diplomat! I know my rights!"

"We're in America! Your immunity means fuck all here!"

"I'm not being arrested!"

"That's enough," Mlle. Bustier interrupted. "I'm afraid that we cannot search Lila's room, Marinette. I want everyone to return to their rooms, except Marinette. Now."

Max, Alya, Chloé, Nino and Adrien remained behind.

"Mlle. Bustier," Max said, before he could be reprimanded. "I could try tracking the location to see where the text originated from. Chloé could also log into her Twitter on somebody else's device and debunk those Tweets."

"That's a good idea, Max," Mlle. Bustier smiled. "Why don't you and Chloé go to your room and work on that?"

Chloé didn't move. Adrien stared at her. Chloé scoffed. "Fine. If it means finding out who stole my phone, then I'll do it." She grabbed the front of Max's shirt, dragging him towards his room.

Mlle. Bustier looked at the four remaining students. She narrowed her eyes down at them.

"I am going to try contacting Mr. Wayne. Marinette, you should probably warn your parents that they may face backlash for this. Could you three make sure that Marinette stays away from Social Media for the time being?"

Alya nodded fervently. Adrien wrapped an arm around Marinette's waist and smiled at their teacher. Nino was the only person to answer verbally, with a simple, "Yes."

"Okay. Thank you. Go to Adrien and Nino's room." There was the chance of somebody getting in and finding Marinette's room. The boys' room was the safer choice, for all parties involved.

When Mlle. Bustier disappeared down the hallway, Marinette turned to her companions and asked a very important question.

"Would it be unethical to ask that one of you gives me a lobotomy with a chainsaw?"

XXX

That night, as Lila lay in bed, she couldn't help but smirk. Her plan had been quite the success. Nobody in class may have believed it, but the rest of the world sure did. Nothing could stop the shitshow that followed those Tweets, even Chloé herself responding and claiming that she was hacked.

There wasn't a single reporter in Gotham singing Marinette's praises. One or two in Metropolis were defending her, but they were in the minority here. It was only a matter of time before Bruce Wayne released a statement publicly discrediting Marinette.

Lila couldn't wait.

And Lila's fame was skyrocketing. After releasing those videos, everybody was flocking to Lila's Twitter and showering her with compliments and opportunities for interviews.

Soon, everyone will see how useless Marinette Cheng is and realise that she, Lila Rossi, is the true diamond in the rough. Not some hopeless baker.

Lila deserves the world.

And Lila will have it.

XXX

Jason couldn't believe that he was actually doing this. Never in a million years did he think that he'd go to the Manor for any reason other than to attack Bruce. But here he was, approaching the gate and waiting to be let in. He was even using the door. Frankly, Jason felt that he deserved a fucking star for what he was about to do.

Then again, he'd get to shout at Bruce. That was probably enough.

Maybe he'd steal one of those fancy vases on his way out. They were probably worth a fortune, just like everything in that stupid fucking house.

"Master Jason," Alfred's surprised voice rang out from the speaker. "I can't say that I was expecting you for dinner tonight."

"I won't be here for long," Jason said, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Just need to have a little chat with the old man."

"I hope that it will be civil," Alfred chided. God, Jason could feel his stern gaze from here. It made him want to apologise for something he didn't do.

"That depends on him," Jason said as the gate swung open. He revved his motorcycle's engine, travelling up the fancy driveway and looking at the fancy shrubbery in disgust. Jason remembered the days when he would help Alfred in the gardens.

When Jason saw those Tweets from that Chloé Bourgeois, he couldn't sit still and do nothing. He also couldn't threaten the underage daughter of the Mayor of Paris. Jason knew a few people who could actually do something about this, but only one of them would have a lasting impact.

That person was Bruce Wayne.

The front door was pulled open by Alfred. The front parlour was empty, but Jason could hear muffled voices from further into the Manor. Jason smiled at Alfred, because he was the only person in this fucked up family who Jason didn't somewhat hate, and ventured towards the commotion. As he got closer, the voices became clearer.

"You can't seriously think that we should let it play out!"

"That's not what I said, Dick! But this is already a PR nightmare and all of the advisors are telling us to ignore it!"

"What the fuck, Tim?! So you're saying we should let her experience all of that? You've dealt with those vultures first hand! Is that something you want to subject a fifteen year old to? You've met her. Do you seriously think she deserves that?!"

"No! But do you know how impossible it would be to discredit Chloé Bourgeois? We could end up starting an international fucking crisis if we go about this the wrong way. That Mayor has way too much authority, so if he wanted to do something fucking 'unethical' then he could! We don't even know how many superheroes they have over there, or what their powers are! I don't know about you, but I'm not looking to ruin any of our alliances!"

"I highly doubt that insulting a little girl's honour would demolish our standing in the world, Drake!"

Sometimes his brothers were idiots. That argument would have been avoided if either of them had checked Twitter in the past ten minutes. Jason opened the app, going to Chloé Bourgeois' Tweet and entered the sitting room. Dick, Tim and Damian were facing off against each other. Dick and Damian were, unsurprisingly, on the same side, while Tim played the devil's advocate. Bruce sat off to the side, ignoring the argument. Cassandra was leaning against the wall with a small frown on her face. She was the first to notice his presence.

Jason tossed his phone to Tim. "Read that, Replacement. We are not letting Marinette deal with that shitshow by herself. One of you, fix it."

Bruce frowned. "Jason…"

Tim held up a finger as he scrolled through Twitter. "No, no. I can work with this. Bring Marinette to Wayne Enterprises for a DNA test. That should be enough to prove that she's Bruce's. I'll have to review this footage to see if it's edited and I want more information on this Rossi girl. She reminded me of Bruce's groupies when I first met her. I'm willing to bet that she had something to do with this, if Bourgeois' phone was stolen." Tim turned around, throwing Jason's phone back to him and he left the room without another word. Damian scoffed loudly, storming after Tim. Jason suspected he wasn't finished arguing.

"What are you doing here, Jason?" Bruce asked. Jason saw the tension in his soldiers and knew what Bruce was thinking.

"I'm not here to kill anyone," Jason said.

"I never said that," Bruce said. Jason didn't miss the way Dick not-so-subtly placed himself between them. Jason raised a single eyebrow.

"I'm here to make sure that you don't fuck things up with Marinette." Bruce looked surprised. What, did he think the Lazarus Pit made him incapable of caring for an innocent kid? Well, Bruce always did think the worst of him.

"I don't want her involved with this," Bruce said.

"This fucked-up version of a family or your nightly activities?" Bruce stared back up at him. Jason scoffed. "Of course."

"I don't want her to get hurt─"

"So now you get a conscience," Jason glowered at Bruce. He flopped onto the couch. "What was it? My death? Or maybe it was because of what happened to Barbara? Or Stephanie? Or─"

"You really think I wanted any of you to get hurt?" Bruce demanded, rising from his armchair. Cassandra tensed. "You think that it didn't break me to watch my children get hurt again and again?! That if I had the chance, I wouldn't change anything?!"

"YES!" Jason shouted, lurching forward. "You wouldn't do a single fucking thing to stop any of that shit from going down! And I know this, because I died and the Joker didn't!" Bruce flinched back. Jason found his reaction laughable. "What, do you feel guilty that I died?"

"Jason, that's not fair," Dick said, rising from his seat. "You didn't see him afterwards─"

Bruce lowered his head. "I thought I killed him." Jason paused. "After you died, I─Clark tried to stop me. He probably quoted a few things I've said. But I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep. Every time I closed my eyes I saw you, Jason. In those ruins, unmoving. It wasn't even a heat of the moment thing. I planned to kill the Joker, Jason. And I was sure I did. I threw him off the building, and he landed in a vat of acid… how he survived that, I have no fucking clue." Bruce's eyes met Jason's. They were glistening with… something. 'Bruce is crying,' Jason belatedly realised. "I am sorry, Jason. That you died. I never meant─" he broke off.

Jason slowly sat back on the couch. "Oh."

"If I have the option to keep Sabine's daughter out of this, then I'll take it, Jason." Bruce frowned. "I can't…"

'Lose somebody else' went unsaid.

Something wet landed on Jason's cheek. Jason ignored the tears in favour of the silence.

Dick and Cassandra shared a look. Neither knew how to react to this situation.

It was Jason who eventually spoke.

"She's already involved." He sighed. "She knows who I am."

Dick frowned. "She knows that you're Jason Todd or she knows that you're Red Hood?"

Jason cringed. "Both."

Dick looked at him incredulously. "You told her who─"

"No!" Jason exclaimed. "She figured it out from my clothes!" 'I may have indirectly told her, as well, but they don't need to know that.' "She's smart, B. Real smart. And even if she didn't know who I was, she's been involved ever since Vicki Vale stuck her nose where it doesn't belong."

Bruce took out his phone, dialed a number and left the room.

"Well," Dick said. "That went well."

Jason snorted bitterly. "I've never heard him so… emotional."

"It was genuine," Cassandra said, dropping into the chair Bruce had once occupied. "I like our sister."

"You've met her?" Dick asked. Cassandra nodded, twisting sideways so that her legs dangled over the armrest and her head lay on the other one.

"So…" Jason needed to get his mind off of this. "What's up with those French superheroes?"

"Babs and Tim are working on getting past the French security system," Dick said. "They've found a blog that seems promising, but a lot of it is encrypted to us right now. We'll probably be in by tomorrow morning." Jason nodded tiredly. God, he needed some fucking coffee. The atmosphere was much too tense for his liking.

He cleared his throat. "Well, I'm just gonna─" he stood, pointing behind him. Dick grabbed his arm.

"Jason," he said his name very slowly. "I understand that you are as emotionally stunted as the rest of this godforsaken family, but you are not going to fucking leave when you and Bruce have finally had a semi-functional conversation."

Dick could be really scary sometimes.

Jason ended up staying the night. But he refused to go to his old room.

That was okay. Baby steps.

XXX

"We'd be going to Wayne Enterprises today, anyways," Marinette reasoned. "Everything will be fine. It's not like I'm going to have to interact with Bruce Wayne… who is my father… who knows he's my father… who probably hates me because of those Tweets… oh my God, kill me now!"

"Girl," Alya laughed, sitting beside her. "Everything will be okay. We'll be with you every step of the way." Marinette nodded slowly. Things were still a little awkward between them, but after they'd taken the time to talk things through, they were on the right track.

"Okay," Adrien said. "Marinette and I are gonna sneak out, now. You guys should probably go with the rest of the class."

"You sure you don't want us to come with you?" Alya frowned.

"Two people are less likely to be seen by reporters," Marinette said. "I'll be fine. We'll see you on the bus."

"If you say so," Alya said, taking Nino's hand and dragging him out. Nino made a peace sign as he went. Adrien closed the door behind them.

"You have it?" Marinette pulled the Fox Miraculous out of her bag. "Right, let's go."

It was almost funny to walk out in front of the crowd of reporters without getting noticed. Ah, the perks of being a Guardian. You could use any Miraculous whenever you want.

Marinette took off the necklace when they reached the bus. The driver was too busy playing CandyCrush on his phone to notice anything peculiar about them. Marinette and Adrien took their seats and waited for the rest of the class to arrive.

"That bus ride was way too slow," Marinette said once they reached Wayne Enterprises. Marinette stood, but a hand landing on her shoulder stopped her. Marinette, Adrien, Chloé and Max waited for the class to file out of the bus before speaking.

"I pinpointed the location of Chloé's phone," Max said. "It was in Sabrina's room."

"What?" Marinette asked. "But aren't they in the same room?"

"Chloé had her suite upgraded," Adrien said. "She let Sabrina keep her old room."

"Why would Sabrina frame Chloé?" Marinette asked. Chloé didn't have an answer. Marinette's eyes widened. "Lila! Of course!"

"What?!" Chloé demanded. "Why would she─"

Adrien groaned. "No, it makes sense."

Max nodded. "I have observed that Sabrina would willingly betray Chloé for the offer of friendship."

"That is true," Marinette said.

"I─uh─she would never─no!" Chloé shook her head erratically. "There is no way!"

Marinette caught Adrien's arm. "Stay with Chloé."

"What? But, Marinette─"

"I'll be fine," she said. "We don't want Chloé to say or do something that would throw everything out of proportion."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Adrien kissed her cheek and took Chloé's arm, placating her as they went.

Marinette inhaled slowly. She could do this. She could definitely do this. Everything will be fine.

As long as nothing unexpected happens. Like being called away by a random employee because Mr. Wayne would like to meet with her.

Fuck.

XXX

"It's okay, Marinette," Mlle. Bustier smiled down at her. "I'll be with you the entire time, so everything will be fine." Marinette was suddenly very thankful for every law that protects her rights as a teenager. She needed a chaperone to meet with Mr. Wayne. That was one of the few good things about this situation.

Marinette inhaled deeply as the door was pushed open.

They'd been brought to a lab of some sort. Timothy Drake-Wayne was hunched over a white desk with a number of metals spread across the surface. Jason reclined in a grey desk chair, casually flicking through a book and Cassandra Cain slumped over his shoulder, scanning the pages with mild interest. Dick Grayson stood tensely, crossing his arms and leaning against a large window. Marinette could see half of Gotham from it. Damian Wayne stood beside Dick, trying to look intimidating as he copied his brother's stance. Bruce Wayne stood at a desk opposite of Tim's. His shirt sleeves were pushed up to his elbows and he was talking to an older man.

They really decided to hit her with almost their entire family, didn't they? Marinette was so thankful to have Mlle. Bustier with her right now.

Cassandra was the first to notice their arrival. Marinette suspected that was a common occurrence. She pushed off of Jason, alerting him to the change and bounced towards Marinette. Mr. Wayne and the older man looked up and suddenly the entire family was staring at her.

"Umm…" Marinette looked at her teacher for assurance. "Hi."

Jason snickered at that. "You're she now."

Marinette only stuck out her tongue, but the second she realised how childish the action was, she yelped and glared at him. "W-well, I wasn't aware this was going to happen, a-and I thought I'd─uh─" she found herself looking back at her teacher. Mlle. Bustier only smiled down at her, before staring down Mr. Wayne.

"Mr. Wayne," Mlle. Bustier inclined her head. "I take it you had a reason for calling my student here?"

"Yes," Mr. Wayne said. He didn't look at Marinette. He just stared back at her teacher. "We would like to conduct a DNA test to verify the situation for the public, before things get too out of control." Oh. This was all because of those Tweets from Chloé's phone. It made so much more sense now. They wanted to stop the Media from going any crazier over this and take control of the story. "We'd need your permission, of course."

"I'll speak with Marinette about it," Mlle. Bustier said. "But I'd also like to talk with you about this situation, as well."

"Of course," Mr. Wayne said. He smiled and stepped back. "Take all the time you need."

Mlle. Bustier frowned at the Wayne family before turning back to Marinette. "Would you be alright with getting a DNA test done?"

Would she? It would only verify what she already knew to be a fact. Marinette was Bruce Wayne's daughter. But to see it… to see the proof on paper?

That scared Marinette.

But if she didn't do this, Marinette would only deal with more ridicule and more hatred from the American Media. Marinette didn't even want to know if her parents were being impacted by this whole situation.

So Ladybug did what Ladybug did best.

She grinned and pretended that everything would be okay.

"Sure," Marinette beamed up at her teacher. Nobody called her out on how obviously fake her relaxed stance was. "It'll be fine."

Marinette sat on one of the white desks as the man Marinette didn't recognise took out a cotton earbud and needle. Marinette wasn't afraid of needles. She'd experienced her fair share of injuries.

"I'm Lucius Fox," the man said. 'He sounds like Morgan Freeman.' "What's yours?"

She found that funny. He definitely knew. "Marinette."

"Well, Marinette, you are one very brave girl," he said, injecting the needle into her arm. Marinette frowned at the way he did so. Most medical professionals would make you look away, or distract you. 'Is he even qualified?' Marinette was certain that this wasn't even a proper lab. It was probably used for robotics. Then again, she supposed that this entire procedure would be kept quiet. Only people the Waynes trusted would be present.

Once all of the samples were taken, Tim took all of them over to a computer and began to run them through some sort of program Marinette didn't recognise. Mlle. Bustier and Mr. Wayne started discussing the situation. Cassandra dropped into the seat Lucius had once occupied and Jason leaned against the desk Marinette sat on.

He snorted. "Imagine if it came back negative."

Marinette couldn't suppress her laugh. "That would definitely spare me some trouble." She frowned after a moment. "Don't DNA tests take a few days, though? There's no point in waiting around."

Damian marched up to them, crossing his arms and glaring up at her. Dick followed with an amused smirk. "Wayne Technology is the best to have ever existed. This 'test' should be completed in less than five minutes."

Cassandra stretched, arching up to whisper, "twenty," in her ear. Marinette hid a grin.

When Marinette looked at Damian, she was reminded of a lion cub. Very aggressive, but seemingly harmless. Although, she wasn't so convinced that he was harmless.

"How long have you been aware of our blood relation?" Damian asked. His tone was always accusatory. It didn't matter what you said or did, Damian always seemed convinced that you were up to no good.

"About two months," Marinette shrugged. Damian glared at her.

"And you didn't think to inform me during our first meeting?" he demanded.

"I mean, I did think about it," Marinette said. "But then I thought 'that family is scary', so I didn't?"

Dick laughed quietly, draping himself across Damian's shoulders. For a family that supposedly hated each other, they sure were touchy-feely. "How are we scary?"

Jason stared at Dick. "Dude, I died."

"Fair," Dick said. His shoulders became slightly rigid at that reminder. So nobody liked being reminded about their brother dying. Good to know.

Tim approached them, enclosing their group even further. Marinette was beginning to feel very caged in, but not in a claustrophobic kind of way. It was somewhat nice, to be honest. And this isn't even the entire family, if what Marinette has read and seen was true. "The results should be back in fifteen minutes," he said, pushing Damian slightly as he moved into the desk, starting to rummage through the drawers. He picked out a phone with a bright green case. "I'll confer with the PR Department. We should be able to spin the situation properly, but we'll need to discredit those Tweets and videos."

"That'll be easy," Dick said. "Just point out that this Rossi girl is clearly the one who posted the Tweets and get some evidence that she's a liar. It'll take twelve minutes, tops."

Marinette snorted. "You have not dealt with the lies of Lila Rossi. It'd be impossible for you to prove she's a liar."

Tim frowned. "Could… anybody else prove it?"

A few names came to mind.

"Definitely," Marinette said. "But I'd need to make a few phone calls for that." She reached for her phone, but Jason stopped her.

"You're rubbing off on her, Replacement," he directed at Tim. "Marinette, take a few minutes to relax. Or else you'll turn into everyone else in this family. A complete workaholic with no self preservation instinct."

Tim scoffed. "You say that like it doesn't include you."

"That's because it─"

Dick coughed into his fist. "Bullshit."

"Says the guy who fights crime during the day and─"

Damian kicked Jason. Jason acted as if he were going to hit Damian, but instead of flinching back like most siblings would whenever their brother was being an asshole, he copied the movement and glared at Jason. "Would you like to die again, Todd?"

"It would spare me having to interact with you, Demon Spawn."

Marinette glanced at Cassandra, who was quietly giggling. "Is that normal?"

"Yes," Cassandra said, grinning. Damian tried to punch Jason again, but Dick caught his arm and pushed him towards Cassandra. Cassandra held her brother and Damian didn't fight it. He stayed still, glaring at Jason.

Marinette moved back on the table, crossing her legs and sitting on them. She couldn't help but stare at these people. One of them was her biological brother. That was so strange. Marinette had always been an only child. The most experience she'd had with siblings and their antics was when she'd babysit for Alya or Nino. It was so strange, yet… nice. Marinette liked these people and their weird relationships with each other. She'd never expected this, but she didn't hate it. But it was a bit much.

Marinette breathed very carefully. In through her nose, out through her mouth. She repeated the action over and over again, but it didn't change her need to get away. Still, she ignored her feelings and decided to go on her phone to distract herself. She opened Twitter.

…

…

…

…

…

Oh.

"Where's the bathroom?" she asked.

Dick had been reprimanding Damian, so he didn't glance at her when he said, "Two rooms to the left."

Marinette was gone in seconds, sprinting away from these people who were apparently her family and locking herself in the bathroom. She didn't notice the open window, but as she inhaled and exhaled, nothing changed as thoughts started hurtling themselves at her mind.

'You don't fit.'

'They don't want you.'

'The results will come back negative.'

'They'll hate you.'

'They'll see just how useless you truly are.'

'He doesn't want to be your father.'

'They'll turn their backs on you.'

'They'll abandon you.'

'They'll fall for Lila's lies.'

'They won't ever love you.'

So caught up in her mind was she that she didn't even notice as Tikki tried to calm her down. She didn't hear the frantic knocks on her door and she didn't notice when a purple butterfly flapped its wings outside of the open window.

XXX

Hawkmoth couldn't help the malicious grin on his face. This was what he'd been waiting for. Marinette Cheng hadn't been ready for his akuma, but now…

Now, she was perfect.

"It's time."

XXX

Bruce's head snapped up when Marinette raced from the room.

"What did you do?" he demanded, glaring at all of his children. The only one who definitely wasn't the cause of this was Cass.

"Nothing!"

"It was Todd!"

"It's not my fault!"

"Damian was the one attacking people!"

"Mr. Wayne, control your children," Mlle. Bustier said, taking out her phone. She quickly dialed a number. "Armand, hi. Could you send Adrien up? Yeah. Uh-uh. Floor forty-three. Okay. Yeah. Tell him to be quick." Mlle. Bustier hurried from the room. She started knocking on the door. Marinette didn't answer. Bruce could hear a quiet voice from inside.

Thirty seconds passed. Mlle. Bustier frantically pounded on the door. Bruce was debating breaking it down when a blonde boy he vaguely recognised as the son of Gabriel Agreste came running.

"Is she in there?" Agreste demanded from his teacher. She nodded, to which Adrien asked, "how long?"

"About forty seconds."

"Shit." Agreste looked at Bruce. "Can I break this down?"

"Why?" Damian glared at the boy. Bruce frowned at his son, but he could also understand his wariness.

"Hawkmoth's probably still here and he's been gunning for Marinette for a while and you know how she is when she gets overwhelmed." Agreste directed the statement at Mlle. Bustier, pulling a glass jar out of his bag. "Can I break this door down?"

"Yes." Bruce was certain he wouldn't be able, so he was prepared to do it himself when the boy failed.

"Thank you." Agreste smiled tightly, rearing back and kicking the door. It swung open, to everyone's surprise.

Marinette sat in the middle of the floor. She seemed to be having a panic attack. A purple butterfly was hovering just over her ear. It seemed fixated on her earrings.

Agreste spurred into action, pulling Marinette back and trapping the insect in the jar. He screwed the glass lid on tightly, setting the jar off to the side. He took hold of Marinette's face and started his attempt to calm her down. His very presence seemed to help her.

Bruce couldn't say he was surprised at Marinette's reaction. This whole situation must've been very difficult and overwhelming for her, and Marinette didn't have a person she was too familiar with by her side to help her. All of his children had definitely met Marinette individually, but the change in affairs that happened so quickly couldn't have been good for her mental health. Not to mention all of the ridicule she was facing from the Media and she was definitely being tormented by at least one of her classmates.

"He won't be able to send another akuma for a while," Agreste said. "Ladybug will need to purify it and Hawkmoth can't recall it when it's trapped. Then he'll need to recharge." Agreste wrapped his arms around Marinette as her breathing evened out. She kept her tight grip on his shirt. "Mlle. Bustier, I have a request."

The woman's eyes narrowed. "If you are asking what I think you are, then I won't give my permission." Agreste stared back at her. "But, since you haven't asked, I cannot deny you permission, either. Quite the paradox, really, Adrien." So that was his name.

Adrien smiled, ducking his head. "Then I won't ask permission, Mlle."

Bruce didn't want to know what they were hinting at.

Adrien slipped his hand into Marinette's pocket, taking out her phone and inputting the password. His eyes widened in realisation. Bruce could see the screen's reflection in the window. She had been on Twitter. This suddenly made a lot more sense.

Tim arrived back at the bathroom. "Those were the DNA results," he said.

To nobody's surprise, they were positive.

Bruce Wayne was officially the biological father of Marinette Cheng.

XXX

Marinette woke up to an empty room. It was fancier than a lot of rooms she'd seen─Chloé's didn't compare. Gold lined the expensive drapes that circled the brown four-poster bed she was lying in. The walls were panelled with a dark wood and paintings of mountains and nature were hung up on the wall. A royal blue armchair was in the corner of the room─occupied by a lone figure.

Marinette blinked, scrambling back on the bed. It took her a moment to realise just who had been watching her.

"M-Mr. Wayne?!"

His gaze sharpened as he zeroed in on her. He smiled. "Miss Cheng."

Okay? Marinette cleared her throat. "Where am I?" she asked.

"Wayne Manor," he said. Marinette waited for him to say "Just kidding" or literally anything, but he merely stared back at her.

"Why?"

"Your… boyfriend said that it wouldn't be good to return to your hotel, because of the reporters milling about. I offered to let you and your class come here until you can go back."

"Right." Marinette looked around the room. She'd never seen a place that looked so nice but was also devoid of anything tangible. "So… nice place you got here."

"Yes," Mr. Wayne said. "My butler designed this room."

"Ah. Well." She shifted, looking at the red drapes above her. Marinette has always liked the colour red. It was the colour of her suit. It was a very interesting colour and a great thing to study right now. Oh, God. She couldn't take it anymore. "How nice of him."

"Yes. He has good taste." Mr. Wayne was probably as lost as she was here.

"So," Marinette bit the inside of her cheek. "You're my dad."

Mr. Wayne tensed considerably. His jaw set as he stared back at her. "Yes."

"Cool. That's cool," she said. "I-I mean, not that it wouldn't be cool if you weren't my dad, Mr. Wayne, because you're Bruce Wayne and you're like a superhero, but─uh, that doesn't mean I think you're a superhero because you're Bruce Wayne… but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be totally cool if you were a superhero, either, because superheroes are cool and you're… cool. Sir." Marinette blushed crimson. Okay, maybe she didn't like red. "I'll just, uh, shut up now."

Mr. Wayne started chuckling. Really? Marinette nearly had a heart attack while telling him that he was cool and he was laughing at her misfortune? Maybe he wasn't so cool after all. "Marinette," Mr. Wayne said, standing from his seat. He approached her and his foot falls sounded like glass shattering. He put a hand on her shoulder, smiling kindly. His smiles were always kind. Marinette couldn't help but stare at the offending limb on her shoulder. You couldn't tell from pictures, but Mr. Wayne had a lot of scars on his hand. Marinette had scars on her hands, too. A lot of them were from when she'd first started sewing. A lot of accidents back then. And Marinette never used her cure for things that didn't involve akumas, so she ended up getting injured and scarred a lot more when she'd try stopping a random robber in an alley. And Marinette was also clumsy, so… yeah. Lots of scars. She wondered where Mr. Wayne got his scars from. "Call me Bruce."

"O-oh." She swallowed. "Okay, Bruce."

Bruce looked like he was about to say something else, but then he let go of her shoulder and turned around. "Come with me. Your classmates are worried about you." He opened the door quickly and stepped outside. Marinette scrambled off of the bed, hurrying to follow the billionaire. His pace was slower than that day they'd been at the new Wayne Enterprise Laboratory.

Her class was gathered in a very big sitting room with the rest of the Wayne family. Two women Marinette recognised as Barbara Gordon and Stephanie Brown sat in the room. Marinette could vaguely recall that Barbara Gordon had been attacked by the Joker, so she had to use a wheelchair now. Nobody really knew how Stephanie Brown was a part of this family. She'd dated Tim Drake at one point, but they were clearly still friends, or else they wouldn't be sitting so comfortably with each other. Stephanie's arm was wrapped in a bright cast.

Adrien was the first up. She wasn't surprised and she didn't fight when he took her arm and led her back into the hallway, ignoring the calls from their classmates. Marinette knew how much she scared Adrien when she had nearly been akumatized. The class could wait.

Adrien pulled her into a hug, and they stayed in that position for a while. The Joker could probably attack right now and Marinette wouldn't even care. She was so content in Adrien's arms and the knowledge that he'd never let her go.

Marinette reluctantly pulled away. She opened her mouth, but Adrien beat her to the chase. "Don't apologise."

"What?"

"You're going to apologise for getting upset and nearly being akumatized. Don't. I won't let you."

"You can't stop me, either."

"I won't listen," Adrien said. "Marinette, your reaction was understandable. Nobody can blame you for getting upset. That wasn't your fault."

"You told me to stay off Social Media," she muttered.

"And? How many times have I done what I was told?" Marinette only needed one hand to count that. "Exactly. Marinette, if it's anyone's fault, it's Lila's for getting Sabrina to steal Chloé's phone and lying about you. We all know the circumstances of those incidents and what really happened in those videos. Besides, we're dealing with it."

Marinette paused. "What do you mean by that?"

Adrien looked around. He leaned forwards and whispered, "I'll tell you later."

"What? Adrien, no─"

He clamped his hand on her mouth and pointed in the direction of the room they'd just come from. He then pointed at his ears and mouthed, "Eavesdroppers." Marinette's eyes widened. She slowly nodded, so he retracted his hand. "We should probably get back. I think Alya's waiting to pounce on you."

"Is that meant to encourage me?" Marinette didn't move. She murmured, "the akuma?"

"I'll get it to you later," he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as they walked back to the room. More than half of her class and three of her newfound siblings were attempting to casually sit in their chairs, pretending that there wasn't a single problem in the world.

Alya shot up. She was probably faster than the Apollo 13. Marinette stumbled backwards from the force of Alya's body colliding with her own. Even Adrien let out a sharp breath from the sheer wall that was Alya Césaire when she had something in mind. Alya started rambling quickly. Marinette couldn't make out what she was saying, so she settled on simply patting Alya on the back and assuring her that she was okay.

"Well then," Mssr. D'Argencourt shot to his feet. "It appears that the period of waiting is over! We shall now return to our lodgings and stop trodding on the toes of this fine family."

"Yes," Mlle. Bustier said. She smiled tightly. "That being said, I've spoken with Marinette's Mother, Stepfather and Mr. Wayne and we've decided that, for her safety, she should be staying here for the remainder of the trip." Instantly, the babbling started. Adrien tensed beside her. "And," Mlle. Bustier continued, turning sharp eyes on her students. "Because the situation is so unfamiliar for Marinette, we've decided to let Adrien stay with her for the time being, possibly the entire trip. I've already conferred with Mssr. Agreste." No way. She definitely didn't talk to Gabriel. It was probably Nathalie who she talked to. "They'll still be going to the same places as us, but they will be arriving by a different car." Lila opened her mouth to speak. Mlle. Bustier didn't give her the chance to speak. "That is the end of the discussion. Say your goodbyes, everyone."

Alya still hadn't let go of Marinette. "Alya," she gasped, exaggerating just a bit. "Need… to… breathe…" Alya finally set her free. "Thank you."

"If you're gonna stay here, then call me tonight," she said. "I need to make sure they're treating you right." Alya turned to Adrien. "You better protect her, Sunshine."

Adrien grinned. "On the very slim chance that she doesn't pulverize anyone who disrespects her, I'll step in, Alya. Don't worry."

"Hmm. I like that word. Pulverize." She turned back to Marinette. "Pulverize anyone who disrespects you, Mari. If you don't, I'll sic Sunshine on them."

Kim looked skeptical. "I'm not sure that that's─" Alix elbowed him in the gut.

"Dude, he broke a door down just to get into the bathroom. He's fucking strong." Marinette wasn't even going to point out that that wasn't exactly true.

"What about our stuff?" Marinette asked. If she was going to do this, she'd need her sketchbook… and her clothes. She heard the quiet whisper of 'Camembert' and knew she wasn't the only person with that on her mind.

"We sent someone over to get your stuff a while ago," Mr. Wa─Bruce said. "Your bags are already upstairs, don't worry."

"Oh." Marinette looked at Adrien. They both definitely had things stashed away in their rooms that hadn't been found. "Thanks." She'd tell Alya where her cookie stash was and ask her to deliver it tomorrow. Adrien would probably ask the equivalent of Nino.

And so they said their goodbyes and two students of Collège François Dupont were left behind in Wayne Manor.

Marinette looked at the Waynes.

This was going to be a long week.

XXX

After Marinette had purified the akuma, they called Alya. Surprisingly, she and Nino were not the only people in the room. Max and Chloé were also in view of the camera and she could hear voices in the background. Kim and Alix. Nino was absentmindedly scrolling on his phone, his head in Alya's lap.

"Why are so many people in there, Alya?" she asked, looking skeptically at her classmates.

"Because," Alya answered. "All of us know that Lila is a dirty liar and want to do something about it."

Adrien looked equally as confused as she did. "When did Kim and Alix─"

"Max," they chorused. That was enough of an explanation. When the smart kid tells you you're being an idiot, you believe them. Especially when he's your boyfriend.

"What do you mean by 'something'?" Marinette asked.

Nino lifted his head from Alya's lap. "Just know, Max is scary."

"I mean, yeah, but huh?"

And so, they explained. And they planned. They were just about to finish enacting one of the stages of their plan when a rap sounded at the door.

"What are you two doing in there?"

"Uh─" Marinette looked back at the camera. Their plan was probably illegal. She didn't know many American laws. "Sex!"

Her classmates stopped what they were doing to stare at her. Adrien buried his face in a blanket to smother his laughter. The door slowly opened to reveal Dick Grayson. He leaned against the door frame, bemusement written all over his face.

"How illegal is it if 'sex' is the best lie you can come up with?"

Adrien raised his head from the blanket. "Scale from one to ten?"

Dick stared at them in complete astonishment. "You know what? I don't even want to know. Dinner's ready." He left without another word, leaving the teenagers to die from laughter. It was a very painful fate.

"This will be ready by tomorrow night. Your interview was fine until..." Max snorted. "Would you really be able to get an interview with Ladybug and Chat Noir?"

"We think we know a place where they'll be tonight," Marinette said.

"Alright," Max said. "Make sure to send it on."

"Will do," Adrien saluted him and ended the call. "I really hope he told the entire family about what you just said, Princess."

"I will jump off of the Eiffel Tower," Marinette said. "Like, really. The mortification would kill me."

Marinette met Alfred, the family's butler, who is genuinely the most patient man Marinette has ever met.

Nothing except awkward pleasantries and small talk was exchanged for the first five minutes of dinner. Stephanie Brown pushed her brussel sprouts around and looked at Marinette.

"So," she said. "'Sex'."

Marinette blushed crimson as Adrien hid a grin. Bruce looked at them in confusion and Jason copied Stephanie's look. One that promised torment. Dick wore the same bemused expression and Tim was seemingly not paying attention. Cassandra studied them intently. Barbara was silently laughing. Damian looked between them with creased eyebrows. 'Does he even… wait, no. He's twelve. Of course he does. Probably.'

Bruce frowned. "Stephanie."

"Don't even ask me to explain, B. Ask your daughter." Marinette didn't know why it made her feel warm inside when Bruce immediately glanced at her with a single elevated eyebrow.

"Before you ask, no, we were not having─" her blush darkened. "─sex."

Jason grinned deviously. "So what were you doing?"

"I think this is where we give an excuse like 'summoning Satan'," Adrien commented. Marinette kicked him under the table.

She rolled her eyes. "We were just facetiming our friends," Marinette said. Which was true. They were also planning to destroy Lila's reputation. But they were facetiming them while planning.

Jason pointed his fork at them. "And planning something illegal. What is it?"

"I'm not even sure that it is illegal," Adrien said. He looked thoughtful.

Marinette was going to stab someone with her fork.

Tim observed the table. "You know, this isn't even the strangest interaction I've had with this family. One time, Damian─"

Damian's head lifted. His murderous glare was now focused on Tim. Marinette suspected that they fought a lot. "Interesting you say such a thing, Drake. I believe the only reason that you are present at this table was because you wormed your way into Father's good graces while he was in mourning and vulnerable." He paused. "Not that Father has ever been vulnerable, of course."

"Damian, Tim," Bruce glared at them.

"No, no, let them continue," Jason grinned. "I want to see who starts throwing knives first."

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "The assassin, obviously." 'Assassin?!'

"Yeah, but Replacement's a sensitive soul."

Barbara snorted, taking a sip from her wine. "I've never heard such bullshit in my life."

"Language," Bruce reprimanded, momentarily distracted from the bickering boys. He didn't even turn around when he said, "Damian, drop the knife."

Damian glared at Tim. "You, me, training room, tonight."

"Bring it, Demon Spawn," Tim shot back. This was an uncharacteristic display of childishness... or was it? She couldn't quite tell.

Adrien glanced at her. "I think your family might be weirder than mine." And Adrien's family was fucking weird.

Cassandra tapped Marinette on the shoulder. "What is…" she frowned. "...Sex?"

Oh God. Fuck no. This was not happening. No. Marinette wasn't meant to deal with this for at least twenty years. God… how do you even…?

Bruce coughed awkwardly. "I'll tell you later, Cass." She grinned, bouncing in her seat, signing something to Bruce. He only nodded back in reply. Marinette didn't envy her da─Bruce.

Dick turned back to Marinette. "Maybe they really were having sex." He glanced at Jason before continuing, his lip twitching ever so slightly. "You're both being safe, right?"

"Yeah," Jason said. "And you've both had the talk? When a man and a woman love each other very much─"

Dick wasn't finished. "What size condom do you wear? Medium or large? I think I have some cherry flavoured ones out back."

"Is your prescription up to date?" Jason asked. "We know a great doctor─"

Stephanie reached across the table, taking Marinette's hand. "You know that you can change your mind at any time. Consent is very important."

Marinette immediately let go of her hand. She dropped her head down. "I've known some of you for less than a week and I want to decapitate you with a neon yellow toothbrush."

Adrien coughed awkwardly, his cheeks flushed red. "W-we're not─uh─having… um…"

Jason raised his hands in defeat. "So what were you doing?"

"Father," Damian started. "Why have you adopted these buffoons?"

Bruce stared at the table's occupants impassively. "I'm beginning to wonder why I ever had children in the first place."

Dick flicked his hair back. "My charms are irresistible, B. Sorry, you never stood a chance." He suddenly looked thoughtful. "But you really should've stopped at one kid."

"Oh my God," Tim started laughing. "Imagine if Richard Grayson inherited Wayne Enterprises."

"The world would go up in flames," Barbara said. Dick looked at her in mock offense, but she merely held her glass to her lips. "I said what I said."

"I believe," Bruce started. "That we are all finished with our dinner. I believe all of you should go to your rooms and put down the fork, Damian." Damian slowly dropped the silver fork. "Thank you. None of you are to fight or tease each other. Now, go."

Somehow, they managed to escape from dinner without exposing their entire plan. A miracle, truly.

This family fucking drained her.

She liked it.

Weird.

XXX

Marinette couldn't sit still. Every time she tried to relax in her room, it felt like she was being stabbed with a spork. Mlle. Bustier had suggested that she stay with the Waynes until this whole situation was resolved, so she couldn't go on the trips around Gotham for a while. That meant she couldn't get to Alya, and therefore, Tikki's cookie stash. Adrien promised to get her stuff off of Alya, but he wouldn't be back for hours and her poor kwami was starving.

Mind made up, Marinette marched downstairs. She needed to find a kitchen.

It wasn't too difficult, she just followed the sounds of unpleasant conversation. Tim and Damian were bickering in a bland sitting room. The only attraction was a pretty vase with gold and black inscriptions. It looked ancient. Marinette had once thought Tim was so mature. Now she saw that he was just as immature as everybody else in this house. Maybe not Bruce. Or Cassandra. Tim was holding a remote away from Damian, who looked downright murderous. 'Shouldn't he be in school?'

They stopped grappling over the remote when they noticed her arrival. Damian clambered away from Tim, glaring at him with something that wasn't quite hatred in his eyes.

"Marinette," Tim smiled. Dark bags encircled his eyes. She wasn't sure if he even knew what 'sleeping' entailed. "What's up?"

She looked pointedly at his hand, which was still holding a remote aloft. Damian seemed ready to pounce whenever his brother relaxed. Tim tossed his legs onto the couch. "Can I use the kitchen?"

"Sure," Tim shrugged. "Through that door to the right." Marinette nodded. Tim threw the remote off to the other side of the room. She faintly heard glass shattering when she passed through the door. It was somewhat amusing to listen to them when they started blaming each other for breaking a vase.

The kitchen was empty when Marinette arrived. She rummaged through the presses and found all of the necessary equipment. Well, macarons weren't that difficult. She'd make Tikki's favourite.

Marinette lost herself in the process of baking. What she liked about it was that because it was so manual, she couldn't let her mind wander because she was focused on having the exact amount of flour and she couldn't put in too much sugar or else Tikki would hate them.

She didn't even notice when the door opened and when Alfred walked in. He paused, watching her as she added the exact amount of food colouring into the batter. She started to stir the dough around in the mixing bowl when she noticed the old man's eyes on her.

Marinette jumped, yelping loudly and dropping the bowl onto the counter. Nothing spilled, thankfully.

"I─I─uh─"

"Miss Cheng, what are you doing?" the butler asked. He sounded curious, not angry. Yet.

Marinette grinned, showing more teeth than was necessary. "I'm… making cookies?"

"I can see that," Alfred said. He looked slightly amused. Alfred observed Marinette's tense stance and smiled, turning back around. "Leave the kitchen in the way you found it."

"Y-yes! I will!" Marinette forced a chuckle.

Marinette soon had the cookies in the oven and started to wash the dishes she used. As she did, Tikki floated into the room. She hid in Marinette's shirt.

"I was exploring and I found something strange," Tikki said.

"What is it?" she asked, looking over her shoulder every few seconds. This family was quiet. They managed to sneak up on her so many times already and she didn't want to be overheard.

"There was a secret entrance to a basement," Tikki said as Marinette turned off the water. She picked up a towel, drying off the dishes. "I went in there and it was weird."

"Weird?" Marinette absently asked. She couldn't afford to be caught with Tikki right now.

"The basement was a cave and there were a lot of computers in there. And the costumes belonged to─" Marinette shushed her kwami. She could hear voices approaching.

Dick, Jason and Cassandra walked in. Dick was grinning widely as he entered. "Alfred, what are you making that smells so─Marinette!"

"Hi," she waved shyly.

"You know, this makes so much more sense," Jason commented, leaning against a counter. "Alfred wouldn't make something so sweet for no reason. Especially at this time." Cassandra laughed, hopping onto a stool.

Dick looked at Marinette in confusion. "You can bake?"

"Her parents own a bakery," Jason snorted. "I'd be surprised if she couldn't bake."

"What are you making?" Cassandra asked. That might've been the longest sentence Marinette heard from her. She smiled.

"Macarons," she said. All she got in return were three blank stares. "They're a type of cookie." Speaking of, they were finished. She dropped the tray onto the stove. She had to let them cool. "Where's Bruce?"

"Work," Dick said. "The rest of us had to take time off of work and school because of…" he waved around vaguely.

"Oh," Marinette said. "Well, um, I have to take care of all of this, so if you could…" she made shooing motions with her hands.

Dick gasped dramatically. "You've been here for less than a day and you're already taking over our kitchen! What's next, our rooms?"

Nobody ever said Dick was funny. Jason hit him over the head as he said, "make sure this place is spotless. One time, Dick─"

Dick dragged Jason away. "We agreed never to speak of that again!"

"That was before you became a lame asshole."

"I am not lame."

"We'll put it to a vote at dinner."

"Where we'll decide that I'm not lame!"

Cassandra giggled quietly as she went. She turned to Marinette and pointed at Dick. "Lame," she whispered. Marinette couldn't help her own grin.

When they were gone, it was time to add the filling. As she did so, she looked down at her kwami. "What were you talking about before, Tikki? There were costumes?"

"Yes," Tikki said. "I saw a bunch of costumes, including Batman's." Marinette froze. She stared down at Tikki.

"No way."

"I definitely saw it, Marinette." Tikki stared up at her. She wasn't lying. "I can bring you, if you want."

Marinette sighed. She dropped half of the macarons into her purse and deposited the rest on a plate. She started to clean the last few dishes. "I believe you, Tikki. It's just… wow." She looked back at the kwami. "It makes sense. If Jason is Red Hood, then of course Bruce is Batman. That makes Dick Nightwing, Tim Red Robin and Damian is Robin. Black Bat would be Cassandra and… that makes Stephanie Spoiler. And Nightwing said her arm was broken, which was why she wasn't at the fight. Oh my God, it makes perfect sense."

These people were superheroes. Not only were they superheroes, but they were superheroes who Marinette had interacted with because she was also a superhero!

Holy fuck. Shit. Bad. This is bad. There is no way she'd be able to hide her identity now! If Bruce Wayne was also Batman, that made him the World's Greatest Detective and how could she hide anything from Batman!

Oh, she was so dead.

Tikki looked up at Marinette. "Why are you upset, Marinette? If your family are also superheroes, then that means they'll understand you and won't try to stop you from fighting Hawkmoth!"

That… was true.

But that didn't mean Marinette was going to tell them her secret identity. The fact that Adrien knew was bad enough. This would be fine. Nobody would find out that she was Ladybug or that Adrien was Chat Noir because she wasn't going to let anybody find out.

"I'm just…" Marinette swallowed. "Going to pretend this never happened. Yeah. That's a healthy coping mechanism."

Marinette will not be accepting constructive criticism.

XXX

Marinette sat in her room, scrolling through her phone. She avoided anything that involved her or the Waynes, which was easy if she didn't go onto Twitter. She was scrolling through an Instagram page dedicated to Percy Jackson when a knock sounded on her door. Marinette frowned.

"Come in," she called, placing her phone beside her. The door slowly opened to reveal Bruce. "Oh. Hi."

"Hi," Bruce said. He made his way into the room, standing still and staring her down. "How are you?"

"Good," Marinette pressed her lips together. "Good."

"I'm glad," Bruce said. "I heard that you were baking."

"Yeah, macarons," she said. "I left some in the kitchen. Did you…?"

He smiled. "No. The boys got to them before I had the chance."

"Oh. I'll have to make more then. I mean, that is, if you want to try them. You don't have to, it was just a suggestion, but um, yeah."

Bruce sat at the foot of her bed. "I'd love to try your baking, Marinette," he said. She couldn't help the smile that blossomed onto her face. "You like baking. What else do you do? Draw? Write? Play sports?"

"Um, I run. A lot." Kind of necessary when fighting akumas. "And I love designing."

"Clothes or architecture?" he asked.

"Clothes," Marinette said. "I make most of my own clothes."

"Your boyfriend is the son of Gabriel Agreste."

"Dick." Marinette couldn't help but mutter. She flushed red when she realised what she just. "Not that─I don't think you're a dick and I wasn't saying Dick's name and it's not that I think he's a dick but he's just a really bad parent and he's kind of a dick and I'm gonna stop saying dick now. Please don't tell him I said that."

"Don't worry, I won't tell." Bruce flashed a grin at her. "Besides, I always thought he was a bit of a dick, anyways."

Marinette started at Bruce. She never expected those words to come out of his mouth. "Um… I could show you my designs. If you'd like. You don't have to, of course."

Bruce sat up a little straighter. "I would love to see your designs, Marinette." She sat still for a second before grabbing her sketchbook off the dresser and moving a little closer to him. "Personally, I can't even draw a stickman, so you've gotten no luck from me in this department…" Bruce trailed off as he started flicking through the book. Marinette tracked his eyes and the way they took in every detail before moving onto the next design. He frowned at two pages in particular. "I've seen these before."

Marinette leaned forward, looking at the design. "Oh, yeah." This was one of her most famous designs. "I made the dress for Penny Rolling. You know when she and Jagged Stone got engaged? He asked for my help. He wanted me to make her an outfit that would be perfect for getting engaged on tour and I always designed Jagged's clothes, but these ones needed to be extra special, you know?"

"You're very accomplished, Marinette," Bruce complimented. He turned to look at her fully. His eyes flicked to her ear, but he met her eyes again half a second later. He smiled. "I'm proud of you."

Marinette's cheeks burned as she ducked her head. She was glad to know that. "Thank you."

Bruce nodded and turned back to the sketchbook. He flicked to the next page and laughed. "There has to be a story behind this one."

She looked at the page and groaned. Loudly.

Oh, there was a story, alright.

The moral of the story was to never promise to make a custom dress for Manon. She was very, very specific in her demands.

Marinette also learned that only so many places sell green glitter.

XXX

That evening, she and Adrien made up a random excuse to skip dinner. She locked her door and watched as the information was released, one person after another. Since Wayne Enterprises had released the DNA test earlier this evening, their story was bound to be believed and therefore, Lila was bound to go down.

This was going to be brilliant.

The seconds on her watch ticked down. Adrien refreshed the website's page. Alya's newest blog was gaining traction by the second. Promotion by celebrities like Jagged Stone and Gabriel's most famous model would certainly make a website more popular. People were eagerly awaiting to see what so many famous people were posting about.

Marinette took out her phone, sending one last Tweet.

MCheng MarinetteCheng · 3s

Check out Ladyblogger 's newest website for some clarity on ChloeBourgeois 's tweets

[Link]

It was a simple thing, really, but it did the job. Likes and retweets flooded her inbox almost instantly as the website started gaining even more viewers.

Marinette turned to Adrien. "It wasn't that illegal… was it?" She didn't want to get arrested immediately after exposing Lila.

He grinned. "Not that anyone will ever know."

That was reassuring.

Marinette left the website, which was still counting down, and opened her inbox. It was time.

XXX

Jagged Stone's face was the first person to show up on the screen. He was facetiming Alya. "Well, if it isn't my favourite niece's best friend! What's up, little Ladyblogger?"

Alya ignored the camera as she spoke. "Mr. Stone, have you ever heard of a girl named Lila Rossi?"

Jagged's brow creased. "Lila Rossi? Lie-la Rossi? No, never heard of that. Is it a new brand?"

"To be clear, your cat has never been saved by a teenaged girl who you, in turn, wrote a song about as thanks?"

"A cat?!" Jagged demanded in outrage. "I've never touched one of those stinking creatures! And what's this about me writing a song about a teenager?!"

"Nothing, apparently." Alya looked at the camera. "Strike one."

The footage switched to show an angry Chloé, a sheepish Sabrina and Max, who looked very uncomfortable with the atmosphere.

Chloé's arms were crossed. "Well? Go on."

Sabrina glanced between Chloé and the camera a few times. Eventually, she slumped and confessed. "I stole Chloé's phone because Lila asked me. She told me she wanted to be friends with me, but I had to help her with a prank on Marinette, first. Lila asked me to Tweet those things from Chloé's account."

Chloé stared at her. "And?"

"And she gave me footage to cut and put together. She told me to only put in the parts where Marinette was insulting her and not to include anything else."

Max looked at the camera. "Here are the clips that were posted from Chloé's account."

"She doesn't have tinnitus!"

"Lila's just a liar!"

"I'm not giving my seat up to Lila!"

"Hey, Lila! Catch this!"

"She's the one who cheated! Not me!"

"Lila framed me!"

"I didn't push her down the stairs!"

The camera panned back to show Max, Chloé and Sabrina. "It's curious how Lila got these recordings," Max mused. "It's almost like she was anticipating that Marinette wouldn't believe her. Anyways, here are the full versions of the clips."

The camera showed videos of events that happened in Marinette's past. She still wasn't sure how Lila got those videos. When the scenes were finished, a medical chart was on the screen. Certain information was blacked out.

"This is Lila's medical chart," Max said. "As you can see, Lila doesn't have half of the illnesses she claims to have. For those curious, here is the complete list of illnesses Lila says that she's had." Many, many, many different types of illnesses appeared onscreen.

Alya's face appeared. "Strike two."

The next cut revealed her and Adrien's faces.

"This is awkward," Marinette muttered before clearly registering that she was being recorded. "Oh! Um, hi?" Adrien snorted beside her. Marinette glared at him.

Alya's voice sounded from behind the camera. "So we have some questions about your relationships with Lila."

"'Relationship' is such a nice word," Adrien said. "It implies that Lila didn't break into my house or get Mari expelled."

"We'll get to that," Alya said. "Can you two tell me about the first times you both realised Lila was a liar?"

"Sure," Marinette shrugged. She froze. "Wait, this is legal, right? Like, I thought there was an info block, or something?"

Marinette paused the video. "Why didn't they cut all of my awkward moments?" she asked.

"Because you're adorable," Adrien grinned. Marinette blushed and let the interview resume.

"Chloé got her dad to lift it," Alya said. "Everybody knows about Ladybug and Chat Noir now."

"Hm, okay," Marinette glanced at Adrien. "We both learned that Lila was a liar at the same time."

"Lila and I were in the park together and Ladybug decided to call Lila out in broad daylight," Adrien nodded. "She'd been lying about being friends with Ladybug to our class and about a bunch of other things and since that was really dangerous, Ladybug decided to get involved."

"It wasn't one of Ladybug's finest moments," Marinette said. Adrien frowned. "Lila later got akumatized into Volpina."

"Why were you there, Marinette?" Alya asked.

Marinette frowned. "Adrien had taken this really cool book that belonged to his dad. He seemed to be really interested in it, but Lila stole it and read through it. She later trashed the book, but I found it. Adrien was freaking out and his dad was really angry. He even pulled Adrien out of school. I returned the book to him and told him that I'd taken the book because I didn't want him to get in any more trouble."

"So, Lila got akumatized and didn't return to class for another few months," Adrien said. "When she did, though, our class decided that it would be a good idea to rearrange the seating charts without asking Marinette for her opinion and pushing her to the back, by herself."

"When I came in, I was really excited, because I thought that I'd be sitting at the front, next to Adrien." She blushed. Adrien wrapped an arm around her waist. "But then I was told that I'd be sitting at the back and Lila would be with Adrien. I got… angry. It wasn't specifically because I was at the back, but because everybody decided to do all of that without considering my opinion and then everybody decided that there was no way Lila could lie because she's…" Marinette inhaled, deeply. "Anyways, I called Lila out on not having tinnitus, or having saved Uncle Jagged's 'cat' from getting run over by a plane, but nobody believed me and I was sent to the back. Later that day, Lila was exploiting all of our classmates by claiming she had sprained her wrist. I threw a napkin at her. She said that it would've hit Max and when I pointed out that she couldn't have caught it with a sprained wrist, Lila dropped it and claimed she'd seen somebody's eye get gouged out with a napkin. Somehow, people bought that."

Max's voice sounded in the background. "Not my finest moment."

"Anyways," Marinette said. "Lila found me in the bathroom and told me that I was either with her, or against her. She threatened me in the bathroom and I was nearly akumatized." Neither of the two looked very comfortable with elaborating on this story.

"Lila also broke into my house," Adrien said. "She lied to my dad's assistant and got her in trouble. And she was really…" he grappled for the right word.

"She sexually harassed my Adrikins!" Chloé exclaimed.

"I can see the reactions already," Kim said. "'Men can't get sexually harassed! Why? Uh… because I said so!'"

"We'll sic Alya on them," Nino said. "She's scary when she's mad. You should've seen her when she thought Chloé was Ladybug."

"Hey! I could be Ladybug if I wanted to!"

"Anyways," Adrien said. "Lila also framed Mari for cheating and stealing her grandmother's necklace─which she bought from my dad's company─and also claimed Marinette pushed her down the stairs."

Max's face appeared. "This is what actually happened." They showed the security footage of Lila walking down a staircase and shouting out, pretending that Marinette had pushed her. The camera panned back to Marinette and Adrien.

"Our Principal expelled me without checking the footage or listening to what I had to say," Marinette said. "Later, Lila retracted her statement by telling our Principal she actually had a lying disease. I don't really know why, though." She glanced at her boyfriend. "He did… something."

Adrien laughed. "I just promised I'd be her friend as long as she left you alone."

Marinette turned to face him fully. "Really? Why would she… oh." Marinette rolled her eyes. "Of course. Then, for once, she wouldn't be lying when she said she was friends with a famous person."

"Yeah. And since Lila has clearly broken her side of the promise, I don't need to be friends with her anymore."

"Yeah. Also, yes, I am related to Bruce Wayne. He's my father. We're dealing with that privately and─"

"What are you two doing in there?" a different voice called from outside the door.

"Uh─" Marinette looked at the camera. "Sex!"

The clip changed. Marinette paused the video.

"What the fuck?"

Why did her friends hate her? They could've ended the video at any moment and they decided to include it.

Marinette needed new friends.

Alya appeared, putting a third finger down.

Ladybug and Chat Noir were on screen. "We've met Lila," Chat said. "She faked an injury to distract me from an akuma. Nearly got a few people killed."

Ladybug frowned. "I remember calling her out in front of a few people. It's really dangerous to claim to know superheroes, so we didn't want to risk her getting hurt. It was harsh, but it was definitely necessary."

Chat Noir grinned. "Don't lie, kids! It's clawful, furreal."

Ladybug groaned, loudly. The clip ended to the sound of Chat Noir's screams.

Finally, Alya appeared again. She was sitting back in their hotel room.

"So now you're wondering why we went to such efforts to expose Lila." Alya looked down somberly. "The truth is, our entire class believed Lila. Everybody rallied behind her and trusted her instead of Marinette. Marinette has done so much for us. She's gone out of her way to fix things that probably can't be fixed and was always there when we needed her."

Alya frowned. "We weren't there for Marinette." She perked up. "Which is why, Lila, we mean it when we say that you will never hurt anybody like you did Marinette again."

The video ended with Alya glaring into the camera.

Marinette turned to Adrien. "You ready?"

"Good thing we got to watch it early."

With that said, the superheroes transformed and raced to the window.

Marinette would get to the hotel first─she was sure of it.

XXX

Ladybug never got to the hotel. Why? Well, there was a very specific reason for that.

You see, as they were racing, she caught sight of a purple butterfly exiting a different hotel. There was only one possible reason for that. She caught and purified the akuma and they followed it back to the hotel.

They followed it into the suite it entered.

And there he was.

Hawkmoth.

He didn't notice them. Not at first. Hawkmoth was too distracted with the butterfly's sudden return. Why would anyone be looking around their hotel room when something so obscenely wrong occurred?

In the end, there was no huge fight. No shocking moment where one side got the upperhand and fighting became hopeless. None of that.

No.

They already knew where Hawkmoth's Miraculous was kept, so it was only a matter of Chat reaching out and taking the butterfly Miraculous from his chest. Hawkmoth didn't realise until it was too late.

But now, all that stood before them was a man. A very familiar man.

Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth.

Chat stumbled back, staring at the man in shock. "Y-you─"

Ladybug couldn't believe it. Adrien's dad… was… their enemy?

The worst thing was that she could believe it.

Gabriel didn't look any less surprised than they were. "When did you arrive?"

"I─"

"Sir? What is the─" Nathalie looked at the superheroes in shock and at the Miraculous clutched in Chat's fist. "Oh. I see. Should I, sir?"

Chat stared at Nathalie in complete shock and disgust. "You too, Nathalie?!"

"What?" Nathalie narrowed her eyes at Chat. "You know me?"

"Do I?" Chat's laugh became somewhat hysterical. "DO I?!" Ladybug cautiously stepped forwards. Chat whirled on Hawkmoth. "Why?! What fucking reason could you have for this?! What would Mom think?!"

Gabriel's eyes widened. "Adrien?"

Marinette wasn't even mad that Adrien revealed his identity to their worst enemy. She stepped forwards, taking the Miraculous from him. She didn't think that it was a good idea for him to be the one to hold it, right now.

Adrien transformed, staring at his father in complete disgust. "Why?"

It seemed that Gabriel had finally realised what exactly had fallen into his hands. "Adrien, my son, you don't understand─"

"What don't I understand?" he demanded. "That you're a fucking supervillain?!"

Ladybug stepped away from Adrien, surveying the suite. Nathalie wasn't wearing Mayura's brooch, but that didn't mean it wasn't here. She searched as Adrien argued.

"I've been doing all of this for you! To save your mother! Don't you want that?!"

Ladybug paused. "Oh my God." The three looked at her. It seemed that they'd forgotten she was here. "You broke the Peacock Miraculous. That's why Mayura was always sick. And Emilie Agreste used it when it was broken. That's why she disappeared. She's not dead. She's cursed."

Gabriel looked at Ladybug in complete shock. "You know what happened to her?"

"Of course I do! It's in the Miraculous book! You had it─you should know." Her eyes narrowed at his bewildered expression. "Unless… you can't read it, can you? Not properly, at least. You never learned the actual language, so you've just been guessing." Marinette had spent hours scouring through the pages on Master Fu's tablet. She was sure she could read the language almost fluently, now. She couldn't speak it, though. Whenever Master Fu had tried to teach her, she'd been hopeless.

"Is there a cure?" Gabriel demanded.

She scoffed. "Obviously. All I need to do is fix the Peacock Miraculous and get her to wear it. You don't need to make a wish to wake her up." Ladybug looked between Hawkmoth and Mayura. "Where is it?"

Nobody moved. Gabriel said, "Nathalie" and she was on her feet, moving to the other room quickly.

Ladybug frowned. She crossed her arms and stared Gabriel down. "You can't get off scot-free for this."

Gabriel nodded. "Of course."

She glanced at Adrien, who was staring blankly at his father. "For his sake, we won't expose your identity, but…" she frowned. "We'll be discussing the repercussions for this, later."

"Yes." Nathalie returned, handing the Peacock Miraculous to Marinette. Holy shit. They succeeded. They had the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculous. They were finished.

It was over.

Oh. Oh. Oh.

Oh, fuck. It was over. It's all over. They don't need to go on as Ladybug and Chat Noir.

Now was not the time to panic.

She turned to Adrien. "Do you want to stay here?"

Adrien stared at his father and Nathalie. "No. No, I don't. Let's go back."

"Adrien─" Gabriel started forwards, but Adrien had already transformed and left. Ladybug wasn't far behind.

When they returned to Wayne Manor, Adrien didn't bother going back to his room. He lied down on Marinette's bed. There was nothing she could do except hold him and whisper assurances.

Everything would be fine. It would just take some time.

XXX

Marinette contacted Mlle. Bustier and told her that she and Adrien wouldn't be going with the class that day. Their teacher hadn't questioned it. She probably thought they wanted to avoid the media after their stunt the previous day.

There had been next to no backlash over the videos they'd released. Nobody had been overly angry and since Marinette had yet to leave her room that day, none of the Wayne family had the chance to question her over the video.

Adrien had been quietly contemplating what had happened ever since the revelation. He'd barely said two words to her and even Plagg couldn't get a reaction out of him. Marinette decided to let him be and focused on fixing the Peacock Miraculous. She'd probably be finished by the time they returned to France.

Lila had been sent back to Paris early by her mother. Marinette suspected that she'd never see the liar again.

Everything felt weird. Things were going right. If you asked Marinette, she'd say that it was near perfect.

Marinette was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

XXX

Crime never slept in Gotham. That was a universally acknowledged fact. There was always something or other going down. Whether it be a robbery in the alley or a hostage situation in the bank.

So could one truly be surprised when a villain had the bright idea to take the French class from François Dupont? No! Of course not!

In fact, it should've been expected!

But no. Nobody expected Scarecrow to trap a bunch of school children in a museum and threaten them with certain death by his fear toxins unless certain French superheroes showed up and complied with his demands. (Read: Become his test subjects)

It was really the perfect excuse for Adrien to get out of bed.

And so they left. Unfortunately, neither locked the door to Marinette's room, so it was all too easy for Jason Todd to realise that they'd left and gone after their friends.

You couldn't blame them for that.

And so, Ladybug and Chat Noir found a new reason to keep using their Miraculouses. After all, Hawkmoth being gone, didn't mean that crime was. Nothing was ever that simple.

XXX

Alya Césaire had to admit that she loved this. Well, she didn't love that she and everybody in her class could very easily die in this situation, but there was a certain thrill that came with being a hostage.

She wasn't weird. Alya just liked having material for her blog. Alya was certain that Ladybug and Chat Noir would save them, so she wasn't scared.

But she did jump when something hard hit her on the back. Alya whirled around, only to find that nobody was there. Alya slowly turned back, keeping her eyes on the armed henchmen. She was tapped on her back again, but only this time she realised where she was being hit from. Alya shuffled towards the vent. Catwoman peaked out at her.

"Crane really needs to stop playing with children," Catwoman pouted.

Alya stared at the anti-hero in complete shock. "W-wh─"

"I'm doing a favour for Bats," Catwoman said, pushing a couple vials into her hands. "Apparently I'm the only person who's able to sneak around here without getting caught." She winked. "That's the antidote. If he doses any of you, get it to them immediately."

"Okay, but─"

"Sorry kid, but I have to go and save you from the mad scientist." Catwoman disappeared without another word. Alya slowly hurried back to the group. The henchmen didn't notice her conversation with a certain thief.

Nino leaned towards her. "Who─" Alya shushed him. Any minute now, they'd be saved and Alya wanted to completely focus on whatever was going to happen.

Little did Alya know, she was missing the real story.

Scarecrow was getting introduced to Chat Noir.

XXX

Ladybug didn't know when it happened, but at some point, Chat had been dosed with the fear toxin. She could hear his shouts for his parents and for her, but Ladybug was forced to ignore it. She needed to defeat Scarecrow.

Ladybug called her Lucky Charm, but all that came back was a small lampshade with a bat on it. That wasn't going to help her.

…

Oh. She needed Batman's help. That made sense.

Ladybug was going to take Chat away and search for the superhero ('your father,' the helpful voice in the back of her mind supplied), when Scarecrow was suddenly kicked back by a traffic light in tights. Robin ignored her as he started attacking the supervillain. In the corner of her eye, she could see Nightwing forcing something down Chat's throat. Ladybug really hoped that her brother wasn't poisoning her boyfriend. Batman delivered a punch to Scarecrow's stomach and Black Bat swept his legs out from under him. They had that handled.

Her earrings beeped in warning. She needed to get Chat away so their kwamis could recharge.

Ladybug raced to Chat's side. "Don't move him," Nightwing warned. "We have to let the cure work through his system." Ladybug scowled.

"How long?"

"Five minutes," he said. She cursed softly, taking a look at his ring. He still had all five pads. He hadn't used his Cataclysm yet. Plagg wasn't going to transform anytime soon. She could faintly hear Chat crying out for her.

"I have to go," Ladybug said. She stared Nightwing down. "Can I trust you not to let him get hurt? Or to hurt him?"

Nightwing stared back at her. She didn't notice how his eyes widened, ever so slightly. Who'd have thought that Bruce Wayne and Ladybug shared the same eye colour? And really, she looked way too similar to his new sister. It was almost stupid that he didn't notice sooner. And this Chat Noir, who Nightwing was prepared to sacrifice his life for, was clearly going to end up his brother-in-law in the future.

"You can trust me," Nightwing said.

Ladybug believed him.

She ran from the fight, hiding in a nearby alley. Just as she arrived, the timer ran out.

Marinette shoved the macarons towards Tikki. "Quickly, Tikki! Adrien, he…" she flinched. The kwami stuffed her face with the cookie. In any other situation, she might've found it funny, but right now…

Ladybug was back in the fray not two minutes later. It didn't take long for Crane to go down soon afterwards. Ladybug ran to Chat's side when it was over. He moaned softly. She hated that sound. She checked his ring. He was going to transform soon.

She looked at Nightwing. "Can I move him now?"

"Yes, but─"

Ladybug picked him up. Nightwing rose with her. "See you, then─"

"Marinette," Nightwing said. She paused. 'Okay, how did that happen?'

So he knew her identity. She knew his, too.

"Dick."

Nightwing looked at her in surprise, but he shook his head. "We need to take him to the cave. "He still needs to receive the second dose of the antidote and we need to monitor him to make sure he's okay."

Ladybug frowned down at Chat. He writhed in her arms. His discomfort was obvious. She hated seeing him in pain.

Marinette swallowed. She may end up regretting this later, but she'd do anything for Chat.

"Fine. Meet you at the Manor."

With those words, she was gone.

XXX

Alfred was waiting for them at Wayne Manor. He had a small, disapproving frown on his face.

"I expect that you have a good explanation for this, Miss Cheng," the butler said. "Follow me. Your father and siblings should be arriving any moment now." Marinette followed Alfred to a painting, where he held his finger against a button. A small hole opened up and scanned his eye. A key pad appeared. Marinette looked away when he entered the code. The painting opened up. They stepped into an elevator of some kind.

Adrien woke up halfway through the journey. Marinette braced her arms around his body so that when he tried to move, she wouldn't accidentally drop him. Adrien stared at Marinette in confusion for five seconds before he blinked.

"Marinette?" he asked. His voice was raspy. Marinette would've liked the sound, if she couldn't clearly recall the screams that caused this. "Why are you…?" Adrien looked at their position.

"You were dosed with fear toxin," Marinette said. She glanced at Alfred, but he was staring straight ahead.

"Where are we going?"

Marinette cringed. "You'll see." Adrien frowned and struggled in her arms. She didn't let go of him. He needed to stay off his feet right now. Marinette looked at her boyfriend with sad eyes. "Adrien, please. You were…" his gaze softened and he relaxed in her hold.

"Fine."

When the elevator doors opened, they were led into a cave of some sort. The place was bathed in a light blue glow from the dozens of computers in the middle. Weapons lined a wall behind a layer of glass and costumes were in glass cages. One of the costumes had definitely belonged to a Robin. The colours were faded, tattered, dirty and bloody, but you could tell who the former owner was. That had been Jason's costume before he died.

Speaking of Jason, he, Tim, Stephanie and Barbara were at the computers. Well, Tim and Barbara were. Stephanie and Jason were bothering the others. They didn't notice their arrival yet.

Adrien looked up at her imploringly. "You know I love being in your arms, Milady, but you're tired. I'm fine. I can walk." Marinette knew there was no way to argue with him about this.

She sighed. "Be careful."

She, Adrien and Alfred made their way to the middle. Jason noticed them first.

He pursed his lips. "What are you─" Marinette jumped as a wall in the cave split open and a car and two motorbikes sped in. Dick was the first to get out. He jumped off of his bike and over to their position. Robin, Batman and Black Bat followed him. Batman's jaw was set grimly beneath his cowl.

Nightwing held up his hands, walking backwards and looking at Batman. "Before you get mad─"

"Why are they here?" Robin demanded.

"I sent them here and told Alfred to take them down."

Batman stared at Nightwing. What little of his face that was present showed displeasure. Black Bat frowned. "When?"

Nightwing cringed. "Just after the battle."

Batman quietly exhaled. "...Why?"

"I don't know how to…" Nightwing looked at Marinette. "Would you like to explain, or should I?"

She glared at the superhero. "You said he needed to take a second dose of the antidote. We'll deal with this when that's done."

"Oh, right. Alfred." The butler walked away, presumably to get it.

Tim frowned. "When did he get hit with fear toxin?"

"Probably when they snuck out," Jason shrugged.

Batman looked even unhappier. "You snuck out?"

Marinette wasn't even paying attention to her surroundings. Adrien seemed to be having an even harder time standing. Barbara turned her chair around. "Let's move him to a bed." She nodded to a different part of the cave. Marinette wasted no time as she picked Adrien up, ignoring his weak protests and carrying him bridal-style to the area. She didn't notice the surprised look the other superheroes exchanged. Medicine cabinets surrounded the area. Alfred was already there.

"Miss Cheng," he said. "Lay him down here. I suggest you go and give your explanations to Master Bruce. He isn't happy." Marinette hesitated to leave Adrien. This would be the second time… the old man smiled kindly down at her. "Do not worry, Miss Cheng. He is in capable hands." She wasted ten seconds loitering around before she eventually forced herself to move.

The rest of the family were sitting around a long table, waiting for her arrival. Marinette fidgeted as she slowly sat.

Batman broke the silence. "You know who we are."

"Yes." She looked at them. They waited for her to continue. She pointed to each of the unmasked superheroes, first. "Red Hood, Red Robin, Spoiler and Oracle." She turned to the masked half now. "Dick, Damian, Cassandra and Bruce."

Bruce slowly nodded. He reached up, taking off his cowl. Damian quickly took off his domino mask and the others followed at a slower face. "And you are Ladybug."

Dick frowned. He looked at Marinette. "I didn't tell him."

Marinette sighed. "Yes. I'm Ladybug. How'd you know?" Bruce never answered because he was interrupted by laugher.

"How ironic," Jason snorted. "B's daughter has been a superhero all this time and he was scared to bring her into the family because we're fucking lunatics."

Bruce crossed his arms. "There's a story behind this, right?"

"Yes," Marinette said. "But I'd also like to hear yours. I mean…" she looked at the Robins pointedly.

"Alright," Bruce said.

And so, brief and compacted origin stories were exchanged and confusions were cleared up.

When all was said and done, Tim tilted his head. "You keep referring to this Hawkmoth using the past tense. Has he died?"

"No," Marinette said. She glanced at where Adrien was currently sleeping. "But we did defeat him. Two days ago, in fact. Well, more like we snuck up on him and stole his Miraculous and figured out why he was a supervillain in the first place and that it's pretty easy to fix, so… yeah."

"And you know who he is," Damian narrowed his eyes. "Well?"

Marinette shook her head. "I'm not revealing his identity to you. Just know that he's not going to get away without getting in trouble, but he's also not going to jail, either."

"What? But─"

"Not our domain, Demon Spawn," Jason said. He yawned. "Well then. Now that that's all cleared up, I'm going to bed. You should too, Dickhead. You need the beauty sleep."

"I'm the most beautiful man you'll ever see, Little Wing!" Dick called, chasing after Jason. The rest of the family followed the two upstairs.

Bruce and Marinette stayed behind. Marinette went to Adrien. He was sleeping soundly. She brushed his hair aside, smiling softly down at him. She heard footsteps behind her.

"You never told me," she said, looking up at her father.

"Told you what?" he asked.

"How you found out."

Bruce smiled.

"It makes perfect sense."

Marinette stared up at him.

He stared back.

She didn't look impressed.

"You saw the earrings, didn't you?"

"Yes. They're the same as the ones Ladybug wore, except they change when you transform into her." He shrugged. "It makes sense!"

Marinette's family was weird.

She liked it.

A/N Sorry for taking so long to finish this. Man, I've been so busy lately and my Internets been fucking crazy. But hey! That's the third and final part of the Maribat crossover! That was around 50k words and I am so fucking tired. I mean, dude, there were just some parts that I couldn't get down, and then I didn't even have time to write during December and I was dealing with block in November. We also thought my grandfather was going to die, but then he didn't, which was really fucking good.

I loved writing the scenes between Marinette and Bruce because they were both just so awkward and didn't even know what to make of each other. There was a lot of Adrien appreciation in this crossover and I felt like I was being too forgiving towards Alya, but I literally wrote those scenes on Christmas Day so I kind of felt like I had to be nicer to her. As well as that, I just don't like needless bashing of characters (except Lila, fuck her)

I honestly could've expanded upon this and I even debated whether to make this into five chapters instead of three, but eventually I decided that I wouldn't have the time or energy to do it. But I have written 5k words of the next oneshot. Try to guess which cliche that is. I'll shout out to whoever does lol.

Oh and Happy New Year! Fuck 2020, man. I mean, I'm literally going into another lock down in Ireland so 2021 isn't looking too bright, either.

Have you guys watched the Promised Neverland? I've finished the manga and I honestly can't wait for tomorrow when season 2 is released lol.

Tell me what you thought of my sleep deprived ramblings and I hope that everybody has a great year and all that shit. Hope you enjoyed!