As soon as the door shut behind her, Marinette opened her purse. A distinct blue blur shot from the pink confines without pause or hesitation. It beelined to its former wielder, slamming its little head into his neck and curling up in the crook there. She couldn't help but smile at the little display. This, at least, was the right decision.

"Master!" it cried.

The old, stoic man practically melted, bringing a gentle hand up to cradle the tiny blue being. "Oh Duusu. I have missed you, old friend." He murmured softly to Duusu for a moment before looking up once more to catch Marinette's gaze. "I believed-"

"They were. But only broken, not gone."

"I see… Thank you for bringing them back to me, Guardian."

She awkwardly waved off his praise. "That… wasn't exactly all me. I wasn't the one who found them. Neither was the previous Guardian of the Zodiac Box. Gabriel Agreste, yes, that Agreste, was the one who found them."

"They captured Nooroo and I and- and forced us to… Oh Master! We did so many horrible things!"

Alfred sank into a well-worn chair by a bookshelf. Oh so gently, he shifted Duusu fully into his hands and lowered him into his lap. He looked the kwami in the eyes as he spoke. "Duusu, these things were forced upon you against your will. It is hardly your fault." He ran a gnarled finger over its small head.

"I've been trying to tell them the same thing, but they won't listen. Nooroo won't either." Marinette sighed, shoulders slumping.

"Feel free to sit."

She took his offer, half leaning, half sitting on a coffee table. "Gabriel Agreste used Nooroo to lay siege to Paris for five years. Later, he was joined by his partner, who used Duusu, despite the broken miraculous."

"Broken miraculous are unstable."

"They didn't care. She got sick, as expected. Once it was fixed, it fell into the hands of another Agreste. But," she waved a hand again, "that's in the past now. My team dealt with that. You were the first thing they asked about when we found them."

Alfred smiled warmly at the little creature, but it soon turned wan as he focused on Marinette again. "Wang Fu is gone. You were here to deliver the news, I presume?"

A lump formed in her throat. Wang Fu was many things. Insufferable old man, mentor, Guardian, and guilt-ridden. She knew he tried to do right, but despite his long life, he never completed his Guardian training and, in some ways, was as in the dark as she. But despite his often failed attempts to fix his mistakes, he did offer her a mentor she couldn't find anywhere else. He trained her and Adrien in combat, taught them how to lead and command respect, taught her how to bring Ladybug and Marinette into balance.

The fight changed after he passed the miracle box to her. Hawkmoth's attacks grew increasingly brutal. Nathalie's sentimonsters began to break from her control and run wild across the city, mutating into something beyond her capabilities. And nearly beyond the team's. It was as if he knew their mentor was gone. So she stepped up. She became the mentor that Wang Fu never could be. Her guilt pushed her forward.

Alfred's focus never left her. She shook her head, bringing herself back to the present. "How much did he tell you about what Guardianship entails?"

"Not much. And I did not ask."

"Okay." She took a breath. "He didn't die… physically. When a Guardian passes their responsibilities to someone else, they lose all memories relating to the Miraculous. I don't know exactly how you knew him, he didn't say in his letter, only told me to find you and let you know what happened, but if all you knew him from was the Miraculous then he may not remember you."

Alfred hummed, idly continuing to stroke Duusu's head. "Very well. I assume you watch over him now?"

"Yes…" she answered, hesitant.

"Then you know who he truly is."

Pursing her lips, she nodded. "Rahul Lama." Her brows furrowed as she pieced it together. "You were his friend. Not Fu's."

"Friend? Oh no. But allies when need be. And not the only one in this house with such a relationship."

She looked away.

"Which you knew. Good."

"Good? How is this good?" Now, she allowed herself to pace, gesticulating wildly. "What am I supposed to do, pop in and say, 'Hi you don't know me but we're actually half-siblings and I've known for the past 5 years and was too much of a coward to say anything until my Master made me visit your grandpa?' I don't think that's going to go very well!"

Marinette stopped mid-step, slowly turning to face Alfred. Judging by his sudden stillness, that had not been expected. If she knew Alfred didn't know, she wouldn't have told him. Not like that anyway. Though… probably never considering how long it took her even to get this far.

"I noted the resemblance, but I did not think it was possible," he finally said. "May I ask when you learned of this?"

With a wince, she plopped back onto the coffee table. "I was learning from Master Fu when he came in… It was one of my first visits to the shop. I didn't know what to expect. When Master Fu told me to stay upstairs, I did. But I had Tikki listen in. Apparently, as soon as she saw him, a lot of things made sense."

"Oh?"

"I'm not a true Ladybug," she admitted quietly. "Master Fu- Rahul saw the imminent threat to Paris and selected the closest candidates. But when Tikki saw him in the shop? She knew. He was her true wielder. With how close our souls felt… We knew there was something between us."

She knew Alfred pieced together what she danced around saying. The glint in his eye far too knowing. Rahul never knew who the true wielder was. Marinette never told him.

"My parents told me who my biological father was not long after. Wealthy American with a perfect life and a perfect son who didn't want an accidental child to mess it up." She let out a shaky laugh. "I didn't care. I didn't think it mattered. But they were so worried Hawkmoth might use it to akumatize me."

"Ah, and I believe I can guess what happened next. Research runs in your family, after all." His wry grin and fond tone washed over her. She couldn't help but smile a bit in turn.

She nodded. "You aren't upset?"

"Why would I be upset, Guardian?" He tilted his head.

"Marinette," she corrected, "and because I sort of kept a pretty important secret from your grandson."

"I see." Alfred hummed as he stroked Duusu. "We all keep secrets, Guardian. It is the intention with which they are kept that matters." His eyes closed. Head tilted. Duusu followed suit in an eerily similar fashion.

Marinette could feel the miraculous magic shift in the air, light blue tendrils coiling around the wielder and his kawmi, slowly and hesitantly branching off, reaching for her. Her Guardian honed senses prickled in warning. She watched the tendrils grow closer, then pause. An offer. A question.

She closed her eyes. The protective red buffer dropped, and blue replaced it.

Steph, Damian, and Duke were in the foyer when Tim and Babs emerged from the Batcave. Steph, in her usual carefree form, draped over the large steps spiraling gently up to the second floor of the manor. Duke sitting a few steps below her, playing on his phone. And Damian perched on the banister on the second floor, looking down at them all, tension evident in his frame.

He hopped down when Tim and Babs came into view. "Report." It was scary sometimes how easily he mimicked Bruce's presence. And how he expected the same response despite only being thirteen.

"Nothing jumped out in her profile. But…" Babs turned to Tim. He could feel her concern burning into his profile.

He shook his head in a minute warning. She dutifully diverted her attention to Damian. "She and Alfred are connected through Rahul Lama."

Gears began turning in the youngest Wayne's head. Tim could practically see him running through a list of possible connections. Duke, though, didn't try to hide his confusion. "Who?"

It was Steph who realized first. She practically leapt from her spot on the stairs to get to Tim, her hands coming to rest on her shoulders as she looked at him with a seriousness unusual for her. "She's not here for you, is she?"

"I don't know," he answered honestly. "He knew her through an alternate identity. I don't even know if she knows who he is. But it's safest to assume she does."

"Okay… Okay. What's the plan then? Wait outside his room to jump her? Drop in from the vents?"

"We don't have vents."

"You know what I mean."

He really, really didn't. But he stopped being surprised by Steph years ago.

Damian pulled himself up to utilize every inch of his 5'2" frame. His stance radiated command. "Tim and I will take point outside the door. Steph, you're the distraction. You lure her out. Duke, be ready here in case she breaks past us. Babs, you know what to do."

"Slow your roll, baby bird." Babs decidedly ignored Damian's death glare at the nickname. Hell, he reacted worse to babybird than he did to Jason and himself calling the kid demonspawn. Maybe they should switch… Tim shook himself, focusing back on Babs as she continued speaking. "I know we aren't great at following the whole 'innocent until proven guilty' thing, but in this case we have no legitimate reason to go after her. She's done nothing threatening so far-"

"Besides break in…" Damian muttered under his breath.

Babs continued as if she didn't hear him. "-and more importantly, Alfred trusts her enough to let her into his private quarters. I know some of you are newer to the manor, but we don't question Alfred here. Are we clear?"

Duke sagged in relief. Probably just glad he didn't have to get involved with this one. Kid had a good head on his shoulders but took a different path in serving justice than the rest of them. "Cool. You guys have fun figuring that out. I'm gonna go check the front door and see where she came from. Damian?" His question directed at Damian was anything but as his hand clasped around demonspawn's arm and dragged the reluctant boy away.

With the two of them gone, Steph, Babs, and Tim turned back to the matter at hand.

Steph groaned, rubbing her face until the skin stretched under her hands. "What do we do then? We can't just sit here!" She froze. Her heel scuffed the floor as she slowly brought herself around to face Babs. "Uh… no offense."

With a familiar grin that spoke to years of teasing from four chaotic boys, she waved the worry off.

Tim rubbed his chin. He called to mind the variables in the case. Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Alfred Pennyworth, Rahul Lama. Alfred and Rahul made sense. While Alfred never explicitly discussed his old work, he did have unlikely, and incredibly dangerous, colleagues. Hell, he even maintained decent terms with international criminals as long as they didn't cause problems in Gotham. Combine that with Tim's tutelage under Rahul, and it made sense he'd keep in touch.

Marinette didn't fit, however. From a quick browse through the profile the supercomputer compiled, she didn't seem the type to believe in alternative medicines. He doubted she went to Rahul, or Master Fu he supposed, for that. If she was seeing Rahul for training, which he conceded was the most likely scenario, then that only confused the issue more. Did Rahul send her to make contact with Alfred? Did she come willingly? Did she come for an entirely unrelated reason? How long was she a pupil of Rahul? Is she one still?

They needed information. Alfred wouldn't give up a word. The man was a steel trap. Marinette on the other hand…

"I have a plan."

Marinette went to therapy twice. Once in primaire after Chloe convinced her that her parents were going to divorce soon, and one immediately following her parents' confession about her biological father. Neither time went particularly well.

The first because the therapist pushed way too hard and made her cry from all the questions about why she was so insecure about her parents. A feeling she didn't know how to explain other than sometimes people made comments about how she didn't look at all like her father.

The second because she remembered the first. She couldn't afford to risk opening herself up while Hawkmoth terrorized the city. Adrien was the one to teach her how to compartmentalize. When the time came for the therapist to ask questions, she firmly locked away any insecurities the therapist could land on and made herself as uncooperative as possible. Channeling a bit of Chat Noir behaviour helped. She was out in fifteen minutes.

Therapy had nothing on Duusu's powers. Three minutes of Alfred and Duusu's careful probing saw her both breaking into tears and screaming into a pillow. Those gentle blue tendrils wormed their way into her firmly compartmentalized emotions and sprung an irreparable leak in the dam. Turns out, locking emotions away for five years leads to quite a buildup.

Once the initial wave of emotion petered out, her tears turning to soft shimmers in her eyes, her screams turning to hiccups, she decided Alfred had the patience of a saint.

"To the kitchen, I think."

Without a word, she took his offered hand and stood. He ushered her toward the door, opening it for her. She barely even looked as she stumbled out of his room, the shimmer in her eyes blurring her surroundings. Her own roiling emotions hiding the bundle of anger she became acutely aware of as she slammed into a solid body.

Teal eyes, verging on green, met brilliant blue. They narrowed in unison. Alfred's cough brought her surroundings back into focus. It was then that she realized just how closely she was pressed against the giant of a man in front of her. She forgot to bounce off like a normal five-foot-nothing girl would. Merde.

Not that it mattered now; he seemed to have already noticed. And Marinette had bigger things to worry about. She looked him up and down, taking in his muscular build but, more importantly, his eyes and the swirling vortex of toxic green sludge behind them.

"Monsieur Pennyworth, you are aware of…" She gestured vaguely at the man's narrowed eyes. "Non?"

Narrowed, teal-green eyes widened now. She didn't pay him any mind, turning only to catch Alfred's resigned nod.

She sighed, wiping her eyes with the soft skin lining the back of her hand. A single sniff. "You promised me the kitchen. I will deal with this later."

"A fine idea, Miss Dupain-Cheng."

With a sharp nod, she blew past the man with Alfred in her wake. As Alfred guided her around the corner, she just barely caught a whisper.

"Damn. Timmy, you got that?"

"Coffee? Tea?" Alfred raised an appraising eyebrow. "Hot chocolate?"

"Hot chocolate, please."

He nodded and set about preparing Marinette's drink of choice in silence. For that, she was grateful. She took the kitchen in while she waited. As someone who grew up in a boulangerie-patisserie, she held high standards for what constituted a good kitchen. Wayne Manor exceeded those standards. A budding hope to cook in it was squashed with efficiency.

Alfred set a steaming mug on the granite counter-top before her. She smiled a bit at his choice. A large mug, easily big enough for her to wrap both hands around, decorated with cute little black cats.

"Yours?" she asked as she took an experimental sip. It practically warmed her soul along its way down her throat until it settled comfortably in her stomach. Miraculous magic, perhaps? She'd have to ask Duusu.

"Master Damian's. My mugs are rather plain, I'm afraid." At her frown of disappointment, he offered a conspiratorial hint of a smile. "It is my socks that are eccentric."

Sure enough, upon glancing down, Marinette noted the tiny sliver of an exposed sock decorated with what appeared to be little geese. Her frown morphed into a little smile, which she attempted to hide in her mug.

"Hey Alfred, I—" a blonde woman cut herself off, frozen with one foot in the kitchen. "Oops?"

Marinette didn't sense sincerity in that exclamation. It appeared Alfred agreed. His shrewd look let both women know that he knew what was happening here. She sent a silent prayer to Tikki for him to stay.

"Miss Brown, meet Miss Dupain-Cheng. Miss Dupain-Cheng, Miss Brown."

Each offered a slightly awkward wave to the other.

"Now, if you will excuse me, I must go check on the boys. I trust you will see to Miss Dupain-Cheng's needs while I am away, Miss Brown." Alfred raised an expectant eyebrow. From Mlle. Brown's subtle gulp, that raised eyebrow was a threat.

"Yeah! Yeah, of course," Mlle. Brown answered quickly.

"Good. Miss Dupain-Cheng, Miss Brown." He strategically avoided Marinette's pleading look as he offered a nod to the woman and slipped from the room.

Silence rang in his absence. Both women stared at the door, as if their sheer force of will could make him reappear. Mlle. Brown coughed. Marinette sipped her drink.

"Can I get you something to drink or-"

Marinette looked up just as Mlle. Brown began to trail off, obviously noticing her mug. Red invaded the poor girl's cheeks. She winced.

"-not." She looked around for a moment before taking a seat on the counter beside Marinette's drink. "Stephanie Brown." She stuck out a hand.

Taking the offered hand, she answered. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng." As they shook, tough patches rubbed against one another, calluses, with the distinct silkiness of moisturizer covering the worst of it. Stephanie's hands matched her own, though the placement of the calluses differed. While Marinette's toughened her fingertips and the thin webbing between, Stephanie's skin built up on the base of her thumbs and index finger, with the two raised points of her palm bearing thicker wear.

She'd seen those calluses before. Chat Noir's were nearly identical. Calluses built by years of practice with a bo-staff. Another point in favor of Alfred Pennyworth and his family being far more than they seemed. Though she would reserve judgment for now. Kagami had concerning callouses herself, after all, easily explained away by her competitive fencing. Stephanie might just be really into martial arts. Then again, that would require being lucky, and despite her bond with Tikki, Marinette always managed to rub off more luck onto others than she attracted to herself.

"Dang, nice callouses." At Marinette's undisguised surprise, Stephanie hurried to continue. "I just mean, it's not often I meet another girl with callouses like me. I get self-conscious about them sometimes."

An awkward laugh expelled her heightened nerves. She thought she was the only one taking note of the secret life callouses often alluded to. "Y-Yeah. Thanks! I'm… glad I could help?" Of course, as soon as she had to talk to a cute woman her nice,articulate,e sagely Guardian-ness left her high and dry.

A beat.

"So… How'd you get yours?"

Thank Kwamii Stephanie didn't seem to mind carrying the conversation. Between the nerves of being just a few rooms away from her half-brother, Alfred's impromptu emotional counseling, and Stephanie Brown's… suffice to say, Marinette didn't exactly have her head on straight enough to lead the conversation on her own.

"I very much enjoy yo-yos." She took a long sip of hot chocolate. That answer was normally enough to elicit a singular off look, maybe a brief remark, then a quick change of topic.

She nearly spat out her drink when Stephanie brightened and leaned in with unabashed interest. "Cool! We had this villain here who used them as her weapon of choice. Not really uh… effective or anything, but she had some fun tricks. I think I'd prefer being taken hostage by her than by Riddler or someone. At least she has cool tricks she might show off if I asked nicely."

Marinette's eyes widened, wondering if she heard that right. "I am sorry. I have only recently begun traveling abroad. Is it common to be taken hostage here?"

Again, red rushed up into Stephanie's cheeks. And again, it was unfairly cute. For a second, Marinette forgot what exactly she had been concerned about. She shook her head to get back on track. Obviously, she had done her share of research before traveling to meet a mysterious acquaintance of Fu- Rahul's. She knew Gotham's reputation for crime. Hostages were logical given what she knew. And yet she had simply assumed the same sort of crime she was used to in Paris. Large, destructive, but ultimately focused on the heroes.

"Mkay, not to scare you off or anything! But.. yeah. Especially when you're connected to the Wayne family."

"Which I now am…"

"Yup." She raised her arms in a sarcastic imitation of jazz hands. "Welcome to Gotham City!"