Chapter 5

Third Person P.O.V:

Everyone was called down to the Batcave because Jason, Dick and Tim wanted a family meeting. One by one, they all made their way down to see the three standing in front of the Bat computer.

"Todd, Drake, Grayson... What is the meaning of this?" Damian asked impatiently.

"We wanted to show you something." Jason smiled. "So, as you all know the three of us had a little run in with Scarecrow this evening."

"And let me guess." Damian interjected. "You need help trying to catch him?"

"No." Damian's smirk quickly left his face. "He has been sent back to Arkham just fine. We wanted to show you all the video of the attack."

Tim pressed play on the computer and they all watched the scene unfold. They watch as a small half Asian girl moves at an impressive speed as she throws lunch trays at the armed goons. They see another student with blonde hair reach for another goons' weapon and yank it out of his arm before smacking him in the face with the butt of the gun, knocking him out cold. They watch as all the civilians run for the doors because of the small girls' distraction and they all see the small girl get hit in the leg with the fear toxin. Barbara and Alfred gasp for the girl as she screams out in horror. Then, surprising even those who know what is coming, she stands up quickly and tackles Scarecrow through the window.

"My God." Alfred gasps. "Is the young lady all right?"

"Hell yeah." Jason exclaims excitedly. "Sunshine is totally fine. Show 'em the street view Tim."

Tim taps away on the keyboard for a moment before the camera angle changes. They see the young girl come into view from above with Scarecrow below her. Glass showers onto them as she repeatedly punches the villain in the face without remorse. He must have blacked out on the second or third punch because he quickly goes limp. Not long after, Nightwing falls into frame and administers the antidote. Tim pauses it there.

"Isn't that the young lady who wrote that paper for the Wayne scholarship and won her class a trip to Gotham?" Bruce questioned.

"Yep." Dick says. "Her name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Jason first ran into her this morning because her teacher left her behind."

"More like she knocked me over. She is stronger than she looks."

Dick rolls his eyes before continuing. "The teacher didn't even seem to care that she was missing someone. She was arguing with me that she wanted to start the tour anyways. I obviously said no. Then I heard some of her classmates bullying her behind her back. Bruce, they were saying some nasty things. It makes me wonder what they would say to her face because besides being a total bad ass, she really is such a sweet girl."

"Long story short, I've been doing a little investigating on the school." Tim spoke as he pulled up a file on the Bat computer. "Marinette has repeatedly filed bullying reports on some of her classmates for a few years but they seemed to have stopped. My guess is that she just got tired of filling them out. The faculty and principal seem to just sweep this all under the rug. It says here that she was going to be expelled herself for bullying but a student named 'Lila Rossi' retracted her statement saying that she is a 'compulsive liar' and Marinette didn't do what she claimed she did."

"I think that is probably the only true thing she has ever said." Dick adds. "She was talking all kinds of nonsense today. She even said that she was dating Damian Wayne. Said he was 'sweet' and 'kind'." He mocked.

"So, she is bullying an innocent girl and spreading false gossip about me?" Damian seemed to be fuming. "This harlot needs to be put in her place."

"Glad you agree, baby bird." Dick smiled at his adopted brother. "That's why we called a family meeting."

"As I recall, this girl has parents back in France, correct?"

"Unfortunately for you Bruce." Jason jokes sarcastically. "No adopting this one into the family. Trust me, if I could I would have already."

"No." Bruce hesitates. "We just need all the information. I think I have a plan. We will talk about it after patrol."

"Before we start patrol," Tim says. "I also want to show you something that just recently came to our attention. Did you know that Paris was under attack of a super villain up until a few weeks ago?"

"The Justice League would have heard about something like that." Bruce responds.

"No. Not if all the damage caused magically disappeared and they had international media blocked." Tim informed. "We spoke to Marinette after she woke up and she told us all about it and showed us some video footage. It all checks out. It took me awhile but I found some more videos on it on a fan site called the 'Ladyblog'. I thought it could be fake because the website is ran by one of Marinette's bullies but none of the footage is doctored in any way. And do you want to know what the strangest thing is? The cities heros' seem to be a bunch of teenagers."

"You said they were under attack?" Bruce asked while reviewing some of the footage Tim had pulled up. "What happened to the villain that was terrorizing Paris?"

"The young heroes defeated him. He called himself Hawkmoth but you may know him as the famous designer, Gabriel Agreste. Apparently, he wanted the miraculous of Ladybug and Chat Noir to make a wish. The miraculous are magical jewels that give them all their powers. Anyways, his wife fell into an irreversible coma because she used the broken 'peacock miraculous' and his wish was to bring her back. This miraculous also killed an ally of his. She was his assistant and went by 'Mayura'. The whole thing is a mess, really, and somehow a bunch of kids were left to clean it all up."

"Are these young heroes still running the streets of Paris?"

Tim shakes his head. "No. Not long after Gabriel's trial was over and he was sent to prison, Ladybug announced that it was too dangerous for all the miraculous to be in circulation."

"I can see that Gabe here did some terrible things to the city, and he should defiantly stay in jail" Barbara spoke up from her wheel chair. "but what would have been so bad about this wish of his?"

Alfred was the one to answer this. "Miss Gordon, I think you need to know how the universe works. Everything is all about balance, a give and take if you will. If Gabriel's wife were to come back, it would have been at a price and this price could have been catastrophic. The young heroes were correct to have stopped it."

"How do you know so much about this Alfred?" Dick asked.

"Because I was a miraculous holder once myself back when I fought in the war. I've always wondered what happened to Duusu..." He questioned himself as he left the Batcave.

"What?" Jason yelled. "He can't just say something like that and then walk away. Why is that old man always full of surprises?" He crosses his arms.

"We can deal with that later." Batman pulled on his cowl. "We can't be late for patrol."-------------Damian/Robin's P.O.V:

I was out patrolling my part of the city when I catch a glimpse of something moving out of the corner of my eye up on top of a roof a few buildings over. 'Finally' I think. 'Maybe this is some action. Tonight has been far too boring.' Being as stealthy as possible, I slowly makes my way in that direction.

Getting closer, I quickly recognizes that it's a figure dancing on a rooftop. Her elegance stops me in my tracks. I can't help but feel like I have seen her somewhere before I briefly connects the dots. This is the girl who beat Scarecrow while on fear toxin. If I hadn't of seen her before, I would have sworn this was an angel dancing right here in Gotham. Her grace was breathtaking.

I took in every detail as she waltzed around the roof. Her hair, which was loosely hanging just past her shoulders seemed to shine a midnight blue color in the moonlight. Her pale skin almost seemed to glow brighter than the moon itself. I hid in the shadows as she twirled her way closer to me.Just as she passed, I noticed the light dusting of freckles across her nose and never before in my life have I been so smitten with the presence of a person.

Without me even noticing, my feet moved me out of the shadows to bring me closer to the dancing girl. I was inches away from touching her shoulder when she swiftly spun on her heel and punched him in the face. Caught off guard (which is rare for me) I stumbled back for a moment before falling on my butt.

"Oh my God, you scared me!" The bluenette scrambled to get me to my feet. "Are you ok?"

She spoke with the most heartfelt concern I had ever heard.

"Robin." I heard my comm crackle to life. "What's going on over there?" Oracle questioned.

"I'm fine." I answered them both as I dusted myself off.

"You're Robin, right?" I nod. "I'm sorry I punched you in the face. It was kind of a reflex." She gave me a shy smile.

"No." I reply swiftly. "The fault is mine. I should not have snuck up on you like that."

"He is correct." Batman speaks up from the shadows as Marinette lets out a surprised squeak.

"Oh!" She holds her hand to her chest to calm herself. "You guys must be out on patrol. It's nice to meet more of Gotham's heroes." She gives them a bright smile. We can't help but understand now why Jason calls her 'Sunshine'. "I met your uhm... partners! That's the word. I met your partners earlier today. They were nice."

"I'm glad you think so." Batman gives her one of his rare smiles. "I would be personally offended if they were mean to you. What are you doing out on a Gotham rooftop anyways?"

"I just needed some fresh air." She walks over to pick up her jacket and sketch book. "Being outside makes me inspired. I was sketching out some ideas a little bit ago."

"You draw?" I ask before realizing what I said. I catch sight of Batman who gives me a strange look as she answers.

"Only to put my ideas down." She begins to brighten as she speaks. "I'm an aspiring fashion designer. The architecture here inspired me to make a suit and a few gowns." Stopping herself before she goes off on a tangent, she says "But I'm sure you two are very busy. I should be heading to bed anyways. I have to get up early for a tour in the morning." Making her way to the rooftop door, she smiles back at them. "I hope you have a good night. Tell the others I said 'Hi' for me, alright?" And with that, she disappeared behind the door.

"Well she's cute, isn't she baby bird?" Nightwing cooed from behind me.

Instead of jumping at his sudden presence, I whisper to myself  "Yes" but I quickly realized that I said it louder than I expected. Looking over at Batman, I notice him looking back at me I like I had grown a second head. "I mean no." I tried to sound convincing but my voice cracks.

"Does demon spawn have a crush on Sunshine?" We all hear Red Hood speak up over the comms.

"No!" I say way too quickly.

Batman and Nightwing give each other a knowing look.

"She's strange." I say to try and stifle my embarrassment. "She was dancing all alone with no music on a rooftop."

"Whatever you say, baby bird. I personally think she knocked some sense into you." Nightwing winks. "Let's head back to the Batcave for the night. Batman has a plan to fill us in on."