#Marinette is one of Marin’s molds

[lily-drake]

Lesson 8: Find What's Worth your Protection

Previous

Random: *glares at Marin* Marin: *blinks* … Jon: *leans slightly towards her* what’s her deal? Marin: if looks could kill.. *grins* well, I still wouldn’t care but- Jon: she’s glaring at you like you killed her mother. Marin: *blanks* …. Jon: did.. did you ki- Marin: *snaps her attention towards him* no???? *smiles warily* at least I don’t think so- Jon: Marin! Marin: *pushes his shoulder playfully* what??? *looks back at the Random* I had many missions, who knows, maybe shes a cousin or whatever. Jon: *groans into his hands* ~~~~~~~ Marin: …you’re not fazed by this. Jon: you’re Damian’s sister. Marin: I’ve done considerably worse than my brother has. Jon: again, you’re Damian’s sister. Marin: …which means? Jon: that you both were raised to be assassins and I? Don’t? Care? Marin: …you’re not fazed by my molds. Jon: *grimaces* Damian kind of.. explained the situation. Marin: *blinks* …did he? Jon: yeah… Marin: … Jon: sorry-? Marinette: *shrugs* its whatever, so what are we going to do later? Jon: uhh- homework-??? Marinette: sweet!! Let’s go. Jon: uh-huh..

Damian stared at the letter laid across his desk.  He had read it, reread once, twice, thrice, and yet he still couldn’t fully process the words. 

“ I don’t want to be found so don’t look for me.  I am going to be who I want, I’m going to act how I want, and I’m not going to force myself to do things that will make me feel terrible.  You will no longer be able to pressure me, and that means you will NOT pressure someone else instead. ”

Was he truly that terrible?  Was it truly his fault for pressuring her and unintentionally pushing her away in the process?  

“ I love my dearest little brother.  Stay strong and know that I will one day visit.  For now, I’m figuring things out for myself, and I finally feel like I have a grasp on my life. ”

He reread those few sentences over and over and over again reassuring himself.  She would return, she would come back.  She never broke a promise, not once.  He scowled when he had read the last part of the letter, Jon was afraid of him!  But then again, Jon still hadn’t told him despite the fact that Marin had been gone for three weeks now.  It was infuriating.  Speaking of Jon, he hadn’t heard his annoying voice at all yet, something was up.

Damian tucked the note away in his desk almost reverently before he stood up and marched out of his room.  He would check the kitchen first, but the only one there was Beast Boy.

“Where is Kent?”  He demanded while crossing his arms.  Beast Boy turned to him with a confused frown before he shrugged.

“No clue man.  Last I heard he had a “private call” to make, something about someone calling him, or whatever.”  Damian’s frown deepened.  It didn’t matter, he would just head to the training room, nothing defeating the highest level of holographic enemies wouldn’t fix.

______ Jon was on a secret mission, well, secret in the fact that he just didn’t want anyone to know what he was doing.  What was he doing, well, currently he was trying not to let the craziest of the al Ghul-Waynes cut his head off.  “Hey, hey!  It’s me Marin!  Please don’t kill me!”  He shouted, keeping his hands up and forward in a show of peace and surrender.  Her eyes were dark and predatory as she studied him.

“What are you doing here?”  She growled, baring her teeth in a way that was definitely threatening.

“Is it so wrong to want to make sure my friend is okay after weeks of radio silence?”

He could hear her heart skip slightly at that, she was surprised.  “What makes you think we’re friends?!”  She snarled, pushing the blade that no doubt had bits and pieces of Kryptonite in it, further against his neck.  He was so screwed.  Why did he think this was a good idea again?

“The fact that we spent years together attending Gotham Academy and you know, our side job.”  He replied nervously, making sure to keep perfectly still unless he really did want that dagger slitting his throat.  

Marin let out a small hum, thinking over his words while allowing the dagger to stay firmly planted against his neck.  “Fine, your answer is acceptable.”  And just like that, the dagger was removed and hidden in one swift motion.

Jon let out a sigh of relief, moving slightly away from Marin to catch his breath.  “Damian still thinks he’s scarier than you and I still don’t know how to convince him he’s wrong.”  Jon gasped, cupping his throat as if that would protect it.  He could feel the slight sting against his next from where the blade laid across the skin.

“Damian assumes much and understands little.  He will not allow himself to believe that others can be feared more than himself.  That’s one thing that will never change.”  Marin stated with a roll of her eyes,  “Now, why are you really here?”  She demanded with a simple raise of her brow.

“Is it really too much to believe that I just came to check-up on you?”  He asked, trying to show how sincere he was.  All he really knew was that there was a falling out between Marin and the rest of her family that was so bad that she refused to come back.  He wouldn’t pry or ask details, but he wanted to make sure his friend was okay.  Her heart quickened slightly.

“As it’s coming from you, I guess not.”  She replied flippantly.  Jon honestly could not tell what she was thinking, she’d always been hard to read.  

“So while I’m here, why don’t we go somewhere?”  Marin sent him a sharp glare, and Jon quickly put his hands up in surrender once more. “Somewhere public of course.  And it doesn’t have to be somewhere you visit often!  I just wanted to catch up with you is all.”

“If you try anything, I will disassemble you piece by piece with my strongest and dullest kryptonite knife.”  She watched the way the boy paled, enjoying the way his Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed back his fear. Why did he think this was a good idea again?

Marin gave him a sharp nod before she turned on her heel and started walking away.  Jon stood there for a few moments more, still frozen in shock before he hurried after her.  “Wait up Marin!  Come on, it’s not like we’re in school right now.”

Marin just rolled her eyes, a small smirk on her lips as she watched Jon running after her.  Once Jon was right at her side, her smile was gone without a trace.  “Sooo…” Jon began, side eyeing her with a large grin.

“None of your business.”  She replied sternly.

“Come on, I didn’t even ask anything yet.”  He whined.  Marin rolled her eyes, but never faltered in her steps.

“Doesn’t matter, the answer is still the same.”

Jon sighed and crossed his arms, “I just wanted to know if you like anyone you’ve met here.”  They walked in silence for a few minutes, before she finally answered.  It wasn’t that she hated this type of silence, she just liked making people wait in suspense.

“There are a few people that I’ve come to tolerate.”  She replied flippantly.  His eyes lit up with curiosity.

“Oooh, is that so?  And what have these people done for you to even “tolerate” their existence?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“I would, that’s why I asked.”  Goodness, she forgot just how infuriating this farmboy was.

“Well isn’t that just a shame, guess you’ll just have to suffer in your curiosity.”  She mocked as she weaved through the crowded streets with ease, all while Jon attempted to stay by her side.  

“You never were the merciful twin.”  He muttered to himself.

“Only when it suits what I need.”  She shrugged, stretching her arms slightly.  Jon gave a small exasperated huff before they continued walking together in silence.  It lasted all of five minutes before Jon slightly nudged her to gain her attention.  She raised a silent questioning brow at him, usually he just called her name.  She watched as he tilted his head slightly to the left in the direction of a middle aged woman that was glaring at her, and specifically her.

* Marin blinked a few times, trying to see if the woman was familiar at all, because no one glared at her like that without a reason.  She felt as Jon moved in slightly, whispering next to her ear, “What’s her deal?”

“If looks could kill,” she started, a small grin creeping up her face, “well, I still wouldn’t care but-”

“She’s glaring at you like you killed her mother or something.”  Jon muttered jokingly, cutting her off.   Marin didn’t falter in her steps, but it was a near thing as any signs of amusement quickly fled her face.  Jon actually pauses and stared at her with a mix of fear and worry in his eyes.  “Did…did you ki-”

Marin felt her body snap to attention, a jolt of fear rushing through her.  For a second, she thought Bruce was there, waiting to catch her slipping up so he could finally turn her away.  But he wasn’t here, she needed to remember that.  He. Isn’t. Here.  “No?”  She tried to give Jon a smile, pulling in as much of Rebecca as possible, but came out as more of a grimace than anything.  “At least I don’t think so…”  She said trailing off slightly, trying to recall if she actually had done that.  Rebecca was always getting lost in thought, she was always the dreamer.

“Marin!”  Jon hollered in shock.  She needed to focus right now, maybe Rebecca was the wrong mold to use.  But she was also very nice and playful, so she’ll stick with it.  Rebecca Marin playfully shoved Jon at his shoulder, before continuing her walk, almost skipping down the street, forcing Jon to pick up the pace after her once more. 

“What?”  She said with a smile, glancing at the seemingly random person one last time before looking forward.  “I had many missions.  Who knows, maybe she’s a cousin or whatever.”  She said in an almost playful tone.  She could hear Jon’s muffled groan, but she didn’t care, she just needed to get away from this place.  Get away from the people she may have harmed when she was in the League.  

Jon watched Marin, he could tell she was currently using one of her molds, it was a little jarring at times, but he understood why she did it.  As they walked farther and farther away from the crowds he watched as she slowly removed her mask, returning once more to being Marin.  He had seen her do this so many times when they were at school or on missions, but no matter how many times he watched her do it, it never took away the sense of hurt he felt for her.

They stayed silent for another long while, traveling everywhere yet nowhere at once.  This time, it was Marin to interrupt the silence, “...You’re not fazed by this?”  Her tone was flat, not giving away any of her emotions.  Marin was officially back.

“You’re Damian’s sister.”  He replied with a nonchalant shrug.  

“I’ve done considerably worse than my brother has.”  She countered.

“Again, you’re Damian’s sister.”  He responded as if that explained everything.  

With a small huff of frustration she asked, “Which means?”

“That you and your brother were both raised to be assassins and I? Don’t? Care?”  Marinette watched from the corner of her eyes as he tilted his head slightly with an unsure, almost sarcastic, smile.

“So, you're not fazed by my molds?”  She asked, raising her brow in challenge.

Jons smile became more of a grimace as he glanced away uncomfortably.  “Damian kind of…explained the situation,” he answered hesitantly.

Marin really shouldn’t have been surprised, but as she blinked at Jon, she could admit (never out loud) that she was a little shocked. “...Did he?”  Damian always tried to avoid talking about the League, and especially her molds.  Damian hated them, so it was a little shocking that he would even tell someone else about them rather than pretending she had Multi-Personality Disorder….Now that she thought about it-NO!  She wasn’t going down that rabbit hole right now.

“Yeah…Sorry?”  he still wasn’t looking her in the eye.  She didn’t like that, but who cares.  It’s not like it really mastered in the end.  When she looked away from Jon and back to the street in front of her, she noticed that she was in front of the bakery.  Well, if he wasn't fazed, then it didn’t really matter who she was right now.  

So, with a shrug of her shoulders and a lightness to her step that always seemed to follow Marinette, she replied.  “It’s whatever, so what are we going to do later?” She asked with her brightest smile, it almost felt real when she watched Jon’s reaction to her switch.  

“Uhhh, homework?”  he asked more than stated, obviously unsure where this was headed.

“Sweet!  Let’s go.”  She cheered as she grabbed ahold of his arm and started dragging him towards the bakery, and away from the eyes she could feel following them.

“Uh-huh.”  Jon let her tug him forward with a roll of his eyes, his farm drawl coming out slightly.  She would never admit this out loud, but it was nice to have an old friend teammate here, and hopefully for once, she wouldn’t be the reason they got killed.

Next

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[crowbarstodd]

Course Of Nature (4)

Chapter Summary: *banging pots together* DAMINETTE! DAMINETTE! Word Count: 3,272 Rating: G Paring: DAMINETTE!

Prologue | One | Two | Three | Four | Five |

Rena Rogue gagged as soon as she opened an aging door, hands covering her nose and mouth as she took a large step back. “This place stinks!”

Marinette felt inclined to agree with Rena Rogue, nose wrinkling as a foul stench invaded her nostrils, so strong her eyes stung from unshed tears. “You’ll have to get used to it,” Marinette said regretfully, “we’ll be spending some time here.”

Rena moaned, edging inside carefully, nose still pinched between two fingers.

The little off-white townhouse they’d been sent to investigate in Paris’ nineteenth arrondissement was almost charming at first sight. It sat trapped between a high fence marking the end of the street, and a baby-pink, connecting unit with a strip of green at the front only just large enough to fit a few common elder hedges.

The place itself was only slightly overrun by weeds, not enough to appear unseemly, which was probably why it was left alone by most of the unsuspecting neighbours. Marinette herself would have overlooked it completely had it not been for the large mold stain on the bottom right side of the door, and the putrid stench that coated the home. Oh, and the mission sent by Batman and Master Fu.

The inside was drowned in dust and rust, and none of the lights would turn on, so she and Rena resigned themselves to exploring the place with the limited light their torches provided.

“This is literally the worst villain hideout. Unhygienic and unaesthetic is what this place is,” Rena griped, searching through shelves for anything that looked mildly useful.

“There’s no proof this was a hideout. Just that Queen Bee sent a package here about two months ago.”

Rena stopped in her tracks. “Queen Bee? Like, Chloe?”

“No, like the politician.”

“Are you being sarcastic?”

Marinette sighed, tilting her head to the sky, eyes shut. “I thought Chat gave you a debrief?”

“Sure, but he didn’t use any names. Just said that another villain sent a package probably for Hawkmoth.”

Wily cat, making her do all the annoying jobs. She’d get him neutered the next time she saw him. “Queen Bee is a corrupt Bialyan leader, part of the light.”

“So not Chloe?”

“Not Chloe,” Marinette confirmed.

“What do we call Chloe then?”

Tired of the conversation, and without any real answers to give, Marinette returned to searching the room for clues. “Call her whatever you want, Rena.”

“Bitch it is!”

“No.”

She zoned out Rena’s following playful whinges, focused on the wooden desk that sat alone in the otherwise empty room connected to the living room that Rena was investigating.

With careful hands she pulled the drawer of the desk open, worrying her lip as her heart pumped with excitement. Where else would one keep a package but their desk?

It was empty.

Disappointed, she shut it closed, only to hear Rena’s resounding shriek.

The living room was a mess of white.

An upturned milk bottle appeared to have fallen from atop the cupboard above the stove. It must have been balancing precariously already, relying on the shut door for stability, and tipping over when Rena pulled the cupboard open.

She stood in the center of the kitchen, an orange lighthouse in a sea of white, utterly drenched, and completely miserable.

In her hands, Marinette spotted something promising.

“Is that a USB?”

“Are you okay Rena? That sucks for you Rena, but don’t worry too much about it,” Rena muttered, peeved.

Marinette scratched the back of her head and let out an awkward laugh. “Sorry. You alright, Rena?”

“I’m drenched in milk, LB. But I found a USB and I managed to keep it dry.”

Marinette cheered under her breath, getting closer to inspect the gadget. It was a simple single-toned grey stick, made by LexCorp. “Only four gigabytes?” She mused aloud, expecting something more monumental.

Rena paid her no mind, wringing her hair over the sink, and yelping when the water that poured out of it was brown in colour. “Ugh, I should have just let Chat take this mission,” Rena grumbled. “Might have even enjoyed the milk.”

Marinette shrugged, a lazy smile painting her face. “I don’t think anyone’d enjoy an unexpected milk-bath, Rena, even silly kitty’s like him.”

Rena shook her leg clean, watching with wry eyes as droplets splashed onto the floor. “You always call him Kitty or Chaton,” Rena commented. “It’s kind of cute.”

If it was Carapace saying it, Marinette wouldn’t have batted an eye, but Rena was sort of pushy, and undeniably not-so-secretly interested in Ladybug’s (love) life. Marinate could see the teasing glint in Rena’s eyes and hear the mischief in her voice, enough to get what she was suggesting.

“Yes I do,” Marinette agreed. “Because we’re partners.”

“You don’t have nicknames for me!”

Marinette raised a brow. “You’re not my partner,” she sung.

Rena pouted, jutting her bottom lip out dramatically enough that for a second, Marinette saw her mask disappear and make way for her best friend who she knew was behind it. She’d never say it aloud, lest it encourage her friend’s more dangerous habits (running headfirst into attacks without a mask or protection) but Alya’s determination and vivacity had always been qualities that Marinette admired. That, and how lush her thick locks always seemed to be.

“What about your new partner then? Lark?”

Marinette snorted. Guess Alya held some second-hand anger on her boyfriend’s behalf after all. “You mean Robin?”

Rena rolled her eyes, waving a dismissive hand in the air. “Yeah sure, Robin.”

“What about him?”

“Well if not Chat, then?” Rena trailed off, but Marinette was sharp enough to know what she’d been suggesting.

Involuntarily, her cheeks burst bright red. Memories of last night that she’d tried so hard to forget — moonlight, a surprising confession, and lips —nope! She shook the thoughts out of her head, bringing her hands to her cheeks in an attempt to cool them down.

“Oh my god! Girl!”

“N-no!” Marinette stuttered out, adamant to explain things before Rena got the complete wrong idea. “It’s not like that! I don’t like Robin! Not even in a friend way!”

“Clearly not in the friend way! Girl, does he know?”

Stupid Robin. Stupid dumb Robin and his stupid dumb lips and their stupid dumb conversation and the terrible, awful, cringe-inducing, stupid-dumb ending to last night! “No! Alya!”

“What happened to no secret identities on the field? I don’t even know yours so you’ve got an advantage there.”

“I don’t think that’s the point, Rena.”

“You’re right,” she agreed. “The point is are you gonna tell him?”

“No, there’s nothing romantic happening at all!”

Knowing better than to push when Marinette was sure she looked ready to explode, Rena simply wiggled her brows cheekily and returned to searching for hints. “Okay LB,” she said as she passed, patting Marinette on the shoulders almost patronisingly.

Marinette had to bite her lip to prevent a scream.

Perusing the little unit was much less eventful than either of the two girls expected, and in the end, they found nothing of use apart from the single USB stick that Rena had risked milk-dousing for.

“Literally the worst hour of my life,” Rena commented, inhaling deeply when they finally locked the rotting door behind them. “Never again.”

“You okay to get the USB to Master Fu by yourself?”

“Sure thing Ladybug. You go ahead and get your Z’s, you’ve got patrol tomorrow night as well.”

Marinette moaned at the reminder. Damn, and she was getting excited to make a new dress-shirt too.

—————————————

School the next day was interesting, to say the least. The class was abuzz, all gravitating around Chloe’s desk where she was sat bragging (no surprise there) about some celebrities her dad’s hotel was hosting.

“The Waynes are ridiculously famous and important,” the blonde said, leaning back against her chair as if she didn’t care at all. (She cared very much, and wasn’t as good an actress as she thought she was, Marinette noted.) “Bruce Wayne is like, the most eligible bachelor, and he brought three of his sons with him!”

“Three?” Marinette mumbled under her breath, taking her seat beside Alya. “Why does she say it like he has more?”

“He has five,” Alya supplied helpfully, flashing her a smile in greeting.

Soon enough Alya’s head was down, and her chemistry notes were out, but it was obvious that she was paying more attention to what Chloe was saying than what was on her page, but a tad too prideful to admit to herself that Chloe had anything of particular worth to say.

Chloe’s voice was loud enough that Marinette could join her friend in pretending to overhear, rather than listen to the blonde. “They’re going to be staying at my daddy’s hotel for two weeks,” she boasted.

“Wow Chloe, that’s so cool!” Rose awed. Even from the other side of the room, Marinette could stars forming in her eyes. It was like Prince Ali all over again. “I’d love to meet them! I heard the Wayne foundation helps hundreds of people every year, and that Dick Grayson is nice to everyone!”

She nudged Alya lightly with her elbow. “Dick Grayson?”

“Eldest son, I think.” Was Alya’s simple reply.

Chloe sneered, “someone like him would want nothing to do with you.”

“Well, I’m going to say hi anyway!” Rose replied hotly, learning from last time. Her chest puffed out in pride, leaving her to look like a bright pink penguin, but Marinette was happy for her. It looked like she wasn’t going to let Chloe talk her down anymore.

Chloe opened her mouth, probably to dish out an insult, but straightened as if remembering something important. “Fine,” she said instead. “Do what you want.”

Alya raised a brow and made a face that looked to a cross between impressed and disbelieving.

In a weird way, Marinette felt almost proud. Sure, each awful word out of Chloe’s mouth gave her some sort of vindication (who doesn’t love being right?) that always lead to her feeling guilty, but every time Chloe acted politely, against Marinette’s expectations, she was being influenced by Ladybug. There was something humbling about seeing her impact on the small scale, however minute it was.

“Will you all come with me?” Rose asked, wide eyes directed at the girls of the class.

Don’t look, Marinette urged herself. The moment she looked into Rose’s big Bambi eyes she’d be gone, and however much she loved Rose she needed to go to bed before patrol that night.

“Please?”

“Sure thing, Rose!” Alya agreed. “Marinette and I’d be happy to come.”

Raising her head to refute Alya, Marinette found herself staring right into Rose’s baby blues. Crap. “Yeah Rose, I’d love to come!”

Marinette’s mouth moved faster than her mind, and by the time she’d realised what she had done it was far too late. Rose had already turned to ask Alix.

God, if only Rose was a tablespoon less cute.

(“You’re going to see Dick Grayson? Can I come? I love Dick Grayson!

“Sure, Kim!”)

—————————————

Dick Grayson really was nice to everyone he met, and it didn’t take long for Marinette to understand why all of Paris seemed to swoon over him.

He was charming, had eyes bluer than blue, and a smile that looked so familiar, Marinette could have sworn she’d seen it directed at her before. Really truly, he was great. But all she could focus on was the screaming that was happening somewhere further down the hotel that nobody else seemed to care about.

Marinette inched backwards until she was out of sight, bolting down the nearest corridor, following the sound the best she could.

Tikki peeked out from inside her bag, gazing at her with questioning eyes. “Are you sure you don’t want to transform, Marinette? It doesn’t sound very good.”

“I just wanna check first, Tikki. It might not be an attack.”

It wasn’t one. What she’d mistaken for innocent lives threatened by some Akumatised being was, in fact, two boys screaming at each other in the hotel hallway. Or rather, one boy screaming as the other responded, just as heated, but not as loud.

“You will regret this, Drake!” The shorter boy seethed at the other, who stood across from him, clearly unimpressed, back slouched and left hand in his corduroy pants.

The taller one, Drake, raised his hands in apparent frustration. “It’s a room. You’ll just have to settle with sharing with Jason.”

“I had the room with Grayson first. Return it immediately!”

“You sound like a brat.”

The shorter boy huffed, launching a well-aimed kick at the taller boy’s head, which he somehow managed to block, hand still in his pocket. “Your attack will be returned tenfold,” the shorter one announced, leaving ‘Drake’ alone at last. Marinette squeaked as he walked in her direction, slipping around the corner as his eyes narrowed.

He didn’t seem to care though, walking out of the hotel without another look back.

Concerned about a potential Akuma victim, she trailed after him.

She felt childish to have been lulled in such an obviously false sense of comfort, but she was genuinely surprised when he disappeared from her sight after exiting the hotel, only to reappear behind her. He had one hand around both her wrists, keeping her from fighting back with her arms.

“What business do you have following me?”

Marinette spluttered, struggling not to let her eyes dart to her bag in concern as she felt Tikki’s concerned shudder. “I was just making sure you were okay!” Marinette insisted. “I just didn’t want you to get akumatised!”

He let go of her wrists, but his eyes were still in slits, and his knees were bent as if ready to bolt at any given chance. “Explain yourself,” he demanded.

He was pretty snooty if Marinette was being honest, but she supposed she’d be paranoid too if someone was following her. “If you get too upset, Hawkmoth will be able to use you to destroy the city,” Marinette explained, omitting some important parts about certain Miraculous’. It was weird he didn’t know any of this yet. “Are you new here or something?”

The boy sniffed in disdain. “My family landed here this morning.”

This morning…

Marinette gave his outfit a quick once-over.

Black skinny jeans; Givenchy, black shoes; Armani, Burberry jacket, and Wayne-Tech watch. Wayne tech phone peeking out from his pocket too… Rose was going to be so jealous.

(His target-brand Nightwing t-shirt confused her, though.)

“You must be a Wayne!” Marinate exclaimed, extending her hand to greet him. “I’m Marinette.”

He looked at her hand with a raised brow.

He didn’t move until her face shifted into a glare. “Damian.”

He was a little rough around the edges, but he was also mad, and she wouldn’t be Ladybug if she left some innocent person alone to be akumatised. “Nice to meet you, Damian. Do you like ice-cream?”

“I’m not fond of sweets.”

“I’ll find something for you.”

She grabbed his wrist, ready to tug him along, when he snatched his hand right out of her grip. “Unhand me!” He bellowed, looking angry again. Marinate wanted to slap a hand on her forehead, feeling idiotic for upsetting him even further.

“I’m not going to do anything weird, I promise. I just want to take you to my family’s bakery, get you some tea or something to calm you down.”

He looked on the verge of protest, but she must have said something right because he deflated soon after. “Some tea would be acceptable.”

They sat across from each other on the table nearest to the front window, seats comfortably cushioned with little round pillows that were decorated with flowers; one of Marinette’s own creations.

The bakery was one of her favourite places in the world. Little personal splashes made the place warm, from the cushions she’d made, the three small tables on the right side of the bakery for inside dining that she’d suggested herself, and the small red stain on the underside of the front counter that she’d created by spilling dye while making red-velvet cupcakes. She and her mom had spent almost an hour trying to remove any traces of it, but that little mark, shaped like a coma, was far more stubborn than either of them.  

He liked rice tea, she learned. Rice tea and plum dacqouise.

Well, he never said he liked plum dacquoise, but he clearly didn't dislike plum dacquoise. Her dad had asked if he’d like anything else with his tea, and when he looked to her for suggestions, there was one thing she couldn’t not recommend.

“I’d like the Marinette,” he’d said, voice frank. Her heart had pounded at how the sentence sounded, but she didn’t correct him or mention it in case it’d embarrass him. He wasn’t a native speaker after all, so it was impressive enough he could maintain a conversation and order all on his own.

“It’s my favourite cake,” she informed him after his first bite. He replied with a ‘hn.’

Easy silence befell them as Damian sipped his tea, looking out the window with slight interest. She was eating his cake, well her cake that he bought, content to sit in silence, appreciating how he simply nodded her way when he caught her, not too miffed at her eating his food. “Did you come here for a holiday?” She asked, striking up a conversation.

He tilted his head to the side, thinking. The bright lights seemed to highlight his jawline perfectly, because Marinette couldn’t stop her eyes from trailing downward. “For business mostly, but I suppose Gra— my brother might consider this a holiday.”

“Must be nice to have so many siblings.”

Damian huffed, folding his arms the way Alya’s younger sisters did when they heard something they didn’t like. “They’re not my siblings.”

“You just said you had a brother though?”

Damian spluttered, mouth moving as he protested mutely, unable to come up with a convincing response. “It’s not fun,” he said instead, replying to her initial comment.

Marinette smiled behind her hands at his petulant behaviour, not yet brave enough, or close enough to him to laugh at him to his face. “I wouldn’t know,” she shrugged. “I’m an only child.”

“I was too, once.” Damian’s eyes had a misty quality to them that Marinette wasn’t sure she wanted to touch on. Instead, she latched on to what felt like the only tangible part of what he said.

“Are you adopted?”

Damian all but hissed, leaning over the table to exclaim his response. “I’m the blood heir! The rest of them were adopted!”

She leaned back into her seat, surprised by his outburst.

Prepared to spend the rest of the hour suffering in heavy silence, Marinette was almost grateful to see a large, thorn breaking through the bakery window, engraving itself deep into the floor.

It shook the building down to its foundations, leaving the counter and the cakes it displayed utterly obliterated. Marinette coughed, inhaling a lungful of dust and debris caused by the projectile, wheezing out a breath. Her heart thrummed as she readied herself for a battle.

“I have to go!” She and Damian said in sync. She let him leave, expecting his worry for his family, and preoccupied with planning how to get to the Akuma.

Marinette let out a quiet “sorry,” as she trapped her parents in the back room, locking the door on them so they would be safe without noticing her absence.

“Tikki, spots on!”

End Notes: hhhhhhhhh so this is actually only half of my original plan for chapter 4 so I guess you can expect chapter five soon. I was so excited for the fight but chapter 4 got so long and I felt that the fight deserved it’s own chapter and I didn’t want too many events in one chapter because it’d feel too cluttered oh man.

But also! Daminette!!!!! 

Classic Bruce gets there secret identities to arrive later than their hero ones to avoid suspicion. We got our first peek at Tim, and a mention of Jason. If anyone’s wondering why Chloe only mentioned three sons,,, Jason’s legally dead so ye theres that. 

Daminette!!! They met!!!!!!!!! For those curious, his acceptance of tea was thanks to his appreciation of Alfred. Daminette!!! 

Things to look forward to next chapter: Akuma fight!!! Addressing the ‘Queen Bee’ situation completely, kind of addressing what happened the night damian stormed of jealous and MORE maridami goodness. (Is it obvious how much I love chapter 5 and how much I wanna get it DONE?

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[lily-drake]

Lesson 7: Always Know Your Place

Previous

Marin: Möckel! I havent seen you in aw-

Luka: its Luka.

Marin: oh- *furrows her eyebrows, whispers in Arabic* [I thought it was Möckel..]

Luka: *hums* Möckel doesn’t exist.

Marin: you.. *tilts her head* you were undercover?

Luka: yes.

Marin: you.. infiltrated..

Luka: *smiles* yes.

Marin: *grimaces* if mother knew she would have punished me for not knowing.

Luka: *grins* good thing they never found out, huh?

Marin: how did.. *furrows her eyebrows* how long?

Luka: 4 years?

Marin: how are you still alive???

Luka: *grins viciously* killed in combat. Unit down.

Marin: *hums* quite sad they never found Möckel’s body.

Luka: *nods solemnly* yes.

_____ It’s a real experience to see someone so bright and full of life… just break and melt down in front of you.

Its a real experience to see someone you’ve loved for quite some time… just drop dead all in the span of a second.

Its a real experience to see someone’s life flash on and off repeatedly for 5 minutes until… it never turns on again.

It becomes a real experience.

Until its an everyday experience.

She hates it.

_____ Marin: i don't- it’s like my emotions are shut off. Im me but not me. Im here but not here. I speak and i listen and i see people but im not THERE. IM NOT FUCKING REAL-

Jason: Marin-

Marin: *crying* I'm not real. My emotions aren't real. Im not real. Ive never been real. Marinette is real. Alice is real. Hailey is real. All my molds are real but I'M NOT! IM NOT REAL!

Jason: Marin you are-

Marin: *screams* IM NOT!

-@bambicambi

Things seemed to actually be looking up for Marin.  It had been months since she left, and no one had found her yet!  Jason visited on an on-and-off basis, and she had felt…good!  It was a strange feeling, honestly when she first truly felt it she thought she was having some sort of panic attack.  She was fighting her own villain now with her own partner–not a sidekick, but a partner, an equal–and she was free to do ct how she pleased with no interference and no one reminding her not to kill every time she so much as twitched!  Paris had actively put a block on any information that pertained to the Akuma Attacks from being able to exit the borders so she didn’t have to worry about anyone coming here and accidentally finding her.  Mother had visited briefly one other time after their first time meeting for tea, and it didn’t end with any form of bloodshed.  Everything was looking up for her, and that should have been the first sign that something bad was quickly approaching.

Marinette had been invited to the Couffaine’s home for a concert; it surprised her when the offer was first made, but she quickly accepted.  Chloe was bragging about going to XY’s concert and how she should ditch “those losers” and come with her.  Marinette simply told her she had terrible taste in music.  Chloe had crossed her arms and looked up definitely, making a ‘hmph’ noise and angling her body slightly away from Marinette.  Marinette had laughed and bumped her shoulder against Chloe’s.  Chloe simply rolled her eyes as her lips made a small upturn.

“Whatever Dupain-Cheng, he’s #1 on record charts right now.”

“Yea, but it’s all very subjective, so let’s not argue over it.  Besides, we both know that Jagged Stone is far superior.”

Chloe felt a chill run through her at Marinette’s playful tone.  Marinette still made something in the back of her mind ring loudly in alarm, but when she looked at the girl she was just smiling at her with her hands fiddling anxiously with the strap of her purse.

“What’s wrong Chloe, you seem a little frightened.”

“Ha, frightened of what?  There’s literally nothing to fear.  It would be ridiculous, utterly ridiculous of me to be afraid.”

Chloe replied insolently.  Marin knew that Chloe could sense something from her, it had thrown her off the first time she noticed Chloe could sense her.  Afterall, she had set these molds up to be perfect, she was extremely careful with how they were formed and used.  The fact that Chloe could even feel something about her besides the happy, anxious, bubbly, and sunshine girl from her was extraordinarily impressive.  Now she would never reveal that Chloe was right to be on edge, that would be a fool’s decision, she liked to tease Chloe about it though.  Never enough to make Chloe think she’s going crazy, rather small call outs to make fun of her.  It amused her greatly to see Chloe’s reactions.

When the time came to go to the concert she was shocked to see that Juleka lived on a ship.  It made her wonder if she could convince the Dupain-Cheng’s to let her get one of her own.  She wandered around and tried to help where she could, but it seemed like everyone knew what to do besides her.  That was until Anarka came and told her to get her son, Luka, from his room.  When she got to his room and they made eye contact both stared at the other in complete and utter shock.

*

“Möckel!  I-I haven’t seen you in aw-

“It’s Luka.”

He said quickly, cutting her off.  His eyes scanned the room frantically as if someone were hiding in the shadows just waiting to attack him.

“Oh-,”

Marin furrowed her brows in confusion.  Did she mix him up with someone else?  She had heard about doppelgängers before, maybe that's what this was? Under her breath she muttered,

“I thought it was Möckel…”

Luka hummed at that and once he was satisfied they were alone, leaned back and relaxed slightly against the wall.

“Möckel doesn’t exist.”

At his words things began to click into place, because she knew exactly what he meant by that statement.  Marin tilted her head slightly as confusion and disbelief bled through her voice,

“You… you were undercover?”

“Yes.” 

He stated simply, his eyes never leaving her form showing he was on guard even if he looked completely relaxed.

“You…infiltrated…”

At that Luka gave her a bright and smug smile.  He was proud of this, he found victory from having done it.

“Yes.”

Marinette grimaced at that.  She didn’t feel too terrible for never figuring it out as no one else had either, but still.  She was supposed to be one of the best, and she failed…again.  If he was aiming to kill her or anyone else in the League, would he have been successful?

“If mother knew she would have punished me for not knowing.”

Was all she could say to his smug response.  At that his smile fell to one of sympathy and pain.  After all he had seen her punishments, they were made public for a reason.

“Good thing they never found out then, huh?”

Marinette nodded dazedly before asking,

“How did… how long?”

Marin asked, her fingers twitching at her side in frustration.

“4 years?”

He said, or rather questioned.  He and Marin had interacted a few times in the League, in fact he saw her as an almost friend in the death trap.  He had never seen her like this before, this was all Marin, but it felt like she was falling apart here.  Marin’s head snapped and she stared him directly in the eyes,

“How are you still alive?!”

She yelled almost incredulously.

Luka’s grin turned vicious as he stated,

“Killed in combat.  Unit down.”

Marin hummed at that, calming down and letting her own body relax slightly.

“Quite sad they never found Möckel’s body.”

She said almost distantly, her eyes downcast with a sort of silent remembrance in her tone.  Like she had lost something important, and even if she found it it would never be the same again.  Luka nodded solemnly, remembering the battle and how all of his comrades had died.  He was the only one to make it through.  It was the perfect excuse to finally leave, to report to his superiors so that he could finally be reunited with his family.

“Yes.”

Was all he could say as the somberness of the conversation filled the room.

*

Suddenly yelling and loud noises filled the room from the outside and the ship was covered in dark purple bubbles transforming the ship into a modified red and black medieval pirate ship.  The large round window was still there and thankfully open.  

“Come on Luka, we have to get out of here!”

She said pointing to the window.  He nodded and quickly stood up, but before either could get to the window loud footsteps sounded through the halls.  Luka opened a door under the bed and pointed to it.  Marin gulped but quickly got inside, already going into battle mode.  Luka pushed her back in and started to act like she had escaped and he was about to join her.  The door was burst open and she heard Anarka yell,

“Liberty, capture him.”

The sound of chains sounded and Möc-no, Luka’s body fell to the ground.  Once she was sure she was alone she had Plagg pull the drawer out and she took a small gasp of breath, almost choking on open air.

“Alright Plagg, it’s time to get to work.”

Plagg sighed tiredly and stretched.

“Do we have to?  I’m still tired.”

Marin smiled at her little friend and gently patted his head with one of her fingers.

“I promise that once this is over I’ll make you some Camembert Danish.”

“Deal!”

“Alright, Plagg claws out.”

She whispered, afterall, she didn’t need anyone to hear her and figure it out.  She snuck out through the window and took stock of her surroundings.  They were passing by other concerts, both large and small, and they were getting far too close to the land.

“Liberty, fire!”

She watched as the sets and everything around it crumpled and died with the canon balls.  Cries and Screams pierced the air, she felt terrible with how the familiar noises almost seemed to put her mind at ease.  Quickly she made her move, blending in with the shadows as she tried to figure out what the object that needed to be broken was.  

And just her luck, she saw Mr. Bug swinging on the opposite side of where she was, easily distracting the Akumatized victim.  That wasn’t good for long term reasons, but it was good for now.  She needed to be careful though because if she was given even an ounce of good luck, it could only mean there would be Hell to pay later.  

She quietly climbed onto the deck, keeping to the shadowed areas of the ship creeping closer and closer to where the civilians were tied together in the center of the ship.  She needed to do this carefully, she couldn’t risk being spotted by the Akuma, but she also needed the kids to talk to her in case they knew where the corrupted bug was.  She quickly glanced over and watched as Mr. Bug was able to deflect the chains with his yo-yo causing the Akuma to be even angrier than before, placing even more of her focus into catching him.  Good.  The tip of her tail began to whip side to side as excitement filled her bones.  This thrill, the life or death of it all is what she lived for.  It wasn’t a game to her, she knew how serious this was, but she had lived her entire life like this, she was far too desensitized to ever feel the fear of this line of work ever again.

She reached into her belt and pulled out three small orbs that would explode on impact, each with a different purpose.  One would be smoke, the next would be an explosive, and the last one she would be able to channel her power into without having to activate her Cataclysm.  With practiced ease she threw the explosive at the Akuma, the smoke bomb at the group of kids, but held onto the last one.  She didn’t have time to focus on the Akuma and Chat, her first priority was information, so she ran as fast as she possibly could toward the kids.

They were coughing slightly, but it didn’t matter right now.

“Do any of you know where the Akuma may be?”

She demanded as soon as she was in front of them.

“Huh, Kaus Noir!”

One of them gasped excitedly.  

“Yes, now tell me, where is the Akuma?”

“It’s the compass!  A police officer came and asked if we had a docking permit, but Mom refused to show it to them.  He kept giving her senseless tickets, and I saw it fly into the Cabin.”

Juleka all but muttered.

“Thank you, I’ll take care of it.”

Marin’s senses were on high alert as her ears perked up at the sound of chains coming straight for her.  She dodged with easy grace, grabbing her staff from its holster at her lower back and extending it.  Now out of the smoke she could see what had happened.  Mr. Bug had seemed to tire the woman out quite a bit, but she had been able to chain him to the mast.  She wore an almost gleeful smirk, her eyes bright like she had already won.

“I have your bug, and if you don’t want me to run him through, you’ll hand me your Miraculous!”

Anarka demanded while pointing her sword towards Marin dramatically.  Marin simply rolled her eyes before she threw the small ball at the chains, letting them quickly decay.

“You don’t scare me, and I have more tricks up my sleeve than you’ll ever know.”

She watched as the boy jumped, landing right next to her while swinging his yo-yo in a large circle so fast it became a shield.  She stayed next to him, letting him deflect the oncoming chains.

“What's the plan Kaus?”

He asked, not even breathless.  Maybe she didn’t give him enough credit, he’s fairing far better than she thought he would these last few weeks.  She was slowly starting to trust him, and him her, it was strange.  

“Witness said that the Akuma is in the compass in the Cabin.  If you can keep her distracted a little longer I can destroy the object.”

Mr. Bug nodded.

“I’ll separate from you, so be ready for an incoming of chains.”

With her confirming nod, he moved away, racing towards Anarka at a high velocity that can only be attributed to the Miraculous.  Marin twirled her staff in a similar manner that Mr. Bug did his yo-yo, allowing her to block the chains and shield herself.  It didn’t take long for her to reach the Cabin.  Where there was once a simple wooden door now stood a large iron door with slithering chains.  She was hidden in a dark shadow, but she could tell Anarka was looking for her.  It was a pattern, she would fight Bug for 45 seconds before she would glance around for 5.  After the third time Marin began her work, the timer ticking down in her mind as focussed her energy into one more orb, this one draining her Cataclysm only a little.  She threw the orb at the door and smiled as it disappeared into ash, but now Anarka was racing towards her, riding the chains.  Marin ran into the small room yelling Cataclysm and placing her hand against the compass.  As soon as her hand brushed the device the chains encompassed her body, but it was too late, the device was already decaying.  

“NO!  What have ye done?”

Anarka yelled, falling onto her knees as purple consumed her once more.  She watched as Mr. Bug threw his yo-yo at the corrupted creature, capturing it before releasing its purified form back to the wild.  Yes, the wild, she had placed tracks on some of the other ones and none of them ever led back to anywhere except parks and the like.  She watched as he also threw a giant pair of chain breakers into the air, causing millions of Ladybugs to fly around all of Paris, fixing all of the damage that occurred, and removing the chains from around her.  

Mr. Bug lent his arm towards her, and for once, she accepted it, letting him pull her to her feet.  He smiled at her and held out his fist.  Dick had always done something similar, he had called it a “fist pump”.  She returned that as well, he smiled brightly at her, and though she didn’t feel butterflies or anything flying in her stomach, she felt settled.  Calm.  It was a nice change of pace.

“Great job today Kaus.”

“Yea, not bad yourself Mr. Bug.”

Both of their miraculous beeped, and with one last curt nod, she ran off the boat, only to subtly arch back to land back into Moc-LUKA’S room once more.

“Claws off.”

She whispered letting Plagg fly out before hiding him back in her purse where she kept cheddar cheese, because she was not smelling like camembert. He would get lots of that back in the apartment so it wasn’t like she wasn’t meeting his needs.  Luka burst through the room with wide eyes that almost seemed frightened.  He looked scared, accusatory, and almost…guilty.

“I don’t like small spaces.”

She stated, crossing her arms, as if that’s why he was looking at her like she had done something she shouldn’t have.  

“I know, sorry.  It was the only place to hide you.”

He whispered, never leaving his spot right in front of the door.  They stayed silent for a few moments longer before he finally asked,

“Why are you here?  Who’s your target?”

And didn’t that just hurt.  It felt like she had been slapped in the face, but she didn’t let him see that.

“I’m not here for the League, I left it.  They have no control over me.  I am here because I want to live my life free of anyone.  I’m here to make my own decisions, I am not here to kill.”

She stated, looking into his eyes the entire time with a hard conviction.  He stared back at her, familiar blue, calculating eyes trying to piece together her words.  Find a hidden meaning where there was none, look for the lie where she only said her truth.  

“Very well, but if I catch even a whiff of you trying to hurt my friends or family, I will not hesitate to expose you.  I may not be able to defeat you, but I can take you down with me.”

And with that, he turned and left, leaving her alone, fists clenched and face expressionless.  She could feel Plagg nuzzling her hip through the purse, it grounded her, made her feel warm, but it didn’t take away the loathing that began to once again squirm through her entire being.

___________

Two weeks after that day Jason was staring at his little sister in shock as she told him what had happened that day.  It's a real experience to see someone so bright and full of life… just break and melt down in front of you.

* It's a real experience to see someone you’ve loved for quite some time… just drop dead all in the span of a second.

It's a real experience to see someone’s life flash on and off repeatedly for 5 minutes until… it never turns on again.

It becomes a real experience.

Until it's an everyday experience.

She hates it.  Jason hates it, especially when he has to see it every time Marinette fades away to Marin.  He loved her, they kept each other sane while I’m the League and always had the others back.  Nothing would ever change that.

*

“Möckel is alive.  He goes by Luka now.  He had infiltrated the League.”

She said, spitting out the last sentence like it was an insult to her very being.  And in a way, it was.

“I know.”

Jason stated and that had Marin snapping her head to stare at him like he was insane.  He was worried she had given herself whiplash.

“You-you knew and you did not say anything?!”

“Well, I kept a close eye on him and threatened him.  But you two were getting close and you needed another person you could trust in your life.  Didn’t want to take that away unless I had to.”

It was silent for a few minutes.  Then Marin whispered,

“Möckel was a mask.  It didn’t take control of his life.  Luka is real.”

Jason was confused and didn’t understand where this was headed.  But he was sure it was nowhere good.

*

“I don’t- it’s like my emotions are shut off.  I’m me, but I’m not me.  I’m here, but I’m not here.  I speak and I listen and I see people, but I’m not THERE.  I'M NOT F*ING REAL-“

“Marin-“

Jason said softly as he tried to take her hand in his.  She moved it away quickly and hugged herself as warm tears fell down her cheeks and a sob escaped her lips.

“I’m not real.  My emotions aren’t real.  I’m not real.  I’ve never been real.  Marinette,”

She spat the name like it was the most disgusting poison she had tasted,

“is real.  Alice is real.  Hailey is real!  All my molds are real, but I’M NOT!  I'M NOT REAL!”

Jason was at a loss for words and it hurt to see her like this.  To finally have her walls fall down around her as she sobbed.  Carefully Jason maneuvered her so that she was seated in his lap while he hugged her to his chest as tightly as he could while not crushing her.  He placed a gentle kiss to the crown of her head and whispered,

“Marin, you are-“

“I’M NOT!”

She screamed, banging her fists harshly against his chest, face buried against his neck.

*

Jason was silent, letting her have a moment while he compiled his thoughts.  He, like the rest of his emotionally constipated family, was never great with words.  He had known her for so long, so many years.  He knew so many of her molds by heart, her fears, her triggers, when she was actually happy and sad, he knew her better than Damian ever would know her.  Where Dick was like a father to Damian, the same could be said of him with Marinette.  

He had always wondered when this breakdown would happen, it was a long time coming, and now that it was here he didn’t know what to do.  He knew that she had never had the opportunity to really let herself just be, especially when she was stuck with Bruce.  It turns out that seeing Möckel, or rather “Luka”, had been the thing to finally tip her over the edge.  Jason carefully ran his fingers through her hair, gently removing the knots and running his fingers softly against her scalp.  Slowly her sobs petered down to hiccups and eventually to small sniffles.  Jason was very happy that they were in one of his safe houses instead of the bakery for this conversation.

“Marin, and yes, I mean Marin, please listen to what I’m saying.”

A pause,

“I promise you, that you are not fake.  I have known you longer than Damian has, better than anyone ever will, or at least that’s what I’d like to believe.  I know who you are, you are strong, resilient, fierce, a bit of a prankster, a smartalec, and a little s*.”

“So you admit it,”

Marinette sniffled with a small chuckle.

“I am a little s*.”

Jason smirked and rolled his eyes at that.

“Yea, I admit it, you really are.  But, in a good way, because your my Little S*.”

“You really believe that Marin is real?”

She asked hesitantly.  Jason gave her a small smile and ruffled her head, earning a sharp slap.

“Of course.  I know for a fact this isn’t a mold, a facade, this is what you really feel.  This is all Marin, no one else.”

“Jason.”

She muttered,

“Hmm?”

“I’m tired.”

“I believe you.  Why don’t you take a break.  I’ll text Sabine and Tom if you want to spend the night.”

“Yes please.”

“Alright.  I’ll do it when you're ready, and don’t you dare force yourself.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Next

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[lily-drake]

Lesson 6: Revenge is Okay But Negotiation May Be Key

Based on @bambicambi ’s Marin assassin au

AO3

Previous

(I’m taking creative license with the first one and changing it to Tim and Jason, the color blue will be swapped with red.)

Marinette: ...want to do something chaotic with me?

Dick: depends on what the activity is.

Marinette: *holds up a bucket of paint* I'm going to paint everything in Bruce's office black and blue.

Dick: why those colors?

Marinette: *lazily grins* they're Nightwing's colors, aren't they?

______

Marin: ...why would I want.. why would.. *wipes at her eyes* no.

Talia: ...Marin, Darling-

Marin: *sniffs* --why would I want to go with someone who hates me??

Talia: ... *Arabic* [My Little Flower, do you really think I hate you? I could never. I care for you.]

Marin: ... *rubs at her burn scars* do you?

Talia: *looks down at her arms* ...yes. yes, Darling, I do. *grabs Marin's Hands* I do.

Marin: *laughs incredulously* [it does not feel like it, Mother. It never feels like it. Never. You show more love to Akhi in an hour than you did with me, my whole life.]

Talia: [do you really feel that way?]

Marin: *slightly tugs her hands out of Talia's grasps* [yes. You've told me not to waste my words on things I do not think are true, did you forget?]

Talia: ... what can I do?

Marin: what can you do?

Talia: *smiles sadly* what can I do to make you.. to..

Marin: ...nothing.

Talia: ...

Marin: *smiles bitterly* maybe time.

Talia: behind bars?

Marin: no! Give me time.

Talia: *smiles* okay, [My Little Flower,] *leans forward and kisses her forehead* okay.

________

When Jason stepped foot back in the manor after a week of hiding and camera sightings around different parts of the world to hide and cover up his trial, he was not expecting to come back to…whatever the heck this was.  The manor was somehow both somber, yet extremely chaotic.  While the house wasn’t exactly a “mess” as Alfred would kick their butts for it, it wasn't exactly “clean” either.  Specifically, Bruce’s stuff was littered, some of it completely destroyed, in random parts of the house.  Then he stumbled upon Tim who was typing furiously on his laptop while upside down on the couch.

Jason raised his brow and cleared his throat, and when he didn’t get a response kicked the kid in the arm.

“Ow!  What the-”

Tim blinked up at him for a second before he turned back to his work.

“Hey Jason.”

“Timberlina.  What happened while I was gone?”

“We found out that Marin left, you hid her somewhere, because of Bruce.  Damian and Dick are with the Titans.  So, Babs and I have taken to making Bruce regret all of his life decisions.

Jason hummed pleasantly surprised.  Then Tim turned to look up at him, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

*

“...Want to do something chaotic with me?”

Jason smirked slightly and crossed his arms,

“Depends on what the activity is.”

Tim moved the laptop towards the cucion of the couch, barely being able to do so in his awkward state.  Then out of basically nowhere pulled out a paint can, a casual smile on his lips.

“I’m going to paint everything in Bruce’s office black and red.”

Jason almost laughed, this was going to be amazing.

“Why those colors?”

“They’re our colors, aren’t they?”

*

Jason grinned wickedly as he snatched the paint can up, Tim almost gracefully doing a somersault off the couch and grabbing another paint can and brushes.

“You sure Alfred won’t be mad about this?”

Jason asked with a raised brow.

“Nah, I asked him if I could.  He discouraged it, though said he couldn’t stop me if I chose to.”

Ah, so Alfred was just as upset as them it seemed.  That was good to hear, having Alfred on their team would make things much easier.

~~~~~~~~~

Marin sat atop the Eiffel Tower de-transformed with only her armor on.  She refused to let her mother know she held the power that Grandfather had been searching for for years.  She was afraid that she would try to take it, and if she did that then she would fail and dishonor her promise.  She might as well be dead at that point, if it came down to it she would fight Mother to protect the ring and her new city.  She could hear the soft tap of footsteps and knew that her mother was here and making her presence known.  Marin knew that if Mother didn’t want her to know she was there she wouldn’t have heard her.  Quickly she stood and turned into a bow.

“Mother, I apologize for failing to inform you of my new location.  It was improper and-“

She held back a flinch as she felt Mother gently place her hands on her shoulders.

“Marin, my Flower”,

She began gently lifting her chin so she was looking at her and carefully moving a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“I’m not angry with you, I heard from one of my informants that you ran from Gotham with Jason.  A different informant said that they saw you here in disguise.  I came to check on you after I heard he left.”

Marin felt the small warm feeling she got whenever her mother showed she cared about her.  The moments were rare, but they were what kept her together at the League on her hardest days and when her fa- Bruce ignored her existence.

“I needed to get away, I originally planned to come back to you, but Jason brought me to one of his friend’s children’s houses.  I’ve decided to stay here indefinitely.”

Marin said confidently as she stared into her mother’s dark green eyes, eyes she desperately wished were hers rather than her brother’s.

“You should go back to them soon, think of Dam-“

Marinette felt her chest tighten and nausea swirling around inside of her as she interrupted her mother by shouting out,

“No!”

How dare she lose control of her emotions!  She would get punished now.  The old burns on her arm seemed to flare up as she thought about them and what would happen to her now.

“Flower, I know things aren’t easy, but you should go back to your father.”

Talia whispered gently, still crouching at Marin’s eye level.  Marin felt tears well up in her eyes as she thought about leaving the new life she just started, and leaving the warmth here in return for the cold empty was she felt anywhere else.  When had she gotten so expressive, when had she become so weak that she cried at the thought of leaving a stupid place?!

*

“…why would I want… why would…”

Marin wiped her eyes trying to keep them as dry as possible and not show weakness.  Weakness was wrong, frowned upon.  She refused to let her mother see her as weak!

“No.”

She said again, she wasn’t going back there.  She wasn’t going back to a place that didn’t care about her again.  She felt cared for here, she didn’t want to lose the warmth she got from this city.

“…Marin, Darling-“

She started gently pausing when Marin sniffed.  She was trying to figure out if this was one of her molds, but as she stared into her daughter’s blue eyes she knew that it was fully and completely Marin.  Tears welled up in Marin’s eyes no matter how hard she tried to stop them they kept coming.

“—why would I want to go with someone who hates me?”

She said quietly, as she gave up on wiping away her tears and just let them fall.  Nobody really liked her there, nobody ever would.  They would all hate her!  Nobody would ever love her.  Talia stayed silent thinking over her words before replying in Arabic,

“My Little Flower, do you really think I hate you?  I could never.  I care for you.”

Marin almost wanted to flinch away at her last words.  She didn’t love her, Marin always knew that, but after figuring out what love was, it felt wrong.  She didn’t like that phrase though she knew that all the affection her mother ever had for her was just, “care”.  Marin rubbed at her burn marks, memories flooding her mind as she wondered if this was true or just another manipulation.

“Do you?”

She asked quietly, breaking eye contact and looking to her left.  Talia looked down at her covered arm and remembered the scars that her handlers had given her.  Burns that made her skin boil, tear, and bleed.  She took great pride when she killed him, and she did it in front of Marin to let her know that she would handle any person she saw improperly punishing her daughter.  Maybe that was wrong, but it was for the best.

“…yes.  Yes, Darling, I do.”

She said slowly running her hands down Marin’s shoulders and arms until she was holding both of her daughter’s hands in her own.  Marin felt an incredulous laugh leave her lips at her mother’s words.  Because it never seemed that way, especially if she had an informant in Gotham and never came to get them when she was obviously suffering under Bruce’s care.

“It does not feel like it, Mother.  It never feels like it.  Never.  You show more love to Akhi in an hour than you did with me my whole life!”

She stated matter of factly as tears continued their trail down her cheeks.  Talia squeezed her hands a little tighter, her eyes revealing the emotions she wanted her daughter to see.

“Do you really feel that way?”

She asked, feeling her chest tighten slightly as her daughter removed her hands from hers and nodded ever so slightly.

“Yes.  You’ve told me to not waste my words on things I do not think are true, did you forget?”

Marin asked, standing soldier straight.  She cocked her head slightly to the side, her eyes shining in mock confusion.  Her tone was flat like when she was reporting to her superiors.  She wished that Marin didn’t feel the need to talk to her like that, but it was what she was taught to do.  Desperate for her child to understand that she did care for her and that she didn’t have to act so proper around her she asked her,

“…What can I do?”

Marin was shocked, but she made sure her features didn’t show it.  She had never expected this, she had never thought her mother would ever try to do anything for her without a specific goal in mind.  What was her goal?  But the tone that escaped her lips was a shocked and confused,

“What can you do?”

Talia smiled sadly at her daughter.  She hadn’t been the best mother to her, the circumstances they were in would have never allowed her to be.  She wasn’t even a great mother to her son.  She wanted to be in her life and try to help her have a good one, even if she couldn’t be around often.

“What can I do to make you…to…”

She didn’t know how to phrase it, but Marin seemed to understand what she was trying to say and replied,

“…Nothing.”

Talia sat in silence as her chest grew a heavy feeling of sadness and regret.  She understood why her daughter would want nothing to do with her, but it still left a small pain and weight against her shoulders.  She had birthed Marin from her own womb.  She had hoped she and Damian would have been born on the same day, but Marin was born a few months early and she had to fight her father to be able to keep the child she sacrificed her body for.  She wouldn’t show anyone her hurt, but it would always be with her.

Marin smiled bitterly as she saw her mother and the small glimpse of pain that flicked in her eyes when she told her there was nothing she could do.  It was all probably a trick, but she wanted to see her mother more, she wanted her mother to love and respect her like she did Damian.  Hesitantly she said,

“Maybe time.”

Talia was shocked and confused.  Surely her daughter meant what she thought she meant.  If she did that then terrible things would happen world wide and it would be practically uncontainable.

“Behind bars?”

She asked confusedly, still looking her daughter directly in the eyes.  Marin was shocked and taken aback.  She quickly shouted,

“No!  Give me time.”

She placed a hand to her chest as emotions leaked through her eyes showing her desperation and need to just be wanted and accepted.  Talia smiled gently at her and slowly stood up and whispered,

“Okay, My Little Flower.”

She leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.  She could feel her daughter stiffen up before leaning into it.  Her smile grew as she pulled away and whispered,

“Okay.”

While pushing the strands that kept blowing in her daughter’s eyes from the wind behind her ear.

*

“I’ll give you as much time as you need.  Tea tomorrow at 16:00.  I’ll find you, My Flower.”

“Of course, Mother.  Thank you.”

Marin said, giving a small bow.  Talia smiled at her and gently placed one hand on her head before she disappeared into the shadows.  Marin looked up and saw no trace that her mother was even there.  Quickly and quietly she began to climb down the Eiffel Tower and towards her home taking twists and turns to lose anyone that tried to follow her.

___________

Marin’s stomach churned as waited at an outside table of Bière De La Fortune.  She hadn’t ordered anything as she waited, because it would be improper to start without her guest.  Or was she the guest?  Didn’t matter, it was still improper.  She had her silver contacts in, hopefully her mother wouldn’t mind.  Maybe she would understand why she didn’t want to see her stupid eyes.  Or maybe she would scold her because she would see it as a weakness.  But grandfather was gone, so maybe she would be more lenient as she was the head of the League now.  The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and after taking a quick breath she opened her closed eyes and saw dark green eyes.

“Good afternoon, Mother.”

“Hello, My Flower.  Have you had anything yet?”

“No, I was awaiting your arrival first.”

Talia nodded as she studied her daughter.  She was wearing silver contacts and she felt her heart ache a little at not being able to look into her daughter's precious blue eyes.  Placing her hand on the table her palm faced up she waited for her daughter to take it and gave her a small smile when she did.  She squeezed her hand gently, not letting it go.

“I haven’t mentioned the highlights yet.”

Marin stiffened slightly and refused to let her fingers twitch.

“The color suits you.”

Marin relaxed, letting her shoulders fall slightly in relief, and slowly removed her hand.

“You actually like them?”

Talia gave her a warm smile and nodded.  Marin gave a small smile back, her fingers twitching slightly.  Talia didn’t comment on it though, she could be free to express herself however she wanted now, she was free now.  Before Talia could say something else a waiter came up to them and asked for their orders.  Talia tilted her head in a silent question and Marin nodded, understanding her silent question.

“Two Jasmine teas please with a dash of honey.”

The waiter wrote it down with a small nod and left.  Talia turned back to her daughter and saw the long sleeves covering her arms.

“What do you plan to do now that you are here My Flower?”

Marin scowled down at her arms in thought.  For once in her life, she didn’t have a plan.  She was taught to always have a plan, to always know what to do next.  But now, she was unsure.  She didn’t have a plan.  She didn’t even know what she wanted!

“I….I don’t know Mother.”

Talia placed her hand softly atop her wrist in a comforting way.

“That’s alright.  You’ll figure it out eventually, and I’ll be here to help.”

Marin looked up and met her mother’s eyes.

“You will?”

“Always, My Flower.”

After the tea arrived Talia began to ask her questions.  Learn more about her daughter now that she was able to let herself go and be slightly at ease.  Find things that she was truly passionate about.  See how much her beautiful, brave, and so so strong daughter had grown.

“I’m so proud of you.”

Talia said as they arrived in front of “Marinette’s” new home.  Marin smiled softly, her eyes looking a bit glossy.

“Thank you, Mother.”

Hesitantly Talia held out her arms, and felt her chest swell with joy as her daughter carefully wrapped her arms around her.  They stood there for a few moments before Marin quickly pulled away.  And after Marin gave her a small bow she opened the door and left.  Talia once again disappeared into the darkness knowing that her daughter would be safe here.

Next

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Previous

Ao3

Here is part 2 of my series based around @bambicambi ’s assassin!Marin au. I hope you all like it! Thank you for reading!

Lesson 2: Trust No One No Matter How Close They May Seem

Prompt:

Damian: *in disbelief* you did what..? Bruce: I've.. overstepped. Damian: she's.. where is she right now, Father? Bruce: she's with Jason. Damian: and where is Jason? Bruce: ... Damian: *licks his lips* Father, where is Jason? Bruce: he is somewhere. Damian: *raises his eyebrows* you don't know? Bruce: he's somewhere. Damian: *swallows* aren't you supposed to be the greatest detective? Bruce: ... Damian: you were supposed to see in between the lines. Be the 'greatest detective' when it came to figuring out my sister. Bruce: Damian.. Damian: but you never saw it, did you? Bruce: ... Damian: i kept asking her to change herself. I kept asking her to try and push the urge to pretend away, all for you.. Bruce: ... Damian: And you never saw it. You never saw how much it pained her. I thought you did. Bruce: Damian.. Damian: is that you can say? My name? Is that all you can say, Father? Because its not enough. Bruce: *grabs his shoulder* Damian.. Damian: its not enough! My sister is out there, your daughter, is out there. And you don't know where she is! Bruce: shes with Jason- Damian: *hisses, in arabic* [and how long is she going to stay there!] Bruce: ... Damian: [how long do we know she's going to stay with Jason!? He could have brought her to my Mot-] *blinks* ... wait.. Bruce: ... Damian: she said she rather go with my Mother? Bruce: yes. Damian: shes terrified of my Mother. Bruce: *hand twitches* she was very adamant on going to Talia. Damian: *stares at him* ...what did you do? Bruce: i gave her a test, like i do with all of you. Damian: i don't think you did. We never reacted this way whenever you gave us tests. Hell, even Todd never reacted this way! Bruce: i just gave her a test- Damian: bullshit. ________________

Damian was confused, he didn’t understand why his sister was going back to their mother.  She was safe here, what had happened to make her leave, did she come back?  He remembered an argument that they had had only a few months ago about their mother.  He had been telling her that she was safe and could stop acting, she had yelled about how their mother always found a way back.  Was she right, what did mother do that made her go back with her.  There was no way she would go back with that woman willingly, there was no way that she would just abandon him.

“Oracle, I want to know Hummingbird’s last location!”

Damian demanded as he began to look around frantically to see if he could spot anything that could leave him a hint to where she was.  Why would she do this, why would she just leave them?!  Did mother show up and threaten her, did he do something wrong, was she captured and someone was faking her voice?  No, she never spoke on patrol unless it was absolutely necessary.

“Last known location was atop an old apartment complex on route 43.  Sending coordinates now.”

Was her clipped response as she harshly clicked atop the keyboard.  This was her sister, they may not have known each other well, but she was family and important to her.   She refused to let her go back to the League, she would make sure that nothing bad happened to her.

Damian followed by Nightwing started to race towards the coordinates that Oracle had sent them.  They stayed in a tense silence as they ran and wung as quickly as they could.  When they landed they were shocked to see batman down hand bleeding from two different places, a bloody dagger thrown to the side, and Batman was pulling out something from his leg.  Damian walked closer and examined what his father had been hit with.  He picked up the dagger and took in a sharp breath as he knew it was one of his sisters as indicated by the painted cherry blossom branch.  He quickly looked at his father and saw Nightwing helping him pull out….needles.  He rushed to his father’s hand and picked it up causing Batman to hiss in pain, but he ignored it as he saw two bullet wounds.  He looked around at the bodies that lined the roof and noticed needles in some of the people as well.

No, no this isn’t what it looks like.  His sister would never just betray them, she must have had a reason for doing this.  Father must have an expansion, he must know what happened to cause her to flee.  He noticed Drake land behind him and freeze as he observed the scene in front of him.  His eyes flashed to Bruce, then him, then the people, some of whom were starting to wake up.  Quickly pulling out zip ties and trying to distract his brain from the flurry of thoughts that clouded and invaded his mind he set to work securing all of the thugs on the roof so that they could not escape.  He noticed Nightwing and Red Robin begin to help Batman up and helped him to the Batmobile.  Damian had a bad feeling, and he did not want to be near his father at the moment.  He clenched his fist as his nerves began to take over and the situations became worse and worse in his head.

When they arrived at the cave Gordon looked furious.  Bruce had limped over to where Alfred was waiting for him to take care of his wounds.  He didn’t know what had gotten her so riled up, but he hoped beyond all belief that it didn’t mean that his sister was hurt, ….or worse.  He shivered and shook the thought out of his head.  No, his sister was too strong and too clever to ever let someone do that to her.  Gordon glared at Bruce the entire time he was being treated, and when asked she simply replied,

“Wait for when Bruce is done, because I bet he would love to explain the situation.”

To which he flinched.  Damian didn’t have a good feeling about that and began to pace while he waited.  Why weren’t they searching for her, why weren’t they trying to find or stop her from leaving.  He had finally made up his mind to go on his own when Alfred had finished and helped Father sit up properly.

“What do you need to tell us B?”

Dick asked, a little nervous as he glanced at his brother.  He had never seen Damian so wound up over something, let alone another person.  It made sense though seeing as they were siblings and have been with each other since the League.  There was a long pause of silence and it was driving Damian mad.  He was about to leave again when their father finally answered,

“As you all know Marin was on patrol by herself for the first time tonight.  I decided to follow her to make sure she didn’t do anything while we weren’t watching.”

Damian felt his body stiffen as he turned to look directly at his father and stared at him in shock.  He couldn’t believe that he thought so low of her, she was the level headed one out of the two of them and the most loyal and respectful.  She would never go against Father’s rules, he knew she was too afraid of being punished to do so.  Didn’t he see that, the way she stiffened up there the first night when he said that, “There will be consequences for violating this rule”?  Did he not notice the way she was always on the offense so she wouldn’t severely hurt anyone?

“Keep going Brucie, or I can tell them.  You may have turned off your comm, but you left your audio on.”

Gordon said with her arms crossed a snarl at her lips.  Bruce sighed and continued,

“I paid some people to attack her on her route to test her, and she failed.  She wasn’t happy and tried to kill one of them.  I stopped her before she could.”

Silence filled the cave as everyone except Gordon processed his words.  Damian felt sick as he felt his eyes widen farther than he ever thought possible.  He didn’t want to believe it, he didn’t want to believe he would do that to his daughter, but he had just admitted it.  He had just said that he hired people to attack her because he didn’t trust her.  He saw the people on the roof, none of them were maimed, no severe injuries or wounds, and most of them didn’t even have a bruise.  How had she failed there was no sign of any lethal force.  Damian began to robotically walk towards his father and looked directly into his eyes.  In disbelief, his eyes shining in fear, he asked,

“You did what…?”

His voice was almost a whisper, but he knew his father heard him.  He knew that because he could see the slight fear in his eyes even if it was gone soon after he had seen it.

* “I’ve… overstepped.”

Was his only reply as he averted his eyes away from his youngest child.  He knew that this wasn’t going to end well, he knew how attached he was to her even if he wouldn’t admit it.  Damian sucked in a sharp breath still not wanting to believe that his father would do such a thing, he wouldn’t attack her, would he?  He swallowed some back some saliva frantically wondering where she was, if she was ok, what was going on her mind?

“She’s… where is she now, Father?”

Still not looking into his son’s eyes he gruffly replied,

“She’s with Jason.”

Damian felt annoyed as his father danced around the question. not giving him the straight answer he needed.  Damian felt his patience wear thin as he stared down his father.  He had to know where she was, he wouldn't just let her go without knowing where she was going, right?!  He said she was with Jason, maybe he knows where he is and in turn know where Marin is, he had to!

“And where is Jason?”

Damian asked stiffly, trying not to let any of his nerves show as he clenched his fists in anticipation.  Father did not answer, he stayed silent making Damian’s heart rate spike up as panic coursed through him like a tidal wave.  He knew she could take care of herself, he knew that she would survive just fine on her own, but that didn't make it right!  She shouldn't have to do that any longer, she shouldn't have to be alone like that anymore!  The silence was more deafening than any noise he had ever heard before.  His lips felt dry and chapped as he waited, but he still did not answer.  Damian licked his lips and demanded,

“Father, where is Jason?”

“He is somewhere.”

Was his mumbled reply.  Damian felt like the walls were closing in around him trapping him in an inescapable torment of his fear.  Maybe his father was just trying to test him, to see if he could interrogate without the threat of violence.  He raised his brow and crossed his arms hoping that none of his fear or worry was bleeding through.

“You don’t know?”

He asked with a voice of  irritated disbelief.

“He’s somewhere.”

He muttered with a pause between the two words.  Damian felt nauseous at his father’s dry reply.  He felt the pit in his stomach continue to grow and his eyes stung.  He swallowed everything back trying to maintain his air of cool.  He couldn’t get emotional, he had to keep a level head or else he wouldn’t get the answers he needed.  But the feeling of betrayal weighed heavy on his heart, the feeling of complete and utter fear for his sister’s well-being overtaking every inch of his mind.

“Aren’t you supposed to be the Greatest Detective?”

Damian spat out like it was some kind of joke.  How had he not noticed her, his own daughter.  She had so many tells that were so obvious when you paid close enough attention.  His father didn’t say anything prompting Damian to continue.  He felt rage and regret boil inside of him as he continued to stare at the man, the man who wouldn’t even look at him.  Coward.

“You were supposed to see in between the lines.”

He yelled, clenching his fists tighter at his sides, the material of the gloves wrinkling under his intense grip.

“Be the ‘Greatest Detective’,”

He said sarcastically as he used air quotes around the two words before going back to clenching them,

“When it came to figuring out my sister.”

His breathing was ragged and he could feel the tears at his eyes begging to be released, but he ignored it, and just continued to push them back.  His father finally looked at him and quietly said,

“Damian…”

He didn’t let him say anything else as he wallowed in pity feeling himself deflate.  She was right, she was always right, why could he not see that?  Why was he always trying to prove her wrong when she was right?!

“But you never saw it, did you?”

He asked quietly as he curled in on himself his voice lowered and sounding almost broken.  Bruce was silent, not understanding what his son was getting at.  He had seen her, He knew that she was not to be trusted, that she was fake and pretended with everyone.  She shifted her personality far too often, she was never truly honest with them, and so he just opted to not be around her.  She was too much of a risk if she decided to betray them, the less she learned about him the better.  Damian lost the battle as finally a single tear slipped down his face, and now it was his turn to look down.  He felt shame course through himself as he said,

“I kept asking her to change herself.  I kept asking her to try and push the urge to pretend away, all for you…”

There was a gasp of air from somewhere in the room, he didn’t know where nor did he care.  Bruce still didn’t say anything as he stared at his son in shock.  He hadn’t expected this, he didn’t know that this would make his son act so lost.  He had never seen this side of him, he was always so self assured and confident, and he had never seen his son act so….. vulnerable.

“And you never saw it.”

Damian growled his fists clenching once again as he remembered everything she tried to do and was ignored or turned away.  He thought back to all the times Marin had tried to be herself, had tried so hard, for him.  He saw the way her hands would shake when she stopped pretending, when she dropped the molds and just acted as herself.  The pain in her eyes when the others left her, the heartache in her eyes as Father would be the first to leave and never return like the others sometimes would after a little while.

“You never saw how much it pained her.  I thought you did.”

He thought he had, when she sat next to him during meals, and he moved his chair slightly away from her, he thought he had seen the ways her eyes dulled.  He remembered how Marinette Immediately took over as she talked with the others over dinner and how she would glance at there father as he would only say anything if one of the others talked to him.  He saw the way her eyes glazed over when he did that. Did their father really not see the way that she hurt?  The way that he made her hurt?  When she first acted as Marin it was in front of their father.  She thought that he would finally be proud of her and finally except her for dropping her act like he wanted her to.  He remembered the way she drew in on herself, even if it was very slight, from the nerves before she dropped her molds.  He remembered how Father had been studied and watched her.  Yet he never really looked at her…., did he? He just saw what he wanted and just didn’t care about the rest of her.  Care about the part of her that was trained and beaten for ten years to hide herself and her feelings. He didn't want to understand that and just assumed that she did it because she could and that she was not afraid of being rejected.  Marin and him were not the same person, while he had been treated like a king she had been treated like the scum of the earth because she was born first as a girl.  Did he not understand that her life was so much worse than his ever was? That she was trained differently than him, treated differently, pushed differently, that she was constantly one step away from death because of her stupid gender?!

“Damian…”

Bruce began, but he didn’t finish his sentence as his voice trailed off causing more rage to build up in the young boy’s chest as memories of their League days played in her head.  Like the days she came back to his room covered in cuts or burns. Treated like she was worthless when she was the best assassin constantly on the field.

“Is that all you can say?  My name?”

He raised his voice angrily as disgust coated over his words as he looked up and glared daggers at his father.

“Is that all you can say, Father?  Because it’s not enough!”

He yelled as he leaned into his father’s personal space.  Bruce slowly and carefully placed his hands on Damian’s shoulders once again saying his name to try to get his son to calm down so he would just listen to him.

“It’s not enough!”

He all but screamed, shrugging off his father's hands from his shoulders as he continued to glare at his father.

“My sister is out there, your daughter is out there.  And you don’t know where she is!”

He continued to yelled, as he pointed towards where the Batmobile was parked in front of the cave entrance that was currently sealed shut, as he emphasized his words in hopes he would understand their importance.  Bruce sighed and rubbed his eyes as he repeated,

“She’s with Jason-”

Anger coursed through him turning his vision red, and out of habit for when he and Marin got into a rather heated debate or argument he switched into Arabic, his their native tongue.

“And how long is she going to stay there,”

He yelled knowing full well that his father understood what he said.  There was a long pause, his father did not say a word which only aggravated Damian even more as his green eyes flashed showing how furious he truly was.

“How long do we know she’s going to stay with Jason?!  He could have brought her to my moth-”

Damian paused and blinked.  How could he have forgotten?  She said that she was going back to the League.  She said she was going to go back to their mother.  She hated the League, she had nightmares about it almost every night, even if she would never admit that.

“...Wait…”

A deafening silence once again filled the cave as those who understood Arabic (i.e. everyone except for Grayson and Gordon) knew what he was going to say and knew the weight it carried.  Bruce was silent and it looked as if guilt shone in his eyes before it disappeared and was replaced with righteousness.  Just to be sure, to make sure that what he heard her say was not some kind of sick hallucination he asked flatly with both of his arms st his sides,

“She said she’d rather go with, Mother?”

“Yes.”

Was his quick response as he watched his son react.  Damian felt his hands shake from all of the emotions that swam in his head.  Everything felt fuzzy and his thoughts just didn’t make sense and he just couldn’t figure anything out through the haze that surrounded his mind.

“She’s terrified of Mother.”

He said in a horrified tone as his eyes were wide.  He watched his father and saw how his hands twitched.  Bruce didn’t know what Damian meant by that, how could she be so horrified of Talia if she was so insistent on going back to her?  She was never part of their team, she was never loyal to them, she was just waiting to find a reason, a way to go back to Talia.  There was no way Marin would want to go back there if she was so frightened, the cave would have been much better for her and she wouldn’t be hurt.

“She was very adamant on going to Talia.”

He replied dryly as his voice darkened.  Damian stared at him in horror and tried to figure out his father and what was going through his mind that would make him be ok with his daughter going back to her worst fears.  What had he done to push her over the edge so much so that she would willingly go to their mother, the mother that constantly hurt and manipulated her.  Appalled with fury he slowly growled out,

“...What. Did. You. do?”

He emphasized every word as he scowled at his father.  Bruce replied in his Batman voice,

“I gave her a test, like I did with all of you.”

He said raising his voice a little to emphasize his last words as he looked everyone in the eyes for a few seconds.   A rule that he had been taught since birth suddenly played out in his mind, Trust no one, no matter who they are to you.   Could he really not trust his father, did he really just give her a simple “test”?

“I don’t think you did.”

Damian began cautiously as he folded his arms again and stared incredulously at his father.

“We never reacted this way whenever you gave us tests.  He**, even Todd never reacted this way!”

Bruce sighed in exasperation not understanding why his son couldn’t understand that he just did what needed to be done.  This wasn’t his fault, he did what he’s always done, she was the one who overreacted.

“I just gave her a test-”

Bruce began tiredly only to be cut off by his son yelling,

“Bulls*!” *

At the top of his lungs.  Everyone was shocked because Damian had never cursed, ever.  He said it was for the uneducated and lowly who didn’t know how to speak.  Alfred didn’t even call him out on it as Damian pushed his father with all his force effectively knocking him down before he stormed out of the cave with his teeth barred and his hands clenched around what looked to be a weapon of some kind.  Everyone’s eyes turned back to Bruce as soon as the doors the lead to the cave were slammed shut with enough force that the bats at the top of the cave flew around for a few seconds before settling back onto their perches.  Bruce looked from where his youngest son had left to his older ones and saw the angered and disappointed looks in  all of their eyes.

“I can’t believe you B.”

Tim said tiredly as he rubbed his eyes.  When he dropped his hand he noticed that tears were falling from his eyes.  He turned to look at Dick, but he was turned away from him as if it pained him to even look at him.  He turned to look at Barbra and saw the resentment in her eyes and the rage that threatened to spill at any moment.  Finally he looked at Alfred, but he wouldn’t look at him either. There was a sorrow in his eyes, a melancholy that only showed when something valuable was lost forever.

“Bruce, can I tell you something she told me when she was so sleep deprived that I don’t think she even realized she told me about it.”

Tim began as he stared directly at him, his voice never wavering.  Bruce didn’t answer so Tim continued on.

“I had asked her about a scar that was on her arm and do you know what she told me?”

Bruce continued to stay silent as he watched different emotions play though his son’s face until he swallowed and continued on.

“She told me that one of her handlers, her trainers, burned her for even the smallest mistake.  She said that the burn on her arm, which mind you was not small, it was maybe 6" from what I could see, was because her stance was an inch too wide.  She told me that she was scared that she would be hurt like that if she showed me Marin.  I was confused on what she meant by that, but all she did was smile at me and continue working.  You pushed her enough to want her to go back to a place that did that to her, that literally named her Mistake! ”

Tim let out a tired sigh and turned away as his heart sunk under the heavy weight that his little sister, the only one that truly understood him, was gone.  Silently he walked up the stairs and left the cave closing the doors softly instead of slamming them like Damian had.  The others looked at Bruce with upset and disappointed looks as they left until it was just Bruce and Alfred.  Alfred looked down at Bruce as he sat in his chair then looked back up and said,

“Master Bruce, you have royally messed up, and I don’t know what you can do to fix this.”

Before he too quietly left, leaving Bruce alone to contemplate and think over his decisions and reanalyze all of the times he had been with or near Marin.  A heavy feeling began to firmly take place in his heart as he thought about what he had done.  Had he really gone too far, was this his fault?  Was he too harsh on her, or was she just being overdramatic so she could leave them?  Was she really just afraid to be herself, did she truly feel like she had to hide from them like that because they would hate or hurt her?  How was he supposed to trust her if she never trusted them?  This wasn’t his fault.  He had only done what he thought needed to be done, she left them, he didn’t make or force her to leave them.  She decided to leave, it was her choice, and she chose to go back.  He refused to be blamed for her decisions.

Damian sat in her room holding one of the daggers from the set he had given to her for her birthday.  There was only one, which meant that she currently had the other on her.  He studied the blade and remembered how happy she was when he had presented them to her, the way her eyes lit up as she weighed them in her hand and saw the jewels.  The one that she had left behind was the sapphire dagger, which meant she had the emerald one with her.  He hoped more than anything that she would not truly go back to the League.  That she had actually just hidden and that it was just a cover story to keep them from searching for her.

He felt a wave of pain and sorrow wash over him as he thought back to all the times he had begged her to stop pretending.  He had seen how the others had reacted to when she was Marin, but he was just so proud and happy that she wasn't hiding herself that he didn’t really care about how the others reacted.  How had he not seen how it had affected her, how her eyes got duller and more hollow.  How had he not noticed how tense she was and how fear bled into her eyes only to be replaced by disappointment.  The way she forced her eyes to light up for her sibling more than usual when she was Marinette, the way her fingers would twitch when there was a long silence.  He felt partially responsible for why she had left, after all he was the one that pushed her even though she was already at the edge.  It wasn’t just their father’s fault, it was his, and he could only feel shame as he hugged the blade close to his chest.  If he got a second chance, a do-over, if he ever found her again, he would do his best to make up for the pain he had caused her.  He would do everything in his power to make her comfortable and not push her like he had.  He vowed that he would find her again, and when he did, he would support her in whatever she was doing, just like she had always supported him.  He looked at his clock, 2:03 AM, he had school soon and he did not want to stay here.  Clenching his jaw he made a decision, he wasn’t going to stay here, he had a safe house in the city he could use.  Quickly he ran over to his room and grabbed a black duffle bag with emerald green highlighting, the one Marin had made him when father banned her from patrol because nobody else could tail her, and stuffed the dagger into one of the pockets.  He moved around his room grabbing and packing the essentials, clothes, socks, shoes, his suit, hygiene products, and some cash that he had found.  Before he could open his window there was a knock on the door.  Damian quickly hid the bag under his bed and told the person to come in so he wouldn’t seem suspicious.  Grayson slowly entered the room with gentle concern in his eyes.

“Damian, I’m so sorry for what B did.”

“It is not your fault Grayson, you have no need to apologize for his actions.”

“Right.  Look, I know that you want to get out of here.”

Damian stiffened a little not knowing how he knew of his plans.

“Remember how I said I would be helping to train a team up in Jump City?”

Damian raised a brow trying to figure out what he was getting at.

“I do, what about it?”

“Well, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me?  We could help you look for Marin, you could get away from Bruce, and it would probably be healthy for you to talk to others.”

Damian rolled his eyes at that, and then remembered that Jon was currently on that team his brother was talking about.  The more he thought about it the more right it felt to go there with his brother.  He didn’t want to be near his father, who was to say that his father wouldn’t treat him like he had his sister now that she was gone?  Quickly he agreed and grabbed the duffle bag he had hidden beneath the bed.

“Lets go now then Grayson, I assume that you already have a bag packed or have essentials already there?”

Grayson nodded with a small sad smile and both began to leave Grayson saying his bag was already in the car they would be taking.

“And where do you think you’re going?”

Bruce said as he exited the cave through one of the many secret entrances.  Damian continued to walk, not even glancing at his father.  He refused to look at the man that took the most important person to him away from him.

“None of your business, Father.”

Was his only reply as he turned and headed to the garage.  He could hear his father following them and before he could catch up Damian slipped one of his kunai from his sleeve into his hand and threw it so it barely missed his father’s head.  Grayson didn’t say anything, but he saw the grim look in his eyes.  He wasn’t sorry though, he wanted to do much worse to him, to the man that made his sister feel so terrible and afraid she thought the League was a better place for her to be.  The League was right though, he could never trust anyone, not even the person he thought he could trust with his life.  Silently he hopped into the car with his older brother and stared out the window as they drove away from the manor and away from Gotham.

Next

[lily-drake]

Previous

Ao3

Here is part 3 of my Assassin!Marinette story based around @bambicambi ’s prompts. Thank you for reading, i hope you all enjoy it!

Lesson 3: You Can't Always Trust What You See, It's How You Believe It

Prompt:

Jason: *grabs Marinette's face* listen to me. Marinette: *grabs his wrists* sir- Jason: listen to me. Marinette: *stares into his eyes* ... Jason: i am not like your old handlers. Marinette: *breathes in deeply* Jason: i will never be like your old handlers. Marinette: .. Jason: trust me. Marinette: *swallows* ... Jason: speak. Marinette: i can not trust you. But i will believe you. Jason: thats- yeah, *lets her go* okay. —————- Talia: Marin. Marin: Mother. Talia: come here. Marin: *walks up beside her* ... Talia: *looks down at her* ...have i told you that you have your father's eyes? Marin: *blinks* ... Talia: you know you are always able to speak freely around me without punishment. Marin: *swallows* it is hard not to know that i have my Father's eye color, Mother. Talia: *hums* yes.. i suppose. Marin: *fingers twitch* ... Talia: you twitched. Marin: *stands ever so slightly straighter* yes. Talia: i thought I've told you to not make it a habit. Marin: i haven't, Mother. Talia: you know how your grandfather feels about weakness. Marin: *blinks* i'm aware. Talia: *places her hand on Marin's shoulder* best to not make it a habit, Marin. Marin: *nods her head* affirmative. Talia: i am not your handler. Marin: *fights the urge to touch her arms* I'm aware, Mother. Talia: *smiles softly at her* i wish for you not to talk to me with such formal language while it is just the two of us. Marin: *looks over towards the left wall* there are 3 guards surrounding us. Talia: outside the walls, Marin. Marin: *looks towards the window* Damian is also currently outside. Talia: *runs her hands through Marin's hair* im aware. Marin: *nods her head* alright..

_________________

It had been a long flight to Paris, France.  She had hid inside one of Roy’s luggages so that no one would spot her.  Jason had disguised himself as an assistant and was telling Roy his schedule through the airport, which was hilarious.  She knew that he didn’t like it when Roy bossed him around, so the fact that he had to do whatever Roy said until they got on the plane made it hard for her to stay silent at some points.  When they got on the plane and the door shut Jason quickly unzipped the case and opened it so that she could climb out.

“Hey Pix, you alright?”

Jason asked as he carefully took her hand and helped her stand up right on her feet.  She looked up at him and gave him a small, real, smile.

“I’m fine Peter.”

She then turned to Roy who was sitting in one of the seats as the plane began to be dragged to the tarmac.

“Thanks again Roy, I owe you one.”

Roy smirked eagerly.

“That means if I call you in for a favor you’ll come?”

Marin sighed and rolled her eyes and nodded,

“Yea, I guess it does, but only once, so you better make it count.”

Jason rolled his eyes as he pulled her close to his side and walked them to the seats behind Roy giving her a gentle push towards the window seat.  The flight would be about 8 hours long, and Marin did not want to fall asleep, too many risks.  So like the amazing big brothers Jason and Roy were they stayed up talking and watching movies with her.  They even talked about disguises so she wouldn’t be recognized in public.  They decided that in the end they would dye her hair dark navy blue with red highlights and that she would wear grey eyed contacts.  It wasn’t anything big or complicated, but it was enough and should be able to disguise her well enough for her to just blend in.

When they arrived at the airport in Paris, France it was around 7:30 PM there and there was a small chill in the mid-April air.  Jason and Marin bid farewell to Roy as he left to go find one of his safe houses he had here while they went in search of one Gina Dupain.  They had found her near the entrance leaning against a motorbike with a sidecar attached to it.  As soon as Gina saw them she ran towards Jason and Marin had to fight everything inside of herself to not go into a defensive stance.  The lady was thin and tall with gray locks in a pixie cut.  She had a natural tan that was part of her skin tone and had a thick Italian accent as she spoke.

“Jason dear, it has been too long!  I’m so glad you decided to call while I was here!”

Jason hugged her back allowing Marin to lower her guard ever so slightly.  She may see that the woman was harmless, but she refused to just believe that.  Looks were used to deceive after all.

“It’s good to see you again as well Gina,”

He began gently pushing her away a bit.  He then turned to Marin and was about to introduce her, but she beat him to it.

“Hello, I’m Marinette.  I’m Jason’s sister, well he keeps saying that at least.”

She giggled out as her eyes shined brightly.  Gina seemed to buy it as she fawned over her.

“Where did you find this leetle fairy Jason, she is so adorable!”

She glanced over at Jason and saw him trying to hide a laugh behind his hand, but he was failing….miserably.  They had worked over a cover story on the plane as well, so they had everything covered.  She would be Marinette, the boys protested, but she ignored them.  Jason had found her on the streets in Gotham after she had tried to pickpocket him.  He unofficially adopted her as his little sister and is trying to find her a good place to live.  He remembered that Gina had said something about her son and daughter wanting a child because they couldn’t have one and were looking to adopt.  So, he would come with Marin to Paris to make sure the home was good enough for her before he left her with them with the promise of keeping contact and as constant as possible visits.

“Girl tried to pickpocket me on the streets, almost got away with it to if she hadn’t tripped and dropped my wallet on the ground.”

Marinette flushed in “Embarrassment” and covered her face as she swatted him away.  Gina continued to coo over her for a few more minutes before she asked her if she wanted to climb into her sidecar.  Hesitantly she agreed and climbed in fastening the seat belt.  Gina passed Jason the keys to the bike as he climbed on, her climbing on behind him.  The flew into the city at a speed she doubted was legal, but she wasn’t complaining.  Gina gave Jason directions to a small bakery where he slowed down and carefully parked the bike at the side of the road.  Carefully she climbed out, but not before “tripping” over the edge of it.  She let out a small yelp and Jason quickly caught her before she could make contact with the cement.  He rolled his eyes, she was used to it though.  She did the same thing at school, and Damian would react the same exact way, it made her laugh.  Gina also came around and fretted over her making sure she was fine.  This, this was foreign territory to her and she had no idea how to react.  She had never been fretted over like this before, if she was hurt she was told to brush it off or just have Alfred look it over if it was serious enough.  Her thoughts drifted back to her mother and the time they spent together when no one else was around.  Sometimes she would “fret”, but not like this, she would let her sit on one of her chairs or her bed and she would help treat some of the wounds for her.

Despite popular belief she and her mother actually got along and cared for each other.  Love was too strong a word for their bond, but she knew that her mother did care about her.  She was just following orders like she was supposed to.  Marin always played along with those orders trying to make them as believable as possible so Grandfather would not hurt her or her mother.  In public it was supposed to seem like her mother hated her, she was supposed to be “afraid” of her and punishment from the woman.  Most of them were private, and if they just sat and drank tea or worked on her form a little and she walked out with a “limp” afterwards, who's to say that she hadn’t just kept silent during the whole “punishment”.

She was drawn out of her thoughts by Jason carefully pulling her towards the bakery and talking to her softly as if she were a frightened child.  She squeezed his hand in hers and leaned into his side as he continued to talk.  The bell to the bakery opened and she was greeted with warm air that smelled extraordinarily sweet.  She looked around enjoying the non-threatening and casual vibe of the bakery with it’s light decor and simplicity.  She heard Gina give a loud greeting as she ran towards the people at the counter.  There was a short Asian woman with dark black hair in a bob cut and a very tall man that reminded her of Bane, but not from steroids, with brown hair and a mustache.  Both of the adults ran out from behind the counter and hugged Gina.  They were a physical family, she would have to get used to that if she decided to stay here.

Gina quickly brought the two people over to her and Jason.  She leaned into him more as the two came closer to her as Gina talked excitedly about them and how sweet she seemed.  The lady with the dark hair bent down a little and gave her a small soft smile.

“Hello Marinette, my name is Sabine and this is my husband Tom.  It’s nice to meet you.”

Sabine said in a very gentle and sweet voice in accented english as she held out her hand.  Marinette looked up at Jason and saw him give her a small nod.  She slowly came out from behind Jason and shook Sabine’s hand before she replied in stuttered French,

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you Ma’am.”

Sabine gave her a brighter smile and asked if she would like to come upstairs as Tom closed up the shop.  She slowly nodded as she followed Sabine behind the counter through a door that led to a hall filled with stairs.  She walked up the stairs still holding tightly to Jason’s hand until they arrived at the top where there was another door that led to a small apartment.  Sabine led her to a small living room where she sat on one of the couches, Tom, Sabine, and Gina sitting on the one across from the two.

“So, this is my little sister, Marinette, and I was told that you were looking to adopt.  She needs a stable place to live, somewhere that will keep her safe, somewhere that will have her be treated as an equal, and that she won’t be ignored.”

Tom and Sabine nodded as they studied the girl and asked if she wanted to go upstairs to see if the room she would have if she stayed was suitable for her and so she could get a feel for what she may want to do with it if she decided she wanted to stay here.  Slowly she nodded and stood up, but as she passed the back of the couch she tripped on thin air.  She quickly stood up, face flushed as she quickly ran up the stairs before Jason could ask if she was ok.  She closed the trap door and sighed as she looked around the room.  It was spacey and….pink.  While Marin didn’t like the color, she knew that it would fit Marinette’s personality perfectly.  There were two windows and a skylight that led to a balcony on the roof.  All in all the room was nice and would do nicely if she decided to stay here.  She walked towards the trap door and placed her ear to it so she could listen to the conversation.  It was nothing ginormous or of great importance, just questions being asked about her and Jason interrogating the two adults to see if they were good enough.  A few minutes later she walked down the stairs and carefully sat back down next to Jason.  The others smiled at her and continued to talk and asked her questions every so often making sure she felt included and that her opinion was important, because to them it was.  At the end of the day, both she and Jason left feeling good about the house, even if she would never fully trust them.

“Whatcha’ think Pixie-Pop?”

Jason asked as they walked through the park that was in front of the house.  It was nice and had a fountain in the middle of it.  There were lamps that lined the park making it glow softly as the sky darkened into night.  There was a peaceful feeling around them as they sat on a bench near the edge of the path.

“I...don’t know Jay.  On one hand they seem fine, and they didn’t have any tells and it didn’t seem like they had ulterior motives, but on the other I miss Mother.  I know that she was always harsh and cruel to me in the public eye, but she did care for me.”

Her mind wandered back to a small memory from when she was about 8.  She and her mother had been on a balcony overlooking part of the outer wall of Nanda Parbat during the late summer.  Sabine kind of reminded her of her mother with her soft and gentle ways that she would only show when it was just them.

*

“Marin.”

Her mother gently called out to her.  She had just entered her room and was waiting by the door for her next order.

“Mother.”

She greeted back cooly.

“Come here.”

Mother said as she continued to stare out at the land from the balcony.  Quietly she walked towards her making sure she didn’t make a sound as she stood right next to her.  Talia looked down towards her daughter and stared into her eyes.  She had always loved her daughters eyes, they looked so much like Bruce’s and she adored it.

“...Have I told you that you have your father’s eyes?”

She asked softly as the warm wind blew past them.  Marin didn’t respond though and just blinked too scared of being yelled at.  She still remembered the last time she spoke out of turn to her, but that was in front of the other Leaguers, it didn’t make her any less afraid though.  Talia’s eyes softened as she stared at her daughter as she stared back in silent attention.

“You know you are always able to speak freely around me without punishment.”

Talia said as she turned back to stare at the sunset in front of them.  Marin swallowed trying to calm herself knowing that she was right.  She was always so kind and patient when it was just them, besides she had invited her here for tea.  Tea was their time to be together peacefully whether in silence or small quiet conversation, and she was allowed to speak freely here, she just chose not to.

“It is hard not to know that I have my father’s eye color, mother.”

Both her mother and Grandfather had green eyes, Damian had received those same eyes.  She had blue eyes, blue eyes that no one else had, that she couldn’t have gotten from anyone else except her father. Her mother hummed a small smile playing at her lips.

“Yes… I suppose so.”

Marin’s fingers twitched as she felt her nerves get the best of her.  Talking about her father was always strange since she was never allowed to know his name or get any information about him.  If she brought it up she would be punished, Ra’s had personally told her that the first time she had asked him when she was 5.  Said she wasn’t worthy to know of or be part of such an amazing man’s family or something along those lines.  Talia glanced at her daughter and saw the ever so slight twitch in her fingers.  It was barely noticeable, but they were trained assassins and so it was easy to pick up on.

“You twitched.”

She pointed out hoping that her daughter was conscious of it so it would not become a habit.  She had used that motion during a mission as a nervous tell to lower the guard of the enemy, she had warned her not to get used to the motion.  Marin stood slightly taller so that she looked more self assured and confident instead of letting any fear show that she had been caught.

“Yes.”

Was her only response as she waited to be reprimanded.

“I thought I’ve told you to not make it a habit.”

Talia began in a worried voice.  If anyone else noticed it then they would use it against her or as leverage to manipulate her with the threat of telling the Demon Head.

“I haven’t, Mother.”

Was her terse reply.  It wasn’t a habit, she could control it.  It would not affect her, she was just stuck in a mold.  That meant she wasn’t trying hard enough, if she was stuck in a mold and couldn’t drop it then she was failing and needed to practice more.  She could not fall behind, to fall behind meant to dishonor her family name and she would never stand for that!

“You know how your grandfather feels about weakness.”

Talia said numbly as she subtly glanced back down at her daughter.  Marin simply blinked her face void of any emotions, but her eyes had glazed over in memory and fear.

“I’m aware.”

She replied flatly.  She certainly was aware, she had watched many executions for the “weak” of the League.  She had been told she would one day be one of those people many times before, she had been beaten in many different ways for being “weak”.  Talia turned and crouched down her daughter's level and gently placed her hands on her shoulders as she stared into her blue eyes and quietly said.

“Best not to make it a habit, Marin.”

Marin nodded her head sharply as she too stared into her mother’s olive green eyes giving a simple practiced,

“Affirmative.”

Talia’s eyes softened more.  Her daughter had been through so much, forced to wear so many masks that she had names and numbers for them, stuck in a place where everyone was her superior and she must treat them as such no matter who they were or where she was.  She wished that her daughter had not been forced to have such terrible people to train her, Jason had been doing so much good for her, and it made her glad that she had found him if only for her daughter to feel a little safe here.  She had been left at the mercy of her father’s hand picked men too many times.  She hated how her daughter felt that she had to talk to her as if she too were one of her handlers, that she couldn’t just speak with her normally again like she had when she was so much younger.

“I am not your handler.”

Talia reminded her trying to make her feel just a little safe in her presence.  Marin fought the urge to touch her mother’s hands and lean into the touch.  That would show weakness, that would show vulnerability, and she could not risk that.  She saw her mother and all that she had done to and for her, but she did not trust her.  She believed her mother cared for her, but she trusted that when all is said and done that she would never be first priority and if it came to her or Damian in a life or death situation, she would pick Damian.

“I am aware, Mother.”

Marin said, making her voice a bit softer.  Talia smiled softly at her and leaned in a little closer to her and whispered,

“I wish for you to not talk to me with such formal language while it is just the two of us.”

Marin subtly scanned her surroundings and quickly and quietly replied,

“There are 3 guards surrounding us.”

“Outside the walls, Marin.”

She glanced to the ground where one of the outside training areas were and saw her younger brother practicing his strikes and forms by himself and replied,

“Damian is also currently outside.”

Talia sighed as she began to gently run her fingers through her daughter’s long dark hair trying to calm her daughter down even just by a little bit.

“I’m aware.”

Talia whispered as she pressed her forehead against her daughter’s.  Marin’s guard dropped ever so slightly as she let her shoulders relax.   She gave a small slow nod and whispered,

“Alright…”

*

Her mother may have been distant and cold to her, but there were a few times like that where she knew that her mother did at least care about her. There was a long silence that passed between them as they thought over what to do next.  There was something here that felt like it wanted her to stay, but what if it was the wrong thing?  What if it was a trick and she was the fool of it.

“You know, I didn’t see any tells about them either, and they seemed like the people that could really help you right now.  They were supportive, inclusive, outgoing, and just respectable people.”

“And I get that, but what if you're wrong, what if it is all just a trick?  And what if-”

“Hey Pix, remember around week four of me being your handler?”

“Sorta, there were a few things, but it’s all kind of mushed together.  What about it Peter?”

“Well, I remember that one time you had tripped up and that you were scared for your life.”

“I was not!”

She said incredulously as she playfully hit his arm.  He rolled his eyes and continued like she hadn’t said anything,

“That was your first trip up ever in front of me, and it was so small that I barely even noticed it.  Then you stilled and just waited.  I didn’t understand what you were waiting for until you asked if I was going to discipline you.”

She remembered that day, she remembered it well.  She hadn’t been expecting his awkward response of,

“Just be careful or else you’ll hurt yourself.”

*

He even shrugged his shoulders afterward!  She remembered staring at him incredulously and talking about what he should have done.  How she messed up and how her last handlers had disciplined her.  He had kept calling her name and she wouldn’t stop talking until he squooshed her face with both of his giant hands and firmly said,

“Listen to me.”

While looking her right in the eyes.  She wrapped her hands around his wrists, though they only reached around half of his wrists and started to object saying,

“Sir-”

Only to have him cut her off again having him firmly repeat,

“Listen to me.”

As he continued to just stare into her eyes like he was staring into her very soul.  She silently stared back slightly nervous for what he was about to do to her, the possibilities endless in her head.  Slowly he said,

“I am not like your old handlers.”

He said emphasizing each word, never once breaking eye contact or wavering.  She sucked in a sharp breath of air not sure how to feel about this and the implications of what he meant.

“I will never be like your old handlers.”

He stated once again emphasizing his words making a silent promise to her though his eyes alone.  He would never hurt her like the others, he would not beat her, he would not force her to murder for no reason like they had.  He was different from the others, and he would never punish or prosecute her like they had done.  She didn’t say anything though as she continued to stare into his blue-green eyes looking for any sort of dishonesty or trickery.

“Trust me.”

He stated, though it was more of a question.  She swallowed nervously too scared to speak out of turn.  She wasn’t sure if he was looking for a verbal or non-verbal response and didn’t want to risk it.

“Speak.”

He demanded, though it was soft and non-aggressive.

“I can not trust you.”

She stated then paused for a second as she watched his eyes.  There was nothing in them that showed he was trying to trick her, but he could be hiding it well, she did not trust him, but he hasn’t given her a reason not to.  There seemed to be a bit of sorrow or disappointment at her words though, so she continued once she was sure,

“But I will believe you.”

She finished strongly.  He stared at her a little longer before sighing.

“That’s-yeah,”

He began as he let go of her face and took a step back from her.  There was acceptance and a sense of victory in his eyes.  Like he had done something that no one else ever could or would even if it was small.

“Okay.  Now, let’s go again, from the top.”

*

She had never said that to anyone before him, that was the first time she felt safe around any of her handlers.  It was a memory that she did not view lightly as it was a monumental moment at that time in her life.

“What about it Peter?  I don’t understand why that’s important right now?”

“Well you see Pix, back then you said that you didn’t trust me, but you did believe me.”

“Okay?  I still don’t get it.”

“Well Marin, how do you feel right now?  Do you trust me, or do you just believe me?”

He asked as he stared up at the few stars that were able to outshine the lights of the glowing city around them.  The cool April wind brushed past them, but they weren’t affected by it’s cool touch.  Marin bit her lip in thought as she contemplated his words.  Did she trust him?  She had trusted her father, but looked at where that had winded her up.  At the same time though, Jason had been there to help and defend her, he had trained her, saved her, covered for her, he never mocked her out of scorn or hate, he was always supporting her, and he even let her drive his most precious motorbike a few times.  So the question was, did she trust him or did she just believe him.  She smiled up at the stars and turned to her older brother in everything but blood and happily replied with all the confidence in the world,

“I trust you Jason, my Peter.  I trust you to Hell and back.”

He turned to her and smiled before saying,

“Don’t go there.  Been there done that Pix, and let me tell you it wasn’t fun.  0/10 stars, would not recommend.”

Marin scoffed in disbelief and started giggling as she punched him in the arm.

“You’re insufferable.”

She said in a fit of laughter, real laughter, not the forced laughs she did as Marinette, but genuine laughs that came from Marin.  She was who she was and currently she was free and didn't have to put on an act.  Not when she was around Peter, he understood her too well for her to ever pretend.  Damian also understood her well, but just not as well as Jason did.

“So, will you stay here then?”

She thought about this and after a few more moments of silence softly replied,

“Yea, I think I will.  You said that this place would be good for me, so I’m going to trust your judgment.”

Jason smiled as he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close to his side as he continued to stargaze.  She happily snuggled closer to his warmth as she too stared at the stars and felt at peace, like she was she needed to be.  There was a calming presence, the thing telling her she needed to be here singing praises to her as if she were finally home.

Next

[lily-drake]

Previous

Ao3

Here is part 5 of my assassin!Marinette au based around @bambicambi ’s posts. Thank you for reading!

Lesson 5: Trust That Chaos Has Purpose

Underlined words means they are speaking in Arabic.

Prompt:

Marin: *in arabic* [your family didn’t deserve you.]

Jason: *blinks rapidly* [what?]

Marin: *smiles softly* [your family didn’t deserve you.]

Jason: *purses his lips* … *covers his mouth with his hand* …

Marin: *grins* anyways, Peter, are we going to continue-? *walks off towards the training grounds*

Jason: *takes a shuddering breath before slowly following her, softly* thank you..

-------

Marinette: *pauses* ....fuck.

Target: *gasps* you said a bad word!

Marinette: ...shit.

Target: Alice! Stop saying bad words!

Marinette: *winces* I'm sorry-

Target: what-?

Marinette: *punches them hard enough that they pass out, purses her lips* ...

Marinette: *kicks the dirt around her* I'll have to leave school...

Marinette: *scowls, in Arabic* [man! I was just starting to like this school!]

Marinette: *sits down next to the Target* .... *grabs her phone* [they are out.]

Handler: [deceased?]

Marinette: [unconcious.]

Handler: [kill them.]

Marinette: *scowls and pokes the body* [they are a child.]

Handler: [and so are you.]

Marinette: *mutters* that just makes it infinitely times worse. [Fine.]

Handler: [you know where the pick up location is.]

Marinette: *stands up* [yes.]

Handler: *hangs up*

Marinette: *looks down at her phone* fucker hanged up on me! ——————-

Marin and Jason walked to the side of the bakery where there was a blue door that no doubt led to the main part of the home behind the bakery, and knocked.  They waited patiently for a few moments before Sabine answered and gave a small surprised look before it turned into a bright smile.

“Hello again, please come in.  I’ll meet you upstairs in a second, please make yourselves comfortable.”

She said as she stepped to the side to let them into the building.  Sabine went through a side door that led to the bakery kitchen, probably to get Tom, while she and Jason walked up the stairs to the apartment.  Once there they turned the knob to open the door and walked in.  Marin looked around again as she studied the place now that no one else was there.  It was quaint and though it was small it was warm and inviting.  She didn’t feel cold here like she often did in the League’s base or at the manor.  It was strange really, she never thought she would ever feel this way.

“Watcha’ thinkin’ ‘bout, Pix?”

Jason asked as he watched her and saw the soft look in her eyes.

“It’s warm here, Peter.”

Jason rolled his eyes and ruffled her hair.  He understood what she meant, and he was glad that she felt that way.  He owed Gina big time, even if she didn’t know why.

A few minutes later Tom and Sabine came upstairs and motioned for them to sit on the couches once again.

“It’s good to see you both again, did you want to ask about anything else?”

Sabine asked sweetly.

“Actually,”

Jason began sitting up a little straighter with a small smile,

“we decided that you would be the perfect parents for her.”

He finished as he placed a hand on her shoulder.  There was a moment where both Tom and Sabine sat in silent shock and just stared at the two.  Tears suddenly filled both of their eyes as they slowly walked over to both of them and brought them into a tight hug.

Jason and Marin were not expecting this and didn’t know how to react.  Marin instinctively let Marinette take over and hugged the two adults back while Jason was very awkward about it and it made her chuckle.  They separated a few minutes later, both adults wiping their eyes.

“Thank you, truly thank you.”

Sabine said, looking at both of them with full sincerity as Tom nodded in the background as he tried to compose himself.  Sabine then got on of her knees and took both of Marinette’s hands in hers and looked into her eyes and vowed,

“We will do everything in our power to make you feel comfortable here and to help you feel like you are part of this family, because you are now.  I promise to make sure that the rest of your life is filled with warmth and love.”

Marin didn’t know how to respond to this as she felt her heart burst with strange feelings and emotions she didn’t fully recognize or understand as she stared into the woman’s eyes.  Her chest felt constricted and her eyes watered, and she just didn’t know what to do other than nod.  It was warm here, she liked the warmth, the warmth that she had never seemed to have unless she was near a select few at specific times.  She didn’t know how to respond, because how do you respond to that?  She looked over at Jason silently asking for an answer, but he just gave a small smile and shrugged.  Sabine let go of her hands and stood up tall and turned to her husband.

“Let’s go close the shop so we can get to know our daughter today!”

Tom excitedly nodded and with childish glee ran downstairs to close up their business with Sabine right behind him, except more composed and graceful in her movements.  Once both were gone she turned back to Jason to see him giving her a soft smirk.

“I’m almost jealous, B would never do that for any of us.”

“Well,”

Marin began sitting up taller as if she were above him looking forward with her eyes closed and chin up in a hottie proper way,

“I guess you could come visit me if you feel you really need to.”

Their eyes connected and they both started laughing.  There was something about this place that made her feel calm, and that made her nervous.  She had never felt like she belonged before, so why did she feel it here?

“I’ll be holding you to that, we both know how crazy it gets at the manor. Now especially since you’ll be  gone chaos.”

“You make it sound like you're leaving right now.”

Jason rubbed the back of his neck nervously, she then glared at him.

“You are not leaving me yet, I will stab you before you get the chance.”

“That seems a little extreme, doesn’t it?”

“The pits gave you advanced healing, you’ll be fine.”

He rolled his eyes and shoved her, she knew she wasn’t strong enough to shove him back so she did the next best thing and pinched his arm causing him to curse in pain.

“You’re a real pain, you know that?”

“Learned from the best.”

She said, as she side eyed him and nudged his arm with her shoulder.  He rolled his eyes, still rubbing the spot on his arm she had pinched.  He opened his mouth to give her a retort, but the doors opened before he could.

“We thought we could go shopping today and find things you would like for your room, then we could get lunch at a nice cafe, then we could come back and start to set things up.”

Tom said proudly as he walked towards the two.  Marinette perked up and ran towards them with a bright smile and excitement in her step.

“That would be amazing, thank you so much!”

She glanced over at Jason trying to sneak past them and smirked,

“Do you think Jay-Jay can come with us? I'd feel really nervous without him.”

She asked shyly as she fiddled with a strand of her red and black-blue hair they dyed in the airport bathroom.  She would go to a salon to get it professionally done later.  She could feel Jason’s glare on her, and it only intensified when both Tom and Sabine quickly agreed and began to drag the two out of the apartment and towards the shopping district.  She saw Jason subtly flip her off, but she just rolled her eyes and showed him a small pocket of her throwing needles as a silent threat of what would happen if he left her alone.  He sighed in defeat and began to talk to Tom and Sabine, and if he added embarrassing stories in there as petty revenge, she couldn’t stop him now.

——— They had been shopping for quite a few hours with Jason holding the ever growing bags of clothes and room accessories.  She knew Jason didn’t deserve this after all he’s done for her, but it was her job as his younger sister and ex-student to make him regret everything .  She skipped her way through the crowd talking with Tom and Sabine answering their questions with absolute sunshine.  Marinette always got people to like and accept her, she was inviting and perfect, everything Marin wasn’t.  It was laughable how close the names were yet how different the people who owned them were.  Marinette would blend in perfectly with the City of Love, she would fit in perfectly with her rose tinted glasses perspective, her sunshine attitude, her problem solving solutions, and her love to help.

Lunch had been nice as well, they asked her more questions and she answered them with half truths that seemed perfect and with wistful looks that made her innocence seem all of the more real.  Sadly, she had accumulated a few bruises as Marinette had a very clumsy nature, which she currently despised.  Apparently it was spring break here, so they could get her enrolled into the collége across the street from their bakery quickly.  She didn’t really want to go to school as she already knew everything they taught there, she would have already had 2 master degrees and three bachelors if it wasn’t for their mother killing their tutors.  She wished she could have told the people at Gotham Academy that, but she had to be careful even if she had revealed things and done things that made everybody think she was already crazy.  And in a way, she was crazy, she kinda wished her father Bruce had just sent her to Arkham on a few occasions.

After they were done shopping for the smaller things they went back to the bakery where they set up her room.  They had set all of the items down around the room, and because the furniture they ordered for her wouldn’t be there until the next day they did set anything up.  She would stay with Jason for another night, which she was fine with.  They stayed for dinner, and Marinette got to learn how to make Coq au vin for dinner and Chocolate Mousse for dessert.  They were very encouraging and helped her when she was “confused” without scolding or insulting her.  It made something inside of her feel weird and tingly.  She didn’t show anything was wrong though, happy go lucky Marinette was smiling like the sun in the afternoon on a day with clear blue skies.  It didn’t feel as forced as it used to though, this one felt oddly genuine, and it made her feel weird, yet it was…..nice.

Jason stared at his little sister and watched her interact.  Sure, she was very particular with her molds and they showed nothing to those who didn’t suspect a thing, but that didn’t stop her from having small tells.  They were near perfect, not perfect.  Yet as he watched her work with Tom and Sabine in the kitchen and she learned how to make these new foods, he didn’t see any of her tells.  She relaxed in a way he rarely ever saw, she seemed calm and at peace.  He smiled at her as he watched from his seat in front of the small counter.  They had asked him if he wanted to help, but he turned down the offer.  Yea he knew how to cook a few things and he wasn’t terrible in the kitchen like the others, but it was small and this was for Marin.  Marin was a lot sassier than Marinette and had thrown him off guard a lot, especially when she had first started using her molds around him.  She was a trickster and like she had said before she, “is the tiger of the house and will not be tamed”.  One thing she had in common with Marinette though, was that she didn’t want to or like killing.  She had done it her whole life and was desensitized to it and was taught to never hesitate to do it, but he saw the ways her eyes darkened after every death and the small head bow she would give them if they were a random or innocent.  She knew how to use chaos and sometimes it seemed like she controlled the chaos, like she was chaos itself.  She knew the importance of life, but she knew when death was needed.  That was something they both agreed on and one of the reasons she never said anything or tried to stop him when she saw him kill someone.  Sometimes it was better for certain people to die so others could thrive.  A memory from when he had been her trainer for about a year and a half ran through his mind.  It was small, but it had meant so much to him then.

* Jason had just come back from a mission and he was tired, but he had to mentor Marin and her unit today.  He felt like sh* and there was this yearning feeling for something, but he refused to acknowledge it.  He had started training when Talia had first brought him here and his memory was gone, then after his trip in the pits he had been training to control its madness all while training Marin the daughter of Talia and her unit.  He had gone on missions and had broken the one rule that Bruce had him live by for years, because he had killed so many already.  He was tired and he wanted nothing more than to sleep and never get up again.

Marin saw Jason as they traveled the path to the training grounds outside.  She could tell by his stance and eyes that there was a war going on and that he was close to giving into something that meant nothing but chaos.  Chaos that she couldn’t stop and chaos that would leave her alone once more.  He was the best person in this entire death trap, and the only one besides mother that actually cared about her well being, though mother didn’t show that very often.  She made sure no one was looking as she walked next to him; he didn’t seem to register she was there which was never a good thing.  You needed to ALWAYS be aware in the League.  She wasn’t allowed to speak Arabic often because they didn’t want her to get an accent, but she wanted this to mean something.  Quickly she spoke,

“Your family didn’t deserve you.”

Jason startled and blinked quickly a few times as he looked down and saw the small black haired girl next to him with a stoic expression.  He wasn’t sure if he had heard her right, because he didn’t think Marin would say something like that to him.

“What?”

Marin turned to him and gave him a soft smile.  She knew he had died at some point, but he was alive when mother threw him in the pits, so something happened and his family didn’t seem to care about his death if the rumors that the maids whispered about were true.  Slower than the first time she repeated,

“Your family didn’t deserve you.”

Jason stopped in his tracks as her words ran through his head.  He pursed his lips to keep them from quivering and covered his mouth with his hand to keep back a sob that had been threatening to come out.  Marin had never shown him that she truly cared about him, while he didn’t really need her approval, he saw her as a little sister.  The thought that someone he thought of like that didn’t trust him, hated him, and wanted nothing to do with him made him feel numb.  Yet here she was destroying all of those thoughts and confirming that she cared about him.  That she liked him and wanted him to stay around.  He had watched and studied Marin and knew that any kind of compliment like that meant that she liked the person, and she had only complimented someone two other times he was around.

Marin grinned at his response and felt pride flash through her chest at Jason’s reaction.  The dark chaos that threatened terrible things had faded as she replaced it with a new chaos that brought a bit of light with it.  She switched to English and kept walking to the training grounds calling out,

“Anywaaays, Peter, are we going to continue?”

She pointed to the grounds with her thumb as she continued her small journey to her unit on the grounds.  Jason took in a shaking shuddering breath trying to control himself and ignore the stinging in his eyes as he followed after her whispering,

“Thank you…” *

It may have meant very little to her, but that comment meant the world to him and kept him going even though the days seemed to be never ending and he seemed far away from ever reaching his goal.

“PETER!”

He jumped and startled out of his thoughts to the sound of small tinkleing giggles.

“What were ya thinkin’ about Peter?”

She asked mischief shining through her bright blue eyes.

“Nothing of consequence, Pixie.”

He said, giving her a small smirk.  She rolled her eyes and pointed to the table behind him,

“Well while you were off daydreaming we finished dinner.  Want to join us or do you want to continue dazing off?”

He gently shoved her with his hand as he stood up and walked to the table.  She let out a small noise and glared at him.  She sat next to him, elbowing his arm sharply.  He glared at her as he rubbed the spot she hit, but she continued her innocent smile.  Tom and Sabine smiled as they watched the two interact and felt pride bloom in their chest.  This was going to be their daughter and they were going to do everything in their power to make sure she was this happy as much as possible.

________ Marinette crossed her arms as Jason hugged Gina goodbye.  He was leaving today and she would have to start school tomorrow and he would be gone.  She had written letters to the others for him to give them, except Bruce, she didn’t want to think about him.  The others though, they at least deserved something.  She knew that he wasn’t going on a plane because then the others would see him, he was going to take the nearest Zeta-tube to a couple places then back to Gotham to throw the others off.  She knew he would come and visit, but that didn't make things better.  Jason gave her a small smirk and knelt to her level, she glared at him for that.  She wasn’t that small.

“What, no hugs?”

Keeping in character she tackled him in a hug that he easily caught her in.  They stayed that way for a little and she even managed to make tears fall down her cheeks.

“Do you have to go Peter?”

“Yea, I do Pix.  I’ll visit soon though.”

“Promise?”

She said as he gently pulled away, her voice breaking a little.  He gave her a small smile and nodded as he wiped at the salt water running down her face.

“Promise.”

“I trust you.”

She said with full sincerity.  Jason’s eyes softened at that as he felt warmth spread through his chest at her words.  She would never say that if she didn’t mean it, and he knew it.  He ruffled her hair and she batted at his hand.  He stood up and waved goodbye walking into the airport.  Marinette turned around and saw Tom, Sabine, and Gina smiling at her.  She ran up to them and they quickly hugged her.  It was warm here, and there was a chaos hanging in the air.

________ Marin woke up early and pulled out the dagger she had taken, it was part of the set Damian had given her, the one with the emerald gem that reminded her of his eyes.  Being away from him though, it felt wrong yet oddly liberating at the same time.  Was that wrong, was it bad that she felt good being away from him?

She looked away from the dagger breaking her thoughts as she ran through her forms and stretches.  She refused to become rusty lest she be caught unaware.  She knew that it would be hard for people to recognize her, while she hadn’t made any dramatic changes, she definitely looked different from the images of her that were shown on TV.  Tom and Sabine had taken her to a salon where she got her hair professionally dyed a black-blue with red maroon strips here and there.  She refused to get it cut though, because she prided herself on her long dark hair, just like her mother’s.  She was wearing silver contacts to hide her blue eyes that seemed so recognizable, it covered the looks of disappointment that would flash in her mind every time she saw her blue eyes.  She made her skin slightly paler and covered her scars and some of her freckles.  It was just enough that people wouldn’t suspect her.

Her alarm went off telling her that it was time to get ready for school, or in other words that she had fifteen minutes.  Marinette was a scatter brained girl, she wasn’t supposed to be early, she was almost always late.  She waited a few minutes for Sabine to call up before she made a lot of noise and made it sound like she was getting ready for the day before rushing downstairs where Sabine was finishing plating food for her.  She smiled at the woman and felt the warm feeling again.  Sabine cared enough to take time out of her very busy schedule to make her food and eat with her.  Mother would do that sometimes, but that was only under very strict circumstances.  She ate the food provided while Sabine talked to her and ate some fruit with her.  After she was done and placed her dish in the sinke she grabbed the backpack she had put together the night before next to the door and ran down the stairs.  She went to tell Tom goodbye and he smiled brightly at her and gave her a box of macaroons to share with the class before patting her head and telling her to be safe.

Marinette ran down the streets and waited at the crosswalk for it to tell her she could go.  As she waited she saw an elderly man J-walking with a truck coming towards him.  Without thinking she jumped into action and pulled him to the other side before he could get hit.  She had made sure to trip  clumsily and felt bad about the cookies she had ruined, they were really good.

“Thank you young lady.”

The man said with a Chinese accent.  Something clicked in her mind, she recognized this man.  She smiled brightly at him and gave him one of the non-smashed cookies.  She ran across the street quickly after because what if he recognized her, he was a magic user and could probably recognize her energy or something.  What if he was working with the League, would he tell them that she was here?

She went to the principal’s office and listened to him drabble on before he showed her to her class.  As she walked in she felt everyone’s eyes on her.  She shrunk back a little feeling “shy”.  Her teacher gave her a gentle smile and welcomed her and asked her to introduce herself.  She turned to the class with a bright sunshine smile and studied everyone in the room,

“Hello, my name is Marinette and I moved here from Chicago.”

One of the girls, a blonde with lots of make-up in the front, scoffed at her.

“An American from a filthy city, why is she in here with mwa?”

Marinette fought the urge to roll her eyes.  Great, another Damian, except she doesn’t do all of the formal talk.

Marientte hung her head and rubbed her arm, but the teacher just gently pushed her to a seat in the second row next to a tanned girl with ombre hair and glasses.

“Don’t listen to her, she’s just a brat.  It’s really cool that you came from America.”

Marinette gave a small smile and nudged the box with one macaroon towards her.

“I’m Marinette.”

The girl smiled and took the cookie splitting it in half and offering it to her with a proud smile,

“Alya.  I’m new too. I started this school year.  I used to live in Reims, France.”

* Marinette nodded and smiled and turned to the front when the teacher began to talk.  She looked over at the blonde filing her nails and not paying attention.  She was a socialite, part of the rich community if her clothes and higher than thou attitude said anything.  Being surrounded by all of these students and back in a classroom like this, much different than Gotham academy.  Though she tried not to, her mind went back to her very last mission she did at a school.  She was using mold 62, given the name Alice.  Alice was a dirty blonde, she was a proper lady though she didn’t flaunt wealth, she liked books and clothes.  Her goal was to get close to a target, another student.  The daughter of a rich diplomat that had turned down an offer made by the League, she was to send him a message after lowering his guard to make him think he was safe.  Alice and her target, Jenny, were walking around town when she had gotten the signal, an electric shock that traveled through her arm.  She paused and cursed from A. the pain, and B. the fact that she had to finish the girl that had done nothing wrong other than be born.

“...F*”

She said as she pulled Jenny into an alley.  Jenny gasped and covered her mouth with wide eyes and called,

“You said a bad word!”

Another shock went up her arm and she cursed again,

“...S*.”

Jenny looked horrified and yelled,

“Stop saying bad words!”

Marin looked away wincing as her hand tingled and she knew exactly what she had to do to this sweet innocent.

“I’m sorry.”

Jenny tilted her head in confusion and began to ask,

“What-”

But she was cut off when Marin punched them in the side of the head causing the girl to fall and pass out.  Marin pursed her lips and felt dread and self-loathing wrap around her soul as she stared at the unconscious girl before her.  Marinette thought about how much she had been enjoying her time in the Italian school as she kicked at the dirt around her feet and muttered,

“I’ll have to leave school.”

She scowled at the ground and switched to Arabic as she began to complain to herself,

“Man!  I was just starting to like this school!”

Marinette sat down next to Jenny and watched her for a bit to make sure she was really out.  After waiting a few minutes she grabbed her phone and contacted her handler,

“They are out.”

She said numbly as she stared at the brown haired girl.

“Deceased?”

Came her handler's dry response.  Marin rolled her eyes as she leaned back against the wall.

“Unconscious.”

“Kill them.”

Her handler quickly responded with a small growl.  Marin scowled at the unconscious girl’s body, not because she was mad at the girl, but because of what she would have to do to it.  She poked the girl, but she didn’t have a response to it.

“They are a child.”

She almost growled.  She could almost hear the eye roll as they answered back,

“And so are you.”

“That just makes it infinitely times worse.”

She mumbled in English so her Handler couldn’t here before sharply answering,

“Fine.”

“You know where the pick up is.”

Handler 6 stated, she still answered as she silently stood,

“Yes.”

Immediately after he hung up on her.  She pulled the phone away from her ear and glared at it harshly growling,

“F*er hanged up on me!” *

She had then turned to the girl and sighed as she carried out her orders.

Marinette was brought out of her trance when she heard her teacher yell at another classmate and sent him to the principal’s office.  She tuned back into the class and realized something.  She wasn’t on a mission.  She didn’t have to be one set mold, she had breathing room, she wouldn’t be seriously punished when she left if she messed up here.  Before she could get more into these life altering thoughts a stone monster bursted into the room yelling for someone named Kim.  She ducked under her desk and was thankful she hid her dagger at her hip as she gripped it in her palm.  The monster soon left after seeing that he wasn’t in the class anymore.  Marinette, now in Marin mission mode, ran to the bakery where her armor was.  She had asked Jason to bring it to her while she was out with Tom and Sabine a few days ago, and he hadn’t disappointed.

As she made it to her room she felt something within her surge and called to her.  She turned to her desk and saw a box that hadn’t been there before.  She walked towards it, she didn’t know why she was walking towards it, it could be a trick or a trap for all she knows!  But she couldn’t stop herself, it was like she was in a trance and she had to open the box.  When she did there was a bright green light that blinded her causing to drop the box back on her desk.  When the ball of light dimmed down she saw a small black cat yawn and stretch.  She looked back to the box and saw a black ring with a green paw print, and things clicked into her place. It was miraculous, the guardian had given her the ring.  The car flew around rambling about being hungry and trying to eat her furniture, but she was too in shock that the guardian would intrust one of the most powerful artifacts to her, an ex-assassin that was sent to take his things and kill him only a few years ago.

“Heloooooo?”

She blinked back into focus and saw the cat floating upside down in front of her face.

“Nothing here tastes good, do you have any cheese?  Specifically camembert.”

“Maybe, what’s your name?  What is your power?  Why was I given a miraculous?!”

“The name’s Plagg, you were given the ring of destruction, you say cataclysm to activate it.  How do you know about me?”

“Grandfather spoke of you often, especially of you and your counterpart.”

Plagg eyed her skeptically and asked,

“And who exactly is your grandfather?”

“Ra’s Al Ghul.”

Plagg’s eyes sharpened as he studied her,

“Do you plan to give me to that man?  What does he want now?  He already got his pits.”

Plagg spat as he crossed his arms as he continued to glare.

“He’s dead, and I hated him.  Even if he was alive I would keep you and never tell him to spite him.”

Plagg looked at her for a little longer and nodded.

“Good, you are one of my kits.  There has been a lot you’ve been through, the chaos in your soul hasn’t evened out yet, but it's starting to.”

She tilted her head to the side in confusion, but before she could ask anything else a loud crashing could be heard.  She snapped her head to the window and looked back at Plagg.

“What do I need to say to transform?”

She asked with all seriousness.  Plagg grinned and replied with,

“Claws out.”

Marinette nodded and quickly began to put on her armor.

{Hi, I suck at writing clothing descriptions, so my dearest friend, CyberGeist the CD (Character Design) Deity , is who wrote this part!}

~~~~~~ She stripped down to her underclothes and slipped on the armored skin tight bodysuit. It was jet black with reinforced steel in the feet. Over that she pulled on a backless high collared grey leotard. It was stiff against her chest made like the breast plates of old medieval times. Then she pulled out the thin silver ring from an octagonal box. The moment she slipped it on her pointer finger it was made of three slim silver bands embedded with green stones that formed a paw print.

"Plagg claws out!"

She called out.  He vanished into the ring and a hood with cat ears attached itself to the collar of her leotard.  A belt full of enchanted tools appeared at her waist and harnesses with poison needles and slim daggers appeared on her thighs. A domino mask with sharp wing-like edges appeared on her face, her eyes turning a brilliant green and pupils narrowing to slits. A tail grew from her tail bone swishing viciously from side to side  Her already strong armor became stronger as magic reinforced it and last of all a silver bo staff with green lines appeared in her hand. Kaus Noir was ready to fulfill the mission she was given. ~~~~~~

Opening the skylight she made sure no one was watching before she bounded across the rooftops using her extendable staff to jump across bigger gaps between the roofs.  She followed the destruction to a stadium where she saw a red and black hero on the roof of.  Silently she landed next to him and looked around the stadium to see the monster chasing the students away.  She watched the monster for a bit and watched his movement.  One of his fists never opened, there must be something there that he doesn’t want for people to get.

“We need to open the palm.”

The blonde boy startled and looked over at her stunted as if he hadn’t noticed her.

“I need to capture the akuma, which is an object that the person is being controlled with.  How do you suppose we get it?”

“What’s your power?”

She asked as she watched and studied him.  He was clearly untrained, but maybe he was clever and could be useful somehow.

“It’s called Lucky Charm.”

Suddenly there was a bright light that came from the yo-yo as what looked to be hundreds of small ladybugs began to form an object.  The boy picked up the object and looked at it skeptically.

“Hey heroes, what are you doing?”

A voice called from down below.  Both heroes looked and Marin recognized Alya staring up at them with her phone out no doubt recording them.  That wasn’t good, maybe she could hack the system and stop it from being international if it isn’t already.  Kaus groaned as the monster grabbed Kim.  Then an idea popped in her head as she looked at the object in the boy’s hands.  She grabbed it and yelled,

“Hey Stone face, catch!”

Before the boy could protest she had already thrown the thing and watched as the monster quickly caught it, dropping what looked to be a bright purple paper.  Kaus quickly jumped down and grabbed it, throwing it to the boy still on the roof with as much force as she could.  The blonde quickly caught it with his jaw dropped in awe as he watched the black cat themed hero move and avoid the monster attacking her.

“Any time now bug boy!”

Kaus yelled ducking under the incoming fist. Adrien looked at the paper in his hand and quickly tore it before capturing the butterfly in his yo-yo then releasing it free into the air.  She jumped back to the roof before Alya could ask questions with the object and gave it to the boy.

“Thanks…”

He said with a question pause and she quickly replied,

“Kaus Noir.”

He smiled brightly at her and said,

“Mr. Bug.”

She nodded and watched him throw the object into the air yelling out,

“Miraculous ladybug.”

Millions of ladybugs swarmed all over Paris fixing everything in their path that had been ruined by the monster.  She looked back down to see Alya comforting the boy who had become the stone being and she smiled at that.  She quickly jumped away now that the mission was complete, though something told her that this was only the beginning.

________ Marinette returned to school after de-transforming and changing back into her civilian clothes.  She looked around acting shaken up and jumped when she felt someone place a hand on her shoulder.  She had to physically will herself to not flip the person.  She turned and saw Alya giving her a sheepish smile.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you girl.”

Marinette gave her a small smile and scratched her head,

“It’s fine, I was just a little nervous is all.”

She nodded and both turned their heads to see the blonde girl laughing and making fun of the boy with a shrill high pitched voice.  Marinette rolled her eyes, she was just like the other people at Gotham academy that looked down at the students that weren’t rich and got in on scholarship.  She liked those kids, they showed they weren’t stupid.  She didn’t usually get close to the bullies for missions, though there were a few occasions she had to.  The thought of her not being on a mission here, popped into her head again.  She looked at the girl, and thought about Damian.  The thought of just blending in and being one of the girl's victims to keep cover went through her mind, but, something that sounded like Plagg’s voice cut through, think of all the fun that she could have since she has nothing to do.  She had already learned everything this school had to offer, but this could help her with social things, and she could help the girl.  She had seen how much Damian had changed after being with his family for a few years, with the right people she could help the blonde girl.  There was obviously something going on behind the scenes that made her this way, probably something in her home life.  Marin made up her mind, there was no one telling her she couldn’t and she was bored and needed something to do here.  She would find a way to befriend this girl and help her have more friends and a better life.  It would also hopefully improve the rest of the class and make them seem less tired and annoyed.  Marinette walked up to the blonde and despite the others telling her not to she said,

“Hello, my name is Marinette, what’s yours?”

Chloe blinked at her for a few moments.  Marinette made no move to touch her and was a respectable distance away.  Chloe quickly shut her mouth and eyed the girl skeptically before raising her chin haughtily into the air.

“Chloe Bourgeois, you would do well to remember it as I’m the mayor’s daughter!”

“I’m really good with names, so don’t worry.  So Chloe, what do you like to do for fun?”

The rest of the class watched in shock, awe, and fear as Marinette continued to speak to the girl.  Chloe didn’t know what was going on and seemed to check if she was trying to trick her.  But Marinette held what seemed to be a genuine smile, a smile that seemed as bright as the sun, and her silver eyes shined with sincerity and kindness.

“Well,”

She began making sure she kept her better than you attitude up,

“I like to go shopping, but you could never afford anything I get.”

“Probably not, but you look really nice!”

Chloe was shocked and even Sabrina seemed skeptical of this girl, but she seemed so nice!  The bell rang and Marinette seemed a bit shocked as she looked at the wall before turning back to Chloe and asking,

“Can I walk with you to class?  You could tell me about your designer bag, I’m studying fashion myself.”

Chloe could feel something in the back of her mind as she walked with the girl telling her about her things that she was dangerous.  She should be wary of this girl.  Something about her wasn’t right.  But there was no sign of any malice, no sign of trickery, no sign that she could be evil.  She seemed sweet and way too soft to hurt a fly.

The class watched in awe as Marinette, Chloe, and Sabrina talked without Chloe doing anything to harm the girl other than a few backhanded compliments here and there, but it didn’t seem to affect Marinette.  Did Marinette tame the beast, or was she another one in the waits?

________ Kaus Noir ran across the roofs feeling the adrenaline and nostalgia of the act as she chased the new villain.  They were headed towards the Eiffel Tower, their power was to create visions of a people or things and reveal their secrets.  Cleverly enough, their name was Projectionist.  Kaus stopped in front of the Eiffel Tower as they saw Projectionist show an image of a man in a deep purple suit and a silver mask.  Kaus quickly opened up the video recorder on her staff and recorded everything that the person monologued about.

“Hello Paris, my name is Hawkmoth and I am here to tell Mr. Bug and Kaus Noir to stop hurting these people and to give me your miraculi.  These people are suffering because you decided to use power that doesn’t belong to you and-”

Marin tuned out the rest of his manipulation and watched as Mr. Bug scoffed and rolled his eyes.  She smirked, glad both of them found this tirade ridiculous and untrue.  She motioned her head towards the Eiffel Tower after she stopped recording.  She had enough for now, he nodded and both began to quietly climb the tower.  Kaus grabbed one of her poisoned needles and threw it at the Projectionist causing him momentarily pass out.  She ran towards him calling out her cataclysm and destroyed the camera on his forehead.  She rolled her eyes at how easy this was, did he seriously think that this would scare her or was at all challenging?!

Calmly she walked towards the edge of the Tower and let Mr. Bug join her before she called out first,

“We are here to protect you!  Hawkmoth started this by turning an innocent school boy into a monster, and we freed him.  We will have victory and bring Hawkmoth to justice!”

There was loud cheering in the crowd for a few moments before Mr. Bug declared,

“Paris is under our safety and protection, we will not fail you or your, Paris.  Be prepared Hawkmoth, we will not rest until you are taken down!”

The cheering was louder this time.  Mr. Bug looked toward Kaus Noir with a bright smile, but she didn’t return it as she stared straight faced at the crowd.  She didn’t fully trust her partner, he hadn’t truly earned it yet.  She gave him a small nod then silently left, leaving no trace as she all but vanished into the shadows.

________ Marinette watched as Chloe attached herself to a blonde boy with green eyes.  She watched the two interact and was annoyed when Alya leaned in and whispered,

“Do you like him?”

She smiled at that and shook her head.

“Oh my gosh, you do!”

Marin and Marinette were extremely confused.  She had just said no, how does that mean yes.  Did she do something else that gave her the impression she was lying?  She didn't think she did, because she really did not have a crush on a boy she only ever just saw.  Alya kept talking about how she would help her confess and get together and it really annoyed Marin, but Marinette let out flustered disagreements seeming to push the other girl on much to her detriment.  She wished that she could get away from Alya at the moment, because while she meant well she was very annoying and too bullheaded.

Marinette’s thoughts trailed off and wondered what was going on at the manor for the week and a half she had been gone.  Were they looking for her, did they care, were they happy she was gone?  She shook her head trying to get rid of those thoughts, she was here in Paris now.  She had an assignment, it was to defeat Hawkmoth; she had a personal project, befriend Chloe and help her get more friends; she was with Tom and Sabine, they made her feel warm like she did when Jason would do something that showed he cared about her in the League.  She was content here, nothing was going to stop her from finally living a life without the harsh expectations of the world.  Then she saw something, or rather someone, across the street.  Long brown hair, clothes of questionable modesty, and sharp unforgiving green eyes.

Marin stopped in her tracks and stared at the woman who was smirking at her from across the street.  It was a trap, an illusion, it couldn’t be real.  Yet, the woman gave her a signal, one she would give her when she wanted to see her alone in her quarters.  Her mother was in Paris, France and she wanted to talk with her.  Marinette quickly ran and caught up with Alya who was now rambling about Louis Lane, the big blue boy scout’s wife, and her greatness.  Marinette asked questions and acted very interested as she listened, but Marin was dreading everything.  Her stomach was in knots and she felt like she was going to vomit, yet she showed nothing of the sort.  She fiddled with the thin silver band on her finger hoping, praying to whatever kwamii Mr. Bug had, that she would be able to stay in Paris.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

kaus *Mandarin*: Chaos

noir *French*: Black

(She goes by black chaos in English)

Next

[lily-drake]

Previous

Ao3

This is part 4 of my Assasin!Marinette au based around @bambicambi ’s prompts. Thank you for reading!

Lesson 4: Only Entrust Your Secrets To Those You Find Worthy

Prompts:

“Okay, okay, listen, listen,” Marin took her brother’s face into her hands and stared intently into his eyes, “I’m not a good person. I will never be a good person. I am not you. You are not me. Stop. Trying. To. Change. Me.”

She smiled sharply at him, waiting for his response. She’s tired. She is very tired. She has tried, so many times, to change for him. To change her whole world view and be ‘herself’. She has tried to let her guard down, to let her real thoughts be known, and to stop pretending. But shes tired of trying to be something she’s not.

She can’t stop pretending, she can’t stop being alert, she can’t voice her thoughts, and she can’t change for him. She has tried and failed to change for him. She loves her brother, so much, but she can’t be what he wants her to be.

“Ukht..”

She slowly let go of his face, ignoring the urge to flinch at the name. She calls him Akhi. She calls him Damian. She calls him Little Brother. She does those things. He never does. He only ever calls her Marin. Her name. Never Ukht. Never little sister. Never nicknames.

Her natural reaction was to lash out. To be bitter and mad and to put up a wall and keep him at a distance. It’s a defense mechanism. But shes been taught to do the opposite of her natural reactions. So… she grinned.

“Akhi.”

She could see the signs in his face, in his body language, in the way he’s breathing. He knows she’s putting up a show. He knows. He sees right through her.

But at the same time he doesn’t. She’s fine with that.

“Ukht.”

—————

Damian: ...what??

Jon: she completely changed-

Damian: her molds.

Jon: no. no, you don't understand. Her heart beat was beating unbelievably fast and them once she shrugged it went from 100 to 0...

Damian: what are you saying.

Jon: I'm saying thats... not normal. She could change her heart beat by will, Damian!

Damian: i can do the same.

Jon: no you can't.

Damian: I can? We were trained to-

Jon: yes and no, there is a difference between you two, Damian. Her's was completley natural. Completely. I could tell-

Damian: isn't everything natural-

Jon: Damian!

Damian: I'm just trying to understand, Jon.

Jon: her heartbeat. Went from 100 to 0. It was like she completely changed into a different person.

Damian: I explained to you already, Jon. Those are her molds... they are similar to different people.

Jon: ... that's messed up.

Damian: I agree.

Jon: so messed up.

Damian: yes.

Jon: I hate the league.

Damian: as do we.

——————

Marinette: *crying* ...

Tim: *sitting beside her* ...

Marinette: ...

Tim: do you ever think about whether or not what we're doing is worth it?

Marinette: *whispers* yes.

Tim: *grabs her hand* what do you feel about it right now?

Marinette: *curls around herself* that it's so unfair and so not worth it.

Tim: *squeezes her hand* I know.. *sniffs, hoarsely* I know it doesn't feel worth it at the moment…

_____________

Damian stared out the window of the small car occasionally picking at the strap of his bag.  It was complete silence for the majority of the ride, only the sound of the car moving on the road and through traffic could be heard.  That was until Grayson cleared his throat and asked,

“You doing okay?”

Damian simply rolled his eyes, never taking his gaze away from the window.

“I’m fine Grayson.  She can take care of herself.  Besides, she’ll contact me when she’s ready.  She would never abandon me.”

He clenched his fist around the strap of the bag ignoring the thoughts saying, ‘but didn’t she just do that?’ or, ‘she’s already gone.’  No, she did what she felt she needed to do for survival.  Father had threatened her and-and he had pushed her too far.  Their fights resurfaced and he bit his lip to hide his sorrow and frustration.  One fight specifically came to mind, and now it would forever haunt him.

*

“Okay, okay, listen, listen,”

Marin took her brother’s face into her hands and stared intently into his eyes,

“I’m not a good person. I will never be a good person. I am not you. You are not me. Stop. Trying. To. Change. Me.”

She smiled sharply at him, waiting for his response.   He could see the tired look in her eyes, the bags that colored under her eyes from her sleepless nights.  She was waiting for him to refute.  He believed she could change, that she was a good person, that she could drop the molds completely.  He believed that one day she could push through the trauma and be herself and let her guard down.  They weren’t in the League anymore, their father would keep them safe and away from them.

“Ukht..”

He began but stopped seeing the small glint of fear in her eyes.  Did she not like it when he called her sister?  Did he do something wrong?  He continued to stare at her, her face not body betraying how she truly felt about the name.  Slowly she let go of his face and took a step back with a sigh replying,

“Akhi.”

He continued to watch her and saw the ever so slight twitch of her fingers and knew she was either frustrated or nervous.  She was putting her walls back up, using a mold.  It wasn’t Marinette, but he could tell she was using one of them.  He saw through her act, saw that she was trying to shove everything down and hide again, he knew that she was still pretending in front of him, and it hurt.

“Ukht.”

He said one more time and watched as she walked out of the room.  She was done with the conversation, but it certainly wasn’t the last time they had it.

*

That was one of their more civil conversations about that topic, sometimes they got heated and there was lots of yelling.  He wouldn’t be surprised if the others had heard them argue about it those few times.  Dick didn’t say anything else but looked rather tense and kept glancing at him.  He could see the worry and pity in his eyes and it irritated him to no end.  He was fine, he knew she would be fine and that she would come back when she was ready, she always came back in the end.  She was too strong to ever fall at the hands of anyone, she just needed time to find who she was….without him.

He didn’t know how long they had driven when they began to drive up to a large ‘T’ shaped tower.  When they stopped he quickly hopped out of the car and saw a bunch of other teens and Jon jumping excitedly in place.  He looked to his other side and saw his brother Grayson shake hands with a tall lady with orange skin, fiery red hair, and glowing neon green eyes.

“This is Damian, Damian this is Koriand'r, also known as Starfire.”

The lady bent down and gave him a bright smile that he despised,

“Hello Damian, it’s nice to meet you.”

She stuck out her hand for him to shake, but he just glared at it and turned away.

“I’ll be in my room.”

As he walked to the entrance all of the other children parted, except Jon who just followed him.

“So..”

Jon began once they were in the elevator,

“Where’s Marin?  Is your dad finally beginning to-”

“She left.”

Was his brief response as he crossed his arms and glared at the door.  Silence filled the small space for a few brief moments before he nervously asked,

“Like on a mission?”

“No, father… ‘tested’ her,”

He said placing air quotes around the word, “tested”,

“It was too much and she ran away.  She said she was going to go back to the league and that she left with Todd.”

The silence that followed was so tense it was almost suffocating.  He glanced over at Jon when he heard him breath a sigh of relief.  Damian raised a brow in question at his friend’s companion’s reaction.  He gave a shy smile and rubbed his neck in an awkward motion before replying,

“I checked for her heartbeat and found it.  She’s with Jason, but she isn’t with the League.”

That’s right, Jon has super hearing, he could find her and tell him!  He turned to face his friend and demanded,

“Where is she?!”

Jon gulped and shook his head as a shiver ran down his spine.

“I’m sorry Damian, but have you met your sister?  She is worse than you, if I told you..”

Another shiver ran down his spine as he hugged himself,

“I’d rather keep my life and not be tortured by her.  You didn’t hear the threat she told me when we first started hanging out.  She’ll tell when she’s ready, until then, I can’t say anything.”

Damian glared at him but knew that he was right, that didn’t mean that he would give up.

“I have kryptonite in one of my pockets.”

He threatened as they stepped out of the elevator that was now open to the hall that led to the rooms.

“Yea well Marin told me that she would…”

He stopped and paled,

“you don’t want to know.  How are you considered the violent twin?”

“She always uses her molds.”

A short pause,

“Right.”

Was Jon’s reply.  Jon remembered when he had been talking to her about school work and her molds.  She had been nervous, her heart rate had spiked, then it… just…..changed.  He had talked to Damian about it right after.

*

Damian had looked at him weird when he had asked what was wrong with Marin and if she had some kind of condition.

“...What?”

He had asked with a raised defensive brow and he could see his hand reaching for his katana.

“She completely changed-”

He began in a non accusing manner raising both of his hands up in an act of surrender.  Damian quickly relaxed immediately responding,

“Her molds.”

As he looked back down at the book he was currently reading.  Jon raised a brow and quickly said getting closer to Damian trying to get him to understand what he was trying to convey,

“No.  No, you don’t understand.  Her heartbeat was beating unbelievably fast and then once she shrugged it went from 100 to 0…”

He began to trail off as Damian let out a sigh and looked back up at him.  Raising his brow once again he asked,

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying,”

Jon said trying to emphasize his words for his friend to understand what he was trying to get through to him,

“That’s… not normal.  She could change her heart beat by will, Damian!”

Damian rolled his eyes returning to the book offhandedly replying,

“I can do the same.”

Jon sighed in frustration replying,

“No.  You can’t.”

“I can?”

He replied in a sarcastic question,

“We were trained to-”

Jon then interrupted him, understanding what his friend meant.

“Yes and no, there is a difference between you two, Damian.  Hers was completely natural.  Completely .  I could tell-”

“Isn’t everything natural?”

He offhandedly asked.

“Damian!”

Jon yelled, crossing her arms and glaring at him slightly.  Damian sighed once again and closed his book completely and looked him in the eyes.

“I’m just trying to understand, Jon.”

“Her heartbeat.”

Jon said slowly emphasizing his words,

“Went from 100 to 0.  It was like she completely changed into a different person.”

Damian glared at the wall past Jon’s head and said as he steepled his fingers together.

“I explained to you already, Jon.  Those are her molds…”

He paused for a moment before continuing,

“They are similar to different people.”

Jon was processing what he meant and he felt his heart sink as he thought about what his friend must have gone through to be able to do that.

“So messed up.”

He whispered as he stared down at the ground beneath them.

“Yes.”

Damian simply agreed, slowly opening the book back open and trying to find the page he left off on.

“I hate the league.”

Jon spat.  He had seen all of the scars and injuries that littered her body.  There were so many, he often wondered how she was still alive.

“As do we.”

Damian whispered as silence filled the room they were in.

*

They had arrived at Damian’s room and Jon sat on his bed while he watched Damian unpack.

“She’ll come around when she is ready Damian, we both know it, she’s too loyal, especially to you.”

Jon quietly said as he watched Damian place a dagger on a holder with the utmost care onto the wall.  Damian didn’t say anything and he only knew Damian had heard him was the slight nod he had given him.  Quickly Damian turned and started stalking to the door,

“I demand you show me where the training facility is.”

He called as he left, Jon gave him a sad smile and quickly flew over to him and led him to where the training room was.  He knew that his friend needed to let go of the pent up rage and aggression that he was obviously hiding, so he wouldn’t say anything more about the topic.  Instead he rattled on about how they would both be able to carpool together to school, and about some of the missions they had gone and that he would be a part of, and about how cool the others on the team were.  Hopefully he would be able to make a good impression for them so that they won’t meet the end of Damian’s blade for their first meetings.  He had been there and done that, and even if the sword he had couldn’t hurt him, it still scared him to no end.

__________

Damian had found his new team…...interesting to say the least.  They were similar to his family, but also very different in the way that they interacted.  Beast Boy was his least favorite on the team, but he could turn into animals, so he was adequate he guessed.

Next was Blue Beetle, he was very powerful but relied too much on the alien stuck to his back to protect him.  He needed more training and to learn more self reliance or else he would end up dead.  Not to mention that he did not have full control over the thing, that could be his downfall one day if it got upset and attacked leaving Jaime vulnerable to an attack.

Raven was a very interesting character, and one that he respected.  She mostly kept to herself, but he didn’t trust her.  She held too many secrets, she was too much of an unknown for him to feel comfortable around her.  She could put them in danger because one day the magic she has won’t be enough, or it could lead to their doom.

Starfire was too cheery.  She doesn’t completely comprehend things or think through things like she should.  She didn’t look into any of their pasts, didn’t put up any contingencies, she just led blindly and that would weaken their team.  It didn’t help that his brother Nightwing had an all too obvious liking for her.  Subtlety was never his strong suit.

Damian watched in silence as his new team interacted with each other.  He needed to find their weaknesses and study them so that he knew what to do in case they turned on him for any reason.  He could tell that Raven was studying him too, she was aware and absorbent and slow to trust, he respected that.  Better to be weary and live than be trusting and be dead.  They didn’t talk to each other, but there was silent respect that passed between the two that both could feel.

His thoughts wandered back to their father and what he was doing and if he was trying to find Marin.  There was a part of him that wished he was, but somewhere in the back of his mind he knew it wasn’t true, but he didn’t want to believe it.  Their father would not be like their grandfather, he wouldn’t be like Mother, or her old handlers.  He would do what was right, and that would be to find his sister, his daughter, and try to bring her home after asking for forgiveness.  It was all wishful thinking though, he knew it was, but he could imagine that’s what was happening.  In reality Drake and Gordon were probably the only ones looking, Pennyworth probably already knows where they are or will know very soon.  Alfred knows everything and while frightening at first, one would get used to it after years of living with him.  It didn’t help that Kent knew where she was but refused to tell him.  Not to mention that she was with Todd of all people.  No, it did not hurt him that Todd was more trusted in her eyes than he was, he didn’t care, but one bit.

He needed to clear his mind, this kind of thinking was never good and would cloud his judgment.  He could not make a mistake, he was above it.  Quietly he stood and walked to his room where he practiced his forms.  It was relaxing, almost therapeutic the way the sword moved with him.  It was an extension of himself and he felt naked when he did have at least one of his katanas with him.  The movements started out slow, but the racing thoughts only grew louder.  He wasn’t good enough, he wasn’t trusted.  He thrust his sword forward making a whooshing noise, his grip tightened on the hilt.  He was a failure, he helped break her, he didn’t help her in the way she needed it.  Fast, his forward thrust harsh and promised a painful demise if someone was in front of it.  Self deprecating thoughts were too loud in his head, too much, he had never felt this way before and it was overwhelming.  The sword escaped his grip seamlessly flying through the wall where a startled cry sounded.

“Watch it dude!”

Beast Boy yelled as he banged on the wall harshly,

“You could hurt someone with that.  Hasn’t your mother taught you not to play with knives!”

He rolled his eyes at that.  It was quite the contrary actually, he was encouraged to play with them.  Tasked to find the most comfortable weapon for training so he could carry out his tasks flawlessly.  He turned to stare out the window, ignoring the sword still embedded in the wall.  It was dark, the moon was out, but it wasn’t full.  Clouds covered the skyline covering up the few stars that were able to shine through the light of the city.  He looked down and saw Raven in front of a fire meditating, he didn’t know what to feel about her.  He had hacked into the database, but there was nothing about her, no information, only that she wasn’t from this world.  That could have fatal consequences, not to mention she was a magic user which made her all the more dangerous as magic was spontaneous and hard to plan around.

He hadn’t realized he had been walking towards where she had been outside until was in the tree line watching her.

“It’s rude to stare.”

Damian’s glare grew, he didn’t understand her and it frustrated him to know end.  He needed information on everyone, but he just couldn’t seem to get any on her.  He stepped out into the light of the fire and stared the girl down.  She hadn’t opened her eyes or even flinched, meaning she could sense other presences.

“What are you even doing out here?”

He demanded as he stared the girl down.

“Meditating, anything beyond that is none of your concern.”

He grit his teeth in frustration.

“Everything here is my concern, just like it should be yours.  You're hiding something.”

She opened one of her eyes and looked at him before dryly replying,

“So are you.  We all are.  It’s none of your business what until it’s time to be said.”

His glare deepened as Raven simply closed her eye and resumed what she was doing as if he was never there in the first place.  He growled and stomped away.  It was his business, secrets equaled faults, faults equaled failing, failing equaled death.  It’s why Marin had to leave, she kept secrets, she wouldn’t let anyone know anything, it created problems, it created a rift, then she left.  If he could get the others to trust their secrets to him then he could keep the team together, there wouldn’t be any betrayal.  How would he do it was the question, maybe he could get Grayson to gather the information and report it back to him.  Maybe, just maybe, he could finally do something right.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *

Tim stared at the blank screen in front of him.  He looked at the tracker on her Hummingbird uniform and noticed it was atop a building, he highly doubted that was where she was.  She was too careful, she planned more than him, her mind was constantly on high alert and paranoid.  They were similar in a way, where his goal was to never make a mistake, hers was to always be perfect.  Most people would think it was the same, but there was a difference.  She and Cass got along really well together, the three of them seemed almost inseparable.  He realized that Cass didn’t know what had happened, she was currently on assignment with Kate and Steph in Hong Kong.  He had often heard Damian and Marinette arguing, he tried not to eavesdrop……, buuuuuut he was curious.  Damian had been loudly yelling about her being herself and not “Marinette”, she was yelling about how he should stop trying to change her, and that she was a terrible person.  Of course he knew she was acting when he first met her and when he watched her interact with the others, there was no way someone from the League of Assassins, especially born and raised there, just came out of that unscarred both mentally and physically.

Bruce had told him his suspicions of her and told him to be on the look out for if she would try to harm them in any way.  The more he was around Marin though, the more similar they seemed.  Both had the same sleep schedule, which is to say they didn’t sleep at all.  He could tell when she was plagued by nightmares by how glazed her eyes would be, they both were driven by caffeine, they both had a more calculative way of fighting; she was better at striking and fast acting than him though, his goal was to never make a mistake, hers was to be perfect.  Those were two different things, yet they were still similar in a way that only Marin, Cass, and Tim would know.  She wasn’t a threat, not once had she ever acted out physically on them, but she had said and acted in a completely different way before.  Tim bit his lip realizing what she must have been doing.  Marin didn’t show much, she was guarded and knew how to keep herself in check at all times, but sometimes her fingers would twitch ever so slightly, or her nose would scrunch up a bit, or her eye would twitch ever so slightly.  She had tiny tells, tells you would need to pay close attention to to even notice they existed.  He had seen them, and they happened frequently when she had changed so suddenly.  Now that he thought about it, and adding some of the information he got from their fights, it was her trying to be herself.  They pushed her away though by leaving her alone, by Bruce never talking to or acknowledging her and her efforts, by attacking her for no reason.

He typed at the keyboard harshly as his thoughts flickered around.  Dick and Damian were lucky to be able to leave in his eyes, Tim wanted to be searching for his little sister, the only one, besides Cass, that truly seemed to understand him.  She constantly was someone else around them, she didn’t like to be herself.  There was something she hid from, it wasn’t just them, it was something else.  No doubt things from her memories, if memory served him correct she was considered one of the league’s best field agents.  She didn’t talk about it much, but what little he’s gotten she was tasked with things that not even Damian has been through.  Ra’s was sexist, she was born first, she was their experiment to see what was enough or too much for the future heir of the League, for Damian.

There were a few nights that stood out to him, when she would reveal small things to him knowing that he would be able to piece what she said together eventually.  One night though, one night stood out to him the greatest.  He could never forget it, because it was the first time he had seen her break, her guard had dropped.  No one else was in the house besides Alfred, but he was in the batcave monitoring the others on patrol.  Tim had been benched for a stab wound he had gotten about a week prior, and because no one could tale or follow Marin, she was benched too.  They had been in one of the main rooms resting on the couch, Tim working through some cold cases and Marin just staring blankly into the distance.  She had been eerily quiet, and he was getting worried because usually she would talk or joke with him, even work with him.  She just sat there though, and that was never a good sign.  He looked over at her and noticed her sleeve was pulled up, which was very rare as she always wore long sleeves and refused to show her upper arms.  From the light of the computer he could make out scars, old ones, but painful ones.  He hadn’t realized what he was doing until he touched her arm and traced the length of it. Her sleeve was rolled to her elbow, but he could tell that the scar went farther up which was scary considering it also rounded almost her entire arm.

“What happened?”

*

He asked breathlessly, he couldn’t take his eyes off of it even if he could barely see it from the dull light his laptop provided.  He heard her suck in a sharp breath and was quickly snapped out of his trance.  He looked up at her face and saw her eyes glaze over in what appeared to be held back tears.  When she opened her mouth all that came out was a soft sob, and by her reaction to it she did not intend for it.  Tears fell down her cheeks and Tim didn’t know what to do.  She was always so well composed, always wore a smile, even if it wasn’t real, she never let her emotions get the better of her.  He knew that it was only a matter of time until her bottle finally cracked, especially since she could never let it at the League.  She was like everyone in the family in the way they compartmentalize everything until they just couldn’t take it anymore.  Marin didn’t say anything after that, but the tears kept flowing down her cheeks as she finally just let herself feel.  Tim didn’t move, but stayed by her side knowing that even a silent companion could help.  A few minutes of silence passed them before Tim whispered out,

“Do you ever think whether or not what we’re doing is worth it?”

There was another few moments of silence before Marin whispered back,

“Yes.”

He looked back down at her arm and saw her tracing different scars she no doubt memorized on her skin.  Gently he took her hand trying to show her that he would be there for her, that he would be her brother no matter what.

“What do you feel about it right now?”

Marin brought her knees up to her chest, she wasn’t faking, she was allowing herself to be vulnerable.  She had never had this opportunity like this before, it was new, and she didn’t really know how to feel about it.  She didn’t know how to respond to the question either.  She often thought this in the league, she thought this after she had finished her mission, she thought this when a target had been dealt with at her hands, she thought this as she stood next to her father that never acknowledged her existence, she thought this when Damian tried to get her to stop pretending, she thought this often, but she didn’t really know what to feel now.  Though, when she thought of all the blood her hands have been stained with, as she thought about how different she was from her brother and his expectations, as she thought about her handlers and her training, as she thought about how little trust her father had in her, she had her answer.

“That it’s so unfair and so not worth it.”

Tim had watched her while she thought. Her face was blank for the most part, but he knew what to look for, the little things that gave away what she felt.  Her answer though, he understood it.  He had lost his parents, while they weren’t the best and constantly neglected him, they were still his parents.  Jason and Damian had tried to kill him multiple times, Dick had simply rejected him when Bruce had disappeared, he had thought his teammates had died multiple times only for it to be a trick, not to mention the Joker Jr. incident.

“I know...”

He could feel his own tears start to well up in his eyes and had to sniff a little to make sure he didn’t let his nose run.  He squeezed her hands a little tighter trying to convey his understanding and care.

“I know it doesn’t feel worth it at the moment…”

*

He took a deep breath getting his words in order so he could do something right and comfort her.

“I promise though, one day when you find out for yourself what you truly want to do and be, that everything that has led up to that moment will make it seem like it was worth it.  Things for you, and you especially have been challenging and just horrible.  You are not like Damian, and I mean that in so many ways.  He shows his emotions, he is not afraid to let them out, but you, I can by the way you talk and the actions you take, that you just can not.  You have been trained to change, to adapt in a way that he does not understand.”

He paused, gauging her reaction and letting her process his words before continuing,

“It definitely doesn’t seem worth it now, and maybe it may never be worth it.  That is for you to decide, and only you.  One day you’ll be able to escape and leave, find yourself, make a name for yourself by yourself.  Marin, you’re more than your scars, more than the training you were forced into.  Fate has a weird way of messing with us, so it may seem worth it now, but I promise you, it will be.”

Marin stared into his eyes, and it felt like he was staring into his very soul trying to figure out the hidden motive behind his words.  Truth be told, there was none, he respected her too much to trick her.  She was his little sister after all, and he would protect her with everything he had.  After she had found what she was looking for he wasn’t expecting to be pushed onto his back on the couch.

“You all need to stop trying to tame me, I’m the tiger here.  Damian is the house cat, and while he will accept it I will destroy you all.”

Tim blinked in surprise, a smile soon taking over his face as he realized what was happening.  Quickly he grabbed her wrist and dragged her down with him, but that backfired as she proceeded to roll and shove him off the couch as she stole his laptop and began to work on the cases he was working on while in his spot.

“Go to bed Timothy, it’s been four days.”

She said with an eye roll as he continued to just lay on the floor and glare up at her.

~~~~~~

He hadn’t realized how lost in thought he had been until he felt someone poke his side and he jumped.  He turned and glared at whoever it was only to see Babs.  He gave her a sheepish smile and went back to typing up the report he was working on on the Batcomputer.

“Think she’ll come back?”

Babs whispered.  The Marin and Babs were never very close, but they were close enough and enjoyed messing with Damian when able to.

“Honestly, I don’t know.”

Tim began pausing his typing but letting his hands hover over the keyboard.

“I just hope that whatever she decides to do now that she’s away from B will make her happy and that it will be worth it to her.”

Babs silently nodded and stared at the giant screen before them.  After a few moments of the tense silence she asked,

“Want to leave this to B and help me mess with Bruce’s stuff?”

Tim smiled wickedly.  Oh, they would do more than mess with his stuff, he drove their baby sister away from them.  Bruce would regret all of his life choices once they were through, especially when they contacted the girls about the situation, which he would leave to Babs.  All Hell was about to break loose, and it would all be Bruce’s fault.

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