Chapter Text
The day was finally here – the class trip to gotham. Marinette had spent weeks preparing once Mrs. Bustier received the acceptance letter. Before that, Marinette had spent 2 months writing and revising the application for the class. And it was finally time to leave. Marinette could not be less thrilled.
“5 am! 5 am Tiki!” Marinette exclaimed
“Why did they book the flight for 5 am?!” she grumbled, squishing her pillow on top of her face.
“Oh, Marinette” Tiki giggled, “you’ve got to get moving if you don’t want to be late!”
Marinette rolled over in her bed, grumbling when her phone started vibrating. Looking at the screen, she let’s out a long sigh before clicking the accept button.
“Good morning Mi’Lady!” sang Adrien over the phone. “Are you packed?”
“You. Are. Way. Too happy Adrien.” Marinette punctuates. “It is 4 in the fucking morning.”
“I’m just excited to see you again Mari. I’ve missed you”
“I’ve missed you too Chaton” she sighs into the phone
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It had been 4 months since the defeat of Hawkmoth. It had come as a shock to Ladybug when Chat Noir asked her to meet her on the Eiffel tour during the early hours of the morning, following Hawkmoth’s arrest. After he told her that he couldn’t be Chat Noir anymore, her heart had broken, she begged him to reconsider. And then, he told her why. Since his father had been revealed as Hawkmoth, Adrien was moving to live with his Aunt and cousin outside of Paris. He would be retiring the mantle of Chat Noir, but Ladybug assured him that there would always be a spot for him on the miraculous team – should he want it. As they said their goodbyes, ladybug had whispered in his ear “I’m much closer than you think”. And after a lot of freaking out (and one wild accusation to Alix) Adrien finally figured it out.
Ladybug had talked to the police and explained to them that they were not to release the identity of Hawkmoth, explaining that that was something that she had to do, citing some special magical code (it’s not like they understood magical rules anyway!). She delayed the press conferences, giving Adrien enough time to secure his assets before the news broke to the tabloids and his father’s company tanked.
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Although the trip was technically just for Mrs. Bustiers class, Adrien had applied for special permission to be included on the class trip (at least that’s what he told Mari – he really just paid his way into it).
“I’ll see you soon Kitty, I’ve got to pack up a few final things” Marinette mumbles into the phone, running her other and through her hair to get it out of her eyes.
“Of course Mari, we wouldn’t want you to be late,” he chuckles, “See you soon!”
Marinette lets her hand fall to the mattress as the call ends, letting out one more groan.
After Adrien had left, him and Marinette had a long phone call trying to figure themselves out. They had danced around each other for so long and broken the others heart too many times to count. In the end, it was better for them to remain friends only. They would always be by each other’s sides, just maybe not the way that their younger selves had hoped.
Climbing down from the loft, Marinette scans her room, seeing her suitcase by the trap door, packed and ready to go. She shuffles over to her desk to grab her laptop, shoving it into her carry-on bag. She glances back towards the desk at her unfinished skirt she had been working on last night.
“What do you think Tiki? Should I bring it along?” She questions, holding it up.
“It’s up to you Marinette! You probably won’t have much time to work on it – your classes’ schedule is very full!” Tiki exclaims. “But isn’t the commission due just a few days after you get back?” She continues.
“That’s true Tiki.” Marinette briefly ponders it before sticking the skirt into her bag, “I know I said that I would take these few weeks off from commissions, but I should take something to keep me entertained while we’re there – you know I’m usually up late into the night anyways.”
Since Marinette’s brand, MDC, had been promoted by Jagged Stone, her commissions had sharply increased -- leading to her spending almost all of her free time (outside of school and her superhero duties) sewing.
She was glad for the short break that this trip would provide, but still wanted something to keep her hands busy.
Shaking her head, Marinette slung the bag over her shoulder, opening the pocket for Tiki to settle into. She grabbed the suitcase and headed downstairs. Picking up her phone, she called a cab – her parents were just starting the baking for the day and couldn’t drive her to the airport, so she simply gave them each a kiss of the cheek and a hug on her way out.
The drive to the airport was silent; Marinette savoring her last few minutes of silence before she had to spend the next few weeks around the liar.
When the cab pulled up outside the front doors of the airport, Marinette got out, thanking the driver before moving towards the trunk to get her suitcase out. Before she could reach the trunk, someone dove into her, wrapping their arms around her from behind. Marinette let out a giggle, already guessing who had accosted her.
“Why, hello Kitty!” she giggled, twisting her body around to face him.
“Oh god Marinette, I’ve missed you so much!” Adrien declares, burying his head into her shoulder.
“I know Adrien, I’ve missed you too” she assures, wrapping her arms around him as well. “I know someone else who missed you,” she whispered in his ear, pulling back slightly to grab Adrien’s hand, slipping the ring on.
“Oh, Marinette! It’s been so long since I saw that stinky cat.” Adrien said, then a look of horror passed across his face. “Please tell me you brought camembert! I cannot put up with his whining again!”
Hearing a quiet “Hey!” from Adrien’s coat pocket, Marinette giggled, nodding.
“Now, I’ve got to get my luggage or else we’re going to miss our flight!” She laughs, pushing him away.
“Allow me, Mi’Lady!” Adrien exclaims, rushing around her to reach the trunk first, making a grab towards her luggage, but Marinette beats him to it, easily lifting the luggage out of the trunk and turning to face him.
“Actually kitty, I’ve got it,” she says, giving him a light shove on his shoulders. “You’ve got your own luggage waiting for you inside I’m guessing.”
“Ah, right as always buggabo”
Making their way inside the airport, Marinette catches a glimpse of the brown-haired brat and takes a deep breath, subconsciously reaching out to grab Adrien’s hand. As their fingers graze, Adrien swiftly takes her hand in his, giving it a squeeze.
“Us against the world includes spoiled bullies” he whispers, earning a small giggle from Marinette. Tugging her closer to the class, Adrien throws his arm up, signaling to Mrs. Bustier.
“Ah, finally Marinette!” Mrs. Bustier exclaims, “Now that we’ve got everyone, let’s head to the gate.”
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The closer to Gotham they got, the more uneasy Marinette felt. She had been glad when they first boarded the plane, as Adrien had managed to get her seat next to his and quite a fair distance away from Lila. However, nothing Adrien did could distract her from the growing unease she felt. The minute the plane touched down; Marinette knew for sure that something was wrong.
Adrien could obviously sense her panic and reached over, giving her arm a squeeze and raising his eyebrows in question.
“I don’t have a good feeling about this kitty,” she explained. “I’m going to talk to Tiki when we get to the hotel because I don’t understand it. I just know that something is off,” she whispered her explanation as everyone on the plane began to stand up and begin filing off, the feeling of dread sinking even lower in her gut.
Grabbing her bag from the overhead compartment, Marinette began walking towards the front of the plane. Bag in hand, kitty trailing behind her excitedly chattering, Marinette exited the plane. She couldn’t help but think that the sky seemed too bright for all of the dark energy seeped into the very ground they were walking on.
As the group made their way to the front of the airport, Marinette’s eyes darted around – she just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.
And she was right.
As everything finally clicked together in her mind – all of the men stationed around the airport, seemingly innocent, but blocking exits – she saw movement in the corner of her eye. Tugging Adrien’s arm, she pulls him to the ground, stepping to put herself on top of him in a defensive position. Just as Adrien begins to voice his confusion, a shot rings out.
Marinette’s eyes dart frantically around the room, looking for the source, before she sees a guy with a burlap sack over his head step forward – Scarecrow.
“GET DOWN!” He shouts, griping his gun which was thankfully still aimed at the ceiling.
Before Marinette has time to make a move, Adrien yanks her down beside him.
“Marinette, no.” He whispers, “You’re not ladybug right now, you could get seriously hurt. Please just wait. Batman and his crew will save us. Just stay down… please” he begs.
Sighing, Marinette just nods her head slightly, looking back up to continue assessing the situation. All of the henchmen were standing in the doorways, pushing people who were too close towards the center of the room. She looks back towards Scarecrow as he continues to speak.
"We heard that Mr. Wayne funded a little classes trip here” he says, earning a few gasps from Marinette’s classmates, causing him and his henchmen to look their way.
‘Of course the idiots just had to immediately give us away’ Marinette thought, rolling her eyes.
“We wanted to give you guys a warm welcome” Scarecrow gives a menacing grin as he locks his eyes onto Alya.
With a jerk of his head, Scarecrow instructs his henchmen. Four men close in on the group, grabbing Alya and Mylene, jerking them up to stand. As Scarecrow stalks closer, Marinette tenses her muscles, ready to jump into action, but Adrien’s grip on her is steady, keeping her on the ground.
“Why hello there” Scarecrow sneers, leaning into Alya’s face. The aspiring journalist obviously had at least some sense left in her, as she lowered her head, shivering slightly.
“Oh? Scared already” Scarecrow mocked, lifting his arm and making a quick motion with his hand. Marinette watches as one of his henchmen steps forwards with a brief case. She had researched Gotham and it’s many villains before coming, so she knew exactly what was coming next. In the next second, Marinette was up, leveling a glare towards Scarecrow.
“Stop!” Her voice fills the room as many heads turn to her, horror written clearly across their faces. feels Adrien latch on to her leg, obviously trying to claw some sense into her – but it’s too late, she’s already grabbed his attention. Marinette lifts her chin up slightly and squares her shoulders as Scarecrow turns around to face her, meeting her gaze.
“Oh, a volunteer I see,” he walks towards her, as two of his henchmen come up behind her, grabbing her by the shoulders. Marinette stays still, keeping her shoulders square, as she sees one of the henchman grab Adrien by his shirt collar and drag him away from her. At least he was safe for now. She feels Tiki press against her leg from inside her purse; she wasn’t completely alone in this, she never was.
Turning her gaze back to scarecrow, Marinette speaks again, “leave them alone”.
“Sure thing”
Marinette gasps slightly as Scarecrow suddenly shoves a gas mask in her face. She tries to hold her breathe then, but the effects have already started from her slipup.
She feels her heart increase and the room around her starts to blur. As she begins to panic more, she looses control and takes a breath; suddenly everything in the room shifted as she fell to the ground.
When she opens her eyes again, she’s in Paris.
Standing above her is Hawkmoth, grinning as he stalks closer to her.
Marinette jumps up, immediately kicking her leg high, landing a hit in his face.
She hears the yelp of surprise but doesn’t hesitate as she gives Hawkmoth a punch to the face, seeing him fall to the ground, still, before she continues to knock down all of the akumas that were swarming towards her. One by one, she knocks them out cold ‘where are their akumatized objects?’ she thinks, scanning the bodies that were already on the ground before shifting her focus back to the akumas that were still standing ‘a problem for later’.
In the corner of her eye she sees Hawkmoth push himself back up, backing further away from the fight, ‘coward’. Knocking down the akuma that was coming up from behind her with a swift turning kick, Marinette shifts her weight, launching herself towards Hawkmoth’s retreating figure.
With a leap, she lands on his back. Wrapping her arms around his neck, and throwing her weight back, she causes both of them to topple to the ground. Grappling around on the ground with him, she ends up on top, punching him repeatedly in the face until he stops moving. She sits back for a second, looking for more akumas that she might have missed. All she sees are cowering citizens; pushing herself to standing, she lets out a sigh of relief, but keeps her shoulders tense.
All of the sudden the sound of shattering glass rings in her ears. Her eyes dart towards the building on her right, seeing four figures drop in. She brings her arms up into a defensive position, assessing the newcomers. None of them had a clear form – they were covered in shadows. ‘perhaps the work of another akuma’ she muses, deciding to wait to see what they do.
She hears voices speaking, but just like their visual form, their words are coated in shadow – indistinguishable to her. She keeps a careful eye on the figures as the slowly move towards her, but when she catches a fifth figure drop down behind her, she makes her move.
Launching towards the closest figure, a large shadow to her right, Marinette takes a swing towards their head. She fist is met only with air as the shadow dodges, so she quickly drops to the ground, sweeping her leg, knocking them to the ground. Knowing she had to work quickly, she aims a swift punch into the figure’s face, feeling it make contact. ‘That should be enough to keep him down for a little while’ she thinks, wiping the blood off of her fist as she pushes herself back up to face the remaining figures.
Just as she’s about to launch into her next series of attacks, she realizes: there’s only three figures in front of her. Quickly ducking to the ground and scooting to the side, she turns her head to see that the fourth figure had indeed tried to sneak up behind her. Looking around, Marinette desperately searches for some kind of weapon to use – she had been fighting for awhile now, so she was beginning to tire out.
As one of the figures begins to approach her again, she tenses before noticing that they seemed to have their hands up in a placating gesture. She cocks her head to the side, her mind running through everything that had happened, trying desperately to make sense of it all. Hadn’t she been in Gotham? Why was she in Paris? They defeated Hawkmoth a while ago, right?
As the figure took a few more steps towards her, pausing, Marinette simply looked towards them, not making another move to attack. In the end, they deemed it was safe enough to come closer. Marinette felt a sharp sting in her neck as she collapsed to the floor once again.
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A loud siren was ringing in Marinette’s ears, waking her. With a groan, she throws her arm out, feeling around for her alarm. Instead, her hand meets something fluffy.
Blinking her eyes open, Marinette is surprised to see her hand resting on top of Adrien’s head.
“Uh, hi?”
“Marinette! You’re awake!” She hears Adrien exclaim as he tackles her into a hug.
“What’s going on?” She questions as she returns the hug.
“Scarecrow tried to attack your class, and you beat up him and his entire crew while under the effects of fear gas.” Marinette’s eyes widen as she looks towards the figure who had just spoken, some kind of medic.
“And you broke Red Robin’s nose!” someone exclaims.
“I DID WHAT?!” Marinette screeches, causing Adrien to pull back from the hug. She turns towards the person who had just spoken up – Red Hood.
“OH MY GOSH I’M SO SORRY! I DON’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED I SWEAR I DIDN’T MEAN TO.” She yells before continuing to mutter to herself “I just beat up one of the Batcrew, good lord… now they’re going to kick me out of Gotham and I’m never going to be able to… WAIT, am I going to be put in prison? I can’t go to prison…” Marinette rambles before being cut off suddenly.
“You’re not going to prison, and we’re not going to throw you out of Gotham” Red Hood reassures her. With what she felt like was a grin from behind his mask, he continued, “that was badass.”
Marinette blushes, ducking her head down, but quickly lifts it back up when she hears another voice butt in.
“But we do need to speak to you” the deep voice says, “in private”.
Marinette gasps as she sees who that voice belonged to – Batman.
Everyone else around her gasps before beginning to shuffle away. Adrien gives her hand a soft squeeze as he turns to follow the crowd.
Marinette takes a deep breath as she turns back to face the figures in front of her.
“The was so totally badass, dude” Red Hood says, plopping down onto the ambulance cart she was laying down on.
“Tt. Hood, let Batman speak.” A new voice interjects from her right. Turning to assess the newcomer, Marinette sees another of the vigilantes, Robin. Staring at him for a moment longer than she should have, Marinette hears Batman clear his throat, so she turns back to face him.
“Right, so what did you need to talk to me about?”
“Well, we need to know how exactly you did all of that.”
“All of what?” Marinette questions, scrambling to figure a way out of this whole mess.
“You managed to knock out Scarecrow and 15 of his henchmen before we even arrived on scene. And then you managed to break Red Robin’s nose, knocking him out as well.”
“Well… uh… l-luck?” Marinette stutters, her heart beating even faster.
She hears a scoff from her right, shifting her head to shoot Robin a small glare, muttering under her breath “shut up, traffic light.” This earns her a giggle from Red Hood, but thankfully escapes notice of the Dark Knight.
Just as she’s about to say something else, two more vigilantes join the group.
Marinette’s eyes widen, taking in Nightwing and Red Robin (who looked rather comical with the large bandage covering his nose).
She lets out a squeak, speaking up “Red Robin! I’m so sorry! I really didn’t mean to break your nose! I don’t know how it even happened!” She rushes out.
“Don’t even worry about it pipsqueak,” Nightwing speaks up, coming to stand next to her, “you knocked him out cold for like 10 minutes – that’s the longest he’s slept in days,” he chuckles.
“Please tell me that’s a joke” Marinette asks in horror, looking at the faces around her as the all shake their heads.
“You need more sleep than that!” She scolds, leveling a stern glare at Red Robin. A look of surprise jumps onto his face, and he looks to his around hoping that someone would back him up, but he’s only met with blank stares from his family.
“Ok, Miss. Dupain-Cheng. We looked into some of your background while you were unconscious, and there’s no record of you taking any kind of combat or self-defense classes. So we are wondering how you managed to do this.” Batman leveled her with a look.
“Well, my mom and dad made me learn some moves from them and watch some YouTube tutorials to help keep me safe during akuma attacks.” Marinette lies, hoping they aren’t able to hear her heart as it threatens to beat right out of her chest.
"A-th-uma attacks? What’s that?” Red Hood asks, looking at her in confusion.
Marinette mentally groans, ‘God, I forgot that I blocked the news from leaving Paris’
You see, Marinette had made the decision at the start of her career as Ladybug to block news of akuma attacks from leaving Paris. She knew that if the news got out, too many foreign people would become involved, and she couldn’t risk anyone who knew about the miraculous getting wind of the fact that the ladybug and black cat were active. She didn’t need two maniacs going after her earrings at once, thank you very much.
“Well, the attacks aren’t happening anymore. Ladybug and Chat Noir defeated Hawkmoth about 4 months ago.”
“Ladybug?”
“Chat Noir?”
“Hawkmoth?”
Each vigilante chimes into question.
Marinette lets out another sigh. “Ladybug and Chat Noir were our heroes and Hawkmoth was a villain that terrorized us for 3 years. Look, I can’t explain that much about it to you right now, I’m exhausted, but I know a way to contact Ladybug. I can ask her if she would be willing to meet with you guys.”
“How would that even work? She’s in Paris, isn’t she?” Nightwing asks
“Well, yes… but our heroes have… special ways to get where they need to be” Marinette explains hesitantly.
“And you think she would be willing to meet with us?” Batman questions
“Yes. When they were still active, the heroes often used my balcony to rest and recharge during battles and patrols, so she knows me, she trusts my judgement. And I think it is time for the Justice League to know.”
“How would we know where to meet with her?” Nightwing speaks up
Marinette hesitates a moment before asking, “What’s the tallest building in Gotham?”
“Wayne enterprises.” Robin interjects
“Ok, tomorrow night at the top of Wayne enterprises. What time?”
The Bats look at each other before Batman speaks up. “Midnight, we should be done with our patrols by then.”
“Ok, I’ll reach out to ladybug when I get back to my hotel room and tell her to meet you guys then.”
Batman gives her a short nod before turning towards the rest of his crew. “Wing, take care of Miss. Dupain-Cheng. Everyone else, head back.”
With that, Batman turns to leave, followed by Red Hood and Red Robin. Marinette looks to Nightwing, seeing him staring at Robin with a questioning look. Marinette looks between the two as they seemingly have a silent conversation. Nightwing seems to give in finally as he lets out a sigh, “I hope your day gets better Miss,” he states with a nod in her direction before turning to follow the others.
Once Nightwing is out of earshot, Robin walks around to stand in front of her.
“Your class has gone to your hotel. I will give you a lift.” He states, looking expectedly at her.
“O-oh, w-well ok-k” Marinette stutters, shifting awkwardly in the bed to swing her legs over the side. She goes to push herself up, only to sway as soon as her weight is on her feet. As she begins to tilt, she feels Robin’s arms shoot out to catch her.
“Oh, gosh, I’m so sorry” she presses a hand to her forehead “I guess I’m just still feeling the effects of the fight.”
Robin gives her a short nod, “that is to be expected”.
Marinette lets out a squeak as she feels him lift her feet off of the ground. He quickly shoots off his grappling hook and then, they’re sailing through the air.
Marinette relishes the feeling of flying through the air again – she hadn’t transformed since that final battle. She didn’t realize how much she had missed it. All too soon, Robing was setting her back down on the ground, and the hotel was looming in front of them.
“T-thank you” Marinette mumbles, stepping back to put some space between them.
“It is my duty,” Robin dismisses.
“Well, I’m still thankful”. Marinette stares at him for a second, almost getting lost in his eyes, but she snaps herself back to reality and turns to move into the hotel.
“You fight good”
“What?” Marinette spins around to face him once again at the sudden statement.
“Your fighting skills were more than adequate.” She notices some color on his cheeks as he speaks again, but it’s hard to tell with the mask if it was truly a blush.
“Oh, uh, thank you. I am truly sorry for what I did to your partner though.”
“Tt. Trust me, you and Red Robin are the only ones who are upset about that.”
Marinette giggled, looking up at Robin again, “Well, it was nice to meet you. I should probably head up to see my class. See you around?”
“Tt. Given the nature of my job, I think you should be hoping not to see me again.”
Marinette let out a laugh and took a few steps towards him. Lifting her chin to look him in the eyes, she grinned. “Trust me, I have a feeling we will meet again,” There’s mischievous glint in her eye, like she’s trying to let him in on a secret. But then, she flicks her eyes back to the ground and mumbles, “bad luck seems to follow me around.”
With that, she walks into the hotel, the doors sliding shut behind her.