Coming Home Again

Chapter 4

Marinette POV

We made our way to the park, our kwamis and phones in our pockets. I was sitting by a tree drawing. I was able to create a lot of different designs. And when I say 'a lot' I mean, 'a LOT.' I've come up with a line for each of the vigilantes and villains. And while I drew, Chloe jogged. When I think I hear Chloe approaching, I start to put my things away, but I was not expecting what had happened. A dog knocked me over, licking my face. I couldn't see the owner because the giant dog kept licking my eyes, forcing me to close them. For the weight and size of the dog, I was glad that it was friendly, so I couldn't help but giggle. "Titus!"a boy my age called. "I apologize for my dog, miss," he told me.

I couldn't help but giggle. Maybe, being back home has made a difference in my mood. "It's ok. I was just drawing," I say as I smile. "I'm Marinette." I reach my hand out to shake.

"Damian," he says, putting his dog in his leash.

"So, Titus is your dog's name?" I ask. He nods in confirmation. "Well...nice to meet you, and you too, Titus," I say.

He gives me a half smile and says, "Likewise." Then he looks shocked for a minute and asks, "Are you from Gotham?" I sit down and pat next to me, motioning for him to sit.

"I used to live here, but then I moved. Now I'm just back to visit," I say. He sits down beside me.

About a half an hour passes, and Damian and I are still talking. Chloe still isn't back yet, and I'm getting worried. We hear a loud crash from the other side of the park, and both of us stand up abruptly. Then we see the Joker and his goons in tail. "Oh, no. That's why..." I drift off.

He looks at me. "What?"

"My best friend, she is here. She went out for a run, but didn't come back. What if they kidnapped her, and they hurt her, I knew I shouldn't have brought her here. This is why I don't get close to anyone, they get hurt. First Jason, then Wang, and now Chloe?! What if they try to-" Damian cut her off.

"Don't worry, Batman and his team will be here soon."

"So what? Just let them kill whoever they want? No!" I said, starting to walk over from behind the tree.

Damian pulls me back. "What are you thinking?! He'll kill you! Stay here with me and Titus!" He whisper-yelled.

"No," I said as I ripped out of his hold. I marched over to Joker, face red with anger.

"Awe, your so cute! What is your n-" he started.

"Oh, cut the crap! Let my best friend go! Right. Now." I said in a deadly voice. He looked like he was going to talk again, so I cut in. "NO! I don't want to hear it! Let these people go! Now! I won't ask again!"

His goons pointed their weapons at me, prepared to shoot. I didn't show an ounce of fear, all they could see was my anger and that I was not messing around. Five LONG seconds ticked by, about twenty guns pointed at my head. "Well, you heard the little lady. Let the hostages go," he said. Wow, Joker really is crazy. I guess it worked out in my favor this time. "Any other requests?" He asked, like he really wanted to know the answer. I nodded my head. "What?"

"Get your butt back to Arkham," I said.

"Ok, on one condition," I looked at him to continue. "Will you be my honorary niece? And you'll visit me often?"

My eyes softened, "Sure," I said in a happy voice. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy, including Joker, for my mood changing so quickly. "But, clean up the mess you made and hurry."

"Yes, ma'am," he said. Joker's goons looked at him, their dumbstruck expressions decipherable through their masks. He turned around, "Well, hurry! I don't like escorts to Arkham. Especially the bats," he said with distaste. Within five minutes, the park looked brand new and Joker was headed to Arkham and his goons gone.

Then Batman and Nightwing arrived about a minute later, confused. When they would ask people standing by, they would all point to me without a word. And since Batman always freaked me out, I didn't like it when he looked at me. It didn't scare me, I just thought his outfit was terrible, that's the part that freaked me out. I could make it way better, same for Nightwing. A woman handed him her phone, I guess she took a video. Ugh! If Lila sees that, she's just going to say it's for attention. I don't have a doubt it's already on the internet.

"Chloe, let's go before we get asked anything," I told her.

Damian heard me and said, "What? No, you have to give Batman your statement."

"No thank you, but here," I said as I scribbled down my phone number on one of my pages and folded it up. I handed it to him, grabbed Chloe, and left in the other direction blushing like crazy.

Damian POV

That girl is crazy brave. She just told the Joker what to do like it was nothing, and he obeyed! Then, she didn't even want to meet my father and just tried to leave. I tried to stop her, but she just gave me a folded up piece of paper and left with Chloe by her side. I looked at the paper and blushed like crazy.

Marinette Todd
(123)-456-7890

Wow, that's definitely not weird, her last name being 'Todd' and all. It's probably just a coincidence, Jason is like....five years older than us. Besides, how can an angel like that be related to Todd?

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