Because of You

Chapter 17 - 'Justice' Denied

Damian was the most affected by the capture.

At first it was plain denial. Denial that Marinette was Lady Justice.

How can sweet, friendly Marinette turn out to be a murderer?

Once he accepted the fact, the next stage was anger.

Pure white deadly anger at the betrayal. He trusted her. He trusted her more than anyone he had ever trusted.

Heck, he loved her!

As soon as they returned home with Marinette and Daisy, he rushed to his pets. Bat Spawn was a comfort for a while, even Titus too.

In the silence of his small farm, he let himself go. For the first time in years, he cried.
Tears- he never thought it would ever happen.

The very girl who made him laugh the loudest, caused him pain far beyond he ever thought was possible.

He spent the next few hours in the gym, taking out his anger on punching bags, tearing through them with heavy grunts.

Finally, coming to his senses, he remembered all the facts and clues they had gathered.

Taking a deep breath, he chose to enter the Bat Cave.

The Cave itself had every single member of the family except Cassandra, seated in silence. It looked like a funeral, everyone with some form of injury or the other. And weirdly enough, not one person had a scar. All injuries were internal.

He let out a small laugh. A very weird time, he knew that, but he was slowly going insane.

The family turned to see him, all with confused frowns.

"I think he's gone bonkers," Jason commented, trying to joke.

The whole family glared at him.

"Tim was right," Damian smirked, "He hardly ever is, in the field of assumptions."

"I really wish I wasn't," Tim grumbled.

"What are we all doing?" Damian asked, "We have a murderer in there! Shouldn't we question her, know her motives? Then sent her to Arkham?"

Everyone looked at him wide-eyed.

"But it's Marinette," Carrie said in a small voice.

"So?" Damian asked, "Isn't she the murderer?"

"Yes, but don't you love her?" She protested.

"No!" Damian snarled, "Now, if you are done with your theatrics, I say we get to her interrogation."

"She's still unconscious. They both are, actually," Barbara replied.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Iris bawling, while munching on some chocolates. She had the dress Marinette gave her last time, on her lap. She just kept staring at it.

Bruce had absolutely no reaction to finding out about Marinette.
Damian recalled how his father had kept glancing at him, before the capture plan.

"Father," he addressed, still shaking in anger, "You knew it, didn't you?

Bruce's eyes widened for a minute, while the entire family directed their gazes at him, some looked downright terrifying.

"No, I didn-" he started only to be cut off by Dick, "But you kept looking at Damian earlier. Wait, where did you go, when we were on a mission? Why were you angry?"

Bruce sighed, knowing he had no way out.
"I didn't know," he confirmed, "But I felt a need to research her," he paused, then taking a deep breath, he continued, "I found it weird that Marinette fit into all the descriptions of Lady Justice except two, a motive and evidence. So I used my connections to find out about her."