She's Sunshine, She's Grace, She'll Punch You in the Face

Chapter 52: Blindfolded

Marinette had just changed and was walking down to the gym with Damian for training.

"Today is a one on one day with Bruce for me." Marinette informed as they walked. "What do you think we will be doing?"

"He usually tries to improve on something he thinks you need to work on. It's always different for everyone." Damian shrugged.

"Yeah, I could have guessed that. I just wonder what he sees in me that needs some improvement. I've never had someone to flat out teach me the ropes before and I know I'm not perfect by any means. I still haven't even been able to beat Dick yet."

"Grayson has been working with my father for a very long time." He nodded. "Even with all the training I had before hand, he still bested me when I first arrived."

"Training before hand?" Marinette asked. "What do you mean?"

The two had just reached the gym as she asked this. "I'll tell you about it later. It's almost time to start."

"Okay." She smiled at him. "I'll hold you to that." She kissed him on the cheek.

"Hey, guys!" Dick waved at the from the trapeze.

"Hey, Dick. What're you doing?" Marinette waved back.

"I just got done stretching so I thought I would hit the trapeze while I wait for everyone."

"Looks like fun." Mari spoke as she began to stretch.

"Maybe our next training session it could be you and me and I could teach you some things on here." Dick spoke as he was swinging.

"Sounds like a deal." She said.

"That means I better have a one on one next." Damian grinned at her while he was warming up as well.

"You got it." She winked at him.

Slowly, everyone else started to make their way into the training room with Bruce entering last.

"Before we all get started, I just got word from Barbara that Arkham is still being monitored and nothing has changed. Collusion still seems to be going on between the inmates inside."

Dick was climbing down when he said this. "Something fishy is definitely going on B." He said as he reached the group.

"Hopefully we can prevent whatever they are planning." Tim agreed. "The last thing we all need is for all of them to break out."

"Yes." Bruce nodded. "Well let's get to training for today. Everyone should be working on their specialized exercises after your spars today, got it? We don't need any slackers."

Everyone nodded and began to split off into groups. Marinette looked to Bruce as she waited for his instructions.

"Come with me." Bruce began to walk off into a corner of the room.

"Okay." She followed. "What are we doing today?"

"I've started to realize a major weakness of yours and I want to help you overcome this." He stops by the wall of weapons and leans down to open a small cabinet filled with towels and other cloths and pulls out what looks to be a blindfold. "You are very observant but you rely too much on you sight." He hands her the blindfold. "Your other senses are just as important as your sight."

Marinette looks at it for a moment before nodding. "You're right. Any time I have ever been in the dark I had to rely on Chat Noir to guide me. He was the one to always pull me out of danger because he can see clearly in the dark."

"I've had to learn to make my way around in the darkness. Using your four remaining senses and not just wondering around in the dark can be the difference between life and death. Learning to use all five senses harmoniously and not letting one take over might even help you win with Dick." Bruce smiled at the girl. "Now make your way to the mat and put on the blindfold."

"Okay." She nodded as she took a deep breath. Slowly, she made her way to the mat and put on the blindfold. Marinette didn't like this feeling. This was a very well-made blindfold and all she could see was black.

"You ready?"

The bluenette jumped at the sound of Bruce's voice. She hadn't realized how close he got. "You scared me." She held a hand to her heart to steady herself.

"Then you need to try to listen and not focus on the darkness."

"Okay." She nodded. All she could hear was the boys on the other side of the room sparing.

"Now, are you ready?" He asked again, this time speaking from the other side of her.

"What am I doing exactly?" She managed to not jump at the change of direction.

"You will be sparing with me, obviously."

"O-okay." She nodded. "I think I'm ready."

"Then get into a fighting stance." He was now directly in front of her from what she could hear.

"Right." She changed her stance to bring her feet apart and put her arms up to protect her face. "I'm ready."

She felt like she was standing there listening to someone far to the left of her sparing for almost a minute before something unexpected to her happened. Bruce swiftly swept her legs out from underneath her and she just managed to put her arms out to break her fall.

"You aren't paying attention." Bruce spoke as she got back to her feet.

"I was. But all I could hear was someone sparing over there." Marinette pointed at Jason and Dick, although she didn't know that.

"Then you are being distracted by the unimportant things. You are sparring with me, not them." She started to notice that he was walking around her as he spoke. "Use your senses to find me and not them."

"Okay." She nodded as she got back into her stance. "Let's try this again."

Marinette tried to zone out the sound of the sparing and listen to the area closest to her. It was very hard but she would hear a feint footstep to the left of her and she would turn to face it, only for the area around her to fall silent again. It only took a few seconds before there was a blow to the side of her head. It wasn't Bruce's full force, but it was enough to make her stumble back a bit. She steadied herself to try again.