Crimson

Bittersweet

3 days.

She had 3 days to get her complete and utter panic out of her system so she could find a way to force them straight back out of Paris.

She did not get rid of her panic.

She did not find out a way to force them out of paris.

She decided that she wouldn't actively prepare for them or she would panic even more.

So, when they did arrive, she got her team into their usual training routine, in the position with their usual sparring partner on top of the Eiffel tower.

Marinette froze when she heard a familiar swirling of a portal, likely created by Zatanna. She tried not to change her stature while watching her team. She turned around to face them briefly, not many were there. There was no Diana, she must have been on another mission. Barry, Bruce Hal and Oliver were there. Along with her father, Damien and Kara.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave."  She said cooly.

Most of her team was still sparring, she told them to continue, except Adrien who came to stand by her protectively.

"I hope you don't expect us to comply that easily." Batman took a step closer. He went on to explain why they were there, to offer assistance as he believed they were too young to be working alone with as much responsibility as they had.

Marinette wasn't really paying attention, as she hid slightly behind Adrien away from the Super's immediate eye. In a way, her heart ached. She had missed him, as much as she didn't want to admit it. He still looked healthy. His usual super smile was no where to be seen and she did wonder why.

But most of all, she was livid.

Furious.

How dare he come and try to tell her how to be a hero when all of her life he had insisted she was never going to be good enough. How dare he come to her city and say she's too young. How dare he undermine her again.

How. Dare. He.

She clenched her fists, trying to keep calm, constantly telling herself that it wasn't his fault. She shouldn't blame him for paying attention to the impressive members of the family.

She shouldn't.

She really shouldn't.

But by gosh at that moment she'd never hated him more. Now he was looking at her. Why was he looking at her? Why did he seem worried?

What should she say?

Damien's and Kara's subtle stares were getting hard to ignore.

"Crimson are you with us?" Supergirl said gently.

She blinked and snapped out of her internal emotional conflict briefly. "Huh? Y-yes sorry." She paused then turned to look directly at Batman. "I'm sorry, but we cannot accept outside help." She signalled her team to stop and stand behind them for back up.

Flash impatiently tapped his foot and eyed her with confusion. "Excuse the language but why the hell not?"

"You think we can handle an akumatised league member? If I die, there's no fix. We're done. You are all done. Can't have one city's villain take out the world's heroes can we?" She explained professionally.

"The fact that you state you can die automatically gives us more reason to help you." Robin scowled at her.

She glared back. "They can't die in suit. They're indestructible."

"And yours?" Robin frowned, trying his best to remain professional. While he wanted to give her help, his intention was not to force her identity to end up revealed to anyone; especially not her father. He cared to much about her to be the cause of that. He knew she could not handle it.

"I heal." She hardened her glare.

"The stab wound hasn't." Queen Bee mumbled behind her.

Crimson whipped around to shoot her glare at her.

"A stab wound? Why isn't your suit indestructible?" Her father questioned.

Her voice got stuck in her throat. She couldn't even talk to him.

"That's none of your business!" Her partner snarled from beside her and she shot him a discrete greatful smile.

"We cannot leave knowing that one of you could die in battle. You are children." Superman frowned.

"You can and you will." Carapace said from behind.

"I'm affraid you don't get to decide that." Clark stepped towards Marinette, his hand out to her. "We don't want you hurt." Not that she knew, but Clark was thinking that she reminded him of his lost daughter, he couldn't fail another young girl.

Marinette grit her teeth.

Kara winced. That was definitely a wrong step.

He took another step towards her but the cat beside her intercepted and lunged at him, swiping him from the side of his neck to his shoulder on both sides. To the league's surprise, drawing blood.

The rest of the team got ready to fight. The only one who could reign Chat Noir's protectiveness in was Crimson. There was no way of knowing weather she would, they knew who the Man was to her.  So they prepared to join the fray.

To most of their surprise, Marinette grabbed his tail and yanked him back. "Down Chaton. He is not worth it."

"What!? Of course he is! He-"

"He isn't worth it." She repeated again, with a much harsher tone that gave no room for argument.

He relaxed and went back to her side.

Superman was in a state of shock. He was actually bleeding.

"How did you do that?! The cat got kryptonite claws or something!?" Green arrow pointed at him in shock.

"No. Our power source is magic based. One of a Kryptonian's weaknesses if I'm not mistaken." Pegasus piped in from directly behind her, pushing his glasses further up on his nose. "All of us could potentially injure him."

Superman didn't take his eyes off of Marinette.

Both Damien and Kara stepped between them and addressed the league. "Perhaps/maybe they're correct/right. We should leave. They haven't lost yet and they won't lose now" they said almost in sync.

Marinette sucked in a breath and relaxed a little bit.

The dark knight frowned at the group of teen heroes. "Please contact us if you need." He looked to the cat's still protective stance and decided against handing it to her directly. Instead lightly throwing a small metal cylinder. "That is a distress beacon. If you run into trouble that you cannot handle-"

"We get it thank you." Queen Bee rolled her eyes.

Crimson nodded to him. "Thank you but I will be trying my best to avoid using it." She said with finality.

Batman sighed. "Fine. We will leave for now."

As if a trigger, a portal opened behind them.

Superman eyed her again, a hint of sadness in his eyes.

The group eventually dissapeared into the portal.

As soon as it closed, Marinette's legs buckled beneath her and she started to quietly hyperventilate.

She had a good team to ease her into comfort again. For the rest of the evening, she spent nestled in a giant group hug from the team. That in itself made her feel much better.

Didn't help her internal conflict much but it did calm her down a lot.

But she still had no idea what to feel...

Hope you enjoyed, have a nice day. : )