Isabella (Marinette) Martha Wayne

Chapter 12

It was unreal. God-like. Terrifying.

The Justice League was close to having a meltdown before Red Robin cut it off by showing another bit of footage. Dated one day after the Stoneheart incident, it was a press conference with Ladybug and Chat Noir as they explained what had happened.

Despite calling each other partners, Ladybug was the clear leader between the two. It was obvious with how she spoke and answered questions, how Chat Noir deferred to her, and how they stood, despite being side by side. Ladybug naturally drew people's attention to herself as a leader did; exuding quiet confidence and strength.

By the end of the footage, Batman's mind was whirling with the information he had just learned and all of the implications that it must have had for Paris.

The city had been under the control of a magical terrorist who could turn them into akumas for simply feeling a negative emotion. No matter a person's age or gender, no matter if they were awake or asleep, they weren't safe to feel anything.

It was horrifying. Not only for the victim, who didn't have any control over their actions and had no memory of what they did, but for the people caught up in the attack.

Was Isa ever used like this? No, not the time.

They died, were injured and watched their loved ones be killed, only to come back and repeat the process the next time Hawkmoth made an akuma. They remembered everything and had to live with the aftermath as they tried to not feel anger, sadness, grief or anything they would have felt, for fear they would be turned into an akuma.

It was horrifying. And Nightwing, Red Hood had the same expression as him. Guilt, fear and fury.

Red Robin gave them very little time to process that information, cutting off many conversations amongst themselves as they tried to make sense of it all as he continued and they were forced to focus or get left behind.

The first six months seemed to be filled with Paris falling into its new normal of living with a magical terrorist that preyed off their emotions and getting to know and trust their heroes, but by the time winter became spring, the city had put their full support behind Ladybug and Chat Noir.

Watching the footage and reading the reports on the akuma battles as Red Robin split the screens so he could read off the Timeline page while they matched the akuma on the Akuma and Amok page, Batman became more certain that Ladybug was the leader.

Chat Noir constantly deferred to her during battles and she was the one that always developed the plan, using whatever object her magic gave her to her advantage in some of the most creative and tactically brilliant ways Batman had ever seen.

She also had a greater understanding and grasp on her weapon. Using the abilities of her yoyo to accomplish feats Batman was astonished to see a yoyo perform. She was also the better fighter, despite Chat Noir almost always being the offensive part of their duo.

When Red Robin made it to the seven-month mark, the Timeline marked it as the start of the Era of the Temporary Heroes.

It gave them all pause, and Batman agreed with The Flash as the metahuman hero muttered that calling something the first in situations like this normally wasn't a good sign.

As they got further, he was proven correct.

Rena Rouge was foxed themed, her magic allowing her to cast illusions and she was the first temporary hero to be introduced. Carapace was only a month after her and was turtle themed, his magic meant he was able to cast an impenetrable shield while Queen Bee followed two weeks after, four weeks before the first Heroes Day.

Queen Bee was a disaster. She deliberately endangered hundreds of lives so she could save them to appear heroic, then revealed her identity for clout. Ladybug was openly livid at her fellow hero, but she paid little notice other than to fawn over her in hero-worship.

The Justice League viewed the clip in disbelief then tried to theorise how the hell Ladybug and Chat Noir could have not known that she had the capacity to do something like that. But, when Superman asked Red Robin if Queen Bee's identity was known to the public, the younger hero said yes.

Queen Bee only fought in four battles, one of them being the Scarlet Swarm akuma battle on the first Heroes Day.

The footage from that battle had left the entire Justice League in stunned horrified silence. The casualties reached close to a million and destruction was city wide with the battle ending three hours later as Hawkmoth fled with the help of a previous unknown ally called Mayura.

Viperion was brought in less than a month after the Heroes Day Scarlet Swarm. The snake themed hero had the most interesting and dangerous magic Batman had seen of the Temps so far; being able to reset time back to a specific place was not something to take lightly.

King Monkey and Pegasus followed in quick succession and were monkey and horse themed respectively. The former could summon an object that affected the functioning of another's powers while the latter could create portals to anywhere.

The last temporary hero was Ryuko, a dragon themed superheroine that could become one of three elements; water, wind or lightning and she appeared four months after Heroes Day.

Like Ladybug and Chat Noir, the temporary heroes all had enhanced physical abilities and senses but were lower in the hierarchy, deferring to Chat Noir when Ladybug wasn't there.

Hawkmoth did the same as Mayura and her magic became a prominent feature in his attacks, creating sentimonsters to help his akumas.

He hated magic.

Ladybug or as she now went by as Lady Miracle continued to train.

It was astounding how much respect the people had for her.

The Ladyblog was all the evidence the Timeline gave despite the vague accusation, and it was all the Justice League needed to prove that fact. The last thing that happened between the press conference and the attack on the First Wave was the increase in the support behind the ship "Ladynoir" as the cat themed hero stepped up his flirting and became more vocal in his declarations of love, especially in front of people and cameras.

Each time he did so, Ladybug turned him down, telling him that she was a professional and did not date colleagues or she cut him off as he told reporters that they were dating and set the record straight.

Batman wished people in the Justice League, himself and his clan included, followed that same principal. The way Chat Noir's flirting was put in the Timeline had alarm bells ringing in Batman's head, especially since it was accompanied by percentages of how it had increased. While it could be a closely followed love story between two heroes for someone to see how it progressed, the tone suggested otherwise.

When Shadow Moth did attack, the battle was marked on the Timeline. Ladybug was impaled and pinned to the ground and Chat Noir was nowhere in sight.

The akuma made it's way towards Ladybug, she kicked it square in the face and sent it flying back. And Batman would be lying if he said he wasn't impressed and a little scared.