Miraculous Ladybug: Arkham Rogue

The End of the Encounter

As the Bat-Wing hovered high above the heroes, Batman was busy securing Mr. Freeze inside a custom made containment unit. When it was dropped off from the Bat-Wing, Batman had explained to them that it would keep Freeze from escaping. He also explained that even if his ice gun was fully intact and working, Mr. Freeze would be unable to escape.
"So you are heading back to Gotham?" Chat Noir asked. As Batman finished the final calibration on the containment unit he turned to them.
"Yes, but first I have to drop Freeze off at Arkham. He's got a nice chilly cell waiting there for him."
"Well, on behalf of us and everyone in Paris," Ladybug started. "We just wanted to thank you for your help."
"If anything, you wouldn't need my help had Freeze not attempted to steal your magical jewels. So really it's me who should be thanking you. Even though you two may be young, you are truly courageous and fine protectors of your city."
Both heroes looked quite bashful. Ladybug looked away as she held her left arm with her right hand. Chat Noir grinned widely and scratched the back of his head. Batman nodded and turned to look up at the Bat-Wing. A big hook had repelled down to him and he attactched it to the continment unit. The line was pulled tight and began to take Freeze up. As that happened, both their ring and earrings beeped rapidly, signifing that their transformations were about to expire.
"Looks like this cat has got to pounce," Chat Noir joked. "It was an honor to meet you, Batman." Without a moment to lose, he was off jumping out of sight.
"I should probably get going too. But before that," she dug into her yo-yo and from with in she pulled out a circular charm. It was a black charm that had four yellow dots on both sides. It matched his standard suit. "You may not need this Gotham, but at least this can help you remember that there is always positivity even in the most helpless situations." Ladybug handed the charm to Batman who held onto it. "Bug-out." After she said that she started to turn to run off.
"Hold on a second, Marinette," Batman spoke softly as to not be overheard by anyone. Ladybug froze in place. While it is not the first time she has heard her name be directed at her in costume, it still made Ladybug very uneasy. She slowly turned to face him. "I know I cannot help you beyond this point against Monarch, it does truly pain me to know. Yet I know it is for the best that I do not share this information as the state of the space time continuum is at risk."
"I know that, Batman. I appreciate your cooperation regardless." Batman merely nodded and turned his back to her, but kept speaking.
"Just know that when, not if, you learn who is really underneath that mask..." he paused choosing his words carefully. "That you do what you know is right, for you, for Paris, and those who are closest to you." Ladybug nodded, not fully sure what he meant. But could tell that he wanted her to deeply consider how she would face against Monarch in the future.
Once he said his piece, and Mr. Freeze was safely secured inside the Bat-Wing, Batman pulled out his grappling gun one more time and shot it upwards. He propelled himself right into the cockpit, and within a few moments he flew off.
Ladybug did not waste more time as she ducked off into a nearby alley and took refuge within the sewers as her transformation fell away. Tikki flew out of the earrings and landed on Marinette's out stretched hands. Both laid a sigh of relief as the fierce battle was over.
Marinette reached into her little bag and pulled out another small cookie for her to enjoy as Marinette walked to another exit that would be closer to her house. She knew the sewers pretty well at this point.
"What do you think Batman was trying to tell me before he left." Marinette asked her companion. Tikki took another tiny bite of her cookie before answering.
"I'm not sure, Marinette. I don't think he thought that you would do the wrong thing. We both know the evil that Monarch has caused. I doubt you would ever do anything short of stopping him."
"You are right, Tikki. I think I am just over thinking things."
"Like you do with Adrian?" Tikki meant to say that to tease her, but when she said that Marinette's shot wide and her face grew pale.
"AH, Adrian! I forgot he went out to a press conference earlier today. I need to get back up to the surface and call and make sure he is okay!" Marinette started bolting for the nearest sewer pipe that she knew would have the least amount of eyes on her. As she climbed up the ladder, Tikki had zipped by her face and floated in step with Marinette.
"Wasn't his press conference on the other side where the inital Akuma attack was?"
"Yes! but that doesn't mean he wasn't affected when all of Paris was frozen over." As she rambled, images of what she spoke popped into her head. "What if he is wrapped up vines and couldn't get out? What if he is trapped underneath some rubble that didn't get touched by the magical ladybugs? What if he is frozen in ice? What if Kagami keeps pestering him with internet videos that I plan to show him later?!"
Tikki knew that it was pointless to try to argue with Marinette when she was in this kind of state. She merely sighed and zoomed inside Marinette's bag and decided to let Marinette process all her thoughts on her own.
Once Marinette slide the lid off, she almost forgot to recover the sewre lid. She pulled out her phone and instantly dialed Adrian's number, not even bothering to go to contacts and typing out his number by memory. Her legs franticlly stepped in place as she waited, listening to the phone ring. After a few rings it stopped as Adrian had answered his phone.
"Hello, Marinette?" came Adrian's voice on the other line. Marinette let out a big sigh of relief. He sounded normal to her.
"Adrian," Marinette only spoke that word at first. She was just so mezmoride by hearing his voice. The two stood in a brief moment of silence.
"Um.... did you mean to call me?" Adrien was extremely confused. "I didn't acciedntally call you and you aren't waiting for me to say something, right?"
"Oh! Uh.. no, no, I called you. I just wanted to make sure you were safe from all those crazy Akuma battles that happened today."
"Yeah, I am totally fine. I was actually about to call you and ask you the same thing." Marinette blushed heavily at these words. She thought he was so thoughtful and considerate.
"Good, good, I am good too. Everybody is good. Good, good, good." She continued to repeat her words. Marinette was so glad he was not in front of her to see her being the complete spaz that she was.
"Well my press conference is over since we will have to reschedule for tomorrow. My body guard is taking me home so I can have dinner with my dad, but maybe after that we can play some games online?" Marinette had a big dumb smile on her face.
"Yes!" Marinette realized she did not need to get as excited like this over him wanting to spend time together. She would have to get more use to it as their relationship was still fairly fresh. "I mean, yes I would love to play some games with you."
"Awesome, I've been practicing my combo strings, you won't know what hit you."
"Oh really?" Marinete said more confidently, sensing the playful competitveness from Adrian. "Well, I sure hope youve been practing cause last time you took quite the beat down."
"Oh please I let you win," Adrian returned the playful remarks. "Besides it is going to be different this time. I've gotten even better since I switched to an arcade stick for our fighting game."
"Aw man, an Arcade stick would be so cool to use for Ultimate Mecha Strike III."
"Don't worry, I got one for you too."
"Wait, really? You didn't have to do that."
"It's my pleasure, Marinette. I wouldn't even know how cool they were without you telling me about them. You deseve to have one, and this way the playing field is even."
"You are too sweet." Her cheeks glew red again as she continued to walk. Not even realizing she had walked past the entrance to the bakery a couple times already. Her parents watched her from the window as they were helping the last few customers of the night. They shook their heads and laughed at their silly daughter. They were so happy for her.
Meanwhile, in the depths of Paris, one father was not particularly happy. As the elvator doors opened he stormed right along the path to the chamber where his wife laid. His transformation fell away as he slammed his blackened hand on top of the closed container. Angry and deep breaths escaped his mouth as he blankly stared at the metal lid. His fist turned into an open hand as he slumped to the floor onto his knees. His eyes closed as the begining of tears sprung from under his eyes. Nooroo couldn't help but feel pity for Gabriel as he wept in front of his unmoving wife.
Ladybug, Chat Noir," Gabriel started to say in a low voice. Which gradulally grew as he spoke. "Today you have only delayed the envitable. Once my true plan is complete, there will be nowhere in the world that will be able to help you.  Not even Batman will be able to save you in the future. No one..."
    He picked himself off and used a handkechief to wipe away the tears that slipped out from his eyelids. Dusting himself off, he composed himself as he metally prepared himself for his son's return. He had to make sure that Adrian saw no sign of weakness or unusual behaviors from himself.
    "Be careful Batman," Gabriel said to himself as he rode the elevator up to his office. "I may not know who you are or how you came to know my identity but know this. Once I make my wish and save my wife, I will get my revenge on you. Starting with finding out who you are and then coming to destroy you and those who you care."
As Gabriel stewed his new found hatred, Batman flew over the Atlantic Ocean. Freeze was still out cold in the back of the Bat-Wing under heavy sedation. If Freeze was to be awoken on the trip back, the Bat-Wing was equipped with sleeping gas to keep him knocked out.
    Batman continued to plot his course to Arkham Asylum when his monitor beeped at him again. Pressing a button on his console cause a sliding sound proof panel to divide the cockpit from the back. Batman would not want Mr. Freeze to wake up long enough to hear any personal details.
    Once again the screen flickered and Alfred's face appeared. He had a tiny white plate in his left hand and a matching tea cup in his right hand. Alfred was smelling the cup before taking a sip.
    "Hello, Master Wayne. Nice to see you in one piece."
    "Thanks Alfred. Can I ask you to do something for me as I go to take Victor to Arkham?"
"Don't you always ask me to do something for you?" Alfred asked rhetorically.
"Make sure you send an email out to all our England investors who showed up for the meeting today. Tell them I fell ill and needed to rest in the hotel room. The meeting will take place tomorrow and after there will be an extravagant party. All expenses paid."
"An excellent go-to excuse, Master Wayne." Alfred typed away, forming the email on the spot. "There it is done."
"Thank you Alfred."
"By the way, sir," Alfred started. "Master Grayson has returned from his fast-food escapade."
Dick Grayson walked into the scope of the camera. His mask was off but he was still fully suited up. Batman could see that Dick's face was a bit bruised up, no doubt from taking several bunches from some random goons. His suit had a bunch of dirt and grim smeared all over. At certain spots around the torso Batman could spot some rips in the material from knife attacks. Even though Batman knew he was fine, a deep parental instinct kicked into high gear inside Batman's mind.
"You okay, Dick?" Batman asked. Dick went to answer but Alfred had interjected.
"Master Grayson is doing just fine, sir. He got into a small tussle as he reentered Gotham, nothing he couldn't handle on his own." Dick looked a bit bashful as he looked to the side. It was weird having Alfred explain on his behalf. At least he didn't have to describe to Batman in detail.
"I've already made sure there were no serious external and internal injuries. His suit on the other hand is absolutely rugged."
Dick laughed, turning back to the camera. "I'm sure Mr. Fox can repair it in no time at all." Now Dick was in the center of the screen. Alfred went and attended to things offscreen in the meantime. "Saw you on the international news, good job catching Freeze."
"Thanks Dick, but I did have some help."
"Wait, you getting help? I thought Batman didn't need any help." Dick said in an obvious sarcastic tone. Both of them smiled, even getting a small chuckle out of Batman.
"Well, it was nice to have someone by my side. It felt like when you first became Robin." Dick slowly nodded, not fully sure what he should say. "It did get me thinking, however I wanted to clear it with you first."
"Oh, really? That's... s-sure," Dick was very taken aback.  Batman almost never cleared anything with him, at least in this type of manner. He could tell that Batman was trying to take an intentional step of treating him as his own hero rather than a side kick. "Sure what did you want to ask me?"
"Seeing as you were my first Robin, I wanted to get your blessing on passing the title of Robin to someone new."
"Oh," Dick said again. Once again at a lost for words.
"It's okay if you don't want to have someone else running around as Robin. I completely-"
Dick interjected. "No, no. It's not that." Batman relaxed a bit. Dick merely let out a long sigh and stood there for a moment, leaning on the table that was under the camera. "Obviously, being Robin meant a lot to me. Fighting by your side helped me through a really difficult time in my life. And for that I will always be eternally grateful."
Batman was glad to have the charm that Ladybug gave him, he could feel his emotions being brought up to the surface. Though he tried hard to not let it show.
"I think," Dick continued. "It makes sense that you would want to do the same thing for this person."
"I'm glad to hear you say that." A soft smile on Batman's face.
"So who is going to be the new Robin?"
"His name is Jason Todd."
"Jason Todd?" Came Alfred's voice from the side. Dick looked over to where Alfred was and moved to the side as he stormed back on screen. "Master Wayne you cannot be seriously considering that hooligan."
"Wait wait, what did he do?" Asked Dick.
"He shows promise, Alfred," Batman said ignoring Dick's question.
"He vandalized the Bat-Mobile and you think he should be rewarded for his crime?"
"He did what to the Bat-Mobile?"
"He managed to take off the tires of the Bat-Mobile. Not an easy task."
"Isn't there like a whole bunch of security measures to not allow that to happen?" Dick questioned as he and Alfred now shared the screen space.
"Yes, even Lucius Fox was confounded how his security measures were bypassed and how a teenager could dismantle his expert craftsmanship."
"I know you are not most people, Master Wayne," Alfred started. "But most people do not take those who have stolen from them under their wing."
"Maybe, but I see good in him Alfred. He just needs the right push." Alfred looked to Dick Grayson and sighed as he looked down. "I would not take this boy in if I didn't consider the risks."
"You are right, Master Wayne," Alfred looked up and gave a small bow. "Forgive me for questioning your judgment."
"It's fine, Alfred. Thank you for your concern."
"If he ever needs a few pointers from the OG," Dick said pointing to himself with his thumb. "You know where to find me."
"Thank you for understanding, Dick. You staying for dinner?" Dick's thought about it for a moment. Batman was worried he asked a bit too upfront. "Unless you need to get back to Bludhaven."
"Nah, I can stick around for the night. It's been awhile since I've had some of Alfred's cooking. I definitely have missed it. I've... missed you guys."
"I've missed you too, Dick. I'll see you at home." Dick saluted to Batman and Alfred bowed once again.
As Batman turned off his communicator, he opened the back panel to check on Freeze. Batman could hear Freeze muttering to himself in his sleep, the word he would notably say the most was 'Nora'.
Batman felt bad for Freeze, he knew probably more than anyone in the world what it is like to lose those closest to you. It was  that pain that drove him, that empowered him to be what was necessary for Gotham City: to be Vengeance, to be the Night, to be Batman.