Gotham's Own Ladybug

Nineteen

"It's been a while, hasn't it, Brucie?"

Batman didn't react to the question. He merely raised a brow, whilst keeping his back facing to whoever had spoken. "It's been less than half a week since we've seen each other."

"Oh, really?" Cat Woman teased, finally deciding to meld out of the shadows. Her jet black suit and pointed claws shone from the lights around the Bat Cave.

"It wasn't hard to figure out that you stole jewellery from the Manor last Tuesday, Selina," the vigilante said, turning around to gaze upon her.

She pouted. "'Stole'? I prefer the word borrow. Makes it seem less..."

"Criminal?" he supplied.

"You got that right, Brucie," she agreed, walking closer. "Besides...I got that bracelet for an important reason. You saw her wearing it, didn't you? If you ask me, I think it suits her very well."

There was a moment of silence. He didn't object - he only sighed and took off the cowl masking his identity.

"I assume that you want to talk about Marinette?"

Selina became serious. "Yes," she responded. "But first I want you to tell me what you know about the superhero situation that happened in Paris."

He pursed his lips. "From what I managed to gather there was a villain named Hawk Moth, that was able to transform civilians into monsters. Two heroes, who had the same sources of power as him, stepped up to save Paris."

Cat Woman nodded, indicating for him to carry on.

"They gained many other allies that took on personas of animals, too. Hawk Moth also gained a partner named Mayura, who could make monsters from scratch. Marinette Dupain-Cheng was known as Ladybug, Chloe Bourgeois as Queen Bee, Adrien Agreste as-"

"Chat Noir," she muttered beneath her breath, venom laced in her tone.

"...I hope that you're not jealous of his theme."

"Jealous? As if," she scoffed. "He's the whole reason that Marinette is here in the first place."

Batman narrowed his eyes. "Am I right in saying that he forced her to leave behind her life in Paris?"

"In a sense, yes," the woman replied. "You don't know the full story, but let me set something straight. He caused all of the trauma that she has now."

"All of it?"

She nodded. "Her fear of the name 'Princess'? Stems from him. Her fear of cat ears? Her fear of unexpected touch? Shadows? Dust? Sometimes even blonds? All him."

Though Bruce had a blank expression, those close to him would notice his stiff posture and silence as a sign of anger. He took a moment to take a breath, then quizzed, "How are we going to deal with him?"

Cat Woman shook her head. "That's not what the focus should be. The real question is how we are going to tell Marinette that he's here."

"You know?"

"Yeah. Apparently he arrived not even a week ago in Gotham. I say that if we're going to break it to her, we do it out of public sight. God knows what her reaction would be."

"Would it be angry?"

"It would be panic," she revealed. "Heck, Chat Noir killed someone close in front of her very eyes. She'd probably be scared that he'd do it again to any of us."

Batman grit his teeth. "We could have stopped that if we knew the situation."

"Bruce," she called, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Calm down, don't blame yourself. Paris agreed to not inform the Justice League in case one of the members turned into a villain. There was no way you could've known."

"I know, but-"

"No arguing, Brucie. What's important now is figuring out how to beat that model to a pulp, and tell my Kitten about it."

He snapped his head up to her. "Your Kitten?"

The thief's mouth twisted into a cheshire grin. "I called dibs, Brucie, so I'm afraid that she's to be my kid."

A grunt escaped him. "At least she'll be my daughter-in-law in the future."

"Doubt it," she clicked with her tongue. "Those two had an argument, remember? Oh yeah, that reminds me. How's Damian doing? He better have apologised to her."

"He hasn't," someone spoke from the side, prompting the duo to glance there. "He was sulking all morning and snapped at anyone that came close. Apart from Alfred, of course."

"Jason."

"What? You have a conversation about Pixie and expect us not to listen?"

Dick appeared beside Red Hood. "Bruce, there's been reports of someone dressed like a black cat on the rooftops throughout today. Chat Noir might see Ladybug if she goes out again."

Selina let out a curse. "Okay, I'll only tell her not to transform for now."

"Good," Batman spoke.

"Wait, 'transform'?"

"I'll explain later if I can, Dick. Where is she right now?" Cat Woman questioned.

"Gotham Academy," Jason answered, inspecting the watch around his wrist. "Classes should be ending soon, so you can probably pick her up and tell her then."

"Great. You guys call Damian and tell him to keep an eye on her."

"Haven't they like had a temporary breakup or something?"

"Jaybird..." Dick sighed, pinching the skin between his brows.

~*~*~

"What do you want, Todd?"

"Yo, Damian, we need you to keep an eye on Pixie."

Damian couldn't help the way his body tensed, nor how his eyes wandered over to a desk nearby. At it sat five students - one of which had midnight hair pulled into pigtails.

"Why?"

"Listen..." Jason spoke, in a tone on the edge of exasperation. "I get you're guilty and all about what happened yesterday, but you need to make sure she's okay until school ends. I know you heard our plan to keep her identity from the model, and watching her will make sure that she's safe. Don't you want that?"

The teen glanced back at Marinette again, then down to the desk in front of him. He clenched his fists whilst thoughts ran through his mind, until he finally let out an inaudible sigh.

"Yes, I do. I'll watch over her."

"Good. Selina'll be outside to pick her up."

Just before Damian pressed the button to end the call, his brother called, "Oh, and Demon Spawn?"

He grunted in annoyance.

"Apologise to your girlfriend."

There was a beep from his phone.

A blush flooded his cheeks, yet he managed to cough into his hand and lessen the red dusting his features. His focus began to drift over to Marinette, who was now chatting excitedly to her peers.

The male tried to ignore the increased pulse of his heart.

~*~*~

"Pam!"

"Yes?"

"Did you get that message from Selina?"

"What message?"

Harley sauntered over to where Poison Ivy was standing, and held out her phone. The text displayed on it made her drop the watering can in her hands.

"...Harley?"

"Yeah, Honey?" she responded in a sugar-sweet tone, grin stretching across her face.

"Get Bud and Lou ready. We have a certain cat to skin."

The clown chuckled. "I'll get 'em ready. Then we can go sick 'em on that model boy and bake more cookies with Sweet Cheeks!"