Work Text:
Marinette steps out of the portal expecting to see the familiar walls of the Miraculous Temple in Tibet. Instead she finds an arching cavern. She can hear water running in the distance and turns around to take in more of the view.
She takes in the Katana at her throat at the same time she sees the dinosaur hanging from the ceiling. A wide array of technology and equipment is laid out in neat order.
She raises a brow at the boy holding the sword to her throat as about a dozen other people in masks leach out of various hiding spots. Looking at the adjusting to costumes that is happening, this one must have been the only one suited up when she came in.
“Who are you?” The traffic light colored boy growls.
“One moment.” She drawls, her french accent thick.
She pulls out her Yoyo, pushing the sword away from her throat. She opens her contacts and pushes on the call button for the horse miraculous.
Moments later Stallion appears on her screen. One of the boys moves to say something, but she holds up a finger, asking for a moment.
“Yes, ladybug?” Stallion answers from the yoyo phone.
“Tell me, Stallion. Does this look like Tibet to you?” She asks, flashing the camera slightly behind her so the girl can see the cave.
“uhhhh. It could be?” The girl seems to hear how stupid that sounds as she says it.
“Oh. Could it? Because I think I’m in a heroes base.” She grounds out, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“I’m sorry, Ladybug.” The girl on the other side seems to be panicking.
Ladybug walks towards some of the older heroes, stopping in front of one with blue stripes going down his arms and a Blue V on his chest.
“Apologize to them.” She turns to screen to face the man. “Look at them, you scared this shit out of them.”
“I’m sorry.” The girl says again, dejected.
Ladybug turns the Yoyo back to facing herself and walks over to a big table and plops down in one of the chairs.
“Can you get me to the right place this time?” She asks, propping her head up on a hand.
“Uhm, I don’t exactly know where you are.” The girl muttered.
“You mean to tell me that you don’t remember where you just sent me?” Ladybug asks. “You were using co-ordinates again, weren’t you?”
Ladybug narrows her eyes at the girl.
“Yes.” She watches the red head avoid eye contact.
“Just because Pegasus uses co-ordinates doesn’t mean that you should.” She scolds the girl.
“But Max said…” Stallion tries to defend.
“No names in the field.” Ladybug cuts her off. “Do you have enough energy left to do another hop?” She asks.
“No, you know I’m not as in tune with Kaalki as Ma–uhm, er, Pegasus is.” Ladybug wants to focus on the slip up but decides against it.
“How long until Pegasus is done with his finals?” She asks.
Ladybug can hear the heroes in the room, if you could even call it that, muttering amongst themselves and moving around.
“He’s got another three hours.” Stallion winces.
“Hmm. He’ll be done in half an hour.” She states. “Get Kaalki to him as soon as he’s out and he’ll fix this.”
“I’m sorry, Ladybug.” The girl says again.
“I know, Stallion.” Ladybug reassures.
“Is there anything I can do?” The girl asks.
Ladybug hears a whooshing through the air and reaches out to intercept it. She glances over to see the same sword from before caught in her hand. Her gloves remaining as impenetrable as always.
“Get the glasses to Pegasus.” She says, not taking her eyes of the boy.
“Right.” The girl squeaks and the line goes dead.
“What are you doing?” She asks, gaze boring into the boy.
“Do not traipse about as if you own the place.” He growls.
“What Robin means to say is, would you care to clarify who exactly you are and why you’re here?” The one with the blue stripe says.
“Ah, how rude of me!” Ladybug throws the sword and reattaches the yoyo to her waist. “I’m Ladybug. Now tell me, would I be correct in assuming I’m in America right now, just based off the style of english.”
“This is America.” A boy in a Red Helmet answers, crossing his arms.
“Ah, I’m not up to date on American Side kicks. Who is your main hero?” She asks.
“I am.” A deep baritone echoes behind her.
She turns to face the voice and lights up.
“As I live and breath. It’s been a long time.” She exclaims. “Are you still going by that stupid name, oh, What was it?” She places a hand on her cheek and tries to remember.
“Batman” He sighs.
He walks towards her and accepts the hug she springs on him.
“I still think you made a better Ox, my little bat.” She rubs the top of his cowl as if to ruffle his hair.
He sighs and pulls the garment from his head allowing her to mess with his hair.
“I’m still older than you.” He reminds her, as she climbs up to sit on one of his shoulders.
“Ah, but I’ve been a hero longer, so you are the little one.” She brags, as her minuscule frame makes no difference in the giant man’s ability to walk.
“You started when you were 12, how am I supposed to compete with that?” He asks, walking passed his stunned children.
“The stabby one can’t be much older than 12.” She points out.
“I’m 14.” Said stabby child growls.
“Not helping your point, kid.” She whispers in a conspiratorial voice.
“B, What the hell is going on here?” The blue stripe one asks.
Batman turns from where he has placed down his cowl on the table to look back at his gathered children and allies. He sighs heavily, his tired dad sigh.
“This is Ladybug.” He gestures up to her. “She may seem like a hobgoblin, but she is one of the most powerful magic users on the planet.” He pauses, looking up at her. “She is one of the people who trained me in my youth.”
“He wore the Ox miraculous, and he was so very good at it too, but he has all his stupid hang ups about not using magic, so he left without it.” She shrugs. “Doesn’t matter to me, it’s that type of bull headedness that made him such a good match.” She smirks.
“On that note, why are you here, Ladybug? Is there trouble?” He asks.
She drops down off his shoulder and steps away.
“No, I just needed to go to the temple but Pegasus is taking his final exams for his fourth PHD today and I didn’t want to wait. Stallion is a fairly good match but she doesn’t have enough stamina and sometimes gets the jumps wrong when Pegasus has gotten a little too far into her head.” She shrugs. “I’m stuck with you until Pegasus finishes his exam.”
“That shouldn’t be long.” Batman mutters.
“I know. I’m just impatient.” She groans.
A bright light appears to her side.
“Finally!” She squeaks, waving at Bruce and hopping through the portal.
Now that the whirl wind in gone, Bruce turns back to his family to find many of them gaping at him.
“Pixie pop is kinda epic.” Jason says, breaking the silence.
“Based on her behavior, it is likely she hasn’t slept in a few days.” Bruce informs them.
He turns towards the bat computer and makes his way over to the monitors.
“So, she's like the opposite of Tim?” Stephanie asks, poking the boy she found sleeping in the corner.
Bruce hums and starts typing.
“Father, what exactly does this harlot mean to you?” Damian demands.
The typing stops and Bruce finds Cassandra patting his arm, comforting him.
“Many years ago, I asked her to return to Gotham with me.” Bruce says, voice monotone.
“And what did she say?” Barbara wheels up next to him.
He takes a deep breath and stares ahead at the screen.
“She told me that if I wanted to be Batman, she had to stay away. To this day I’ve never figured out what that meant.” He furrowed his brow. “Any time I asked, she would just smile and shake her head.”
He stares off into space for a moment.
“Have I ever told you why I formed the Justice League?” He asks.
A series of no’s and a couple shaken heads later he sighs.
“To protect the world from planet ending events and organize the heroes.” Dick says.
“The earth was protected before the Justice League.” Bruce tells them, voice low, conspiratorial.
“Then why build it?” Stephanie asks.
“So that the burden wouldn’t fall on her shoulders.” Cate answers for him.
“Any Villain we fight, is one that she doesn’t have to take on. Even with her team, she's the one in charge so the burden falls to her. With the Justice League, we can spread the work more evenly.” He leans back.
“If she came to Gotham, the power that she normally spread over the whole world, would be concentrated in one city. There would be no crime left.” Tim says from his corner. Stephanie mutters something asking when he woke up.
“That is one answer, but we’ll never know for sure because she’ll never tell.” Bruce smiles to himself. “She likes to be cryptic like that.”
"Something you can't relate to at all, I'm sure." Dick needles.
The corner of Bruce's mouth raises slightly. He finally opens the folder he'd been looking for on the bat computer. The screen floods with articles of Ladybug's exploits throughout the years. Image after image of the spotted heroine standing over defeated opponents. Pictures of her mid-fight, swinging through the air or lassoing with her yoyo. There's a couple images of her holding up buildings.
In every picture, every article, every video clip, she is the essence of control. There are some from her first couple years as a hero where a trained eye might spot the inexperience. That was a long time ago.
There is a separate folder on the bat-computer containing images of her with the other miraculous users. From the ever present Chat Noir to every one off temporary hero. He's even in there a couple times. But that is neither here nor there.
Bruce sighs as he closes out of the folder.
They have patrol soon.