Of Glitter and Gold

Chapter 7

Robin and Red Hood try to follow Ladybird but she has too much of a lead. Batman's not happy, he orders everyone to drop patrol and search for her. When everyone comes back empty handed for the second night in a row everyone was frustrated and tired. The dark knight calls for a debriefing and to discuss the girl, everyone knows what was coming.

"How difficult can it be to find some girl running on the rooftops?!" Batman took a breath before calmly continuing to everyone's pleasant surprise, he wasn't going to lecture them.

"Red Robin, did you find any footage that could help with her identity? Any hints as to where she lives?"

"No, she leaves in a different direction every time, she must be looping back."

"Red Hood, let's see the video." The tallest boy stands and plugs his device into the bat-computer, everyone watches as Ladybird takes out the first three men before talking down the fourth- he had been the only one that wasn't openly hostile, the only one who's body language screamed 'I don't want to be here' not that Robin had noticed at the time.

"She seems experienced, B." Jason added, taking his mask off. "Why don't we look into other heroes, widen the net. Not just with the earlobe thing but just a general search for dark haired, blue eyed, short heroines."

"Yeah! Jay's right- If we're general enough, we might find her. Who knows how many forensic countermeasures she has, but if she's a hero- someone has to have seen her, someone she rescued might have documented it." Batman nods.

"Alright, now we're getting somewhere. I don't care whether she was right or wrong about what she said, she's a civilian- she needs to get off the streets. Anyone finds her, you get her and you talk her out of it. Usual scare tactic should work, it did on the last wanna-be. Dismissed, Damian go to bed- you too Tim. Dick, Kor'i wants to know if she should wait up, Jason- I said no smoking!"

All the boys roll their eyes, Jason puts out the cigarette and hands Alfred the box before heading to his room, Tim motions for Robin to follow him to the lab, carefully pouring a hot, dark, foul liquid into a glass beaker. He hands it to Damian.

"I tested it, if I didn't know better I'd say it was a corrosive acid. What's it even for?"

"Revenge." Damian's eyes shine, disturbingly excited as he watches the liquid swirl.

"Okay... no more of Alfred's cookies for you." Dick chuckled, eyeing Damian nervously, he didn't know what was in the glass and he didn't want to. All the boys make their way to the elevator, ready to shower and pass out. It was already four am, far later than they're used to staying up.

Damian is holding a familiar looking thermos in his right hand, mentally preparing for what he was about to do. The task was simple enough, he'll nail it. The boy walks through the familiar halls of Gotham Academy impatiently; he just has to wait until Marinette is in her seat for this to work properly.

When he's sure Marinette is in the classroom, Damian walks in. Everyone looks up at him curious as to why he hadn't arrived earlier, except Marinette. Damian goes out of his way to walk down Marinette's aisle. The Parisian still hadn't looked up as Damian silently glided down the aisle. When he walked past, Damian 'accidentally' knocked Marinette's warm thermos of signature hot chocolate off the table.

Damian lunged after the drink with what looks like both hands, using his shoulder to shield his hands and the portable mugs from view as he switched his drink and hers. He slowly straightens, putting the 'hot chocolate' on Marinette's desk with a solid 'clack.'

"Here, don't keep your drinks so close to the edge of the desk." Damian chides, and Marinette scowls at him. And just like that, he walks back to his usual seat. The Parisian notices his odd behavior, eyeing him as she moves to take a sip of her hot chocolate. When the thermos meets her pale rose lips Damian watches in satisfaction as her face contorts, he could have sworn her eyes are watering- rapidly blinking the tears away as she slammed the cup onto her desk. Marinette's mouth set itself into a puckered frown, her nose wrinkling further as the liquid's flavor spreads.