Just A Baker's Daughter - A Daminette Story

Cobwebs and Lanterns

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! I did not just do that. I feel my face heat up at the disastrous truth that I did in fact do that. What am I doing? I literally told Chloe just a day ago that dating was off the table. I don't even like Damian as anything more than a friend! So, Why did I do that?

I push all the questions down for future Marinette to deal with, take a deep breath, and continue walking down the hallway. As I walk my face starts to cool down. Where the heck is this guy? I get he's Batman and all, but really? I wander around aimlessly for a good thirty minutes before I hear something that suspiciously sounds like a really old door. That doesn't make sense. There were no doors where I was.

I whip around and get into a fighting stance. Ignoring my injuries screaming in protest I glare at where I heard the sound coming from. To my surprise, the wall opens. Yes, the wall literally opened up. Out walks Tim looking at his tablet taking a sip of coffee he looks up and immediately spits it out in shock. I ease up on my stance and sigh in relief as the throbbing starts to fade.

"Is Mr. Wayne in there? I question with a raised brow, pointedly ignoring the mess on the floor.

"Erm... No?" He answers rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"I'll take that as a yes. Can I go in?"

"No. He doesn't want to be disturbed he's working on an important case." Tim shuffles from side to side looking anywhere but my face.

"He's researching me, right?"

He gets even more uncomfortable; eyes darting around the room. I roll my eyes at the display.

"It's fine Tim. I get it. I just showed up and told you magical gods live in jewelry. I understand that he wants to double or even triple check what I said. If I hadn't lived it I'd be skeptical too." He relaxes slightly and finally looks me in the eye.

"Okay, you can go in. Just don't tell him I was the one that let you in. Blame Damian or Jason, they're more believable."  With that, he chugs the rest of his coffee and walks away mumbling something about needing a bigger cup.

I walk into the secret passageway tensing up at how small it is. I'd fought enough akuma's who enjoyed capturing me in small places, that the amount of walking room left me on edge. I glanced around quickly making sure there weren't any traps set. This was an entrance to what I assume would be the Batcave. Cobwebs are literally everywhere. Every 6 feet or so lanterns are hanging off the wall, lighting the cramped space up in dim light. Does nobody bother to dust in here?

I made quick work of running through the passage and I realized with a jolt that the walls were getting closer together. I take a deep breath, in for 4 hold for 7 out for 8. I repeat the breathing technique until I'm able to breathe normally. I look around for a second. There's no way Tim could make it through here if there wasn't another entrance.

I back up until I'm at the beginning again and count the stones, cobwebs, and lanterns. The lanterns are always in the same place, but the cobwebs and stones are weird. I go back again and use my phone to write out what I'm thinking. I assign the number 1 to the stones and 0 to the cobwebs. 01010011 01101001 01111000.... just like I thought. It's binary code. I groan In annoyance. This is not what I want to be doing. 01110100 01101000 00100000 01101100 01100001 01101110 01110100 01100101 01110010 01101110. I type it into a binary translator which took me a good fifteen minutes.

This day was not turning out to be a fun one. Eventually I got my answer of "sixth lantern". I roll my eyes at the bluntness and start walking the same path for the fourth time today, counting the lanterns as I go. I get to the sixth one and gently pull it.

I scream loudly as the floor under me drops. What the actual fuck. I land on my backside with a groan. My hand goes to my bandaged chest. I hiss in pain as I jerk my hand away. I look down at my now sticky hand. Great. I reopened my stitches. Just great.

I glare up at the spot I fell from, only to see it had already closed. I got up ignoring how my vision swam. I walk unsteadily leaning against the wall towards the figure huddled by a giant computer.

"So... do you think maybe Alfred could redo my stitches?" I hold my wound trying to stop the bleeding.

The figure that I now recognize as Dick whips around in shock before coming up to me.

"How did you get here and are you okay?" He questions me with a serious expression before looking down at where I was holding and the red that was leaking out. "Oh, Shit."

He turns around for a second as if looking for someone before shrugging and yelling, "Alfred! Marinette's bleeding!"

"You called Master Grayson?" I flinch violently at the sudden voice behind me.

"Ah, yes. Marinette has injured herself on her way down here. Could you maybe check it out?" He asks politely.

"Excuse me? Not trying to be rude or anything, but I think I might pass out if I keep bleeding." I grumble a little frustrated that I got hurt so easily.

"Of course right this way, Miss. Marinette."  I start following him when I immediately start swaying and almost fall over.

"Yep, okay. Damian's going to kill me." Dick grumbles under his breath as he lifts me up bridal style. This is not how I want to spend my day.

"How'd you even get down here?" He looks genuinely curious so I speak.

"Found passageway. Moved lantern. Fell. Broke stitches." I grit out through the pain. He hums in confusion before a look of understanding comes across his face. He places me down on a cold metal table.

"I see. You used one of the entrances we only use for emergencies, like if people are around the main one. Normally people don't go down that hallway so there's rarely people outside of it. That's why Tim uses it. He's a bit anti-social."

"I figured." I reply irritably. I lift up my shirt just enough that he has access to the wound, but not enough that my sports bra shows. He makes quick work of undoing the bandages and taking out the remains of the old stitches.  He apologizes to me quietly before pouring rubbing alcohol over the cut. I throw my head back as I clench my teeth together and close my eyes tightly to stop tears from springing up.

The pain subsides slightly and I'm able to watch with mild fascination as he stitched me together. Looking way too close to how I sew clothes. I look over at Dick.

"Do you know where Mr. Wayne is?"

Authors note
Sorry about how long this one took. I fell a bit behind in math class and didn't really have much time to actually write. Normally it would be no big deal and I'd be caught up in a day, but this year I got placed in advanced math so it's taking me some time. Anyways, I wanted to thank everyone that comments on my chapters, it's one of my main motivators and helps me actually want to post. So... thank you! Bye!