Bruce Wayne was someone who did not judge a book by its cover, he knew that appearances could be deceiving, however, he could not help but wonder how it was possible that what looked like the most helpless and harmless girl he had ever seen was the leader of this group.
Physically speaking, Miss Tsurugi seemed to be superior; in terms of influence, Miss Bourgeois was clearly the one to look for.
Despite that, it was evident that the one leading the two of them was the girl with pigtails.
This became clearer when she stood in front of her friends as she invited them in.
Batman had decided to take Nightwing, Batwoman and Robin with him. The girls already knew the latter two and Nightwing had the charisma to make the two girls feel comfortable. The others were on patrol, but they could hear everything over the communicators.
"Hello again, girls" greeted Batwoman trying to lighten the mood.
" Hello to you too" replied Marinette, while Kagami nodded and Chloe waved "Thank you very much for coming."
"No problem, we can't refuse the call for help from three lovely ladies, "said Nightwing with a smile.
"Well, thanks anyway, "said Marinette ignoring Chloe's giggle and Kagami's frown.
Interesting.
" I would like to have more details before taking any action "expressed Batman, to which Marinette replied.
"How much do you know so far?" asked the girl in a respectful, but authoritative voice, which surprised those present, except for her friends, who smiled.
"What do you mean? "asked Robin, between surprised and amused.
Marinette smiled at him.
"Batman has the title of 'the world's best detective'" she explained looking Robin in the eyes "I don't think you would have come if you hadn't investigated and found reasons to talk to us."
Bruce was impressed. Tim's idea, that this girl was some sort of civilian ally for the heroine of Paris, didn't sound so far-fetched anymore.
"It wasn't entirely easy, for some reason we had to hack into a resident's computer to gain access " Robin mentioned, without taking his eyes off Marinette.
The girl nodded with a thoughtful expression.
"That would explain why it's been so hard to get help."
"I understand they already sent reports about it to the League, but for some reason, those weren't handled properly," said Batman, watching as the blonde snorted in annoyance.
"Understatement of the year, the first time they called daddy crazy and the following times, even when Ladybug herself begged for help, she was told not to bother anymore" mentioned Chloe with clear resentment "They didn't even investigate to see if it was true, ridiculous, utterly ridiculous"
"We are aware that the kind of villain that terrorizes Paris is not common, we know it sounds unreal" said Kagami "But for us, it is very real."
Everyone present remained in solemn silence for a few minutes. Those who were present, Jason was shouting obscenities into the communicators.
"Can you give us more details on the topic?" asked Batwoman.
Marinette watched them all for a few minutes before speaking.
"It all started about four years ago..."
An explanation later.
Batman knew this wasn't going to be easy, seeing as how this guy's victims tended to be teenagers and children, that's not counting a baby, for God's sake.
But little did he know the level of stress they were dealing with.
In Gotham, crime was the bread and butter, but at least people had the freedom to be scared, angry or sad, the people in Paris had had that right taken away from them.
And the worst thing was that they had asked for help, more than once and no one had responded.
Seeing the three girls in front of him he realized that they had to do something or he would not forgive himself.
Besides, from the amount of information Marinette possessed, it was clear that Tim's assumption was on the right track, this girl was too familiar with the Parisian heroes to be just a fan. She had something to do with it.
"What is your relationship with the Parisian heroes?" he asked looking her in the eye.
All three girls were surprised to hear the unexpected question, the first to recover was Marinette, followed by Kagami and Chloe, however, all three acted differently as they recovered. Chloe had one hand on her cell phone, Kagami looked extremely alert and had her katana within reach, even though it was made of wood, but Marinette looked resigned.
"Let me guess, you already hacked into my computer, right?" asked Marinette, which honestly surprised Batman, she didn't look angry, just annoyed.
"We can explain" said Dick, but he was interrupted by Robin.
"Only partly, we tried other means before accessing your computer" said Robin without any regrets.
Bruce wanted to facepalm, Damian still had trouble empathizing, but even he wasn't such a fool not to know that telling the girl who could be his only link to the heroes in Paris that they had hacked her computer was a lousy idea.
"Very subtle, demon spawn!" Red Hood said sarcastically.
"Robin, we need to know more about the situation!" complained Red Robin "Don't ruin it!"
Similar comments began to be heard over the comms and, based on the look on Robin's face, were beginning to annoy the boy.
"Please," thought Bruce "don't let him go out and chase his brothers...again."
Marinette's giggle interrupted his thoughts.
"I figured as much" seeing the surprised look on the vigilantes's faces, she added "As I said before, your reputation precedes you. I figured something like this would happen."
"You haven't answered the question" Robin pointed out.
Marinette was silent for a few moments, thinking what to do.
She didn't want to reveal too much information, however, she was dealing with the best detective in the world, underestimating Batman was a mistake.
"What is your theory about me? If you're asking about my relationship with the miraculous team, it's because you already had an idea."
The vigilantes were stunned, usually, they had the upper hand because, in any negotiation, they controlled the flow of information, however, Marinette's question was going to complicate things.
Red Robin began to analyze their options.
If they answered, she would know the extent to which they had investigated and most likely kept a couple of secrets as trump cards.
Denial was not an option, Marinette was smart enough to deduce that her computer had been hacked by them, she would not trust them and that was dangerous.
If they didn't respond, then, morally speaking, they wouldn't have enough authority to demand information.
Playing the "we are professionals and it's better if we know more than you" card, would not work if Marinette was linked to the French heroes.
"Wow, she's good!" said Red Robin, impressed with Marinette Dupain-Cheng's cleverness "Batman, tell her our suspicions, turn on your suit camera, I'll go right now with Oracle, I want to see this."
Sighing, Batman proceeded to explain his theory.
"We have reasons to believe that you're some kind of civilian informant, probably an advisor." he mentioned watching the surprise appear on the faces of the three girls.
"All that, just from the information on my computer?" Marinette sounded both surprised and concerned "I guess that's good."
"Excuse me?" Nightwing asked with a confused expression "What do you mean?"
"She means Batman does justice to his title as the world's greatest detective," replied Chloe then turned to look at Batman.
"You or one of your partners," corrected Marinette.
Red Robin snorted as he heard the French girl speak, not bad. So she figure it out.
"You haven't answered the question," Robin pointed out.
Marinette stared at the vigilantes for a moment before speaking.
" You're right, I work with the miraculous team" replied Marinette.
"Marinette!!!" complained both girls.
"Girls, we came here to ask for help, this man and his team are our best option, you know I hate liars, so, I will be as honest as possible if it means getting help to end this nightmare." Marinette explained patiently, then turned to look at Batman "I will be as honest as possible, but there is some information I refuse to share, I promise it has no bearing on stopping this problem."
Those present were silent, while Tim laughed.
" Why are they are so young? The heroes, I mean" asked Dick, breaking the silence.
"The previous guardian selected Ladybug, she was the most compatible with her miraculous, her age was not considered when selecting her" explained Marinette "in his defense, Hawkmoth attacked that very afternoon, it was an emergency and she was the best choice."
"Still, they are basically children..."
"Children or not, there was no other choice, besides Ladybug has been doing a magnificent job" proclaimed Chloe "Not only has she been dealing with the nonsense that is Hawkmoth, but minor crimes have also been reduced and she has inspired all of Paris to be better."
Marinette smiled at her friend, then turned to look at Batman.
"I understand your concern, they are young, but for the moment, the miraculous team is our only hope," the young woman explained "besides, they have been doing well so far."
"Why do they need our help then?" asked Robin "Didn't you said they're doing well?"
"Because they have been until now." said Marinette with a somber expression "Things have changed."
"Elaborate further " demanded Batman, earning a death glare from Kagami.
"As I said before, the ladybug and black cat miraculous must work together for there to be balance, creation, and destruction." Marinette explained "That's why both miraculous must be active, but we lost Chat Noir and now the miraculous team is juggling to be able to keep fighting."
"Handing over the miraculous is not an option either" said Kagami, anticipating any suggestion on the matter.
"That's true, Ladybug considered passing her miraculous to some more experienced hero, but that's not possible" Marinette added "Most of the miraculous team members are paired with a miraculous kindred to their soul."
"What do you mean?" asked Batwoman.
"Each miraculous personifies some force of nature and some somewhat abstract concept, for example, the snake represents serenity and wisdom, so his miraculous has a better connection to someone who lives and understands those qualities." Marinette explained "The miraculous team members are people whose soul is in sync with the concept of their miraculous and are their best match. In all of Paris, there is no better bee than Empress Abeille, no better dragon than Ryuko and it is the same for the other team members."
"I understand" said Batman seriously "So what do you need from us?"
"There are two things I would like to ask your help with" said Marinette, mentally preparing herself for what was next "Number one, we need logistical support, despite the team's best efforts, we are not making any progress in discovering Hawkmoth's identity, that is our priority. We contacted you directly because the Justice League rejected our requests earlier and stopping Hawkmoth is our priority."
"What is your other request?" Nightwing asked.
"Please put us in touch with Wonder Woman."
"Why her?" Batwoman asked in confusion.
"Because she is the only person who has contact with a former Ladybug," said Marinette, leaving everyone surprised.
"I thought the current Ladybug was the only one who could carry the miraculous," said Batman.
"That's right, when a person renounces a miraculous, this person can't use it again, Hippolyta, Wonder Woman's mother, was a user of the Ladybug's miraculous, but she renounced the miraculous centuries ago." Marinette explained "However, that doesn't take away from the fact that she has experience as a warrior and as a miraculous user and her point of view would be invaluable. We are desperate for help and she could help us understand Ladybug's powers much better."
"You mentioned a guardian, the one who chose Ladybug" Batman pointed out "Why can't he be the one to explain the perks of her miraculous to Ladybug?"
Marinette seemed a little affected by the question, but she quickly recovered and answered in a serious tone.
"Because he is no longer around."
That statement was enough to put the vigilantes into silence. Meanwhile, Red Robin began to analyze the situation, the way Marinette had answered implied that she had known the former guardian personally. Their hypothesis that Marinette was connected to the heroes of Paris had proved true, but that left them with the question of how they had made contact in the first place. If Marinette was related to the previous guardian, that might explain how she met the heroes and how she became their foothold.
Still, something was bothering Tim, but he didn't know what it was.
"I understand."
Batman's voice brought Red Robin out of his thoughts, causing him and Oracle to turn his attention back to the girls in front of him.
"The reason why it's necessary to contact Hippolyta is because the miraculous and their holders have started doing strange things," said Marinette.
"What do you mean?" Batwoman asked intrigued.
"Well, the miraculous has a different effect on each user, I can't be specific, I don't want to reveal information that could compromise their identities." said Marinette seriously "But to give an example, Empress Abeille and Ladybug herself didn't have wings until a few months ago. I don't know what the cause is and I'm also concerned about not knowing what kind of changes a permanent user of the black cat's miraculous would experience."
"I have a question," said Nightwing, "What happened to Chat Noir?
That question was the trigger for a reaction Dick wasn't expecting, all three girls froze and turned pale.
"That... he..." for the first time so far that night, Marinette didn't know what to say, up to that moment she had been calm and collected when arguing with Batman himself, but now...
Immediately seeing Marinette's insecurity, Chloe and Kagami took a defensive stance to protect their friend, though they too looked disturbed.
" If this is uncomfortable for you, we can take a rain check." Nightwing said, concerned about the girl's reaction.
" No, I'm fine" said Marinette bravely, then gave her friends a reassuring look "Really, I'm fine."
"If you say so," said Chloe, not so sure, while Kagami looked at the vigilantes with a stern look.
"Almost a year ago, Hawkmoth created his worst Akuma, she was called 'Mothers Wrath'" at the name, the three girls shuddered "It was terrifying, and it was the first Akuma that almost got out of Paris, besides, it usually takes the miraculous team about a day to neutralize an Akuma. This Akuma, took a week." Marinette said, gathering all her courage to continue "It was horrible, a whole week in which the miraculous team couldn't even sleep, they only took small breaks before fighting again. All the citizens of Paris were affected, the mothers of Paris became soldiers for Mothers Wrath, the screams of the "punished" filled everyone's heart with fear. Despair and fear were constant for a whole week.
In addition, it was after that attack that the akumatization victims began to have flashbacks of their Akumatized time.
If you searched for information about the situation in Paris, I'm sure you noticed a gap of missing information, that's because this Akuma was the only one that was kept in almost total secrecy, everyone remembers the terror, but almost no one remembers the victims.
A friend of a friend took it upon himself to erase almost everything about the incident."
Saying this, Marinette pulled out of her suitcase what appeared to be a book, but the watchers observed how this was actually a compartment from which she pulled out a USB.
"The files on this USB are the only records of what happened, all the videos, photographs, and reports." he said as he handed Batman the USB. "I want you to see it so you understand why we need help."
The vigilantes were silent for a few minutes, then Batman spoke.
"We are going to examine this, but I have a question." Batman waited for the young Parisian woman to nod before asking, "How come you have this? Even if you are part of the logistics of the "miraculous team", I don't understand why you three seem to know everything about this incident."
The three girls turned to look at each other, clearly uncomfortable with the question.
"We had no choice," said Chloe in a slightly shaky voice "we were there when the akumatization happened."
"In a way, we could say it was our fault," confessed Kagami, confusing the vigilantes.
"The three victims of akumatization" said Marinette with tears in her eyes they were our mothers."
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Ok, this is the new chapter.
Sorry for the delay, but I had personal problems in my previous job so I had to change. I'm in a better place now and I hope the stress doesn't kill me here like it did in the other place.
Well, that said.
What do you think of the chapter?
The next chapter will be about Mothers Wrath, the akumatization of Sabine, Audrey and Tomoe.
There I will explain how Adrien, Alya and Nino lost their miraculous and how the new team was formed. I probably have to split the chapter.
Well thanks for reading and waiting, I update when I can, but I do.
Until next time.