Third pov
The next time Marinette opened her eyes she had to close them again. It was way to bright.
"Shit, sorry."
The light turned off and a smaller one one the only table in the room turned on.
Jason sat back down on the chair he had been occupying, shaking his head when she tried to open her mouth. "Don't. You have a fractured jaw."
Marinette just closed her mouth again. She figured the fractured jaw came from the hit to her face. She moved her head slowly to look around.
A hospital room with two beds, two chairs and a tv on the wall.
Damian laid fast asleep on the other bed looking a bit worse for wear.
Marinette couldn't help looking at her.
He's alive.
He's actually alive.
"Joker got him, thankfully just locked him in a freezer with a few others. I guess he wanted two places we needed to look for so it would become more difficult." Jay said quietly. He didn't want to wake Damian (even if Baby bat had been sleeping with the lights on.).
"Ho-" Marinette was cut off by a weak cough. Her throat didn't agree with her talking.
Jason gave her a weak glare. "Don't try to talk. I can get you a pen and paper. But don't talk. I'm serious."
Marinette reached for his hand and squeezed it. There wasn't much strenght in it, but she wasn't exactly in the best shape either.
Jason swallowed. "It took us six hours to find you and Damian, then you spent five hours in surgery." He told her.
The teen felt herself start to slip under again.
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"How's Marinette doing?" Luka asked.
He and Adrien were FaceTimeing.
"Physically, not good. Mentally? I have no idea. She wasn't awake when we visited." Adrien took a bite of a sandwich (Alfred insisted). "I haven't watched the end of the recordings of what happened yet. I- I'm not sure I can."
Luka hummed. "Could you send them to me and Kagami? And maybe you can watch it with the others." He suggested.
Adrien hesitated. He didn't like the thought of watching his best friend being beaten up. But- at the same time, he feels like he owes it to her to at least look. "Maybe... I'll send them to you later. It's the middle of night here, Alfred said that we could stay in the Wayne manor for the moment."
"Who's Alfred?" Luka asked.
"He's their butler officially. But honestly he's more like a grandfather. He's really nice and never passes up an opportunity to feed people. Kinda like Mrs Cheng." Adrien explained.
Both of them chuckled as they remembered meeting their teammates mom for the first time. They were far from hungry when they left.
"She's a force of nature." Luka smiled. "Anyways, you need to get some sleep. Tomorrow, if you and Chloe want to tell Nino everything then you have my support."
Adrien felt a little lighter when they hung up and he went to bed.
***************************************************************
Barbara Gordon knows what it feels like to have your whole life ripped from you.
To go from being able to do anything to being stuck in a wheelchair.
All because of one lunatic's decision.
She's made her peace with the chair, but there's still times when she misses soaring accross the rooftops so much it hurts.
And now the very same lunatic that put her in the wheelchair is unlikely to ever walk again.
She read the records once surgery was done. Marinette Dupain-Cheng angled the piece of glass in a way that destroyed a lot of things at the base of his spine.
She isn't sure how to feel about it.
Sure, she can feel something. Karma finally took its right. But if it's the cost of a teenagers conscience, is it really worth it?
With a deep sigh she finished her sandwich before grabbing her phone to call Bruce. "Hey Bruce. Can I come by the hospital?"
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Bruce is the only one with the teens for the day. Jason couldn't take it and had to go. He can understand why. The situation hits too close to home. Bruce can't deny his own unease either.
Damian's concussion is getting better but he isn't allowed to use his phone so at the moment he's meditating to pass time.
Marinette is still sleeping but wakes up in short moments.
Bruce himself is working on W.E papers by the table. He happily let Barbara in when she knocked.
The woman looked as tired as he felt. "Hey, how are you feeling?"
She shrugged. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"
Damian didn't react as they went over to the table, Babs looking at Marinette for a moment.
"I had to call her parents."
"And how did that go?"
"I fear for the day Mrs Cheng teams up with Alfred and Ma Kent. She's scary." Bruce admitted. "They weren't happy. I offered to fly them here. They had to decline, apparently they have a big workload for people they can't cancel on. So I promised the best care for their daughter."
"That's good. How is she doing?" Babs accepted the glass of water he gave her.
Bruce sighed. "As good as she can be. However, according to the doctors she's healing remarkably fast. I'm trying to see how fast we can move her to the manor."
"Does she know?"
Barbara wouldn't be very surprised if the teen figured out their nightlife. From what she'd seen Marinette Dupain-Cheng is much smarter than she lets on. Especially considering her leader position as a hero in Paris.
"Yes. She does."
A weak sound came from the sleeping teen as she woke up.
The sound got Damian's attention immediately and Babs had to suppress a smile as he went over to her bed and talked quietly with Marinette.
Bruce just smiled softly and turned back to Babs. "How's it going for Jim? I know he'll need Marinette to tell him what happened."
At the mention of her father Barbara sighed. "Joker went through a lot of trouble with this. They're still processing things."
Bruce nodded in understanding. "Tell him to call if he needs help with anything."
"I will."
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As someone that's been through a lot of shit, Tim knows it isn't easy. Being a teen hero with barely any adult support and having a lot of bad guys focusing on you isn't good.
Tim should know, he spent some time with Joker after all. And Ra's al Ghul's interest hasn't wavered even as he's grown.
He's not gonna lie, he doesn't like how so many bad guys seem to be drawn towards Marinette.
Riddler, Joker, Scarecrow, Ivy and Harley...
And now she's been on tv after taking down the clown. Who knows how many rogues that are looking into her now.
Tim doesn't like it at all.
Marinette is smart, there's no denying that, but these guys aren't Hawkmoth. Hawkmoth is in another league of villains than Gotham's rogues.
Gotham's rogues have no problem drawing blood themselves.
A ping from his phone alrets him to someone entering his safe house and he got up to look.
If it had been anyone bad they would've gotten fried from the traps at the windows and doors.
"Jason?"
Jason's normally teal eyes were changing wildly from teal to blue to lazarus green.
Uh oh...
"You watched the live feed didn't you?"
A nod.
"Come here." Tim sat down beside him and let Jason put his head on his shoulder. "She's okay."
It took a few seconds before he felt his shoulder getting wet.
"He used a crowbar... A fucking crowbar..."
Tim moved his arm so he could run his fingers through his older brothers hair.
"He used a fucking crowbar..."
Jason would never admit to full on sobbing as he's reminded of his own death. The breaking of bones and a punctured lungs.
Tim positioned himself so he could wrap both arms around Jason. "She's alive. She's alive. You're alive. You're alive."
It didn't feel okay to say that everything's alright.
"I fucking hate him. I hate him so much."
"I know. I do to."
For a long while they sat like that. Tim being a pillar for Jason as he's breaking down.
"You're safe. You're safe..."
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Jim went through the reports once more at night.
'According to Savannah Winters, divorced mother of one, Marinette had taken control of the situation and put together a plan to escape despite not being fully okay after Joker shot another woman in the group (Mildred Samson). After that it had taken about two hours before they were let out into the building after Joker told them that he would hunt them down and that he'd stop when there's only three left.
Savannah hid in three different places before finding one of the youngest in the group, Samantha Daniels, and hid with her in one of the rooms on the highest level.
She'd heard Joker getting closer and feared that her life was done for when Marinette Dupain-Cheng bolted from her hiding place to draw the attention away from their hiding place.
After that she and Samantha heard something break and the teen girl scream before it went quiet.'
They'd talked to the kids too and one thing was made very clear.
Marinette was ready to take on Joker so he'd leave the others alone.
Jim had looked through the footage of the freezer as well.
Damian Wayne and Scarlet Sanders had worked on trying to open the door until the cold got too bad and Damian's concussion worsened.
"You should get some sleep Jim." Bullock entered the room. "The job will be here tomorrow. And we still have to talk to miss Dupain-Cheng."
He's right of course, but Jim feels like he has to find out just why the rogues are swarming around her.
"I know. I'll see you tomorrow Harvey."
************************************************************
The second time Marinette woke up for more than a few minutes she realized that one of her eyes were swollen shut.
The painkillers were doing their job though because she wasn't feeling much.
"Are you feeling alright, beloved?" Damian ran his fingers through her hair.
Marinette found it calming. She used her the pen and paper that she'd been given.
I'm okay.
He nodded. "That's good. They're making their rounds soon. We're trying to find out when we can move you to the manor."
Stay with me?
He smiled. It was small but genuine. "Of course i will."
Okay, i have looked up how long most of her injuries will realistically take to heal but considering the fact that Marinette is technically a demigod it's going to go a bit faster.
So:
Fractured jaw = three and a half weeks
Broken foot = 3 and a half weeks
Dislocated hip = 7 weeks
Broken ribs = 5 weeks
Bruising and wounds = 8 weeks
So all in all it takes two months for Marinette to recover physically.
Vote and comment, it keeps me motivated :)