She's Sunshine, She's Grace, She'll Punch You in the Face

Chapter 22: Accepting the Opportunity

"Welcome home Master Damian, Miss Marinette." Alfred opens the front door for them. "Master Bruce is in the living room. He would like to speak to you both."

"Thank you, Alfred." Marinette smiled at the butler while her kwami's zoomed out of her purse and down the hall. "We'll go talk to him."

The two teens make their way to the living room to meet up with Bruce. "Father." Damian greeted. "You wanted to speak with us?"

"Yes." Bruce looks over at them from the chair he was sitting on and notices that his sons usually well-groomed hair was slightly disheveled. "How was your date?"

"It was great, Bruce. Thanks for letting us use your roof." Marinette gives him a bright smile.

"No problem, Marinette. I'm happy you two enjoyed yourselves." He can't help but be thankful that this girl is bringing some happiness out in his usually closed off son.

"But maybe next time" Damian gives his father an annoyed look. "you can convince those nosy heathens to give us even a tiny bit of privacy."

Bruce pinches the bridge of his nose. "What did they do this time?"

"They took pictures of us while we were on our date." Marinette speaks up. "But we yelled at them and they promised they wouldn't do it again."

"You trust them too easily, Angel." Damian shakes his head.

"He's right. I'll keep an eye on them next time." Bruce looks over at the bluenette. "I apologize about my other sons."

"It's okay. I know they didn't mean any harm by it." She waves her hand is dismissal. "Was there something else you wanted to ask us?"

"Yes." Bruce stands up and walks closer to them. "Well really it's something I wanted to ask you specifically, Marinette."

"What is it?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to join my family and I on nightly patrols and training. Alfred, Selina, Barbara and I talked about it with your kwami's and we all agreed that this could help you with your guardian duties." He watched as her face went serious and she nodded along to what he was saying. "I'm only giving you this opportunity as a means to help you and to train you to become the best guardian you can be. Seeing as you accepted to go to Gotham University after the summer, you will be here for 4 years anyways. You don't have to answer me right away and I won't be disappointed if you turn this down. This is 100% your choice."

Damian gave his father a surprised look before settling with a smile and turning to face Marinette for her answer. She smiled back at the two before answering. "I don't know what to say besides thank you."

"Is that a yes?" Damian asked excitedly.

"I guess it is." She dragged Damian over to the couch to sit while Bruce followed. "The main reason I decided to go to school abroad is because I wanted the miraculous out of Paris. People know they were in the city. Taking them here and also strengthening myself is something I know Master Fu would have wanted for me." Marinette looks fondly up at Bruce. "I think he would have liked you and I know he would have encouraged me to help this city."

"I'm glad you understand, Marinette." Bruce held out his hand for her to shake. "Welcome to the team."

Shaking his hand, she says "Thank you, Bruce."
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After a quick call to her parents and a change of clothes, she meets up with the bat team in the training room. Looking around she sees a large mat in the center of the room and something that looks like a trapeze setup on the farthest wall. All kinds of practice weapons line the left most wall and the regular gym equipment was on the right. "Are you sure you want to do this, Angel?" Damian gives her a concerned look. "We can do something else tonight. You don't have to just hop right into this."

"Don't think I can handle the heat, Boy Wonder?" She raises an eyebrow at him.

"No, that's not what I'm saying." He shakes his head. "I know you can handle yourself. We all saw that video with you and Scarecrow, so there is no need to prove yourself."

"I'm not here to prove myself, Damian. I'm here to blow off some steam and to see what you're made of." She boops his nose.

"Did Sunshine come to play?" Jason walks into the room and looks at the duo. "You think you can hang with the big guns?" He challenges the girl.

"The big guns?" She looks around the room. "I don't see Batman here yet."

"That's because he's going to observe you today." Tim walks in with Dick. "Those mirrors are one way." He points to the mirrors lining the wall where all the gym equipment is.

"Oh?" She walks over to the trapeze ropes. "Is today evaluation day?" She climbs up to grab the trapeze.

"I guess you could say that." Dick follows her. "You like my trapeze setup, do you?"

"Yours?" She jumps off the platform and swings freely to grab the other trapeze that hangs in the middle. "So, the circus story is true?" Marinette gains some momentum so she could do a graceful backflip and land on the opposite platform. Turning around, she grins at her accomplishment.

Jason claps while Dick responds to her question. "Sure is. I can teach you some tricks on that if you want."

"Sounds like fun." Marinette grabs the trapeze when it swings back her way and throws her legs over the bar to hang upside down. "Swinging around freely was kind of a thing I did a lot of in Paris."

"Great." Tim sighs. "Now there's going to be two of them."

"You're just jealous that you aren't that good on the trapeze." Dick jokes.

"And you are just jealous that I'm better than you at everything else."

"Sure, Timmy. You keep telling yourself that."

Damian ignores his brothers who just keep arguing with each other to go stand underneath Marinette and watch her swing. "Are you just going to hang there all day?"

"Why?" She smiles down at him. "Do you want me to come down there to stop the arguing or do you want to meet me up here?"

"If you could stop the arguing I would be thoroughly impressed. They never shut up."

"Okay." She unhooks her legs at the same time she reaches the other trapeze and swings herself to the platform to climb down. Walking to the center of the mat, she clears her throat. "Who wants to be first?"

The arguing immediately stops as everyone looks at her. "A sparing match?" Dick asks.

"Yep." She squares her shoulders and brings her feet apart to be in a fighting stance. "Don't leave me hanging."

"Oh, you're on Sunshine." Jason goes to stand about 5 feet away from her and gets into his own stance. "I'll go easy on you."

Marinette lets out a loud laugh before instantly breaking into a very serious face. "Well I won't."