Ladybug In Gotham (crossover fic)

Chapter 40 Gotham City Police Department

Third pov

When Marinette woke up she was swaddled in blankets on the biggest couch she's ever seen. There's a tapping in the other corner and Tim's face is lit up by a computer.

He's looking up as soon as she's moving to sit up.

He hands her a cold bottle of water. "Here."

She takes it and gulps half of it down before remembering that it's definitely not a good idea to do so when you haven't eaten in who knows how long.

"How are you feeling?" Tim asks.

"Like the time i spent a week with a stomach bug after eating bad chicken in school." She winced. "That wasn't a fun week."

Tim laughed a little. "I can imagine."

They sat quiet for a moment.

"What was it you saw when you got sprayed?" Tim asked curiously.

Marinette was quiet for a bit. Trying to decide if it could be safe enough to say anything. "Chloe told you about Hawkmoth."

He nods, even if it isn't actually a question.

"Hawkmoth has kind of a sidekick, at least that's the easiest way to think about it." She touched the wrappings on her hands. "Her name is Mayura. She, she doesn't really say much, just does what he tells her too."

Tim had put the computer away. "And it bothers you?"

"Yes!" She moved a bit too fast and felt the bruised rib ache. "Ouch." Tikki pushed a bit against her chest to show support.

"She just stood there. Never saying anything. Just letting him treat us like punching bags and it pisses me off. And they can't even fight themselves, they just let others do the fighting for them and the team have to fight ridiculous monsters that don't give a shit if w- they die."

She took a deep breath. Just like she trained with master Fuu. She almost told him the truth. She can't tell him the truth. Can't tell anyone.

"Can I give you some advice, one person living in a messed up place to another person living in a messed up place?"

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The very sceptic look Marinette was giving him made him smile.

"We have a lot of bad guys here and their henchmen are pretty much just like Mayura. And there's really nothing you can do about it. Because they're just the followers, they're not thinking much beyond what the boss want." He made a face. "Most of the time at least. There are a few that do think for themselves, but they're usually never brave enough to speak up because they know what happens if they do."

"What I'm trying to say is that some people do what they have to do and others are just messed up in the head."
He took a deep breath. "You just gotta make your peace with it as well as you can."

Marinette's shoulders slumped and she looked at her hands.

Tim felt bad for her. "Wanna watch a movie? There's no school tomorrow anyways, at least not for the ones of you that got stuck with Scarecrow."

"Sure, what do you have?" She leaned back against the pillows, the blanket once again wrapped around her.

Tim chuckled. "What don't we have? We get new releases all the time. What do you want to watch?"

She thought for a moment. "Got Star Wars?"

Tim nodded excitedly. "Yeah, we do. It's the best series ever."