Gotham's Own Ladybug

Eighteen

"Enough about me, Dick. How have you been doing?"

"Oh, pretty well, actually!" said male responded, smiling at the image of his partner on the phone. "The crime rate has been normal in Gotham so far, and no major villains have escaped Arkham yet, so...yeah! Pretty well I guess!"

"That's great to hear," Kor'i spoke, with her lips turned upwards. "What about your family?"

Dick furrowed his brows, and glanced to the side in thought. After a few seconds, he decided on answering, "Well...they're doing great from what I can tell, especially Baby Bird. I'm so proud of him for finding a girlfriend."

There was silence from the other end of the line, causing him to call out, "Honey?"

His voice seemed to break her out of her shock, and she opened her mouth to speak. However, no words were able to escape her, since someone suddenly decided to barge into Dick's room at that very moment.

"Tim?"

"Dick, you need to suit up. Ladybug's been spotted swinging around Gotham."

The man flickered his eyes to a clock nearby, as he doubted, "Shouldn't she be at school right now?"

"Yeah, and so should Damian," his brother replied. "But there was a call from Gotham Academy saying he ran out not that long before Ladybug was seen by the public."

"Crap," he cursed. "He's probably going to go after her as Robin."

The CEO nodded. "We can't have that happening if we want to stick to the plan that we made last night. That model can't know that she's here."

"Dick?" Kor'i said from the phone, making her husband jump. "Who's Ladybug? Is she Damian's girlfriend?"

"I- well..." he started, then cut himself off with a sigh. "She's someone who's been taken in by Harley and Ivy after moving from Paris to Gotham - though we're not exactly sure why. She's a magical hero from back there, and there's a potential danger that one of her old acquaintances could figure out her identity."

"And so you're going to help her keep it safe?"

"Yeah," he hummed in agreement. "She's...she's a really nice girl. Reminds me of Mar'i, to be honest. Speaking of which, how is she doing?"

Tim exhaled heavily from behind, and turned to exit the room, but not before bidding, "Just be quick, Dick. Don't wanna miss them kiss or anything."

The quiet gasp and footsteps that he heard on his way out made him grin out of amusement.

~*~*~

"Don't worry, my Flower. We'll come to pick up you up soon, just stay put."

"And I'll deal with the situation at school, Sweetie," Harley assured, then reminded, "Don't forget to use your illusions on the Bats if they see you, okay?"

"Okay."

"Love you, Honey."

"Love you too."

The call cut off with an audible click, as Marinette pushed down the top half of her yo-yo back to its original place. Then, she placed it back at the red string situated around her waist.

A faint breeze tousled her midnight hair, that was tied up into a high bun. The cold air that started to seep into her bones made her body visibly shiver, yet she stubbornly refused to move from out of the open.

"...Why can't I just catch a break?" she muttered under her breath. "Is that too much to ask for? One measly second to just, I don't know, enjoy life?"

Ladybug swore that the sound of a snort reached her ears, prompting her to whip her head back to where it had emanated from. There, she was met with the sight of Red Hood, sat at the opposite side of her roof.

"Hey."

"...Hey," she repeated after a second, turning back around. A sigh escaped her lips. "Let me guess...Robin told you what happened at school earlier."

Jason strolled over to where she was sat, and situated himself beside her. "Nope. Just wanted to make sure you were okay. There were reports of you swinging around, aaannnd as far as I can tell, you should be in school right now, Little Missy."

Despite the situation, and after just realising that he knew her identity, a laugh shook the heroine's chest. "Well, it's not my fault Robin decided to find out about my past during lesson-time."

"The Demon Spawn did what?"

She sent him a baffled glance.

"Yeah...he was adding the information I gave him to some other notes about what he already knew about me. That included my age, birthday, parents, lineage, etcetera. I just assumed that your whole family had researched my past but wanted to know more from me myself."

He was quiet for a moment, then spoke, "Since I've just confirmed that you know our identities, it makes sense that you'd think that. You're right about all of it, except for the fact that our whole family was involved in researching you."

Marinette rose a brow, and Red Hood took that as a cue to carry on.

"Robin wasn't. Not at all."

The girl's lips parted from confusion, as she processed the words that he had spoken.

That was when there were a few grunts from behind.

Ladybug jumped, whilst rushing to stand up with her yo-yo spinning in a defensive manner. In front of her was a scene that her bluebell eyes managed to take in, causing her to freeze.

Poison Ivy and another woman clad in black were in front of the teen, and staring at two males that had suddenly appeared at the rooftop. Nightwing and Red Robin.

"What were you doing listening into that conversation?" Pamela growled to Dick, as she commanded vines to grab his arms and legs. "It's bad enough that you Bats caused those scratches to be on my Flower's face, and now this?"

"Calm down," Selina placated. "I'm sure they didn't mean it."

Nightwing sent her a thankful look, and she only winked as a response. Tim grinned from where he was standing.

"Replacement, d'ya know where the Demon is?"

"...No, why?"

Jason gained a blank look under his helmet. "Didn't you hear anything that was just said?"

"...I was dr-"

"Drinking coffee, I'm guessing? Never should've asked." He turned to Selina, asking, "Anyway, what's with the new look? I thought you were supposed to have cat ears on your costume, right? Cause, well, you know..."

Ladybug silently walked over to Poison Ivy, who wrapped her in a hug using her arms and plants. The action made the young one sigh in content, as the winds blowing harsh didn't affect her anymore.

Red Hood waited for an answer from Cat Woman, yet she only leaned in close to whisper at his helmet's ear. "Tell B that me and him need to talk. It's about..."

She subtly glanced to Marinette.

"Right, I will," Jason agreed. "I'd advise that you girls get out of here. We can't warrant any attention to Cupcake over there."

"Cupcake?"

"I called her Princess before, and by that look on your face I can tell that it wasn't a good idea on my part."

"It wasn't. I'll tell B why when we talk. Just remember to remind him, I know he can be forgetful."

~*~*~

At an apartment block nearby, a figure grinned from the shadows, with their emerald eyes glinting in the dark.

A few rooftops away from the vigilantes, a teenager was perched, with a hand held to the comm in their ear. Their face earned a guilty expression.