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lily-drake · 1 year

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Lesson 8: Find What's Worth your Protection

Random: *glares at Marin* Marin: *blinks* … Jon: *leans slightly towards her* what’s her deal? Marin: if looks could kill.. *grins* well, I still wouldn’t care but- Jon: she’s glaring at you like you killed her mother. Marin: *blanks* …. Jon: did.. did you ki- Marin: *snaps her attention towards him* no???? *smiles warily* at least I don’t think so- Jon: Marin! Marin: *pushes his shoulder playfully* what??? *looks back at the Random* I had many missions, who knows, maybe shes a cousin or whatever. Jon: *groans into his hands* ~~~~~~~ Marin: …you’re not fazed by this. Jon: you’re Damian’s sister. Marin: I’ve done considerably worse than my brother has. Jon: again, you’re Damian’s sister. Marin: …which means? Jon: that you both were raised to be assassins and I? Don’t? Care? Marin: …you’re not fazed by my molds. Jon: *grimaces* Damian kind of.. explained the situation. Marin: *blinks* …did he? Jon: yeah… Marin: … Jon: sorry-? Marinette: *shrugs* its whatever, so what are we going to do later? Jon: uhh- homework-??? Marinette: sweet!! Let’s go. Jon: uh-huh..

Damian stared at the letter laid across his desk. He had read it, reread once, twice, thrice, and yet he still couldn’t fully process the words.

“ I don’t want to be found so don’t look for me. I am going to be who I want, I’m going to act how I want, and I’m not going to force myself to do things that will make me feel terrible. You will no longer be able to pressure me, and that means you will NOT pressure someone else instead. ”

Was he truly that terrible? Was it truly his fault for pressuring her and unintentionally pushing her away in the process?

“ I love my dearest little brother. Stay strong and know that I will one day visit. For now, I’m figuring things out for myself, and I finally feel like I have a grasp on my life. ”

He reread those few sentences over and over and over again reassuring himself. She would return, she would come back. She never broke a promise, not once. He scowled when he had read the last part of the letter, Jon was afraid of him! But then again, Jon still hadn’t told him despite the fact that Marin had been gone for three weeks now. It was infuriating. Speaking of Jon, he hadn’t heard his annoying voice at all yet, something was up.

Damian tucked the note away in his desk almost reverently before he stood up and marched out of his room. He would check the kitchen first, but the only one there was Beast Boy.

“Where is Kent?” He demanded while crossing his arms. Beast Boy turned to him with a confused frown before he shrugged.

“No clue man. Last I heard he had a “private call” to make, something about someone calling him, or whatever.” Damian’s frown deepened. It didn’t matter, he would just head to the training room, nothing defeating the highest level of holographic enemies wouldn’t fix.

______ Jon was on a secret mission, well, secret in the fact that he just didn’t want anyone to know what he was doing. What was he doing, well, currently he was trying not to let the craziest of the al Ghul-Waynes cut his head off. “Hey, hey! It’s me Marin! Please don’t kill me!” He shouted, keeping his hands up and forward in a show of peace and surrender. Her eyes were dark and predatory as she studied him.

“What are you doing here?” She growled, baring her teeth in a way that was definitely threatening.

“Is it so wrong to want to make sure my friend is okay after weeks of radio silence?”

He could hear her heart skip slightly at that, she was surprised. “What makes you think we’re friends?!” She snarled, pushing the blade that no doubt had bits and pieces of Kryptonite in it, further against his neck. He was so screwed. Why did he think this was a good idea again?

“The fact that we spent years together attending Gotham Academy and you know, our side job.” He replied nervously, making sure to keep perfectly still unless he really did want that dagger slitting his throat.

Marin let out a small hum, thinking over his words while allowing the dagger to stay firmly planted against his neck. “Fine, your answer is acceptable.” And just like that, the dagger was removed and hidden in one swift motion.

Jon let out a sigh of relief, moving slightly away from Marin to catch his breath. “Damian still thinks he’s scarier than you and I still don’t know how to convince him he’s wrong.” Jon gasped, cupping his throat as if that would protect it. He could feel the slight sting against his next from where the blade laid across the skin.

“Damian assumes much and understands little. He will not allow himself to believe that others can be feared more than himself. That’s one thing that will never change.” Marin stated with a roll of her eyes, “Now, why are you really here?” She demanded with a simple raise of her brow.

“Is it really too much to believe that I just came to check-up on you?” He asked, trying to show how sincere he was. All he really knew was that there was a falling out between Marin and the rest of her family that was so bad that she refused to come back. He wouldn’t pry or ask details, but he wanted to make sure his friend was okay. Her heart quickened slightly.

“As it’s coming from you, I guess not.” She replied flippantly. Jon honestly could not tell what she was thinking, she’d always been hard to read.

“So while I’m here, why don’t we go somewhere?” Marin sent him a sharp glare, and Jon quickly put his hands up in surrender once more. “Somewhere public of course. And it doesn’t have to be somewhere you visit often! I just wanted to catch up with you is all.”

“If you try anything, I will disassemble you piece by piece with my strongest and dullest kryptonite knife.” She watched the way the boy paled, enjoying the way his Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed back his fear. Why did he think this was a good idea again?

Marin gave him a sharp nod before she turned on her heel and started walking away. Jon stood there for a few moments more, still frozen in shock before he hurried after her. “Wait up Marin! Come on, it’s not like we’re in school right now.”

Marin just rolled her eyes, a small smirk on her lips as she watched Jon running after her. Once Jon was right at her side, her smile was gone without a trace. “Sooo…” Jon began, side eyeing her with a large grin.

“None of your business.” She replied sternly.

“Come on, I didn’t even ask anything yet.” He whined. Marin rolled her eyes, but never faltered in her steps.

“Doesn’t matter, the answer is still the same.”

Jon sighed and crossed his arms, “I just wanted to know if you like anyone you’ve met here.” They walked in silence for a few minutes, before she finally answered. It wasn’t that she hated this type of silence, she just liked making people wait in suspense.

“There are a few people that I’ve come to tolerate.” She replied flippantly. His eyes lit up with curiosity.

“Oooh, is that so? And what have these people done for you to even “tolerate” their existence?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“I would, that’s why I asked.” Goodness, she forgot just how infuriating this farmboy was.

“Well isn’t that just a shame, guess you’ll just have to suffer in your curiosity.” She mocked as she weaved through the crowded streets with ease, all while Jon attempted to stay by her side.

“You never were the merciful twin.” He muttered to himself.

“Only when it suits what I need.” She shrugged, stretching her arms slightly. Jon gave a small exasperated huff before they continued walking together in silence. It lasted all of five minutes before Jon slightly nudged her to gain her attention. She raised a silent questioning brow at him, usually he just called her name. She watched as he tilted his head slightly to the left in the direction of a middle aged woman that was glaring at her, and specifically her.

* Marin blinked a few times, trying to see if the woman was familiar at all, because no one glared at her like that without a reason. She felt as Jon moved in slightly, whispering next to her ear, “What’s her deal?”

“If looks could kill,” she started, a small grin creeping up her face, “well, I still wouldn’t care but-”

“She’s glaring at you like you killed her mother or something.” Jon muttered jokingly, cutting her off. Marin didn’t falter in her steps, but it was a near thing as any signs of amusement quickly fled her face. Jon actually pauses and stared at her with a mix of fear and worry in his eyes. “Did…did you ki-”

Marin felt her body snap to attention, a jolt of fear rushing through her. For a second, she thought Bruce was there, waiting to catch her slipping up so he could finally turn her away. But he wasn’t here, she needed to remember that. He. Isn’t. Here. “No?” She tried to give Jon a smile, pulling in as much of Rebecca as possible, but came out as more of a grimace than anything. “At least I don’t think so…” She said trailing off slightly, trying to recall if she actually had done that. Rebecca was always getting lost in thought, she was always the dreamer.

“Marin!” Jon hollered in shock. She needed to focus right now, maybe Rebecca was the wrong mold to use. But she was also very nice and playful, so she’ll stick with it. Rebecca Marin playfully shoved Jon at his shoulder, before continuing her walk, almost skipping down the street, forcing Jon to pick up the pace after her once more.

“What?” She said with a smile, glancing at the seemingly random person one last time before looking forward. “I had many missions. Who knows, maybe she’s a cousin or whatever.” She said in an almost playful tone. She could hear Jon’s muffled groan, but she didn’t care, she just needed to get away from this place. Get away from the people she may have harmed when she was in the League.

Jon watched Marin, he could tell she was currently using one of her molds, it was a little jarring at times, but he understood why she did it. As they walked farther and farther away from the crowds he watched as she slowly removed her mask, returning once more to being Marin. He had seen her do this so many times when they were at school or on missions, but no matter how many times he watched her do it, it never took away the sense of hurt he felt for her.

They stayed silent for another long while, traveling everywhere yet nowhere at once. This time, it was Marin to interrupt the silence, “...You’re not fazed by this?” Her tone was flat, not giving away any of her emotions. Marin was officially back.

“You’re Damian’s sister.” He replied with a nonchalant shrug.

“I’ve done considerably worse than my brother has.” She countered.

“Again, you’re Damian’s sister.” He responded as if that explained everything.

With a small huff of frustration she asked, “Which means?”

“That you and your brother were both raised to be assassins and I? Don’t? Care?” Marinette watched from the corner of her eyes as he tilted his head slightly with an unsure, almost sarcastic, smile.

“So, you're not fazed by my molds?” She asked, raising her brow in challenge.

Jons smile became more of a grimace as he glanced away uncomfortably. “Damian kind of…explained the situation,” he answered hesitantly.

Marin really shouldn’t have been surprised, but as she blinked at Jon, she could admit (never out loud) that she was a little shocked. “...Did he?” Damian always tried to avoid talking about the League, and especially her molds. Damian hated them, so it was a little shocking that he would even tell someone else about them rather than pretending she had Multi-Personality Disorder….Now that she thought about it-NO! She wasn’t going down that rabbit hole right now.

“Yeah…Sorry?” he still wasn’t looking her in the eye. She didn’t like that, but who cares. It’s not like it really mastered in the end. When she looked away from Jon and back to the street in front of her, she noticed that she was in front of the bakery. Well, if he wasn't fazed, then it didn’t really matter who she was right now.

So, with a shrug of her shoulders and a lightness to her step that always seemed to follow Marinette, she replied. “It’s whatever, so what are we going to do later?” She asked with her brightest smile, it almost felt real when she watched Jon’s reaction to her switch.

“Uhhh, homework?” he asked more than stated, obviously unsure where this was headed.

“Sweet! Let’s go.” She cheered as she grabbed ahold of his arm and started dragging him towards the bakery, and away from the eyes she could feel following them.

“Uh-huh.” Jon let her tug him forward with a roll of his eyes, his farm drawl coming out slightly. She would never admit this out loud, but it was nice to have an old friend teammate here, and hopefully for once, she wouldn’t be the reason they got killed.

Taglist:

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ao3feed-ladynoir · 2 years

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Lesson 7: Always Know Your Place

Lesson 7: Always Know Your Place by Flowerlover123

Marinette meets someone from her past she wasn't expecting. Internal crisis ensues.

Words: 3798, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Series: Part 8 of Trust Must Be Earned

Fandoms: Miraculous Ladybug, Batman - All Media Types, Maribat - Fandom

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: Gen

Characters: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Jason Todd, Luka Couffaine, Anarka Couffaine, Chloé Bourgeois, Plagg, Marin al Ghul

Additional Tags: Marinette is Marin's mold, Angst, League!Luka, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Episode: s02 Captain Hardrock, based on bambicambi's prompts, blackcat!marinette, Ladybug Adrien Agreste | Mister Bug, Mental Breakdown, identity crisis, Marin needs a hug, Marin gets a hug, Jason Todd is a good brother, Protective Jason Todd, oh how the turn tables swivel, things are getting spicy

Read Here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/44356309

#AO3 Feed #FanFiction #AO3 Adrien & Marinette #💚#💖#Adrien #Marinette #Jason #Miraculous Ladybug #♦#R:G #A:Flowerlover #Crossover

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lily-drake · 3 years

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Ao3

Here is part 3 of my Assassin!Marinette story based around @bambicambi ’s prompts. Thank you for reading, i hope you all enjoy it!

Lesson 3: You Can't Always Trust What You See, It's How You Believe It

Prompt:

Jason: *grabs Marinette's face* listen to me. Marinette: *grabs his wrists* sir- Jason: listen to me. Marinette: *stares into his eyes* ... Jason: i am not like your old handlers. Marinette: *breathes in deeply* Jason: i will never be like your old handlers. Marinette: .. Jason: trust me. Marinette: *swallows* ... Jason: speak. Marinette: i can not trust you. But i will believe you. Jason: thats- yeah, *lets her go* okay. —————- Talia: Marin. Marin: Mother. Talia: come here. Marin: *walks up beside her* ... Talia: *looks down at her* ...have i told you that you have your father's eyes? Marin: *blinks* ... Talia: you know you are always able to speak freely around me without punishment. Marin: *swallows* it is hard not to know that i have my Father's eye color, Mother. Talia: *hums* yes.. i suppose. Marin: *fingers twitch* ... Talia: you twitched. Marin: *stands ever so slightly straighter* yes. Talia: i thought I've told you to not make it a habit. Marin: i haven't, Mother. Talia: you know how your grandfather feels about weakness. Marin: *blinks* i'm aware. Talia: *places her hand on Marin's shoulder* best to not make it a habit, Marin. Marin: *nods her head* affirmative. Talia: i am not your handler. Marin: *fights the urge to touch her arms* I'm aware, Mother. Talia: *smiles softly at her* i wish for you not to talk to me with such formal language while it is just the two of us. Marin: *looks over towards the left wall* there are 3 guards surrounding us. Talia: outside the walls, Marin. Marin: *looks towards the window* Damian is also currently outside. Talia: *runs her hands through Marin's hair* im aware. Marin: *nods her head* alright..

_________________

It had been a long flight to Paris, France. She had hid inside one of Roy’s luggages so that no one would spot her. Jason had disguised himself as an assistant and was telling Roy his schedule through the airport, which was hilarious. She knew that he didn’t like it when Roy bossed him around, so the fact that he had to do whatever Roy said until they got on the plane made it hard for her to stay silent at some points. When they got on the plane and the door shut Jason quickly unzipped the case and opened it so that she could climb out.

“Hey Pix, you alright?”

Jason asked as he carefully took her hand and helped her stand up right on her feet. She looked up at him and gave him a small, real, smile.

“I’m fine Peter.”

She then turned to Roy who was sitting in one of the seats as the plane began to be dragged to the tarmac.

“Thanks again Roy, I owe you one.”

Roy smirked eagerly.

“That means if I call you in for a favor you’ll come?”

Marin sighed and rolled her eyes and nodded,

“Yea, I guess it does, but only once, so you better make it count.”

Jason rolled his eyes as he pulled her close to his side and walked them to the seats behind Roy giving her a gentle push towards the window seat. The flight would be about 8 hours long, and Marin did not want to fall asleep, too many risks. So like the amazing big brothers Jason and Roy were they stayed up talking and watching movies with her. They even talked about disguises so she wouldn’t be recognized in public. They decided that in the end they would dye her hair dark navy blue with red highlights and that she would wear grey eyed contacts. It wasn’t anything big or complicated, but it was enough and should be able to disguise her well enough for her to just blend in.

When they arrived at the airport in Paris, France it was around 7:30 PM there and there was a small chill in the mid-April air. Jason and Marin bid farewell to Roy as he left to go find one of his safe houses he had here while they went in search of one Gina Dupain. They had found her near the entrance leaning against a motorbike with a sidecar attached to it. As soon as Gina saw them she ran towards Jason and Marin had to fight everything inside of herself to not go into a defensive stance. The lady was thin and tall with gray locks in a pixie cut. She had a natural tan that was part of her skin tone and had a thick Italian accent as she spoke.

“Jason dear, it has been too long! I’m so glad you decided to call while I was here!”

Jason hugged her back allowing Marin to lower her guard ever so slightly. She may see that the woman was harmless, but she refused to just believe that. Looks were used to deceive after all.

“It’s good to see you again as well Gina,”

He began gently pushing her away a bit. He then turned to Marin and was about to introduce her, but she beat him to it.

“Hello, I’m Marinette. I’m Jason’s sister, well he keeps saying that at least.”

She giggled out as her eyes shined brightly. Gina seemed to buy it as she fawned over her.

“Where did you find this leetle fairy Jason, she is so adorable!”

She glanced over at Jason and saw him trying to hide a laugh behind his hand, but he was failing….miserably. They had worked over a cover story on the plane as well, so they had everything covered. She would be Marinette, the boys protested, but she ignored them. Jason had found her on the streets in Gotham after she had tried to pickpocket him. He unofficially adopted her as his little sister and is trying to find her a good place to live. He remembered that Gina had said something about her son and daughter wanting a child because they couldn’t have one and were looking to adopt. So, he would come with Marin to Paris to make sure the home was good enough for her before he left her with them with the promise of keeping contact and as constant as possible visits.

“Girl tried to pickpocket me on the streets, almost got away with it to if she hadn’t tripped and dropped my wallet on the ground.”

Marinette flushed in “Embarrassment” and covered her face as she swatted him away. Gina continued to coo over her for a few more minutes before she asked her if she wanted to climb into her sidecar. Hesitantly she agreed and climbed in fastening the seat belt. Gina passed Jason the keys to the bike as he climbed on, her climbing on behind him. The flew into the city at a speed she doubted was legal, but she wasn’t complaining. Gina gave Jason directions to a small bakery where he slowed down and carefully parked the bike at the side of the road. Carefully she climbed out, but not before “tripping” over the edge of it. She let out a small yelp and Jason quickly caught her before she could make contact with the cement. He rolled his eyes, she was used to it though. She did the same thing at school, and Damian would react the same exact way, it made her laugh. Gina also came around and fretted over her making sure she was fine. This, this was foreign territory to her and she had no idea how to react. She had never been fretted over like this before, if she was hurt she was told to brush it off or just have Alfred look it over if it was serious enough. Her thoughts drifted back to her mother and the time they spent together when no one else was around. Sometimes she would “fret”, but not like this, she would let her sit on one of her chairs or her bed and she would help treat some of the wounds for her.

Despite popular belief she and her mother actually got along and cared for each other. Love was too strong a word for their bond, but she knew that her mother did care about her. She was just following orders like she was supposed to. Marin always played along with those orders trying to make them as believable as possible so Grandfather would not hurt her or her mother. In public it was supposed to seem like her mother hated her, she was supposed to be “afraid” of her and punishment from the woman. Most of them were private, and if they just sat and drank tea or worked on her form a little and she walked out with a “limp” afterwards, who's to say that she hadn’t just kept silent during the whole “punishment”.

She was drawn out of her thoughts by Jason carefully pulling her towards the bakery and talking to her softly as if she were a frightened child. She squeezed his hand in hers and leaned into his side as he continued to talk. The bell to the bakery opened and she was greeted with warm air that smelled extraordinarily sweet. She looked around enjoying the non-threatening and casual vibe of the bakery with it’s light decor and simplicity. She heard Gina give a loud greeting as she ran towards the people at the counter. There was a short Asian woman with dark black hair in a bob cut and a very tall man that reminded her of Bane, but not from steroids, with brown hair and a mustache. Both of the adults ran out from behind the counter and hugged Gina. They were a physical family, she would have to get used to that if she decided to stay here.

Gina quickly brought the two people over to her and Jason. She leaned into him more as the two came closer to her as Gina talked excitedly about them and how sweet she seemed. The lady with the dark hair bent down a little and gave her a small soft smile.

“Hello Marinette, my name is Sabine and this is my husband Tom. It’s nice to meet you.”

Sabine said in a very gentle and sweet voice in accented english as she held out her hand. Marinette looked up at Jason and saw him give her a small nod. She slowly came out from behind Jason and shook Sabine’s hand before she replied in stuttered French,

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you Ma’am.”

Sabine gave her a brighter smile and asked if she would like to come upstairs as Tom closed up the shop. She slowly nodded as she followed Sabine behind the counter through a door that led to a hall filled with stairs. She walked up the stairs still holding tightly to Jason’s hand until they arrived at the top where there was another door that led to a small apartment. Sabine led her to a small living room where she sat on one of the couches, Tom, Sabine, and Gina sitting on the one across from the two.

“So, this is my little sister, Marinette, and I was told that you were looking to adopt. She needs a stable place to live, somewhere that will keep her safe, somewhere that will have her be treated as an equal, and that she won’t be ignored.”

Tom and Sabine nodded as they studied the girl and asked if she wanted to go upstairs to see if the room she would have if she stayed was suitable for her and so she could get a feel for what she may want to do with it if she decided she wanted to stay here. Slowly she nodded and stood up, but as she passed the back of the couch she tripped on thin air. She quickly stood up, face flushed as she quickly ran up the stairs before Jason could ask if she was ok. She closed the trap door and sighed as she looked around the room. It was spacey and….pink. While Marin didn’t like the color, she knew that it would fit Marinette’s personality perfectly. There were two windows and a skylight that led to a balcony on the roof. All in all the room was nice and would do nicely if she decided to stay here. She walked towards the trap door and placed her ear to it so she could listen to the conversation. It was nothing ginormous or of great importance, just questions being asked about her and Jason interrogating the two adults to see if they were good enough. A few minutes later she walked down the stairs and carefully sat back down next to Jason. The others smiled at her and continued to talk and asked her questions every so often making sure she felt included and that her opinion was important, because to them it was. At the end of the day, both she and Jason left feeling good about the house, even if she would never fully trust them.

“Whatcha’ think Pixie-Pop?”

Jason asked as they walked through the park that was in front of the house. It was nice and had a fountain in the middle of it. There were lamps that lined the park making it glow softly as the sky darkened into night. There was a peaceful feeling around them as they sat on a bench near the edge of the path.

“I...don’t know Jay. On one hand they seem fine, and they didn’t have any tells and it didn’t seem like they had ulterior motives, but on the other I miss Mother. I know that she was always harsh and cruel to me in the public eye, but she did care for me.”

Her mind wandered back to a small memory from when she was about 8. She and her mother had been on a balcony overlooking part of the outer wall of Nanda Parbat during the late summer. Sabine kind of reminded her of her mother with her soft and gentle ways that she would only show when it was just them.

“Marin.”

Her mother gently called out to her. She had just entered her room and was waiting by the door for her next order.

“Mother.”

She greeted back cooly.

“Come here.”

Mother said as she continued to stare out at the land from the balcony. Quietly she walked towards her making sure she didn’t make a sound as she stood right next to her. Talia looked down towards her daughter and stared into her eyes. She had always loved her daughters eyes, they looked so much like Bruce’s and she adored it.

“...Have I told you that you have your father’s eyes?”

She asked softly as the warm wind blew past them. Marin didn’t respond though and just blinked too scared of being yelled at. She still remembered the last time she spoke out of turn to her, but that was in front of the other Leaguers, it didn’t make her any less afraid though. Talia’s eyes softened as she stared at her daughter as she stared back in silent attention.

“You know you are always able to speak freely around me without punishment.”

Talia said as she turned back to stare at the sunset in front of them. Marin swallowed trying to calm herself knowing that she was right. She was always so kind and patient when it was just them, besides she had invited her here for tea. Tea was their time to be together peacefully whether in silence or small quiet conversation, and she was allowed to speak freely here, she just chose not to.

“It is hard not to know that I have my father’s eye color, mother.”

Both her mother and Grandfather had green eyes, Damian had received those same eyes. She had blue eyes, blue eyes that no one else had, that she couldn’t have gotten from anyone else except her father. Her mother hummed a small smile playing at her lips.

“Yes… I suppose so.”

Marin’s fingers twitched as she felt her nerves get the best of her. Talking about her father was always strange since she was never allowed to know his name or get any information about him. If she brought it up she would be punished, Ra’s had personally told her that the first time she had asked him when she was 5. Said she wasn’t worthy to know of or be part of such an amazing man’s family or something along those lines. Talia glanced at her daughter and saw the ever so slight twitch in her fingers. It was barely noticeable, but they were trained assassins and so it was easy to pick up on.

“You twitched.”

She pointed out hoping that her daughter was conscious of it so it would not become a habit. She had used that motion during a mission as a nervous tell to lower the guard of the enemy, she had warned her not to get used to the motion. Marin stood slightly taller so that she looked more self assured and confident instead of letting any fear show that she had been caught.

“Yes.”

Was her only response as she waited to be reprimanded.

“I thought I’ve told you to not make it a habit.”

Talia began in a worried voice. If anyone else noticed it then they would use it against her or as leverage to manipulate her with the threat of telling the Demon Head.

“I haven’t, Mother.”

Was her terse reply. It wasn’t a habit, she could control it. It would not affect her, she was just stuck in a mold. That meant she wasn’t trying hard enough, if she was stuck in a mold and couldn’t drop it then she was failing and needed to practice more. She could not fall behind, to fall behind meant to dishonor her family name and she would never stand for that!

“You know how your grandfather feels about weakness.”

Talia said numbly as she subtly glanced back down at her daughter. Marin simply blinked her face void of any emotions, but her eyes had glazed over in memory and fear.

“I’m aware.”

She replied flatly. She certainly was aware, she had watched many executions for the “weak” of the League. She had been told she would one day be one of those people many times before, she had been beaten in many different ways for being “weak”. Talia turned and crouched down her daughter's level and gently placed her hands on her shoulders as she stared into her blue eyes and quietly said.

“Best not to make it a habit, Marin.”

Marin nodded her head sharply as she too stared into her mother’s olive green eyes giving a simple practiced,

“Affirmative.”

Talia’s eyes softened more. Her daughter had been through so much, forced to wear so many masks that she had names and numbers for them, stuck in a place where everyone was her superior and she must treat them as such no matter who they were or where she was. She wished that her daughter had not been forced to have such terrible people to train her, Jason had been doing so much good for her, and it made her glad that she had found him if only for her daughter to feel a little safe here. She had been left at the mercy of her father’s hand picked men too many times. She hated how her daughter felt that she had to talk to her as if she too were one of her handlers, that she couldn’t just speak with her normally again like she had when she was so much younger.

“I am not your handler.”

Talia reminded her trying to make her feel just a little safe in her presence. Marin fought the urge to touch her mother’s hands and lean into the touch. That would show weakness, that would show vulnerability, and she could not risk that. She saw her mother and all that she had done to and for her, but she did not trust her. She believed her mother cared for her, but she trusted that when all is said and done that she would never be first priority and if it came to her or Damian in a life or death situation, she would pick Damian.

“I am aware, Mother.”

Marin said, making her voice a bit softer. Talia smiled softly at her and leaned in a little closer to her and whispered,

“I wish for you to not talk to me with such formal language while it is just the two of us.”

Marin subtly scanned her surroundings and quickly and quietly replied,

“There are 3 guards surrounding us.”

“Outside the walls, Marin.”

She glanced to the ground where one of the outside training areas were and saw her younger brother practicing his strikes and forms by himself and replied,

“Damian is also currently outside.”

Talia sighed as she began to gently run her fingers through her daughter’s long dark hair trying to calm her daughter down even just by a little bit.

“I’m aware.”

Talia whispered as she pressed her forehead against her daughter’s. Marin’s guard dropped ever so slightly as she let her shoulders relax. She gave a small slow nod and whispered,

“Alright…”

Her mother may have been distant and cold to her, but there were a few times like that where she knew that her mother did at least care about her. There was a long silence that passed between them as they thought over what to do next. There was something here that felt like it wanted her to stay, but what if it was the wrong thing? What if it was a trick and she was the fool of it.

“You know, I didn’t see any tells about them either, and they seemed like the people that could really help you right now. They were supportive, inclusive, outgoing, and just respectable people.”

“And I get that, but what if you're wrong, what if it is all just a trick? And what if-”

“Hey Pix, remember around week four of me being your handler?”

“Sorta, there were a few things, but it’s all kind of mushed together. What about it Peter?”

“Well, I remember that one time you had tripped up and that you were scared for your life.”

“I was not!”

She said incredulously as she playfully hit his arm. He rolled his eyes and continued like she hadn’t said anything,

“That was your first trip up ever in front of me, and it was so small that I barely even noticed it. Then you stilled and just waited. I didn’t understand what you were waiting for until you asked if I was going to discipline you.”

She remembered that day, she remembered it well. She hadn’t been expecting his awkward response of,

“Just be careful or else you’ll hurt yourself.”

He even shrugged his shoulders afterward! She remembered staring at him incredulously and talking about what he should have done. How she messed up and how her last handlers had disciplined her. He had kept calling her name and she wouldn’t stop talking until he squooshed her face with both of his giant hands and firmly said,

“Listen to me.”

While looking her right in the eyes. She wrapped her hands around his wrists, though they only reached around half of his wrists and started to object saying,

“Sir-”

Only to have him cut her off again having him firmly repeat,

“Listen to me.”

As he continued to just stare into her eyes like he was staring into her very soul. She silently stared back slightly nervous for what he was about to do to her, the possibilities endless in her head. Slowly he said,

“I am not like your old handlers.”

He said emphasizing each word, never once breaking eye contact or wavering. She sucked in a sharp breath of air not sure how to feel about this and the implications of what he meant.

“I will never be like your old handlers.”

He stated once again emphasizing his words making a silent promise to her though his eyes alone. He would never hurt her like the others, he would not beat her, he would not force her to murder for no reason like they had. He was different from the others, and he would never punish or prosecute her like they had done. She didn’t say anything though as she continued to stare into his blue-green eyes looking for any sort of dishonesty or trickery.

“Trust me.”

He stated, though it was more of a question. She swallowed nervously too scared to speak out of turn. She wasn’t sure if he was looking for a verbal or non-verbal response and didn’t want to risk it.

“Speak.”

He demanded, though it was soft and non-aggressive.

“I can not trust you.”

She stated then paused for a second as she watched his eyes. There was nothing in them that showed he was trying to trick her, but he could be hiding it well, she did not trust him, but he hasn’t given her a reason not to. There seemed to be a bit of sorrow or disappointment at her words though, so she continued once she was sure,

“But I will believe you.”

She finished strongly. He stared at her a little longer before sighing.

“That’s-yeah,”

He began as he let go of her face and took a step back from her. There was acceptance and a sense of victory in his eyes. Like he had done something that no one else ever could or would even if it was small.

“Okay. Now, let’s go again, from the top.”

She had never said that to anyone before him, that was the first time she felt safe around any of her handlers. It was a memory that she did not view lightly as it was a monumental moment at that time in her life.

“What about it Peter? I don’t understand why that’s important right now?”

“Well you see Pix, back then you said that you didn’t trust me, but you did believe me.”

“Okay? I still don’t get it.”

“Well Marin, how do you feel right now? Do you trust me, or do you just believe me?”

He asked as he stared up at the few stars that were able to outshine the lights of the glowing city around them. The cool April wind brushed past them, but they weren’t affected by it’s cool touch. Marin bit her lip in thought as she contemplated his words. Did she trust him? She had trusted her father, but looked at where that had winded her up. At the same time though, Jason had been there to help and defend her, he had trained her, saved her, covered for her, he never mocked her out of scorn or hate, he was always supporting her, and he even let her drive his most precious motorbike a few times. So the question was, did she trust him or did she just believe him. She smiled up at the stars and turned to her older brother in everything but blood and happily replied with all the confidence in the world,

“I trust you Jason, my Peter. I trust you to Hell and back.”

He turned to her and smiled before saying,

“Don’t go there. Been there done that Pix, and let me tell you it wasn’t fun. 0/10 stars, would not recommend.”

Marin scoffed in disbelief and started giggling as she punched him in the arm.

“You’re insufferable.”

She said in a fit of laughter, real laughter, not the forced laughs she did as Marinette, but genuine laughs that came from Marin. She was who she was and currently she was free and didn't have to put on an act. Not when she was around Peter, he understood her too well for her to ever pretend. Damian also understood her well, but just not as well as Jason did.

“So, will you stay here then?”

She thought about this and after a few more moments of silence softly replied,

“Yea, I think I will. You said that this place would be good for me, so I’m going to trust your judgment.”

Jason smiled as he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close to his side as he continued to stargaze. She happily snuggled closer to his warmth as she too stared at the stars and felt at peace, like she was she needed to be. There was a calming presence, the thing telling her she needed to be here singing praises to her as if she were finally home.

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lily-drake · 3 years

Text

This is my first Maribat fic, but I feel very proud of it. You can also find it on Ao3. This story is based on the prompts made by @bambicambi. This story is based around their assassin!marinette au, so go check them out.

Summery:

Marin Al Ghul was raised in the League her entire life. She has had to go through grueling training so that when it was time she would be the best guard for her younger brother, heir to the Demon Head, Damian. She is considered a mistake in the eyes of Ra's, but she is one of their best on the field and so he lets her live. To her surprise when Slade attacked she was allowed to live with her brother and father in the states rather than staying behind and fighting with the rest of her unit. It's a shame that she is always hiding behind masks and her father doesn't trust her when all she wants is to prove herself and make him proud.

Lesson 1: Trust Is Earned

Prompts:

Jason: have you killed before? Marinette: *scoffs* I’ve only ever killed, sir. Jason: *pauses* …so if we were to fight you wouldn’t hesitate to kill me? Marinette: I’ve been told to take every fight seriously. So yes, sir. Jason: *looks over his shoulder towards Talia* Talia: .. Jason: what’s happened to your past trainers? Marinette: ..I’ve killed them, sir. Jason: … you’ve never once spared them? Marinette: they initiated the fight, I only followed my orders. Jason: and what were your orders? Marinette: *grins* to take every fight seriously, sir. Jason: … *looks back at Talia, mouths* seriously? Talia: …

———————

Batman: it was a test. Marin: what-? Batman: it was a test and you failed. Marin: it- *looks at the bodies around her* these- *snaps her head towards him* you suck people on me as a test?? Batman: yes. Marin: for what!? To see if i would- *flicks her wrist, her knife slidding down her sleeve and into her hand* -kill them? Batman: Marin. Marin: how did i lose, *twirls her knife* huh? I didn't kill any of them. *crouches* i didn't maim them. Batman: *warningly* Marin. Marin: *taps her knife towards one of their necks* what? I failed, didn't I? *growls* may as well make the fail coun- Batman: *grabs her wrist* stop it. Marin: *glares into his eyes* make me. *stabs his wrist with her other hand* Batman: *grabs both of her wrists* Marin! Marin: *purses her lips* let go. Batman: no. Marin: let go, Bruce. Batman: i can't, i won't let you kill them. Marin: WHY? they were so ready to fight me! You paid them to! You did this. You're making me do this. You never believed in me. You guys only ever saw Dami- *stops* ... Batman: Marin... Marin: ... Batman: ... Marin: you know i was the orginal, right? Batman: ...Marin.. Marin: i was the original, We aren't actually twins. We're 2-3 months apart. Batman: come on, we'll talk about this at the cave. Marin: no! I do not want to go back with you. I rather go with my Mother. Send me back to my Mother's, Bruce. Batman: i can't. Marin: you can! You just don't want to! Batman: we'll talk at the cave, Marin- Marin: *sharply tugs at her restraints* Let me go and send me to my mother! Batman: i can't do that. Marin: *spits* fucking coward. Batman: Marin, we'll talk back at the cave. Marin: god fuckING DAMN IT, I SAID N- Red Hood: *lands on the nearby roof* B. Marin: Peter. Peter, *shakes her arms* help me. Batman: Hood. Red Hood: what are you doing. -bambicambi

——————

Marin knew that she was always a mistake, since she was born that’s all she’s been told. She had a younger brother named Damian, and they wouldn’t have kept her around unless her mother, Talia Al Ghul, hadn’t bargained with the Demon Head to keep her around as a secret weapon since no one else knew of her existence. Her training was more brutal than most other leaguers, her job would be to protect the heir one day, her little brother. She knew who he was, and all she wanted to do was talk to him and be around him, but he didn’t know who she was. They never told him about her, it didn’t help that she was gone on missions almost everyday. She’s had blood on her hands since she was four, her first kill was quick, she just slipped poison into the man’s drink. No one would expect something that represents such innocence to bring about only chaos and darkness.

Her handler had told her to kill a classmate in a spar. She didn’t want to, the person was new and a few months younger than her. They were in her unit, besides, it was just a spar. She had let them go after she had her dagger to their neck, her handler at the time was not pleased. She had stabbed the student and killed them in the end, but not before the trainer yelled at her telling her she needed to take every single fight seriously. Ra’s had been watching that day, that day he had told her about how she was worthless and the only reason she was still alive was because of her efficiency on the field and her anonymity. He told her about how her brother was better than her in many ways and that she would never live up to him. She was worthless, replaceable, unworthy of her last name.

After that she never hesitated, she never paused and followed orders to the T. Her handlers had told her to take every fight seriously, and that’s what she did. So every time her handlers fought her, she finished the fight. She would prove she was worthy of her name, she was not worthless nor would she ever be replaceable!

She got a new handler, he was tall, dark haired, and had green-blue eyes. She remembered him, Mother had had him thrown into the pits about a week ago. Her mother stood next to them as she explained,

“This is Jason Peter Todd, he will be your new handler Marin.”

Marin got onto one knee and bowed silently.

“Get up kid, there’s no need for that.”

Quickly she stood at attention as she silently waited for her next order. Jason looked back at her mother in confusion before turning back to her and asking,

“How old are you?”

“I am 6, sir.”

Jason turned back to her mother again faster than the last time his eyes wide in shock. She studied his body language, it was tense and slightly panicked. He thought she wasn’t good enough didn't he, she would show him. Just like every other handler that she had finished before that underestimated her, she would show him. Mother stayed silent, keeping a straight face. Jason stared into her eyes as she stared back at his, both looking for something they didn’t know.

* “Have you killed before?”

Jason asked as he continued to stare into her doe like blue eyes. Marin scoffed and stood straighter lifting her chin as she spoke,

“I’ve only ever killed, sir.”

Jason paused and contemplated her words before he asked,

“ …So if we were to fight you wouldn’t hesitate to kill me?”

“I’ve been told to take every fight seriously. So yes, sir.”

Marin said in a voice void of all emotion as she stared him directly in the eyes as if to challenge him.

Jason looked at Talia for a third time, but she made no sound and no movement as she continued to watch them interact. Jason turned back to look at her, and studied her face and noticed all of the scars that covered it along with a scattering of freckles.

“How many trainers have you had before?”

“13 sir, you are number 14.”

“What’s happened to your past trainers?”

He asked cautiously, his eyes narrowing. She stayed silent for a moment, feeling like she was being judged for doing something wrong when she only did what she was supposed to.

“..I’ve killed them, sir.”

Jason stayed silent for a few moments and thought over what he would say next. He closed his eyes and it looked like there was a weight on his shoulders.

“… You’ve never once spared them?”

Marin felt annoyed because why would she? If she had then she would have been punished, she would have disgraced the Al Ghul name! She did what she was supposed to, it was not her fault that her handlers weren’t good enough to finish her themselves.

“They initiated the fight, I only followed my orders.”

She said seriously as she glared up at him, silently daring him to try and shame her.

“And what were your orders?”

He asked, as he lifted a brow.

Marin grinned like the Cheshire Cat as she remembered their exact instructions. They had underestimated her, and that was their downfall.

“To take every fight seriously, sir.”

For a fourth time Jason turned to her mother, this time mouthing the word, ‘seriously’. Talia made no movement and just continued to watch as she secretly enjoyed their interactions. He would be a very interesting trainer, he was much different than her last ones. He was special, he must have been otherwise mother wouldn’t have brought him back. But there was just something about him, something that drew her to him. She didn’t trust it, she had never trusted anything or anyone before, so why should she trust him?! She thought back to when she had answered his question of her killing, maybe he wouldn’t make her kill her unit. They were running out of people good enough to be there, hopefully it won’t shrink anymore. * ——————

It was Damian’s 7th birthday, all the League was there to celebrate. She watched proudly as her brother defeated his opponents. The katana pierced through his enemies' stomach, and he walked away without even a scratch. She looked at her mother and saw the proud look in her eyes, and she felt a longing for her mother to look at her like that. She felt a hand being placed on her shoulder and looked up to see Jason.

“Hello Peter.”

“Pixie.”

They stayed silent as they watched, then Talia came up to her.

“Follow me.”

Marin bowed before replying,

“Yes ma’am.”

She followed her until they were in front of Damian’s door. Mother knocked before she entered Marin right behind her.

“Your gift, this is your twin Marin. She will be your guard.”

The truth was, they weren’t actually twins, she was a few months older than him as she was born from their mother’s actual womb.

Damian walked over to her and studied her. He seemed to find what he was looking for and scoffed and turned away.

“Why do I need a guard, especially someone as weak as she?”

Marin’s fists clenched at the comment, but she made no move and stood still until she was given a new command.

“Be careful Damian, remember, looks are used to deceive.”

Damian’s glare hardened as he stared at her. Then he looked into her eyes and saw the darkness and mist that glazed over them. Saw that there were things she had seen that he had not yet.

“Very well, thank you, Mother.”

“Of course.”

Then she turned and walked away leaving the two siblings alone.

“Who’s older?”

He asked suddenly.

“I am, we are not technically twins, I am older by almost three months.”

“Tt.”

“Do not worry,”

She said getting into one of her knees as she bowed down to him,

“You are the true heir to the Demon Head, I am but a lowly guard.”

Damian smirked at that feeling better about himself as his apparently older sister bowed down to him.

“Yes, now come. I want to see you spar.”

“Yes, Akhi.”

Quickly she followed after him to the training halls.

——————

Jason had left and disappeared. He had abandoned her. She didn’t cry, in fact she refused to feel anything. He was just another trainer, it didn’t matter what he did. She didn’t care, he could’ve died on a mission and she wouldn’t bat an eye. Her Peter, her brother Jason was gone, and he wasn’t coming back, so it didn’t matter anymore, he didn’t matter anymore.

She grabbed the twin daggers that Damian had given to her for their 9th birthday and got into a fighting stance. The daggers were much nicer than anything she thought he would ever give her. The blades were made of carbon steel that were colored a deep navy blue, almost black and were about 12” in total length. The blade had two thin sharp pointed edges at the top of the blade that curved outward towards the handle. The handles were also made out of carbon steel. They were rounded and thinned out in the middle before getting bigger around the top. At the very top of the handle there were different gems, on the right hand blade was an emerald and on the left a sapphire. The blades were her favorite to fight with as they were also weighted perfectly for her.

She saw Damian draw his katana before making the first move to strike. She easily dodged him flipping away from his sword. He quickly moved about to strike her when she moved her daggers up deflecting his blade away from her. It was like a dance to them, more of a way to blow off steam than a real spar. They had grown closer over the years, even if they would never say anything to each other outside of his room unless he was ordering her around. They respected each other, and while he thought he knew everything about her, he knew very little. He thought that she was always “the real her” with him, but it was an act. She was always acting, she didn’t even know “who the real her” was at this point.

Her thoughts wandered back to Jason. He had treated her like she had mattered, like her life actually meant something to him. She felt like a person while he was around and not a machine following every order. He had taught her for three years and then he left without even a goodbye! She jumped at Damian swinging her twin blades down trying to disarm him. Rage fueled her movements as she felt his absence and clouded her mind. How could he, now she had a new handler, he was so much worse than the others. She couldn’t wait for him to challenge her, she would gladly end their pathetic life.

Eventually the fight came to an end with Damian pointing his sword to her neck. She had been too caught up in her thoughts that she had missed a kick and wasn’t able to recover fast enough when she fell.

“You were distracted today.”

He said, raising a brow as he sheathed his katana.

“Have to go undercover again. Was told to use the mold 4, given the code name of ‘Marinette’.”

“That’s all?”

He asked, standing above her with his arms crossed.

“Yes.”

Damian could tell she was lying, but he knew not to push it. It would only make her more aggravated and then she would ignore him. It didn’t help that her handler had left. From what he had heard he was the longest one she had ever had and the only one she hadn’t killed in battle.

“When do you leave?”

“Tonight.”

“Estimated time of leave until return?”

“Three months.”

“Will your unit join you?”

“No, just me.”

“Scouting for information or ending a target.”

“Information, may be both depending on what I find.”

Damian nodded.

“I’ll be expecting you in three months then.”

“Of course, Akhi.”

Damian turned and left, leaving Marin on the floor in the training room. She quickly stood up and left to grab her things before she left for her mission. She had been to this place before, last time she went there it was to end an Ally turned traitor. She had gone undercover with Jason. They were supposed to act like brother and sister, which wasn’t too hard, and she had to use mold 4 then as well.

She shook her head ridding herself of those thoughts. She was not supposed to reminisce, he was gone. He was just another soldier here, and you don’t mourn a soldier. He might as well not have even existed in the first place, he didn’t matter, he never did. She repeated that like a mantra, she could not afford to miss him.

—————

Three months of being undercover and she felt proud as she knelt before her grandfather.

“Report.”

“There were traces of miraculous magic around Paris. I tracked the traces and followed them to an old massage parlor that an old man ran. I could not find or take the miraculous though because of all the protection enchantments that surrounded the building. The man’s name was Wang Fu, he flows with protection magic, so much so that I could not touch him unless he initiated the contact. His location is ###”

She did not dare raise from her bow. She had learned the hard way that she was never allowed to look at him without permission.

“Dismissed.”

“Yes sir.”

She said as she stood keeping her down as she left the room. When she arrived at her bedroom she was not expecting to see her brother, though she should have been.

“Marin.”

“Akhi.”

“Did the mission go well?”

“Yes, I was able to gather the information. I was not yelled at or scorned by grandfather, so I believe I have pleased him.”

“That’s good to hear.”

There was a pause that filled the room before Damian asked,

“Show me the mold you used?”

She stared at him shocked before she smiled brightly and giggled eyes lighting up and shimmering an innocent light blue.

“Dami, it’s so good to see you again. It’s been way too long. What have you been up to, little brother? I hope you stayed caught up on your training, wouldn’t it be bad if mama caught you slacking? By now I’d be hugging you, but I know you don’t like being touched, so I’m sending you air hugs!”

Damian grimaced, he was not used to this. The fact that it came so naturally was unsettling, how fast she could transition from one personality to another. This ‘Marinette’ was bubbly, sweet, outgoing, and he could hear a French accent; in other words she was the exact opposite of herself. He didn’t like it. He wondered how often she had to switch and be in her “molds” and how many she even had.

“That will be all.”

Her appearance went back to neutral in the snap of a finger. Her eyes were once again dull and there wasn’t a hint of a smile on her face as she looked at him.

“It’s my least favorite mold.”

“I can see why. What’s your favorite mold?”

“Mold 23, AKA ‘Crimson’ is my favorite.”

“Why?”

“She’s used for higher up infiltrations and quick work, she's pretty nerdy and irritates people because she talks too much.”

Damian nodded, she was always one to get things done as quickly as possible. She hated for things to be drawn out, he could tell it made her anxious by the way that her fingers sometimes twitch. It was very small and you would have to really watch to notice it, and he had.

“I’d like to rest now, I have training in a few hours.”

“Of course. See you tomorrow.”

“Indeed Akhi.”

Damian quickly left. Marin looked around her empty room before she changed into her training robes. She then lay on her bed and stared at her ceiling until darkness overcame her.

—————

Deathstroke attacked the league and killed grandfather. She could tell that it hurt and affected Damian more than it did herself. Ra’s had always been there to support him, but he had always been trying to get rid of her. She was surprised when mother had placed both of them on her boat and took them to meet their father. She had thought for sure she would have stayed behind to help clean up the mess.

When they had finally come face to face with their father, the Batman, she could have slapped her brother in the back of the head for what he had told him. She didn’t though, she would be punished if she touched him. When Talia left them on the shore with their father she stayed silent as she watched her father, studying him. Damian was speaking to him, but she wasn’t really listening. Then he glanced at her, she made no movement and showed no emotion, it was just natural. She wasn’t given a mold for this, she wasn’t told how she should act, so she was just Marin trying not to do anything stupid. She was a void, blankness waiting to be told to form into something else. Damian hated her molds, she didn’t understand why, it was just what she did, who she was.

When they arrived at the Batcave she looked around.

“Hello young master and mistress.”

An older voice with a English accent said, making her focus on the older man instead of the cave. She stood tall at attention waiting for her order.

“I am Alfred Pennyworth, please do follow me.”

She followed silently while her brother scoffed as they followed the older gentleman. There was a loud noise like the sound of shattered glass. She looked to the stairs and saw a teenage boy a few years their senior on the stairs. He had black hair and steely blue eyes and looked like he hadn’t slept in a week. She wasn’t judging though, she had been there, is still there a lot actually.

“Alfred, who're the kids?”

The man above them asked.

“This would be Master Damian and his twin Mistress Marin. They are Master Bruce’s apparent blood children.”

The man looked at them with a calculative eye studying them. So this was their father’s robin, he seemed very interesting, grandfather had talked a lot about him.

“I see…”

He said, as he continued to study them while processing the words that Alfred had just relayed. Damian glared at the boy and she knew that he was about to do something stupid. She was about to put a hand on his shoulder, but before she could Damian had rushed to the stairs about to attack Timothy if she remembered correctly. Tim was able to jump back just in time to avoid Damian’s blow. Marin was about to run over and stop her idiotic brother when Damian yelled,

“Stay out of this Marin!”

She froze, she was not to disobey an order, especially his. She could feel Timothy’s expectant eyes on her, but she couldn’t move. She would be punished if she got involved after being expressly told to not engage. That was when another man walked into the room breaking up the fight and standing in front of Timothy with his both of his arms stretched out to shield his comrade.

“What is going on?!”

The man asked, as he glanced behind to check on Timothy. He was older than all of them except Father and Alfred. He was much taller than Tim and had a more lean gymnast looking body while Tim’s build was less evident. Damian hissed in anger as he put away his sword grumbling about how he was the blood son. Marin rolled her eyes, but understood where he came from as that was instilled in him since his birth.

“Marin,”

Damian called and she quickly came over and stood behind him. The boys watched her cautiously, and she knew she had to play it safe. As a natural reaction she turned into Marinette. She smiled brightly as she playfully pushed her brother away as if this was normal, and it almost was at this point.

“Hello, my name is Marin *Khata Al Ghul.”

She could hear someone take a sharp intake of breath as she said her full name and Damian’s scowl grow more heated. She hated her middle name, her grandfather had given it to her, told her it was a reminder so she knew her place. Damian said that her middle name never existed in his mind.

“I apologize for my little brother. He’s such a handful, but I’ll make sure he understands your importance Master Timothy.”

She said with a bright smile and tilt of her head. She held her hand out for the man in front of her to shake. Hesitantly he looked down at it then looked back up at her face. Dick knew that he most likely couldn’t fully trust her, but she seemed nice enough. Slowly he took her hand and gave her a firm shake.

“Richard Grayson, but you can call me Dick.”

He said, returning her smile. Slowly Tim came from behind Dick, eyeing her skeptically as he crossed his arms.

“How did you know my name and why didn’t you stop him while he was attacking me?”

Marinette flushed in “embarrassment” as she awkwardly scratched the back of her neck trying to make herself look as innocently awkward as possible.

“You see, grandfather speaks of you and your intellect often. Talks about your achievements and how much he would love to officially meet you one day. Dami here must have been a little jealous, and he was raised to be the next Batman and probably just feels threatened.”

She felt Damian’s cold glare on her and heard him growl after she said that. She knew he hated Marinette, but Marinette was going to fix the mess he got them into, again. Marinette fixed everything, Marin would get them into even more trouble.

“I’m sorry for not defending you, I am under orders to obey him as he is the heir to the Demon Head. I must follow orders or the League will punish me.”

She shuddered, adding to the effect of trying to make them pity her enough that they would not be too cross with her. Tim seemed to soften at that, but he could be acting too, her mind supplied. She wouldn’t let her guard down, she had to keep this up.

“I see. Well, you’re not in the League anymore, Marin.”

He said bending to her level and slowly placing a hand on her shoulder. She stiffened as his hand made contact. He quickly removed his hand and smiled at her as he stared into her bluebell eyes.

“You don’t have to follow his orders anymore as long as you’re here, ok?”

She let her eyes widen in shock as she stared into his eyes.

“Really?”

She looked back at her brother and saw him crossing his arms as he burned a hole into the floor with his eyes alone. She quickly looked back at Tim as if nervous that she had done something wrong. Timothy looked up to Alfred and he nodded.

“Why don’t you let Alfred here lead you to your room and get some rest ok? You look like you’ve had a long day.”

Marinette gave him a small smile and nodded slowly.

“Alright. Thank you Master Timothy.”

“Please, just call me Tim.”

Her smile grew wider and she nodded eagerly.

“Of course, Tim!”

He gave her a small smile back and stood back up and slowly walked away down a different set of stairs towards the Batcomputer. She could feel her father’s gaze on her and knew that he didn’t trust her. Tim probably didn't either and was just being nice and trying to lower her guard. She wouldn’t be accepted here, at least Marin wouldn’t be. They seemed to like Marinette, she looked back and saw Dick giving her a small sad smile. It wouldn’t be hard, she had been Marinette for almost an entire year before, she just hoped her brother wouldn’t say anything about it to her.

She let Damian push ahead of her when they were out of the cave and followed Alfred once more, she dropped the act and staying silent with a neutral face. Once she was in her room and the door was shut she let out a long breath and carefully placed her things that she had in the dresser drawers and climbed into the gigantic bed and stared at the ceiling as she started to fully process today's events. She let out a tired sigh as she realized that her brother would yell at her in the morning. She turned on her side and gripped at the dagger that she had kept up her sleeve as she fell into a half sleep.

—————

Bruce didn’t trust the girl. She may be his daughter, but that didn’t mean he had to trust her. She changed, she shifted in her emotions and it wasn’t right, especially how naturally she seemed to do it. Damian laid almost everything on the table. He was rambunctious, entitled, violent, temperamental, and impulsive. Marin was the opposite, she hid her every card keeping them as close to her chest as possible, she was level headed, she seemed to fix mistakes and was both a leader and follower, she had been out in the world more where Damian had been isolated from it. Damian showed his emotions and was very expressive while Marin hid them and changed them on whim. He didn’t know what her goal was because Damian had made it very clear he was blood while Marin only used her Al Ghul name not seeming to care about his.

There had to be some other reason she was here other than someone coming after them if her middle name was to go off of. He didn’t think they would be that cruel, to put….that into someone’s name. Unless it wasn’t her real middle name, unless she was playing with them with her name like she had with her emotions. She was most likely here to take out targets in Gotham while looking after Damian. He would not let that happen, he would make sure she followed his rules. He wouldn’t let her out of his sight, he didn’t trust her. There was something about this girl he didn’t like. He could help Damina, teach him about the difference between justice and vengeance. No doubt it would be difficult, but he thought that with enough time he could change his views on things and teach him the right things. Marin, he doubted that she would be as easy to change. She was already too formed, too molded into what the League wanted he had no doubt. He would try to show her the difference of right and wrong and hope that he could tame her. Until then, he would make sure she was never alone and that she obeyed every rule in his home.

_________

It was far too loud in the house, too much chaos that she couldn’t be a part of. Damian and Tim were fighting again, Dick was in Blüdhaven, Bruce was doing whatever in the batcave and avoided her whenever possible, and all of the girls were in China. She had been here for six months and still her father would only speak to her when it was necessary and to remind her of “Justice not Vengeance” when she was about to kick a knife out of her attackers hands and pocket it. It was so aggravating, he stopped her from knocking some guy unconscious in the middle of a battle and she almost got shot because of it!

She hopped out her window and quickly started to run on the rooftops of buildings around the city. She stopped when she felt a presence following her. She made herself look as casual as possible while checking her surroundings when she caught a small flash of red.

“Come on out, I know you’re there.”

She heard a thump behind her and pulled out one of her travel daggers she kept up her sleeve. The man was tall and had a strong build. He wore baggy black pants that were covered in holsters and armor. He had an armored black top with a red bat covering the chest. Finally there was a red helmet covering his face concealing his identity. Crouching down so if he attacked she could easily dodge, she waited. She wasn’t expecting for the man to take off his helmet and when she saw the white streak in his hair she almost dropped her dagger, almost.

“P-Peter?”

“Hey Pixie-pop.”

She felt relief flood her before red clouded her vision as she remembered him leaving her without a word and leaving her at the hands of a new handler. One that had made sure that she was very much scathed at the end of every session. She screamed as she ran to attack, gripping tightly at her dagger as she tried to stab him.

“Wow Pix, you gonna hurt someone with that.”

“That’s the point Jason you coward!”

He quickly grabbed her wrist, twisting it so he could grab the dagger and disabling her. Tears pricked at her eyes as all of the emotions she had been shoving down for years started to surface. She struggled in his grip trying to get out of his hold before slumping forward in defeat, tears falling down her cheeks and onto the cement of the rooftop.

“All done? Is that any way to greet your handler?”

“Ex-handler, you stopped being it when you left.”

She said stiffly, spitting the words out with as much malice as she could. He let out a long deep sigh before letting go of her.

“What are you doing here Pix?” He said as she turned around to face him and she quickly sniffed and wiped away any remaining tears as she quickly recomposed herself. She made sure her face showed nothing as she looked up at Jason.

“Depends who’s asking. Why are you here?”

She asked blankly, crossing her arms in silent defiance.

“Live here. And I’m asking as your superior.”

She glared at him standing up straighter and glared at him as she looked right into his eyes. She dropped her harms to her sides and like the soldier she was and reported,

“I am currently living here with my father Bruce Wayne and with my twin brother Damian Al Ghul Wayne. I am to learn from The Batman and protect Damian with my life, sir.”

“Wait, Bruce is your dad?!”

“Yes, sir.”

“I told you to stop calling me sir.”

“Sorry si-, sorry.”

“What are you doing out here?”

“It was too loud and I needed to get out before my mold dropped.”

“Which mold were you using?”

“Mold 4.”

“You hate that mold Pix.”

“It is basically my default mold, if I’m not told what mold to use I use her, besides I need her to clean up Damian’s messes.”

“Why do you always differentiate your molds from yourself?”

Jason sighed as he rubbed his eyes. He hated when she did this, it wasn’t healthy, not that he was judging because what he did certainly wasn’t healthy either.

“Like I said before, it is because they are not me. They are a cover. This is why I call them molds.”

“Right. Come sit, let’s catch up.”

Jason said moving to the ledge of the building and sitting down. Marin carefully moved and sat next to him. He slowly placed an arm round the girl's shoulders and let her lean against him.

“How’s living with B?”

“He doesn’t like me.”

“What did you do?”

He asked with a chuckle in his voice,

“Did you throw a knife and break something in the cave?”

“No. He avoids me as much as possible and prefers Damian.”

“I don’t think that’s-“

He began, but she quickly cut him off say,

“He can tell my molds aren’t me and doesn’t trust me. He refuses to be in the same room as me without one of the others and will only speak to me out of necessity. He won’t let me patrol as Hummingbird if one of the others can’t come with me. He doesn’t trust me, he’ll probably kick me out soon.”

He chuckled and shook his head,

“That’s not gonna happen. I’ll take your word for it though, B is terrible with kids as you can see.”

He said pointing to himself with a wry grin. She snorted and gently shoved him with her shoulder. They stayed there sitting in silence as they stared at the city lights for about an hour before Jason stood up offering her a hand that she gladly took.

“I’ll see you around, Kid.”

“See you ‘round, Peter.”

He smirked, putting his helmet back on before saluting and running off into the darkness. She smiled as she picked up her dagger and placed it back up her sleeve as she ran home. Tonight was much better than she thought it would be.

—————

They had been living with their father for a year now and nothing between her or her father had changed. Not even after he was missing and her brother became Robin. He changed too, he wanted to stay here, but she wanted to go back to the League with their mother. She still hadn’t come for them and she felt anxious about it. She had gotten closer with Tim and the others especially when Bruce was gone. She was much closer with the others than Damian was, but she had always been Marinette when she was talking to them, not Marin and she could tell it aggravated him to no end. One day they were sitting in her room as she embroidered red flowers onto some fabric he suddenly stated,

“We’re safe here.”

“I know Akhi.”

She responded without looking up or stopping her work. She didn’t want to get into this argument again, the argument where she needed to be herself and show more real emotion. Truth is she had been trying, because it made her brother happy when she did, but it was difficult for her. For ten years she had been told to push everything down and hide it, and that’s what she did. Now he just expects her to be able to “be herself”, and she’s trying, but habit and training have chained her more than she will ever be willing to admit.

“No you don’t, so listen to me when I say that we’re safe here Ukhti.”

Marin paused mid stitch from shock. Damian had never called her that, not once had he ever called her sister, ever. He walked in front of her, and made her look up and stare into his dark green eyes. She felt her body wanting to tense in alarm and fear, but she wouldn’t let it. She felt like she was suddenly in trouble, that she should get into her defensive stance. She shoved it down though, he was her brother and he wasn’t going to hurt her, right?

“You don’t need to keep acting around them Ukhti. We’re family Ukhti, they’ll love you no matter what you act like.”

He just didn’t understand, why was everyone trying to change her! She didn’t know how to not act, ever since she was three she had been acting. Why couldn’t he see that she couldn’t stop. If she stopped then they would all hate her, just like grandfather hated her and just like their father dislikes her. She smiled at him and said,

“I know Akhi. I’m trying to-“

“Stop Marin. Stop being Marinette. I’m here to talk to you Marin, not that stupid thing you call a mold. Please Ukhti, we’re safe here, please stop acting.”

Damian said, squeezing her hands in his. She bit her lip and nodded as she felt her skin crawl at the name. She would never let him know though, she would never let him know that him calling her sister made her feel small and unworthy. He seemed happy to call her that, like he had been wanting to say it for quite some time, so she would never let him know. She would not disappoint him.

“I’m sorry, I really am trying. It’s just my default, it’s unconscious.”

“But it’s not! I see you consciously shift from your molds all the time!”

He said, raising his voice a little. All the little self doubts and insecurities were already eating at her and she was running off almost a week of maybe one-and-a-half hours of sleep. She didn’t mean to, she really didn’t, she would never purposely hurt or yell at her brother, but she just snapped.

“And do you ever wonder why I do it?!”

She said, almost yelling. He was silent watching her as she stood up and packed away her work.

“Have you ever considered the reasons I do that? Maybe it’s because I know that they won’t like the “real me” or whatever that is. Everyone here loves the others, so what are they going to say about me?! Don’t you see, I want them to like me Damian, and to do that I can’t be Marin. Marinette is sweet, kind, bubbly, smart, and everything that the others love! They love her, they will never see me and like me.”

She said pointing to herself. She sighed, bowing her head in shame and bit her lip.

“I’m sorry Akhi, I didn’t mean to yell at you. Look, I’ll work on it, ok? I’ll try to stop using my molds and show myself more. Let’s just drop it now.”

She said quietly as she left her room. She walked into the main living room and she saw her father sitting on the armchair reading the newspaper next to the lit fireplace. She took in a deep breath and made her way towards her father hoping that this would go well. She stood in front of her father’s chair with her hands behind her back and her shoulders squared.

“Hello Dad.”

Bruce sighed as he looked up from his paper and stared at his daughter. He still didn’t trust her, she was always different, always changing, she was inconsistent and it bothered him every time he saw it.

“Yes Marin?”

He asked tiredly though still trying to sound polite. Marin bit her lip and quickly asked,

“Would you like to get some tea with me?”

Bruce looked at the watch on his wrist and put his paper away before standing. Marin felt hope well up in her chest until he said,

“Sorry Marin, but I’ve got to get ready for a meeting that’s going to start soon.”

Then he left, leaving her alone in the living room once again.

“Liar, you told Alfred you had nothing scheduled today.”

Marin mumbled as she walked away. She knew it was a long shot, but she still had hope. There was a reason she hid behind her molds, you never truly get hurt if it’s not really you. If she was with Mother then she would have at least had tea with her for dinner even if they didn’t talk. He doesn’t even acknowledge her presence more than half the time. She just wanted to go back to the League, they didn’t even trust her on patrol as hummingbird and she doubted they ever would.

It was aggravating, how they kept trying to change her and her brother and make them into completely different people. She already had molds that did that for her, she didn’t need them trying to make her into one of her molds thank you very much. She didn’t want her brother to have a mold though, she would not stand for him to have to wear a mold of a fake self like she did. Marinette was always there nowadays. She made Dick happy, made him think that she made progress in how she should be, and Damian wouldn’t stop scolding her for it. She had been trying to be Marin around the others, but they all thought that she was having a bad day and just gave her space until she started acting like Marinette again. She couldn’t blame them though, they had only ever seen Marinette and a few other of the bubbly molds before, they had never once met one of her darker molds, they hadn't known that it was her. Damian seemed proud of her when he saw her acting as Marin, always gave her a secret smile, and it felt unnerving every time. She didn’t like it, but it made her brother happy, and that was her priority.

At least she could sneak off and talk to Jason every now and then, he understood her. He was the only one she could really be herself around besides Damian. He had seen her at her best and worst, he had been the one to train and truly care for her for three years. The only handler that didn’t force her to kill her unit in a fight, the only one not to beat her when she made a mistake, the only one that let her cry on him on a mission that wasn’t fake tears but a real breakdown. He was her big brother, her foundation, the only one to fully accept her, molds and all. Sometimes he would let her play around with her molds, and he would joke around and act as if he was one of his as well. They would talk about past missions that they had gone on together or apart and reminisced about some of the funnier moments. One of her favorites was when they had gone to Bangkok, Thailand and had to pretend that he was her uncle taking her on a trip. He played the role of “The uncle you never introduce to your 8 year old daughter but now they are best friends” well. If there were a few more explosions than planned, then who's to say it was them? They had two other agents there as well after all. She enjoyed those nights the most because it was just her, Peter, the lights, and the sound of the city.

—————

There was a call for help near her as she patrolled her sector. They finally trusted her to patrol a section of Gotham by herself! She had been here for two years and she was now able to patrol by herself! Damian got to patrol by himself about five months ago, now it was her turn. She silently dropped on the roof, she watched and analyzed the situation before she attacked. There was a victim in the middle of a gang of people being pushed around and it looked like they were pushing them towards the edge of the roof. If she could get the victim away from here then she could com the others and keep them contained as she waited for backup to arrive! She could end this quickly and show that the team could trust her to do her job and rely on others.

She jumped down picking up the person in the middle but before she could jump away the person punched her in the face causing her to drop them as they laughed. She glared at the others quickly dodging before one of the people behind her could hit her. She quickly took out one of her daggers blocking the blunt objects the people were trying to hit her with. She had tried to call for backup, but she couldn’t pause for even a second to get one of the others. She should have left it on, but she didn’t feel like hearing Dick’s jokes at the moment. She grabbed a few of her throwing needles from a hidden pocket as she flipped away from the gang so she could get a good enough distance to throw them. She then threw them aiming for the pressure points of the people that had weapons and hit them with perfect accuracy. Many of the men and women passed out from the needles hitting them, she had made sure to not throw them hard enough to cause permanent damage. While some of them were distracted she quickly jabbed some of the others pressure points either knocking them out or temporarily paralyzing them before she knocked them out. She was able to finish striking the rest of them out and was about to tell the others when she heard a noise from behind her. She turned quickly, getting back into a defensive position gripping her dagger when she saw her father staring at her with his usual scowl. She carefully put her dagger back up her sleeve before addressing him.

“Hello Batman I was just about to-.”

* “It was a test.”

Was all he said as he continued to stare down at her from the tall generator on the roof.

“What-?”

She tried to ask only to be interrupted.

“It was a test and you failed.”

He said, his glare grew more intense as his voice darkened.

“It-“

Marin looked around at the unconscious people around her. She felt confused, she didn’t understand. Father wouldn’t do that, would he?

“these-“

She turned back to her father with shock and horror in her eyes. She had expected this from her mother, Ra’s, her old handlers, but her father? She never thought he would do this to her, ever. Even if he was distant and distrustful of her, he was different from the people of the league, he didn’t believe in the League’s tactics when it came to training her and Damian. He was different from everyone else, he was….different. Wasn’t he?

“You suck people on me as a test?”

“Yes.”

Was his monotonous answer. He was void of any and all emotion as he stared her down and she looked up at him. She saw red as she heard this. She thought he was different, different from everyone else that was there just trying to use her. Different from the ones that constantly abused her and told her she was nothing worthy. She knew she was nothing compared to her younger brother, she was just some mistake, and she was reminded of that everyday because of her stupid grandfather; she was a good for nothing and no one wanted her, not even her own father.

The only reason people kept her around was because she was good at her job. Why hadn’t she been doing her job again? She hadn’t been taking every fight seriously since she moved in with her father. Why did she stop? That’s right, because father had told her not to and she had respected him, trusted him to a degree.

“For what?! To see if I would-“

She called out her voice turning to ice as she let the dagger in her sleeve fall and slip into her hold once more all while staring him directly in the eye.

“kill them?”

Did he really think that low of her? Did he really think that she would kill them without supervision? Why hadn’t he just gotten rid of her yet if she was such a handful?

“Marin.”

He said, a silent warning telling her not to do anything stupid.

“How did I lose, huh?”

She asked, twirling her blade between her fingers as she walked backwards towards the people she had just knocked out a few minutes prior, never taking her eyes away from the white lenses that covered her father’s blue eyes. The same eyes she had inherited. She was always jealous that Damian had gotten their mother’s green eyes while she had gotten their father’s blue eyes. She knew that Damian had wanted her blue eyes ever since he had started to want to stay with the family, and she would switch him eyes in a heartbeat if only so she didn’t have to see the same eyes that hated her, that were a part of her, in the mirror everyday.

“I didn’t kill them.”

She crouched right next to the one that she had tried to “save” before they had hit her. The dagger was only about 6”, but it would get the job done.

“I didn’t maim them.”

She spoke her voice firm and freezing as continued to spin the small blade between her gloved fingers.

“Marin.”

He said her name as a demand. Like she was a dog that was being warned of a scolding because they didn’t listen to their master. Well she wasn’t a dog, and she was done taking orders, especially his. Her voice was void of any and all emotion as she gently tapped the blade against the neck of the assailant.

“What? I failed, didn’t I?”

She asked innocently with her Marinette voice and smile before it grew in a glare and she snarled out,

“May as well make the fail coun-“

She said about to plunge the dagger into the person’s throat before Batman rushed down and grabbed her wrist holding the dagger. She looked at his hand holding hers in a vice like grip as he growled out,

“Stop it.”

She looked from their hands and looked him directly in the eyes with her darkest glare.

“Make me.”

She spat out, switching the dagger into her free hand before stabbing the wrist that held hers.

“MARIN!”

He yelled, as his face turned into a snarl as he grabbed both of her wrists with his other hand tackling and pinning her to the rooftop, her dagger thrown far away from her reach.

Marin held back her tears as she pursed her lips. She wasn’t going to cry, she wasn’t because this was normal, betrayal was normal. He was just another handler, he was never her father, he never cared about her, only kept her around because she was useful. He was just using and training her like everyone else. He would never care about her, and she would have yelled an ‘I told you so’, through the comms to Damian if she knew she wouldn’t break first. She took a deep breath and blankly looked at her father’s Batman’s face.

“Let go.”

She said as neutrally as possible.

“No.”

He said with a small growl. He reached into one of his pockets and grabbed a pair of zip ties. If she wasn’t trained since birth to push down emotions and to not cry she probably would be sobbing at this point. She felt so betrayed, and this made her think, would Dick do this to her too? Would Tim support this? Would her brother let this happen if he were here? None of them really loved her, they loved Marinette, except Damian, he despised her with a burning passion. And though she tried not to be Marinette in front of them for her little brother, she just couldn’t stop. They would never love her, they loved Marinette, they would only love her, they would treat her like Bruce does if they ever truly met Marin.

“Let go, Bruce.”

She demanded her voice still neutral but a little louder and harsher.

“I can’t, I won’t let you kill them.”

He said tightening the restraints around her wrists. Anger coursed through her as Batman finished and got off of her.

“WHY?”

She yelled her anger leaking through as Batman stood above her. Just like how grandfather used to, her mind supplied only adding to the anger and pain in her soul.

“They were so ready to fight me! You paid them too! You did this! You’re making me do this!”

She yelled at him accusingly. She was just trying to make him proud, do what was right! He never gave her the chance, he would never give her the chance. She would never be good enough for him. She would just be the assassin child who can’t change because Damian is the only one who can, even though he’s more stuck up and bratty than she had ever been to them! This wasn’t her fault, he set this up, she was going to fail no matter what! She was always set up to fail. Just like at the League, he was just like them. She felt a pain in her chest as she finally admitted it to herself. Things never changed for her, she may not be on the League’s base anymore, but she never truly left it, did she?

“You never believed in me. You guys only ever saw Dami-“

She paused. She knew this was true, but finally admitting it out loud made it feel so much more real than when she admitted it in her head. None of them wanted her, they saw Damian and wanted him, but like always, she was second best, she was just cast away as the extra scrap that was always forgotten about. She hung her head in defeat waiting to be taken away.

“Marin…”

He began his voice softer than before, but he didn’t say anything after. There was a tense silence that passed for a few moments before she slowly looked up and quietly said,

“You know, I was the original, right?”

He sighed before saying her name once again slightly drawn out in exasperation. She was tired though, she was going to tell him the secret and wait to be insulted even more for being a failure.

“I was the original. We aren’t actually twins. We’re 2-3 months apart.”

Bruce sighed as he pulled her onto her feet by her restrained wrists.

“Come on, we’ll talk about this at the cave.”

Marin felt a pit of rage boil over once more. He did this to her, and he just expected that she’ll just go back willingly?! Expecting her to just trust him when he broke it?! How stupid and naive did he think her to be?! Her trust is something sacred. She rarely ever gave it out, and once it’s broken it may as well never have even existed in the first place. She gave it to him, not expecting to be greeted with open arms, but to at least be treated like her brothers gosh dang it!

“No!”

She yelled out, as she pulled away from him as a fire burned in her eyes.

“I do not want to go back with you. I’d rather go with my mother. Send me back to my mother, Bruce.”

She demanded not wanting to be around him or her his stupid family anymore. She wanted her mother, even if she’ll get punished, better there than here where she can expect this sort of behavior towards her. Bruce’s eyes narrowed and simply stated,

“I can’t.”

She snarled at him as she dodged his attempt to grab her arms again.

“You can! You just don’t want to!”

She yelled at him as she danced around trying to dislocate her thumb so she could slip out of the restraints. Bruce let out a long disappointed sigh as he stared at her after failing to grab her. How dare he?! She angrily thought. How dare he be “disappointed” when this was his fault to begin with?! She was doing just fine, she hadn’t stepped out of line once, and this is how he treats her?! Damian had almost killed Tim, and all he got was a scolding! She hadn’t done anything, it’s not her fault everyone tricks her and she was trained to always hide behind her stupid molds.

“We’ll talk at the cave, Marin-“

He repeated in a tired voice. He said it as if he were a tired parent trying to reason with their difficult child. He wasn’t her parent, they may share blood, but he is not her father. She dislocated one of her thumbs and was about to do the other while again demanding,

“Let me go and send me to my mother!”

“I can’t do that.”

He growled out raising his voice as his patience wore thin.

She growled at him and spat at his feet yelling,

“F*ing coward!”

She had just dislocated her other thumb and was about to pull off the zip ties when Batman grabbed her hands and held them over her head.

“Marin,”

He barked out tersely,

“we’ll talk about this at the cave.”

He finished, his words were short and clipped as he tried to cut out any argument she may have had. She wouldn’t stand it though, she would not be bossed around by him any longer, he didn’t intimidate her at all.

“G* F* D*IT, I SAID N-“

She was cut off by a noise as someone else landed on top of the building. She turned her head to see Red Hood and felt a sense of relief. He looked around confused as he stared at the scene before him.

“B.”

Was all he said as he continued to look at the unconscious bodies before he looked at them. He had head yelling, and it sounded like there was a struggle, so he had gone to check it out. He hadn’t been expecting this though.

“Peter.”

Tears welled up in Mari’s eyes as she made her arms shake to make the situation look much worse than it truly was.

“Peter, help me.”

She begged, drawing out her words and deepening out her voice and making it sound a little shaky to make it sound desperate and afraid and make it seem like she was about to cry. She wanted him to take her away from Bruce, away from Gotham, back to the League. She would apologize to Damian later, but she couldn’t be here anymore. She refused to be with the bats a moment longer than absolutely necessary.

“Hood.”

Batman said in warning never taking his eyes off the girl before him.

“What are you doing?” *

Jason asked in horror as he slowly approached the two.

“He sent these guys after me Peter. He paid them to attack me! I only knocked them out, I mostly used pressure points so there wouldn’t be any long lasting damage! He said he sent them after me as a test and that I failed! He wouldn’t even tell me how or why I did! I don’t want to be here anymore Jason. Please help me!”

She cried out trying to get him to distract the stupid bat so she could get an advantage. Jason glared at Batman feeling the Pits Madness grow inside him and take control. That was his sister, that was Bruce’s own child, his daughter! How dare he, how dare he do this to her, how dare this bas* treat her like she was nothing more than an annoyance and a villain!

“Hummingbird, mold 212.”

Oh yes, mold 212, her second least favorite. Mold 212, AKA Bloody Mary. Batman looked confused at the request and his hesitation was all she needed. She quickly jumped into the air and kicked Bruce in the chest right as Jason shot a bullet at the arm holding her hands above her head which made the bat drop her and stumble away from her. Marin rolled on the floor while removing her restraints and relocating her thumbs after she had thrown the zip ties over the edge of the building. Marin ran and picked up her dagger and threw it at Bruce’s pressure point just below his knee so that leg froze and he fell forward as he had been walking towards them. She then threw a few of her throwing needles at other pressure points on his legs so that he would be paralyzed in the legs for about an hour. Normally under mold 212, she would aim for the throat with her dagger, and all of her needles would line every point on the person’s body. She would then take some of their blood and wipe it over the victims face.

She didn’t want to anger Damian too much and leave him at the hands of their mother again. Bruce did too much good for Gotham, he could not die even if she wished he currently would. Damian was developing here and finding himself, and she could not take that away from him either. Jason gave her a look as if to say, that’s not 212, but she just shrugged and started to walk away waiting for him at the edge of the building with her arms crossed showing nothing but indifference.

Red Hood walked up to Bruce, guns loaded and his trigger begged to be pulled. Before Bruce move away up Jason stomped one of his feet on Batman’s back knocking the air out of him and held one gun to his head. He slowly leaned into Bruce’s personal space and snarled out with a growl,

“How dare you? Just know that you haven’t even met your daughter. I’ve trained her for three years, I’ve watched her grow and be just fine without you. You don’t know half of the bulls* she had been put through. She is the most loyal and faithful person in your entire s* show of your so-called “family”. When did she ever do anything to you or anyone in your family that required this?! From what I’ve seen while on patrols she is one of the least deadly in your group, and let me tell you from experience and from what I’ve taught her, she could have killed those f*s in a heartbeat. You are d* lucky that she has been using mold 4 with you and the others because if she listened to me and used mold 212, you would be dead faster and in as much pain as I was depending on how fast she wanted to do it.”

He threatened and motioned to the roof filled with still unconscious people, some having needles somewhere on their person. Then casually as if they were talking over a cup of coffee he said,

“Demon brat on the other hand, I heard he almost killed Timmy boy. What do you have to say for that, huh?! You disgust me, at least at the League she knew not to trust anyone, but she trusted you. How dare you break that you pathetic piece of s*! Don’t come near her again you bas*.”

He took his foot off of Bruce’s back and began to walk towards an awaiting Marin, but not before he shot Bruce in the hand that had held Marin’s once again.

“Thank you for that speech you dramatist.”

“Of course my Hummingbird. I believe you said you wanted to fly away from here.”

She rolled her eyes and let her lips turn up into a barely noticeable smile.

“Yes, I wish to go back to my mother.”

She said as she swung off with Red Hood into the night.

“Oh, really quickly.”

She said landing on a roof. Quickly she turned on her comm and said,

“Robin, I want you to know that I’m sorry and I love you. I’m going back home, and I don’t mean the cave. Don’t try to look or come for me, you belong here. I’ve seen how much you’ve changed and grown here, but this place is not for me. I’m going back to mother, stay with your family. I love you Akhi.”

There was silence before the comm exploded into noise as everyone yelled out questions except for Hood and Bats. She felt guilty for doing this to her brother, but she took in a deep breath and took the comm out of her ear as she ignored her brother’s protests and questions before crushing it under her foot.

“Come on kid, I’ve got some clothes at one of my safe houses nearby you can change into.”

She nodded and followed him silently. They stayed quiet as she changed and had Jason hide her costume as she knew there was a tracker in it. They quickly left Gotham before any of the bats could find them or her decoy.

“You sure you want to go back to the League? You could go into hiding as someone different. No one to tell you what to do, no one would know who you are.”

“Jason, my face was shown on TV that I was a Wayne. I mean yea, the event was mostly focused on Damian, but that doesn’t change the fact that I was announced there too.”

Jason hummed as she pulled up the hood on the oversized hoodie he let her use.

“We could fake your death, then we can be dead siblings.”

He joked giving her a small nudge. Marin laughed as she felt at ease in Jason’s presence.

“I know you think it’s a terrible idea, honestly it probably is, but I’m not good at anything else other than acting and taking people out. No one has ever believed I could be anything different than a weapon. Well, except you and Roy which was nice and all, but….”

She trailed off looking at the ground. Jason sighed, slinging an arm around her shoulders drawing her closer to him.

“You’re who you choose to be, kid, no one can tell you what you can or can’t be. I’m proud of you Pix, you could have followed my orders like you did at the League when I said mold 212. Instead you did what you thought was right. Look, how about we go on a small trip, just you and me, and by the end of it you tell me whether or not you still want to go back to the League or not. Deal Pixie?”

Marin looked up at her big brother in shock. Tears pricked at her eyes as she smiled at him and leaned against him.

“Deal Peter.”

They continued to walk until they got to a bus stop and quickly hopped on one headed to Star City where they went to one of Roy’s safe houses. Jason had texted Roy on one of his burner phones so that the bats couldn’t track him and told him where to meet them. They were going to need some more supplies and transportation to hopefully get out of the country. When they arrived at the safe house Roy was already there waiting for them. He smiled when he saw them and greeted them.

“How are you chaos reincarnated?”

He asked giving her a fist pump. She returned it with a weak smile as he also fist pumped Jason. That was the nickname he had given the two of them and it made her feel happy when she heard it. She liked being called chaos, it made her feel proud and excited.

“Oh you know, just running away from life problems and my sh*y dad.”

She said nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders. Roy looked at Jason a little worried and Jason gave him the ‘later’ look. Roy nodded,

“So what do you guys need?”

“I'm gonna take her to Paris. There’s a lady I know who’s currently there that said we could lay low with her for a bit. I have a feeling the bats will be attacking the League, so best if we don’t go immediately if Marin here doesn't want to be taken back with them kicking and screaming.”

Roy was very concerned now. Why would they want to go back there? From what Marin had told them, it was a living Hell for her. Whatever happened with Bruce must have been big to make her want to go back there of all places.

“I’ll get you two on the plane, but I'm going with you and say it’s just me so no one gets suspicious.”

“Thank you Roy.”

Marin said with full sincerity.

“No problem, Chaos. Try to get rest, and please no coffee tonight.”

She rolled her eyes and let a small smile play at her lips as she made her way to her room. She stayed here with them more than she should have so she had a bunch of her things here, but it’s not like anyone ever noticed. She was invisible, except when someone needed something. She would be flying to Paris in the morning, she thought as she put on some pajamas. She remembered going there for a recon mission. Granted she had been to Paris multiple times before that mission, but that one stuck out to her the most as her grandfather had trusted her to get him the information instead of one of the other members. It was the mission she felt most proud of because her grandfather had not insulted her after she reported to him. She now wondered what happened to the old man that had held the magic jewels. She wondered if her grandfather had had him killed or had found a way to have him join the League in some capacity. Guess she would find out in the morning.

Roy stared at her retreating figure before he turned to Jason with a worried raised brow. Jason sighed and explained what he had seen and what he had been told. Roy was also infuriated. Bruce had just set her up to fail, he never even gave her the chance to prove herself to him. He was no different than the handlers that she had told him about, he was glad to hear that she had defeated them in battle after they had challenged and underestimated her. After they had hurt her so badly. From what the others had told him she had been nothing but kind and respectful to the family and was rather witty. He knew that she was using one of her molds on them, but he knew that it was just her defense mechanism. It didn’t help that she had to clean up Damian’s messes which only buried her deeper into the mold making everyone think that it was her buried personality that the League wouldn’t let her show now in the open.

Marin had lived in a toxic environment and instead of being placed into a healthy environment where she could learn about herself and grow she was simply placed into another one. Everyday she continued to act and pretend that everything was fine, but he knew better than that. Tomorrow she would go on that plane and she would be far away from the toxicness that was her family life. He would make sure that she would finally be free and feel ok to just do as she pleased. Tomorrow he would make sure that she would have a better life and never go back to the League or to Bruce.

Notes:

Khata= mistake in Arabic.

#maribat #mlb x batman #mlb x dc #sibling daminette #platonic daminette #platonic jasonette #platonic timari #sibling timinette #sibling jasonette #handler!jasontodd #Assassin!marinette #bio!dad bruce wayne #marin al ghul wayne #angst #talia al ghul #hurt/comfort #crossover #based off tumblr posts

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lily-drake · 3 years

Text

Ao3

Here is part 2 of my series based around @bambicambi ’s assassin!Marin au. I hope you all like it! Thank you for reading!

Lesson 2: Trust No One No Matter How Close They May Seem

Prompt:

Damian: *in disbelief* you did what..? Bruce: I've.. overstepped. Damian: she's.. where is she right now, Father? Bruce: she's with Jason. Damian: and where is Jason? Bruce: ... Damian: *licks his lips* Father, where is Jason? Bruce: he is somewhere. Damian: *raises his eyebrows* you don't know? Bruce: he's somewhere. Damian: *swallows* aren't you supposed to be the greatest detective? Bruce: ... Damian: you were supposed to see in between the lines. Be the 'greatest detective' when it came to figuring out my sister. Bruce: Damian.. Damian: but you never saw it, did you? Bruce: ... Damian: i kept asking her to change herself. I kept asking her to try and push the urge to pretend away, all for you.. Bruce: ... Damian: And you never saw it. You never saw how much it pained her. I thought you did. Bruce: Damian.. Damian: is that you can say? My name? Is that all you can say, Father? Because its not enough. Bruce: *grabs his shoulder* Damian.. Damian: its not enough! My sister is out there, your daughter, is out there. And you don't know where she is! Bruce: shes with Jason- Damian: *hisses, in arabic* [and how long is she going to stay there!] Bruce: ... Damian: [how long do we know she's going to stay with Jason!? He could have brought her to my Mot-] *blinks* ... wait.. Bruce: ... Damian: she said she rather go with my Mother? Bruce: yes. Damian: shes terrified of my Mother. Bruce: *hand twitches* she was very adamant on going to Talia. Damian: *stares at him* ...what did you do? Bruce: i gave her a test, like i do with all of you. Damian: i don't think you did. We never reacted this way whenever you gave us tests. Hell, even Todd never reacted this way! Bruce: i just gave her a test- Damian: bullshit. ________________

Damian was confused, he didn’t understand why his sister was going back to their mother. She was safe here, what had happened to make her leave, did she come back? He remembered an argument that they had had only a few months ago about their mother. He had been telling her that she was safe and could stop acting, she had yelled about how their mother always found a way back. Was she right, what did mother do that made her go back with her. There was no way she would go back with that woman willingly, there was no way that she would just abandon him.

“Oracle, I want to know Hummingbird’s last location!”

Damian demanded as he began to look around frantically to see if he could spot anything that could leave him a hint to where she was. Why would she do this, why would she just leave them?! Did mother show up and threaten her, did he do something wrong, was she captured and someone was faking her voice? No, she never spoke on patrol unless it was absolutely necessary.

“Last known location was atop an old apartment complex on route 43. Sending coordinates now.”

Was her clipped response as she harshly clicked atop the keyboard. This was her sister, they may not have known each other well, but she was family and important to her. She refused to let her go back to the League, she would make sure that nothing bad happened to her.

Damian followed by Nightwing started to race towards the coordinates that Oracle had sent them. They stayed in a tense silence as they ran and wung as quickly as they could. When they landed they were shocked to see batman down hand bleeding from two different places, a bloody dagger thrown to the side, and Batman was pulling out something from his leg. Damian walked closer and examined what his father had been hit with. He picked up the dagger and took in a sharp breath as he knew it was one of his sisters as indicated by the painted cherry blossom branch. He quickly looked at his father and saw Nightwing helping him pull out….needles. He rushed to his father’s hand and picked it up causing Batman to hiss in pain, but he ignored it as he saw two bullet wounds. He looked around at the bodies that lined the roof and noticed needles in some of the people as well.

No, no this isn’t what it looks like. His sister would never just betray them, she must have had a reason for doing this. Father must have an expansion, he must know what happened to cause her to flee. He noticed Drake land behind him and freeze as he observed the scene in front of him. His eyes flashed to Bruce, then him, then the people, some of whom were starting to wake up. Quickly pulling out zip ties and trying to distract his brain from the flurry of thoughts that clouded and invaded his mind he set to work securing all of the thugs on the roof so that they could not escape. He noticed Nightwing and Red Robin begin to help Batman up and helped him to the Batmobile. Damian had a bad feeling, and he did not want to be near his father at the moment. He clenched his fist as his nerves began to take over and the situations became worse and worse in his head.

When they arrived at the cave Gordon looked furious. Bruce had limped over to where Alfred was waiting for him to take care of his wounds. He didn’t know what had gotten her so riled up, but he hoped beyond all belief that it didn’t mean that his sister was hurt, ….or worse. He shivered and shook the thought out of his head. No, his sister was too strong and too clever to ever let someone do that to her. Gordon glared at Bruce the entire time he was being treated, and when asked she simply replied,

“Wait for when Bruce is done, because I bet he would love to explain the situation.”

To which he flinched. Damian didn’t have a good feeling about that and began to pace while he waited. Why weren’t they searching for her, why weren’t they trying to find or stop her from leaving. He had finally made up his mind to go on his own when Alfred had finished and helped Father sit up properly.

“What do you need to tell us B?”

Dick asked, a little nervous as he glanced at his brother. He had never seen Damian so wound up over something, let alone another person. It made sense though seeing as they were siblings and have been with each other since the League. There was a long pause of silence and it was driving Damian mad. He was about to leave again when their father finally answered,

“As you all know Marin was on patrol by herself for the first time tonight. I decided to follow her to make sure she didn’t do anything while we weren’t watching.”

Damian felt his body stiffen as he turned to look directly at his father and stared at him in shock. He couldn’t believe that he thought so low of her, she was the level headed one out of the two of them and the most loyal and respectful. She would never go against Father’s rules, he knew she was too afraid of being punished to do so. Didn’t he see that, the way she stiffened up there the first night when he said that, “There will be consequences for violating this rule”? Did he not notice the way she was always on the offense so she wouldn’t severely hurt anyone?

“Keep going Brucie, or I can tell them. You may have turned off your comm, but you left your audio on.”

Gordon said with her arms crossed a snarl at her lips. Bruce sighed and continued,

“I paid some people to attack her on her route to test her, and she failed. She wasn’t happy and tried to kill one of them. I stopped her before she could.”

Silence filled the cave as everyone except Gordon processed his words. Damian felt sick as he felt his eyes widen farther than he ever thought possible. He didn’t want to believe it, he didn’t want to believe he would do that to his daughter, but he had just admitted it. He had just said that he hired people to attack her because he didn’t trust her. He saw the people on the roof, none of them were maimed, no severe injuries or wounds, and most of them didn’t even have a bruise. How had she failed there was no sign of any lethal force. Damian began to robotically walk towards his father and looked directly into his eyes. In disbelief, his eyes shining in fear, he asked,

“You did what…?”

His voice was almost a whisper, but he knew his father heard him. He knew that because he could see the slight fear in his eyes even if it was gone soon after he had seen it.

* “I’ve… overstepped.”

Was his only reply as he averted his eyes away from his youngest child. He knew that this wasn’t going to end well, he knew how attached he was to her even if he wouldn’t admit it. Damian sucked in a sharp breath still not wanting to believe that his father would do such a thing, he wouldn’t attack her, would he? He swallowed some back some saliva frantically wondering where she was, if she was ok, what was going on her mind?

“She’s… where is she now, Father?”

Still not looking into his son’s eyes he gruffly replied,

“She’s with Jason.”

Damian felt annoyed as his father danced around the question. not giving him the straight answer he needed. Damian felt his patience wear thin as he stared down his father. He had to know where she was, he wouldn't just let her go without knowing where she was going, right?! He said she was with Jason, maybe he knows where he is and in turn know where Marin is, he had to!

“And where is Jason?”

Damian asked stiffly, trying not to let any of his nerves show as he clenched his fists in anticipation. Father did not answer, he stayed silent making Damian’s heart rate spike up as panic coursed through him like a tidal wave. He knew she could take care of herself, he knew that she would survive just fine on her own, but that didn't make it right! She shouldn't have to do that any longer, she shouldn't have to be alone like that anymore! The silence was more deafening than any noise he had ever heard before. His lips felt dry and chapped as he waited, but he still did not answer. Damian licked his lips and demanded,

“Father, where is Jason?”

“He is somewhere.”

Was his mumbled reply. Damian felt like the walls were closing in around him trapping him in an inescapable torment of his fear. Maybe his father was just trying to test him, to see if he could interrogate without the threat of violence. He raised his brow and crossed his arms hoping that none of his fear or worry was bleeding through.

“You don’t know?”

He asked with a voice of irritated disbelief.

“He’s somewhere.”

He muttered with a pause between the two words. Damian felt nauseous at his father’s dry reply. He felt the pit in his stomach continue to grow and his eyes stung. He swallowed everything back trying to maintain his air of cool. He couldn’t get emotional, he had to keep a level head or else he wouldn’t get the answers he needed. But the feeling of betrayal weighed heavy on his heart, the feeling of complete and utter fear for his sister’s well-being overtaking every inch of his mind.

“Aren’t you supposed to be the Greatest Detective?”

Damian spat out like it was some kind of joke. How had he not noticed her, his own daughter. She had so many tells that were so obvious when you paid close enough attention. His father didn’t say anything prompting Damian to continue. He felt rage and regret boil inside of him as he continued to stare at the man, the man who wouldn’t even look at him. Coward.

“You were supposed to see in between the lines.”

He yelled, clenching his fists tighter at his sides, the material of the gloves wrinkling under his intense grip.

“Be the ‘Greatest Detective’,”

He said sarcastically as he used air quotes around the two words before going back to clenching them,

“When it came to figuring out my sister.”

His breathing was ragged and he could feel the tears at his eyes begging to be released, but he ignored it, and just continued to push them back. His father finally looked at him and quietly said,

“Damian…”

He didn’t let him say anything else as he wallowed in pity feeling himself deflate. She was right, she was always right, why could he not see that? Why was he always trying to prove her wrong when she was right?!

“But you never saw it, did you?”

He asked quietly as he curled in on himself his voice lowered and sounding almost broken. Bruce was silent, not understanding what his son was getting at. He had seen her, He knew that she was not to be trusted, that she was fake and pretended with everyone. She shifted her personality far too often, she was never truly honest with them, and so he just opted to not be around her. She was too much of a risk if she decided to betray them, the less she learned about him the better. Damian lost the battle as finally a single tear slipped down his face, and now it was his turn to look down. He felt shame course through himself as he said,

“I kept asking her to change herself. I kept asking her to try and push the urge to pretend away, all for you…”

There was a gasp of air from somewhere in the room, he didn’t know where nor did he care. Bruce still didn’t say anything as he stared at his son in shock. He hadn’t expected this, he didn’t know that this would make his son act so lost. He had never seen this side of him, he was always so self assured and confident, and he had never seen his son act so….. vulnerable.

“And you never saw it.”

Damian growled his fists clenching once again as he remembered everything she tried to do and was ignored or turned away. He thought back to all the times Marin had tried to be herself, had tried so hard, for him. He saw the way her hands would shake when she stopped pretending, when she dropped the molds and just acted as herself. The pain in her eyes when the others left her, the heartache in her eyes as Father would be the first to leave and never return like the others sometimes would after a little while.

“You never saw how much it pained her. I thought you did.”

He thought he had, when she sat next to him during meals, and he moved his chair slightly away from her, he thought he had seen the ways her eyes dulled. He remembered how Marinette Immediately took over as she talked with the others over dinner and how she would glance at there father as he would only say anything if one of the others talked to him. He saw the way her eyes glazed over when he did that. Did their father really not see the way that she hurt? The way that he made her hurt? When she first acted as Marin it was in front of their father. She thought that he would finally be proud of her and finally except her for dropping her act like he wanted her to. He remembered the way she drew in on herself, even if it was very slight, from the nerves before she dropped her molds. He remembered how Father had been studied and watched her. Yet he never really looked at her…., did he? He just saw what he wanted and just didn’t care about the rest of her. Care about the part of her that was trained and beaten for ten years to hide herself and her feelings. He didn't want to understand that and just assumed that she did it because she could and that she was not afraid of being rejected. Marin and him were not the same person, while he had been treated like a king she had been treated like the scum of the earth because she was born first as a girl. Did he not understand that her life was so much worse than his ever was? That she was trained differently than him, treated differently, pushed differently, that she was constantly one step away from death because of her stupid gender?!

“Damian…”

Bruce began, but he didn’t finish his sentence as his voice trailed off causing more rage to build up in the young boy’s chest as memories of their League days played in her head. Like the days she came back to his room covered in cuts or burns. Treated like she was worthless when she was the best assassin constantly on the field.

“Is that all you can say? My name?”

He raised his voice angrily as disgust coated over his words as he looked up and glared daggers at his father.

“Is that all you can say, Father? Because it’s not enough!”

He yelled as he leaned into his father’s personal space. Bruce slowly and carefully placed his hands on Damian’s shoulders once again saying his name to try to get his son to calm down so he would just listen to him.

“It’s not enough!”

He all but screamed, shrugging off his father's hands from his shoulders as he continued to glare at his father.

“My sister is out there, your daughter is out there. And you don’t know where she is!”

He continued to yelled, as he pointed towards where the Batmobile was parked in front of the cave entrance that was currently sealed shut, as he emphasized his words in hopes he would understand their importance. Bruce sighed and rubbed his eyes as he repeated,

“She’s with Jason-”

Anger coursed through him turning his vision red, and out of habit for when he and Marin got into a rather heated debate or argument he switched into Arabic, his their native tongue.

“And how long is she going to stay there,”

He yelled knowing full well that his father understood what he said. There was a long pause, his father did not say a word which only aggravated Damian even more as his green eyes flashed showing how furious he truly was.

“How long do we know she’s going to stay with Jason?! He could have brought her to my moth-”

Damian paused and blinked. How could he have forgotten? She said that she was going back to the League. She said she was going to go back to their mother. She hated the League, she had nightmares about it almost every night, even if she would never admit that.

“...Wait…”

A deafening silence once again filled the cave as those who understood Arabic (i.e. everyone except for Grayson and Gordon) knew what he was going to say and knew the weight it carried. Bruce was silent and it looked as if guilt shone in his eyes before it disappeared and was replaced with righteousness. Just to be sure, to make sure that what he heard her say was not some kind of sick hallucination he asked flatly with both of his arms st his sides,

“She said she’d rather go with, Mother?”

“Yes.”

Was his quick response as he watched his son react. Damian felt his hands shake from all of the emotions that swam in his head. Everything felt fuzzy and his thoughts just didn’t make sense and he just couldn’t figure anything out through the haze that surrounded his mind.

“She’s terrified of Mother.”

He said in a horrified tone as his eyes were wide. He watched his father and saw how his hands twitched. Bruce didn’t know what Damian meant by that, how could she be so horrified of Talia if she was so insistent on going back to her? She was never part of their team, she was never loyal to them, she was just waiting to find a reason, a way to go back to Talia. There was no way Marin would want to go back there if she was so frightened, the cave would have been much better for her and she wouldn’t be hurt.

“She was very adamant on going to Talia.”

He replied dryly as his voice darkened. Damian stared at him in horror and tried to figure out his father and what was going through his mind that would make him be ok with his daughter going back to her worst fears. What had he done to push her over the edge so much so that she would willingly go to their mother, the mother that constantly hurt and manipulated her. Appalled with fury he slowly growled out,

“...What. Did. You. do?”

He emphasized every word as he scowled at his father. Bruce replied in his Batman voice,

“I gave her a test, like I did with all of you.”

He said raising his voice a little to emphasize his last words as he looked everyone in the eyes for a few seconds. A rule that he had been taught since birth suddenly played out in his mind, Trust no one, no matter who they are to you. Could he really not trust his father, did he really just give her a simple “test”?

“I don’t think you did.”

Damian began cautiously as he folded his arms again and stared incredulously at his father.

“We never reacted this way whenever you gave us tests. He**, even Todd never reacted this way!”

Bruce sighed in exasperation not understanding why his son couldn’t understand that he just did what needed to be done. This wasn’t his fault, he did what he’s always done, she was the one who overreacted.

“I just gave her a test-”

Bruce began tiredly only to be cut off by his son yelling,

“Bulls*!” *

At the top of his lungs. Everyone was shocked because Damian had never cursed, ever. He said it was for the uneducated and lowly who didn’t know how to speak. Alfred didn’t even call him out on it as Damian pushed his father with all his force effectively knocking him down before he stormed out of the cave with his teeth barred and his hands clenched around what looked to be a weapon of some kind. Everyone’s eyes turned back to Bruce as soon as the doors the lead to the cave were slammed shut with enough force that the bats at the top of the cave flew around for a few seconds before settling back onto their perches. Bruce looked from where his youngest son had left to his older ones and saw the angered and disappointed looks in all of their eyes.

“I can’t believe you B.”

Tim said tiredly as he rubbed his eyes. When he dropped his hand he noticed that tears were falling from his eyes. He turned to look at Dick, but he was turned away from him as if it pained him to even look at him. He turned to look at Barbra and saw the resentment in her eyes and the rage that threatened to spill at any moment. Finally he looked at Alfred, but he wouldn’t look at him either. There was a sorrow in his eyes, a melancholy that only showed when something valuable was lost forever.

“Bruce, can I tell you something she told me when she was so sleep deprived that I don’t think she even realized she told me about it.”

Tim began as he stared directly at him, his voice never wavering. Bruce didn’t answer so Tim continued on.

“I had asked her about a scar that was on her arm and do you know what she told me?”

Bruce continued to stay silent as he watched different emotions play though his son’s face until he swallowed and continued on.

“She told me that one of her handlers, her trainers, burned her for even the smallest mistake. She said that the burn on her arm, which mind you was not small, it was maybe 6" from what I could see, was because her stance was an inch too wide. She told me that she was scared that she would be hurt like that if she showed me Marin. I was confused on what she meant by that, but all she did was smile at me and continue working. You pushed her enough to want her to go back to a place that did that to her, that literally named her Mistake! ”

Tim let out a tired sigh and turned away as his heart sunk under the heavy weight that his little sister, the only one that truly understood him, was gone. Silently he walked up the stairs and left the cave closing the doors softly instead of slamming them like Damian had. The others looked at Bruce with upset and disappointed looks as they left until it was just Bruce and Alfred. Alfred looked down at Bruce as he sat in his chair then looked back up and said,

“Master Bruce, you have royally messed up, and I don’t know what you can do to fix this.”

Before he too quietly left, leaving Bruce alone to contemplate and think over his decisions and reanalyze all of the times he had been with or near Marin. A heavy feeling began to firmly take place in his heart as he thought about what he had done. Had he really gone too far, was this his fault? Was he too harsh on her, or was she just being overdramatic so she could leave them? Was she really just afraid to be herself, did she truly feel like she had to hide from them like that because they would hate or hurt her? How was he supposed to trust her if she never trusted them? This wasn’t his fault. He had only done what he thought needed to be done, she left them, he didn’t make or force her to leave them. She decided to leave, it was her choice, and she chose to go back. He refused to be blamed for her decisions.

Damian sat in her room holding one of the daggers from the set he had given to her for her birthday. There was only one, which meant that she currently had the other on her. He studied the blade and remembered how happy she was when he had presented them to her, the way her eyes lit up as she weighed them in her hand and saw the jewels. The one that she had left behind was the sapphire dagger, which meant she had the emerald one with her. He hoped more than anything that she would not truly go back to the League. That she had actually just hidden and that it was just a cover story to keep them from searching for her.

He felt a wave of pain and sorrow wash over him as he thought back to all the times he had begged her to stop pretending. He had seen how the others had reacted to when she was Marin, but he was just so proud and happy that she wasn't hiding herself that he didn’t really care about how the others reacted. How had he not seen how it had affected her, how her eyes got duller and more hollow. How had he not noticed how tense she was and how fear bled into her eyes only to be replaced by disappointment. The way she forced her eyes to light up for her sibling more than usual when she was Marinette, the way her fingers would twitch when there was a long silence. He felt partially responsible for why she had left, after all he was the one that pushed her even though she was already at the edge. It wasn’t just their father’s fault, it was his, and he could only feel shame as he hugged the blade close to his chest. If he got a second chance, a do-over, if he ever found her again, he would do his best to make up for the pain he had caused her. He would do everything in his power to make her comfortable and not push her like he had. He vowed that he would find her again, and when he did, he would support her in whatever she was doing, just like she had always supported him. He looked at his clock, 2:03 AM, he had school soon and he did not want to stay here. Clenching his jaw he made a decision, he wasn’t going to stay here, he had a safe house in the city he could use. Quickly he ran over to his room and grabbed a black duffle bag with emerald green highlighting, the one Marin had made him when father banned her from patrol because nobody else could tail her, and stuffed the dagger into one of the pockets. He moved around his room grabbing and packing the essentials, clothes, socks, shoes, his suit, hygiene products, and some cash that he had found. Before he could open his window there was a knock on the door. Damian quickly hid the bag under his bed and told the person to come in so he wouldn’t seem suspicious. Grayson slowly entered the room with gentle concern in his eyes.

“Damian, I’m so sorry for what B did.”

“It is not your fault Grayson, you have no need to apologize for his actions.”

“Right. Look, I know that you want to get out of here.”

Damian stiffened a little not knowing how he knew of his plans.

“Remember how I said I would be helping to train a team up in Jump City?”

Damian raised a brow trying to figure out what he was getting at.

“I do, what about it?”

“Well, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me? We could help you look for Marin, you could get away from Bruce, and it would probably be healthy for you to talk to others.”

Damian rolled his eyes at that, and then remembered that Jon was currently on that team his brother was talking about. The more he thought about it the more right it felt to go there with his brother. He didn’t want to be near his father, who was to say that his father wouldn’t treat him like he had his sister now that she was gone? Quickly he agreed and grabbed the duffle bag he had hidden beneath the bed.

“Lets go now then Grayson, I assume that you already have a bag packed or have essentials already there?”

Grayson nodded with a small sad smile and both began to leave Grayson saying his bag was already in the car they would be taking.

“And where do you think you’re going?”

Bruce said as he exited the cave through one of the many secret entrances. Damian continued to walk, not even glancing at his father. He refused to look at the man that took the most important person to him away from him.

“None of your business, Father.”

Was his only reply as he turned and headed to the garage. He could hear his father following them and before he could catch up Damian slipped one of his kunai from his sleeve into his hand and threw it so it barely missed his father’s head. Grayson didn’t say anything, but he saw the grim look in his eyes. He wasn’t sorry though, he wanted to do much worse to him, to the man that made his sister feel so terrible and afraid she thought the League was a better place for her to be. The League was right though, he could never trust anyone, not even the person he thought he could trust with his life. Silently he hopped into the car with his older brother and stared out the window as they drove away from the manor and away from Gotham.

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lily-drake · 3 years

Text

Ao3

Here is part 5 of my assassin!Marinette au based around @bambicambi ’s posts. Thank you for reading!

Lesson 5: Trust That Chaos Has Purpose

Underlined words means they are speaking in Arabic.

Prompt:

Marin: *in arabic* [your family didn’t deserve you.]

Jason: *blinks rapidly* [what?]

Marin: *smiles softly* [your family didn’t deserve you.]

Jason: *purses his lips* … *covers his mouth with his hand* …

Marin: *grins* anyways, Peter, are we going to continue-? *walks off towards the training grounds*

Jason: *takes a shuddering breath before slowly following her, softly* thank you..

-------

Marinette: *pauses* ....fuck.

Target: *gasps* you said a bad word!

Marinette: ...shit.

Target: Alice! Stop saying bad words!

Marinette: *winces* I'm sorry-

Target: what-?

Marinette: *punches them hard enough that they pass out, purses her lips* ...

Marinette: *kicks the dirt around her* I'll have to leave school...

Marinette: *scowls, in Arabic* [man! I was just starting to like this school!]

Marinette: *sits down next to the Target* .... *grabs her phone* [they are out.]

Handler: [deceased?]

Marinette: [unconcious.]

Handler: [kill them.]

Marinette: *scowls and pokes the body* [they are a child.]

Handler: [and so are you.]

Marinette: *mutters* that just makes it infinitely times worse. [Fine.]

Handler: [you know where the pick up location is.]

Marinette: *stands up* [yes.]

Handler: *hangs up*

Marinette: *looks down at her phone* fucker hanged up on me! ——————-

Marin and Jason walked to the side of the bakery where there was a blue door that no doubt led to the main part of the home behind the bakery, and knocked. They waited patiently for a few moments before Sabine answered and gave a small surprised look before it turned into a bright smile.

“Hello again, please come in. I’ll meet you upstairs in a second, please make yourselves comfortable.”

She said as she stepped to the side to let them into the building. Sabine went through a side door that led to the bakery kitchen, probably to get Tom, while she and Jason walked up the stairs to the apartment. Once there they turned the knob to open the door and walked in. Marin looked around again as she studied the place now that no one else was there. It was quaint and though it was small it was warm and inviting. She didn’t feel cold here like she often did in the League’s base or at the manor. It was strange really, she never thought she would ever feel this way.

“Watcha’ thinkin’ ‘bout, Pix?”

Jason asked as he watched her and saw the soft look in her eyes.

“It’s warm here, Peter.”

Jason rolled his eyes and ruffled her hair. He understood what she meant, and he was glad that she felt that way. He owed Gina big time, even if she didn’t know why.

A few minutes later Tom and Sabine came upstairs and motioned for them to sit on the couches once again.

“It’s good to see you both again, did you want to ask about anything else?”

Sabine asked sweetly.

“Actually,”

Jason began sitting up a little straighter with a small smile,

“we decided that you would be the perfect parents for her.”

He finished as he placed a hand on her shoulder. There was a moment where both Tom and Sabine sat in silent shock and just stared at the two. Tears suddenly filled both of their eyes as they slowly walked over to both of them and brought them into a tight hug.

Jason and Marin were not expecting this and didn’t know how to react. Marin instinctively let Marinette take over and hugged the two adults back while Jason was very awkward about it and it made her chuckle. They separated a few minutes later, both adults wiping their eyes.

“Thank you, truly thank you.”

Sabine said, looking at both of them with full sincerity as Tom nodded in the background as he tried to compose himself. Sabine then got on of her knees and took both of Marinette’s hands in hers and looked into her eyes and vowed,

“We will do everything in our power to make you feel comfortable here and to help you feel like you are part of this family, because you are now. I promise to make sure that the rest of your life is filled with warmth and love.”

Marin didn’t know how to respond to this as she felt her heart burst with strange feelings and emotions she didn’t fully recognize or understand as she stared into the woman’s eyes. Her chest felt constricted and her eyes watered, and she just didn’t know what to do other than nod. It was warm here, she liked the warmth, the warmth that she had never seemed to have unless she was near a select few at specific times. She didn’t know how to respond, because how do you respond to that? She looked over at Jason silently asking for an answer, but he just gave a small smile and shrugged. Sabine let go of her hands and stood up tall and turned to her husband.

“Let’s go close the shop so we can get to know our daughter today!”

Tom excitedly nodded and with childish glee ran downstairs to close up their business with Sabine right behind him, except more composed and graceful in her movements. Once both were gone she turned back to Jason to see him giving her a soft smirk.

“I’m almost jealous, B would never do that for any of us.”

“Well,”

Marin began sitting up taller as if she were above him looking forward with her eyes closed and chin up in a hottie proper way,

“I guess you could come visit me if you feel you really need to.”

Their eyes connected and they both started laughing. There was something about this place that made her feel calm, and that made her nervous. She had never felt like she belonged before, so why did she feel it here?

“I’ll be holding you to that, we both know how crazy it gets at the manor. Now especially since you’ll be gone chaos.”

“You make it sound like you're leaving right now.”

Jason rubbed the back of his neck nervously, she then glared at him.

“You are not leaving me yet, I will stab you before you get the chance.”

“That seems a little extreme, doesn’t it?”

“The pits gave you advanced healing, you’ll be fine.”

He rolled his eyes and shoved her, she knew she wasn’t strong enough to shove him back so she did the next best thing and pinched his arm causing him to curse in pain.

“You’re a real pain, you know that?”

“Learned from the best.”

She said, as she side eyed him and nudged his arm with her shoulder. He rolled his eyes, still rubbing the spot on his arm she had pinched. He opened his mouth to give her a retort, but the doors opened before he could.

“We thought we could go shopping today and find things you would like for your room, then we could get lunch at a nice cafe, then we could come back and start to set things up.”

Tom said proudly as he walked towards the two. Marinette perked up and ran towards them with a bright smile and excitement in her step.

“That would be amazing, thank you so much!”

She glanced over at Jason trying to sneak past them and smirked,

“Do you think Jay-Jay can come with us? I'd feel really nervous without him.”

She asked shyly as she fiddled with a strand of her red and black-blue hair they dyed in the airport bathroom. She would go to a salon to get it professionally done later. She could feel Jason’s glare on her, and it only intensified when both Tom and Sabine quickly agreed and began to drag the two out of the apartment and towards the shopping district. She saw Jason subtly flip her off, but she just rolled her eyes and showed him a small pocket of her throwing needles as a silent threat of what would happen if he left her alone. He sighed in defeat and began to talk to Tom and Sabine, and if he added embarrassing stories in there as petty revenge, she couldn’t stop him now.

——— They had been shopping for quite a few hours with Jason holding the ever growing bags of clothes and room accessories. She knew Jason didn’t deserve this after all he’s done for her, but it was her job as his younger sister and ex-student to make him regret everything . She skipped her way through the crowd talking with Tom and Sabine answering their questions with absolute sunshine. Marinette always got people to like and accept her, she was inviting and perfect, everything Marin wasn’t. It was laughable how close the names were yet how different the people who owned them were. Marinette would blend in perfectly with the City of Love, she would fit in perfectly with her rose tinted glasses perspective, her sunshine attitude, her problem solving solutions, and her love to help.

Lunch had been nice as well, they asked her more questions and she answered them with half truths that seemed perfect and with wistful looks that made her innocence seem all of the more real. Sadly, she had accumulated a few bruises as Marinette had a very clumsy nature, which she currently despised. Apparently it was spring break here, so they could get her enrolled into the collége across the street from their bakery quickly. She didn’t really want to go to school as she already knew everything they taught there, she would have already had 2 master degrees and three bachelors if it wasn’t for their mother killing their tutors. She wished she could have told the people at Gotham Academy that, but she had to be careful even if she had revealed things and done things that made everybody think she was already crazy. And in a way, she was crazy, she kinda wished her father Bruce had just sent her to Arkham on a few occasions.

After they were done shopping for the smaller things they went back to the bakery where they set up her room. They had set all of the items down around the room, and because the furniture they ordered for her wouldn’t be there until the next day they did set anything up. She would stay with Jason for another night, which she was fine with. They stayed for dinner, and Marinette got to learn how to make Coq au vin for dinner and Chocolate Mousse for dessert. They were very encouraging and helped her when she was “confused” without scolding or insulting her. It made something inside of her feel weird and tingly. She didn’t show anything was wrong though, happy go lucky Marinette was smiling like the sun in the afternoon on a day with clear blue skies. It didn’t feel as forced as it used to though, this one felt oddly genuine, and it made her feel weird, yet it was…..nice.

Jason stared at his little sister and watched her interact. Sure, she was very particular with her molds and they showed nothing to those who didn’t suspect a thing, but that didn’t stop her from having small tells. They were near perfect, not perfect. Yet as he watched her work with Tom and Sabine in the kitchen and she learned how to make these new foods, he didn’t see any of her tells. She relaxed in a way he rarely ever saw, she seemed calm and at peace. He smiled at her as he watched from his seat in front of the small counter. They had asked him if he wanted to help, but he turned down the offer. Yea he knew how to cook a few things and he wasn’t terrible in the kitchen like the others, but it was small and this was for Marin. Marin was a lot sassier than Marinette and had thrown him off guard a lot, especially when she had first started using her molds around him. She was a trickster and like she had said before she, “is the tiger of the house and will not be tamed”. One thing she had in common with Marinette though, was that she didn’t want to or like killing. She had done it her whole life and was desensitized to it and was taught to never hesitate to do it, but he saw the ways her eyes darkened after every death and the small head bow she would give them if they were a random or innocent. She knew how to use chaos and sometimes it seemed like she controlled the chaos, like she was chaos itself. She knew the importance of life, but she knew when death was needed. That was something they both agreed on and one of the reasons she never said anything or tried to stop him when she saw him kill someone. Sometimes it was better for certain people to die so others could thrive. A memory from when he had been her trainer for about a year and a half ran through his mind. It was small, but it had meant so much to him then.

* Jason had just come back from a mission and he was tired, but he had to mentor Marin and her unit today. He felt like sh* and there was this yearning feeling for something, but he refused to acknowledge it. He had started training when Talia had first brought him here and his memory was gone, then after his trip in the pits he had been training to control its madness all while training Marin the daughter of Talia and her unit. He had gone on missions and had broken the one rule that Bruce had him live by for years, because he had killed so many already. He was tired and he wanted nothing more than to sleep and never get up again.

Marin saw Jason as they traveled the path to the training grounds outside. She could tell by his stance and eyes that there was a war going on and that he was close to giving into something that meant nothing but chaos. Chaos that she couldn’t stop and chaos that would leave her alone once more. He was the best person in this entire death trap, and the only one besides mother that actually cared about her well being, though mother didn’t show that very often. She made sure no one was looking as she walked next to him; he didn’t seem to register she was there which was never a good thing. You needed to ALWAYS be aware in the League. She wasn’t allowed to speak Arabic often because they didn’t want her to get an accent, but she wanted this to mean something. Quickly she spoke,

“Your family didn’t deserve you.”

Jason startled and blinked quickly a few times as he looked down and saw the small black haired girl next to him with a stoic expression. He wasn’t sure if he had heard her right, because he didn’t think Marin would say something like that to him.

“What?”

Marin turned to him and gave him a soft smile. She knew he had died at some point, but he was alive when mother threw him in the pits, so something happened and his family didn’t seem to care about his death if the rumors that the maids whispered about were true. Slower than the first time she repeated,

“Your family didn’t deserve you.”

Jason stopped in his tracks as her words ran through his head. He pursed his lips to keep them from quivering and covered his mouth with his hand to keep back a sob that had been threatening to come out. Marin had never shown him that she truly cared about him, while he didn’t really need her approval, he saw her as a little sister. The thought that someone he thought of like that didn’t trust him, hated him, and wanted nothing to do with him made him feel numb. Yet here she was destroying all of those thoughts and confirming that she cared about him. That she liked him and wanted him to stay around. He had watched and studied Marin and knew that any kind of compliment like that meant that she liked the person, and she had only complimented someone two other times he was around.

Marin grinned at his response and felt pride flash through her chest at Jason’s reaction. The dark chaos that threatened terrible things had faded as she replaced it with a new chaos that brought a bit of light with it. She switched to English and kept walking to the training grounds calling out,

“Anywaaays, Peter, are we going to continue?”

She pointed to the grounds with her thumb as she continued her small journey to her unit on the grounds. Jason took in a shaking shuddering breath trying to control himself and ignore the stinging in his eyes as he followed after her whispering,

“Thank you…” *

It may have meant very little to her, but that comment meant the world to him and kept him going even though the days seemed to be never ending and he seemed far away from ever reaching his goal.

“PETER!”

He jumped and startled out of his thoughts to the sound of small tinkleing giggles.

“What were ya thinkin’ about Peter?”

She asked mischief shining through her bright blue eyes.

“Nothing of consequence, Pixie.”

He said, giving her a small smirk. She rolled her eyes and pointed to the table behind him,

“Well while you were off daydreaming we finished dinner. Want to join us or do you want to continue dazing off?”

He gently shoved her with his hand as he stood up and walked to the table. She let out a small noise and glared at him. She sat next to him, elbowing his arm sharply. He glared at her as he rubbed the spot she hit, but she continued her innocent smile. Tom and Sabine smiled as they watched the two interact and felt pride bloom in their chest. This was going to be their daughter and they were going to do everything in their power to make sure she was this happy as much as possible.

________ Marinette crossed her arms as Jason hugged Gina goodbye. He was leaving today and she would have to start school tomorrow and he would be gone. She had written letters to the others for him to give them, except Bruce, she didn’t want to think about him. The others though, they at least deserved something. She knew that he wasn’t going on a plane because then the others would see him, he was going to take the nearest Zeta-tube to a couple places then back to Gotham to throw the others off. She knew he would come and visit, but that didn't make things better. Jason gave her a small smirk and knelt to her level, she glared at him for that. She wasn’t that small.

“What, no hugs?”

Keeping in character she tackled him in a hug that he easily caught her in. They stayed that way for a little and she even managed to make tears fall down her cheeks.

“Do you have to go Peter?”

“Yea, I do Pix. I’ll visit soon though.”

“Promise?”

She said as he gently pulled away, her voice breaking a little. He gave her a small smile and nodded as he wiped at the salt water running down her face.

“Promise.”

“I trust you.”

She said with full sincerity. Jason’s eyes softened at that as he felt warmth spread through his chest at her words. She would never say that if she didn’t mean it, and he knew it. He ruffled her hair and she batted at his hand. He stood up and waved goodbye walking into the airport. Marinette turned around and saw Tom, Sabine, and Gina smiling at her. She ran up to them and they quickly hugged her. It was warm here, and there was a chaos hanging in the air.

________ Marin woke up early and pulled out the dagger she had taken, it was part of the set Damian had given her, the one with the emerald gem that reminded her of his eyes. Being away from him though, it felt wrong yet oddly liberating at the same time. Was that wrong, was it bad that she felt good being away from him?

She looked away from the dagger breaking her thoughts as she ran through her forms and stretches. She refused to become rusty lest she be caught unaware. She knew that it would be hard for people to recognize her, while she hadn’t made any dramatic changes, she definitely looked different from the images of her that were shown on TV. Tom and Sabine had taken her to a salon where she got her hair professionally dyed a black-blue with red maroon strips here and there. She refused to get it cut though, because she prided herself on her long dark hair, just like her mother’s. She was wearing silver contacts to hide her blue eyes that seemed so recognizable, it covered the looks of disappointment that would flash in her mind every time she saw her blue eyes. She made her skin slightly paler and covered her scars and some of her freckles. It was just enough that people wouldn’t suspect her.

Her alarm went off telling her that it was time to get ready for school, or in other words that she had fifteen minutes. Marinette was a scatter brained girl, she wasn’t supposed to be early, she was almost always late. She waited a few minutes for Sabine to call up before she made a lot of noise and made it sound like she was getting ready for the day before rushing downstairs where Sabine was finishing plating food for her. She smiled at the woman and felt the warm feeling again. Sabine cared enough to take time out of her very busy schedule to make her food and eat with her. Mother would do that sometimes, but that was only under very strict circumstances. She ate the food provided while Sabine talked to her and ate some fruit with her. After she was done and placed her dish in the sinke she grabbed the backpack she had put together the night before next to the door and ran down the stairs. She went to tell Tom goodbye and he smiled brightly at her and gave her a box of macaroons to share with the class before patting her head and telling her to be safe.

Marinette ran down the streets and waited at the crosswalk for it to tell her she could go. As she waited she saw an elderly man J-walking with a truck coming towards him. Without thinking she jumped into action and pulled him to the other side before he could get hit. She had made sure to trip clumsily and felt bad about the cookies she had ruined, they were really good.

“Thank you young lady.”

The man said with a Chinese accent. Something clicked in her mind, she recognized this man. She smiled brightly at him and gave him one of the non-smashed cookies. She ran across the street quickly after because what if he recognized her, he was a magic user and could probably recognize her energy or something. What if he was working with the League, would he tell them that she was here?

She went to the principal’s office and listened to him drabble on before he showed her to her class. As she walked in she felt everyone’s eyes on her. She shrunk back a little feeling “shy”. Her teacher gave her a gentle smile and welcomed her and asked her to introduce herself. She turned to the class with a bright sunshine smile and studied everyone in the room,

“Hello, my name is Marinette and I moved here from Chicago.”

One of the girls, a blonde with lots of make-up in the front, scoffed at her.

“An American from a filthy city, why is she in here with mwa?”

Marinette fought the urge to roll her eyes. Great, another Damian, except she doesn’t do all of the formal talk.

Marientte hung her head and rubbed her arm, but the teacher just gently pushed her to a seat in the second row next to a tanned girl with ombre hair and glasses.

“Don’t listen to her, she’s just a brat. It’s really cool that you came from America.”

Marinette gave a small smile and nudged the box with one macaroon towards her.

“I’m Marinette.”

The girl smiled and took the cookie splitting it in half and offering it to her with a proud smile,

“Alya. I’m new too. I started this school year. I used to live in Reims, France.”

* Marinette nodded and smiled and turned to the front when the teacher began to talk. She looked over at the blonde filing her nails and not paying attention. She was a socialite, part of the rich community if her clothes and higher than thou attitude said anything. Being surrounded by all of these students and back in a classroom like this, much different than Gotham academy. Though she tried not to, her mind went back to her very last mission she did at a school. She was using mold 62, given the name Alice. Alice was a dirty blonde, she was a proper lady though she didn’t flaunt wealth, she liked books and clothes. Her goal was to get close to a target, another student. The daughter of a rich diplomat that had turned down an offer made by the League, she was to send him a message after lowering his guard to make him think he was safe. Alice and her target, Jenny, were walking around town when she had gotten the signal, an electric shock that traveled through her arm. She paused and cursed from A. the pain, and B. the fact that she had to finish the girl that had done nothing wrong other than be born.

“...F*”

She said as she pulled Jenny into an alley. Jenny gasped and covered her mouth with wide eyes and called,

“You said a bad word!”

Another shock went up her arm and she cursed again,

“...S*.”

Jenny looked horrified and yelled,

“Stop saying bad words!”

Marin looked away wincing as her hand tingled and she knew exactly what she had to do to this sweet innocent.

“I’m sorry.”

Jenny tilted her head in confusion and began to ask,

“What-”

But she was cut off when Marin punched them in the side of the head causing the girl to fall and pass out. Marin pursed her lips and felt dread and self-loathing wrap around her soul as she stared at the unconscious girl before her. Marinette thought about how much she had been enjoying her time in the Italian school as she kicked at the dirt around her feet and muttered,

“I’ll have to leave school.”

She scowled at the ground and switched to Arabic as she began to complain to herself,

“Man! I was just starting to like this school!”

Marinette sat down next to Jenny and watched her for a bit to make sure she was really out. After waiting a few minutes she grabbed her phone and contacted her handler,

“They are out.”

She said numbly as she stared at the brown haired girl.

“Deceased?”

Came her handler's dry response. Marin rolled her eyes as she leaned back against the wall.

“Unconscious.”

“Kill them.”

Her handler quickly responded with a small growl. Marin scowled at the unconscious girl’s body, not because she was mad at the girl, but because of what she would have to do to it. She poked the girl, but she didn’t have a response to it.

“They are a child.”

She almost growled. She could almost hear the eye roll as they answered back,

“And so are you.”

“That just makes it infinitely times worse.”

She mumbled in English so her Handler couldn’t here before sharply answering,

“Fine.”

“You know where the pick up is.”

Handler 6 stated, she still answered as she silently stood,

“Yes.”

Immediately after he hung up on her. She pulled the phone away from her ear and glared at it harshly growling,

“F*er hanged up on me!” *

She had then turned to the girl and sighed as she carried out her orders.

Marinette was brought out of her trance when she heard her teacher yell at another classmate and sent him to the principal’s office. She tuned back into the class and realized something. She wasn’t on a mission. She didn’t have to be one set mold, she had breathing room, she wouldn’t be seriously punished when she left if she messed up here. Before she could get more into these life altering thoughts a stone monster bursted into the room yelling for someone named Kim. She ducked under her desk and was thankful she hid her dagger at her hip as she gripped it in her palm. The monster soon left after seeing that he wasn’t in the class anymore. Marinette, now in Marin mission mode, ran to the bakery where her armor was. She had asked Jason to bring it to her while she was out with Tom and Sabine a few days ago, and he hadn’t disappointed.

As she made it to her room she felt something within her surge and called to her. She turned to her desk and saw a box that hadn’t been there before. She walked towards it, she didn’t know why she was walking towards it, it could be a trick or a trap for all she knows! But she couldn’t stop herself, it was like she was in a trance and she had to open the box. When she did there was a bright green light that blinded her causing to drop the box back on her desk. When the ball of light dimmed down she saw a small black cat yawn and stretch. She looked back to the box and saw a black ring with a green paw print, and things clicked into her place. It was miraculous, the guardian had given her the ring. The car flew around rambling about being hungry and trying to eat her furniture, but she was too in shock that the guardian would intrust one of the most powerful artifacts to her, an ex-assassin that was sent to take his things and kill him only a few years ago.

“Heloooooo?”

She blinked back into focus and saw the cat floating upside down in front of her face.

“Nothing here tastes good, do you have any cheese? Specifically camembert.”

“Maybe, what’s your name? What is your power? Why was I given a miraculous?!”

“The name’s Plagg, you were given the ring of destruction, you say cataclysm to activate it. How do you know about me?”

“Grandfather spoke of you often, especially of you and your counterpart.”

Plagg eyed her skeptically and asked,

“And who exactly is your grandfather?”

“Ra’s Al Ghul.”

Plagg’s eyes sharpened as he studied her,

“Do you plan to give me to that man? What does he want now? He already got his pits.”

Plagg spat as he crossed his arms as he continued to glare.

“He’s dead, and I hated him. Even if he was alive I would keep you and never tell him to spite him.”

Plagg looked at her for a little longer and nodded.

“Good, you are one of my kits. There has been a lot you’ve been through, the chaos in your soul hasn’t evened out yet, but it's starting to.”

She tilted her head to the side in confusion, but before she could ask anything else a loud crashing could be heard. She snapped her head to the window and looked back at Plagg.

“What do I need to say to transform?”

She asked with all seriousness. Plagg grinned and replied with,

“Claws out.”

Marinette nodded and quickly began to put on her armor.

{Hi, I suck at writing clothing descriptions, so my dearest friend, CyberGeist the CD (Character Design) Deity , is who wrote this part!}

~~~~~~ She stripped down to her underclothes and slipped on the armored skin tight bodysuit. It was jet black with reinforced steel in the feet. Over that she pulled on a backless high collared grey leotard. It was stiff against her chest made like the breast plates of old medieval times. Then she pulled out the thin silver ring from an octagonal box. The moment she slipped it on her pointer finger it was made of three slim silver bands embedded with green stones that formed a paw print.

"Plagg claws out!"

She called out. He vanished into the ring and a hood with cat ears attached itself to the collar of her leotard. A belt full of enchanted tools appeared at her waist and harnesses with poison needles and slim daggers appeared on her thighs. A domino mask with sharp wing-like edges appeared on her face, her eyes turning a brilliant green and pupils narrowing to slits. A tail grew from her tail bone swishing viciously from side to side Her already strong armor became stronger as magic reinforced it and last of all a silver bo staff with green lines appeared in her hand. Kaus Noir was ready to fulfill the mission she was given. ~~~~~~

Opening the skylight she made sure no one was watching before she bounded across the rooftops using her extendable staff to jump across bigger gaps between the roofs. She followed the destruction to a stadium where she saw a red and black hero on the roof of. Silently she landed next to him and looked around the stadium to see the monster chasing the students away. She watched the monster for a bit and watched his movement. One of his fists never opened, there must be something there that he doesn’t want for people to get.

“We need to open the palm.”

The blonde boy startled and looked over at her stunted as if he hadn’t noticed her.

“I need to capture the akuma, which is an object that the person is being controlled with. How do you suppose we get it?”

“What’s your power?”

She asked as she watched and studied him. He was clearly untrained, but maybe he was clever and could be useful somehow.

“It’s called Lucky Charm.”

Suddenly there was a bright light that came from the yo-yo as what looked to be hundreds of small ladybugs began to form an object. The boy picked up the object and looked at it skeptically.

“Hey heroes, what are you doing?”

A voice called from down below. Both heroes looked and Marin recognized Alya staring up at them with her phone out no doubt recording them. That wasn’t good, maybe she could hack the system and stop it from being international if it isn’t already. Kaus groaned as the monster grabbed Kim. Then an idea popped in her head as she looked at the object in the boy’s hands. She grabbed it and yelled,

“Hey Stone face, catch!”

Before the boy could protest she had already thrown the thing and watched as the monster quickly caught it, dropping what looked to be a bright purple paper. Kaus quickly jumped down and grabbed it, throwing it to the boy still on the roof with as much force as she could. The blonde quickly caught it with his jaw dropped in awe as he watched the black cat themed hero move and avoid the monster attacking her.

“Any time now bug boy!”

Kaus yelled ducking under the incoming fist. Adrien looked at the paper in his hand and quickly tore it before capturing the butterfly in his yo-yo then releasing it free into the air. She jumped back to the roof before Alya could ask questions with the object and gave it to the boy.

“Thanks…”

He said with a question pause and she quickly replied,

“Kaus Noir.”

He smiled brightly at her and said,

“Mr. Bug.”

She nodded and watched him throw the object into the air yelling out,

“Miraculous ladybug.”

Millions of ladybugs swarmed all over Paris fixing everything in their path that had been ruined by the monster. She looked back down to see Alya comforting the boy who had become the stone being and she smiled at that. She quickly jumped away now that the mission was complete, though something told her that this was only the beginning.

________ Marinette returned to school after de-transforming and changing back into her civilian clothes. She looked around acting shaken up and jumped when she felt someone place a hand on her shoulder. She had to physically will herself to not flip the person. She turned and saw Alya giving her a sheepish smile.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you girl.”

Marinette gave her a small smile and scratched her head,

“It’s fine, I was just a little nervous is all.”

She nodded and both turned their heads to see the blonde girl laughing and making fun of the boy with a shrill high pitched voice. Marinette rolled her eyes, she was just like the other people at Gotham academy that looked down at the students that weren’t rich and got in on scholarship. She liked those kids, they showed they weren’t stupid. She didn’t usually get close to the bullies for missions, though there were a few occasions she had to. The thought of her not being on a mission here, popped into her head again. She looked at the girl, and thought about Damian. The thought of just blending in and being one of the girl's victims to keep cover went through her mind, but, something that sounded like Plagg’s voice cut through, think of all the fun that she could have since she has nothing to do. She had already learned everything this school had to offer, but this could help her with social things, and she could help the girl. She had seen how much Damian had changed after being with his family for a few years, with the right people she could help the blonde girl. There was obviously something going on behind the scenes that made her this way, probably something in her home life. Marin made up her mind, there was no one telling her she couldn’t and she was bored and needed something to do here. She would find a way to befriend this girl and help her have more friends and a better life. It would also hopefully improve the rest of the class and make them seem less tired and annoyed. Marinette walked up to the blonde and despite the others telling her not to she said,

“Hello, my name is Marinette, what’s yours?”

Chloe blinked at her for a few moments. Marinette made no move to touch her and was a respectable distance away. Chloe quickly shut her mouth and eyed the girl skeptically before raising her chin haughtily into the air.

“Chloe Bourgeois, you would do well to remember it as I’m the mayor’s daughter!”

“I’m really good with names, so don’t worry. So Chloe, what do you like to do for fun?”

The rest of the class watched in shock, awe, and fear as Marinette continued to speak to the girl. Chloe didn’t know what was going on and seemed to check if she was trying to trick her. But Marinette held what seemed to be a genuine smile, a smile that seemed as bright as the sun, and her silver eyes shined with sincerity and kindness.

“Well,”

She began making sure she kept her better than you attitude up,

“I like to go shopping, but you could never afford anything I get.”

“Probably not, but you look really nice!”

Chloe was shocked and even Sabrina seemed skeptical of this girl, but she seemed so nice! The bell rang and Marinette seemed a bit shocked as she looked at the wall before turning back to Chloe and asking,

“Can I walk with you to class? You could tell me about your designer bag, I’m studying fashion myself.”

Chloe could feel something in the back of her mind as she walked with the girl telling her about her things that she was dangerous. She should be wary of this girl. Something about her wasn’t right. But there was no sign of any malice, no sign of trickery, no sign that she could be evil. She seemed sweet and way too soft to hurt a fly.

The class watched in awe as Marinette, Chloe, and Sabrina talked without Chloe doing anything to harm the girl other than a few backhanded compliments here and there, but it didn’t seem to affect Marinette. Did Marinette tame the beast, or was she another one in the waits?

________ Kaus Noir ran across the roofs feeling the adrenaline and nostalgia of the act as she chased the new villain. They were headed towards the Eiffel Tower, their power was to create visions of a people or things and reveal their secrets. Cleverly enough, their name was Projectionist. Kaus stopped in front of the Eiffel Tower as they saw Projectionist show an image of a man in a deep purple suit and a silver mask. Kaus quickly opened up the video recorder on her staff and recorded everything that the person monologued about.

“Hello Paris, my name is Hawkmoth and I am here to tell Mr. Bug and Kaus Noir to stop hurting these people and to give me your miraculi. These people are suffering because you decided to use power that doesn’t belong to you and-”

Marin tuned out the rest of his manipulation and watched as Mr. Bug scoffed and rolled his eyes. She smirked, glad both of them found this tirade ridiculous and untrue. She motioned her head towards the Eiffel Tower after she stopped recording. She had enough for now, he nodded and both began to quietly climb the tower. Kaus grabbed one of her poisoned needles and threw it at the Projectionist causing him momentarily pass out. She ran towards him calling out her cataclysm and destroyed the camera on his forehead. She rolled her eyes at how easy this was, did he seriously think that this would scare her or was at all challenging?!

Calmly she walked towards the edge of the Tower and let Mr. Bug join her before she called out first,

“We are here to protect you! Hawkmoth started this by turning an innocent school boy into a monster, and we freed him. We will have victory and bring Hawkmoth to justice!”

There was loud cheering in the crowd for a few moments before Mr. Bug declared,

“Paris is under our safety and protection, we will not fail you or your, Paris. Be prepared Hawkmoth, we will not rest until you are taken down!”

The cheering was louder this time. Mr. Bug looked toward Kaus Noir with a bright smile, but she didn’t return it as she stared straight faced at the crowd. She didn’t fully trust her partner, he hadn’t truly earned it yet. She gave him a small nod then silently left, leaving no trace as she all but vanished into the shadows.

________ Marinette watched as Chloe attached herself to a blonde boy with green eyes. She watched the two interact and was annoyed when Alya leaned in and whispered,

“Do you like him?”

She smiled at that and shook her head.

“Oh my gosh, you do!”

Marin and Marinette were extremely confused. She had just said no, how does that mean yes. Did she do something else that gave her the impression she was lying? She didn't think she did, because she really did not have a crush on a boy she only ever just saw. Alya kept talking about how she would help her confess and get together and it really annoyed Marin, but Marinette let out flustered disagreements seeming to push the other girl on much to her detriment. She wished that she could get away from Alya at the moment, because while she meant well she was very annoying and too bullheaded.

Marinette’s thoughts trailed off and wondered what was going on at the manor for the week and a half she had been gone. Were they looking for her, did they care, were they happy she was gone? She shook her head trying to get rid of those thoughts, she was here in Paris now. She had an assignment, it was to defeat Hawkmoth; she had a personal project, befriend Chloe and help her get more friends; she was with Tom and Sabine, they made her feel warm like she did when Jason would do something that showed he cared about her in the League. She was content here, nothing was going to stop her from finally living a life without the harsh expectations of the world. Then she saw something, or rather someone, across the street. Long brown hair, clothes of questionable modesty, and sharp unforgiving green eyes.

Marin stopped in her tracks and stared at the woman who was smirking at her from across the street. It was a trap, an illusion, it couldn’t be real. Yet, the woman gave her a signal, one she would give her when she wanted to see her alone in her quarters. Her mother was in Paris, France and she wanted to talk with her. Marinette quickly ran and caught up with Alya who was now rambling about Louis Lane, the big blue boy scout’s wife, and her greatness. Marinette asked questions and acted very interested as she listened, but Marin was dreading everything. Her stomach was in knots and she felt like she was going to vomit, yet she showed nothing of the sort. She fiddled with the thin silver band on her finger hoping, praying to whatever kwamii Mr. Bug had, that she would be able to stay in Paris.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

kaus *Mandarin*: Chaos

noir *French*: Black

(She goes by black chaos in English)

#maribat #dc x mlb #mlb x batman #mlb x dc #based off a tumblr post #sibling jasonette #assassin!marinette au #assassin marinette #tom dupain & sabine cheng sugar #they are good parents #marinette is one of marin’s molds #marin al ghul wayne #handler!jasontodd #trainer!jasontodd #talia al ghul #crossover #sibling daminette

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lily-drake · 3 years

Text

Ao3

This is part 4 of my Assasin!Marinette au based around @bambicambi ’s prompts. Thank you for reading!

Lesson 4: Only Entrust Your Secrets To Those You Find Worthy

Prompts:

“Okay, okay, listen, listen,” Marin took her brother’s face into her hands and stared intently into his eyes, “I’m not a good person. I will never be a good person. I am not you. You are not me. Stop. Trying. To. Change. Me.”

She smiled sharply at him, waiting for his response. She’s tired. She is very tired. She has tried, so many times, to change for him. To change her whole world view and be ‘herself’. She has tried to let her guard down, to let her real thoughts be known, and to stop pretending. But shes tired of trying to be something she’s not.

She can’t stop pretending, she can’t stop being alert, she can’t voice her thoughts, and she can’t change for him. She has tried and failed to change for him. She loves her brother, so much, but she can’t be what he wants her to be.

“Ukht..”

She slowly let go of his face, ignoring the urge to flinch at the name. She calls him Akhi. She calls him Damian. She calls him Little Brother. She does those things. He never does. He only ever calls her Marin. Her name. Never Ukht. Never little sister. Never nicknames.

Her natural reaction was to lash out. To be bitter and mad and to put up a wall and keep him at a distance. It’s a defense mechanism. But shes been taught to do the opposite of her natural reactions. So… she grinned.

“Akhi.”

She could see the signs in his face, in his body language, in the way he’s breathing. He knows she’s putting up a show. He knows. He sees right through her.

But at the same time he doesn’t. She’s fine with that.

“Ukht.”

—————

Damian: ...what??

Jon: she completely changed-

Damian: her molds.

Jon: no. no, you don't understand. Her heart beat was beating unbelievably fast and them once she shrugged it went from 100 to 0...

Damian: what are you saying.

Jon: I'm saying thats... not normal. She could change her heart beat by will, Damian!

Damian: i can do the same.

Jon: no you can't.

Damian: I can? We were trained to-

Jon: yes and no, there is a difference between you two, Damian. Her's was completley natural. Completely. I could tell-

Damian: isn't everything natural-

Jon: Damian!

Damian: I'm just trying to understand, Jon.

Jon: her heartbeat. Went from 100 to 0. It was like she completely changed into a different person.

Damian: I explained to you already, Jon. Those are her molds... they are similar to different people.

Jon: ... that's messed up.

Damian: I agree.

Jon: so messed up.

Damian: yes.

Jon: I hate the league.

Damian: as do we.

——————

Marinette: *crying* ...

Tim: *sitting beside her* ...

Marinette: ...

Tim: do you ever think about whether or not what we're doing is worth it?

Marinette: *whispers* yes.

Tim: *grabs her hand* what do you feel about it right now?

Marinette: *curls around herself* that it's so unfair and so not worth it.

Tim: *squeezes her hand* I know.. *sniffs, hoarsely* I know it doesn't feel worth it at the moment…

_____________

Damian stared out the window of the small car occasionally picking at the strap of his bag. It was complete silence for the majority of the ride, only the sound of the car moving on the road and through traffic could be heard. That was until Grayson cleared his throat and asked,

“You doing okay?”

Damian simply rolled his eyes, never taking his gaze away from the window.

“I’m fine Grayson. She can take care of herself. Besides, she’ll contact me when she’s ready. She would never abandon me.”

He clenched his fist around the strap of the bag ignoring the thoughts saying, ‘but didn’t she just do that?’ or, ‘she’s already gone.’ No, she did what she felt she needed to do for survival. Father had threatened her and-and he had pushed her too far. Their fights resurfaced and he bit his lip to hide his sorrow and frustration. One fight specifically came to mind, and now it would forever haunt him.

“Okay, okay, listen, listen,”

Marin took her brother’s face into her hands and stared intently into his eyes,

“I’m not a good person. I will never be a good person. I am not you. You are not me. Stop. Trying. To. Change. Me.”

She smiled sharply at him, waiting for his response. He could see the tired look in her eyes, the bags that colored under her eyes from her sleepless nights. She was waiting for him to refute. He believed she could change, that she was a good person, that she could drop the molds completely. He believed that one day she could push through the trauma and be herself and let her guard down. They weren’t in the League anymore, their father would keep them safe and away from them.

“Ukht..”

He began but stopped seeing the small glint of fear in her eyes. Did she not like it when he called her sister? Did he do something wrong? He continued to stare at her, her face not body betraying how she truly felt about the name. Slowly she let go of his face and took a step back with a sigh replying,

“Akhi.”

He continued to watch her and saw the ever so slight twitch of her fingers and knew she was either frustrated or nervous. She was putting her walls back up, using a mold. It wasn’t Marinette, but he could tell she was using one of them. He saw through her act, saw that she was trying to shove everything down and hide again, he knew that she was still pretending in front of him, and it hurt.

“Ukht.”

He said one more time and watched as she walked out of the room. She was done with the conversation, but it certainly wasn’t the last time they had it.

That was one of their more civil conversations about that topic, sometimes they got heated and there was lots of yelling. He wouldn’t be surprised if the others had heard them argue about it those few times. Dick didn’t say anything else but looked rather tense and kept glancing at him. He could see the worry and pity in his eyes and it irritated him to no end. He was fine, he knew she would be fine and that she would come back when she was ready, she always came back in the end. She was too strong to ever fall at the hands of anyone, she just needed time to find who she was….without him.

He didn’t know how long they had driven when they began to drive up to a large ‘T’ shaped tower. When they stopped he quickly hopped out of the car and saw a bunch of other teens and Jon jumping excitedly in place. He looked to his other side and saw his brother Grayson shake hands with a tall lady with orange skin, fiery red hair, and glowing neon green eyes.

“This is Damian, Damian this is Koriand'r, also known as Starfire.”

The lady bent down and gave him a bright smile that he despised,

“Hello Damian, it’s nice to meet you.”

She stuck out her hand for him to shake, but he just glared at it and turned away.

“I’ll be in my room.”

As he walked to the entrance all of the other children parted, except Jon who just followed him.

“So..”

Jon began once they were in the elevator,

“Where’s Marin? Is your dad finally beginning to-”

“She left.”

Was his brief response as he crossed his arms and glared at the door. Silence filled the small space for a few brief moments before he nervously asked,

“Like on a mission?”

“No, father… ‘tested’ her,”

He said placing air quotes around the word, “tested”,

“It was too much and she ran away. She said she was going to go back to the league and that she left with Todd.”

The silence that followed was so tense it was almost suffocating. He glanced over at Jon when he heard him breath a sigh of relief. Damian raised a brow in question at his friend’s companion’s reaction. He gave a shy smile and rubbed his neck in an awkward motion before replying,

“I checked for her heartbeat and found it. She’s with Jason, but she isn’t with the League.”

That’s right, Jon has super hearing, he could find her and tell him! He turned to face his friend and demanded,

“Where is she?!”

Jon gulped and shook his head as a shiver ran down his spine.

“I’m sorry Damian, but have you met your sister? She is worse than you, if I told you..”

Another shiver ran down his spine as he hugged himself,

“I’d rather keep my life and not be tortured by her. You didn’t hear the threat she told me when we first started hanging out. She’ll tell when she’s ready, until then, I can’t say anything.”

Damian glared at him but knew that he was right, that didn’t mean that he would give up.

“I have kryptonite in one of my pockets.”

He threatened as they stepped out of the elevator that was now open to the hall that led to the rooms.

“Yea well Marin told me that she would…”

He stopped and paled,

“you don’t want to know. How are you considered the violent twin?”

“She always uses her molds.”

A short pause,

“Right.”

Was Jon’s reply. Jon remembered when he had been talking to her about school work and her molds. She had been nervous, her heart rate had spiked, then it… just…..changed. He had talked to Damian about it right after.

Damian had looked at him weird when he had asked what was wrong with Marin and if she had some kind of condition.

“...What?”

He had asked with a raised defensive brow and he could see his hand reaching for his katana.

“She completely changed-”

He began in a non accusing manner raising both of his hands up in an act of surrender. Damian quickly relaxed immediately responding,

“Her molds.”

As he looked back down at the book he was currently reading. Jon raised a brow and quickly said getting closer to Damian trying to get him to understand what he was trying to convey,

“No. No, you don’t understand. Her heartbeat was beating unbelievably fast and then once she shrugged it went from 100 to 0…”

He began to trail off as Damian let out a sigh and looked back up at him. Raising his brow once again he asked,

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying,”

Jon said trying to emphasize his words for his friend to understand what he was trying to get through to him,

“That’s… not normal. She could change her heart beat by will, Damian!”

Damian rolled his eyes returning to the book offhandedly replying,

“I can do the same.”

Jon sighed in frustration replying,

“No. You can’t.”

“I can?”

He replied in a sarcastic question,

“We were trained to-”

Jon then interrupted him, understanding what his friend meant.

“Yes and no, there is a difference between you two, Damian. Hers was completely natural. Completely . I could tell-”

“Isn’t everything natural?”

He offhandedly asked.

“Damian!”

Jon yelled, crossing her arms and glaring at him slightly. Damian sighed once again and closed his book completely and looked him in the eyes.

“I’m just trying to understand, Jon.”

“Her heartbeat.”

Jon said slowly emphasizing his words,

“Went from 100 to 0. It was like she completely changed into a different person.”

Damian glared at the wall past Jon’s head and said as he steepled his fingers together.

“I explained to you already, Jon. Those are her molds…”

He paused for a moment before continuing,

“They are similar to different people.”

Jon was processing what he meant and he felt his heart sink as he thought about what his friend must have gone through to be able to do that.

“So messed up.”

He whispered as he stared down at the ground beneath them.

“Yes.”

Damian simply agreed, slowly opening the book back open and trying to find the page he left off on.

“I hate the league.”

Jon spat. He had seen all of the scars and injuries that littered her body. There were so many, he often wondered how she was still alive.

“As do we.”

Damian whispered as silence filled the room they were in.

They had arrived at Damian’s room and Jon sat on his bed while he watched Damian unpack.

“She’ll come around when she is ready Damian, we both know it, she’s too loyal, especially to you.”

Jon quietly said as he watched Damian place a dagger on a holder with the utmost care onto the wall. Damian didn’t say anything and he only knew Damian had heard him was the slight nod he had given him. Quickly Damian turned and started stalking to the door,

“I demand you show me where the training facility is.”

He called as he left, Jon gave him a sad smile and quickly flew over to him and led him to where the training room was. He knew that his friend needed to let go of the pent up rage and aggression that he was obviously hiding, so he wouldn’t say anything more about the topic. Instead he rattled on about how they would both be able to carpool together to school, and about some of the missions they had gone and that he would be a part of, and about how cool the others on the team were. Hopefully he would be able to make a good impression for them so that they won’t meet the end of Damian’s blade for their first meetings. He had been there and done that, and even if the sword he had couldn’t hurt him, it still scared him to no end.

__________

Damian had found his new team…...interesting to say the least. They were similar to his family, but also very different in the way that they interacted. Beast Boy was his least favorite on the team, but he could turn into animals, so he was adequate he guessed.

Next was Blue Beetle, he was very powerful but relied too much on the alien stuck to his back to protect him. He needed more training and to learn more self reliance or else he would end up dead. Not to mention that he did not have full control over the thing, that could be his downfall one day if it got upset and attacked leaving Jaime vulnerable to an attack.

Raven was a very interesting character, and one that he respected. She mostly kept to herself, but he didn’t trust her. She held too many secrets, she was too much of an unknown for him to feel comfortable around her. She could put them in danger because one day the magic she has won’t be enough, or it could lead to their doom.

Starfire was too cheery. She doesn’t completely comprehend things or think through things like she should. She didn’t look into any of their pasts, didn’t put up any contingencies, she just led blindly and that would weaken their team. It didn’t help that his brother Nightwing had an all too obvious liking for her. Subtlety was never his strong suit.

Damian watched in silence as his new team interacted with each other. He needed to find their weaknesses and study them so that he knew what to do in case they turned on him for any reason. He could tell that Raven was studying him too, she was aware and absorbent and slow to trust, he respected that. Better to be weary and live than be trusting and be dead. They didn’t talk to each other, but there was silent respect that passed between the two that both could feel.

His thoughts wandered back to their father and what he was doing and if he was trying to find Marin. There was a part of him that wished he was, but somewhere in the back of his mind he knew it wasn’t true, but he didn’t want to believe it. Their father would not be like their grandfather, he wouldn’t be like Mother, or her old handlers. He would do what was right, and that would be to find his sister, his daughter, and try to bring her home after asking for forgiveness. It was all wishful thinking though, he knew it was, but he could imagine that’s what was happening. In reality Drake and Gordon were probably the only ones looking, Pennyworth probably already knows where they are or will know very soon. Alfred knows everything and while frightening at first, one would get used to it after years of living with him. It didn’t help that Kent knew where she was but refused to tell him. Not to mention that she was with Todd of all people. No, it did not hurt him that Todd was more trusted in her eyes than he was, he didn’t care, but one bit.

He needed to clear his mind, this kind of thinking was never good and would cloud his judgment. He could not make a mistake, he was above it. Quietly he stood and walked to his room where he practiced his forms. It was relaxing, almost therapeutic the way the sword moved with him. It was an extension of himself and he felt naked when he did have at least one of his katanas with him. The movements started out slow, but the racing thoughts only grew louder. He wasn’t good enough, he wasn’t trusted. He thrust his sword forward making a whooshing noise, his grip tightened on the hilt. He was a failure, he helped break her, he didn’t help her in the way she needed it. Fast, his forward thrust harsh and promised a painful demise if someone was in front of it. Self deprecating thoughts were too loud in his head, too much, he had never felt this way before and it was overwhelming. The sword escaped his grip seamlessly flying through the wall where a startled cry sounded.

“Watch it dude!”

Beast Boy yelled as he banged on the wall harshly,

“You could hurt someone with that. Hasn’t your mother taught you not to play with knives!”

He rolled his eyes at that. It was quite the contrary actually, he was encouraged to play with them. Tasked to find the most comfortable weapon for training so he could carry out his tasks flawlessly. He turned to stare out the window, ignoring the sword still embedded in the wall. It was dark, the moon was out, but it wasn’t full. Clouds covered the skyline covering up the few stars that were able to shine through the light of the city. He looked down and saw Raven in front of a fire meditating, he didn’t know what to feel about her. He had hacked into the database, but there was nothing about her, no information, only that she wasn’t from this world. That could have fatal consequences, not to mention she was a magic user which made her all the more dangerous as magic was spontaneous and hard to plan around.

He hadn’t realized he had been walking towards where she had been outside until was in the tree line watching her.

“It’s rude to stare.”

Damian’s glare grew, he didn’t understand her and it frustrated him to know end. He needed information on everyone, but he just couldn’t seem to get any on her. He stepped out into the light of the fire and stared the girl down. She hadn’t opened her eyes or even flinched, meaning she could sense other presences.

“What are you even doing out here?”

He demanded as he stared the girl down.

“Meditating, anything beyond that is none of your concern.”

He grit his teeth in frustration.

“Everything here is my concern, just like it should be yours. You're hiding something.”

She opened one of her eyes and looked at him before dryly replying,

“So are you. We all are. It’s none of your business what until it’s time to be said.”

His glare deepened as Raven simply closed her eye and resumed what she was doing as if he was never there in the first place. He growled and stomped away. It was his business, secrets equaled faults, faults equaled failing, failing equaled death. It’s why Marin had to leave, she kept secrets, she wouldn’t let anyone know anything, it created problems, it created a rift, then she left. If he could get the others to trust their secrets to him then he could keep the team together, there wouldn’t be any betrayal. How would he do it was the question, maybe he could get Grayson to gather the information and report it back to him. Maybe, just maybe, he could finally do something right.

* * * * * * *

Tim stared at the blank screen in front of him. He looked at the tracker on her Hummingbird uniform and noticed it was atop a building, he highly doubted that was where she was. She was too careful, she planned more than him, her mind was constantly on high alert and paranoid. They were similar in a way, where his goal was to never make a mistake, hers was to always be perfect. Most people would think it was the same, but there was a difference. She and Cass got along really well together, the three of them seemed almost inseparable. He realized that Cass didn’t know what had happened, she was currently on assignment with Kate and Steph in Hong Kong. He had often heard Damian and Marinette arguing, he tried not to eavesdrop……, buuuuuut he was curious. Damian had been loudly yelling about her being herself and not “Marinette”, she was yelling about how he should stop trying to change her, and that she was a terrible person. Of course he knew she was acting when he first met her and when he watched her interact with the others, there was no way someone from the League of Assassins, especially born and raised there, just came out of that unscarred both mentally and physically.

Bruce had told him his suspicions of her and told him to be on the look out for if she would try to harm them in any way. The more he was around Marin though, the more similar they seemed. Both had the same sleep schedule, which is to say they didn’t sleep at all. He could tell when she was plagued by nightmares by how glazed her eyes would be, they both were driven by caffeine, they both had a more calculative way of fighting; she was better at striking and fast acting than him though, his goal was to never make a mistake, hers was to be perfect. Those were two different things, yet they were still similar in a way that only Marin, Cass, and Tim would know. She wasn’t a threat, not once had she ever acted out physically on them, but she had said and acted in a completely different way before. Tim bit his lip realizing what she must have been doing. Marin didn’t show much, she was guarded and knew how to keep herself in check at all times, but sometimes her fingers would twitch ever so slightly, or her nose would scrunch up a bit, or her eye would twitch ever so slightly. She had tiny tells, tells you would need to pay close attention to to even notice they existed. He had seen them, and they happened frequently when she had changed so suddenly. Now that he thought about it, and adding some of the information he got from their fights, it was her trying to be herself. They pushed her away though by leaving her alone, by Bruce never talking to or acknowledging her and her efforts, by attacking her for no reason.

He typed at the keyboard harshly as his thoughts flickered around. Dick and Damian were lucky to be able to leave in his eyes, Tim wanted to be searching for his little sister, the only one, besides Cass, that truly seemed to understand him. She constantly was someone else around them, she didn’t like to be herself. There was something she hid from, it wasn’t just them, it was something else. No doubt things from her memories, if memory served him correct she was considered one of the league’s best field agents. She didn’t talk about it much, but what little he’s gotten she was tasked with things that not even Damian has been through. Ra’s was sexist, she was born first, she was their experiment to see what was enough or too much for the future heir of the League, for Damian.

There were a few nights that stood out to him, when she would reveal small things to him knowing that he would be able to piece what she said together eventually. One night though, one night stood out to him the greatest. He could never forget it, because it was the first time he had seen her break, her guard had dropped. No one else was in the house besides Alfred, but he was in the batcave monitoring the others on patrol. Tim had been benched for a stab wound he had gotten about a week prior, and because no one could tale or follow Marin, she was benched too. They had been in one of the main rooms resting on the couch, Tim working through some cold cases and Marin just staring blankly into the distance. She had been eerily quiet, and he was getting worried because usually she would talk or joke with him, even work with him. She just sat there though, and that was never a good sign. He looked over at her and noticed her sleeve was pulled up, which was very rare as she always wore long sleeves and refused to show her upper arms. From the light of the computer he could make out scars, old ones, but painful ones. He hadn’t realized what he was doing until he touched her arm and traced the length of it. Her sleeve was rolled to her elbow, but he could tell that the scar went farther up which was scary considering it also rounded almost her entire arm.

“What happened?”

He asked breathlessly, he couldn’t take his eyes off of it even if he could barely see it from the dull light his laptop provided. He heard her suck in a sharp breath and was quickly snapped out of his trance. He looked up at her face and saw her eyes glaze over in what appeared to be held back tears. When she opened her mouth all that came out was a soft sob, and by her reaction to it she did not intend for it. Tears fell down her cheeks and Tim didn’t know what to do. She was always so well composed, always wore a smile, even if it wasn’t real, she never let her emotions get the better of her. He knew that it was only a matter of time until her bottle finally cracked, especially since she could never let it at the League. She was like everyone in the family in the way they compartmentalize everything until they just couldn’t take it anymore. Marin didn’t say anything after that, but the tears kept flowing down her cheeks as she finally just let herself feel. Tim didn’t move, but stayed by her side knowing that even a silent companion could help. A few minutes of silence passed them before Tim whispered out,

“Do you ever think whether or not what we’re doing is worth it?”

There was another few moments of silence before Marin whispered back,

“Yes.”

He looked back down at her arm and saw her tracing different scars she no doubt memorized on her skin. Gently he took her hand trying to show her that he would be there for her, that he would be her brother no matter what.

“What do you feel about it right now?”

Marin brought her knees up to her chest, she wasn’t faking, she was allowing herself to be vulnerable. She had never had this opportunity like this before, it was new, and she didn’t really know how to feel about it. She didn’t know how to respond to the question either. She often thought this in the league, she thought this after she had finished her mission, she thought this when a target had been dealt with at her hands, she thought this as she stood next to her father that never acknowledged her existence, she thought this when Damian tried to get her to stop pretending, she thought this often, but she didn’t really know what to feel now. Though, when she thought of all the blood her hands have been stained with, as she thought about how different she was from her brother and his expectations, as she thought about her handlers and her training, as she thought about how little trust her father had in her, she had her answer.

“That it’s so unfair and so not worth it.”

Tim had watched her while she thought. Her face was blank for the most part, but he knew what to look for, the little things that gave away what she felt. Her answer though, he understood it. He had lost his parents, while they weren’t the best and constantly neglected him, they were still his parents. Jason and Damian had tried to kill him multiple times, Dick had simply rejected him when Bruce had disappeared, he had thought his teammates had died multiple times only for it to be a trick, not to mention the Joker Jr. incident.

“I know...”

He could feel his own tears start to well up in his eyes and had to sniff a little to make sure he didn’t let his nose run. He squeezed her hands a little tighter trying to convey his understanding and care.

“I know it doesn’t feel worth it at the moment…”

He took a deep breath getting his words in order so he could do something right and comfort her.

“I promise though, one day when you find out for yourself what you truly want to do and be, that everything that has led up to that moment will make it seem like it was worth it. Things for you, and you especially have been challenging and just horrible. You are not like Damian, and I mean that in so many ways. He shows his emotions, he is not afraid to let them out, but you, I can by the way you talk and the actions you take, that you just can not. You have been trained to change, to adapt in a way that he does not understand.”

He paused, gauging her reaction and letting her process his words before continuing,

“It definitely doesn’t seem worth it now, and maybe it may never be worth it. That is for you to decide, and only you. One day you’ll be able to escape and leave, find yourself, make a name for yourself by yourself. Marin, you’re more than your scars, more than the training you were forced into. Fate has a weird way of messing with us, so it may seem worth it now, but I promise you, it will be.”

Marin stared into his eyes, and it felt like he was staring into his very soul trying to figure out the hidden motive behind his words. Truth be told, there was none, he respected her too much to trick her. She was his little sister after all, and he would protect her with everything he had. After she had found what she was looking for he wasn’t expecting to be pushed onto his back on the couch.

“You all need to stop trying to tame me, I’m the tiger here. Damian is the house cat, and while he will accept it I will destroy you all.”

Tim blinked in surprise, a smile soon taking over his face as he realized what was happening. Quickly he grabbed her wrist and dragged her down with him, but that backfired as she proceeded to roll and shove him off the couch as she stole his laptop and began to work on the cases he was working on while in his spot.

“Go to bed Timothy, it’s been four days.”

She said with an eye roll as he continued to just lay on the floor and glare up at her.

~~~~~~

He hadn’t realized how lost in thought he had been until he felt someone poke his side and he jumped. He turned and glared at whoever it was only to see Babs. He gave her a sheepish smile and went back to typing up the report he was working on on the Batcomputer.

“Think she’ll come back?”

Babs whispered. The Marin and Babs were never very close, but they were close enough and enjoyed messing with Damian when able to.

“Honestly, I don’t know.”

Tim began pausing his typing but letting his hands hover over the keyboard.

“I just hope that whatever she decides to do now that she’s away from B will make her happy and that it will be worth it to her.”

Babs silently nodded and stared at the giant screen before them. After a few moments of the tense silence she asked,

“Want to leave this to B and help me mess with Bruce’s stuff?”

Tim smiled wickedly. Oh, they would do more than mess with his stuff, he drove their baby sister away from them. Bruce would regret all of his life choices once they were through, especially when they contacted the girls about the situation, which he would leave to Babs. All Hell was about to break loose, and it would all be Bruce’s fault.

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