Chapter Text
Marinette was tired. She had stayed up late working on a commission, only for there to be a nightmare akuma. No amount of coffee in the world could rescue her from her exhaustion. She was too young to be a hero. She had been fighting too many years. Yet, here she was, cornered by yet another akuma. Seriously Hawkmoth? Two in less than eight hours? Does the man not sleep?
At least this akuma wasn’t killing people. Downside? She was stuck as a civilian. Again. No Chat Noir in sight to distract it or rescue her. This one made you deal with whatever relative you were distant with by teleporting you to them. Chloe had been akumatized after a fight with her mom while on the phone at school. Chloe had run into the classroom just before being hit by the butterfly. A few of her classmates had run out of the room before the transformation was complete, but Marinette had stopped to help Mylene, who had just frozen in fear on the spot. Alya stayed to record, of course. The girl had zero survival instincts. Now Marinette was stuck in the back of the classroom, with no way out. She heard the monologue Chloe’s akuma form, Unwanted, gave, demanding that families needed to pay attention to each other, even those far away or estranged. Marinette saw Ivan and Alix get thrown through portals. Unwanted picked Marinette up and laughed as she threw her hard through a portal.
Everything went black for a moment, before suddenly she was landing hard on something sharp and flying through the air again. Ugh. She had been thrown so hard she bounced when she landed. She landed unceremoniously in a large man’s lap while he was at his desk. Both of them were knocked to the floor, his computer destroyed on the floor beside them as she knocked it over with her legs as she soared over his desk. ‘Damn that hurt without the suit,’ she thought. She tried hard to reconcile what happened. She had hit her shoulder on something that had sliced through the muscle and it was bleeding badly. It looked to have been a nameplate that she had originally landed on prior to ricocheting off and landing painfully in someone's lap. And now she was lying on top of some family member she didn't know. She groaned and slowly got up, trying not to aggravate her shoulder.
The man looked confused… and angry. Very angry. Shit. She looked him over. Realizing he was speaking English she switched. Not her Maman or Papa’s family then. They would have spoken French, Italian or Mandarin. Biological father’s family then. Maybe it was her father? He seemed about the right age. And damn he was tall. Or she was just tiny. Or both. Yeah, both.
~~~~
Bruce had just barely gotten to work when a portal appeared right over his desk. A kid flew out of it and slammed into his desk, flying into his lap, and knocking them both to the ground. Of course, he went into defensive mode immediately. “Who are you?” he growled. He hated magic users in his city. They were unpredictable. This one clearly had no control over their powers. The worst combination.
“Uhhh… Marinette?” the girl said hesitantly. She got to her feet, wincing a bit. That landing had to have hurt. It had knocked the wind out of him.
He gave her a cursory glance. Hair so dark it shone blue. Ocean blue eyes. She was so incredibly tiny - maybe four and a half feet tall.
“I'm guessing I'm your daughter. Huh. Well… Hello Father, I thought you'd be shorter.” Bruce was shaken. It was the opposite of what Damian had said and yet, so similar in far too many ways. He watched her look around the office. “Uhm, where am I?”
“Wayne Enterprises.”
“...where's that?”
Seriously? “You mean you don't know what city you're in?”
“Ugh no. Supervillain with teleportation powers sending people to distant relatives flung me in a portal. So... where am I?” The girl, Marinette, sounded tired.
“...Gotham.” She must know that at least. But no. Blank look. No recognition again. “America.”
“Oh you've got to be kidding me!” He watched as she looked at the name plate on the desk. “Bruce Wayne. Father.” Still no recognition of his name. Interesting. Odd. “It's been lovely and all. I'd stick around but I really have to go. Bye!”
Before he could register what she said, she left.
~~~~
Marinette scanned the office. It was incredibly fancy. Her blood was splashed all over the desk, his laptop screen cracked and lying sideways on the ground. The huge windows did indeed indicate that she was not in Paris. She needed to get out of this place and back to Paris before the whole city was teleported. Sure, it wasn’t the worst power in the world, but the conflict from estranged families could be… bad. Not everyone had good families that they would be sent to. She seemed to luck out.
The man in front of her was incredibly tall and muscular. He had her eye colour. Her biological father seemed to be angry and confused, but was helpful. It was something. She did not have meeting her biological father on the list of things to do today. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to meet him – ever. Her poor Papa! He would be so upset to learn she met him. Regardless, she didn’t have time for spontaneous unwanted family meetings, or stressing out over them. She needed to shove down those thoughts. She needed to get back. Now.
Marinette ran out his office door and into the nearby elevator. She wrapped her arm in her jacket during the ride down. She wondered vaguely if her suit would act like a giant bandage, or if she would be bleeding while transformed too. Everyone stared at her as she ran past. She could hear some whispers around her, but didn’t have time to worry about it. After she was out of the building, she ran around looking for a place with no camera access. Eventually she came across a very dodgy looking alley. It had taken ages to get there. This place seemed to have cameras everywhere! She must have run for several blocks. Running when not transformed took up so much more energy. She was so tired now.
Thankfully, no one had paid attention to the girl running around. They all kept their heads down and ignored her. Weird city. It worked for her, but what if she had been in danger? Running from someone? No one would have helped! When the alleys got even more creepy, she finally found a place. She transformed, pulled out Kaalki from her yoyo and ported back to finish off the akuma. She had a cellphone to steal (for a good reason this time!).
~~~~
Bruce... was sitting there in shock. He had another kid? French accent by the sound of it. A girl too! Who the hell was her mother? She had no clue who he was. It was odd. Wait. She said a supervillain? A supervillain attacked his daughter! (Was she his daughter? She certainly looked enough like him. He needed to run a DNA test. Shit, he never got her last name!)
Wait! Damnit. She ran out! Where the hell did she go?! He ran after her, but she was already in the elevator. He punched the door in frustration. The second he could, he went after her... but she was gone. She must be a fast runner to lose him. He rushed back to his office and pulled out his bat computer to look at the surveillance. He quickly took a picture and sent it to his family. He was horrified when she dipped down an alley known for connecting to the worst parts on this side of the city... and disappeared in the heart of it. She never left that area. He had a daughter, and she just went down into Penguin's territory. Was she working with him? Did she take a wrong turn and was kidnapped? Either way he needed to find her.
He turned to leave when he finally looked at his desk. He found the name plate spattered with blood. Her blood. Her blood was all over his desk… and his shirt. He must have been in more shock than he thought to have missed it. He bagged the nameplate and took it back to the cave for Tim to run an analysis.
His daughter was out there, injured in Penguin territory, and he couldn’t fucking find her. He called Tim to get on surveillance as he drove back with the sample.
He sent everyone a quick message to get on their comms. Bruce got everyone else to emergency scour Penguin territory for her... not explaining who she was or why. “I just sent you a picture of a girl. We need to find her. Last seen heading into Penguin territory. This takes priority. Tim, get on surveillance for me. I’m heading to the cave now.” They all confirmed quickly. Damian seemed pleased at the prospect of an excused absence from school.
They didn't find her. After an hour of searching, they all returned to the cave empty handed. He knew he had to explain – something, anything - for his odd behaviour today. They all just sat there staring him down, even Alfred.
“I had an... unexpected visitor today. Crashed through a portal before running off.” He was spared further explanation for a moment when the computer beeped.
“Congrats B, it's a girl!” Jason mocked as the DNA results came back filling up the screen behind him.