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“Come on Chat!” Ladybug pulled his arm towards the gymnasium in the Justice League headquarters. All of Team Miracle was on one side. All of the Bats and Supers were on the other.
Oracle wheeled herself to the middle of the outdoor court, which was normally their secondary sparring area. “Alright, you know the rules! If you’re hit with a ball, you’re out! And because I don’t trust any of you – remember, no weapons allowed. First team with all it’s members out, loses!”
Ladybug called them all in for a plan. She knew the Supers could hear them, so she typed it out on her yoyo and sent it to them all. Nods of agreement and understanding from her team… and they lined up. Her team lined up strategically across the gym. The other side, the Supers lined up front, with the Bats taking up a position decidedly behind them.
Ladybug smirked at Robin. “You’re going down Bird Boy!”
Robin scoffed. “Tt. I will win this bet.”
“Bet? What bet?” Chat asked.
“Winner gets something from the loser,” Ladybug explained. “In this case, Robin owes me something.”
“You wish. You’ll owe me at the end of this. You’re nothing without your yoyo.”
“Count me in!” Chat cheered. Robin was going down! “Beats boring old spars any day.”
“May luck be upon us,” Ladybug said to her team with a wink.
“And misfortune to you,” Chat echoed to the opposition. His grin grew feral.
Oracle got herself out of the court and blew a whistle. The Supers, Jon, Kon, Kara, Natasha, and Clark, all rushed forward to get balls.
The Miracle team spread out. “Now,” Marinette said to her team.
Rena Rouge hummed a little tune. Everyone on Team Miracle seemed to respond to this, and spread out more.
Damian couldn’t figure out what their plan was. They were sitting ducks. He watched as the Super family did the first volley into the opposition, as planned.
As one, they threw the balls, limiting the areas that Marinette and her friends could escape to. But none of the balls hit…
How? How did they manage that?
“Ah!” Kon exclaimed in shock as he was hit with a ball. Where had it come from? Damian looked around but saw nothing.
Then Chat looked like he was throwing a ball straight at Jon… only for one to come from the direction of King Monkey and hit Superman. Two supers were out, and Damian wasn’t even sure what had happened.
Damian glared at Chat. Something was wrong. He had watched him throw a ball, but it had never reached their side of the court. He turned when he heard the echo of a dodgeball bouncing on the ground as Azrael and Batwoman had been taken out in the same moment. Four down…
“They’re doing something to the field,” Red Robin announced.
A series of balls suddenly came volleying out at them. Damian dodged in time, but it was close.
Rena had been humming. Could she-
“Rena used her mirage without her weapon!” Red Robin exclaimed at the same time Damian had thought of it. Damian hadn’t even known they could do that.
“Signal, disrupt it if you can,” Batman ordered.
The mirage dissipated – and Damian found himself faced with the remaining eleven dodgeballs aimed at them – nowhere near where they had been on the field just a moment before.
Damian prepared to dodge, and picked up one of the balls… just in time to hear Viperion hiss out, “Second Chance.”
Ah fudge.
What happened next, Damian could only guess was a result of multiple second chances. Supergirl was hit instantly with a wild throw from Polymouse way in the back. It shouldn’t have hit – but it was bounced off another ball from Carapace and sent in an unpredictable way as it ricocheted off the court’s fence. Ladybug’s throw had somehow whipped through Jon and Batman’s legs, only to hit Batwing, who hadn’t seen it because of the block the other two had provided.
That was some crazy luck… luck.
Damian groaned. Ladybug and Chat Noir were manipulating the luck on the field – just like they did in battle. There was nothing he could do to counter that. Steel was also taken out when she had reached for a ball.
They were targeting the Supers. It was smart. Damn Ladybug tactics. Damn magic.
Another ball aimed directly at him from Chat Noir. He managed to deflect it with the ball he had picked up… but it ricocheted up instead of back towards the other team, and hit Huntress. She glared at him and walked off to the side of the court.
Damian’s team had managed to take out Pigella and Rooster Bold, which Damian was very glad of, because while Pigella’s power of optimism was good for their morale, Rooster Bold (whom Damian was sure stole his name from Booster Gold) could write himself any power he wanted. He was probably the most dangerous person on the field.
Jon was just about to throw another ball when it magically disappeared from his hands, reappearing in the dog, Miss Hound’s hands. She passed the ball to Minotaurox, who whipped the ball hard at Orphan. She tried to catch it, but was knocked off her feet and dropped it. Automatic out.
Hawkfire picked up the ball and whipped it out, aiming for Ladybug. Chat Noir jumped forward though, and called on his cataclysm. He barely grazed the ball with his finger, but the ball disintegrated.
Damian’s internal clock recognized that five minutes were up. Whatever had happened in previous timelines, this was the best outcome for Team Miracle. Jon managed to survive to the end of the five minutes, though it was close a few times. Damian’s team had lost a lot of ground.
“So you need to cheat to win?” he taunted Ladybug.
“It’s not cheating. The rules said no weapons. It said nothing about powers!” she quipped back.
Jon looked scandalized. He had been playing fair until that point. He whipped forward and grabbed a ball using his super speed, stopping another shot from hitting Batman, and whipped it hard at Miss Hound. Payback for stealing his ball earlier. She was out. He hit the peacock and butterfly after in quick succession.
Robin nodded at Signal. Signal messed with the light on their side of the court. It was now pitch black on their side. Robin and the other Bats turned on their night vision. Only a few on Ladybug’s team could see in the dark. Chat practically glued himself to Ladybug’s side, while Rena and Purple Tigress tried to pull their teammates out of danger.
Jon took out Minotaurox and Vesperia, who had been too far away from the others to receive help from the few who could see. Red Hood got Rena out as she had dived to save Ryuuko and Viperion, who had been left fumbling. Batman had hit Viperion after she had gone down. He had moved in front of Ryuuko in the dark, acting as a shield.
No sooner had Damian thought of him as a shield, then Carapace called out for his Shellter. The Miracles were safe inside… all except King Monkey, who lobbed something into the space. It hit Signal, disrupting his light. Duke looked very disturbed that his powers were not working properly. But it had left him open to attack, and he was taken out by Nightwing, who had bounced a ball excessively high into the air during the darkness. It was pure luck that had made it land against Carapace’s shield in just the right way that it rolled and hit King Monkey.
Carapace eventually dropped his shield. Damian threw a ball at Caprikid as they all spread out again, who created a shield to block the ball at the last second. Damian scowled, but at least his power was used up now. Damian grabbed another ball before he realised… Team Miracle seemed smaller than it should be.
Bunnyx was missing. Polymouse was missing. Pegasus was missing.
“Look out!” Damian shouted as a portal opened above Jon and a ball whipped out. Jon hadn’t stood a chance. He was out. Another blue portal popped open and three balls whipped out. Batman. Red Robin. Hawkfire.
This game was turning into a slaughter as the Miracles abused their powers in the field. It was now five against nine. The only mercy was that just four of them had powers left to use.
Red Hood whipped another ball at Caprikid and he was out. Bluebird threw one at Ladybug, and Pegasus took the hit for her. Her team automatically moved to guard her. It was heroic in the field. It was also incredibly foolish.
He could use this. He risked turning and making a few hand signals to his family, signaling to focus on Ladybug. It was dirty, but he could use it. They all hoarded balls as much as they could, stashing them at their feet, until Team Miracle had none.
As one, they all began throwing balls. Carapace and Bunnyx fell to his and Nightwing’s volleys. Purple Tigress had grabbed the ball that she lunged in front of, and whipped it back at Spoiler, using her power to whip it harder so Spoiler didn’t stand a chance of holding onto it if she caught it.
It was now five versus four.
They all loaded up with another ball, and primed themselves to all aim at Ladybug again. This time, however, Ryuuko turned into the wind, and whipped back their balls at them. Bluebird was out. Three of the four balls had gone straight for them.
In anger, Damian chucked his last ball out and hit Tigress, who had been grabbing a ball. Red Hood went face to face with Ryuuko. Nightwing was facing off against Chat Noir, flipping and throwing at bizarre angles. That left Damian and Ladybug… but Polymouse was still missing. Had someone gotten her out when he hadn’t been looking? He scanned the sidelines, but it cost him. Ladybug had taken his distraction and kicked a ball at Red Hood when he hadn’t been expecting it. In retaliation, Damian threw his ball at Ryuuko. He managed to catch her shoulder as she attempted to dodge.
It was now Ladybug and Chat Noir versus Robin and Nightwing. Polymouse was still missing. Damian started to get paranoid. Where was the mouse? Nightwing and Chat were now trading balls back and forth. Their acrobatics getting more ridiculous the more time went on. Eventually the two threw balls at each other at the same time, knocking each other out simultaneously.
The crowd watched as Ladybug and Robin faced off. He ducked and dodged. Ladybug flipped and spun and displayed her incredible flexibility as she bent into odd positions to avoid Robin’s projectiles.
“Yeet!” she said happily with her next throw.
He looked at her incredulously for a moment. Yeet? Really? He didn’t see a ball slowly bouncing it’s way across the field, his focus trained on Ladybug. It hit him in the foot, and he picked it up to throw it at Ladybug.
“Out!” Oracle called. He threw the ball at Ladybug, and it hit her. “Robin! You’re out!”
“What? How?” he looked around. He should have won!
“Polymouse with the winning shot!” Oracle announced to the spectators. Out from Ladybug’s hair, behind several of the abandoned balls, and from the side where the bouncing ball had come from, came Polymice. They reassembled and gave Ladybug a fist bump.
“I believe I won the bet Robin,” Ladybug smirked.
He glared at her. “You cheated is what you did.”
“Aww poor pretty birdie,” she cooed at him teasingly.
Everyone expected Robin to lash out. Instead, he turned a subtle shade of pink. Robin was blushing?
“You owe me my reward, bird boy.”
“Tt, fine. Are you sure this is how you want to do this?” he asked, one last time, hoping for mercy.
“Definitely.”
He took two steps into her personal space. Everyone braced themselves for him to hit her. His hand went up to her neck at the back of her head. Red Hood grabbed one of his guns and trained it on Robin. He didn’t care how pissed off Damian got. He didn’t care the other team cheated. You don’t hurt a girl for no reason.
Jason almost dropped his gun as he watched Damian pull Marinette into him by that grip on the back of her neck, another hand moving to her hip. Her arms wrapped around his neck. He dipped her down dramatically and leaned in to kiss her. Several gasps could be heard on both sides of the court.
Jason wanted to gag.
“They’re dating?” Tim asked quietly. How had they missed it? Was it new? Had they been hiding it?
Most of them missed when Damian broke the kiss and said “New rules. No powers this time.”
“Fine, but when I win again, you’re taking me to Milan for the next Fashion Week.”
“When I win, we’re going to the animal sanctuary outside of Shanghai.”
“You’re on.” They both ran out onto the court and began whipping balls at one another.
Shit – They already started! Everyone ran out onto the field to start the next game. Fairly this time.