Chapter Text
Content Warning: While this story is mostly fluffy, there are a few dark elements mentioned or alluded to, including child abuse, death of a child, and basically everything else the Joker does. This is mostly due to many Batfamily members having tragedy as background elements, but I felt a warning was warranted just in case.
Private Jet, Mid-Atlantic
Marinette squirmed, trying once again to settle into her plush leather seat. It wasn't the chair's fault really, if anything it was ludicrously comfortable, but rather her inner turmoil making her fidgety.
In her opinion you could hardly blame her; her life has changed so drastically and rapidly in the last three weeks that she had whiplash just trying to keep up. Everything had been a steady cycle before then, a terrible cycle but a consistent one. Wake up, endure school, fight Akuma, sneak back to bed, and go to sleep. Granted there had been a slight change to that last part since
Maman and Papa
Tom and Sabine had thrown her out six months ago.
She hadn’t been close with her foster parents as long as she could remember, but their relationship took a sharp nosedive after Lila Rossi walked into her life. Honestly the thing that infuriated her the most about Lila’s lies wasn’t the girl herself, but rather the sheer idiocy the majority of people in her life displayed in believing them without any investigation. Well, she shouldn’t be terribly surprised her former parents didn’t bother to look into Lila’s claims carefully, they’d grown bored of having a child fairly soon after they got her but found they were stuck with her. If anything, Marinette suspected they were glad Lila gave them a somewhat socially acceptable excuse to be rid of her.
She did her best not to feel hurt by their callous disregard, but sue her, she was thirteen and being tossed aside by the only parents you’ve ever known, however inadequate, hurt. However, emotional turmoil aside, being kicked out presented an even more immediate practical problem; it was going to be much harder to moonlight as Lady Noire while living in a group home.
So, considering the safety of Paris rested on her back, she’d absconded from the home the first evening and had been stealthily staying with the last friend she had, Chloe. Luckily Chloe’s father was rarely home, so she was able to sneak in and stay with her friend at night. If anything, her vagabond lifestyle had been a relief, as she no longer had to see Lila and her cronies everyday.
It was funny to think that a year ago she thought of Chloe as an enemy, and Alya as a friend, but time had shown the reverse to be the truth. Chloe had a tough exterior but a loyal heart, whilst Alya was nice but apparently incredibly fickle and oh so stupid. It boggled Marinette’s mind that Alya bought into Lila’s claims of friendship with Bugboy and Lady Noire, when Alya had met both heroes herself.
Oh yeah, that was another thing she wouldn’t have expected a year ago, being a superhero. She still remembered the day, a little after her twelfth birthday, when Master Fu presented her with the Cat Miraculous and named her the avatar of destruction. She’d been a bit depressed about that at first, but had come to realize that destruction was a necessary part of balancing the cosmos. Creation unchecked was rot, choking weeds, cancer. Plus, Plagg was adorable once you got to know him.
In general she enjoyed her life as Lady Noire; she felt like she was doing actual good for the people of Paris in a way she couldn’t in her civilian life, plus something about leaping across rooftops in the night just felt right to her. The only problem that arose was her partner, Bugboy, AKA Adrien.
She didn’t think Adrien was a bad person necessarily, but the attitude he had, treating everything like a game, irked her to no end in the field. She suspected that having a reset button on hand for the worst of the Akuma’s damage had given him a dangerous habit of acting sloppy. This was exemplified by his total willingness to just fight Akuma after Akuma without making any serious effort to track down the source, Hawkmoth.
Then again, she shouldn’t be surprised by his lack of prowess as a detective. She was still embarrassed over the month she spent thinking they’d both deduced the other’s identity only to realize he wasn’t just playing dumb. Still, even if he had been a semi-reliable partner over the last year in costume, when she discovered five weeks ago that Hawkmoth was in fact Adrien’s father, she wasn’t confident she could rely on him to fight him.
So, with Chloe’s assistance, she had done something a little crazy, and finally managed to call in outside help. They’d tried before, but between the Peacock Miraculous mystically deflecting attention from the city, and the bribes paid to keep the Akuma’s out of the media, they’d had a hard time of it. The Justice League didn’t exactly have a public direct line, and she imagined without proof, a call from a preteen about crazy monsters in Paris probably just got tossed in the pile of crank calls.
After consulting with Fu, she realized that the Peacock’s power of misdirection only applied to the Miraculous and their effects; so, she would need to create an event totally separate from Lady Noire, or the Akumas that would draw the attention of a Leaguer, and, well, only one Leaguer had a publicly known signal. She’d cashed in her favor with Jagged Stone (who she actually knew, Lila!) and set up a veritable laser bank of powerful spotlights one foggy night, and cast a massive Batsignal across the sky of Paris.
While she was hopeful her scheme would at least get the Justice League to start seriously investigating Paris, she was not expecting an ice wielding Akuma to be knocked out with a batarang and trussed up in the Lasso of Truth the very next day. She was overjoyed to have the assistance of both Wonder Woman and the Batman, even if Adrien had petulantly shuffled off, upset at being ‘upstaged’.
To say dealing with the foreign heroes, both of whom spoke excellent French, was a breath of fresh air would be an understatement. After the trouble she’d had with her teachers, the mayor, and Tom and Sabine, it was refreshing to have adults who actually heard her out and believed her. She quickly outlined the battles they’d been facing through the last year, along with her evidence that Gabriel Argeste was behind it all.
For their part Wonder Woman explained that after seeing the Bat Signal, she accompanied Batman due to her familiarity with the city. They planned to stay and help her tackle Argeste, while another leaguer, Zatanna, worked on bringing down the magic that isolated Paris from the rest of the world.
Well long story short, by the end of the week Lady Noire and the two Leaguers had arrested Gabriel Argeste, along with a small horde of accomplices. Adrien hadn’t joined in the final battle, Batman agreed with Marinette’s assessment that he would likely be too compromised. Fu had collected the stolen Miraculouses and Wonder Woman’s mother, a former wielder of the Miraculous, had offered Themyscira as a more secure location to keep them.
Well, most of them, as true avatars of destruction and creation, Lady Noire and Bugboy would both keep theirs until they passed. Marinette was low key ecstatic about that, even without constant Akuma attacks, being Lady Noire made her feel like she had a purpose, like she was useful. Plus after her civilian life had turned into a veritable disaster zone, she spent more time in costume than out of it. She fully intended to continue to use her abilities to fight conventional crime in Paris, while staying one step ahead of child services until she came of age.
However the day of the final battle with Hawkmoth brought two major snags to that plan. Firstly, apparently Batman had trailed her back from their first meeting and investigated her situation. Apparently he wasn’t happy with her plan and insisted that after the battle he would help her find a better living situation. Luckily for her, the man wasn’t called the world’s greatest detective for nothing, he’d actually investigated the reason she was thrown out of the Dupain-Cheng household in the first place and discovered how easily her former guardians had allowed themselves to be manipulated by Rossi. So she wouldn’t be being tossed into a state home for troubled youth at least.
The second snag happened during the final battle itself; Hawkmoth had overloaded his powers and akumatized dozens of people at once to serve as his troops. Included amongst their number was an Akuma upset at his biological mother, called Bloodson, who channeled a lightning that when it struck a person would also hurt all of their direct blood relations. Mainette had taken point on him, figuring at least no one else would be hurt if she got tagged by the Akuma, only to be shocked when the Dark Knight doubled over in pain the instant the lightning hit her torso.
At the time they’d just shared a look but after the battle Batman sat her down for the most awkward talk of her life. They’d done a rushed paternity test to confirm what the magic had revealed and once it was confirmed, Batman revealed himself to be billionaire Bruce Wayne, the man who was apparently her biological father. She’d wanted to be angry at him, for abandoning her, for leaving her to grow up with the absent and withholding Dupain-Chengs, but mostly she just felt lost and overwhelmed. It almost hurt how nice Bruce was to her, because if he was that nice, where was he her entire life?
Still, she liked to think she was a level headed person, so she tried to remain calm and hear him out as they sat awkwardly on the roof of a Paris bookstore. Besides, even with her enhanced abilities, she doubted she could outrun the Batman. Bruce explained that the DNA results showed that her mother was someone named Talia Al Guhl, and that based on her DNA and her age she had a twin brother, Damian. Apparently her mom, who was already in the running to overtake Sabine for worst mother in Marinette’s life, had kept her pregnancy secret from Bruce and he’d only found out about and gotten custody of Damian three years ago. Marinette was privately not that upset that Bloodson’s attack had likely hurt her as well.
Marinette suspected there was a larger story there, but conceded that if her mother had concealed one child she may have concealed another. Although, it did little to explain why she’d been left in Paris, rather than raised by Talia like Damian apparently was. It still left her feeling pretty abandoned, even if it hadn’t been intentional on Bruce’s part. That was probably why she’d been so shocked when Bruce invited her to come live with him; it had been a long time in her life since she felt wanted by someone. She’d always felt more like a burden to Tom and Sabine, something they had gotten saddled with rather than someone loved.
For all she knew Bruce was only making the offer to avoid a scandal; that seemed like a billionaire type thing. However, after the ruinous year she’d had, the prospect of leaving Paris actually held a lot of appeal. Plus Batman had been nothing but helpful since he’d shown up in Paris, and maybe he’d be similar as Bruce.
So, that’s how she’d found herself three weeks later sitting across from Bruce Wayne, on his private jet, making their way to the States. She was a bit amazed, and a little scared, how fast the Wayne lawyers were able to both shut down the juvenile charges against her and win custody for Bruce. Her departure had been bittersweet, there was a lot about her old home she wouldn’t miss, but it was her home and the place she’d defended all the same. She’d especially miss Chloe, who’d been the only one to come and see her off. They’d agreed to stay in contact constantly but it didn’t change the fact she was basically leaving her only friend in the world behind for an unknown country.
“Nervous about flying” Bruce’s voice cut through her ruminations. She looked up to see blue eyes shining with awkward concern; neither of them really knew how to act with each other yet. They’d gone from strangers, to allies, to apparently father and daughter in very rapid succession.
“Uh, not really, I haven’t really flown before but it’s nice so far.” Marinette answered a bit lamely “I guess I’m just stressing about the new country is all. My English isn’t perfect, and it's just a big change…” she trailed off guiltily. Bruce was taking her in, she didn’t want to act ungrateful or cause trouble right away. Kids who caused a bother weren’t wanted for long.
She felt a comforting hand on her shoulder as Bruce leaned forward to lock eyes with her. “It’s okay to be nervous, Marinette. I realize this is a massive change for you and you haven’t had the best experiences with family, but I promise you it’s going to be okay. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to be there for you for the first thirteen years.” Bruce’s eyes were wet and Marinette just felt bad for making the man feel guilty. Bruce continued “Gotham can be a new start, and I promise you your new family is going to be nothing like your old one.”
Family, that’s right she wasn’t an only child anymore, she had a brother apparently. It’d be odd going from being a single child to one of a pair but she was eager to meet the twin she’d never known. Maybe Bruce was right, maybe the three of them could have a better kind of family. Maybe.
“What’s he like?” She blurted out as Bruce leaned back into his own chair.
“Who?”
“My brother.”
“Which one?”
Which one? There was more than one? She hadn’t thought about it, but it was totally possible that Bruce had other children besides her and Damian, maybe even a spouse. She really should have borrowed Chloe’s computer to google Bruce before they left. Marinette gulped slightly at that thought; Bruce seemed to like her okay, but a wife and kids might see her as an interloper or worse an unwanted reminder of a past infidelity.
“Uh, I meant Damian but now that you mention it, how many children do you have, sir?”
She took a deep breath, she could do this. Just be polite and stay out of the way, besides if Bruce already had two or three kids maybe it would make it less awkward to add a new young person to the house.
Bruce smiled slightly as he replied “You make it an even twelve.”
Marinette promptly did an honest to kwami spit take.
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Earlier, Wayne Manor, Gotham
Stephanie Wayne was nervous as she scurried into the family living room. Her mom had called a family meeting that afternoon via the Batfamily group text which was already unusual; usually if she had an announcement, she’d just wait to tell everyone at a family dinner. What made it especially odd was that it wasn’t just for the family that lived in the manor, Dick, Jason, Barbara and all of her aunts and cousins had been called in too.
The main source of the worry that threatened to make her toss her morning waffles as they churned her stomach, was that her dad was gone on an international league mission. Now, her dad was tough as nails, he was the goddamn Batman, but the tiny voice in her head that whispered that things were too good to be true ever since she’d been adopted was insistent that the other shoe was going to drop. The voice sounded a lot like her biological father, the Cluemaster, and she’d worked hard in therapy to tell herself that she did deserve good things in life but sometimes it could creep in. Like today.
So Steph curled up on the couch and snuggled into Cass’s, her sister’s side for comfort. Cass slung her arm over Stephanie and patted her gently. Then again, Cass was gentle in everything she did when she wasn’t on the job. In Stephanie’s opinion she was all the way up at number four when it came to giving hugs, only trailing her parents and Dick. Cass gently sitting with her when she’d woken up with nightmares a few weeks after moving into the manor had been what let her realize she finally had a home.
She knew she was being silly, if something had gone sideways on the mission her mom and probably some of her siblings would have already rushed in to help, but the rumbling in her stomach remained as the family slowly shuffled into the large room one by one. Tim joined his other two triplets, none of them were biologically related but they were all 16 and born in the same month, so the nickname stuck, on the couch, nursing his usual thermos of coffee. He gave Steph a quick fist bump before pulling out his tablet, likely to review whatever case he was currently working on. Tim had been Steph’s best friend even before he was her brother and always had a calming effect on her.
Barbara wheeled in next, chatting with Dinah. Black Canary had been added to the family chat after Barbara proposed the previous month. The other blonde was clearly still a bit nervous about being included in Wayne family business, so Steph shot her a friendly smile; pretty much every member of the family had felt like an outsider at first, so they went out of their way to make sure the others felt included.
Her younger sister Harper plopped down on the other side of Cass. The blue headed girl busily tapped away on her Switch; she was determined to finally beat Duke the next time the family had a smash tourney.
Speaking of Duke, he was next, the only one besides Helena who was really fully awake at noon on a Saturday, since he was used to taking the day shift. His nose was deep in a book, likely lent to him by Jason, as he snagged one of the armchairs. Jason himself, clad in his usual leather jacket, was quick on his heels, and, even though he tried to mask it with indifference, Steph could tell he was nervous too. They were both from the rough side of Gotham, they knew to expect bad news.
Damian strolled in next with Alfred, cat edition, looking like the littlest Bond villain as he imperiously petted the cat. Damian had softened a lot in the last three years, he’d gone from the bane of Steph’s, and really most of the family minus Dick’s, existence to an adorable kid she was proud to call her brother.
Steph heard the door ring along with the distant reprimand as Carrie beat Alfred, butler edition, to answer it. Moments later her red haired little sister came barreling into the room, dragging her Aunt Kate behind her. Auntie Diana was on the same mission as Steph’s dad, so presumably wouldn’t be joining them. Her cousins, Donna, Bette, and Sandra (Technically they weren’t first cousins since Kate was Bruce’s cousin rather than his sister, but they considered them as such) followed after, apparently deep in conversation, debating who would win the upcoming Grand Chariot Race. Through their connection to Auntie Diana, the female members of the family were semi-frequent visitors to Themyscira, and some of them had become avid followers of Amazon sporting events.
Kate and her children were followed shortly thereafter by both of Stephanie’s honorary aunts, Harley and Ivy, and the two reformed villains grabbed the loveseat by the fire. While both women had become close with Catwoman in their costumed identities, both had actually been close friends of Bruce’s when he’d briefly attended medical school. Their fall to madness, driven by the Joker and Jason Woodrue respectively, had hurt Bruce exceptionally badly. Luckily, five years ago Bruce, with the assistance of Mr. Terrific and Clark and Kara’s kryptonian technology, had developed cures for their serum induced mania. The recovery period had been trying but both women had turned to heroism and become de facto parts of the family since.
Her mom, Selina, dressed to the nines as usual, wearing a sleek red summer dress and white heels, arrived, looking at the slim golden watch on her wrist impatiently. With Alfred looking after Helena upstairs, they were only missing the perennially late Dick to begin. After fifteen minutes, her mom looked on the edge of just starting without them, when the grandfather clock swung open and Dick Grayson-Wayne, in civilian clothes but still wearing his Nightwing mask, burst into the room.
“Sorry, sorry, I thought it was a different sort of meeting.” Dick trailed off as he took in his mother’s irate glare and tried to ignore Harley and Jason’s stifled laughter.
“I did say a Wayne meeting, not a Bat meeting, kitten” Selina Kyle-Wayne purred lowly. She wasn’t seriously mad at her first born, well first adopted, but he was such an easy kitten to tease.
“Sorry Ma, I just read it really fast and then I was driving-”
“Shh, shut up and sit down Big Bird” Jason cut off his older brother’s stammering and pulled him onto a couch by the back of his jacket. Damian tsked and swiftly reached over to remove Dick’s mask.
Selina sighed before turning to address her family, a slight smile on her face. If you’d told a younger Selina, living rough on the streets of Gotham, that she’d have such a large family she’d have told you to fuck off. Also probably would have robbed you. “Alright, first off, the Bat’s fine. He and Diana wrapped up the Paris mission last night. No need to give yourself more white hairs dear.” Selina teased Jason, who huffed but relaxed slightly.
“But something unusual did happen in Paris, I’m assuming?” Tim inquired, ever the detective.
“You could say that,” Selina smirked. “Something arose that required your father to operate in Paris as Bruce, so he’ll need to return via conventional travel rather than Zeta.”
“Huh, I wondered why he had me spoof flight logs of him arriving in Paris” Barbara Gordon-Wayne murmured. The first Batgirl had been adopted by Bruce and Selina at fifteen when the Joker had crippled her and killed Jim Gordon in an abandoned amusement park. It was part of the Joker’s final spree, which also included the attempted murder of Jason, the second Robin, in Africa. Jason had ended up in a three month coma, Barbara had ended up in a wheelchair, and Joker had ended up getting the death penalty in Qurac when he used his position as their ambassador to try and poison the United Nations.
“Did we really need a formal family meeting just to update us on father’s travel plans?” Damian asked.
“No, the long version is a bit complicated and involves some hocus pocus keeping Paris out of the news, but the short version is we all need to prepare for Vicki Vale to crack open the Cheaper by the Dozen jokes” Selina grinned as she watched understanding dawned across the faces of her children.
“Yeah that tracks.” Tim deadpanned, while Duke begrudgingly handed a twenty dollar bill over to a triumphant Cass. Jason groaned into his hands and Harley cackled. Dick’s smile was radiant; he absolutely loved being a big brother and was doubtless already planning to entice their newest member into countless bonding activities. For her part Steph relaxed; nothing was wrong with her dad, he was just doing what he always did, impulsively adopting orphans.
After the clamor died down, Selina took a seat herself before continuing. “The girl’s name is Marinette; she’s been living rough for the last six months after her foster parents threw her out, apparently,” Selina’s eyes darkened when she referred to Marinette’s previous guardians. “and also coincidentally is the vigilante who set off the giant Bat Signal.”
There were some collective grimaces at Marinette’s living situation. With the exceptions of Dick, Barbara and Duke, pretty much none of the Bats came from a good home life prior to becoming a Wayne.
“Any reason given for casting her out?” Kate inquired in a low voice.
“None Bruce found satisfactory,” Selina answered grimly. “Evidence suggests they were looking for an excuse to be rid of her and leapt when even the flimsiest one appeared. She’s likely to be fairly fragile, but also a bit prickly from taking care of herself. I’ll trust everyone to bear that in mind.” The various members of the Batfamily all murmured their agreement; several of them had been street kids and knew you had to be patient with getting them to open up. More to the point, pretty much all of them had gone through the darkest times of their lives before Bruce and Selina appeared, so they were uniquely suited to sympathize with Marinette.
“As interesting as all this is,” Damian drawled as he got up to leave, “Father’s penchant for collecting strays is by no means news. I’ll make my judgment on the Parisian’s worthiness to bear our family name upon her arrival.”
Selina had to suppress a smirk, “that actually touches on the other piece of news. Damian, you recall the mysterious electric attack that hit you during patrol a few days ago?”
Damian’s brows furrowed. “Yes, unfortunately my investigation into that has been … less than fruitful.” In truth the youngest vigilante had been driving himself nuts trying to figure out what hit him. He’d been casing the Iceberg Lounge at the time and initially thought the Penguin must have somehow discerned his surveillance setup, but that had proven not to be the case. The attack had been momentarily painful but not debilitating, however his inability to discern its source was disconcerting. He glared slightly at Harper, since he wasn’t totally convinced his sister hadn’t tased him for a prank. After all it took a Bat to trick a Bat.
“Yes well, it seems your father stumbled on the reason for it,” Selina began. Stephanie and Tim both leaned forward in interest, curious what Bruce could have discovered an ocean away. “During the fight in Paris, they encountered an enhanced combatant who’s ability allowed his attacks to simultaneously harm all close blood relatives of the initial target.”
Duke rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “that would explain why Helena woke up crying the same night, I’m guessing Pops got hit during the battle?” Duke’s adoption had been a somewhat more mixed experience for him than his siblings, principally because his birth parents weren’t evil or dead, rather they were in Fear Gas induced comas. For that reason he referred to Bruce and Selina as Pops and Mama, reserving Dad and Mom for his comatose parents. Damian nodded resolutely, pleased to have an answer for the mystery that had been troubling him, and turned to leave.
Selina grinned as she anticipated the reaction. “Actually it was Marinette who was hit, hurting Bruce via the blood connection. A subsequent DNA test was conducted to confirm it and the evidence suggests that she’s Damian’s twin.”
Jason could no longer hold in his laughter and he was soon loudly guffawing, with Harley and Bette giggling along. “Ras and Talia are probably tearing their hair out, trying to figure out who zapped them,” Tim muttered to Cass, Harper and Steph, setting them off chuckling as well. In truth most of the Batfamily were sporting grins; while he’d come a long way since then, they could all recall the days of Damian proudly proclaiming himself the only true Bloodson of the Bat. For his part, Damian instead froze motionless mid-step-
Damian.exe has crashed.
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A few hours after the family meeting, Harper Wayne was stretched out on her bed, typing away on her laptop. She was reviewing the details of the Paris situation, so she could have a better understanding of where her new sister came from. She’d have to brush up on her French as well. When she’d first moved in Harper’s room had been a triumph of the Manor’s mid century design, lovingly tended by Alfred, but now was undeniably hers. Classic Doctor Who and punk rock posters adorned the walls, and the color scheme was a mix of purple and electric blue. Her desk had a powerful gaming rig and various lego models sat atop nearly every piece of furniture.
Harper couldn’t help but be a little excited about their impending new sibling. For one, it would mean she wouldn’t be the newest member of the family any more. She wasn’t the youngest, but the fourteen year old had only been adopted a little over a year ago, and she still sometimes felt out of place with the Wayne Clan. She’d thought at first that she’d get lost in the shuffle of the giant family, that Bruce was merely adopting her to facilitate taking her on as a sidekick. Nothing could have been further from reality; she was happy to dispute the idea that Batman didn’t have any superpowers. His superpower was finding time to be there for each of his kids. She still remembered fondly how surprised she was when Bruce showed up to her first robotics team competition, cheering like he was at the Superbowl.
Indeed, between Bruce, Selina and her thousand new siblings Harper had never felt so loved and cherished in her previous twelve and a half years of life. It was overwhelming at times, but usually in a good way. Selena was all she could wish for in a mother, endlessly loving but fierce as a tiger when it came to protecting her brood. Outside the mask Bruce was nothing like the demon the Batman was made out to be. He was someone who understood pain. Someone who would listen, and be a shoulder to cry on.
She’d bonded quickly with her siblings and cousins as well. She hadn’t thought she’d ever have that bond again after her birth father accidentally went too far with one of his ‘lessons’ and killed her baby brother Cullen. The pain of that never went away, but her new family, and the ability to save others from a similar fate as Bluebird, made it more bearable.
A soft rap on her door frame grabbed Harper’s attention and she looked up to see her mother peeking into her room.
“What’s up, Mom?” Harper inquired.
“I was hoping you could join Stephanie and me in a little shopping expedition to get some things for Marinette’s room,” Selina responded. “Alfred has done his usual excellent job preparing the room across from Cassandra’s but I think it could use a bit of a feminine touch,” Selina smirked as she finished her statement. Alfred’s Edwardian sense of aesthetics was well known to the Batfamily; if they didn’t help, Marinette’s room would likely look like something out of a Jane Austen novel.
“Sure! Cass isn’t coming?” Harper asked as she hopped off her bed, snagging her jacket and purse as she followed her mom out of the room. It probably wasn’t really cold enough to warrant the jacket, but it was the easiest garment to hide her Bluebird tasers in in case of emergencies.
“Your sister has a date apparently,” Selina answered bemusedly. “I think they’re attending the Metropolis Ballet for a matinee performance of Swan Lake.” Cassandra Wayne had been dating Kara Zor-El, better known as Kara Kent for the past six months. Luckily for Cass, Kara was pretty much the only Super the Batfamily universally approved of. (If only because the only other Super Damian liked was Jon.)
“Five bucks we get an impassioned rant about why Gotham has the better ballet troupe over dinner tomorrow,” Stephanie interjected as she joined them at the bottom of the grand staircase. She was wearing a light green dress paired with a light white cardigan and sunglasses. Actually all three Wayne women were donning sunglasses for their excursion; like it or not they were members of the city’s most famous family, and the sunglasses provided at least some protection against paparazzi.
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Shopping as a Wayne was an experience Stephanie couldn’t have conceptualized in her life in Burnley, one of Gotham’s many slums. She had gone from someone people pretended not to see to someone who was openly gawked at. She and Harper were with their mother at Otis's, an upscale boutique, where every customer was attended by a personal shopper and price tags could be astronomical. In truth most of the Wayne clan could care less about fashion in principle, but maintaining their cover identities necessitated keeping up certain appearances. As far as the world knew they were a bunch of rich dilettantes, and rich dilettantes dressed to a certain standard.
They weren’t planning to purchase much here; they’d need to wait for Marinette to arrive to help her buy a new wardrobe. (Selina had been furious when Bruce told her that the poor girl had lost much of her previous one when her foster parents left her with little more than the clothes on her back, and what she could pack in an overnight bag.) They’d mostly stopped in to place their orders for the next upcoming Wayne Gala while they were out. For Marinette they had purchased some comfortable linens and throw pillows, a new sewing machine and fabrics, since Bruce mentioned it was a hobby of hers, and a new set of toiletries. They didn’t want to go overboard, since doubtless the girl would want input in how she decorated the room herself.
They’d also need to get new electronics for Marinette but those would be special ordered from Waynetech, having the customary Wayne firewalls and security systems installed. While they didn’t typically do much Bat business on their civilian laptops, Bruce, Tim and Barbara would have a collective freak out if a member of the family was using an off the rack computer.
Eventually the trio made their way to The Coiled Spring, a trendy new restaurant located in the affluent Crest Hill neighborhood of Gotham. The lunch served a dual purpose, it was both incredibly delicious and located in a place that gave excellent sight lines for the main office of Olympus Enterprises. The new business was ostensibly an accounting firm, but Barbara had discovered evidence that it was actually a front for Maxie Zeus’s newest operation, laundering money from his tomb raiding and artifact trading operations. Tonight Selina and Harper would be breaking in to collect some physical evidence and try to figure out where the stolen museum pieces were being kept, so they were using their lunch as an opportunity to scout their entry points; the Bats liked to multitask.
Stephanie wouldn’t be joining them as she was currently working a human trafficking case with Jason down by the docks. While each of the vigilantes had primary areas of operations (ie Batgirl in Burnley and Red Bat in the Bowery), they made sure to vary up who worked with who and where to avoid letting the criminal element know their patterns. Despite appearances to the contrary the Bats did actually need to sleep from time to time, but they made sure to never take a consistent night off so that no one would realize when a particular Bat wasn’t in the field.
So, after finishing her crepe, she skimmed her various phone chats while Harper and Selina carried on a fake conversation, all the while noting security flaws across the street. She shot off a quick message to Young Justice, the hero team she, Cass and Tim were a part of, that they would be unavailable outside of emergencies for a few weeks. Luckily the Bat’s reputation for mysteriousness meant she didn’t have to elaborate any further.
Steph wanted to clear her schedule as much as she could for when Marinette arrived; if the girl was anything like she’d been when she first moved in, she’d need all the support she could get to get back on her feet. That said, suddenly being immersed into the wider world of superheroes could be overwhelming so they’d ease her into meeting the various teams the Bats worked with.
‘ Honestly I’m glad for the excuse to skip out on meetings for a while. Won’t have to deal with that jerk, Jaime’ Stephanie mused to herself. While she figured the team wouldn’t get much done besides goofing off, particularly since Bart and Conner would be de facto in charge, YJ had been awkward for her since she and Blue Beetle broke up. She shook her head rapidly and forced herself to think about something else. She idly wondered what Marinette’s vigilante name was, if she already had one. There was already a betting pool amongst her siblings over whether she’d be a bird or a bat with her moniker. Selina had been quite distraught at that, since she dearly wanted at least one of her children to use her cat theme. Carrie was planning to as Stray, but she wouldn’t be cleared for the field for two more years.
Stephanie's phone beeped and she smiled broadly when she saw the picture from the news alert. Zatanna had managed to break the magical bubble deflecting attention from Paris and images of Akuma fights were flooding the internet. She focused on a picture of, presumably, her new sister, clad all in black and swinging a staff down in a furious arc.
‘ Guess Mom got her wish. She’s definitely a Cat.’