Chapter 5: Superboy

The cold night wind blew against them as Ladybug and Robin sat in a comfortable silence as they watched the moon illuminate the streets of Gotham. Although, Robin occasionally stole glances at Ladybug's face. She looked so frightened before. Just what had that cat done to her?

"So." he broke the silence, "The cat."

Ladybug lifted her gaze from the streets and stopped stroking the dashing red fur of the dragon bat behind her, her smile dropping. A pained look morphed in her eyes but it was gone as soon as it came, almost as if it were never there. Should she trust him? Should she not?

She cleared her throat and with a neutral expression replied, "What about him?"

He held her gaze, "Did-did he do something to you?"

The pained look returned and this time it didn't leave as her eyes began to well with tears. "Woah, woah. I'm so sorry! Don't cry." He went to rub her back but paused; it wouldn't be appropriate with their.. complicated.. relationship. "Why are you comforting me?" he looked at the girl, tears streaming down her face, was it possible to be so attracted to her that even her in tears made his heart thump? She continued, "D-Don't you hate me?" His eyebrows furrowed. How could she think that? I mean sure he was always moody and didn't speak to her much only and sure he'd sent her mixed signa- oh.

"Ma-Ladybug. I don't hate you. And even if I did, even I'm not cruel enough to leave you as you are." She sobbed as she breathed out "thank you". Key word, 'breathed'. He wondered how else he could get her to make noises like that. Woah! WOAH! Bad Damian!!!

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"No. It's okay. It's better to get it off my chest." she wiped a year away, "Besides...I trust you."

His eyes widened slightly. She trusted him? They'd only known each other for a few weeks and she already trusted him despite the fact that the only part of him she'd seen do far was his bad side. A tiny spark went off in his heart and the edge of his lip slightly twisted up. Trust. What a great word.

"It began a while after he..changed." he listened as she told the story. "-then when I-l'd finally had enough and went to confront him about it during patrol, his eyes. They darkened, it was like he wasn't even there anymore. And," she hiccuped, "And he jumped me." She stopped. He waited for her to carry on but when he found that she wasn't content on revealing anymore, he hesitated before he asked, "A-Are you still a-" Her face erupted in red and she waked her arms frantically as she responded, "O-Of course! The suits. They protect us." He nodded. A quick thought slid by in his brain "maybe I could be her first" but he shook it off quickly. This was not the time nor the place. "Although.", she carried on, "He did take my first kiss.", she gently touched her lips, "I was hoping to save it for someone special but..."

"You must've been so scared."

"I think we've already established that." she joked. He burst out laughing. Her eyes widened, this was the first time she'd ever heard him laugh. She giggled. He chuckled. Very soon, they were a giggling mess in the roof - all their troubles forgotten. At this moment, it was just Robin and Ladybug. Oh and of course Goliath as well.

However, it was all disrupted by the beeping of her Miraculous. "Looks like it's the to go home." As if by instinct, she held out her fist and as if she'd just won a triumphant victory, yelled out "pound it!" Robin looked at her fist then back at her before she blushed as she realised her mistake, "Ah-um sorry, we'd always do that after our Miraculous beeped after we'd won a battle. By 'we' he assumed he meant her and Chat. He chuckled at the girl and met her fist with his. "Pound it." She grinned as she shouted "Bug out!" and with a flick of her yoyo, was off back to the manor.

-&-

At breakfast the next day, their usual arguments were now friendly banter. The bat boys watched in surprise. When did they start getting along? Even Alfred seemed somewhat taken aback. After all, Damian was never this friendly to people! Like never! Did an alien abduct his brother and place a fake one in his place? He was soon proven wrong as Damian sent him a glare when he caught him looking at them.

-&-

Later that day, they started talking business as they all met in the bat cave in their costumes. They'd abandoned any thought of  the Justice League helping, so maybe the Titans wouldn't mind lending a hand. I mean, they had an alien princess, a cyborg, a human-demon hybrid and shapeshifter. They definitely wouldn't find the fact that there were magical jewels that could change people into superheroes strange. Right? They still didn't know where the Execrable currently was.

"Maybe it's not even here at all." Nightwing suggested, "Maybe one day, it'll just come out of nowhere and start destroying things."

"Or maybe it'll start off as something small like it getting too windy and then gradually grow." Robin interjected.

"Ladybug do you have any ideas?"

Robin's eyes were so beautiful. "Ladybug?" Everytime they met hers, her heart skipped a beat. "Ladybug?" His dashingly adorable emeralds always dug deep into her soul as if he could read her every thought and action. "Ladybug!" A hand waved in front of her face causing her to jump "Huh? What"

Robin snickered.

"We were talking about where the End might be and what it's first move might be."

She cleared her throat and composed herself, shooing off the blush threatening to attack her cheeks as she put on her game face. This was no time for her brain to be dozing off! Besides she doubted he even like her like that. His kindness the night before was probably just pity. Yeah, nothing more.

"We can't really anticipate it's movements. We don't even know what we're dealing with at the moment. However, if it's as bad as a monster that almost destroyed Paris and sent the last Guardian Temple into ruins, then we know that's it's bad." Emphasis on 'bad'.

Batman grumbled under his breath and rubbed he bridge of his nose. "So all we can do is wait until it hits us?" Red hood exclaimed from the other side of the room.

Ladybug looked at him and as she slightly nodded, his shoulders slumped.

All of a sudden, Alfred piped in, "If I may intervene." they all nodded. "When I and the current Guardian first encountered the beast, some changes to the environment occured per day." He paused for effect. "There was an extremely strong gale that started out small, however grew in a matter of minutes." Nightwing grinned. "And the ground shook. Then, the air grew thick and heavy." He paused again."Everything collided one day." Robin nodded curtly as if to say "I told you so".

Then everything clicked. "So all we have to do is wait for the signs." Ladybug frowned. Every day they spent waiting for something to happen was another day her poor kitty suffered. "What's wrong?" Red robin asked as he saw her face drop. She look up and plastered a smile on her face, "It's nothing." His gaze lingered longer. As one of the best detectives in the whole of America, he knew it wasn't anything, however chose to keep quiet. If she wanted to tell him, she would.

"So what do we do now?" Ladybug asked the boys.

Red hood smirked. "Well. First thing's first, you need to build up your indurance. You can't always rely on magic to get the job done." he indicated to the door, "Off to the gym."

-&-

"No slouching!" Jason shouted at the girl running on the treadmill. Marinette huffed and puffed and wiped away the sweat rolling down her neck and onto her grey hoodie. She'd been running for over half an hour on maximum speed and she her leggings, soaked in sweat, stuck to her like glue.

"Don't break her." Damian called from the other side of the room as he lifted weights.

Just as he said that, she slipped and was sent flying off. Damian was at her side in seconds. "I'm fine." she laughed out as she rubbed her back. Jason tutted, "Nettie! You're going to have to work harder than that!" "Nettie?" Damian and Marinette asked in unison. "That was so creepy. Please don't do that again." Jason answered.

"Do what?" they asked. Jason shivered. Marinette burst out laughing as she stood to  drink some water from her bottle. Damian also laughed and watched her full it down; some drops escaping and rolling down. His cheeks tinted pink. Jason snorted as he watched his younger brother but composed himself when the baby bird sent a glare his way.

"I think that's enough for today." Damian said.

"How is that enough!" Jason moaned, "She's only done like 20 pushups, 30 sit-ups and been on the treadmill for like half an hour!"

Damian sent another glare his way and answered, "You've got to remember that she's a girl."

Jason sighed, "Fine, but you missy," he pointed to Marinette, "are going to be doing twice the amount of pushups and sit-ups next time! Tomorrow you have agility with Tim."

As he watched the two young adults leave, he sighed and softly smiled. Then his face dropped. Marinette would only be here until the battle was over. She would have to leave them eventually.... Meh! They could just take their private plane to Paris whenever they wanted to talk to her or use a Zeta-tube. But still, he'd miss her.

-&-

When Alfred came knocking on Damian's door telling him that he had a guest, he knew that it could only be one person.

"Damian!" Jon came running into his bedroom and leaped into the bed with a wide grin on his face. Damian muttered under his breath and let out a sigh as he watched the man who's curious blue eyes scouted the room.

"What are you looking for?"

"Where is she?"

"Don't answer my question with another question."

"Whatever. So where is she!"

"Where is who?"

"That bug hero my dad was talking about. The one from France."

Damian's eyes narrowed, "Why do you want to see her?"

"Don't give me that look! I'm just curious is all. Wouldn't you be curious if you were told that this bug hero from France was spouting on about Gods and this evil darkness threatening to end the world starting with America?"

"No. I'm not as rude as you people. I didn't laugh in her face when she told me all of this. In this day and age, the most ridiculous things could be the thing that ends us all."

"Ah, but you can't deny that if you hadn't met her before you were told all of this, some part of you would've turned a blind eye and thought this was all just a part of some story or prank."

"..."

"Especially with that costume of hers."

"What's wrong with my costume."

The boys jumped as a voice came from the doorway. There in all her glory stood the girl herself. Marinette walked over to the men closing the door behind her. "Uh. Nothing." Jon replied.

Marinette rolled her eyes and closed the door behind her then went to join them on the bed. "Do you play Ultimate Mecha Strike III?"

Jon grinned. "Of course."

-&-

"Darn! Why are you so good!" Jon grumbled as he threw his controller out the window.

"You're going to pay for that." Damian's face ranging from utter annoyance to victory and annoyance again as him and Marinette fought; Marinette her signature Ladybug and Damian as Chat Blanc.

"I know." Jon sighed as he watched the two fight. "Marinette! Kick his ass!"

And that she did.

"You're just too good for your own good. But one day, I WILL beat you." Damian grumbled as he threw his controller out another window.

"You're gonna pay for that." Jon sang out, Damian rewarded him with a death stare that could kill.

Marinette smiled smugly until her face morphed into annoyance. "So what was that about my suit?"

If this were an anime, you would've seen a drop roll down Jon's face as he stuttered, 'W-well you see it's a bit... childish."

Marinette also rewarded him with a death stare of her own.

Before she could get a word in, Damian piped in, "It's kind of true." the attention was now directed at him. "I mean you jump around in such an obnoxiously bright red, anyone could see you from a mile away! Besides, a ladybug?"

"Says the walking, talking traffic light." Marinette quipped, "You're not one to talk to me about obnoxiously bright costumes mister! You run around in red, yellow and green."

"At least he doesn't have multiple targets scattered around his body." Jon'd now thrown away his nervous attire and now wore one of confidence as he joined the conversation.

"Sorry to say supes, but the ridiculously massive 'S' on your chest doesn't stand for Superboy, it stands for schlong." Damian calmly whipped back.

At this, Marinette burst out laughing. Damian's eyes sparked with amusement, although his mouth remained in a straight line. And Jon's face twisted as he rolled his eyes at the insult.

"So...these Akuma things, they're real right?"

The laughing stopped immediately. "Y-You believe me?"

"Of course! I would never have believed you with that ridiculous ladybug persona, however, I know that Damian here never lies. And when he does, it's only for a good reason. I doubt magical butterflies and temporary human-gods are anything he would lie about."

It was at this moment, Damian felt true respect for his friend.

A wave of relief washed over Marinette as she explained everything that was going on. Another partner to add to the list. No matter how powerful the Execrable was, it would definitely not get past all of them combined!

Or so she thought at the time.

-&-

As Dick breathed in the air, he was hit straight in the face. He opened his eyes in shock and ripped off the thing; a newspaper. Suddenly, he felt a chill. Then a leaf flew into him. Then another. And another. And another. He grumbled as he stood up from his chair to be met with the sight of the trees swaying and items flying around. Although it was small, he knew something was up. It was never this windy in Gotham. Then it clicked. "Shit."

He ran inside the house.