Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Alone
An eight year old Marinette was walking the dark streets of Gotham. She wore a tattered oversized hoodie, frayed pants and shoes that have seen better days. She carried a full backpack on her back.
The streets around her were full of rabble, prostitutes and scoundrels.
She kept her head down and ignored each of them. She was on her way to a very specific place.
She went to the border of the city, which connects the rich district with the run-down part of the city.
She went to a huge billboard that was set up near a park.
Three of the greatest heroes of all time are featured on the poster. Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman.
She stares at the heroes' faces for a minute before angrily pulling a spray can of red paint out of her backpack. She climbs up to the poster.
She sprays with capital letters "THESE ARE THE REAL VILLAINS!"
When she was done, a policeman who was standing nearby called out, "Hey! What are you doing?!"
Marinette grabs her backpack and tossed the spray can away as she starts running away.
The policeman stopped in front of the poster to see what the girl had done. When he saw the graffiti, he ran after her furiously.
Marinette may not be particularly strong, but for her age she is very quick and smart.
She knows all the streets and alleys in Gotham.
It didn't take long before she left the cop behind in a crowd.
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A little later in an empty warehouse.
Marinette went to the upper part of the warehouse where she has her sleeping place.
She sat down on her oversized, worn sleeping bag and emptied her backpack.
Some wallets, smartphones, supplies and a laptop fell out of the backpack. She puts the food and the laptop back immediately because she wants to keep both.
She rummages through the things and takes the money out of every wallet, which in the end totaled only 70 dollars.
She sighs “What should I expect from such a broken city?” She tossed the wallets aside and examined the smartphones. When she stole the smartphones, she switched off the phones so that no one could locate the stolen devices. She says exhausted, "If I'm lucky, the smartphones will fetch a good price."
She puts the smartphones back in her backpack and takes out a burned family photo.
The picture shows a three-year-old Marinette who is being carried by her parents. However, the faces of her parents are partly burned so that they cannot be properly recognized.
She lies down on her sleeping bag and continues to look at the photo. She kisses the photo and says gently, "I love you mom and dad."
She carefully puts the photo away before falling asleep.
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A few hours later.
Marinette wakes up a few hours after falling asleep.
She heard a noise coming from the lower part of the warehouse.
She grabs her backpack, buckles it over her back and carefully walked to the edge of the upper floor and looks down.
There was a kind of handover on the lower floor.
She couldn't see any details of her position, so she climbs to a steel girder above her and crawls over the meeting.
Marinette knew the best thing to do by handover in an abandoned warehouse is to run away, especially in Gotham, but her curiosity got the better of her.
She was now right above the meeting and could see and hear a few things.
It looked like it was made up of two groups. On one side stood a man in a white doctor's smock, beard and bald head. Six armed henchmen stood behind him. He was carrying an armored suitcase that was chained to his wrist.
Across from the doctor, or whatever he was supposed to represent, stood a long, beautiful woman. She has long dark hair and was dressed in a black spandex suit. She appeared to be armed. Behind her stood two completely wrapped men who could be mistaken for ninjas. The two ninjas each carried a suitcase.
The doctor first said, “Miss Talia al Ghul, it is an honor to finally meet you. You have to know that-"
Talia interrupted when she raised a hand. "Save the words Strange. We both know why we're here. So let's jump to the end."
Strange nodded "As you wish." He places the suitcase that he is carrying on a table in front of him and says "This suitcase contains the jewel of your desire."
Talia asks, "What about the translation of the scriptures?"
Strange patted his suitcase “It's all in here. You can take anything with you. As long as the payment is correct."
Talia snaps her finger and the two men behind her open the suitcases.
At the sight of the contents of the suitcase, Marinette almost fell off the beam.
There was plenty of money in the suitcases.
"$100,000,000 as agreed," Talia says with no sign of remorse for paying so much money.
Marinette almost choked on hearing the sum. Marinette imagines all sorts of things she could do with the money.
Strange looked at the contents of the suitcases skeptically. He looks directly at Talia when he asks "Where is the sample?"
Talia replies stoic, "You won't get the sample until we've safely left the town."
Strange says angrily, “It wasn't agreed that way. I kept my end of the deal. I got you both the miraculous and translated the scriptures."
Talia replies with a sly smile, "The deal has changed."
Strange turns to his men, "If you don't give me a sample from the Lazarus pit, the deal herewith is dead."
Instead of getting angry or taking it, Talia started to grin darkly. "You should have taken the money when you had the chance." She snaps her fingers again, whereupon the two men closed the suitcases and from all corners new ninja appear.
The ninja were armed with swords and throwing stars. They started to surround Strange and his henchmen’s.
The henchmen’s try to scare the ninjas with their weapons, but it has no effect on them.
Talia says to Strange, "Give me the suitcase or my Assassins will take it by force."
Strange tries not to be afraid when he says, “This suitcase is linked to my pulse. As soon as I no longer have a pulse, the case and its contents will go up in flames.“
Talia shows no sign of stepping back. "I'm not worried about that. Miraculous are downright indestructible."
Strange had a sly smile when he replied, "But not the book."
Talia seemed a little worried, even if she didn't show it.
Talia ordered her Assassins, "Kill them, but spare Strange."
As the Assassins were about to get started, three smoke bombs came through the windows above them and enveloped the whole warehouse in an opaque cloud of smoke.
Marinette saw the men wandering beneath her from the beam.
When she heard a noise from above her, she looked up, whereupon a person dressed in black, jumps in a blur down.
Marinette was so shocked that she fell off the beam. Fortunately, she landed directly on the doctor, who falls to the ground due to the force and is knocked out.
Marinette lay for a few seconds dazed on the floor. When she sat up, she saw someone she never wanted to see. She saw Batman fighting both the henchmen‘s and the assassins.
Marinette averted her gaze from him and saw the three suitcases lying in front of her.
Marinette reaches for the two suitcases and was about to run away when her eyes wander to the armored suitcase. She thinks, 'If someone wanted to pay that much money for the suitcase, the contents must be worth even more.'
With a heavy heart she put down the suitcases, She took a bobby pin out of her hair and used it to open the chain that was attached to the suitcase.
When she held the suitcase in her hands, she saw that it had a four-digit combination lock.
She looks around in panic until her gaze lands on the unconscious doctor.
Marinette mutters to herself "Please have taken your age."
She enters what she thinks is his year of birth "1986" and with one click the lock was open. "Seriously?" She looks skeptically at the doctor when she says, "For an alleged genius, he chose a pretty simple password."
She opened the suitcase and saw a book that looked very old and a black hexagonal box with a red symbol on the lid.
Marinette didn't think twice. She took the box and the book and put them in her backpack. Then she puts something in the suitcase.
She thinks about grabbing the rest of the suitcases until she hears steps behind her. She turns around and saw how one of the assassins tries to free himself from the cloud of smoke.
Marinette left the suitcases and ran out of the warehouse as fast as she could.
A second later the assassin came out of the fog and grabs both the armored suitcase and the two suitcases of money. He shouted "I have the suitcases!"
Talia, who was busy fighting Batman, replies, "Take them away!"
Batman pushes Talia aside and was about to run after the assassin with the suitcases when five assassins get in his way.
He looks at the assassins and is already planning his next step when he notices Talia, who is running after the assassin with the suitcases.
He had no way of even thinking about chasing them when the Assassins attacked him.
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At the same time.
Marinette hasn't even stopped since she got out of the warehouse. She was afraid that the Assassins or Batman would have seen her, so she didn't dare to stop.
She didn't stop until she almost tripped over a rail.
She coughs and gasps. She breathes in and out multiple times.
When she caught her breath again, she looked around. Only now does she realize that she has run to the parking space where all trains and wagons are parked in the night.
Since she was so tired and exhausted, she decided to spend the night here.
Marinette searched for a while before she found train wagon with the door open.
Except for a few boxes and straw there was nothing in the wagon.
She climbs in. Since she didn't want to be caught in the morning, she gathers some straw and places it behind the boxes.
She hugs her backpack tightly. If she weren't so tired, she would now look to see what she has stolen, but she could hardly keep her eyes open.
She fell asleep immediately from exhaustion.
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Meanwhile in the warehouse.
Batman defeated all of Strange's henchmen‘s and the Assassins. They were all lying around on the floor, handcuffed or tied up.
Batman started interrogating everyone.
He asks everyone "What was in the suitcase?"
Both the henchmen‘s and the Assassins didn't know, which doesn't surprise Batman.
The League of Assassins has always been known to keep everything secret. Aside from the senior generals, they wouldn't even tell their own people what to get.
Just like Strange. He is an extremely careful man. He would never tell any of his henchmen’s what's in the suitcase. Fortunately, Batman wasn't one of his henchmen‘s
Batman dragged Strange to the roof of the warehouse. He held him by the collar when he asked in his usual threatening tone "What was in the suitcase?"
Strange unsuspectingly replies, "I have no idea."
Batman threw him over the roof.
"AAAAHHHHHH!!!" Strange screams as he fell, but he was pulled up at the last second with a grappling hook on his foot.
Batman held Strange upside down in his right hand, “Spit it out Hugo. What was in the suitcase and what did Talia want with it?"
“I'll take the secret with me to the grave,” replies Strange.
"As far as I'm concerned," says Batman, before letting go of him and pulling him up again at the last second.
He was holding him by the collar now.
Batman glares, he says darkly, "I won't ask again. What was in the suitcase?"
Hugo couldn't stand to be thrown down any more and says fearfully "There was a piece of jewelry in there."
“What does the League of Assassins want with a piece of jewelry? And why did they have to pay so much money for it?” Asks Batman in his anger, no anger tone.
Strange gulps “This is no ordinary piece of jewelry. Whoever holds this piece of jewelry in their hands receives a power that is out of this world. The power of destruction."
Up to a few years ago Batman didn't believe in magic, but since joining the Justice League he has known that magic really exists and that it is not to be trifled with.
He asks “What does the League want with the power of destruction? What is the purpose of Ra‘s with this power?"
Strange started to laugh despite the situation. “You have no idea what you can do with this power. With this power, Atlantis was sunk. The dinosaurs were wiped out, even the big big bang was caused with this power."
Batman won't show it, but he's a little worried what this power could do in the wrong hands.
He already has an idea why Ra‘s wants the power of destruction, but he needs more information.
He asks "If it was true, and the power of destruction really was in the suitcase, why were you ready to sell it?"
Strange says as if it should be obvious, “Isn't it obvious? I have already researched the knowledge about this piece of jewelery, so that I was ready for new knowledge. I negotiated with the League that they let me examine the Lazarus pit. I couldn't resist a deal like that, but they didn't hold up their part."
Batman angrily asks "You wanted to give away the power of destruction for a rehearsal?"
"What else should I want to trade it for?"
Batman should have expected that answer. He knows that Hugo Strange is always looking for new knowledge. Even if the knowledge is immoral.
Batman asks one final question, "What is the name of the Power of Destruction and what shape is the piece of jewelry?"
When Strange tried to answer it, a bullet flies through his head. He died instantly.
Some blood lands in Batman’s face.
"Damn it," Batman says emotionlessly. He sets Strange down and looked at all the nearby rooftops. He saw nothing and nobody. Whoever killed Strange must have shot from a very long distance.
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Batman carried Strange's body into the warehouse where the police had already arrived. They began to lead the Assassins and Strange's henchmen‘s away.
The commissioner Gordon immediately went to Batman and asked him about the dead doctor in his arms.
Batman didn't tell him much, only that Strange was shot in the head while he was about to question him.
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When the police removed both the men’s and the corpse, Batman stayed behind to check the warehouse for traces.
First he went to the upper floor, where he wanted to get an overview. Then he saw a sleeping bag and from the position of the sleeping bag he can tell that someone was lying in it not long ago.
He says to himself, "There was a witness." He looks to the side and saw some wallets, when he examines them he realizes that they were stolen. "It looks like the witness is a thief."
From the sleeping bag he looks at the place where the meeting took place. He went to the edge and looks down. Since the place was a bit far away from the meeting, he jumped to the beam over him and saw traces of someone crawling on it. He balances along the beam until he can no longer see any traces. He stood above the meeting and under the place where he broke in. “The thief must have become curious and overheard the meeting.” He jumped off the beam. At the spot where he landed, he can see that one of Strange's pens fell out of his smock. When he notices a bobby pin on the floor, he picks it up. "The thief is probably female."
He looks around a bit until he concludes “I think I now know how it went.” He looks to the upper part of the warehouse as he spoke “The thief was just about to go to sleep when she noticed the meeting of Talia and Strange." He looks at the beam. "Her curiosity has been aroused and she crawled over the beam to eavesdrop on the meeting, but she fell down when I appeared." He looks at the ground. "She landed on Strange and accidentally knocked him unconscious. Then she opened the lock on the suitcase with her bobby pin and stole the contents. Then she fled the warehouse before I or the assassins noticed her."
He walked out of the warehouse and looked in all directions. “She could have run anywhere. Now the only question remains. How dangerous is the power of destruction in her hands? "
He doesn't like to do it, but he's going to need the help from the Justice League to complete this puzzle, especially when the power of destruction is really as powerful as Strange said.
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Outside Gotham in a private plane.
Talia was alone on the plane.
She shot the assassin who grabbed the suitcases and threw him over the sea. She planned to kill all the Assassins who were there after the handover anyway. However, since they were jailed thanks to Batman, they were lucky, so to speak.
Talia is on the phone with someone. “Is he dead?” She asks.
"Yes, the doctor can no longer betray you." replies the voice on the phone.
Talia looks at the suitcase and saw that he was still not burned, like the doctor said. She says with a sly grin "I knew he was bluffing."
She says into the phone, "I hope you didn't leave any evidence."
“Don't forget that I am Deathstroke. I never leave evidence."
Talia nodded “Now that that's done, come to Nanda Parat as soon as possible. We have to plan our next steps. "
Talia doesn't wait for an answer when she hung up. She immediately dials the next number. When the phone was picked up on the other line, she said "Father, we got hold of both the suitcase and the money."
"I don't care about the money, just tell me if it's really the miraculous that I was promised."
Talia looks at the suitcase when she says, “Strange told me it was the jewelry that we were looking for after all this time. I could tell from his posture and facial expressions that he wasn't lying." She looks at the combination lock when she adds "As soon as I'm back in Nanda Parat, we can work on picking the lock without damaging the contents."
"Then don't let me wait." Was Ra‘s reply before hanging up.
Talia puts the phone down before concentrating on the suitcase in front of her. She takes a closer look at it before safely putting it away.
She says to herself, "I hope this ring is it worth."