Chapter Text
The schoolyard of Gotham Junior High is filled with laughter and screams. Everywhere you look you can see groups of kids, some of them eating, others begging for food and others just playing with their friends. Many of these kids are gathering around the shop, where a long line wraps around the school like a snake. Apart from the groups and the cliques, on top of the playground house, are three people seated. The three kids, two girls and a boy, are laughing and grinning, looking like they've been talking for years like this, looking like nothing on earth could disturb them.
"Mari, come on, don't tell me you haven't finished solving it yet", says the boy, his voice hinting on disappointment, "I mean it's so obvious for me. It's like..." The other girl, the one the boy isn't talking to, pushes onto him, which causes him to almost to fall off. "Timmy, it's not like everyone is a genius like you. I think your just an exception of the rule "You are the smartest person in the room" because you know her dad, who's obviously smarter that you", she says, teasingly and serious at the same time. Tim sighs and rubs his arm where she pushed him. Mari laughs at him. "You know Tim, Alya is right. You are just a know-it-all cause you know another know-it-all." Tim sticks his tongue out at her. "Fuck you, Mari. Don't you love your dad?", he asks, not expecting a serious answer, but it still comes, all the same. "No. I don't love him right now", Mari says, her smile faltering. "I'm not happy at all with how he treats Jaybird right now, so he doesn't get my love", she says as she buries her face in her hands. Alya sighs. "Is this about Felipe Garzonas?", she asks. Mari looks up with a crooked smile. "Since when isn't it about Garzonas? Baba still believes Jason pushed him, I still am openly saying that he really shouldn't think that Jay could kill a man and Dick is still in space. And I know I shouldn't trust just in Dick, but at the moment I'm sure that if he comes back, that even though he and Baba are still fighting sometimes, he'll be able to convince B of the truth." Tim lies a on Mari's back. "Hey, Mari, you know. Everything's gonna be alright."Mari breathes in and out, trying to steady herself. Then she grins at Tim and Alya: "Thanks guys. What would I do without you?" "Probably die", interrupts a new voice.
A second boy, a little bit older than the rest of the group, is standing just below the house and holding a hand up to them. In that hand is a lunchbox, obviously freshly bought. Mari lights up and hangs herself with head down on the edge of the ceiling. As she grabs the lunchbox out off the boys hand, she asks, trying not to sound very suspicious: "Jay, were you listening?" As Jason heaves himself onto the ceiling he says: "Not long Pix, just to hear that very last sentence. When I heard that, I just couldn't resist adding a bit dramatics." Tim laughs. "Ever the drama kid, aren't you, Jason?" Said boy grins, as he now sits down next to the rest and looks at Mari swinging herself up and opening the lunchbox. "You can take the kid out of the theatre, but not the theatre out of the kid, Timberly." At the nickname, Tim groans and puts his head into his hands. Alya laughs at him: "It's always that nickname, isn't it, Tim?" Tim nods and looks at Jason, pain written in his face. "Why did you have to choose that out of all the nicknames? I know a Kimberly, and she's not a very nice person?" "Well, I ain't stopping, Timbers, if that's what you're asking?", says Jason, winking at Mari. "Come on, Red", Tim says, "Are you in it too?" Mari looks up from her lunchbox and grins: "You do know Red, saying that would be telling." At these words, Alya, who has been slightly been giggling the whole time ends in full blown laughter at that.
Jason smiles and steals a fry from Mari's plate. "You know, Alya, to stop you from laughing like that you might as well answer me a question I've always wanted to ask you: What would you do if you found out your mother was alive and healthy and you could visit her?" Alya coughs, tries to straighten herself up and take Jasons question serious, but she's always bursting into giggles again: "I'd...I'd say...that I'd visit...her...Why shouldn't I, she's my mom isn't she?" As Jason doesn't answer and just keeps stealing Mari's French Fries. After a while, he just answers: "You're right, why wouldn't you?" And with that, life goes on without anyone noticing.
14 Days until Ethiopia
The warehouse is dimly lit and through it echoes the harsh breathing of a woman. "Miss, you have to calm down", says the girl, her voice echoing and overshadowing the breathing. Her eyes are shining in the darkness with an unnatural white, but they still seem soft. She lays a hand on the woman's shoulder to try to keep her grounded. "Miss, can you breathe with me? In and out and in and out...", she says and keeps repeating these two words until the woman has decidedly calmed down and her eyes stopped flickering around in a hectic haste. Her eyes look up and see the girl in front of her.
"Tanager", she says, smiling at her. Tanager tilts her head and smiles back. "Miss. Are you alright?" The woman grins weakly: "Yes, I'm feeling alright. What...?" "You were involved in a Joker Attack and you had a panic attack when being held over a vat of chemicals. I assume the reaction was caused by your combined fear of heights and chemicals." The woman sighs and stands up: "I hope you at least got him, Tanager." Tanager grins and laughs nervously: "About that, Miss..." The woman deadpans. "Fucking Joker", she says and rolls her eyes. Then she takes the bag that was lying next to her, puts it over her shoulder and starts moving towards the exit. "Goodbye, Tanager. I hope you catch that son of a bitch", she says as she walks out the door. Tanager laughs: "Miss Lewis, I promise you, we will catch him. As always." Lewis turns around one last time and grins: "Let's hope that for you, Tanager."
Tanager stops her bike and swings down. Her feet hit the cold wet ground and she sighs. "Alfred, the ceiling is dropping water again", she cries out as she walks onto the bridge leading to the main space. As she jumps down onto the floor, Alfred answers her: "Miss Marinette, I have been trying to isolate that space, but it is taking longer then expected, as it is located under the fountain." Tanager takes off her mask and Marinette sighs. "I should have known that. Thanks. I know you're doing your best, Alfred", she says and smiles at him.
As she walks towards the computer, a hulking figure stops her. "Lanmei", he says and smiles at her, "You did a good job." Marinette stares at him with contempt. "Bruce", she says, short and biting, "Where's Jay?" Bruce tries to put a hand on Marinette's shoulder, but she pushes him away. "Bruce", she repeats, her voice even snippier and shorter, like a knife cutting the air. Said man sighs and move away from her. "Jaylad said he still had something to do, so I let him out on his own. She narrows her eyes. "Alright", she finally says after a long pause and continues, "You should call him that too if he's here, Baba. He'll know he's still being appreciated in his own home, cause you idiot still don't know a thing about healthy communication." Bruce smiles at her. "Alright, Lanmei. Thank you", he answers and then ruffles her hair. Marinette grins at him and moves towards the stair. "Now, Alfie, what delicious post-patrol snack did you whip up for us?"
With these words they move upstairs and start eating and laughing without a care in the world, joking about everything and anything. And while all that is happening, Jason breaks into the second story window and puts down a note on his bed.
Dad, Pix, Alfie,
Don't worry about me. I found out some things about my mother and wanted to find out myself what happened. Don't search for me and please don't take my books. I want to continue reading them after I come back, alright?
Jason (Jaybird, Jaylad, whatever)
4 Days until Ethiopia
"Baba. What do you mean you go to school and I'll find Jaylad?", Marinette says disbelief lacing her voice, "Jay is my brother, B. What the hell makes you think I'll sit on my ass as my big brother is being threatened by his mother and the fucking Joker?" Bruce sighs and puts a hand on Marinette's shoulder. "Lanmei, I'm not saying that you should just "sit on your ass". I'm telling you this because I can't just let you skip school again. You did this already enough thanks to your injuries." He says all that in a reasonable tone, trying not to let the urgency slip into his voice. It's not that he doesn't trust her to be able to take on the Joker, it's just that this could be more dangerous then normally. This isn't about a victim like Miss Lewis, this victim is her brother, getting manipulated by his mother into trusting her.
How that happened, Bruce still can't understand. What about this biological mother of his makes him to stop trusting his own experience with these sorts of situations? What about all this made him forget his Robin-training? "Baba", his daughters voice interrupts his thoughts, "I can practically hear you thinking about things that are obvious to others. Just remember that only because you trained him to be Robin, doesn't mean he forgot his feelings." At this, Bruce sighs and tries to trust his daughters judgement. She always knew how to better communicate with people than him.
The schoolyard of Gotham Junior High is bustling as always. Marinette makes her way through the sea of people, drowning in the laughter and chatter of her colleagues. She feels like she is caught in the eye of the storm, the brief moment of quiet before the waves crash onto her boat again. At the moment she catches the eye of her saviours, her friends, her rocks in the middle of the oceans, the bell rings and a nasal voice sounds through the speakers of the school: "Marinette Martha Meiyuan Wayne-Cheng, please come to the principals office, Marinette Martha Meiyuan Wayne-Cheng."
Marinette numbly walks down the hallway, flanked side by side by her friends, trying to ignore the whispers around her. "The heir of the Wayne-Family sent to the principals office..." "...I will tell my parents about..." "...to be here the day the Waynes get what they deserve..." "...is Jason Todd, the street rat?" As she walks into the office, she can almost feel the way the principal tries to comfort her, but still, she has to speak it out before someone tries to tell her, because she already knows, it was obvious from the moment she stepped into the room. "Jason is dead, isn't he?"