Chapter Text
Gotham City. What the hell was Mme. Bustier thinking?! Here she was thinking her PowerPoint had proved her - well, point, - but apparently not. So here she was staring at the plane that was going to take her and her hellish class to their doom. Okay, maybe she was exaggerating, but with trigger-happy mental patients (literally!), no Miraculous Cure, and Lila of all people, this was bound to be a dumpster fire!
"Ugh, come on, Dupain-Cheng. Are you going to stand there all day or are you coming?"
Chloe. Her unlikely ally against Lila, the only person she hated more than Marinette herself. After the rest of the sheeple had migrated to Lila's side, Marinette found that the only people she had left standing beside her were Kagami, Luka, and - surprisingly - Chloe. Adrien was disappointingly neutral, but she didn't hold it against him. His upbringing had left him horribly socially stunted, and she was 90% sure Lila had some kind of unholy alliance with Gabriel, keeping Adrien in check.
"Yeah, I'm coming, don't get your panties in a twist."
"Dupain-Cheng!"
-
The hotel was fancy. Like, Grand Paris Hotel fancy. Stupid billionaires.
The rest of the class got paired up, two to a room, but Chloe managed to get hers changed to the penthouse suite, oh so graciously deigning to let Marinette stay with her.
"What am I supposed to do with two beds, Dupain-Cheng? Hmm? Besides, if I left you alone with the rest of the heathens, they'd tear you to shreds!"
Marinette thinks she enjoys the company after Sabrina flocked to Lila.
The itinerary has them set for resting the jet lag off that night, then touring the Gotham Wayne Enterprises office. Unfortunately, while Chloe is snoring away in the next room over, Marinette is lying awake worrying. Sure, she knew that no one was going to find the Miracle Box in her sewing box, magically locked, in her suitcase, with a padlock on it, stashed in the hotel provided safe, but she still felt paranoid having it out of her bedroom.
As a result, her night with little to no fitful sleep compounded on the jet lag, leaving her feeling like a literal zombie.
Wait, she's died before, so is she a zombie?!
Coffee. Her eyes zero in on the drink of the gods in Chloe's manicured hand.
"You are a goddess, Chloe, and I love you." She says, chugging the coffee down like a man in the middle of the desert. She completely missed the astonished look on Chloe's face.
"Alright class, I'm going to do a quick headcount, then we'll head out." Mme. Mendeleiev said.
Despite the fact that Mme. Bustier wanted to go on the trip, she found out that she's pregnant and decided that the other teacher should go in her stead. Honestly, it was the only thing that salvaged the trip for Marinette. If Mme. Bustier were here, she'd have probably left her behind!
They quickly boarded the bus (Dodging a foot stuck out by Alya. God, to think she almost confessed she was Ladybug to her!) and got on their way.
The W.E. office was, quite frankly, huge. Really! The only building that Marinette had seen that could hold a candle to the building, was the TVi studio back home. The lobby was equally as impressive. It was huge with marble floors and columns that probably cost more than her parents would make in their whole lives.
"Hi! Are you the French class?"
They were greeted by a woman who... honestly, looked out of place in the large pristine lobby. Her brown hair was long and curly, up in a ponytail, revealing shaved sides, and heavily pierced ears. Her rock t-shirt, cargo pants, and leather jacket clashing with the business casual the rest of the people bustling about were sporting.
Oh, wait. Was she saying something?
"-guest I.D.s, they'll let you access the elevators up to the fifth floor. Any questions?"
"Yes, one." Mme. Mendeleiev said, "I thought our tour guide was a young man, Richard Grayson?"
The woman's eye twitched (She tuned out her name, damn).
"Yes, he was scheduled to lead the tour, but something... came up." She seemed awfully annoyed with this Richard. Hmm.
"Excuse me? Riley?" Lila piped up from the back. Ew. The woman's- Riley's- smile sharpened. "That's Mrs. Miller-Todd to you. Yes?" Lila flinched back, like her words physically hurt. That little- "W-Well, I was wondering why our passes only took us up to the fifth floor?"
"W-" Mrs. Miller-Todd (Damn, that was a mouthful, is this how people feel about her name?), opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by Alya. "Yeah! For your information, Lila's dating Damian Wayne!"
Well, shoot. She might not have to deal with Lila for much longer. At Alya's exclamation, all the movement in the lobby stopped, every single person staring at Lila and Alya like they'd grown another head. Their tour guide raised an eyebrow looking amused, baffling Lila and the rest of her flock. "Really? I wasn't aware that he had even been to France, let alone gotten a girlfriend five years older than himself." Did... did that just happen? Did Lila just get called out in front of a bunch of people who seemed to not believe her?! "Pinch me." Marinette whispered. Unfortunately for her, Chloe heard her. She whipped around and pouted at her.
"Lila's not from France! She lived in Italy before; that's where she met him, and the Wayne's are very secretive, that's why you didn't hear about it! And five years isn't that much!" Alya stoutly defended Lila, reminding Marinette vaguely of a Pomeranian.
The poor young woman covered her mouth with her hand, looking like she was contemplating running out the door and not looking back. "You know what?" She muttered, "Bruce is going to have to actually pay me to get me to deal with this shit." Out loud though, she said; "O-kay, well, supposed girlfriends aside, the first five floors are the only ones open to visitors, the rest are various labs and offices for employees, nothing very interesting."
Marinette wanted to argue that the labs sounded very interesting, but like a good visiting student, said nothing.
They went up the elevators in two groups, up to the third floor. "The second floor is a food court, and you'll be stopping there for lunch and getting turned over to your teacher. Now this floor..."
The tour was actually pretty interesting. They got to see a few finished projects going up for sale and got an in-depth explanation of which department does what. They managed to get to the R&D department before Lila's Possi (Trademark pending) caused more trouble. "So, is it true that you make Batman's gear? How about nuclear weapons?" Alya asked, whipping her phone out. Mrs. Miller-Todd sighed. "Mlle. Cesaire, I believe that in the form you signed allowing you on this trip, it said 'no recording devices of any kind'?"
Alya frowned but put her phone away. "Good. That was your first warning, Mlle. Cesaire. If it happens again, I will have to confiscate it. As for your question, I'm afraid I can't answer it." Alya grinned, her hand twitched, obviously wanting to grab her phone, but refraining. "So, you do!"
Mrs. Miller-Todd narrowed her eyes. "I did not say that. I meant, that I don't know. I'm not an employee at Wayne Enterprises."
Everyone's eyes blew wide. Not an employee? "But, if you're not an employee, then why are you giving the tour?" Mme Mendeleiev asked. Mrs. Miller-Todd sighed in annoyance. "I lost a bet."
"Yeah, but who let you do this?" Alya demanded, placing herself in front of Lila, like the loyal guard dog she was. Mrs. Miller-Todd raised her eyebrow (It was starting to seem like her signature move at this point. Or maybe... someone else found her class as annoying as she and Chloe do?). "Bruce Wayne."
Marinette could feel the panic in Lila from the back of the group and watched the reporter in Alya sit up and beg. She whipped her phone out and started rattling off questions, asking about her relationship with Bruce Wayne. In a second though, her phone was taken from her hand, cutting her off. "I warned you, Mlle. Cesaire. Don't worry, you'll get it back at the end. Now, last time I checked, this was a tour of the building, not my personal life." She proceeded to turn on her heel and stalk off down the hallway, expecting the class to follow.
"I like her." Chloe said next to her ear. "Mmhmm." Marinette hummed back, agreeing whole heartedly.
Maybe Gotham wouldn't be a disaster after all.