She's Sunshine, She's Grace, She'll Punch You in the Face

Chapter 79: Patrol with Catwoman

"So in theory, if the two of you were facing each other, you could see the majority of any room?" Tim stared between the two.

"I guess?" Marinette faced Damian and took a few steps back to get a better angle of the room.

Jason walked behind Damian to look at Marinette. "So, demon spawn can see me right now?" He put his hand up to give Damian bunny ears.

Damian reached behind him and grabbed Jason's wrist, effectively throwing him over his shoulder. "Bunny ears, Todd? Very mature."

Jason easily picked himself off the ground. "I was just checking. I could have just given you the finger instead but I would rather just do that straight to your face." He swiftly flipped him off before dodging his incoming attack to step closer to Bruce.

"Boys." Bruce glared at his sons. "Now is not the time for that."

"Speaking of the right time to beat up people." Marinette turned her attention to Bruce. "We wanted to know if we could patrol around crime alley tonight."

Bruce thought about that for a moment before turning to Selina.

Before the words even came out of his mouth, Selina nodded. "I'm up for it, Bruce. I kind of miss that old run-down place anyways."

"Your coming with us, Selina?" Marinette looked at her with excitement.

"Why not? It's the best place to be seen with Robin." She shrugged. "And word moves fast around those parts. You would be surprised how many criminals can't keep their mouths shut."

"And Selina is an expert when it comes to crime alley. She can teach you a lot, Marinette." Bruce added.

"Okay. Sounds like a plan." Marinette turned to Damian. "I guess we should detransform for now."

"How do I do that again?" He looked at her.

"Just say 'claws in'."

"Claws in."

"Spots off." They spoke in unison.

Marinette felt weird now that she no longer had her mental connection to Damian and she found herself trying to readjust to the normalcy.

"I forgot that I was still wearing this." Damian examined his regular Robin costume.

"Forget about that." Plagg looked around the room. "Where is my cheese?"

"I think you ate all the stuff Alfred packed." Marinette shook her head. "Let's go to the kitchen. I know Tikki is hungry too. Even though neither of us used our powers."

"You know I could always eat a cookie." Tikki happily followed Marinette out.

————-

"Well today has been quite an exciting day." Marinette said as the family finally sat down for dinner later in the evening. "And the day is not even over yet."

"Yeah." Jason agreed. "Patrol with Selina and demon spawn at crime alley. That's sure to bring even more excitement."

"I'm not sure if you mean that in a good way or a bad way." Marinette giggled.

"Yeah me neither." Jason shrugged.

"How do you feel about a month of patrolling with me, Damian?" Selina leaned forward to get a better look at him.

"You are a sufficient fighter and far more tolerable that my brothers, so I am fine with it." He shrugged.

"Don't let his harsh words fool you, Selina. Damian actually really likes you." Marinette smiled at her. "In fact, he does love all of you despite what you all may think. But you do get on his nerves sometimes." She giggles.

"Awe, you really love us demon spawn?" Jason grinned widely at him.

"Angel..." Damian glared at his soulmate. "Do you want them to bother me even more than they already do?"

"What?" She smirked a little before shrugging. "I was only telling the truth. I just feel like its fair if they knew too."

"Well we love you too, little D." Dick patted his shoulder before eating his food again.

Damian just sighed as he ate his food in silence.

————-

"Everyone suited up and ready to go?" Barbara rolled herself up to the computer.

"Yep." Red Hood leaned against the table. "We even have Catwoman here with us today."

"Great." Barbara started to type on the computer. "Batman filled me in on the whole Catwoman and Robin thing. I still can't wait to see all that 'soulmate' stuff in action."

"Are you kidding?" Red Robin laughed. "You and I both know they will both use it as their own personal 'video call' for when she goes back to Paris."

"You're probably right." Barbara nodded. "Is everyone aware of their patrol locations?" She waited for their conformation. "Good. I have no new news on the Riddler and everything is quiet at Arkham so it's your standard patrol today. Everyone take an ear piece."

One by one everyone linked up to Oracles communication network. After everyone checked the comms, they all split up into their groups to head off to the city. Robin took his own motorcycle with Ladybird on the back while Catwoman followed on her motorcycle.

Robin had them park a few blocks away from crime alley and they took to the roofs to make it the rest of the way.

"So, Ladybird," Selina spoke up as they were moving from roof to roof. "Did you know that this was my old stomping grounds?"

"Not really but I did know that you weren't always on the straight and narrow." She stopped when noticing Robin crouch and get low to look over the edge of the roof and onto the street.

"Oh, yes." Selina casually looked over the edge with the rest of them. "This is where I come from."

Ladybird took notice of all the homeless people gathering around fires to keep warm and frowned. "You lived like these people?"

"No." Selina shook her head. "I was at least smart enough to steal so I would at least have enough money to pay rent in a building two apartments over."

"I kind of feel bad for them." Ladybird looked back up at Catwoman.

"That's just how Gotham is. But hey, if you want to help, Ivy and Harley run a women's shelter a few blocks over." Selina smiled softly at her.

Ladybird was about to answer when something shiny caught her attention in the corner of her eye. Looking over, she saw two large men with sizable pocket knives walking over to the group of homeless people.

"Pauly!" One of the large men said playfully. "We're here to collect our payment, bud." He held his hand out as he approached.

"L-look. Dan." A small, balding man replied. "I ain't got no money this week."

"That's a shame." The other large man said in a rough voice. "How else are we supposed to get the protection money we are owed?"

"Yeah." The one named Dan spoke again. "We've been keeping those loan sharks away just for you and now you are going to rip us off? Just like that?" The rest of the homeless found themselves running away before it got any more out of hand. "We might just have to take a few kidneys for payment then."

"Looks like that's our que." Catwoman hopped of the roof in a flash.

"Let's go." Robin followed behind with Ladybird right on his heels.