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Everyone knew about the T3, as they called themselves. No one imagined they were real until they met them, and then they wished they hadn’t; the trio were far more terrifying than their tales.
The T3 began with three completely normal teenagers forced to meet by their friends and family. Their origin was simply to make those who set up this meeting regret it and serve as a warning not to mess with scarily-well-trained teenagers. It worked better than they hoped and grew into a branch of the vigilante groups.
The group, as civilians, looked similar, with black hair and blue or green eyes, and appeared to be a normal teenage friend group.
Wrong.
Nothing about them was normal.
The oldest of the three, Damian Wayne, was the youngest son of multi-billionaire socialite Bruce Wayne, who happened to be a founding member of the Justice League and the original vigilante of Gotham, Batman. His mother was an assassin and the daughter of the League of Assassins’ leader. Damian was the fifth user of the Robin mantle and now went by the moniker Phoenix.
Daniel Fenton was the second halfa and King of the Infinite Realms but preferred to be referred to by his hero persona, Phantom. He was Marinette’s twin but had been separated at birth.
Marinette Dupain-Cheng was the Grand Guardian of the Miraculous and the true holder of both the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculi, going by Blackjack as a hero. She was treated as a queen by the other members of the trio, as Danny was her brother and Damian her boyfriend.
Danny Fenton was 14 when he entered his parents’ portal to the Ghost Zone and became half-human/half-ghost in a tragic accident. A couple years later he, as his hero alias Phantom, became the new Ghost King by defeating the old tyrant. He was discovered by Superman, who was flying home from Smallville one day and found a ghost boy fighting more ghosts. He became Danny’s mentor and introduced him to the Justice League.
Damian was Robin when he was kidnapped by his mother to be part of an experiment, as Heir to the Demon. It didn’t work immediately, and he was thrown into a Lazarus Pit to heal and revive him. The Pit bonded with the experimental serum and Damian awoke as a meta with regeneration/reanimation/healing powers similar to Deathstroke’s. Damian also began learning basic magic from his brother Jason’s girlfriend, Raven.
Marinette knew she was a true Ladybug, but once she took back the ring from her ex-partner she discovered that she was also a true black cat. Her arch-nemesis Hawkmoth and his allies were swiftly defeated with her combined abilities and the support of her team. A previous Ladybug’s daughter, who was a museum curator in Paris, recognized her energy and offered to become her mentor, introducing Ladynoir to the Justice League.
Today was the day for the Leaguers to bring their mentees to the Watchtower to meet the other mentees/partners. Batman arrived first as always, accompanied by Robin. Superman arrived soon after with Superboy and Phantom, then Wonder Woman and Ladynoir.
Nightwing pushed Robin towards Phantom and Ladynoir, who were gazing out at the galaxy in awe.
“Go make some friends, Baby Bat!”
“Tt.” Robin stalked over to the other two, who barely acknowledged him. “If you do not want my company, do not hesitate to say so.” Please.
Ladynoir turned and scanned him critically. “Hm…were you forced to come and ‘socialize’ and 'make contacts, if not friends’, too?”
“Unfortunately. I am perfectly happy with the small circle of friends I already have.”
Phantom turned from the stars to the conversation. “My sister keeps telling me I need more socializing for my mental health or whatever, but I’m perfectly fine with my girlfriend and guy in the chair.”
“Exactly!” exclaimed Ladynoir. “I have my team, why do I need civilians or more hero friends?”
“Why don’t we show our mentors why they shouldn’t encourage us to make friends, then,” suggested Robin.
Cheshire grins spread over the others’ faces.
Across the room, deep in their own conversation, their mentors shivered.
After that, the trio really did become friends. One day, during a visit to the Batcave to see Robin, an incident happened that forced Robin to find out that Phantom and Ladynoir’s DNA showed their genetic similarity; both siblings had been adopted and hadn’t known it. That was an awkward conversation. Ladynoir was glad she had a crush on Robin, not Phantom, which would have made it even worse.
Ladynoir was introduced to her brother’s clone, Dani (her sister? Cousin?) The trio told each other their civilian identities several months into their friendship collaboration and started their own hero group, Styx.
(Dani and Jason were honourary members.)
Damian shed Robin and became Phoenix instead, and Ladynoir became Blackjack, but Danny decided to keep Phantom as his alias.
Damian asked Marinette out while they were on a stakeout. When she happily responded, “It’s a date!” he got a little flustered. Danny looked at him and grinned at his friend’s awkwardness.
Having had years of practice as their alter egos, all three members of Styx were excellent fighters, but even as civilians, they were trained in martial arts, with their mothers being formidable women. Maddie Fenton was an eighth-degree black belt, Talia al Ghul was a leader of assassins, and Sabine Cheng was a former assassin/mercenary.
Damian discovered Sabine’s old career on the stakeout and was struck by how similar he and Marinette were. Of course, Mari was usually a lot nicer (maybe softer was a better word?) than him, even after she toughened up, but they were similar in many other ways.
After the intel they needed was gathered they realized how close they were when they glanced up from reviewing the information. Damian froze and Marinette leaned in a tiny bit. “Is this an actual date?” she whispered.
He swallowed. “I hope so.”
Mari smiled softly. “Me too.”
He closed the distance tentatively and she inched closer.
Danny flew up just after his sister’s and friend’s lips met. “I called it! Jason owes me $20!”
They jerked apart, glaring daggers at him. “Danny!”
T3, the civilian Styx, finally agreed to let their friends/teams meet each other. Phantom and Blackjack had interacted with the Bats and Titans on missions and JL gatherings before, but the Miraculous Court and Team Phantom hadn’t met yet.
Yet again, a glowing portal opened in Amity Park, but his time it was connected to Paris. Danny’s support trio (not to be confused with his abetting trio) stepped into the Miraculous Corut’s HQ. Luka and Juleka Couffaine-Stone, Kagami Tsurugi, Chloe Bourgeois, Max Kante, and Alix Kubdel met Tucker Foley, Sam Manson, and Jazz Fenton. Max and Tucker became instant frenemies, battling over tech, while Sam and Juleka bonded surprisingly quickly over all things goth.
The T3 waited in the shadows of the warehouse to apprehend the cultists intent on summoning a long-dead magician. When it was go time they transformed (Blackjack had figured out how to do it without a flash of light), becoming the cultists’ nightmares, Styx.
Danny had glowing green eyes, weightless white hair, fangs, and Phantom’s general ghostly presence for beginning intimidation.
Blackjack appeared as a white-haired, glowing green cat-eyed, fanged, clawed, and winged being: in short, terrifying.
Phoenix had glowing green eyes, white hair, sharper-than-should-be-normal teeth, a katana on his back and fireballs in his hand. (The Pit had whitened his hair completely, but he had a glamour spell on his civilian form to appear as before with black hair. The pyrokinesis was one of his favourite spells and one of the first Raven taught him, upon plenty of begging bribing.)