Season 3 AU Episode Ladybug; The Law is the Law - BardofWorlds (2024)

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

Adrien scowled as he reached the location of the photoshoot, the way the battle with Mayura and Hawkmoth, what had been done to Sentibug was still causing him some problems, he didn’t know if after everything that had happened today he didn’t know how he would be able to handle the shoot. When he saw Lila sitting on a chair and having her makeup done he stopped and grabbed Vincent as he walked by. Vincent turned to Adrien and paled as he saw the look in Adrien’s eyes.

“Vincent, hey……quick question, why in the name of everything good and pure is Lila here?” Adrien asked flatly as Vincent swallowed.

“I don’t know Adrien, all I know was that I was told there would be a new model at the shoot, nothing about who or why only that Nathalie would introduce her…..Love to talk kid but I have to go and get my camera ready, sooooo. Bye.” Vincent said as he dashed off, throwing a look at Adrien as he walked away.You know, I wondered how he was Gabe’s kid but that there, it’s gone now.He thought as he looked around and saw the looks on the other crew’s faces and hoped Adrien wouldn’t explode.

Adrien looked at Lila and scowled, not needing this now.I don’t know what Father’s thinking, anyone in the class could have been a better pick, Sabrina, Juleka, or Chloe if he wanted someone my age to model with that’s not in the business. But maybe I can use this, if I can talk to her she might clean up what she did to Marinette, and if not then I might get the pressure to make her do it.Adrien thought as he reached for his phone and moved it to his pocket, praying that he wouldn’t have to use this.

“I don’t know how but you will fix this Lila. How could you get Marinette expelled?!” Adrien demanded as he discreetly pointing his phone’s camera at her, part of him hoping this wouldn’t be necessary.

“Why should I do that?I tried to get her to play ball and she wouldn’t, I warned her and we both made our choices, I made mine and here we are.”Lila said as she looked at Adrien as he stared at her. “I told her I would ruin her and I did, I said I would get you and here I am.”

“So just so we’re clear, you lied, you threatened Marinette and got her expelled because she called you out on your lies? How did you even do it anyway?” Adrien asked as he fought to keep his temper down ‘Get me’, so I was right about her. Just another person who objectified me or sees what they want to think.Adrien thought as he looked at her.

“It was so easy, all I had to do was go to the bathroom after the test, pull the alarm and get the answer sheet that was left on that idiot teacher’s desk, and put it in Marinette’s bag. They never even noticed it but it was after the last class and well.”Lila said with a giggle as Adrien fumed and glared at her.

“And you would do it again, wouldn’t you?” Adrien asked as he kept his face plain, but inside he was shocked that this was so easy to get what he needed from her.

“I would even without the bonus your father gave me.” Lila said as Adrien looked at her in confusion.

“Bonus, my father?What does he have to do with this?!” Adrien demanded as he looked at Lila, on the inside he wasn’t scared but angry, and he felt the last vestige of his control was starting to burn away.

“Don’t act so surprised, he had to have talked to you about it and told you to act the way you did before the Akuma attacked everyone, the Gabriel brand overall, and its spokesperson speaking up for someone accused of a crime would be a perfect publicity stunt.” Lila said she looked at him.

Adrien stared at Lila as his vision went red as she sat there grinning back at him as he went over what she had said before whipping his head around and he saw Nathalie in the limo looking towards the shoot, his eyes widening as he realizes that for once Lila was telling the truth, turning off his phone he turned to look at the river and tried to calm down.I can’t believe this! I knew something was wrong when I learned that Lila was going to model with me but I can’t believe……Wait….if she’s here because of that then this means!Adrien thought as his thoughts crystalized

“You did that for this!? You were completely willing to ruin her life forthis?!” Adrien exploded as he shot up from his chair looking at her. As the crew looked on Adrien grabbed her, pulled her behind him despite what she was saying, and with surprising strength threw her into the river!

Nathalie got out of the car and rushed over towards the water as the crew stared in total shock before they moved to help Lila out.

“Adrien what were you thinking! Your father will not be happy about this at all. I don’t even know what….!” Nathalie would have kept talking but Adrien turned around and looked at her with such a look of rage, anger, and disgust in his eyes that she stopped talking.

“I don’t care.” Adrien said flatly as Nathalie tried to recover. “Nathalie, tell my father that for the first time ever I’m glad that mom is gone. This way I have memories of a beautiful person instead of someone who could love the monster that he’s become!” Adrien said as he looked at her and gripped his phone. “An Agreste is held to high standards; well this has shown me that mine are very different from his and no amount of effort will ever be good enough for him!”

As Nathalie looked at him, really looked at him for the first time ever she could comprehend what she was seeing. Adrien had always been accommodating to Gabriel’s wishes that she never thought that he would ever act this way. Adrien turned, manipulating his phone as he did so, and walked away, not even paying her any peace of mind. Nathalie looked around and saw the photo crew trying to get Lila out of the river and stormed over to them, pulling them back and staring down at her. ”What did you say?”

“What?” Lila asked as she tried to climb out of the river.

“What did you say Lila!?”Nathalie demanded as Lila looked up at her. “Adrien has never, ever acted even remotely like that or said anything about his father, so WHAT. DID. YOU. SAY?”

“I told him about the job that got me here. Why the hell he’d react that way, Gabriel told me to do it!” Lila said as Nathalie looked down at her and paled.

“Louis, hey. Sorry to call out of the blue but can we talk?” Adrien said into his phone as walked off, ignoring the camera crew as they stared at him, he just kept walking.

“Yeah Adrien, what’s up?” Louis’s voice came through the phone as Adrien could hear the squeak of his chair as he leaned back in it. “Need some wisdom from somebody who’s been around the block a few times?”

“No, not wisdom…… do it, that thing we talked about. He’s finally crossed my final line; I don’t have a choice anymore.” Adrien said as he looked behind him, not seeing the Gorilla anywhere so there was that.

“You sure kid? Once this goes out there’s no turning back, this is a big choice to make?” Louise asked causing Adrien to nod before he realized that Louise couldn’t see him and blushed before he spoke again.

“Yeah I am, what he is, what he’s willing to do for his brand, I just can’t live with myself if we don’t do this.” Adrien said as he walked.

“And…….. done! In a few hours there’s going to be such an investigation that gonna cause old Gabe to pass out! I’m sorry you were pushed to this point kid, but I’ve got a spare couch if you want to use it.” Louise said.

“Don’t be, I should have done this months ago. Looking back my relationship with him died when mom disappeared.” Adrien said as he felt Plagg press against him and he reached into the pocket Plagg was in and felt Plagg hug his hand.At least I still have him and Ladybug, and her kwami too.He thought as he released a breath and let the last of his relationship with his father die as it should have when he started to treat him as only an employee. “And about that second thing I just sent you a video I just shot, and I think I have some pro bono work you’ll love, do you know the bakery near my school?”

“Yeah, I love their cookies, but what do Tom and Sabine have to do with this? And you know I only do that stuff when I have a good target of injustice so what happened?” Louis asked.

Wait a minute, don’t those two have a daughter who should be around the kid’s age?Louise thought as he waited for Adrien’s reply.

“First off, is it legal for a student to be expelled on the same day as the crime?” Adrien asked as he walked through Paris, hoping that

“No, all students need a hearing for expulsion, did he use that word? Hold on I’ve got the file you sent me………holy! And this bitch framed a friend of yours at Gabe’s direction?!” Louise said as he “Kid you should have called me sooner, now I can probably get the expulsion off her records and I think I can get a nice settlement for her and then there’s your dad but….”

“That’s it Louise it happened today!” Adrien interrupted him and Louise stopped talking. “There wasn’t a hearing, she wasn’t suspended, the principle just expelled her in front of everybody!”

“Adrien, buddy. You bring me the best presents! A perfect way to strike against the school that let the person that abused my goddaughter into trying to commit suicide walk free, I love it!” Louis said with a laugh.

“Wait, what! My school is the one where that happened?”Adrien asked as he stopped moving for a moment as his eyes went wide.

“Yeah, this bitch always believed the whor* and punished my goddaughter, she almost killed herself. In the end the teacher was fired, the bully had left and moved to a different county and what a teacher could do to a student was changed. I think they were talking about changing the rules for how they punish someone. One of the most idiotic ideas was to for it to only apply if the teacher saw them do it or they got it on camera, the most insane idea I have ever heard.” Louise said as Adrien gasped. “Kid, what is it?”

“I think they did make that rule Louise. Chloe hasn’t changed much and besides words and actions taken where no one besides the victim could see it, she’s gotten away with a lot. And this time Mari….thevictimwas expelled based on only on the accuser's word, they even made it a public spectator. ” Adrien said flatly.Is this why Chloe gets away with everything she does?

But wait the cameras!He thought as he heard Louise’schair pushed backward as he got up.

“WHAT! I know they’ve got cameras in that place; it was part of the settlement! Don’t tell me that they aren’t being used!” Louise exclaimed with a hint of anger in his voice.

“They’re practically ornamental at this point! They never even looked at the ones in the courtyard, all Lila said was that Marinette pushed her down the stairs and the principle believed her!” Adrien said as he heard Louise grit his teeth. “And I admit finding the necklace in her locker was damming but there are no locks on any of them and it could have fit through the grill!”

“This necklace, it was tested for fingerprints at least right?” Louis asked as Adrien stayed silent and Louis felt a headache coming on.“Adrien tell me they at least did that and listened to more than just one student right, please?”

“I can’t Louise, I just can’t.” Adrien said softly as he heard Louis trying to keep his temper down and count backward from twenty.

“Kid, I’ll meet you at the bakery, if I hear anything more now I’m going to scream. I’ll have my people send out the papers for the first thing you called me about before I leave, see you there.” As Adrien heard the call end he sighed as he brought up a texting program and sent a quick message to Nino before he turned his phone off and removed its battery.

“Plagg, I should have done this when this began.” He said softly as he walked towards Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie.

“The throwing Lila into the river or calling in Louise when pigtails got expelled, causing I’m all for transforming and going to cataclysming her.” Plagg said as Adrien laughed.I guess I can’t expect any different from Plagg, he’s been saying to get rid of her for weeks! I had to hope she was acting that way like my mask for when I’m in public or around fat….Gabriel. I guess this finally proved once and for all where I stand with him, and somehow I feel lighter.Adrien thought as he walked.

“The calling Louise, I mean I had hoped she was just telling stories thing because she was nervous and scared, I mean moving around so much I can understand that, it took me weeks to lighten up and start to be more than my mask at school.” Adrien said with a sigh. “And most of Chloe’s act is because she wants her mom to love her.”

“I’ll say once and I’ll say it again, that woman is a piece of work! I’ve seen a lot of people over the centuries but like her, always the worst of the worst.” Plagg said as he looked up at Adrien.

“Adrien there you are!”Chloe’s voice caused Adrien to turn and see her pounding towards him with Sabrina following behind her. “How the hell are we going to get Marinette un-expelled? This is ridiculous, completely ridicules!”

Adrien looked at Chloe as she started a tirade and frowned as what she was saying got through to him.“Wait, you want to help Marinette?”

“Of course! Nobody but nobody messes with Dunpain-Chang but me!

And even I wouldn’t threaten her how Lila did!” Chloe said a huff as she looked up at the sky.

“What do you mean, threatened Marinette?! When did that happen?!” Adrien demanded as Chloe looked at him and Sabrina’s mouth dropped open.

“It was when she came back, she cornered Marinette and she felt so scared and Akuma was summoned but she fought it off!” Sabrina said causing Adrien to gasp at her.

“That’s where that Akuma came from, that’s how Lila was Akumatized, not because I talked to her?!” Adrien said with shock, stumbling backwards as he paled in horror. “God, I am the most idiotic person on the planet!”

“Sabrina saw her reach for it Adrien what are you…..What did you do?!” Chloe demanded as she saw him react to what she and Sabrina told him and started to grow worried, he had only acted like this when he had made what he thought was a mistake, like when he had given his mom flowers and she turned out to be allergic to them.

“I thought Lila’s emotions spiked because I talked to her about how she didn’t have to lie to get people to like her, not that she chased one down! I told Marinette to take the high road about her lies, I never knew…….” Adrien said as Chloe gasped and started to get mad and was about to explode when Sabrina spoke up.

“You thought she was so emotional that talking to her about her lies caused her to get on Hawkmoth’s radar?” Sabrina asked as Chloe looked at her then at Adrien with her mouth open.

“God, and you were worried that she’d attack anyone who called her out, did you at least explain that to Marinette?” Chloe asked only to sigh when Adrien hung his head.“Adrien!”

“I……. I knew she’d probably react like you guys are and I didn’t want to give Lila any ammunition to use, I’ve been trying to get her alone to talk to her about it but I haven’t been able to yet.” Adrien said miserably.

“Then go and talk to her now! And wait……. Don’t you have a photoshoot about now?” Chloe asked as she looked around, confused beyond words.

Adrien’s phone seemed to burn a hole into his leg and he looked at Chloe steadily. “I’m handling Marinette’s problems. And about the shoot, I walked off after I threw the other model there, Lila into the river!”

“What the hell was Lie-la doing there? And how are you handling what happened?” Chloe demanded as she looked at Adrien, fuming.Why the heck did Gabriel get Lila to model if he wanted a new teen girl anyone would have been better, heck even Alya could do it!She thought as Adrien seemed to be struggling with something.

“I called Louise about it, he said that what the principal did wasn’t right…..and I told him to send off the notice to the Department of Child Services,” Adrien said as Chloe and Sabrina gasped and looked at him.

“Why I mean you should have done it months ago but why now?” Sabrina said, having been Chloe’s friend for years she knew Adrien at least superficially and this wasn’t like him.

“Lila did what she did because he told her to.” Adrien as they looked at him, not understanding what he was saying. “She said that the modeling thing is a bonus and that she thought how I tried to help Marinette was apublicity stunt for the brand.”

Chloe gasped a hand shooting to her mouth as she looked at him with shock, wondering what had driven Gabriel to do that. “I’m sorry Adrien, you know that there’s always a room at the hotel if you need it.”

“I’ve got a couch dad will be happy to lend you.” Sabrina said with a small smile.

“Yeah thanks, girls…..I’m meeting Louise at Marinette’s, do you want to come along as support?” Adrien asked and Chloe laughed.

“I can guess what’s going on, so I’ll do a little research and get back to you and Marinette later, good luck groveling to her.” Chloe said as she and Sabrina walked off. Adrien looked at her and shook his head, wondering if Marinette would forgive him for his mistake.

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Sabine sighed as she tried not to think about what had happened earlier today at school but she couldn’t. “Nothing about it makes sense, I mean I know my daughter, she’d never do this! And how Lila was still walking around after she waspushed down the stairs, it doesn’t make sense!”

“Your right Sabine and the necklace looked like it could have fit through the grill on the locker and did any of them have locks on them at all? I thought Marinette said she only used hers for holding her coat during winter and projects?” Tom’s voice caused Sabine to turn and look at her husband as he brought a tray of bread out from the kitchen, the workers looking out as they all knew something was wrong with what happened.

“Yeah, boss I guess you can bring them up at the hearing right?” One of the cooks asked as he poked his head out of the back.

Sabine and Tom looked at each other, confusion in their eyes.Did that idiot owl do something wrong when he expelled Marinette?Tom thought as he frowned. “What hearing?”

“The expulsion hearing, the one she has to have after her suspension is up. The one that by law all students are required to have before they're expelled?” The cook said in confusion and Tom stared at him.

“The principle said Marinette was expelled, that’s it, are you saying he did something wrong?” Sabine asked as she looked at him.

“That’s something I think I can help with!” A voice caused all of them to see Adrien standing behind a man in a brown business suit holding a briefcase in his right hand. “My name is Louis Artoga, attorney at law and I’d like to have a long talk with you about that if you don’t mind.”

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Marinette lay down on her bed and hugged one of her pillows as she tried to forget the look in Sentibug’s eyes when Mayura destroyed it….her.That was something that will only haunt her for weeks if she’s lucky.

“How could she do it Tikki, I just can’t believe that she was evenableto do it.” Marinette said as she hugged her pillow.

“There have been people who have been bad holders, but I’ve never seen Duusu’s powers used that way.”Tikki said as she floated and looked at her chosen. “You gave the Amok the talisman that created her; Mayurashouldn’thave been able to do it.”

“Why does that have to do with anything?” Marinette asked as she tried to understand Tikki.

“That should have broken the link to Mayura, she should have been fully independent….. I can’t explain it.” Tikki said as she floated there, not letting Marinette detect any of her thoughts.The only way that could have been possible was if the Miraculousitself was damaged, but Duusu wouldn’t have transformed then, it would have hurt her chosen.Tikki thought as she watched Marinette try and deal with what she had seen happen earlier, some part of her glad she wasn’t thinking about how she had been expelled.

“Something to talk to Master Fu about then, I just want to forget everything happened today and deal with it tomorrow.” Marinette said before a knocking caused her to look at the door down and frown as Tikki hid. “It’s unlocked!”

She didn’t know what she was expecting but when Adrien came into her room she stared in shock. “Adrien! Are what doing you here?”

Adrien looked at her and sighed. “I…..Marinette…. I called a friend of mine about what happened, he’s downstairs with your parents and I volunteered to come and get you. I told them I wanted to talk to you for a few minutes, I want to apologize first.”

“Apologize, Adrien what happened today wasn’t your fault at all, you tried to help but he wouldn’t listen.” Marinette said but stopped when Adrien shook his head.

“No, not that. The advice I gave you when Lila came back.” Adrien said as he hung his head. “Sabrina was in the bathroom too, she heard Lila threaten you and then the Akuma came at you…… while that was happening I was talking to Lila about her lies and she tried to ruin my life at school and my friendships after sooo.”

“You told me not to act against Lila because you thought she summoned a butterfly from you talking to her about her lies?” Marinette said in shock.

“I thought she had because before when I was talking to her about how she didn’t have to lie to get people to like her and she acted normal so……I’m sorry.” Adrien said as he looked away from Marinette and she just looked at him as she tried to understand just what Adrien had thought

“You gave me advice based on what you knew.” Marinette said after a few moments. “If I thought that way about someone I might have said the same to you.”

“Then?” Adrien asked as he felt a bit of hope.

“Apology accepted. So who’s downstairs?” Marinette said as she got up and walked towards Adrien who smiled at her.

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“So she’s always been making clothing?” Louise asked as he drank a cup of tea and looked at Tom and Sabine as they sat in the living room.

“Clothing, blankets, odds and ends, it’s been her passion for years. She really blossomed when she started to look at fashion and started to design her own clothing really and make gifts for her friends.” Sabine said as she looked at Louise with a smile as she remembered her daughter’s antics. “Why I remember how she went and got a roll of blue wool to make a scarf for a present last year. But enough about that, you think you’ll be able to get the expulsion off her record?”

“If she really was expelled and not suspended, of course, it will barely be a problem. I’ll talk to the board of education and once I see the paperwork I’ll go from there, but there’s another subject that I need to talk to you about that I think I should wait until the kids are back to really start…..and here they are.” Louise said as he smiled as Marinette and Adrien walked into the room, Louise standing up and offering Marinette his hand. “Nice to meet you, mam, I’m Louise, Louis Artoga, attorney at law and I want to help you.”

“Help how?” Marinette asked as she and Adrien sat down after she shook his hand. Louise beamed at her and before he continued.

“I’d like to help you out, now fair warning. I have a goddaughter, a few years back she was bullied, badly enough that she tried to commit suicide. She didn’t succeed and she got the help she needed, she’s studying to be a social worker last I heard.” Louse began.“The people I blame are the teachers and the school, the same school that you go…..went to.”

“Mr. Damocles had something to do with it?!” Marinette asked with shock, going silent as Louise’s face started to go red.

“‘Damocles’?! An old man with a beard, bald, has a fixation with owls?! He’s the new principal!?” Louise screamed as he lunged to his feet.

“Louise?” Adrien’s voice caused Louise to look around the room and saw the looks on the other's face and he released a breath and sat down slowly.

“Sorry kid, he was the vice principal who let that bitch get away with everything back then. I thought he was blacklisted.” Louise said as he sat back down, and got out a cell phone that he put in in a holder he got out of his briefcase so the camera was pointed at her. “Start recording, this is Louise Artoga, recording a questioning of Marinette Dupain-Chang about her ‘expulsion’ from earlier today. As of right now, I ask her parents, Tom and Sabine Dupain-Chang their permission to do so.Also of note is that Adrien Agreste is here, as he was the person who told me about this incident.”

“I, Sabine Dupain-Chang give my permission that my child; Marinette Dupain-Chang may decide if she wishes to be questioned and recorded.” Sabine said formally.

“I, Tom Dupain-Chang give my permission that my child; Marinette Dupain-Chang may decide if she wishes to be questioned and recorded.” Tom said as he turned and looked at Marinette who smiled back.

“I, Marinette Dupain-Chang agree to be questioned and recorded about the events earlier today.” Marinette said as she looked at the camera.

“Thank you all, with that done the questioning shall begin. So, walk me through what happened.” Louise said as he looked at Marinette.

“Miss Bustier called me to the front of the room at the start of class and searched my backpack, the answer key was in it.” Marinette said and stopped as Louise held up a finger.

“Point of clarity what class was it with the order of classes on a normal day in number format and has your backpack been out of your sight for any length of time before that.” Louise said as he looked at Marinette.

“It was the first class of the day, as we had a test yesterday so I hadn’t looked at my backpack since then……..and my backpack was out of my sight because someone pulled the fire alarm yesterday and everyone evacuated, most taking their backpacks as it was the end of class and they were getting ready to leave. As the class Representative I had collected the tests and had just put them on Miss Bustier’s desk with the alarm went off and we all evacuated.” Marinette said as she thought about yesterday.

“Why were you called to the front?” Louise asked, a frown forming on his face as he went over what he knew about proper classroom behavior for teachers.

“Miss Bustier said that someone had given an anomalous note that someone had seen me steal the answer sheet and put it into my bag.” Marinette said as and stopped as Louise held up a hand.

“She didn’t call you outside the classroom?” Louise asked in shock.

“No, after that I accused Lila of taking and putting it in my backpack to frame me and Madame Bustier sent both of us to the principal’s office.” Marinette answered as she looked at

“Point of clarity, why did you believe that Lila is a liar?” Louise asked and Marinette went silent.

“If it’s just what you believe about her it's fine, sometimes we get feelings we can’t explain but please clarify your belief.”

Marinette looked at Adrien before she hardened her eyes. “I know Lila is a liar and a thief. A few months ago when she first came back I saw her take a book from Adrien, buy something at a store and throw the book into the trash so he wouldn’t see her with it.” Marinette said causing Adrien to stare at her.

“A book, my father’s book, the one that he took me out of school for losing, Lila was the one who lost it?! You were the person who brought it back?!” Adrien exclaimed as he looked at her before blushing and turning away as everyone looked at him.

“Yes, and I was in passing by the park when Ladybug confronted her about her lies. I was going to give it back to you the next day and tell you that you dropped it in the Library but then, well your father pulled you from school.” Marinette said as she hung her head. “So after I saw that I had enough skepticism not to trust everything she said at face value.”

“We’ll talk about that later, what happened next with Lila today?” Louise asked as Marinette looked at him.

“I told Lila that she wouldn’t win, that I wouldn’t fall for any of her traps and she said I did and then she walked down the stairs, sat down and made a commotion about how I had pushed her down the stairs. ” Marinette replied as Louise tried to keep his temper down.

“Point of interest, at no time were any of the cameras that the school is required to have had checked at all? And what about this Lila’s mother, was she contacted and was she sent to the nurse at least?” Louise inquired, his eyes twitching a little as Marinette shook her head.

“They never checked and she wasn’t sent, they all just followed after Lila to my locker, a locker I only use to hold my coats and projects since none of all have a lock on them. ” Marinette said as Louise nodded at her. “And they contact my parents but Lila’s was unable to be reached, they left five messages as far as I know.”

“Thank you Miss Marinette; that’s all I’ll need for this case, I will bring around paperwork that basically says the sequence of events that you explained and have yourself and you’re parents sign them and that should be it. This has been Louise Artoga, recording Madame Marinette Dupain-Chang.” Louise said as he turned off the phone’s camera and picked it up and started to look over the file, they could hear the sounds of Louise or Marinette’s voice and he nodded. “Thank you that should be all I need. With this and Adrien’s matter, I think I’ll have a good few days of work to do. Now on your case, once I get to the board of education I think everything should be straightened out, but it might be best to wait a day, just so it’s not been filed as a suspension and it was the heat of the moment and all, if nothing comes tomorrow then I’ll move in. And now let’s talk about Lila, with the video a Miss Sabrina has I think we could sue her for slander and making that threat.”

Marinette gulped and looked at her father and mother who both went still and turned towards her as what Louise said penetrated their brains. Louise winced as he realized that she hadn’t told her parents the same time as Adrien did and they both winced at what.

“What threat?” Tom asked quietly as Marinette just looked at the table and stayed silent.

“Who threatened my daughter!?” Sabine asked as Adrien looked up and motioned to Louise to let him talk.

“It’s a long story, but may I can explain if Marinette lets me. ” Adrien said prompting Marinette to nod at him. “From what I found out Lila corned Marinette in a bathroom the day she came back and threatened to take away all her friends and after that, I gave her advice to take the high road, not confront Lila about her lying.”

“Why did you tell Marinette not to confront her after she threatened my daughter? ” Sabine asked coldly as Adrien looked down ashamed.

“Because I thought Lila summoned the Akuma thatgot herfrom my talk with her. And her first actions as a shape-shifter was to try and ruin my social life! I didn’t want to think what would happen if she summed one when she wanted to hurt Marinette as the trigger!” Adrien explained as he held his hands up. “Of course idiot that I was I didn’t explain it, I didn’t want to take a chance that Marinette would get hurt, I never knew about the threat!”

“Oh, so you were trying to protect her but didn’t know about she had been threatened. ” Sabine said as Tom’s rage died down and he understoodwhyAdrien had done what he did.

“Kid was raised to ignore lies the tabloids said, do it and they die, like Tinkerbell, don’t act out and they die. ” Louise said with a sigh. Tom looked at Marinette as his wife hugged her and frowned.

“Wait, youthought Lila had summoned the Akuma?But wait if she didn’t summon it ….then who did?” Tom asked and Adrien went wide eyes and looked around, trying to find anything to say when Marinette spoke up.

“Me. ” Marinette said softly from within her mother’s arms causing Sabine to look down at her daughter as she closed her eyes. “I was so scared she could do it. She had them eating out of her hands, she even conviced Max that a thrown napkin could have taken out his eye and he wears glasses!”

“I can’t even, I don’t even know where to…..just I can’t…. is she serious?” Louise asked as looked at Adrien in shock and when Adrien nodded as Marinette’s parents comforted her Louis sat there stunned.Okay, getting that bitch sued is gonna be a public service and probably improve the intelligence of all those kids!Louise thought as he hung his head in disgust.

“Ohhhh Marinette, I’m sorry that we never noticed how you were feeling! I should have, I don’t know!” Sabine said as she hugged Marinette and before suddenly she went still. “And those idiots at that school never even noticed, no they didn’t want to see!”

“Kid, I don’t know but after the paperwork’s filed maybe you should look for a different school. ” Louise said into the table as he put his head on it.

“Wait, why would Adrien look for a different school? After all that he did to make it into school in the first place…..and what paperwork?” Marinette asked as Louise looked up at her before paling as he realized what he had let slip. Adrien spoke up and caused all of them to look at him.

“I’m suing my father for not paying me for my work, the contracts I never signed, and emotional abuse while going for emancipation or having myself removed from his control.” Adrien said flatly. “The fact that he might have told Lila to do that, that he gave her a modeling contract and might have even hinted that I might be a prize to her, it’s too much, he crossed a line I didn’t even know I had.”

“Oh Adrien, I’m sorry you were pushed to do this.” Marinette said as she looked at him as her parents looked on with concern, knowing from their interactions with him that he probably hadn’t wanted to do this but felt he had to.

“I thought he was going around, that we had started to heal our relationship, especially after my birthday when I got that scarf from him.” Adrien said as closed his eyes.

Louse went still when he saw Marinette wince, things connecting in his mind that didn’t paint a good picture.Please, please don’t tell me.He thought with a sinking feeling as he asked what he didn’t want to. “Scarf, what scarf?”

“A blue scarf that dad made with his own hands, I thought that maybe he was trying and……… what is it?” Adrien asked as he saw Sabine and Tom exchange a look and turn to Marinette who looked down as Louise held his head.

“Adrien, do you have any picture of it?” Tom asked as he turned to look at Adrien as he started to get a sinking feeling.

“Yeah, I did a selfie with Nino a few days after I got it and here it is.” Adrien said as he pulled up the photo and turned it around and Tom sighed and Sabine closed her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Ask your friend kid, ask her.” Louise said around his hands and he turned to Marinette, who looked up,

“I made it.” Marinette said softly. “When you came to school so happy that you thought that he had put the effort into making it by hand, I couldn’t take that from you...”

Adrien stared at her and he saw red, the sheer gull of what his father….whatGabrielhad done causing him to lose focus and he felt so dizzy.

“Adrien, Adrien are you okay?” Sabine asked as she got up and Adrien shot to his feet as he held his hands to his mouth.“Oh hell. Tom! Open the door!”

“Got it, Marinette help you mother!” Tom said as he shot up and opened a door as Marinette and Sabine guided Adrien to the room which was revealed to be a bathroom.

Louise just sat there and shook his head and winced as he heard Adrien throw up in the bathroom and he knew he would have to mention this to the social worker.Maybe it would be better to do it here, Nathalie wouldn’t look for him here and whoever they send could be in plain clothing and get around his eyes. Louise thought as he looked at Tom and Sabine watch the door as Marinette rushed to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

“Tom, Sabine would you two mind if I called the social worker I sent the email to and have them come here, it might be helpful for Adrien.”

“Please, the boy needs to know that not everyone is against him and what Gabriel did, I can’t even imagine.” Tom said as Louise smiled and sent off a text.

“It’s taking all I have not to get my staff and go beat him up!” Sabine bit out as she glared towards the Agreste mansion. “To have that little bitch hurt my daughter, but to have sold his son?!”

“I’m tempted to get a sledgehammer and join you.” Louise said with a sigh as he shook his head. His phone buzzed and he looked down and up at Tom and Sabine. “The Agent is nearby, and would like to get an initial statement from him, there are already a few red flags based on the paperwork and well, she wants to meet soon.”

Tom and Sabine shared a look at each other and looked at the bathroom and after a few minutes looking at each other Sabine knocked on the door.

“Adrien, are you okay?The agent from child Services texted Louise, they want to meet soon. If you’re not up for it there’s nothing wrong with waiting.” Sabine said before they heard a toilet flush and the door open to reveal Adrien whipping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“No, I want to get this done with and close off any chance of that monster from getting around this.” Adrien said as he clenched his hands.I thought you were just hard to understand and had a hard time with emotions but this, dad this is the last freaking straw!Adrien thought as he tried to get his emotions back under control. He felt Plagg press against him and hide a smile.If I didn’t have Plagg, Chloe and my lady to help me, I don’t know what I would be. Probably broken beyond all points by now, if I didn’t have Plagg and my lady to inspire me I wouldn’t have snuck out on that second day to school.Adrien thought as he accepted a cup of water from Marinette and smiled at her before he drank it, not seeing her blush or her parent's grin as Louise chuckled at the byplay.

Chapter 2

Chapter Text

“He did what?” Gabriel asked as Nathalie looked at him from the other side of his desk.

“He threw Lila into the river, walked off and turned his cell off afterwards. I have no idea where he went and already called his friends and Chloe isn’t being helpful, she said something about a movie and she’ll talk to Adrien latter and her phone was off.” Nathalie said as she looked at Gabriel. Gabriel just look back out he tried to understand what he had just heard, Nooroo was hovering above him and looked on and shot Nathalie a wince as he felt the confusion change to rage.

“Find him now! When he gets back here I’m going to…..I can’t even! Clearly he’s been around the degenerates at that school of his too much, I want you to pull him now, if he’s not at a shoot I want him in here!” Gabriel snarled as he pounded the desk. What is wrong with that boy, I’ve tried to raise him right but he does this, what is the matter with him!? He thought as he looked at Nathalie with an angry look in his eyes and as Nooroo hovered above him. “Did Lila say anything about why he did it or did he just snap or lose all sense of pride from being around those children in his class?”

“Lila told him about how you talked to her about getting Marinette Dupain-Cheng away from him, how you rewarded her with the contract.” Nathalie said as Gabriel stared at her.

“Didn’t you mention that she wasn’t to speak about that at all Nathalie?” Gabriel asked as Nathalie nodded and Gabriel face palmed in response and groaned.

“Yes, but I guess she just decided to gloat to get him on board.” Nathalie said as Gabriel kneed his noise, understanding finally why Adrien had done what he had.

“I never should have made a plan like this; I should have never started to even talk to her after she broke into the mansion.” Gabriel said as Nooroo looked down at him with anger in his eyes. Nooroo had tried to caution him against using Lila, something about her made even him feel dirty just hearing her speak. She helped me set up the attack on Heroe’s day and I suppose she had her uses. Still with the lies she’s told about Dupain-Cheng, that should have clued me in, I knew Adrien wouldn’t like Lila but for her to actually say she did it for me is something I wasn’t expecting. Of course when I talk to Adrien I can pass it off as believe her that this Marinette sexually harassed him and was trying to use him. That I acted is because he never told me otherwise, my thoughts that he didn’t because he didn’t want to be pulled from school, yes fatherly conern might work here. Gabriel thought as he tried to figure out where Adrein could be. Looking up he frowned as he saw Nathalie holding her tablet tight against her body and the look in her eyes told him there was something else. “What else happened Nathalie, what did you leave out?”

Nathalie looked at him and released a breath. “Gabriel, I…… he said something before he walked off….. it shocked me enough that I lost him.”

“What could he have said that would let him get away?” Gabriel asked with a scowl.

“He said that he was glad she’s gone.” Nathalie said as she tried to keep calm as Gabriel turned to her with a scowl.

“What are you talking about, glad who’s gone?” Gabriel demanded as he looked at her. Nathalie looked away before turning and swallowing.

“Emilie.” Nathalie said as he went still and turned to look at her, not sure he had heard her right.

“What did you say?” Gabriel asked, aghast that Adrien had said something like that. “He said what about Emilie?”

“He said that he’s glad she’s gone, that he has memories of a good person and not someone who could love a monster like you’ve become.” Nathalie said. “Gabriel, I think….. I think he’s going to do something.”

“Master, perhaps you went too far.” Nooroo said soflty as he floated and Gabriel spared him a glance before shaking his head.

“No, the plan was perfect and each step was planned perfectly. As my other persona I talked to Lila and helped her plan every step of it, all in all a mass Akuma attack was supposed to happen. It was perfect; Lila didn’t know that there were two ways it to go down, one where Dupain-Cheng was the trigger and the other where she was.” Gabriel said as Nathalie looked at him

“Two ways, what are you talking about Gabriel?” Nathalie asked as Nooroo floated there and felt horror as he realized just what Gabriel had planned.

“Both girls of course, each one was a potential trigger for a mass attack. The first was for the feelings of doubt and shock of Miss Dupain-Cheng being suspended; of course I never thought that the principle would have expelled her.” Gabriel admitted as he looked at Nathalie and she was shocked to see a hint of guilt in his eyes. “I thought that at least that man would be professional about his job, it seems that I thought more of him and that homeroom teacher then they deserve.”

“Then the second was Lila, but how…..wait you WANTED HER TO FAIL?” Nathalie exclaimed as Gabriel grinned back at her.

“Yes, if that idiot in charge had looked at the CCTV camera’s that record the school hallways let alone the courtyard, which there are four of them and one of them was right above the principal’s office by the way, then Lila’s lies would have been exposed at once.” Gabriel explained what Lila didn’t know about the plan. Nathalie looked at her boss with an impressed look and Nooroo stared aghast at the betrayal Gabriel had planned.

“So if she was found to have been behind it all, then Lila’s lies would have all been revealed, and that would have been the second way, brilliant!” Nathalie said with a chuckle. “But what about Miss Dupain-Cheng, how does she factor in?”

“She was to be the ace in the plan; she got away from me enough times that I’m sure I could finally craft a champion of such power she would have finally gotten me my prize.” Gabriel said as he looked at her and frowned. “But I have to admit that I never planned for Miss Dunpain-Chang to be a victim to this extent.”

“And by what you said about the teachers there, you expected them to actually do their jobs properly?” Nathalie asked with a deadpan look.

“Yes, I have to say that this has destroyed any faith I have in the public school system. I plan to send a special email to the school board with an unaltered copy of the CT footage, say that I’m a hacker who looked into Lila because of something I read online and saw her true colors. She was stupid enough to even get caught on camera taking the answer sheet.” Gabriel said and Nathalie laughed a little at her stupidity.

“So then what about this Miss…… Dupain-Chang master, what will happen to her?” Nooroo asked as he looked down at Gabriel with a hint of hope in his eyes as he looked at his wielder.

“Dunpain-Chang Nooroo, and I expect that her record will be cleared, an investigation will be launched against that school that might end with it closing or a few people black listed and that this will be a perfect chance to bring Adrien back to homeschool, but I think I’ll let him keep his social life as it is, maybe let up his extracurricular activities.” Gabriel said as he looked at Nathalie who looked up and started to type away at her tablet. “Perhaps a program with group projects, yes if I share them with some of the parents of Adrien’s friends that might earn some forgiveness from him about this, and if I explain that Lila tricked me, he might forgive me.”

Nathaile looked at him and bit her lip as she looked away, something was telling her that this wouldn’t be as easy as he thought it would, a beeping from her tablet caused her to look down and frown as she saw someone knocking on the mansion’s doors, she frowned when she noticed he was wearing a suit. “There’s someone here Gabriel, did I forget to pencil in an appointment?”

“No, I can’t think of anything that would be handled with a face to face.” Gabriel said as he looked at Nathalie who looked back for a few moments before she sighed and looked down at her tablet and typed a few keys

“Who are you and why are you here?” Nathalie said through her tablet and the man looked up at the camera that came out of the gate and frowned.

“I have to speak with Gabriel Agreste in person, I’m sorry but I can’t talk anything more and I won’t leave.” He said and Nathalie looked at Gabriel who shrugged and frowned back at her.

“Please wait there, I will get back to you in five.” Nathalie said as she muted her tablet and turned to Gabriel. “Well now what, any idea what this could be?”

“None at all.” Gabriel looked at the camera’s image and looked at Nathalie. “A reporter after a scoop, a new customer that wanted a personal meeting, remember how that person came to the mansion last year?”

Nathalie looked down at the screen and looked back at Gabriel. “He doesn’t seem to be a reporter, I have a……..feeling that this is important.”

“Very well.” Gabriel said as he got up from his desk and walked towards the door out, Nathalie following behind him and Nooroo hiding in is clothing. “Let him in, we’ll see what he has to say.”

A few moments later the man walked into the mansion and meet Gabriel and Nathalie in the foyer.

“Gabriel Agreste?” The man said as he went to Nathalie’s desk and opened his briefcase.

“I don’t know who you all but I assure you I don’t want anything that you have. I will give you a few minutes of my time but I want you gone.” Gabriel said as the man smiled at him.

“This will only take a moment, Gabriel Agreste you have been served.” The man said as he put a stack of papers and dropped them onto the desk. “You are cordially informed that you are now under investigation by the Child Protection Agency of France for violating the Child Labor Laws, and you are being sued by one Adrien Agreste for work without pay. Have a nice day.” The man said as he dropped a few forms on the desk before he nodded at them and he turned and walked out the mansion, a spring in his step. As he walked out of the mansion’s grounds he hummed as he turned towards his home, a smirk on his face as he remembered the look Gabriel had when he heard why he was there. “I just love to deliver to those people; I just love this part of my job.”

Nathalie looked at Gabriel as he stood there and stared down at the papers on his desk and sighed. “I knew he would do something, I just knew it. And I knew that one day you would push him too far!”

Gabriel looked at Nathalie with a scowl on his face. “I don’t need that from you now Nathalie.”

“Well you’re going to get it Gabriel!” Nathalie said as she looked at him with a frown on her face as Nooroo floated back in from where he had hidden. “I’m here to help you but I’ve said it before that all the modeling work will come back and bite you one day.”

“He is my son. I have the right to have him work for me!” Gabriel said as he looked at her and she shook his head. “And I can’t think of anything that he had done that violated any of the laws, he’s working for the family business!”

“The keyword there is work Gabriel, work! I’m not a law specialist so I don’t know ,but maybe if could be how long he does it is and how you pull him from school; people could make a problem about them and there are laws about child labor which Adrien’s work qualifies as! And what are we to do, Hawkmoth attacked today and failed, if you make one to find Adrien then people will talk!” Nathalie said as Gabriel looked at her and nodded.

“Contact my lawyer, I want him to investigate who’s behind this! And go check out the hotel, he has to be there!” Gabriel said as Nathalie walked away. “Oh, and the video’s with Lila actions, use one of the throwaway accounts, the videos are in file EM02 password 3, and send it to Miss Dunpain-Chang.”

“What, after all this you want to….” Nathalie said turning her head but trailed of as Gabriel looked at her.

“It’s imperative that my crusade doesn’t destroy a life, if Emile finds out about this and that I didn’t try and fix it……..then I’ll be the one needing the wish.” Gabriel said as Nathalie chuckled and nodded. “And it might make any meetings with Adrien easier if I’m surprised by anything he says about Lila, I might be able to make him believe I was tricked by her.”

“Throwing her under the bus then?” Nathalie asked dryly.

“I always planned to one day.” Gabirl said as he looked at his wife’s painting. “Nooroo didn’t like her, and my feelings about him aside, that’s saying something.”

“Respectfully Master,” Nooroo piped up. “I’ve felt people who were insane or psychotic that were less slimy then she is.”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The caseworker looked at the doors to the apartment portion of the bakery and swallowed. Okay, keep it together Sophia, you’ve done cases like this before, but it’s your first time in the city since Hawkmoth but you can do it. She thought as she slapped her checks and put a smile on and walked towards the door and knocked and a large strong looking man with a mustache opened it, causing her to swallow and look up at him. “Hello, I’m Sophia from the Child Welfare Origination; I’m supposed to be meeting Adrien here?”

“Yes, come in quick.” The large man said as he ushered her in. “I’m Tom Dupain-Chang, Adrien is upstairs in the living room up those stairs, my wife Sabine and my Daughter Marinette is there providing support, I ‘d love to stay but I need to get back to work, the dinner rush should be soon and I have to make sure everything is working right.” Tom said as he head back towards the front of the store as the woman swallowed and walked up the stairs, psyching herself up as she went.

Walking into the kitchen she saw Adrien sitting down at a table with a glass of water in his hands and Marinette looking at him as he talked as Louise and Sabine talked quietly by the window.

“….really, I don’t know why I thought he would have taken the time to make it, I was grasping at straws to save our relationship. I must be the most idiotic person on the planet. I should have reported him months ago.” Adrien said as Marinette reached over and squeezed his arm.

“You wanted to think there was a way to salvage something from your relationship with him, I mean I get that. I’m just sorry I never told you that I made it.” Marinette said as she looked at his eyes and he smiled back and squeezed her hand back as Sabine giggled and Louise grinned before looking up as Sophia walked into the room.

“So you made it, you’re the agent the Child welfare Agency sent?” Louise asked as the other three looked up at Sophia who grinned shakily back.

“Yes, hello. I’m Sophia, I was sent to do a preliminary interview. I understand who the two woman are but who are you sir?” Sophia asked casuing Louise to smile and hold out his hand for her to shake.

“Sorry, I’m Louise, Louse Artoga, Adrien’s attorney. I believe that Tom told you who these ladies are of course.” Louise said as he gestured towards Sabine and Marinette who nodded at her as Adrien looked up.

“Yes, I met Tom before he directed me here. Now normally I prefer to have my meetings private affairs with only the person and an adult who’s on their side, but in this case.” Sophia said as she looked at Sabine and Marinette and Adrien looked up for a few seconds before speaking up.

“I’d like them to stay, at least for moral support.” Adrien said as he looked down.

“That’s perfectly fine, but if you mind walking me through a normal day, a normal day as your father would have you do.” Sophia asked as she sat down at the table and opened her briefcase and brought a few piece of blank paper out a pencil and her phone that she put down after activating a recording app.

“I get up around six in the morning and do stretches and exercises until around six thirty, after that I shower until around seven when I practice the piano until around seven thirty when I have free time until eight when I have breakfast and am driven to school at eight fifteen.” Adrien said as Sophia started to take notes.

“What about your father, do you see him in the morning?” Sophia asked and Adrien shook his head as she took notes.

“No, the only person I see is Nathalie most days…oh, she’s my dad’s assistant and then there’s my bodyguard/driver the Gorilla. Oh, the Gorilla’s name is Damien.” Adrien said as he looked down and missed the look of rage that went through Sophia’s eyes as Marinette squeezed her hands as Sabine growled under her breath as Louise watched with a blank face. “Sometimes I get to school for afternoon class if there’s a photo shoot in the morning, sometimes I don’t even make it to school at all and then if I get back around five I have supper alone again and practice the piano for an hour or my Chinese tutor comes for the same time, if there’s a photo shoot in the afternoon I work and grab supper between shots until I’m taken back to the mansion ussualy around nine or ten.”

“What about when you do make it to school?” Sophia asked as she wrote down what Adrien said and tried to keep calm. “What are your days like then?”

“I have ordinary classes and at lunch I’m drive home where I eat and stay in my room before I return to school. When classes end I go to fencing practice when it’s scheduled, I have Mandarin lessons or piano practice if a photo shoot isn’t scheduled and I have an ordinary evening, I have dinner alone and have a few hours of free time in my room before I go to sleep.” Adrien explained. Sophia looked at him and tried to keep her cool, the shear amount of time he had working was bothering her, and the way he spoke raised a few flags that only increased her concern.

“How much time do you think you spend with your father, regularly?” Sophia asked and Adrien looked at her and started to think for a few more moments then Sophia was comfortable with.

“Every few days he checks on my progress at the piano and Mandarin, and maybe I’ll have dinner with him maybe once a month or so…….” Adrien said as he shrugged.

“A day.” Sophia interrupted him and he looked at her. “How much time do you spend with him a day, in person?”

“Normally none in his presence, he’ll check on me through Nathalie’s tablet and I don’t know if he watches me on the cameras but I know there aren’t any in my room so that’s out.” Adrien said as he tried to think. “So maybe I see if in person about an hour a month, total? There was the time we watch that movie mom stared in once but that’s not normal.”

Adrien looked at her before looking around and when Louise nodded he sighed. “Okay, my last birthday I thought dad made me a scarf by hand, but I was told an hour ago that Marinette made and he just, stole it from her and took credit for it.”

Sophia looked at him and hung her head. Okay, that plus how little time he spends with him that’s emotional abuse. And the way he does his modeling, that violates the Child Labor laws right there and I haven’t even gotten to the weekends yet. She thought as s he looked at her notes.

“Okay I think that’s everything for now, I would say that you should stay away from your school for the next two days since it’s almost the weekend, by then we’ll have gone over the case and I think we’ll be moving to have your father’s people served with a restraining order.” Sophia said as she put her papers away. “Miss Marinette I have to ask that you don’t tell anyone

“That’s going to be easy since I was expelled today.” Marinette said and Sophia turned and stared at her in shock.

“I’m sorry that whatever happened caused the hearing to decided that was best, I…..” Sophia trailed off as Sabine growled and Marinette gained a bitter look.

“I didn’t have a hearing, I was just expelled because Lila said I pushed her down the courtyard stairs to the next floor, I stole the answer key to the test after the test was over and that I stole her grandmother’s necklace the day before and kept it in my locker overnight.” Marinette said as Sophia looked at her before turning to the others and stared aghast at them.

“That all happened today?! What the hell kind of school is it, the Idiot School for Total Inaptitude?! Don’t they have CT camera’s there?!” Sophia demanded in shock that gave way to rage. “And you have to have to have a hearing, what did they decided not to do their jobs or something?!”

Adrien stared at Sophia and swallowed as she glared at the room. She’s gonna be Akumatized, how can I get her to calm down?! Adrien thought as Sabine had flashbacks to what happened to her husband and Louise looked ill as he realized what was happening before him. but before they could do more than react Marinette did first.

Marinette got up and slapped Sophia’s face. Sophia just looked at Marinette shocked, her anger dissipated and tried to speak but Marinette spoke over her. “Look at me, Look at me! Deep breaths, in and out, in and out. We don’t want to summon an Akuma don’t we?”

Sophia looked at her and did as she was told, slowly getting herself back under control. “Thank you, I….needed that but please don’t do that again. But how’d you know how to do that?”

“Max thought that once maybe a shock could stop someone from feeling what call them. Smart guy, great programmer but he didn’t catch an obvious lie.” Marinette said as she looked at Sophia who raised an eyebrow.

“What kind of lie was it?” Sophia asked as she looked between the two teens, hoping that something was

“A thrown school napkin could have gorged his eye out, and he wears glasses.” Adrien said flatly.

“Really?” Sophia asked as she looked around and Marinette nodded. “And this Max, he’s…..smart?”

“Nobody seems to be where Lila’s concerned. The school believed her enough to have me expelled right away and didn’t even let me say anything in my defense.” Marinette said as she shook her head.

“And she threatened Marinette when she got ‘back’ a week after Hero’s day.” Adrien said as he glared into space.

“Got back from where?” Sophia asked and felt something, a feeling of disappointment that she couldn’t explain.

“She said that she was traveling with her mother, and she says she’s a diplomat.” Marinette said as she looked at Sophia. “Of course the first day that she appeared in Paris she became an Akuma that could do illusions and then the fake Chat Noir and Ladybug, well.”

“How do you know that?” Adrien said suddenly as he looked at her and saw her jolt and realize he was there and winced before she sighed.

“I told you I saw Lila take your book and throw it away, what I didn’t say was that it was opned to a page of a superhero.” Marinette said and wrung her hands. “I was interested so I looked through it and I saw the fox hero and pictures of what I thought were illusions so I put two and two together and then the meteor. And then there’s how I said that I found the missing book to you’re father so he and well.” Marinette said with a shrug.

“Thank you Marinette, because of you doing that I was let back into school.” Adrien said and Sophia went still before turning towards him.

“What do you mean, ‘back intp school’?” Sophia demanded as she suddenly realized what he had just said.

“I found this book in a hidden safe one day while I was looking around my father’s office after Hero’s Day; I wanted to see if he was free to talk about a school trip next month. He wasn’t there but I found this book I took to school, I ‘lost it’ or Lila took it and father pulled me from school to punish me.” Adrien said and Sophia stared.

Sophia looked into space as she tried to understand just what she had heard. Okay, that’s a strange punishment and maybe it could be argued a ‘legal’ one. But it was…..wait when did he say the trip is?! Sophia thoughts died and she looked at Adrien.

“Wait, just wait!” Sophia said as she held up a hand. “This was after Hero’s Day, but that was months ago…..you had to talk to your father months before a school trip so you could go?”

“Well he prioritizes the company image over everything else, and he pulled me from school for loosing it.” Adrien said as he blushed. “He said it was important, that mom and he had found it years ago, not that he ever told me about it. all my father said when he let me go back to school was a friend had found it and returned it to him, that was you Marinette?”

“Yeah, but that meteor appeared before I could work up my courage to tell you about what Lila did.” Marinette explained as she looked away with a blush on her face. “So I figured I’d give it back to you in the morning and when you were pulled from school I went to your house and told your father it dropped out of your bag and I had seen you with it earlier so I figured it was his.”

“Wait, wait a second we’ve gone off tangent here, what was the threat?” Sophia asked as she mentally decided to look into this Lila.

“That she would take away all my friends and ruin my life, and she got me expelled.” Marinette said softly as she looked down, trying not to let her face show her emotions about what had happened earlier today.

“She admitted that she did it too, all so my father would give her a modeling contract as a bonus.” Adrien said as he looked at Marinette and felt something at the back of his mind, something was bothering his subconscious, he didn’t know what but something was there. “I knew she was a liar but I didn’t want to expose her, I thought she was just a liar who would get tangled up in her lies or was just lonely from traveling with her mother and wanted people to like her.”

“Well if you didn’t know about the threat kid, then I doubt anyone could blame you for hoping she was just nervous, I’ve seen kids do strange things to get people to like them. Still she just gave that one threat once right?” Louise said as everyone looked at Marinette and she looked down as Sabine gasped and Adrien looked horrified as Sophia broke her pencil. “Marinette, what else did she do.”

“That day she came back, at the end of the day….. She went up to me at the stairs and said we were at war, that she would ruin me and that Adrien would be….hers.” Marinette said as she as looked down, Sabine stared and started to curse in Mandarin and Adrien tried not to show that he knew what she was saying, but he noticed that Marinette’s blush deepened and wondered if she knew what her mother was saying.

A beeping from Marinette’s phone caused everyone to look at her as she blushed and took her phone out and paled. Marinette stared at the screen and tried to figure out what this meant and who could have sent this. Max, Markov did you two send this…..no that’s not their style. Who knew to look and why……Hawkmoth but why would he…..nothing about this makes sense, I have more questions than answers and I don’t like this one bit! I need to talk to Master Fu about this. Marinette thought and looked up as she felt someone touch her shoulder and saw her mother look at her with concern on her face.

“What’s wrong darling, what’s on your phone?” Sabine asked as she took it and looked down before scowling. “What!? ‘Lila stealing and framing Marinette?!”

“What’d you say?!” Louise demanded as he rushed towards Sabine and Marinette as Adrien and Sophia shot to their feet. Louise looked around and saw the TV in the room and looked at Sabine. “That’s a smart TV, you can cast the video to it right?”

Sabine nodded and they all turned to the TV and Sabine played the video. The first thing was a blank screen that said ‘This is from the school CT cameras’ and then Miss Buister class leaving the room with a small timestamp in the right corner showing that it happened the day before at the last class of the day and Adrien went still.

“That’s when the fire alarm went off.” Adrien said as everyone on screen left the class room through the courtyard door and then Lila came in from the other doorway and grabbed a paper from Miss Buister’s desk and dash to Marinette’s bag and put the paper in it before she ran after the class.

“Well there’s the answer about how it got into my backpack.” Marinette said dumbly as the video continued and it showed Lila walking down the stairs with Marinette staying by Mr. Damocles door before Lila sat down at the bottom and starting to scream. “And then she led the way to my locker where she opened it and there was her necklace.”

“Why was it unlocked?” Sophia asked as Sabine went over and squeezed Marinette’s hand and she looked at her mother with a smile before replying.

“The lockers don’t have locks, something about something that happened a few years back when I asked about it.” Adrien said and Sophia only face palmed and Louise looked murderous. A chocking gasp came from Sabine and they turned to the mother and daughter to see Marinette raise a shaking finger and they saw the TV had showed Lila dropping something into Marinette’s locker, the image being enhanced to show the fox tailed necklace. “Well, I didn’t know there were camera’s in the locker room, did you Marinette?”

“No I didn’t, and I was class president.” Marinette said dumbly as she looked at the screen. “And the time stamp showed it was from before 1^st period when she said I had the answer key in my backpack.”

“Wait I’m not following this, she said you pushed her down the stairs? And the nurse backed her?” Sophia asked and Sabine scowled as Marinette looked down.

“They never even had the nurse examine Lila.” Adrien said dryly causing Sophia to look at her before she face palmed.

“I think that the lawsuit against the school for malpractice is open and shut, don’t you?” Louise said as Sophia banged her head against the table as she realized just what she had seen and cursed under her breath, knowing that the school system was the thing that would be affected the most before the end, and that she might want to start setting up a the paperwork for homeschooling for a whole school.

Moments later Sophia looked at Louis and Sabine as the three of them stood at the doorway to the alley. “That was a very good meeting in my opinion. I have to be honest….a lot of red flags were raised by the office when his mother disappeared and this just adds to them. I guess that you have the legal paperwork and evidence against his father?”

“Yeah, a lot but I became Adrien’s lawyer because of something his mother did so he will know what I’m doing once he’s served. Sabine would your family mind putting him up for a few days? I can rush the paperwork that would make you his temporary guardian in a court outside of Paris tomorrow.” Louis said as he looked at Sabine who nodded back at him.

“Ahhhh, that scenario then.” Sophia said with a wince.

“Yes, I’m sorry but that protocol, his situation is exactly what it was set up for.” Louise said as Sabine looked between them and he noticed it and looked a little….embarrassed. “It’s a law that was set up after a rich abusive parent bribe the location out of a clerk who fell for their lies and the result was that they attacked the foster home while drunk.”

“Oh my.” Sabine said as she looked between Sophia and Louise as Sophia blushed.

“Thankfully no one beside the drunk idiot was hurt.” Louise said with a smirk and a laugh. “And he was hurt by driving his car into a wall!”

“Oh my. I guess he lost custady after all then?” Sabine asked as Sophia blushed and Louis laughed before he started to look just disappointed.

“Yeah, but that’s not the most funny story about my work I have to share. Why the number of idiotic things people will do, I can’t even say that I’m surprised by anything anymore.” Louis saide with a sigh as he shook his head.

“That’s nither here or there. As an agent of the Child Protection Services of France I give my leave to allow Adrien Agrest to stay here overnight legally. We’ll look over the case and come to a decision but I will be putting together the paperwork to remove him from his father’s guidance tomorrow at the earliest.”

As both Louis and Sophia left through the back alley entrance Sabine looked upwards and sighed as she moved towards the apartment’s kitchen, hoping that Adrien wasn’t allergic to anything that she made that night.

“Come on Adrien, you can sleep in the guest room tonight.” Marinette said as she lead him through the house towards the guest room. “It’s on the opposite side of my room from my parents so if you want to scream into the pillow don’t hold back.”

As they entered the room and Marinette turned on the lights Adrien looked around, noticing that the windows were facing the alley and kept a smile off his face. Perfect, I can use that to get out and talk to Ladybug on patrol tonight, if I close the door and lock it then that’s easy to keep my secret. He thought as he looked at Marinette with a bitter smile. “Thanks Marinette, I don’t deserve a friend like you.”

“Is this about the advice Adrien?” Marinette asked as she looked at him as he sat down on the bed. “Adrien you didn’t know about it. Listen, my grandmother told me once that you can only give advice on what you know, you didn’t and you could only give what you knew at the time.”

“I was thought she was just a social climber or trying to get people to like her because she was scared.” Adrien admitted as he put his head down. “Chloe was like that, trying to act like the person she wanted to like her.”

“Chloe…….?” Marinette asked as she looked at him before gasping and covering her mouth. “Her mom right? She was like that all those years so her mother would like her?!”

“Yeah, she’s always had this idolized view of her for a while; I think what happened when her mom was Akumatized might have broken that.” Adrien said as he looked at her with a bitter smile. “She actually came to talk to me about getting justice for you, trying to figure out how to get your expulsion overturned.”

Marinette stared at Adrien with her mouth open in total shock, only managing to mutter half formed words before she was able to speak clearly. “Chloe did, I thought she hated me!”

“No, Chloe’s been hard to understand. If she hated you then she’ll ignore you, and well I think she liked how you would insult her back.” Adrien said as Marinette looked at him and Adrien continued speaking. “Her grandmother on her mom’s side was a weird person when she was alive, always talking about getting people back based on her own sense of justice.”

“And she copied her sense of humor from her mother right?” Marinette asked dryly and Adrien only laughed lightly. “I have some stuff to finish that I was taking a break from when this all happened, we usually eat in about an hour so I’ll see you later.”

Adrien nodded and Marinette walked and closed the door, Adrein sighing as she did, noticing the door had a lock and he nodded. “I’m hoping you won’t mind if I don’t feed you that kind of cheese for a while Plagg.”

“Don’t be too bad kid, just grab me a slice of this places cheese bread every once in a while, hell a piece of bread would do in a hurry.” Plagg said as he floated out of Adrien’s jacket. “Don’t be overthinking it; I just love cheese like my sugerclub loves sugar.”

“I thought so for a while now, I’ll make sure that I grab a few piece of emergency cheese the next time I can slip into a continuance store.” Adrien said with a smirk as he looked at the window. “Think we’ll be able to use that to get out on patrol?”

“I’ll check, give me a few minutes to look around, take a nap kid, I’ll wake you when I’m back.” Plagg said as he shot through the window and Adrien sighed and leaned back on the bed and closed his eyes.

“I can’t believe this; Chloe’s actually trying to help me?” Marinette said as she closed the door to her room. Tikki floated up and looked at her with a smile.

“She bonded with Pollen, I wouldn’t expect something else and her jabs against you were like someone hoping for someone to strike back.” Tikki said causing Marinette to look at her.

“So all this time Chloe’s been looking for someone to verbally spar with, but what about Ms. Buister’s present, no that was more against her then me.” Marinette said as she sat down and started to mutter to herself. Tikki grinned and looked at Marinette and before turning sharply and saw Plagg floating by the exit to the terraince and frowned.

“I’m going to check the alley Marinette, I want to make sure we can slip by Adrien the next time we go on patrol.” Tikki said and Marinette put her head down.

“Stay out of sight okay? I really need to think about everything Chloe could have done or didn’t. Now there’s Alix’s watch, but she could have just dropped it by accident, and there’s the design she stole from me, but how couldn’t she have seen the fact that I signed it…..” As Marinette went over her interactions with Chloe Tikki giggled and flew out of the room, hugging Plagg as soon as she saw him.

“Hey sugerclub, how should we deal with this?” Plagg asked as Tikki smiled at him.

“I’m just happy he’s finally standing up for himself after everything you told me about their relationship. When I saw all that his father had him doing the first time I really hoped he wanted to do a least one of them.” Tikki said and Plagg scowled

“No, that kitten’s always trying to please him and he never would say anything, not that he would have listened to him.” Plagg said with a snort. “If his mom hadn’t set up his early modeling work’s pay and invested it so he had a modest income from them I don’t think he would have been half as confident to have started to do this.”

“How bad is it, really?” Tikki asked as she floated and looked at him.

“I….. I don’t know. Gabriel is short with everyone, not just Adrien. Maybe he’s like Tom’s dad was, but he’s as proud and over protective as Jonah’s was.” Plagg said as Tikki frowned. “And then there this, do you think we should push for a reveal? I mean tomorrow’s patrol alone….”

“It might be time; they trust each other and Marinette could talk to him about the butterfly.” Tikki said before going silent as Plagg looked at her.

“What butterfly?” Plagg asked flatly and Tikki looked back and sighed.

“When Lila threatened her, an Akuma was summoned…… I helped talk her to get it away but then Lila was turned.” Tikki said and Plagg looked at her and hung his head.

“And the kitten thinks that Lila was turned because of him calling her out, another reason he said if they knew the truth it doesn’t matter if she lies.” Plagg said as he looked down at the alley between the buildings. “What’s over there anyway?”

“I think it was originally an apartment before the owner died and it was taken by the city, I think they were talking about making it a low budget housing but the school raised a stink and it went to court and died there according to Marinette.” Tikki said as she shrugged. “And then Hawkmoth appeared and well…..”

“Might have to teach the kids a few tricks sugerclub, they might be ready for them.” Plagg said as he looked around and scowled at the school. “I wonder how Lila tricked Gabriel into giving her that contract; it had to have been on her end you know?”

“He wouldn’t have reached out to her?” Tikki asked and Plagg floated there for a few moments before he shook his head.

“He only remembers Kagami’s name because he wants a contract with her mother’s company, I don’t know how he would have even talked to her.” Plagg said flatly. “Let’s have the kids transform and call each other, that way they can talk and hopefully postpone the patrol until the day after, we just have to hope that after what happened today Hawkmoth and Mayura will stay down for a day.”

“Yeah…….” Tikki said as she frowned. “Hey Plagg, when you were in your Miraculous, did you feel something from Duusu?”

“You mean did Mayura feel wrong to me, yeah.” Plagg said with a frown. “I’m thinking there’s a lot about why he’s doing this that we don’t know yet.”

Tikki floated there and let what Plagg said stew and she tried to think of anything, something was telling her she had all the pieces but she couldn’t set them together right. “I’ll tell Marinette to do that and we’ll let them call each other and hope for the best, for today our choosen are more important.”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Alya looked around the room, trying not to look at the empty seat where Marinette…..normally sat and tried to keep it off her mind. Nothing about yesterday makes sense, I mean I know Marinette and she wouldn’t cheat or push anyone down the stairs! I mean I can’t even understand how that happened, or how Hawkmoth did what he did again. Ayla thought as she looked into space, trying to figure out what had happened yesterday that she never noticed Nino come and put his hand on her shoulder.

“You okay babe?” Nino asked as he reached her and looked around the room. That’s strange, Adrien is usually here before me most days, it’s not like him to be late………is there an emergency photo shoot or something his dad pulled him for, he usually texts me to ask to for a copy of my notes? Nino thought as he sat down behind Alya.

“No, nothing about yesterday makes sense; I mean I can’t even think of an explanation that explains everything.” Alya said as she hung her head.

“How about half of it, we can work from the rest Alya.” Nino said as Alya hung lower and he grew worried. “Babe, what is it?”

“Marinette thinks Lila did it on purpose to get her expelled, but I can’t figure out why. Marinette said that Lila did it and that she’s a liar, I thought it was jealousy that they don’t like each other but I don’t know anymore.” Alya whispered softly as she looked down at her desk. “I mean I get that if you think that Lila was behind it, most of it all lines up but I can’t think of a motive or how to prove it, everything I have is telling me that I’m missing something that I can’t see it, some piece of this puzzle that explains the missing portion.”

“We’ll figure out what we can do babe, we just need some time.” Nino said as he looked down and frowned, his own mind going place he didn’t like. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t notice Alix and Max until Alix slammed her hand down on Alya’s desk causing them both to look at her.

“How are we going to help Marinette Alya?!” Alix demanded as she looked at Alya. “You’re the reporter, you have to know something we can use to get her back and find out the truth, cause there is no way what happened yesterday was real!”

“I don’t know I mean the evidence is shaky at best, I mean with the fact someone pulled the fire alarm the other day I guess that was could be how the answer sheet could have gotten in her backpack, but to prove that’s what happened is imposible.” Alya said as she looked down.” But then their’s Lila necklace, she said she saw Marinette take it but I never even heard about it before and how would Marinette have even known about? But to prove it is imposable.”

“The necklace being in the locker wasn’t enough proof.” Max’s voice startled them and they turned to look at him. “I had Markov do a simulation and it is 100% possible to drop it through the locker’s grill and a chain long enough would let someone put it through the grill and end up where it did, and then there’s the fact that none of the lockers even have locks.”

“I’ve always felt something scary about that, that’s why I just use it to hold projects and my coat in the winter; I think Marinette does it too.” Rose chimed in and they looked to see her and Juleka nod.

“There is no way in hell that Marinette hurt someone on purpose even if they did deserve it, and to cheat on a test that didn’t matter, no way.” Juleka said as she looked down, a hard look in her visible eye.

“At least once the investigation is done then maybe we can learn what happened right?” Kim spoke up from behind them, causing them all to turn and look at him.

“What investigation?” Alix asked as she turned and looked at Kim who shrugged before answering.

“The investigation that they have to do, that’s required for an expulsion to be legal?” Kim asked as he looked down at them in confusion. “I mean you can’t be expelled like that, you’ve got the right to defend yourself before a panel of judges.”

Alix looked up at him and frowned as Nino got out his phone and started to type away.

“Why do you know that muscles?” Alix asked as Kim looked away and blushed.

“One of my dares before I started to come here, I had to look over the school’s expulsion rules and then argue against a student being expelled. Not a real student of course, and the darer was my civics teacher and wanted to get my grade up.” Kim said as he grinned. “It worked, I got a B on that extra-credit work and he dare me to do better, if I got in the top ten students that year he would help me set up a sports festival over the summer, I was in the top five that year but I discovered competitive swimming and well.”

“Oh, that makes sense.” Alix said as she looked at him and frowned. “Wait a second, it that in your file…..wait. Is that why Madame Mendeleiev always challenges you when she hands out the study guides?”

“What can I say, she knows my old teacher.” Kim said as Nino looked up with a smile from his phone.

“And he’s right dudes, its solid law, she gets a hearing.” Nino said with a smirk on his face.

“Once they check out the camera’s I’m sure Marinette will be back!” Rose said with a grin. “Lila has to have been wrong; Marinette wouldn’t push anyone down the stairs. She probably slipped and Marinette tried to grab her!”

“If she fell.” Alix said with a scowl as she crossed her arms.

Alya looked at her and felt hers heart beat faster as she paled. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve taken injuries before with my stunts and stuff, if she had fallen she shouldn’t have been able to move that well.” Alix said and looked conflicted. “And the last time somebody fell down them two years ago they had to take them to the hospital, they were knocked out unconscious!”

“Why would Lila have been lying about being hurt, I mean why?” Rose asked as she and Juleka joined the others. Alya looked around the room and noticed that Ivan and Mylene were in the back talking quietly with each other, but from the frown Ivan had she could guess what they were talking about.

“I don’t know, but we can agree that Mari wouldn’t do anything like that right, I mean we know her!” Alya said with a scowl as the others nodded and looked at each other. “I mean sure she didn’t like Lila, but I always it was because she thought Lila was after Adrien.”

“And we know that Marinette wouldn’t do that, but how did the answer sheet get in her bag and the necklace into her locker?” Juleka asked and the others looked around, none of them making the logical leap that would explain everything.

Above them Chloe scoffed and looked down at them. This is why I wear a ‘mask’ all the time, it doesn’t pay to show who you are all the time. I’m sorry that you’re learning it from interacting with Lila Mari, you were the only person who actually was fun to bitch at, besides Adrien and Sabrina, I think you’re the only person in this class I like. She thought before she leaned closer to Sabrina. “How’s your dad feel about what you talked to him about.”

“He was out all night, didn’t get to talk to him yet.” Sabrina whispered back to her. “I’ll talk to him at dinner about it; think we should tell the others?”

“I don’t know, I mean she’s got most of them wrapped around her finger, if something doesn’t change we might have to.” Chloe said quietly as she looked around the room, her eyes lingering on Alya and she frowned. Still it looks like she might be breaking it, if so after a little humble pie I think their releationship will survive this. Still I wonder if I can get in on the bet about when those two get together. Chloe thought as she looked around the classroom.

“Still, I was surprised with how many students actually do homeschool since Hawkmoth came out, aren’t you?” Sabrina whispered and thought of how many different homeschool options there were in Paris alone.

“Trust me I know parents who are……..overprotective and that’s pretty normal, but I’m more surprised with how many students are here after all.” Chloe said as she remembered the total list of students that actually attended the school was a lot smaller then she originally thought.

“This place always seemed small to me, I don’t know why but it always did.” Sabrina said as she shrugged her shoulders. “And knowing our classmates, I was always surprised how many of us have the same general interests and goals, you know?”

Chloe nodded was going to say something when she went still and Sabrina turned and saw Lila coming into the room talking with Nathaniel as she walked in. There’s the bitch in question, I hope Adrien stays away, the research we did last night showed us a lot of options to choose from, a good program with group projects is just what we need. Chloe thought as she looked down at Lila and it took everything she had learned as a Mayor’s daughter to keep the disgust she had for her off her face.

Alix looked over Lila and frowned. If she really fell then she’s recovered faster than anyone could…… I so don’t like this, any of it. And if muscles if right and this place did something illegal yesterday then I might have to rethink my scholastic future here. Alix thought as she looked at Lila as she moved towards the gathering around Ayla’s desk.

“Hey Lila, you know your walking a lot for someone who fell down the stairs.” Alix said before Lila could say anything. The others looked at her and she smiled the same way she had before she told one of her stories Alix realized with a jolt as Lila started to speak.

“I’ve always had a high pain threshold really; I remember once when I broke my leg in a football game and still helped make the winning goal!” Lila said as the others only looked at her in disbelief.

“American or European football?” Juleka asked and Lila looked at her inconfusion.

“What’s the difference?” Lila asked and Rose only face palmed and Juleka looked at her with a hard eye.

“European Football is called soccer in America.” Juleka said as the others looked from her to Lila and noticed Lila kept smiling the way she had when she began her story. Before anyone could say anything Miss Bustier came into the room.

“Students I’m sorry but could you all please take your seats, we have a lot to do today.” Miss Bustier said as the students all sat down at their seats before she continued. “First thing first I’m sorry to say that we have to pick a new president, anyone who wants the job please tell me when class ends. So I thought we would start today with…..”

“Why do we need to pick a new class president, that’s Marinette’s job!” Ivan inturpted as he stared down at their teacher as the others with the exception of Lila nodded.

“You were all there when she was expelled Ivan, how we feel about it is immaterial we have to move on. There are things that the class president has to do that allows our school to function as it does and every class needs one.” Miss Bustier said as she looked at Ivan before Kim spoke up.

“Yeah but he couldn’t have expelled her like that, it wasn’t right or lawful.” Kim said stubbornly as he crossed his arms and looked at Miss Bustier and who opened her mouth before Lila cut in.

“Kim how could you! After Marinette assaulted me how could you want her back?!” Lila cried as she covered her face and started to sniffle as she covered her eyes with her hands. Juleka frowned as she looked at this and looked down as Rose grabbed her arm, seeing a fierce look in her eyes.

Alix frowned as she looked at Lila and didn’t see any tears going down her face and wondered if this was all Lila was, a fraud who knew how to manipulate people. If she took us for a ride then I’ll beat her myself, no I’ll testify against her! Alix thought as Kim looked at Lila with a frown on his face.

“That doesn’t matter Lila.” Kim said sternly. “Its Marinette right to tell her side of the story, something that no one gave her a chance to yesterday.”

Miss Bustier could only look on as the class descended into chaos as they realized that yes, no one had listened or even let Marinette talk about what had happened. Kim kept his eyes on Lila and what he didn’t see told him more then what he did.

“That’s enough everyone! Clearly you all feel strongly about this so I will compromise, the post will be opened until enough of you decide we need a new one, is that all right? Now lets begin class.” Miss Bustier said as she turned around. Alya sent a text to Nino and Rose and when her phone buzzed she smiled as she looked down at it and grinned. Hang on Mari we’ll going to clear your name, I promise. But I think I might have to apologize about not believing you about Lila, I might have been wrong about her. She thought as she half listened to Miss. Bustier’s leason, not noticing Lila watching her from the corner of her eyes and frowning that Adrien wasn’t here.

Lila looked around the room and scowled. They all should have forgotten about Mari-Trash by now, and why’d that Alix bring up my ‘fall’. Maybe I should find her alone and tell her the truth, I’m sure she’d be smarter then Mari-trash was. Lila thought and looked up as the lunch bell rang. Before she could do more then stand up and looked at Alix Rose was there looking at her.

“Lila, I was wondering if I could talk to you about a charity a friend of mine was thinking about starting and I figured with your expertise you’d be the perfect person to talk to about how to structure it the right way!” Rose said as Lila turned her head and saw Alix as she left the room and bit down a curse before turning back to Rose and smiled.

“Of course I’d be happy to help you Rose! Why I remember when I was named the treasure for the save the spotted birds once when Mama was stationed in Mexico……” As Lila walked away Kim looked at her before going to Alya.

“Your idea?” Kim asked and Alya nodded as she got up.

“Yeah, Rose will give you some time to go and talk to Mr. Damacolis, me I’m going to talk to Marinette and hope she forgives me for being taken in by Lila.” Alya said as Kim winced.

“Sure she’s lying now?” Kim said as Alya looked down and nodded after a moment.

“I went over everything that she said and most of them were she said he said things, but the napkin is pretty damming.” Alya said and he remembered what Lila had said how it had almost taken Max’s eye out and winced as Nino came up to them. “Want to come with Nino?”

“Yeah, I’ll buy something from them and see if Adrien is at an emergency photoshoot or something, he usually text’s me if he won’t be here so he can copy my notes.” Nino said as he joined Ayla.

“Good luck.” Kim said as Alya nodded back at him. He turned and walked towards the courtyard entrance to the classroom and stopped when he saw Ivan waiting for him.

“Going to talk to Damacolis about how Marinette is due a hearing by a third party?” Ivan asked and Kim nodded.

“Yeah, how to do you know about that big guy?” Kim asked and Ivan shrugged and looked away.

“I’ve always been tall for my age, but once or twice people tried to get me expelled for what I might do, a hearing was always held and it was shot down.” Ivan said as Km looked at him before wincing himself.

“Oh….” Kim said and looked down and started to feel terable. “Dude, I’m sorry I gave you a hard time before Stoneheart man, I really am.”

Ivan put a hand on Kim’s hand and looked down at him and smiled. “A lot of people did over the years; you at least apologized about it afterwards and you mean it.”

Kim looked at Ivan and nodded as the two were silent as they walked towards Mr. Damacolis office and both of them hoped he would believe them. But as they reached the office they stopped when they heard Mr. Damacolis’s voice from within.

“This is my school and what I say goes!” Mr. Damacolis voice thundered from the office’s closed door and Ivan and Kim looked at each other.

“Wonder who he talking to?” Ivan asked before a voice, Aurora’s voice came back.

“Sir, that doesn’t matter, they are rules about this! You aren’t allowed to do that without a hearing!” Aurora’s voice shot back and Ivan and Kim looked at each other.

“Hey isn’t Aurora the class president for Ms. Mendeleiev class?” Ivan asked and Kim nodded and winced as he heard someone slam a fist onto a desk.

“OUT NOW! Any more and I’ll suspend you for talking against the authority of the principle!” Mr. Damacolis thundered before he opened the door and saw Kim and Ivan standing there.

“And what do you two want?” he growled as he saw Kim and Ivan as they stood there and watched as Aurora and Mirelle came out of the office and Aurora had a scowl on her face as Mirelle only looked ahead blank faced.

“We….” Kim began and only looked at the angry look on Damacolis’s face and the scowl on Aurora’s and tried to think of anything to say when Ivan spoke up.

“We were passing by on the way to the upstairs boy’s room sir, a dare that Kim could spend a day only using that one.” Ivan cut in and Kim nodded after a minute.

“Well lunch is almost over, so good day!” Mr. Damacolis said before he closed the door to his office and Aurora looked back and was about to explode when Mirelle put a hand on her arm and shook her head. Ivan put a hand on her other shoulder and gestured towards the side passage and he and Kim walked away with the girls following them.

“Was that about Marinette?” Kim asked once they had moved far enough so the principle couldn’t hear them and the two girls nodded their heads.

“I heard what happened over the school chat and well I couldn’t believe it, when I heard from Myele what happened I told Aurora and she was so mad.” Mirelle said as Aurora nodded as she scowled.

“The legality about it, right?” Ivan asked and Aurora nodded, looking so mad Kim looked around for a butterfly.

“We did a group project about the expulsion process a few months ago for Civics, comparing it to the adult court system and I knew as soon as I heard about it that nothing was done correctly, I mean it was a travesty!” Aurora said with a scowl as spat as she looked back at the office. Stupid owl! He’s on a power trip and doesn’t think anything through and if he thinks he’ll get away with that. She thought as Mirelle nodded.

`

“Yeah, if Ms. Mendeleiev hadn’t taken our class to that field trip I’m sure she would have brought up a lot of things to stop that before it went that far!” Mirelle said.

“She feels that bad and out of sorts about it?” Kim asked shocked at the fact the strictest teacher in school was reacting this way.

“Yeah, when Ms. Mendeleiev heard what happened this morning she put a video on and it took us a few minutes to stop and ask her what was wrong. She couldn’t believe that Miss Bustier just sat back and did nothing!” Mirelle said as she looked towards Miss Bustier’s classroom.

“I’ve worked with Marinette on the school council, she wouldn’t do that! And we’ve been talking about getting locks for weaks before this happened.” Aurora piped up and Kim and Ivan looked at each other with a smile on their faces.

Ivan looked at Kim and they smirked at each other. So we have other allies and maybe a teacher too, this is perfect I can’t wait to talk to the others about it. and having a teacher on our side might help get her back! Ivan thought excitedly.

“Come on girls, let’s go and talk with a few friends of ours, I think we’re all on the same side here.” Kim said as he grinned at the girls and as they walked away.

“You two should come and talk to Miss. Mendeleiev with us.” Aurora said as she pulled her phone out and turned off the recording app and grinned darkly as she moved. Everything you just said is going to come home to roost and its hunting season, target owl. She thought as she followed Kim and Ivan.

Chapter 3

Chapter Text

Alya and Nino ran towards the bakery and Alya stopped when she crossed the street, Nino continued to the door and looked back at Alya. “Babe, what’s wrong?”

“Marinette said Lila was a liar and I was so sure she was being jealous that I told her…..” Alya trailed off as she looked away. “I told her not to let her emotions color her options of people, and when this happened I said to find the culprit you don’t let your emotions affect your investigation and I did the same thing, I’m a terrible friend.”

Nino walked back to her and hugged her. “Babe, you’ve seen a lot of things over the years, right?”

“Yeah.” Alya said into Nino’s shoulder as he held her.

“You believed that Lila was a good person; that Marinette was letting her jealousy color how she felt about Lila right, and you’ve seen this before?” Nino asked and felt Alya nod against him.

“Yeah, a few times over the years. Once it was me a before I changed schools.” Alya said and Nino rubbed her back.

“Then you gave her advice based on what you knew, and Lila’s a snake.” Nino said as he turned her head and forced her to look at him. “The best thing we can do now is to move forward and apologies to Mari.”

“You’re right Nino thanks.” Alya said before kissing his check and walking towards the door. I’m so sorry Mari, I shouldn’t have been tricked so easily, I will make it up to you! Alya thought as she moved towards the bakery.

Nino looked on and smirked and shook his head. You ain’t the only one who has to make up for being a bad friend Alya; I can’t believe that I didn’t do anything yesterday. Nino thought as he started following Alya.

Walking in behind Ayla Nino saw Sabine at the register and she looked up with a smile that seemed to become strained when she saw them, and that hurt him more then he thought it would.

“Nino, Alya, welcome. Are you here for lunch or something else?” Sabine asked and Nino stepped in front of Alya before he could speak she did.

“Marinette told you about what I said about Lila, didn’t she?” Alya asked and Sabine nodded and Alya felt worse than she did when she was outside. “I was so wrong and I need to apologies to her about…..everything.”

“Yeah…… we need to apologize to Marinette about not believing her about Lila and try to find a way to get her back into school.” Nino said and Sabine’s face softened.

“Oh you kids, I knew you were good people. I’m sorry to say that I don’t think that my daughter will be coming back to that school anytime soon and I would advise your parents to look into a home study program.” Sabine said causing Alya and Nino to look at her in shock.

“I know I am!” A voice behind them caused Nino and Alya to turn and see Chloe and Sabrina standing in the doorway with Chloe smirking at them. “So you two finally wised up about the Italian Liar, better late than never.”

“Chloe, what are you doing here?” Alya asked and then she did a double take. “Wait ‘wised up?’ You knew that Lila was a liar too?!”

“Yes, it was obvious and I’m getting lunch.” Chloe said as she walked by Alya towards Sabine. “Good afternoon Mrs. Dupain-Cheng, the usual please.”

“Hello Chloe, that will be one scorn, one cherry tart and four croissants.” Sabine said as she reached down and pulled up a box she handed to Chloe with a smile. “And we got that message of yours, thanks.”

“After what happened I had to.” Chloe said and Sabine beamed at Chloe who started to look conflicted.

“Thank you for being a good friend to Marinette Chloe.” Sabine said and Alya and Nino stared at Sabine in shock that she would call Chloe Marinette’s friend.

“I said it before, I’ll say it again. I’m not her friend!” Chloe said as she turned away and Sabine chuckled.

“Relationships are complicated dear, I’ve always said that.” Sabine said as she held out her hand as Chloe handed over her credit card to pay for the food. “And you don’t have to like someone to be a friend to them, or have a ‘normal relationship’ either. That’s something I learned over the years. That you wouldn’t let Marinette be hurt and not do anything to help, that says more than how you two bite at each other.”

Chloe didn’t say anything, only taking back her card without a word and walked through Alya and Nino and past Sabrina who smiled at Nino and Alya before she followed after Chloe.

“What was that?” Alya asked as she stared at the door with Nino. Sabine just laughed a little and when they turned back to her they saw she was smiling at them.

“Chloe has been coming here for lunch every few days for a while now. That girl had a bad role model growing up and her sense of humor could do with some work sure but her heart is in the right place, she just had to………find a better way to show it.” Sabine said as she looked at the kids. “Go on you two, Marinette’s upstairs in the living room; just make sure you call out before you go up okay?”

Alya opened her mouth to say something but Nino put a hand on her shoulder.

“Sure Mrs. Dupain-Cheng, thanks!” Nino said as he led Alya towards the apartment part of the building.

“What was that Nino?” Alya asked quietly as she followed Nino past Sabine.

“Don’t know, maybe since our girl isn’t going to school today she’s in her PJs or something?” Nino said as Alya smirked at him causing him to sigh. “Alya, no.”

“Fine, fine. Take away all my fun.” Alya said as she pouted at Nino.

Upstairs Marinette grinned as she and Adrien were playing Ultimate Mecha Strike III and Adrien had the upper hand at the moment. “You won’t win that easy Adrien!”

“Try and dodge my missile attack then!” Adrien shot back with a grin as Marinette manipulated her avatar to dodge and fire back as Adrien tried to press his advantage. She laughed a little at what they were doing, thinking back to the meeting last night. After the meeting the social worker had told Adrien to hide out until the court case, and told Marinette that if she didn’t receive a summons to an expulsion hearing either tomorrow or the day after to contact her office to work it out. After her parents had woken her and Adrien up for breakfast that morning she had almost run to shower to get to school when she ran into Adrien and remember what had happened yesterday and then after they were done with breakfast this had led after they practiced their Mandarin for a while and now were playing a game to relax.

“Come on, miss!” Marinette said with a grin as she tried to dodge the missile but a blow sent her avatar down and Adrien fired and destroyed it before she could get it back up. “You got me. Great match!”

“Thanks! I was usually in my room before I started going to school if I didn’t have anything to do and well this and a few other games were all that I had really.” Adrien said as he looked at Marinette and then hung his head. “Dad is…….. really controlling.”

“I…… sorry about the scarf, I should have told you I made it for you.” Marinette said as she looked at him and felt terrible. Oh I should have told him, if he never knew the truth he might have tried to work through it with Gabriel and get nothing from him. And then who knows what he would have done or how he would have rationalized how his father treated him and then maybe he might even have gotten into a relationship with whoever his father told him and been locked into a loveless marriage and it would have been all my fault! Marinette thought as she started to spiral and would have continued but Adrien put a hand on her shoulder.

“Marinette I don’t blame you for not telling me. I blame myself for thinking that my……that Gabriel would actually take the time to do something like that at all.” Adrien said as he looked out a window and sighed. “I have to come to terms with that when mom disappeared dad just…… he broke. I will always love him, but this isn’t health for both of us.”

“Adrien.” Marinette said as she looked at him and put her hand on his shoulder as he saw and thought about his relationship or lack of it with his father. She was going to open her mouth when someone called up from below.

“Marinette? It’s me and Nino! Your mom said to call up before we came up?” Alya’s voice came from bellow and Marinette jolted and her eyes turned to Adrien as he looked towards the stairs and she looked around before noticing the bathroom.

“The bathroom, you can hide there, take the controller. Hey Alya, give me a minute then you guys can come on up!” Marinette called out as Adrien nodded at her and dashed silently to the bathroom and closed the door moments before Alya and Nino came into the room and Alya grabbed Marinette in a hug before she could say anything. “Alya what……..you guys figured out Lila is a liar haven’t you?”

Alya went still against Marinette and sighed. “Yeah, I’m sorry girl I thought that she was a good person and well….. a few time over the years I let the first impressions I had of a person color how I saw them and well.”

Marinette looked at her and hugged her back. “So if you could make that mistake, it’s easier to see others make the same one then?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry girl she’s just a snake, not that’s an insult to snakes!” Alya said and Nino nodded and hid a frown as he thought he heard a snuffled snort.

“She’s a monster dudette, but how the hell do we find a way to prove it and get you back into school, that’s the problem.” Nino said as he looked around the room and noticed the tv had the winer screen of Ultimate Mecha Strike III and it said ‘Player 2 won’ and saw NAD03 in the ‘winner’s circle’ and frowned. That’s the bot Adrien used in the tournament, who’s playing with her as her parents are downstairs, and where’s the controller? He thought as he looked around the room and noticed a few things that told him someone else was here.

“I don’t know if I’ll be returning to the school for this grade, I just……. I learned a few things that made me and my parents rethink a lot about of things.” Marinette said and she looked down not to meet their eyes.

“What why? Is it about what happened?” Alya asked as she looked at Marinette who refused to look at them as she looked away from them.

“That’s part of it. Legally I should only be suspended; I can’t be expelled from school without a hearing. And then we discovered something else about the school that really, I………it makes going back there a bad idea.” Marinette said as she rubbed her arms.

“What could you have found that made your parents decide that?” Alya asked as she stared at her friend. Nino meanwhile looked around and noticed two pillows that he knew was usually on the chair and not on the couch unless someone was using it.

“We haven’t decided anything yet, we’ve decided to deal with this before going forward with anything else but I know for sure that w……I won’t be returning to Francoise Dupont for this grade level.” Marinette said as she looked at Alya and Nino and struggled to say something else. “And I think you should talk to your families about it, it might be good for maybe the whole school if they all became homeschooled.”

Nino looked around and noticed a plat on the couch with the remains of a cheese breed and looked at the bathroom door and noticed it was partly open. “Before we go any further, mind coming out Adrien?”

“Adrien?!” Alya asked as she turned towards the door, missing Marinette blushing and after a few moments the bathroom door opened and Adrien poked his head out, a grin on his face.

“What gave me away?” Adrien asked as he came out of the bathroom and Nino smirked.

“The bot, player two, the pillow and the food. You and Mari really didn’t clean up good dude.” Nino said as Marinette looked around the room and saw what he meant as Alya did as well and pouted, cursing herself for missing what her boyfriend had seen.

“What are you doing here, I don’t think papa Gabriel would let you miss school to visit a friend.” Alya said and Adrien looked at her with a hard look in his eyes that shocked her for a few seconds.

“Yeah, well I really don’t care what dad….. what Gabriel thinks is important right now. It’s a long story but Lila is worse than you know.” Adrien said as he looked down. “I mean I knew she was a liar, but this? I couldn’t even think it was possible for someone our age to be so evil.”

“Wait a second, you knew she was a liar dude?” Nino asked as he stared at Adrien in shock, Alya staring as well before going red in the face as she glared at him.

“Why the hell didn’t you say anything, I mean you knew she was a liar!” Alya demanded and Adrien looked away. “Well?!”

“Yeah bro, why didn’t you say anything at all, didn’t we deserve to be warned about her?” Nino asked and Adrien just sighed.

“Before you guys start let me explain why first okay?” Adrien said as he held up his hands. Alya growled but at Marinette’s look she relented and looked at Nino who while he glared at Adrien he nodded at her

“Fine Adrien, but it better be good.” Alya growled.

“It’s not. Well to start with you didn’t believe Marinette so I figured you wouldn’t believe me, second when I talked to her alone I thi….. I know she was Akumatized afterwards so…..” Adrien said with a shrug and looked down as Marinette reached over and squeezed his shoulder. “And then most of her lies, it was just celebrity gossip, I’ve lived with that most of my life and it always seemed to die down after a while if you didn’t fight against it and lastly I thought she might have been nervous to make friends if she was always traveling.”

Alya looked at him and felt the urge to shake her head. I guess sunshine is just too good. Okay, I can see someone acting like that to get people to like them, but after she kept doing it you should have known something…….he’s been homeschooled most of his life, besides Chloe has he even talked to people his own age without them being models or at parties? Alya thought before something Nino said shocked her.

“Wait when she was Akumatized, who was she?” Nino asked in shock as Alya stared at him and then turned to Adrien to hear what he had to say.

“I……think she was that shape shifter that made was the fake me, a while back you know?” Adrien said and seemed to be struggling for something before he continued. “And she was Volpina, that Akuma who could make illusions.”

“The one who made it look like a meteor and almost dropped you off the tower!? That was her?” Alya asked and Adrien nodded. “I spent a month trying to find out who that was and I just should have asked you, wait why do you know that?”

“She tried to convince me she was a Miraculous user when she was Akumatized then came to my room to prove it.” Adrien said with a shrug.

“Makes sense, I mean the way I was told I acted when I was Bubbler man, that’s was so not cool.” Nino said and Alya nodded, how people said she acted when she was Lady Wifi made her agree with her boyfriend.

“What do you mean, it was all celebrity gossip?” Alya asked and Nino nodded, wondering what Adrien meant.

“Yeah, I mean it was all she said or something like that, you know gossip. I figured that you’d all get wise or she’d mess up a story sooner or later!” Adrien said as he looked down. “And given how unhinged and emotional I……thought she was I didn’t want you guy in the blast zone.”

“Wait emotional, what are you talking about dude?” Nino asked and Adrien looked away with a scowl.

“Before she became that shapeshifting Akuma I was talking to her about not lying, and after she used the Akuma tried to destroy my social life…….well if anyone called her on it then I was worried that she might attack you guys, as in try and hurt whoever set her off.” Adrien said as he looked away. “And then I gave some terrible advice to Mari because I didn’t know everything and well…..I messed up a lot.”

Alya looked at him as Marinette shook her head.

“No Adrien, you didn’t know what she said, that’s like saying I should have said something about the scarf.” Marinette said and Adrien smiled at her.

“Wait, you told him about the scarf Marinette?” Alya asked as she looked between them and Nino looked confused.

“What about the scarf didn’t Adrien’s dad…….tell me he didn’t dude, please.” Nino begged and Adrien only shook his head.

“He did, he took credit for the scarf, that and the fact he hired Lila to spy on me and maybe get Marinette expelled, it’s caused me to file for epilation.” Adrien said and Nino stared at his friend as Alya gasped.

“He did what! He hired Lila to get Marinette expelled!?” Alya exploded and Adrien nodded.

“She said her modeling contract was a bonus. That…….. it’s terrible but it proves that I can’t trust him anymore, I don’t feel safe under his control.” Adrien said and sighed. “I turned fifteen a few months back, once I turn sixteen….. I’ve floated the idea of moving out for a while now, guess I just have to do it sooner than I thought”

“Adrien, dude…… I’m sorry you had to man.” Nino said and Adrien looked

“I didn’t have a choice. What happened to us after mom disappeared, it’s not healthy and this might be the only chance the two of us have to ever heal.” Adrien muttered as he looked up, and his friends could see the turmoil in his eyes.

Alya looked at Adrien and swallowed, what happened to Marinette was terrible but this, she couldn’t believe it. I knew that Gabriel was over protective but this, this is beyond anything I could ever think he could do that with Lila…… wait his advice! Alya thought as she went still and looked at Adrien. “Adrien, what didn’t you know about Lila?”

Adrien looked at Marinette and then gestured towards one of the books and Marinette nodded causing Adrien to sigh. “Remember when I was taken out of school, it was because I lost a book that I brought to school that my dad considered important, Lila took it to try and con me and then Marinette saw her throw it into a trashcan and couldn’t get it back to me before Volpina happened. Marinette brought it back to my dad and took the heat so that’s why I went back to school, and then when Lila came back well she…..”

“Lila threatened me the day she came ‘back’. She said we’re at war and that I would loss all my friends. I thought this was just her doing it.” Marinette said and Alya’s mouth dropped open and looked at her friend in horror.

“She what.” Nino asked and he stared to gain a glare on his face.

“And that’s not the worst of it; someone sent Marinette video evidence that she was behind everything and showed how she did it too.” Adrien said and Alya turned to him as he spoke. “It was all there on the video; she pulled the fire alarm yesterday and then she put the answer sheet into Marinette’s bag, she walked down the stairs before screaming and she put the necklace into Marinette’s locker.”

Alya stopped breathing for a second as what Adrien was telling her caused her to just stare at her friend, shocked beyond all reason. Before anyone could say anything else a beeping from Nino’s phone caused him to turn and scowl.

“Get this, when Kim went to talk to Damocles about getting Marinette a hearing, Aurora and Mireille were already trying that and the Owl threw them out.” Nino said with a scowl and Marinette face palmed as Adrien stared at him before shaking his head in disgust.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Ms. Mendeleiev sat at her desk and scowled as she looked down at the tests on it, not seeing them and letting herself just. Caline what were you thinking, why didn’t you take them to Damocles yourself! If you had then this whole mess wouldn’t have happened, and I can’t believe that you and Damocles didn’t question the fact she never said anything when her necklace was ‘stolen’! It’s like that old foolish owl didn’t even remember what happened all those years ago, I know I came in the month after with what happened with him but Caline should have been told about it! Why o why did I have to schedule the field trip to that planetarium for yesterday? She thought as she held her head with her hands, visions of terrible things going behind her head as she sat there. “The schools going to be closed after this, why didn’t I transfer to a different one before this, o wait I know, it’s because I trained to be a teacher here.”

She looked up from her desk and looked around the rooms, noting a few marks here and there that told of how old this room was and just sighed. I knew that sooner or later that something would happen at this school, I’ve felt it coming for a while now. But expelling Miss Dupain-Cheng? She’s one of the best students in school, a shoe in for student council president next year and one of the best designers that’s not in the industry! Oh forget about it woman, those girls will talk to that owl and maybe I can finish grading these tests before lunch is over! She thought as she tried and failed to focus. Before she could do anything bug huff a knock at the door caused her to look up and see Ivan, Kim, Aurora and Mireille walked into the room and she frowned.

“Giving that Mr. Lê Chiến and Mr. Bruel are here I would say that talking to that chicken didn’t go well Ms. Beauréal?” Miss Mendeleiev asked with a sinking feeling forming.

“No Madame, he basically threw us out when I mentioned that he was required by law.” Aurora said and Ms. Mendeleiev looked at them before dropping her head onto her desk.

“Ms. Mendeleiev?” Mireille asked and Ms. Mendeleiev only waved a hand as she moaned into her desk.

“The school’s going to close! I try and follow the lawsuit and those two idiots undue everything! Oh god why me, I just wanted to be a teacher but I had to come to this place!” She said as she started to cry. I knew I should have scheduled the trip for a latter day, I just knew it! But an Akuma ruined the last three trips and this seemed to be perfect! Why oh why didn’t I just reschedule? She thought as she kept her head down and tried to get her emotions back under control, her students looking at each other and trying and failing to understand why she had reacted like this.

“Why do I get the feeling that this is about more than just what happened to Marinette?” Aurora

asked and Ms. Mendeleiev nodded at them.

“It has to do with a student who was driving to suicide years before any of you started coming here. To make a long story short its why most of the teachers here don’t punish unless we see it happen.” Ms. Mendeleiev said as the students reacted to this bit of information.

“You know, that makes a lot of what I’ve seen in the past year or seem so obvious in hindsight.” Kim said and Ivan looked at him before nodding.

“Why isn’t that in the student hand book, you’d think that’s something that we should know!” Aurora demanded and at this Miss Mendeleiev looked down. “Miss Mendeleiev?”

“That was a condition for the last principle to leave quietly, and not turn it all into more of a circus then it was at the time.” She said as she looked at the four students. “It was a hard decision but in the end the teacher’s union backed off and agreed to it, the head of the board had a relative who had tried to take their own life and well.”

“Wow, just wow. I knew that this school was a bit different, but I always thought it was just a bad case of bullying years ago that got out of hand.” Aurora muttered as Mireille nodded.

“I thought it was a just bad drama about crushes and boyfriend, girlfriend or something like that really.” Mireille said and Kim looked between them and shrugged.

“That’s almost as bad as how it was when all those Akumas attacked after Marinette was expelled, right Ivan? Still don’t understand how he could do that again, much less how he did it on Hero Day.” Kim asked and Ivan nodded before they both looked up at Miss Mendeleiev’s gasp.

“Hero’s Day?! Then there was another mass Akuma attack?” Ms. Mendeleiev asked causing Kim and Ivan to nod.

“Yeah, Marinette’s parents opened the doors out and this mass of red Akuma’s poured in but then they just stopped and fizzled out.”

“The Akuma’s were red?! You’re sure about that?” Ms. Mendeleiev asked Kim and Ivan who nodded.

“Yeah, but I don’t know if that means anything but they were red.” Ivan said and Kim looked at the girls who looked as lost as he felt.

Miss Mendeleiv only looked at her students and felt her eyes widen as she tried to process this. That doesn’t make any sense, none of this does! This is the cherry on top of everything about yesterday, I mean the only way this would even……….! Her thoughts died as she came to a conclusion that shocked her enough to cause her mouth to drop open and she looked at the students.

After they had left Miss Mendeleiv only looked down at her desk, her mind going over some notes she had jolted down over the last few grades before she put the tests away and opened her laptop and accessed a file. Once more she was proud of herself for making it so her laptop wasn’t wireless and looked at the file and moved towards a file titled ‘HAWKMOTH’ and accessed it and frowned. After a few moments of looking over what she had written in she sighed and shook her head. I was right, the only mass Akuma attack had to have been set up before hand, he was planning that from the get go or he took a gamble and augmented his powers which is a whole other kettle of fish. But why didn’t he continue……… could he have an accomplice…… that tracks then. So he Akumitized one person who ‘boosts’ his abilities but if he needs to do that first how did he know to do it again today? He had to prepare for the mass spike. She thought as she looked over what she had written and sighed. “There’s no other explanation, he planned for this to happen…….but was he watching or did he have ‘help’ on the other end?”

As she looked at the clock as it the time advanced towards her science lesson with the other students and Lila she went over all the interactions and recent events and she was praying that what her instants were telling her was wrong.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Nathalie walked through the mansion towards Gabriel’s office and stopped when she reached it, cringing a little as she imagined what Gabriel could do once she told him both what she had found and hadn’t found. She looked at the door and moved her hand towards it before pulling away and swallowed before Gabriel voice came from within.

“Get in here Nathalie and tell me what you found.” Gabriel said and Nathalie swallowed and opened the door and walked in. Gabriel sat at his desk and looked up from his computer as she entered the room and he scowled at her. “Why do I feel that you don’t have anything that I will like?”

“He’s not at the Hotel and I saw his friend, Mr. Lahiffe walked to school alone.” Nathalie began as she looked at him. “So far onto the other matter whoever is behind it is keeping it hidden behind a lot of layers. And that whoever is behind this sent officers to talk to the people at the company and one even went to Victor.”

“So then we have nothing.” Gabriel said as he clenched his hands as he stood up from his desk and looked started to pace around the room. I don’t know what I was expecting, with the way the law reacted to the first and last time I tried to akumatize a judge then I knew they had upgrades their privacy and security procedures. Who could be doing this and why……..Adrien…… no someone must be using him and his anger made him easy to manipulate. He thought as he tried to figure out anything to help find his son. “And what did they say to them.”

“Victor was the most forth coming about his talks, saying that he only told them what he observed at every photoshoot he’s ever done with Adrien.” Nathalie said and she looked a little concerned for a few seconds. “And he offered them his body-cam footage.”

“What body-cam?” Gabriel asked and felt a head ache forming as he looked at Nathalie.

“According to Victor he always wears one, has for years because one stopped a relative from being scammed when he was in his teens. He records them and puts them into external storage that he keeps in a ‘safe place’. The model in question has a time function so whatever it records has a time of when it was.” Nathalie said and Gabriel looked at her and shook his head. “It’s in his contract and he doesn’t share it with anyone, theres a clause about the authorities and their investigations but…….”

“Nathalie once you’re done with what I gave you look at our other employees with their own personal contracts, see if anything else is in there for anyone.” Gabriel command and looked at her, a thought coming to the front of his mind. “Also what about the meat of the lawsuit, the charges themselves, being brought against

“About that, I’ve been able to investigate the claims about his not paying his trust……. And I don’t know what that means, we’ve paid him for every job his did but I think there’s something I’m not seeing. I need your permission to look closer at the trust we’ve been paying Adrien’s wages into.” Nathalie said and Gabriel nodded.

“Of course, get me the forms and I’ll sign them, and what about our collateral damage the other day?” Gabriel asked and at this Nathalie looked at him with a hint of disgust in her eyes.

“So far there’s nothing in the city’s school board about it, I don’t like anything about this. From what I know there should be some noise about who will handle this, it can’t be just a single person’s decision.” Nathalie said and Gabriel frowned as well, memories of a collage civics project coming back to him.

“I didn’t major in law, but I know that something like an expulsion generates paperwork.” Gabriel said and Nathalie nodded

“Yes it should but that’s the thing ……… I was looking into that to see if there was anything else we could drop to help her but ……..there’s nothing at all.” Nathalie said and Gabriel looked at her and took off his glasses and pinched his eyes.

“What are you saying that Adrien’s school didn’t follow the law at all?” Gabriel asked and Nathalie looked concerned before nodding. And that’s another reason why we decided to have Adrien homeschooled so long, just so that something like this wouldn’t happen to him. Gabriel thought as Nathalie looked conflicted.

“I don’t know if they even contacted anyone at the school board about this, I can’t see a reason why they would do this.” Nathalie said and Gabriel chuckled. “Sir?”

“To cover themselves of course my dear, if they just expel her by the principle’s decision alone there might be trouble. But if they expel her for absences, that’s on her.” Gabriel said and Nathalie looked at him before shaking her head.

“I don’t know why I’m surprised. But I did find some paperwork that pulled Adrien out of school until this is resolved.” Nathalie said and suddenly looked down as a ping was heard from her tablet. Of course he wouldn’t be at school, and I don’t want to think about what you’re saying you little brat. I can’t wait until we can get rid of you. She thought as she read the message before raising her head. “And Lila just called, Adrien wasn’t at school and she’s wondering how she should deal with what happened at the shoot?”

Gabriel scowled and turned away, a headache forming as he tried and failed to keep his anger down. “For now tell her to say nothing, what about the report I asked for about her?”

“The agent I sent replied that he had to track down one more witness and he would have a full report soon. I expect that given her character we’ll have more ammo to use against her.” Nathalie said and Gabriel nodded. He got up and moved towards the painting of his wife and stood there for a few seconds until Nathalie spoke up. “Sir?”

“I expect the court case against Miss Marinette to happen before the matter with Adrien so look over everything, get the paperwork ready and check over everything, as far as I know nothing is wrong but make sure. As for me I’m going to see if I can’t pull a win out.” Gabriel said as he activated the hidden elevator and went to his lair.

As Gabriel left the room Nathalie stood for a few moments there before leaving and going back to her desk in the front hall. As she sat down she held her head and sighed. I don’t know but I have such a strange feeling about this, something about this is bothering me but what………okay Nathalie what did the old man say, “if something is bothering you then look over what is and talk to a ducky.’ Nathalie though as she released a little giggle. “Okay then lets look over this from the begging, all the paperwork and identify everything, no matter how obvious it seems, write everything down.”

As Nathalie started to look over Adrien’s contract, she felt something in her, a sign that this was what was what had been bothering her. As her phone beeped in a certain pattern she sighed as she reached for it. “Okay, what have you made out of someone this time?”

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A pack of five dogs each the size of a car ran through Paris as people screamed and behind them a dog the size of a truck with a man in a green bodysuit with a black paw on his chest, a canine like face mask with his mouth open and golden armor on his shoulders and legs with his hands covered by clawed gauntlets with a whip in his left hand that he was cracking in the air as he laughed at the chaos. “Nobody cares about the dogs as long as they stay away from people, well Pack Leader will show you how much chaos they can cause! Well I’ll show you just how much effort it needs to deal with them in Paris brat!”

One of the dogs started to scratch at a glass window to a grocery store scoring the glass with the dogs claws as another one growled and barked at a cat painted onto a billboard above a building and as people ran away or into buildings. As they stared out at the chaos as smaller dogs ran around the bigger ones and as the Pack Leader noticed them and cracked his whip at them sending a bolt of energy that caused them to grow as big as the car size ones and start to run around with the others. As Pack Leader laughed a butterfly energy mask formed over his face.

“Well done Pack Leader, but remember our deal, gain the Miraculous of Ladybug and Chat Noir and in exchange I will give you the power to show how powerful and destructive Dogs really are.” Hawkmoth said and the Pack Leader howled and his dogs joined in.

“Of course Alpha Hawkmoth, I’ll bring you their Miraculous in exchange for this power you’ve given me!” Pack Leader said as the dogs around him roared.

“Keep calling others my pack, once all the dogs in Paris are one of use then we will show world how powerful the canine order really is.” He said before he raised his head and howled to the sky as the dog he was riding and the others all started to howl, calling others to join the pack.

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Adrien looked at Marinette who sat on the sofa and held her head. Nino and Alya had left a few minutes ago, both of them shocked and horrified that they had been taken in by such a liar and after promising that they would talk after school, both had left, Alya to go to her home and Nino had gone to pick up as he said, ‘a few items for the fam.’ As Adrien looked at her he looked around, trying to find anything to keep Marinette’s mind off Lila.

“So, homeschool hu? A few of those programs Chloe dropped off had group projects……” Adrien said and Marinette looked up at him and smiled. “So maybe we could look them over and maybe compare notes and thoughts? I can tell you as someone who was homeschool for most of his life that the programs are great for going at your own rate.”

“So how was public school for you compared to that?” Marinette asked and Adrien grinned a little.

“It was good; the teacher understood and explained everything to me in a great way. But the best thing about public school was I wasn’t alone anymore, that was what really bothered me the most.” Adrien said as Marinette looked at him and smiled back at him before she realized something about that was bothering her.

“But wasn’t Chloe your friend, didn’t you see her sometimes?” Marinette asked and Adrien looked at her before aboting a strange look as he started to think.

“You know, now that I think about it, it was mainly over the computer on live chats that I saw Chloe the most, maybe in person once a month or so. And now that I’m thinking about it that was when mom was still around.” Adrien said and he frowned, his mind going strange places as he felt he was on the cusp of understanding something. “And I think it was her idea, that I be homeschool in the first place.”

“Adrien?” Marinette asked in worry but before he could say anything their phones started to ring. That’s the Akuma alarm! Marinette thought in horror, wondering how she would be able to justify get away from Adrien.

Adrien looked down at his phone as it the alert sounded and he looked at Marinette who paled and turned to him. How am I going to be able to get away and help Ladybug? Adrien thought with as he paled and Marinette started to speak.

“I have to go and make sure that the door to the balcony is closed, Adrien will you be okay?” Marinette asked and Adrien nodded.

“Yeah, dad always told me to hide when this happens, so I think I’ll hide in the guest room, and lock the door.” Adrien said as he rushed away and Marinette rushed to her room. As soon as she reached her room she closed and locked her door down and turned as Tikki appeared and looked at her.

“I don’t like this, after yesterday he should have given us a least a day, is he getting desperate?” Marinette asked and Tikki shook all over. “Tikki, what is it?”

“It’s possible for us to use our abilities at most ten times a day with no problems as long as we don’t push it too hard, and by abilities I mean Lucky Charm.” Tikki said and Marinette looked at her in shock. “If we go over that it could damage our Miraculous and then our chosen might get hurt!”

“How bad, how bad could it get.” Marinette asked as she looked at Tikki who looked conflicted as she floated there.” Tikki, please. Everything in me is telling me that this is important that I know it.”

“Deadly. In the past when people pushed the Miraculous beyond our limits, they’ve fallen asleep and just wasted away, never waking up.” Tikki said and looked conflicted as she looked at Marinette.

“And the Guardians couldn’t do anything to help?” Marinette asked as she felt something in her, a strange feeling that she couldn’t understand blossoming in her.

“My Miraculous and Plagg’s, we’ve never pushed them that far but when it happens to the others they retreat into the damaged Miraculous………the Guardians say they are only able to recover them after the chosen has died.” Tikki said and she looked at Marinette’s face. “Marinette, what is it?”

“I don’t know Tikki, but something is telling me that I had to hear that.” Marinette thought and looked at Tikki, a strange look in her eyes as her subconscious made connections, connections that she didn’t fully see swirling around her mind. “We can deal with it latter, for now Tikki, Spots on!”

As Marinette transformed into Ladybug she looked at her open doorway and jumped out onto the balcony and looked around and nodded.

“Here we go!” As she jumped out of her room as she had done multiple times before she collided with something and they both landed on the room next door. As Ladybug opened her eyes she saw she was staring into Chat Noir’s eyes, and he seemed as shocked as she was. “Chat, what happened, why did we?”

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As Adrien closed the door Plagg shot out of his shirt pocket and floated in front of his chosen.

“Man I can’t believe that guy, doesn’t he know to rest for a day or two after what happened yesterday!” Plagg complained and Adrien looked at his kwami and shook his head.

“Yeah, after what happened you’d think Hawkmoth would know when to take a breather. Still he is persentint.” Adrien said and Plagg looked at him with a glare. “Plagg, what is it? I mean I can handle another Akuma everyday if you can.”

“That’s not the problem kid, look. Our Miraculous, they channel a lot of energy and magic when we transform and use our power, it’s possible to go over our limits and when that happens……bad things happen to the wielders.” Plagg said and he shuddered as he looked at Adrien.

“How bad Plagg, how bad could it be?” Adrien asked as he stared straight at Plagg who floated silently for a few moments before replying.

“Everyone who’s pushed it past to that point, they’ve always fallen asleep and just died.” Plagg said and Adrien went still. “The Guardians have always brought the Miraculous back after the chosen died and they spend years repairing the Miraculous but every Kwami who’s fought with someone who’s gone that fall are always so sad.”

Adrien looked at Plagg as he talked, not hearing him as he made connections in his mind, hoping he was wrong.

“Can another person then use the damaged Miraculous.” Adrien asked and Plagg floated there, looking confused as he tried to figure out what Adrien meant.

“What are you talking about?” Plagg asked and Adrien looked at Plagg with a hard look.

“Plagg, please I hope I’m wrong but this is important!” Adrien said and Plagg swallowed and started to think for a few seconds before he nodded.

“I don’t know, but if someone does use it then they might weaken over time, I know that Fu would have the answers.” Plagg said as he floated there and tried to figure out what his kitten was talking about. “But kid what is this about?”

“Mayura, how she acted the other day.” Adrien said as Plagg looked at him and gasped.

“You don’t think she’s using a damaged Miraculous, but Dossu had to have told her the damage and what…….no.” Plagg said as his eyes became pinpricks as he dropped a few inches before he caught himself. “That’s it, that’s how he found out and why she just appeared now. From what the others said when their Miraculous were damaged their holder’s fell they were only called back by the Guardians after they got back to the temple, if Hawkmoth and Mayura are after ours for the wish to do that then theire even more twisted then I thought!”

“Yeah I think so too, all this chaos and he has a worthy reason for all of this. So that’s what he meant when he said he had nothing to lose.” Adrien said and Plagg looked at him and Adrien looked at him with a somber look. “What wouldn’t you do for your sugar cube Plagg?”

“Everything and more, but not this! The wish isn’t like with a genie kid, its balance, harmony! Like that anime Full Metal Alchemist, to gain something must be lost! For someone to be healed, someone who is just as important to both the wisher and the person being healed is struck down with what the person they’re saving had!” Plagg said and Adrien stared at the Kwami of Destruction in shock at what he had been told.

“Oh sh*t. We have to tell Ladybug about this, now!” Adrien said as Plagg nodded.

“Yeah and Fu, this might be beyond anything I thought he might have been after! If there’s anything in that book that might tell us anything, anything at all then we might have a chance to stop him!” Plagg said and Adrien nodded.

“Then let’s do it. Plagg Claws Out!” Adrien said as he transformed into Chat Noir. As he opened the window he had chosen yesterday he jumped up but never saw Ladybug until the two of them collided and fell to the roof of the building next door. As Chat Noir opened his eyes he stared into Ladybug’s blue eyes and felt something as a lot of things suddenly made sense and a puzzle. Why did it have to be her, out of all people why her? I always hoped that maybe her guy wasn’t that good a person but Luka’s a great person! I guess my crush just has to die. Chat Noir thought as he looked at his partner in battle and fought down a wince.

“Chat, what happened, why did we?” Ladybug asked and Chat Noir sighed.

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I bet a lot of you hate this, this cliffhanger I’m leaving you all with, well don’t worry I’ll have the other half of this up sometime next weak, and the early chapter is out on Patreon at the lowest rank, and I will have a details on that page.

Chapter 4

Chapter Text

“We both just came from the same building…….Marinette.” Chat Noir said and Ladybug went still and stared at him for a few seconds and jumped back and gasped as she looked at him. Chat Noir got back to his feet and looked at her as she stammered and felt his insides melt and forced himself to try and let go of them, he wouldn’t get in the way of Marinette’s relationship with Luka, he couldn’t hurt his partner like that.

“But Gorilla, same place building! How that?” Ladybug stammered as she stared into space, thousands of little things jolting into place.

“A little help from a fan of mine to get away from the mob and well it worked out better than I thought partner.” Chat Noir admitted and Ladybug looked at him in total shock. It must be a letdown that it’s me.

A loud howl caused them both to look towards where the sound had come from and Ladybug shook herself and reached for Chat Noir’s hand and he pulled her up, she fought down a blush and slapped herself. “Later, we can talk that later, right now we have an Akuma to deal with!”

“Lead the way Mi…..Ladybug.” Chat Noir said as Ladybug jumped away, not letting it show that he didn’t call her Milady bother her.

As they ran over the Paris skyline they soon came across the Akuma and his dogs. Looking down at the scene Ladybug swallowed as they saw the Pack Master recruit another dog.

“This is bad, a canine Mister Pigeon.” Ladybug said as Chat Noir chuckled.

“Well at least I’m not allergic to dogs at least.” Chat Noir said with a grin. “But this cat doesn’t want to be chased up a tree.”

Ladybug fought down a giggle and shook her head and smiled at Chat Noir before shaking her head. Okay how will we handle this, how can we deal with them all? Maybe if we can get the dogs somewhere they won’t be able to escape from easy………the stadium if we can get them there we can handle……..what’s he doing? Ladybug thought as they saw Pack Master crack his whip at a dog and it grow to the size of a car.

“So that’s his ability, think he’s like Mr. Pigeon?” Chat Noir asked and Ladybug shook her head after a few moments of thought.

“No, I think he’s one of the dog catchers. But how did he turn?” Ladybug asked before a howl caused them to cringe before looking down and see the dogs and the Akuma looking at them.

“Ladybug, Chat Noir! Hand over your Miraculous and let the pack rule over Paris! So commands Pack Leader!” Pack Leader barked at them and Ladybug scowled as the dogs started to try and climb up the rooftops. “Get them my pets, get them!”

As the dogs tried to climb up Chat Noir grabbed Ladybug’s shoulder and pointed towards a large nearby building and Ladybug nodded and they were off, the dogs following after them.

“We have to find out what they can do, we have to hide!” Chat Noir said as reached the building. As they moved over the building Chat Noir spotted a rooftop terrace and grabbed Ladybug’s shoulder, pointing at it and she nodded and they hid and waited.

As they watched the dogs came around both sides and looked around, growling as the Pack Leader and his mount came around the building he whistled and then the dogs all started to sniff the air. The Pack Leader’s eyes glowed blue and then he laughed.

“There, get them my pack!” The Akuma screeched and point his whip at their hiding place.

“Move!” Ladybug cried as she and Chat Noir shot away from the roof as the dogs started to bark and try and climb after them. As they ran along the Paris skyline they looked back and saw they were being followed, the Pack Leader in the back with his pack chasing after them. “How can we get away from them?”

“I don’t know! That Akuma can control them and I think it might be able to share their senses, that’s how he knew where we were. Lucky he doesn’t seem to have increased their minds much when he made them bigger!” Chat Noir said as he vaulted over a building as Ladybug swung next to him. How can we get away from him to try and make a plan? I mean we need something to give us an edge, we need backup. Chat Noir thought as they ran over the roof tops. After losing the dogs they started to slow down and A feline screech from below caused them to stop and see a lone car-sized dog menacing a cat in front of a cardboard box on its side.

“What’s happening?” Ladybug asked as they watched and saw the dog bat the cat away and move towards the box. “Why was that cat attacked? Chat?”

“No, that’s! Get away from them!” Chat Noir roared and jumped at the dog with his baton extended and a look of rage on his face.

“Chat!” Ladybug called out looked at him as he attacked the dog and started to protect the box. Why is he……wait this is along his path to school, then that box! Her thoughts died as she jumped towards the flung cat and picked it up and hearing a barking saw two more of the large dogs running towards them. “Grab the box and let’s get out of here Chat!”

Chat Noir batted the dog away and grabbed the box and they both jumped back to the roof and dashed along the skyline, the barking behind them caused her to look at him and then into the box, smiling as she saw three little kittens in it.

“So then these are the cats you talked about a few days ago?” Ladybug asked and Chat Noir nodded.

“Yeah, sorry for acting without telling you, but that dog looked hungry.” Chat Noir said and Ladybug nodded as she watched him put the mother with her babies before going still.

“Why did that dog attack the cats?” Ladybug asked and Chat looked up from the box.

“What do you mean……… the Akuma couldn’t have known we were nearby, then that means he can only give commands to the dogs, but they still response like the animals they are.” Chat Noir said and looked at Ladybug with a smirk. “And maybe distance is a factor too!”

“So we can slip away and get him from behind!” Ladybug said and looked down at the kittens before smiling at them. “After we get these little guys somewhere safe.”

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Later Chat Noir and Ladybug moved along the rooftops towards the sound of the barking quietly. As they reached a building that overlooked the where the backing came from. They saw four dogs looking around a plaza with a fountain in it, empty of other people and they found the Pack Leader and his mount, the truck sized dog drinking form the fountain looking away from them.

“This might be the best change we have, I think I can reach the whip and destroy it, that should give us the

and the Pack Leader was looking around away from them when suddenly his head shot up and looked towards them.

“Get them!” Pack Leader called without turning his head and two of the dogs jumped and attacked them! Chat Noir used his baton to fend his off while Ladybug jumped over hers and used her yoyo to cause it to stumble and threw it into the one attacking Chat Noir, sending them to street level.

“Come on, we can lose them at the Grand Palais!” Ladybug said as she discreetly put a thumb down and nodded when she saw that he had seen it.

“GO MY PACK, AFTER THEM!” Pack Leader roared and his truck sized mount howled to the sky and answering howls came back, Ladybug and Chat Noir running away from the site. As the Pack Master stood there and listened to his minions howling, an energy butterfly mask formed over his face.

“Why did you let them go?!” Hawkmoth’s voice thundered through Pack Leader’s head and he grunted and gestured for his mount to move.

“I overheard where they’re going, I will get what you want Hawkmoth, don’t worry.” Pack Leader said as his mount started to carry him as the four dogs followed.

“Don’t be too sure, they retreat now but they will be back and they will have a plan.” Hawkmoth said and the Akuma laughed.

“I sent my pack out to find them, and they don’t know all of my abilities yet.” Pack Leader said and he clenched his free hand and smiled as his mount tensed beneath him.

“But how do you know that they’ll really go there, that they didn’t trick you?” Hawkmoth asked and Pack Leader scoffed and his eyes started to glow.

“Because their scents……don’t go the right way.” Pack Leader trailed off as Hawkmoth’s mask disappeared from his face.

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“Think he figured it out yet?” Chat Noir asked only for a howl of rage to sound across Paris that caused him to frown. “Faster than I thought and we need to talk about how he found us back there.”

“He can see through the eyes of his dogs, but only when their near him.” Ladybug said as she nodded at Chat Noir. “But we need to find a way to keep him still so we can destroy the whip.”

Chat nodded and looked at the city, trying to think of how they could do that. Maybe Chloe could help us, her Venom could paralyze it and then….. His thoughts died when he heard a sudden crash caused them to turn and see smoke rising in the distance. A beeping caused them to look at their weapons, opening them to their cellphone setting they quickly brought up the Ladyblog and saw a video of Pack Leader slashing out with his right hand and send bolts of green energy at a truck.

“Alya!” Ladybug said as she stared at it in anger. “How did they get there from the house so fast, and why does she always run towards danger!?”

“Don’t know Ladybug, that’s just who she is?” Chat Noir said and suddenly understood why she was always concerned about her getting into trouble like this. I should have seen it, it’s so obvious! Still how are we going to…..wait that’s?! Chat Noir stopped thinking as he saw where the Pack Leader was going. “That’s nearby, we have moments before he gets here, time for a bit of luck.”

“Right, Lucky Charm!” Ladybug cried and threw her yoyo upwards. As the energy coeleeed around it a shadow formed and fell towards them, the two of them moving away as the Charm hit the rooftop.

Chat Noir looked down at the red and black spotted massage bed and then at the dogs for a few moments before turning to look at Ladybug.

“Does that mean what I think it does my….Ladybug?” Chat Noir asked and Ladybug nodded.

“We need help, this might be bad…….Hawkmoth can use that Akuma’s minions to track us right to the Guardian!” Ladybug said as they looked down at the

“We can get around this…….how long will it take for yours to recharge?” Chat Noir asked and Ladybug looked at him before nodding as she understood what he was saying.

“The same as yours, the plan?” Ladybug asked as she looked around, hearing the first beep that told her she was on a time limit.

“I’ll make a distraction and led them towards the bridge to the ‘Tower. You get away and get to the guardian. This is big bug; we need a lot of help.” Chat Noir said and Ladybug looked out and hearing the sound of barks coming closer she nodded before grabbing Chat Noir in a hug.

“Good luck Kitty.” She said and he looked at her hair in confusion before

“You too bug, we need Pegasus, Rena Rouge and Chloe.” Chat Noir said and Ladybug looked at him before her eyes widened and smiled at him.

“Yeah, and Carapace for that claw….……I think I know how we can beat this with their help!” Ladybug said as she grinned at him, another beep caused her to look around for a place to transform back.

“Good luck, I’ll meet you at the Arc to pick up Chloe’s and Max’s.” Chat Noir said as he jumped away and ran along the rooftops, calling out when he saw a dog and Ladybug jumped away and found a place to detransform in privacy. As she fed Tikki a cookie she looked around away from the edge.

“What is it Marinette?” Tikki asked as she ate the cookie. This had to happen sooner or later, and this will be good in the long run.

“I just can’t believe he’s Chat, I mean I knew he was hiding a lot of his reactions but…..” Marinette said and sighed and looked away. And that’s a lot to think about….but he’s right we need help and with how powerful this one is we need everyone! Should I get Luka and Kagami too, no four is more than enough. But how can I find Max…….the app! She thought and grinned. “I need to find out what happened to the class, so I guess it’s time for a roll call.”

Marinette got out her phone and activated a chat app and sent out a message.

BakerDaughter; I just got my room closed and fixed, is everyone okay, besides Alya and maybe Nino?

AmazonSkater; Marinette are you okay? With what happened are you sure you want do this for us?

Private message to BakerDaughter from AmazonSkater; Mari, I’m so ashamed that I let that happen without speaking up, if you need me for anything let me know, okay?

BakerDaughter; No matter what happened to me, you all are my friends, so I’m making sure your all safe

PrincessBee; She’s a sickeningly sweet person, get used to it. I’m perfectly safe at the hotel, last I saw Sabrina and her dad went out for a meal.

Private message to BakerDaughter from PrincessBee; Thanks, dad’s at the office and the hotel has dropped the metal shudders and everyone is hiding in windowless rooms, stay safe with him okay?

PoliceChild; Dad and I are at a restaurant near the Saline, we helped everyone else to barricade the doors and windows, and most of us are hiding in the basem*nt

Private message to BakerDaughter from PoliceChild; You and your parents got the stuff Chloe and I found, right? There were some good programs that had groups projects, dad even liked a few of them so maybe we could talk together about it?

HorrorFoe; Kitty Select is all mostly at the boat, we wanted to talk about a few things away from the school and the others are helping Miss Couffaine get the boat away from the docks, we got as many people who could reach us and are heading for an island in the river to anchor and ride this out.

AmazonSkater; I saw Nat head to the Library with Marci to work on their project, and I think muscles went to the gym and I know Max went home for lunch and to recharge Markov. Dad picked me up, I’m at the musiem with him and Jalil and we’re hiding out.

RockRocker; Everyone at school is in the basem*nt, students and teachers alike, Miss Mend took charge and brought everyone down here, Mr. D and Mr. H are barricading the doors.

Private message to BakerDaughter from SimianSimmer; Sorry for not speaking up, I never thought that Owl would do anything like that, I’ll be turning this off and deleting the conversation, don’t want Lila to see it. I texted my mom before this so I’ll say that happened, Kim is distracting Lila with Aurora so sorry again.

Brainy; Hey, yeah I’m at my home, I’ve locked down all the doors and Markov is all charged up and is handling our security system

Private message to BakerDaughter from Brainy; Sorry about believing the paper napkin then, in my defense I hadn’t slept over the weakend, research. If you need a witness call on me, please.

Marinette felt a tear leave her eyes. Lila won’t win, I’ll still have them when this is over, I might not be in class with them but their still my friends! Marintte thought as she sniffled and gained a smirk as she realized no matter what Lila did, her friends still believed in her, and she sent off a few private messages before closing the app.

Private message to HorrorFoe; Stay safe and thanks for that, I hope the Akuma stays away from the boat.

Private message to PoliceChild; Thanks for what you got me, and we should talk about it.

Private message to Brainy from BakerDaughter; When it happens and if we need character witness then you’re one of them, thanks.

“You have good friends Marinette, and they’ll stay with you, I know it.” Tikki said causing Marinette to smile and looked at Tikki as she finished the cookie as she finished typing a general reply.

BakerDaughter; Going silent guys, stay safe all of you!

Marinette closed her phone and looked at Tikki with a smile. “This is going to be a bit easier then I feared.”

“Then let’s go!” Tikki said as she summersaulted and giggled.

“Right Tikki, Spots on!” Marinette said as she called out her transformation phase.

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Chat Noir ran along the rooftops, calling down to the dogs as they chased him along the streets. Looking over his shoulder he saw the Akuma screech as he looked over his shoulder, seeing the car sized dogs were all following him.

“After him my pack, after him!” Pack Leader screeched as his mount barked and the dogs speed up to follow his command. As Chat Noir reached the Saline he ran across the bridge, the dogs at his but heals but he pole vaulted to a building’s roof just at the river’s edge and ran away from the dogs, looking for the perfect place to slip back and strand them. Suddenly his instincts caused him to lung forwards and he saw an energy slash fly over his head and looked down and saw the Pack Leader panting as he glared. “You….Won’t get away, faster my beast!”

“HOOOWWWLL!” As the truck sized dog howled Chat Noir ran faster, hoping that he would get away from the Akuma, planning as he went. Turning to the left suddenly he ran towards a lot behind a small street.

“Get away, you’ve got to get to cover!” Chat Noir cried and Pack Leader laughed and howled, his pack thundering down the side street towards the lot.

“That’s perfect cat, once again you…..where’d he go?” Pack Leader said as he looked around and saw that the lot where he thought Chat Noir had gone to save civilians was empty of anyone or thing.

“Get back to the bridge, he’s going to destroy it!” Hawkmoth’s voice thundered as his mask appeared over Pack Leader’s face and Pack Leader went white and roared, his hounds moving back towards the bridge, barking as they ran

As Chat Noir heard the sound of barking he looked over his shoulder and saw the dogs running behind him, Pack Leader just coming around and went still as he saw Chat Noir on the bridge, his free hand raised.

“Cataclysm!” Chat Noir cried out as he slammed his black glowing hand onto the bridge, quickly pole vaulting as his power moved along the bridge as the dogs chasing him stopped, feeling an insticual sense that something was wrong, turning and running back to the land. As the bridge disintegrated a few fell into the river and swam back to the shore as Pack Leader and his mount came and swore at Chat Noir from across the river.

“You won’t escape, I’ll find you and Ladybug!” Pack Leader screeched as Chat ran down the street as Pack Leader watched until he disappeared from sight and then gestured for the dogs to move towards another bridge, as he was carried off Hawkmoth’s mark appeared again and Pack Leader scowled. “You could have seen that was what he planned sooner you know!”

“I told you that he was distracting you, when you couldn’t see Ladybug you should have known something was up!” Hawkmoth said and Pack Leader bristled.

“Well sorry but tracking and taking down Superhero’s isn’t something I studied to be a vet!” Pack Leader said as he looked across the river and frowned when he thought he saw something glint in the sunlight for a second, shaking his head he howled and ten of his dogs charged ahead to find anyway they could across the Saline river. “Don’t worry Hawkmoth I will get what you want, I swear it!”

“Remember Pack Leader, I can take away your powers and leave you with nothing, and what will happen to the dogs then?” Hawkmoth’s question caused Pack Leader

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Ladybug reached the cinema that she had last seen Master Fu at and jumped into an alley and dropped her transformation, Tikki hid in her purse and ran along alleyway until she made it to a door, stopping she looked around, making sure that there weren’t any dogs or people around she knocked on the cinema. After a few moments the door opened and Master Fu looked up at her.

“Marinette, oh I thought I might see you because of this one.” Fu said and let her into the building.

“Master Fu, I was worried that I wouldn’t find you here.” Marinette said as she looked around and saw a camera on the wall recording them. “That you let me in won’t cause you much trouble with the owner will it?”

“Don’t worry, I’m the owner. And I had the others bring in as many people as they could so their off the streets and they’re playing an old movie from a few years ago, partly to see if I should do an ‘oldies’ set. ” Fu said and Marinette looked at him in shock, he only shrugged. “What, the long life I led gave me a few chances to invest here and there, I made a good nest egg that I used to buy this place and a few others here and when he began he attacks.”

“We can talk about that later, this Akuma is so powerful we need a lot of help, and yours.”

“A lot of help…… which Miraculous do you need?” Fu asked as he led her into a staircase he opened with a keycard and down to a small room with all the furniture from his old room at his message pallor, with the phonograph in the center. As he opened it and revealed the Miraculous box which opened and he gestured to it.

“The Fox, the Horse, the Turtle and the Bee.” Marinette said and Fu whistled as and looked at her for a few moments. “Master Fu?”

“It has been a long time since so many Miraculous were active at the same time, not since that mass attack…….but if you think that they are all needed then yes I will send them out into the world.” Fu said and gestured towards the Miraculous as he took his off.

“Thank you Master Fu.” Marinette said and bowed to him.

“Don’t worry my dear, just be safe and make sure they are too. And here are two bags to carry them in.” Fu said as he gestured towards them. As Marinette put the bags to use Fu hid a frown and looked at her, something within him telling him that she was troubled and hiding something from him. Whatever it is I’ll ask her after she comes back, that way I can get an answer about what’s bothering her. I just hope it isn’t too bad. Fu thought as he watched Marinette go back up the stairs and realized something and reached for a nearby cabinet. “Oh, wait a moment Marinette, I have a few snacks for them, take them with you.”

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Chat Noir dashed along the rooftops and looked around, watching as some brave people ran about below him, helping others get to safety while they could. As he ran a smirk started growing as he saw the people come together. That’s why I love this town, like on hero day the city comes together to help each other! And now to do my part. He thought as he reached the Arc and saw Ladybug with a small bag over her shoulder and one in her hands, one small box opened and she closed it before handing it to him.

“Here are the Miraculous for Chloe and Pegasus, they’re at the hotel and home respectfully.” Ladybug said and Chat Noir nodded at her. “Master Fu put some food for them so they can recharge if we have to.”

“Good, got it Ladybug, I led Pack Leader across the river and destroyed the bridge we used. I last saw him and his pack heading east and we’ll probably see them again soon. Where should I take them to meet up?” Chat Noir asked nad Ladybug looked around the city before nodding.

“The stadium, that’s where we’ll meet up. With luck we can make a plan there.” Ladybug said as she looked at him, the sound of barking causing them to tense. “Good luck kitty, I’ll try and get to Carapace and Rena without letting the dogs see me.”

“You too bug.” Chat Noir said as he nodded before dashing off towards the help the two of them needed.

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Max looked around his house and frowned as he sat down in his room, his mind going over everything that he knew about Lila, not liking anything. Fact, once she came back from her ‘vacation’ she immediately started to make up stories. Fact, I wear glasses, so anything thrown at my eyes would hit them first. Fact, since then she’s tried to monopolize Adrien’s time. Fact, she’s made comments that while on the surface don’t seem to be evil they sometimes presented Marinette in a bad light. Results; Lila has been conducting a campaign against Marinette and getting her expelled was the final step………why? Was it because Marinette was the only one who saw through her lies……and we didn’t believe her. And if she’s trying to isolate Adrien, then he either knows too and didn’t think we’d believe him and/or Lila was after him from the start. Max thought as he tried to come to terms with what he had figured out.

“This is terrible; I mean I can’t believe it!” Max said as he stood up and walked carefully around his room, stepping over the various projects he had on the ground. “How did I let myself ignore the evidence before me, what’s wrong with me?”

“What is it Max?” Markov asked as he flew after Max who looked out his window.

“Lila, she’s been after Marinette since she got back! And I’ll bet that the string of events that caused Marinette’s expulsion were all done on purpose! A necklace that was an heirloom, and why didn’t she make a bigger stink about it being stolen the day it happened, why only bring it up after the test and her falling down the stairs? It had to have been planned, all of it!” Max said with a glare and shook his head. “And I was too shocked to even say anything when it happened, Ivan and Kim went to talk to Mr. Damocles and I just went home to eat.”

“Max, you were shocked and confused, it did make sense to go over everything where you take time…….. and with the attack school will be canceled for the rest of the day to deal.” Markov said and Max sighed and shook his head.

“There has to be something we can find to help Marinette. There has to be something!” Max said and Markov hovered.

“Max, at least she seemed happy over the chat app, and if she’s still fighting.” Markov said and Max nodded. “All we have to do is……why is Chat Noir here?”

“What?” Max asked and turned his head to look at Markov as he hovered there.

“Chat Noir is running towards the house, I don’t see the anything and according to the alert the Akuma is far away, why would he be here……..” Markov trailed off as Max went still. “Max?”

“I can only thing of one reason that he would be here, and if I’m right then I need you to wait here Markov.” Max said as he walked out of his room. Markov hovered before going to the computer and hooked himself to the computer, readying himself with what the two of them had talked about.

Chat Noir landed on Max’s roof and was wondering how to let him know he was there when Max walked onto the roof from a door.

“Chat Noir, what’s wrong, do you need my help?” Max asked as Chat Noir looked at him before holding up a box.

“Max Kanté, this is the Miraculous of the Horse with the Power of Teleportation. I trust that with this to help us handle this threat. Afterworlds you will give this back, can we trust you to return this to us?” Chat Noir asked with a smirk and Max nodded.

“Yes, anything I can do to help and make up for my inaction, I will.” Max said and Chat looked at him.

“Inaction, did something happen that you could have stopped but didn’t?” Chat asked in a sclueless manor and Max nodded.

“There’s this girl at school, Lila. She………….I’m almost a hundred percent sure that she got a friend of mine expelled on purpose.” Max said with a growl. Chat Noir nodded impassively, inwardly thanking all his model experience that let him keep what he was feeling off his face.

“People are complicated, I can’t say anything about what happened to your friend, but I can say that the only way to go forward is to acknowledge what you did wrong.” Chat Noir said trying to sound wise.

“Thanks, let’s do this.” Max said as he opened the box.

As soon as Max opened the box a ball of light formed above a pair of glasses with circular frames and a small creature with a gray head with a white mane, muzzle, arms, legs, and underbelly formed from it. She had light green eyes, eyelashes, pointed horse ears with white insides, and a thick white tail that curves outwards.

“Greetings again Master Kanté, how have you been?” Kaalki asked and Max grinned as he took off his glasses and put them into a pocket as he took up the Miraculous

“Kaalki, Full Gallop!” Max called out. As he thrust his arms out a black bodysuit formed from his hands and feet crawling up his body while his shoes formed two wing spikes on the back. As the suit formed, his hair chased to a lighter brown color and braided into dreadlocks. As Pegasus looked at Chat Noir he grinned back. “Ready to help and Markov is ready to do any long-range hacking from my room, what’s the plan?”

“For now we need to get Queen Bee, she’s needed for this to work.” Chat Noir said and Pegasus winced and nodded.

“This must be a real problem if you and Ladybug need two helpers.” Pegasus said and Chat laughed a little.

“You have no idea my friend, no idea.” Chat Noir said and jumped to another building, Pegasus following behind him a little confused.

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Alya looked around the alley she and Nino were hiding in and sighed as she saw that the dogs were still gone. “Okay, we can try for one of our homes or maybe find a place to let us in.”

“Shelter in place, that’s what the mayor said and don’t let anyone in after you see an Akuma, remember Alya?” Nino said as he looked around.

“Yeah…… I forgot about that. Who knew that zombies could scare people so much?” Alya said with a shrug. Nino just shook his head at his girlfriend’s joke.

“I don’t know what I expect when this year began, but seeing a zombie apocalypse of kissing zombies wasn’t it.” Nino said flatly and Alya laughed shakily as she looked around and tried to spot anything, he was keeping his ears open for any sign of any dogs.

“Didn’t expect anything like this when mom moved us here for her job. And then there’s what we both share you know?” Alya asked, using the code word they had chosen for what Ladybug had given them, the chance she had taken by trusting them.

“There you are, quick over here!” A voice farther down the alley caused them to turn and see Ladybug looked at them from behind a corner. The two of them looked at each other before rushing after her and followed Ladybug to a dead end alley with no windows, the sun overhead causing shadows to cover the alley in a gentle darkness.

“Ladybug, what is it?” Alya asked and Nino looked around, hoping to find a hint of what had caused Ladybug to call them here.

“I came because to beat this Akuma, Chat and I need help.” Ladybug said and Alya and Nino looked at each other before looking at Ladybug.

“Who do you need?” Alya asked and Ladybug grinned.

“Both of you. Alya Césaire, Nino Lahiffe; these are the Miraculous of the Fox and Turtle with the powers of Illusion and Protection. I am giving you these to protect the greater good; once this is done can I trust you two to return them to me?” Ladybug asked and Alya and Nino both nodded.

“Yeah, Ladydudette, you can trust me!” Nino said and Alya nodded as they accepted the two boxes.

“Same with me Ladybug, I’ll do everything I can to help!” Alya said and frowned a little. “But could we talk about something else later, could you come by my building tonight?”

“What is it?” Ladybug asked and Alya looked down.

“A girl named Lila made a lot of bosts and lies, one of them was saying that she was a friend of yours, your best friend.” Alya began and saw the frown form on Ladybug’s face. “But I’m thinking that was another lie, can you stop by tonight and give me a recording of what Lila really is, how she dealt with you?”

“For now we’ll need to focus on this Akuma, we can talk about that later. For now can I trust you to help?” Ladybug asked and Alya smirked back.

“Do you even have to ask?” Alya said as she opened her box as Nino did the same and two balls of light formed above them. From Alya’s ball a small fox creature and from Nino’s came a turtle.

“Nino!” Wayzz said with a grin as he appeared.

“Alya, how are you?” Trixx asked and Alya grinned as she put on the Fox Miraculous as Nino put the Turtle bracelet around his right wrist.

“Dude, it’s great to see you!” Nino said as he fist bumped with Wayzz as Trixx summersaulted and looked at Alya.

“Getting better Trixx, I fell for a few lies and let a witch get my best friend expelled.” Alya said causing Trixx to look at Wayzz who kept his face neutral. “I’m trying to help her now, and….I will make amends with her about this.”

“Once you know you’ve done wrong, if you make up for it, that’s the true mark of being a good person. Not doing good all the time, but knowing when you’ve done wrong and how you fix it.” Trixx said wisely causing Alya to look at her. “A lot of my heroes in the past have learned that lesson sooner or later.”

“Thanks Trixx, but let’s do this. Ready Nino?” Alya asked and Nino snorted.

“Ready dudette, let’s do it!” Nino said as he grinned at her. “Wayzz, Shell On!”

“Trixx, let’s pounce!” Alya called out with a grin.

As green energy flashed over Nino and orange energy flashed over Alya. As Nino gained a green bodysuit with a hoodie with silver semicircle on the front, curved red-eye designs on the sides with black and golden details, and two small light green ovals below the bottom of the hood's opening. Over his eyes, Carapace wears black goggles with yellow-green lenses, and underneath the suit, he has a black collar. On his suit, he has six hexagon-shaped light green circles on his chest, and he has dark gray hexagon-shaped protective pads on his shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees. The Turtle Miraculous bracelet is on his right wrist. Also, Carapace wears dark green boots with an indent between his big toe and other toes, dark gray outsoles, and two indents on two sides of each boot. A shield of dark green on one side and light green on the other appeared on his back. Alya’s transformation left her in an orange bodysuit as her air grew longer, becomes a three-tone ombré, having the roots turn dark red/red-orange, mixing to orange with the tips being white, and she wears her hair back into a high ponytail with an orange headband, the top layer of her suit, akin to an overcoat, was orange with a white front, a black swan-necked collar, and black arms and gloves up to the middle of her upper arms. The overcoat layer attaches down the vertical front center with a zipper, and the Fox Miraculous becomes the zipper. The overcoat also has a long fox tail-like coattail that ends a bit below her knees at a sharp white tip. The bottom layer of her suit is orange with a white center on the front of the body and black legs starting at a point in the middle of her upper legs. She also wears black boots with orange soles and black fox paw print markings. Across her eyes was an orange mask with a white bottom half and a black mark above each eye and two orange fox ears with white insides, black tips, and black edges were attached to the top of her head. A Flute formed on her back as the transformation finished and the two fo them stood before Ladybug.

“What’s the plan Ladydudette?” Carapace asked as he drew his shield as Rena Rouge drew her flute.

“Follow, me we’ll meet with Chat and the others at the stadium, that’s where we’ll make a plan.” Ladybug said as she jumped up to the rooftops, Rena and Carapace following in her wake. As they moved over the rooftops, Rena moved with a frown on her face. How bad is this one that all of us are needed, even Chloe? I just hope that it’s not as bad as I fear. She thought before she heard a bark far behind them and they all moved faster.

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Chloe looked around her room and sighed. Of course the Akuma did have to happen around the day after the attack, wonderful. I just can’t believe this! I just can’t! She thought as she looked around her room and shook her head. As she moved towards her desk and moved the few brochures about home schooling on them, the few that had group projects causing her to sigh. “And to think that my final limit would be hit before I left that place, I truly didn’t think that would happen.”

The sound of two people landing outside on her balcony caused her to turn and see Chat Noir and a figure with dark skin in a dark brown bodysuit with black glasses and light gray hair in dreads following as Chat Noir led the way into the room.

“Sorry to bother you Chloe but it really had to happen.” Chat said as he grinned at her.

“What’s the problem stray, and who’s that?” Chloe asked as the dreadlocked figure looked at her, she could tell that he was surprises at how she treated Chat Noir.

“The name’s Pegasus.” Pegasus said coolly and Chloe smirked a little.

“So what’s the problem, need to use the hotel as a part of the plan to take this Akuma down?” Chloe asked and Chat Noir shook his head.

“Not exactly.” Chat said as he reached into the bag he was carrying and removed a red box that caused her to gasp.

“You can’t be…..” Chloe trailed off as Chat Noir nodded.

“Yes. Chloe Bourgeois, this is the Miraculous of the Bee with the power of Subjection. You will use this to help us and afterwards you will give this back, can I trust you to do this?” Chat asked and Chloe nodded

“Of course! Anything to help Paris!” Chloe said as she took the box and opened it. a ball of light formed into a small yellow creature with two black antennae and three curved stripes wrap around her head and a lighter yellow tuff of fur around her neck, her arms and legs were solid black and her eyes were golden with blue sclerae.

“My Queen!” Pollen called as she hugged Chloe’s check. “How are you, is your hive okay?” Pollen asked as she nuzzled against Chloe who laughed a little.

“Better now that you’re here Pollen.” Chloe said softly as she laughed a little.

Pegasus only looked on, taking every bit of his control not to let his emotions show. So Chloe has a tender side after all, I did not expect this. Goes to show you that people are complicated like Chat said, and I guess people have reasons for showing what sides they do..

Pollen, Buzz On!” Chloe said before yellow energy engulfed her, forming first a black domino mask across her eyes From her shoes a golden glow started to go up her body, transforming her shoes into black boots that went to her knees while her clothing became a yellow suit that went up her neck with two black stripes on her thighs and three black stripes on her torso with the top one the size of a corset that stopped at the top of her breasts and the sleeves were black turning into gloves with yellow fingers, a spinning top and it’s string formed on her waist and Queen Bee stood there.

“So the plan needs help besides me then?” Queen Bee asked and Chat Noir nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll let Ladybug tell you the full plan but we REALLY needed the help with this one.” Chat Said and Pegasus looked at him as Chat Noir led the way to the edge of the roof. “Now we need to meet up at the stadium.”

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Ladybug, Carapace and Rena Rouge landed in front of the stadium and Ladybug looked around, sighing when she didn’t see any dogs. Perfect, with this we might be able to do it

“So what’s the plan Ladydudette?” Carapace asked as he grinned at her.

“We wait for the others, then we plan.” Ladybug said as she smiled and looked up.

“So the plan needs Queen Bee…..Who’s that?” Rena Rouge asked as she turned and saw Chat Noir, Queen Bee and Pegasus. As the three heroes landed Rena Rouge and Carapace could only look at the ‘new hero’.

“Greetings, I’m Pegasus nice to formally meet you both.” Pegasus said as he stood next to Chat Noir and Queen Bee. Rena Rouge only stared at him in shock, wondering where he had come from before Carapace nudged her and she shook herself.

“Rena Rouge, nice to meet you, this is Carapace.” Rena Rouge said and Carapace nodded.

“Sup dude, nice to meet you.” Carapace said and Pegasus nodded back.

“Thanks, Chat said this Akuma needed all of us so what’s the problem with it besides the attack and controlling the dogs?”

“He can see through their eyes and senses, he’s tracked us by scent before and when we thought we had him a dog saw us and he saw us through it.” Ladybug said as Chat Noir nodded.

“We need all your powers to handle this one. This one will have to be a team effort to survive.” Chat Noir said as the others looked around and saw how serious it was.

“So then why I’m needed makes sense then.” Pegasus said as he looked around. “We need to get the Akuma away from the dogs, yes?”

Chapter 5

Chapter Text

Pack Leader howled as he was carried up the street at the back of the pack, a scowl forming as he looked around. Where are they?! They should have comeback and attacked me again, what are they planning?! Okay, think this through, so all in all I have about thirty dogs, all but ten of them hunting down those heroes, where could they be?! He thought as he slashed out with his free hand and the energy slammed and exploded against a building and he smirked when he caught the scent of fear from the people within. The sound of a something falling caused him to snap his head and he saw Ladybug and Chat Noir looking down at him, a look of terror coming over their faces before they started to run away from him. “After them!”

As the dogs chased after the heroes Pack Leader reared his head back and howled, calling the rest of his minions to take part in the hunt. Above on the roof top far enough on the otherside so he couldn’t see her Rena Rouge ran, keeping step with her illusions of Ladybug and Chat Noir as they ran towards their objective. I really hope that this works guys, I really do. She thought as her mind went back to the plan they had created.

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“So everyone is sure about what they have to do?” Chat Noir asked and the other heroes nodded. “Then let’s go over it from the top.”

“So I’m up first right?” Renan Rouge said with a smirk and Carapace looked at her in concern and she smirked at him. “Relax, everything goes right he won’t even see me.”

“But we need to be accurate; we need pinpoint timing. Everything has to go right to make this work.” Ladybug said as she looked at her allies. “One misstep and this plan will fail.”

“So let’s make sure we don’t stumble then.” Queen Bee said with a smirk.

“Then first I get the dogs to chase my illusions.” Rena Rouge said. “Once they see me then I led them to where we need them for the next step.”

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As the dogs thundered down the street Pack Leader kept back, a scowl as he looked up at the fleeing heroes, something was bothering him, as he watched Ladybug led Chat Noir over the rooftops. what’s their plan? Lead me to a place where they can take down my dogs? If I send at least three of them after them then it will probably fail, but I still need to get their Miraculous for Hawkmoth, so if they have a plan I’ll just crush it and take the damn jewels from their unconscious bodies! Pack Leader thought as a grin formed on his face as he looked ahead and urged his mount faster. “Keep running cowards! Not matter what you do I will win! This is the day you fall, no matter what tricks you have dogs will finally beat the cat and the ladybug! You two can’t stop the might of the pack all by yourselves!”

“What about if there’s more of us? VOYAGE!” A voice caused him to look around as he sent a command for his dogs to track down the person who screamed out when suddenly a circular energy portal appeared in front of him and his mount went through it!

As the dogs stopped and looked around for their Alpha they never notice Pegasus looking out from an ally he had dashed to as soon as he had fired his Voyage and Rena Rouge dropping her Mirage as she grinned at what she had seen.

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“That’s where I come in; my power will handle the next step.” Pegasus said. “Once he’s past me then I’ll send him and that dog he’s riding here.”

“This is still taking a risk, no other way to say it.” Chat Noir said with frown. “If he notices that something’s wrong, that it’s an illusions then he might try and attack you, and with your powers on time…….”

“And if he does I’m on hand to do plan B.” Pegasus interrupted. Carapace threw a glance at him and nodded, not trusting himself to speak but remembering Hero’s Day and understating that they couldn’t let that happen again. “I’ll get to Rena and transport us to a place we can recover and recharge and let you know what happened.”

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As Pack Leader looked around in shock he recognized the green of the Paris Stadium and he was heard the calls of his beasts die down, causing him to look over his shoulder and see a portal close as he stare in shock. As Hawkmoth’s mask formed over his face he looked around, trying to find the heroes or anything to even hint at their plans.

“What has happened!?” Hawkmoth’s voice rang through Pack Leader’s head as his mount carried him around the greens.

“I don’t know, I’m at the Stadium and my dogs aren’t here! since when could the heroes transport you somewhere?!” Pack Leader snarled as he looked upwards and saw the dome was covered. “And the roof’s raised, I can’t call them or how can I get out of here?!”

“There’s a place to open in along the wall near the dugout on the right-side, you’ll know it because it’s towards the back near the way to the locker rooms.” Hawkmoth snarled and Pack Leader directed his mount towards the area of the stadium. They were passing the dugout when suddenly something flew out of it and hit his mount, freezing it and it tipped forward.

“As easy as I thought it would be!” Queen Bee said as she moved out of the dugout and looked at the Akuma. “Now all we have to do is get….”

“WOOOOOLLL!” Pack Leader roared as he jumped upwards off his mount and slashed down, sending energy claws at Queen Bee.

“SHELLTER!” Carapace called out as he got in front of Queen Bee and formed an energy dome around the two of them. As Pack Leader landed and looked at the two heroes he scoffed.

“What, not the two I’m looking for, what did Ladybug send in the bata’s while they stayed back and watched?” Pack Leader demanded only to be shocked as a yoyo suddenly wrapped around his whip and pulled it from his hands and Chat Noir snapped it. They stared for a few moments and didn’t see a butterfly come out and dodged as Pack Leader send another energy slash that made a gorge in the stands. “It doesn’t matter what you do, I will win here and now.”

Ladybug looked at the Akuma and swallowed as she saw how big the dog mount was and knew they had only as much time as it remanded frozen. As she saw Queen Bee and Carapace towards the locker rooms she looked at Chat Noir and nodded at him and together they charged at Pack Leader who roared and ran at them. I hope that they all get back soon! She thought as she remembered their planning session.

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“Listen I just had a terrible thought, it’s the mount the Akuma is using.” Pegasus began looking around. “Are we sure that he has to stay on it? If we’re wrong then then they can fight separate that happens then something that size in this space……”

“That’s one of the reasons I’m staying back, right Ladydude?” Carapace asked and Ladybug nodded.

“That’s also why you two have that next step in your part of the plan.” Ladybug said as she looked at Rena Rouge and Pegasus. “Once you’re done you and have the Akuma sent here, then…..”

“We got it; we’ll do it once we’re done.” Rena Rouge said as Pegasus nodded and grinned.

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As Chat Noir slammed down his staff Pack Leader met with his left arm and threw Chat Noir back as Ladybug spun upside down and kicked at the Akuma, who blocked with his right arm and she thought she saw something around his neck before he grabbed her leg with his left and threw her through the air. As she tried to get up a shadow came over her and she looked up at the truck sized dog and saw a glittering chain around its neck and went still as she realized where the Akuma might be. Before she could react the dog thrust its head at her but a shield came flying and hit the dog’s face and then Ladybug felt something wrap around her and pull her backwards. She saw Carapace grab his shield on the rebound as he ran to help Chat Noir and Ladybug hid a smile as Queen Bee helped her back to her feet.

“Pegasus was right, they can fight separately. Got a plan Ladybug?” Queen Bee asked as the dog shock it’s self-back to normal and started to growl at them. “Hopefully a good one?”

“I think I found the item. It’s on a chain around his neck, I might be wrong but I hope I’m right then it’s one of two. But for now we have to handle this one until they get back.” Ladybug said as she began to spin her yoyo and Queen Bee laughed.

“Then let’s hope they make it back before we can get the Akuma without them!” Queen Bee said as they jumped apart and Queen Bee threw her top at the dog, hitting its head. “Because I hate being cruel to animals!”

Meanwhile Carapace had slammed his shield into Pack Leader as Chat Noir came around from behind and the Akuma moved to the side and his staff hit Carapace’s shield and Pack Leader tried to come around from behind when Rena Rouge appeared from nowhere and hit him with her staff flute. Meanwhile a horseshoe hit the truck dog’s head as Pegasus appeared.

“Now’s a great time for a Lucky Charm!” Chat Noir cried out and Ladybug nodded and jumped back as Rena Rouge and Queen Bee fought off the dog.

“Lucky Charm!” She cried out and threw her yoyo upwards and a bolo fell into her hands. She looked around as her vision turn grey and then she saw the bolo flash, then Pegasus, the giant dog and then Queen Bee, Chat Noir and finally Rena Rouge. “That’s it! Queen Bee, Pegasus!”

“Ladybug?” Queen Bee called out as she jumped backwards and landed next to her.

“What’s the play coach?” Pegasus asked as he jumped backwards as the dog started to growl. Ladybug handed over the bolo to Queen Bee and looked at her.

“Queen Bee I need you to tell Rena Rouge I need her here, then help Carapace and Chat Noir handle Pack Leader and give Chat this, tell him he’ll know when to throw it at the dog! And once you have a free shot freeze him and take off the dog tag around his neck and don’t destroy it until we get the one from the dog, Pegasus you and me, we’ll handle this one until Pegasus gets here!” Ladybug said as the dog growled and charged at them.

“Got it!” Queen Bee called out as she ran towards the Pack Leader as Ladybug and Pegasus dodged the giant dog as it ran past them.

“Pegasus, is do you have a comn line with him?” Ladybug asked softly as she landed next to Pegasus who nodded.

“Yeah, he wants to know what you need!” Pegasus asked and Ladybug looked up at the covered roof.

“We need darkness to stun the dog, once Rena Rouge gets here and we trip it up bring them down the lights.” Ladybug said as she looked at the dog as

“Got it, he’s ready, I’m guessing not until Rena gets here right?”

“We need her weapon to get the other object, so wait. And when to do it is on you!” She called back as she charged at the dog and dodged and hit one of its ears with her yoyo. He watched as she fought and saw the tag and realized why they needed Rena Rouge for this.

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As Chat Noir jumped back from a strike and then before the Akuma could punch at them again a spinning top pulled him to the side.

“Rena, Ladybug sent me so we could exchange dance partners! Chat I’ve got something from her for you!” Queen Bee called out as she threw a polka dotted bolo that he caught as Rena Rouge ran by them towards the dog spun her staff as she ran. “She said you’ll know when to use it on the dog!”

When Chat Noir spun his weapon as Pack Leader howled and charged at them only for Carapace to block it with his shield as Queen Bee jumped behind him and tied up his right arm with her top. “Nice move queenie, been practicing?”

“A few times a week really, it’s a really good way to release stress!” She called back and Chat Noir went still for a second before he lunged backwards and waited for his opening.

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Rena Rouge had joined them as Ladybug’s Miracouls beeped and as she spun her staff at one of the dog’s front legs it caused it to stumble and crash to the ground.

“Now!” Pegasus called out and within seconds the lights in the stadium died down and they were plunged into darkness. Chat Noir took the time to throw the bolo as Rena Rouge and Ladybug jumped away from the dog. As soon as the bolo hit the dog’s legs the bolo grew and caused it to fall back to the ground, its legs immobilized.

“NO!” Pack Leader called out and then was blinded as the lights came on, stumbling as he brought his hands to cover his eyes, not noticing that Queen Bee had pulled her top back as she smirked.

“VENOM!” Queen Bee called out as she threw her weapon and froze Pack Leader. “The tag around his neck, she thinks that’s it!”

Carpace grabbed the dog tag and pulled it free from Pack Leader’s neck and threw it towards Chat Noir. “Over to you Cat-Dude!”

“Wait until the others get the one around the dog!” Queen Bee called out as the tag flew through the air.

Meanwhile as the dog tried to struggle Rena Rouge had partial chocked it with Ladybug as they moved the collar up until Pegasus’s horseshoe cut it as he threw it throw it through the collar. As the dog gasped for breath Rena used her staff to move the large collar and fling it towards Chat Noir who threw the small tag so it landed on the larger one once it landed.

“Cataclysm!” Chat Noir called out and brought his hand down on, destroyed both of the dog tags as Ladybug ran towards them with Rena Rouge and Pegasus behind her.

As the black butterfly flew out of the destroyed dog tag, the truck sized dog deteriorated and the bolo shrunk down in size as the heroes looked on in shock, so shocked that the butterfly almost flew away before Ladybug caught it with her yoyo.

“No more evildoing for you little Akuma!” She said as she released a white butterfly. “I’m confused, was that dog-thing a product of the Akuma or something else?”

“That ever happen before with these things?” Queen Bee asked and Rena Rouge answered her.

“I…..follow the Ladyblog, nothing like that was ever on it.” Rena Rouge said as Carapace looked at her.

“Never but……Ladybug you’re on three and I’m on Four! Let’s finish this!” Chat Noir said as they heard another beep.

“Right, together?” Ladybug asked as she picked up the bolo and the others grinned and put their hands under it.

“Miraculous Ladybug!” The heroes cried as they threw the Lucky Charm into the air. As the red ladybugs swarmed and flew repairing the damage that the attack had caused the heroes smiled at each other and turned to the victim. The person was wearing a black uniform with an open jacket over a white shirt, and around his neck was a dog tag on a chain and he had red hair that was in a mane that went to his shoulders.

“Carapace, Rena Rouge, Pegasus, handle the victim. Me and Chat Noir will find a place to recharge, Queen Bee you can do it as well if you want or we’ll be back to pick it up.” Ladybug said as they ran out of the stadium.

Queen Bee smirked and walked towards the nearest dugout and Rena Rouge shook her head and sighed. “Guess she’s going to recharge, I guess she wants to spend more time with the Bee Kwami.”

“I don’t know, I like talking with him when I can.” Carapace said and Pegasus looked at them.

“Mine seems to be a bit, head strong and pompous really, but he seems okay.” Pegasus said as he reached the victim and held a hand to him. “Let me help you, are you okay?

“Yeah I am…..wait you two, I know you! Your two of the heroes……o god, I became an Akuma didn’t I?” He asked horrified as Queen Bee came out of the dugout as Ladybug and Chat Noir landed nearby.

“Yes, what happened?” Ladybug asked with a concerned tone. The man shock his head and scowled.

“I was bring this dog to my truck when this teen started to make noise about how other cities she’s been in had better animal control.” The man said as he looked down. “I usually let such thing pass over me, but that sausage haired little witch was just so loud!”

Every hero went still, Queen Bee growling as Pegasus started to think about recent events and Rena Rouge shared a look with Carapace as Chat Noir looked at Ladybug.

“People sometime just talk about things to make themselves seem more important or to feel good. Don’t what others say or believe bother you.” Ladybug said with a smile. “A very important person told me that, I’m still trying to live that.”

“Thanks.” The man said as he felt his neck and started to look around before sighing as he saw the a dog tag on the ground. “This belonged to the first dog I ever raised with my family, it’s become a good luck charm for me you know?”

“Good luck and good day sir.” Chat Noir said as the heroes left the stadium and he followed after them.

Outside the heroes jumped up to a nearby building and Chat Noir led the stepped ahead. “I’ll take Pegasus and Queen Bee back and retrieve their Miraculous, I’ll meet you at the Tower my lady.”

“Then I’ll take Carapace and Rena Rouge then, see you there Kitty.” Ladybug said as Rena Rouge and Queen Bee both giggled until Rena Rouge looked at Queen Bee in shock.

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Hawkmoth looked up at the window with a scowl. “You’re pack might have beaten mine this time but I will win Ladybug! I don’t know what I will do but I will be the Alpha at the end! Dark Wings Fall.”

As Gabriel straightened himself he looked at Nooroo and scowled at the Kwami. “How was that possible, how did that Akuma have a secondary power, what was that surge that caused it?

“My powers aren’t supposed to be used this way, I’ve told you time and time again! I don’t know how you can turn people into Akuma and not into Champions, there’s a major difference!” Nooroo spat as he hovered there with a scowl on his face.

“So then this might be an unknown side effect of using your powers this way then. But what could have caused it this time, what was the trigger?” Gabriel mussed as he walked around the room, Nooroo just hovering as he watched his master move.

“As I’ve said before; how you have used my abilities is not how my chosen have used them, I don’t know. And all I’ve know is what I’ve learned over the years, I have no facts about how this could be possible.” Nooroo said with emotion, a rare event that caused Gabriel to step back and look at the Kwami in shock. “It could have been anything, from your own emotions about your son to something else, anything. I don’t know!”

“So we might be able to replicate it, good. Of course I can employ other means to find out what was different.” Gabriel said as he walked back towards his office, Nooroo following behind him with a fearful look on his face.

As Nooroo followed Gabriel he kept his face scared while inside he was happy, he hadn’t had to tell Gabriel that he had seen something like that before, he didn’t know the why but he had been able to keep what he thought was the how from him, and he would take whatever win he could.

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As Chat Noir, Pegasus and Queen Bee landed on the rooftop outside Chloe’s room he grinned at her as she dropped her transformation and Pollen appeared, Pegasus looking on as the kwami hugged Chloe’s check before she removed the Miraculous from her hair.

“Thanks, that was……bearable.” Chloe said and Chat Noir nodded and accepted the Miraculous as she handed it over. “Nice job horse boy, but I really hope we don’t have to have a team up like that again.”

“Wouldn’t want to steal the spot light from you Queenie.” Pegasus said with a smirk only for Chloe to hit his arm. “Owwe!”

“I meant that the Akuma needed the both of us horsey!” Chloe said and Pegauss nodded.

“Of course, the power this one had was unexpected, and I hope the next Akuma isn’t as bad.” Pegasus said as he held out his hand that she shook. “See you around Miss Bourgeois.”

As the two heroes jumped away from the hotel Chloe stood there for a few seconds more as she the heroes moved through a portal Pegasus made before turning away and walking back into her room and decided to check if school was still on for the day or not.

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As they fell onto Max’s roof he took off the Miraculous and put his glasses back on before he looked at Chat Noir. “I have to agree with Chloe, that wasn’t too bad. If you or Ladybug need mine or Markov’s help, please just call.”

“Thanks, you two really helped us out.” Chat Noir said as he took back the Miraculous and smiled at him.

“You’re welcome, but that girl he said caused his Akumatization…….. there’s this girl in my class named Lila, she seems to be a liar.” Max said with a sigh and shook his head. “And then there’s what happened to Marinette yesterday, I really should look into it more.”

“So you haven’t yet?” Chat Noir asked and he tried to keep his surprise out of his voice.

“I trusted that she would get a hearing, but with everything some friends have found I doubt our principal would let that happen. And if I hack in then the evidence could be……… tainted.” Max said and sighed. “I planned to look into what was needed and what could be found legally first before promising to help Marinette anyway I could. I owe her.”

“Why? Why do you owe her?” Chat Noir asked and Max looked away. “Max?”

“One day I went to school after staying up for over forty-eight hours…… there was thing with a napkin…… I don’t want to talk about it okay?” Max said as he turned away, seeing Chat Noir try and fail to hide a grin he kept his face expressionless and a smirk off his face.

“Well thank you again, stay safe and don’t attract Hawkmoth!” Chat Noir said before he ran towards the edge of the roof and leapt across to the next roof.

As Chat Noir jumped away Max frowned and walked back towards the door to the floor below, something was bothering Chat Noir and Max was worried what could be bothering his classmate. Could those two have finally figured out who each other is…… is that why Adrien wasn’t in class today……then Lila’s photo-shoot……. There’s too much going on that doesn’t make sense, but I can feel a connection between these events. Should I tell them I know? Max thought as he walked towards his room.

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Blocks away Ladybug, Carapace and Rena Rouge dropped into an alley within moments Nino and Alya were handing their Miraculous back to Ladybug who smiled at them.

“Thanks for the help you two, I appreciate it.” Ladybug said as she accepted the two boxes and moved to go when Alya grabbed her arm.

“Wait Ladybug, that girl he mentioned, there’s this girl named Lila in my class……. And I made a mistake posting an interview about her on my blog.” Alya said and looked down as Nino put a hand on her shoulder.

“My ‘Best Friend?’ Yeah, I’ve seen the post. I never made any noise to you about it because I didn’t want Hawkmoth to know, he might have gone after you or your family.” Ladybug said and Alya paled in fear. “I have a few ideas about why he hasn’t……… I’ll talk to you tonight around nine okay, I’ll bring Chat with me, it’s his idea really.”

“Thanks Ladybug, thanks.” Alya crocked out and Ladybug jumped away and Alya put her back against the wall.

“You okay Alya?” Nino asked as Alya put her head against her legs.

“I never thought.” Alya said as Nino sat next to her. “I never thought my blog could put my family in danger. If Hawkmoth had attacked my sisters because of me!”

“Oh baby.” Nino whispered as he sat down in front of her and hugged her as she started to cry.

Ladybug landed on the Tower and looked around before a voice came from behind her.

“Want mine too Ladybug?”

Ladybug spun around and saw Chat Noir looking over the city she felt her heart

“MI mean we discovered who each other is, isn’t that the rules?” Chat Noir asked morosely and Ladybug walked over and hugged him.

“If Master Fu wants that, then he’ll need to take mine too!” Ladybug said and Chat Noir went still as she contirued. “You and me against the world Kitty, and that’s a promise!”

“Thank you Ladybug.” Chat Noir said as he held her arms before he stood turned and handed over two boxes. “But you should get those back to him.”

Ladybug nodded and pulled him along with her. “Come on, if you don’t want to talk to him then you’ll at least wait nearby for me okay Kitty.”

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Ladybug landed in the alley and quickly dropped her transformation and moved towards the door Fu had met her at earlier, fighting the urge to look up and try to find Chat Noir. As she walked the turmoil she was feeling was shown on her face no matter how much she tried to hide it. as she knocked on the door it opened faster than she would have liked to Master Fu’s smiling face

“Well done Marinette, as good a job as always.” Fu said as he accepted back the four small boxes through the doorway as he smiled at her. “But when you came here before I saw that something was wrong, so if there’s any way I can help you please let me.”

“It’s nothing Master Fu, I…..” Marinette said and Fu only looked at her softly.

“Marinette please, I can tell that you are bothered by something, I saw that when you came to me before my dear, so please my dear tell me, trust me.” Fu said and Marinette looked at him before sighing.

“I….Adrien and I learned each other’s secrets.” Marinette said and she closed her eyes. She opened then and saw Fu looking at her with a twinkle in his eyes that caused Marinette to look at him hard. “I don’t care what you want to do, but if you take his then you take mine!”

“Oh, how did that happen? And don’t worry, I expect you two to have told each other months ago really.” Fu said before they heard the sounds of people calling out. He frowned as he look down the alley. She turned and followed his eyes and saw people coming out of the buildings, some of them going towards the dogs, Master Fu turned back and looked at Marinette and shooed her off “Call me later and we can talk about it, and don’t worry I’m not going to take away either of your Miraculous, so go.”

Marinette nodded and slipped away down a side alley and quickly transformed back to Ladybug and jumped to the rooftops. Within moments she was running towards where she and Chat Noir had promised to meet up, a smile on her face.

“So how bad is it?” Chat’s voice caused Ladybug to turn to him and she felt a stab of pitty as she saw the way he looked, miserable as if something was going to be lost. “When does he want………him back?”

“He said he’s not kitty, we’re safe from that at least. And he said that he had expected us to have told each other months ago!” Ladybug said and Chat Noir sighed and couched down against a chimney.

“Thank you.” Chat Noir whispered softly as he leaned back. With everything that’s happening, to lose him and your partnership my lady, I just couldn’t.” Chat Noir said and Ladybug winced and looked at him with symphony.

She looked at her partner and sighed. With everything that’s happening to take Plagg away from Adrien right now, that would be too cruel. She thought as she looked at him. “Kitty, let’s get back ……….there wait for me where you left from, I’ll be along in a few minutes. It’s best we do it there.”

Chat Noir looked at him and nodded, something about the way she was talking made him decided not to press the issue. “But we can talk about her there latter, right?”

“Of course Kitty.” Ladybug said and Chat Noir grinned and they both bound away on a complicated route to take them separately to the same place.

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Chat Noir landed in his ‘room’ and dropped his transformation and walked towards the door and unlocked it before going to the bed and laying down on it, Plagg flew up and hovered above him.

“Even if the old turtle tried kid, I wouldn’t go. You know that right?” Plagg asked and Adrien smiled.

“Yeah Plagg, I just need to decompress, I mean Marinette is Ladybug. My Lady is my princess, and she’s dating Luka.” Adrien said morosely and Plagg sighed as he shook his head.

“Oh kid.” Plagg said with an air of someone who had tried and failed to get him to understand something that was transparent to everyone else.

“Plagg what is it?” Adrien asked but before he could receive an answer someone knocked on his door. “It’s open!”

Marinette came into the room and Adrien got up and gestured to the bed and Marinette nodded and put her phone on it as Tikki floated next to her as Adrien sat down next to her. A few moments later they heard someone pick up the other end.

“Hello Adrien, Marinette, Tikki, Plagg. So Marinette said that you two discovered each other’s secret.” Fu said over Marinette’s phone.

“Yeah master, they both ran into each other as they were leaving and my kid realized how that was possible.” Plagg said with a snicker.as Tikki floated to him and pouted at him as she hit Plagg’s head, causing him to grin at her. “You gotta admit it’s one for the ages Sugarcube.”

“You said it doesn’t matter that we know Master Fu? Has something changed?” Adrien asked and the sound of laughter came over the phone.

“To be fair, the don’t know who each other are thing is to see if you have the spirit of true heroes, after all this time I believe that the danger has passed. You are both committed to this fight.” Fu’s voice lifted a weight off Adrien’s shoulders. “But today we had to field more heroes then every before, and Kaalki wants to go back to young Mr. Kante, and the others were saying that if he gets to do that then they want to go too. And the others who haven’t been paired with a hero want to get out as well.”

“That might be needed. If Hawkmoth ever creates another Akuma like that one, then we’ll need more help than before. And with him hunting you Master Fu…….” Marinette trailed off and Adrien looked at Plagg who nodded at him.

“I wonder if I should go and try and test a few of your choices, see if they have the spark.” Master Fu said and Adrien gathered his courage.

“Master Fu, while that’s important I have a question that I think, no that I know that we need an answer to.” Adrien said as he crossed his arms and looked at Marinette’s phone.

“And that is?” Fu asked with a note of teasing in his voice.

“Can a person use a damaged Miraculous?” Adrien asked Marinette looked at him with an inquisitive look that slowly changed to shock as she realized something. Maybe she’s making the same connection I did, good. If we can figure out who she is then we might end this. Adrien thought as he turned his head back towards Marinette’s phone.

“I I don’t know. I’ve told you after Feast that I was just a child when I made the mistake that destroyed the Order. And the copies of the Grimoire that I’ve been translating haven’t said anything about that. But I think yes, but the results would be that person succumbing to the same thing that happens when a Miraculous is damaged, it would only longer.” Fu’s voice came over confused, and he could feel Marinette looking at him with a growing sense of alarm.

“And a wish can do anything right, like ‘heal’ a person who used a Miraculous past the point of it being damaged?” Adrien asked and Marinette and Tikki looked thunderstruck as Plagg grinned.

“One of my best kittens ever!” Plagg said proudly.

Fu was silent and they heard a hard swallow over the phone and they waited for him to gather his thoughts. “That might make sense, I can see why when this began that Mayura wasn’t involved and only comes out once in a while. This is so bad.”

“Yeah, we have a reason for them to have found out about the wish, but we can’t know what they want it for.” Marinette said as she shook her head. “If a person is trying to find something and finds a way to ultimate power, they might choose to take it instead of what their after.”

“It’s worse than that Marinette.” Adrien said as he looked sick. “The way Plagg explained it the wish is about harmony, to heal someone, someone else is struck down in their place.”

Marinette gasped as she brought a hand to her mouth and looked at Tikki who nodded, causing her to pale in horror.

“So then Hawkmoth either doesn’t know about or doesn’t care.” Marinette said and Adrien nodded. “But how could Hawkmoth have found out about the wish but didn’t find out about the cost?”

“Never underestimate what people are capable of if they think they’ve found the answer to their problems.” Fu’s voice carried a trace of bitterness and regret that caused Adrien and Marinette to wince and

“He’s right kids, the number of times I’ve seen somebody learn something they wanted to know and ignore the rest…..the times that’s caused pain……. I can’t even count them all.” Plagg said as Tikki hugged him.

“And this Akuma was a lot more complicated than the others have been, even the ones that make minions.” Marinette said with a worried tone. “And if he

“Well at least becoming homeschooled might make this easier now.” Adrien said na

“Homeschooled, why are you, I thought you liked going to school?” Fu asked And Adrien looked at Marinette and she nodded

“Yesterday I was expelled for ‘cheating’ on a mock test by ‘stealing an answer sheet’ that Lila took after the test, and for pushing Lila down the stairs when she walked down and started to scream that I pushed her, and stealing her necklace that she put in my locker.” Marinette said and Adrien thought he heard a series of gasps from the Fu’s side of the phone.

“And your teachers didn’t say anything about this?!” Fu demanded in shock. “They at least let you defend yourself against the accusations right, please?”

“No. And add to that the facts that no lockers at school have locks, they never checked the security cameras and that an unknown person said Marinette took the answer sheet and well.” Adrien said drily with a scowl as Marinette looked at him before looking down with a blush on her face. “It took all I had not to punch that stupid owl and that idiot teacher!”

“And we only know this because a hacker sent me the video files that showed everything Lila did.” Marinette said and Adrien frowned.

“I can’t I just.” Fu said as they heard him slap his head. “I have seen and heard some stupid or idiotic things over the years but that takes the cake!”

“Who was the hacker, why were they even looking at the files in the first place?” Adrien asked suddenly. “Why did whoever it was known that something had happened?”

“If someone in the other classes heard about it and told anyone, that person could have told the hacker. Realistically they could have heard about it from anyone, we just can’t know. It could have been anyone” Marinette said and then laughed. “Well after all she did to do this; I guess we can count Lila out of the running.”

“And then there’s the fact that my father hired Lila to do that, or so she says.” Adrien said and Fu went silent and he heard Marinette gasp. “What is it?”

“Master Fu, there was another mass Akuma attack yesterday; well it would have been one. Something happened and it fizzled out, if Hawkmoth turns Mayura into an Akuma to boost his powers…..” Marinette said and Adrien looked on, something in him telling him this was important.

“Then that means that it fizzled out because Mayura was hit by the damage to the Miraculous is starting to affect her…. But how could he have planned to need the ‘boost’ for that, to have known when the emotions of so many people were right for him to use ahead of time?” Fu asked and Adrien looked at Marinette as she gasped and paled as she looked at Tikki. “Marinette?”

“Lila’s actions. The way that everything happened yesterday, how one after the other that led to everyone going to the locker room and finding her necklace.” Marinette said softly as Adrien started to understand as the Kwami started to glare.

“I mean I guess I can see it, she did try and isolate me from you when Kagami became an Akuma after she sent out that picture when she forced a kiss on me.” Adrien said and then looked at Marinette as she looked down before raising her head with a hard look in her eyes.

“And there’s the fact that you said that Lila said your father told her to do it.” Marinette said and Adrien looked at her in confusion.

“What about my dad?” Adrien said as he felt himself grow worried, something

“Young Adrien, the reason we suspected Gabriel of being Hawkmoth was because he had been in possession of a book, a grimoire that this Lila stole from you and Marinette found and returned.” Fu said and Adrien went still and looked at Marinette.

“The book my father said he found with my mom?” Adrien said and paled. “That’s why you thought he might be Hawkmoth!?”

“And Lila might have been working for Hawkmoth.” Tikki said and everyone looked at her in shock.

“What are you talking about Tikki?” Marinette asked as she looked at her friend who looked down at her.

“Think back to the day Lila threated you Marinette, how was she when she left?” Tikki asked and Marinette gasped.

“Wait, what is it?” Master Fu asked and Marinette bit her lip.

“Adrien knows, but when Lila came back she caused an Akuma to try and get me.” Marinette asked and Adrien nodded. “Well that was only a few minutes before Lila was Akumatized, and she walked off smugly, not scared or angry.”

“Then how could she have become an Akuma, it wouldn’t have been drawn to her, so the only way!!” Adrien said with a gasp as Plagg’s mouth dropped open.

“Are you saying that she grabbed it on purpose?!” Plagg stammered and Tikki sighed.

“We don’t have any proof about it, but if she did then that means a few things.” Tikki said and Marinette nodded.

“If she did that, that means that Hawkmoth saw or felt it happen. That might have brought her to his attention and if it did then it might have shown him she could be an ally.” Marinette said with a scowl.

“Whatever reason that he is after the wish, however he found out about it, that doesn’t matter.” Fu said voice said as the four people looked at the phone. “For now I’ll get started to look up what I can about how to repair the Miraculous, maybe that will tell me how to help Mayura, and our mystery person if they exist.”

“I don’t mean to sound callous but should you master?” Adrien asked and Marinette nodded. “We don’t know that they want the wish to help someone.”

“I understand completely my boy, but if there are people hurt because of actions that I caused, my honor can’t let it stand.” Master Fu said and Adrien nodded. “And we can see if that’s the case after we capture them. And goodbye.”

“Goodbye Master Fu.” Marinette said as she turned her phone off. “So let’s talk.”

“Yeah.” Adrien said as he suddenly wanted Hawkmoth to attack again, or anything to keep this from happening now.

“Kids, he’s back to talk to you both!” Tom’s voice from downstairs caused Marinette and Adrien to look at each other and nod as their Kwami looked at each other and Tikki led Plagg towards the vents so they could spy on the meeting and be near their Chosen.

Chapter 6: Chapter 6

Chapter Text

Louise knocked at the back entrance to the Dunpain-Chang bakery holding a briefcase in one hand and shook his head. If nothing happened like I thought I guess first thing first I’ll do is send a form to the school board for all the camera footage, that way I’ll have it to look over the data and we’ll be able to use that to sue this bitch. He thought before the door opened and Tom looked out and smiled when he saw him. “Hi Tom, so did the school send over anything to you all?”

“I wish that they had, at least then this nightmare might have been over with or we would have something to fight against.” Tom said and Louise just sighed and shook his head.

“Well at least the Akuma attack gave me plenty of time to get the paperwork done to send to the school board, and I was able to handle Adrien’s problem.” Louise said as Tom led him into the house, a commotion from the kitchen caused him to sigh and shake his head. “Giving that it’s almost time for the dinner rush, I guess I’ll be talking to your daughter alone?”

“Yeah, I’ll have the intercom on so I’ll be able to hear everything.” Tom said as he looked at Louise and glared at him. “Don’t make me or my wife come up there.”

“Of course sir, I will be perfectly professional, I always do.” Louise said and Tom nodded and sighed

“Kids, he’s back to talk to you both!” Tom called up and then pointed at his eyes then at Louise before he headed towards the bakery’s kitchen.

Louise shook his head and then chuckled and walked upwards and smiled when he saw Adrien and Marinette walk towards the table and he grinned at them.

“Hey kids, you all okay, stayed away from those people today?” Louise asked as they walked towards the table. “The Akuma stayed away from this area but did some of the dogs come and bother you all, it didn’t look like they did but you never know with her Cure.”

“We stayed safe and away from the windows, we only stopped hiding when the alert died down.” Marinette said and Louise looked at them for a few seconds before nodding.

“Yeah, we were safe Louise. But you’re here about something, so how are our issues?” Adrien asked as the three of them sat down at the table and Louise put his briefcase down and sighed. “That bad?

“Let me start with you Miss Marinette. I had a friend of mine check over the video you got yesterday and while it wasn’t changed or modified, legally it is tainted because it was anomalous but it gives us wriggle room to hunt down the original. I will be going to that school tomorrow for that reason with a few members of the police, I’ll have a warrant to get a copy of the school’s security cameras and another copy will be given to the school board so there’s that.” Louise said and then looked at Adrien. “But then there’s your problem kid, first and foremost we need to get you to a doctor in the next few days for a full physical, it’s part of the process okay kid so don’t ask okay? And the witness list will be drawn up after that.”

Adrien nodded and looked down and sighed and closed his eyes. I can get why, to make sure it’s not physical abuse. I mean this has to part of the process. I have to do this, I said I would and this is important, I can’t go back to how it was before, nothing about this is healthy for any of us. Adrien thought as he felt Marinette reach over and squeeze his hand. “This is why it’s so hard, isn’t it?”

“Yeah kid, it is.” Louse said and then he smiled at him. “I mean I always thought that you were a bit skinny kid, so a general physical is something that would be good for the case, I’ll also need you to sign a few documents that need to be signed with the Child’s Protection agent present as a witness to let me look into your finances, again part of the process. And all of this stuff that was set up to keep you, the child in question safe.”

“The Justice department really has a lot of stuff set up to handle this doesn’t it?” Marinette asked and Louise laughed darkly.

“Yeah, but unfortunately it was more of a ‘don’t do this again’ thing that grew overtime.” Louise said with a sigh and shook his head. “So to finalize everything, tomorrow I will be heading to the college to serve the warrant, then I will be heading over to the board of education to serve the papers that will contest the expulsion and or suing the college for what they did.”

“Yeah, then there’s the way that I can get that physical. He’s going to be watching most of the hospitals and clinics in the city.” Adrien said and Louis smirked.

“All you need to do kid is make it away from here and get to around the 7^th on the boarder of the 6^th. I’ll pick you up there and then I’ll get you to this clinic the police and most of the lawyers use when they need a doctor without people knowing. Perfectly legal but it was set up that way for undercover ops for the police, a totally covered garage and the normal way in only covered to.” Louise said with a smirk. “One of the best in the city, most people who know about it think the directors a little too concerned with privacy but he did get his leg broken when fans mob a hospital when he was a student so there’s that.”

“Wow.” Marinette said as she and Adrien blinked and looked at him. “So do you think you’ll be able to get everything that we need to successful argue about happened to me?”

“Perfectly. The trip tomorrow is basically just to find airtight copies of the original videos. And I’ll be heading over to the Italian embassy within the next few days and well.” Louise said with a shrug and looked at the two teens.

“Do you think that’s a good thing, it might give Lila time to cover her tracks or get out of the city. And if her mother is a diplomat.” Marinette said as Adrien nodded and Louise only smirked back.

“Don’t worry about that, I have to head over there anyway and follow up on a settlement with another client, and I can’t talk about why but I will be talking to a person who knows who works there. I’ll find out the truth and from there, and then we’ll see what’s true.” Louise said as he looked around at the two teens who smiled. “Relax, all I’ll be doing is finding out where she lives and making sure she knows to make it to the hearing about what happened, from there we’ll see what’s what.”

“There might be another way…….” Marinette said and looked down at the table for a few moments. “A frie…….a classmate has access rights to the school’s network and website.”

“Why?” Louise asked and Adrien looked at her as she refused to meet their eyes.

“He reworked it a few months ago after it was hacked, nothing was destroyed but the files were renamed and well it was chaos for a few days as the students had to deal with what the hacker renamed our accounts as.” Marinette said as she blushed. “For a month before Max fixed it I had to log in as ‘Bakery-Model’ and Chloe was ‘Chief-Brat.’ Let’s just say that when she realized what her new login name was she screamed so loud the whole school heard.”

“So then Max could get the number and email address Lila gave the school!” Adrien said as Louise started to grin and rub his hands together.

“But would this Max be willing to do that?” Louis asked and Marinette nodded.

“Some of our classmates figured out Lila is a bitch, and two of them came over today and apologized for not believe me. We had a talk and shared lunch together and we cleared the air.” Adrien said and Marinette nodded.

“So I’ll call text him later and message you if he’s willing to do that. Once that’s done I’ll text you or do you want me to send it tomorrow?” Marinette asked and Louise nodded at her.

“That sounds great Marinette, just send me the information before Francois Dupont starts tomorrow, I’ll be raiding during the first class so hopefully I’ll get by the principle.” Louise said as he took some papers out of his briefcase and passed one pile to Adrien and one to Marinette. “The one with you Adrien is the summery of everything that you and I talked about, every bit of the case against your dad. And Miss Marinette, what you have is the paperwork that I’ll need you and your parents to sign, it’s how we’re contesting the ‘expulsion’. Oh, and I used a copy of the video that you were sent yesterday as the reason for my ‘fishing expedition’ tomorrow.”

“So that will let you track down the evidence?” Marinette asked and Louise got up and the teens did as well.

“Yeah, it’s technical but that’s right.” Louise said and smirked. “I wonder if the owl will find us before we leave? Well you have a nice night kids.”

As Louise walked away Adrien turned towards Marinette and rubbed the back of his head, waiting until they heard the door downstairs close before he looked at her. “You know we have to talk about what we learned…..”

“Marinette! We’re be up for super in a few moment, the dinner crew is here! So could you get out the plates and put dinner in the oven?” Sabine’s voice caused Adrien to stop and shrug and Marinette to sigh internally.

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“Thanks Max, just get me the data as soon as you can tonight.” Marinette said into her phone as she climbed up to her bed.

“I’ll send it to you by midnight Marinette, and I hope that you’re back in class soon.” Max said as he hung up and Marinette chuckled as she got to her bed.

“Max is a good friend Marinette, I knew he would help you!” Tikki said as she floated up after her.

“That was never in doubt Tikki.” Marinette sighed as she looked around her room, when they had both gotten back to her house her parents had thankfully stayed downstairs the whole time and hadn’t gone to check on them and that was one thing that they had lucked out on. Dinner had been tense between the two of them but they had been able to get through it without her parents getting a clue that there was something that was bothering the two of them.

“Are you okay Marinette?” Tikki asked as she floated there and Marinette only hid her face as her kwami looked at her in concern.

“He must be so disappointed that it’s me Tikki, he just has to be.” Marinette said and hugged her knees as she rested her head on her bed.

“You don’t know that Marinette, you don’t.” Tikki said as she looked at Marinette. While she tried to keep her temper down as she looked at her chosen. He better not! After all the times that Plagg’s said that he’s mooned over her, just finding out who she really was she had better not have stopped loving her because she’s ‘just a friend’! I mean really! Tikki thought as she floated to Marinette and touched her check. “You two just need to talk to each other privately about a lot of things.”

“But where can we talk my parents overhearing us?” Marinette asked and Tikki sighed.

“Here for one, or up there.” Tikki said as she pointed towards the door to the roof and Marinette’s balconies

“All it would take is someone to see him and then who knows what Gabriel or Lila would do? The only place is my room and that’s a whole other kettle of fish.” Marinette said with a blush and Tikki sighed and thought darkly about teenagers and their hormones.

“You have to talk to him Marinette, want me to go get him; I could follow the vents and hide from your parents that way.” Tikki said and Marinette looked like she was going to say something when they both heard something.

A buzzing caused her to snap her head up and look towards a statue light her parents had giving her for her last birthday before Tikki had come into her life, her friend had gone into it and discovered a microphone and a few searches at school had turned up the item on a site that sold parential spyware, a way for parents to spy on their kids without them being aware of it. the model in question had a recording option, thankfully Max had come over once or twice to share a new game and he had helped her by showing her how to modify it to make the engine run a bit louder so she knew when it was active.

A knock on her door caused Marinette to look towards it and swallow. “Come in.”

Adrien looked around as he came up into her room and Plagg flew around and Tikki flew over to him and gestured pointed towards the statue that Marinette had just been thinking off and before Adrien could say anything Marinette held up a hand and type out a quick text on it before throwing it to him, he caught it and looked down at it and paled a little as he read, ‘the statue is bugged by my parents, let Plagg and Tikki handle it.’

“Hey Adrien, you doing okay stuck in here?” Marinette asked as she grinned at him and kept her eyes on the statue as Plagg and Tikki flew towards it.

“Okay, I have a lot of practice with this so it’s not too bad; at least I have someone to talk to who doesn’t answer to him.” Adrien said and Marinette looked at him with a look of concern in her eyes that caused him to shiver a little.

“What about the models you’ve worked with, couldn’t you talk to them online at least?” Marinette asked and Adrien laughed and shook his head. He kept his eyes on the two kwami as she slipped into the statue and sighed before he spoke up.

“You’d think that but their contracts have a clause in them that kept us from sharing our emails on sets, the parties and work with our agencies is supposed to be where that kind of stuff is exchanged but well dad never let me go.” Adrien said with a shrug.

“Why wouldn’t he?” Marinette asked in complete shock

“Something about drug abuse that one model said started at a party. Which is insane and impossible because all the company’s models have to have blood tests every few months and most of them bring in paperwork to show what prescriptions their doctors are having them take and why, and the company is responsible for the food. But of course he ignores that but well who would tell him that?” Adrien said dryly and Marinette looked at him in concern.

“Before you made it to school, you had a very small circle of people you knew that didn’t work for your father, didn’t you?” Marinette asked, complete shocked and rethinking a lot about how she felt about his father.

“I think maybe Chloe, but there’s some kinda connection between her family and my mom’s.” Adrien said with a shrug. “He was better when mom was around, at least I think he was.”

Marinette looked so concerned for him he almost took her into his arms but then he saw the kwami float out of the statue as the buzz died down.

“Not bad Plagg, you drained the battery so fast!” Tikki said and Plagg laughed and nudged her.

“What about you, going right for the wires that led to the motor and tearing them first, then going for the wires connecting to the speakers! This way they’ll think it broke by age and without the motor then it will die from the heat!” Plagg said as Tikki bowed.

“So we don’t have to worry about my parents hearing us then.” Marinette said and Adrien nodded.

“Yeah, we have to talk but let me get this off my chest first. It’s about the Lila thing, her second time as an Akuma, that we know about for sure anyway.” Adrien said sheepishly as he watched her climb down from her bed as Tikki and as Plagg sighed and landed on his shoulder.

“Lila, what about her, wait is this about not confronting her?” Marinette asked only for what Adrien to look down with an ashamed expression on his face.

“You know how I said I was talking with her before she became Chameleon, remember?” Adrien said. “I was talking about how people would like her if she didn’t lie, I tried to make her see that and she walked off in a huff. Then she became an Akuma and tried to ruin my social life.”

“Yeah, I can get it better now. With how tough her forms are, not wanting to set her off is pretty smart I guess. And I admit I should have told you about how she threatened me but……” Marinette interpreted him before he exploded.

“It’s more than that!” Adrien said and bowed to Marinette suddenly and Plagg fell off his shoulder and dropped a few inches before floating back upwards. “I was afraid that if you called her on her lies then she would become an Akuma that would want to kill you!”

“Oh.” Marinette said quietly and paled as she realized that was a possibility given what Akumas had acted like and the many times that the Akumas had attacked people and with how dangerous Lila’s forms were….. “Oh.”

“Yeah oh, and with how bad she was, I was worried that she might be able to do that to you, well ‘civilian’ you.” Adrien said as he looked away only for Marinette to reach over and cup his check causing him to blush.

“Oh kitty.” Marinette breathed and looked at him with a caring look in her eyes.

“I couldn’t tell ‘civilian’ you how dangerous her Akuma’s were, so I gave that stuff about the high road because I didn’t want you around her enough to set her off and have Lila try and kill you.” Adrien said as he looked at her as he grabbed her hand and stared into her eyes as they seemed to draw him in as he lost himself in them. Unconsciously the two of them were slowly moving their heads closer to each other and then Adrien realized what he was doing and shot backwards and took a step back.

“Adrien?” Marinette asked before she realized what they had almost done and her earlier thoughts came back but before she could start to spiral Adrien held up his hands.

“Sorry, and I’m sorry if flirting with you had made you uncomfortable, I’ll try and tone it down, it would probably give Hawkmoth a clue if I stop cold. I never wanted to get in the way of your relationship with him.” Adrien said and Marinette grew more confused as Tikki face palmed as Plagg started to snicker.

“Him?” Marinette asked as she looked at him, totally confused as Plagg started to snicker behind Adrien as Tikki got a strange look on her face.

“Luka, the person you have a crush on.” Adrien said as he looked away from her, not seeing her mouth drop open as Tikki slapped her face and Plagg starred to snicker harder. “I’m sorry, I guess all this time I hoped that maybe he wasn’t that good a person and you might give me a chance, but I’ve met him and i…….”

“Wait, wait!” Marinette interrupted him. “You think I’ve had a crush on Luka?”

“Well yeah, you don’t?” Adrien asked and Marinette nodded and he looked shocked.

“No, Luka’s a great guy but the both of us know that we’d be bad for each other. He was always helping me because of……..things that are private for his family really.” Marinette said and she looked down and Adrien frowned.

Adrien looked at her and tried to comprehend something, everything he knew about her told him he had feelings for someone, she had told him he had feelings for someone else but if it wasn’t Luka then who. “Then who do you have a crush on? Sorry if that a bit forward but……”

“You!” Marinette exclaimed as she shot to her feet. “I’ve had a crush on you since you gave me your umbrella that day we first met you stupid cat! And as I got to know you it became……love”

“Love?” Adrien said shakily and Marinette rolled on.

“Yes! Your kind, one of the best students in our grade, you try to help whenever you can get away from your father and you’re a great person! All this time when I’ve stumbled around you it’s because I’ve been trying to tell you that!” Marinette said and blushed when she realized what she had just exploded on him.

“Oh. So all this time; I’ve been the other boy that in your heart, and I was the reason that you wouldn’t give me as Chat Noir a chance, so the girl I had a crush on had a crush on me. Well that’s something.” Adrien said dumbly he sat down in total shock as Marinette stared at him.

“Wait, you’ve had a crush on me as Ladybug, what about Kagami?!” Marinette said and Plagg looked at Tikki who nodded at him, a snicker escaping him.

“Wait Kagami, you thought I had feelings for Kagami?!” Adrien exclaimed as he looked at her. “No, Kagami and I don’t have feelings for each other, it was more of a thing to get away from our parents and how controlling they are, her idea really.”

“Really?” Marinette asked and Adrien nodded.

“She said something about dating a person in a similar situation to mine once and it didn’t work out, she said it was one of the reasons they moved but that was all that she said about it.” Adrien said and he looked at Marinette and took a deep breath. “But it did let me talk to her and she helped me work through my feelings, get them under control and try and deal with my crush.”

“On Ladybug, right?” Marinette said with trepidation as she looked at Adrien who nodded.

“I do love Ladybug you but I developed feelings for someone else over the last year.” Adrien said and Marinette started to feel worse.

“Who?” Marinette asked and Adrien looked at her.

“You bug.” Adrien said as he blushed. “On both sides of the mask I fell for you.”

“What.” Marinette asked faintly as she looked at him as Plagg started to grin and Tikki smiled at her.

“For a while now I’ve been having a hard time dealing with my feelings for well; both of you. As Ladybug you’re brave and smart, and as Marinette you’re creative, helpful to everyone and talented as heck, and the way you looked when you won that video game tournament with Max. I’ve been having a hard time separating what I felt about both of you. That’s why I went on that date with Kagami, I was trying to move on but it didn’t work well, we both saw that.” Adrien said and Marinette sat down as she looked away as Adrien in looked at Marinette before he started to laugh, startling Marinette and the Kwamis.

“So the reason we both rejected/ ignored each other is because we fell in love with one side of each other.” Adrien said as he stopped laughing and Plagg fell to the floor and started to laugh.

Plagg finally stopped laughing and grinned at them. “Oh man o man, you two crack me up! That right there! You two are my new favorite chosen ever!”

“Plagg!” Tikki said as Marinette and Adrien blushed and looked away.

“Come on sugarcube, don’t tell that you don’t think this is funny!” Plagg said as he snickered and Tikki giggled and nodded.

“Their almost as funny as our first wielders; remember them?” Tikki asked and Plagg laughed as he spun around. “And I can’t wait until Alya and the others find out, you two have to make up a good story to get by her!”

“Alya, why would we have to make up a story for her?” Adrien asked and Marinette blushed and looked away. “Anything else I should know?”

“Alya’s been trying to help me confess with the girls for most of the school year, I can’t even count all the times and plans we made that failed.” Marinette said and Adrien looked down with a deeper blush.

“Oh, that’s something but I was talking to the Kwami. Anything you want to say Plagg?” Adrien asked and his kwami turned and grinned at the humans as Tikki just looked on exasperated.

“Sometimes when this happens it’s either my holder or sugarcube’s who finds out first, they try and make them fall in love with their ‘other-selves’; it’s kinda funny to tell the truth.” Plagg said and Adrien looked away as Marinette looked the other way.

“Oh, look at the time, shouldn’t we go to Alya’s soon?” Adrien asked and Marinette looked at the clock and nodded as Plagg shook his head and Tikki giggled as Marinette smiled at him. “So how about I turn in and then slip out through the window, I’ll meet you up top?”

“We still have about an hour, so let’s give go play a round with my parents for a bit before they go to sleep and then we’ll slip out from our rooms.” Marinette said as she looked towards the door down and smirked. “Because I know they’ll be here in a few moments because of how the power went out.”

Adrien looked towards the door as they heard someone climb up the ladder and a moment later Tom Dupain opened the door with a smile. “Hey kids, Sabine and I are starting a round of Ultimate Mecha Strike III, want in?”

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Alya hugged herself as she waited on the rooftop of the building she lived in she shivered a little. She had been able to escape dinner without her parents giving her much trouble about her blogging during the attack and even Nora had been quiet about it, something that hadn’t happened a lot and she still looked around with a nervous feeling. I don’t know what to do, I have to take down that damned interview but how? I could say I was attacked by a hacker, that might buy me a few days and then I can talk to the others about Lila, see how we can get her back. But what did Marinette mean about how she wasn’t going back to Dupont? What did she and her parents learn about the school to make them decide that? Alya thought as she stood there and tried to think about.

“Alya?”

“JESUS!” She exclaimed as she spun around and saw Ladybug and Chat Noir standing there looking at her. “When did you get here?”

Chat Noir and Ladybug looked at each other before Chat spoke up. “A few minutes ago, you wanted to talk to us about something?”

“Yeah, it’s about this girl at school Lila, I posted an interview about her, how she was Ladybug’s best friend but I’m think she’s not and I shouldn’t have done it at all.” Alya said and her smile dropped as she saw Ladybug nod and Chat Noir scowled.

“She the last thing from even a friend to Ladybug.” Chat Noir said and Ladybug nodded.

“And the reason that we never said anything about it because we didn’t want to call any attention to your site, we didn’t want Hawkmoth to think he could get to us through you.” Ladybug said and Alya flushed and looked down, ashamed beyond her ability to speak.

Alya could only look at them and pale as she thought about what her ‘Ladybug hunts’ could have brought down onto her family. Gods, this has to be why Marinette always talked about them, how she tried to get me to slow down and not go so fast? And forget Hawkmoth, who else could have used what I put up on my blog the wrong way? How much danger have I put my little sisters in? Alya thought as she swayed a bit causing the Hereos to look at her in concern.

“Are you okay Alya?” Chat Noir asked and Alya nodded absently.

“Yeah, I’m just thinking about what people could have done with what I put up on my blog, I gotta try and fix it….. maybe I could talk to Max….” Alya said as she started to plan a way to fix what she had done and the two heroes looked at each other, the way that they had

“Like that interview and the knowledge about the Miraculous?” Ladybug asked and Alya looked down and blushed in shame.

“I don’t even know why I did it in the first place, she just said what I wanted to hear and I didn’t think.” Alya said and Ladybug reached over and squeezed Alya’s shoulder.

“She used you, she’s a monster, she doesn’t care who she hurts as long as her goals are met.” Chat said bitterly and Alya’s snapped her head towards him and her mouth dropped open.

“How do you…..what do you mean?” Alya was able to stammer and Ladybug and Chat Noir looked at each other for a few moments before Chat Noir pointed at his forehead and Ladybug nodded.

“When the girl who became Riposte became Oni-Chan, Lila tricked me to leave Ladybug to fight her alone.” Chat Noir said causing Alya to gasp and looked at Ladybug as Chat Noir continued. “She faked being injured and since she was the target I carried her away and then.”

“Chat told me on the next patrol we had. After that whenever we saw her we tried to look at what she was doing with one eye open when we encounter her because of Akumas.” Ladybug said as Alya starred at her in total shock.

“She’s a monster, a total monster! Oh god, what is going through her head!?” Alya asked and Chat Noir scowled and Ladybug sighed.

“We don’t know. ………. When she first came here I was passing by and I saw her telling that model, what’s his name again…….Darien, Ernie?”

“Adrien milady. I think his name is Adrien.” Chat Noir said and Alya perked up and looked at them.

“Yeah, him. She was telling him that she knew me and well….. combinded with her interview then Hawkmoth might have attacked her family!” Ladybug said and Alya looked at her as Chat Noir nodded. “So I confronted her about it and well then she became Volpina.”

“And we don’t have proof but she might have helped Hawkmoth set up the Hero-Day attack, we’re not sure what school she went to at the time soooo.” Chat Noir said with a shrug.

Alya only looked at the heroes in total shock, unable to comprehend what they were talking about before she realized just what they were saying. “Illusions, that’s her power as Volpina…… but how did she…… she was playing hooky all those months?”

“As Chat said we don’t have proof. But personally I wouldn’t be surprised if she has been working for Hawkmoth.” Ladybug said causing Alya to gasp as her mouth dropped open and Chat Noir to scowl and look away.

“Really wouldn’t surprise me.” Chat said flatly and Alya looked at him as Ladybug eyes shot to Chat’s as she hopped he wouldn’t let on to Alya who he was.

“I can’t believe this, someone is actually working with Hawkmoth?! Why?” Alya asked as she couldn’t comprehend why on earth anyone would want to help the magical terrorist.

“We’re not sure, but we’re not sure she’s not working for him.” Ladybug said and Alya looked at them and scowled. “But what did you want to talk to us about? Anything besides Lila?”

“I wanted to set the record straight about her. She got a friend of mine kicked out of school and I didn’t believe her when she said that Lila was behind it.” Alya said and looked away, missing the look Chat Noir shot Ladybug before Alya turned back. “Beyond everything I want to make sure that my friend gets justice, and if I have to tear apart every one of her lies then so be it!”

“That’s fine then, we’ll be happy to make a statement right LB?” Chat Noir asked and turned his head and looked at Ladybug who smiled, not what they would do but at the wink Chat Noir sent her that Alya couldn’t see.

Alya waved goodbye as the two heroes ran away and suddenly turned when she heard the door opened and revealed Nora standing there in a green buttoned tee-shirt and black pants, a smirk on her face.

“So that was why you ran off to little sister, what did the Heroes need from you?” Nora asked and Alya stared at her.

“Nora, how long have you been there?” Alya asked as she tried to recover her equilibrium.

“Only the last couple of minutes while you were saying goodbye to them, so what’s up?” Nora asked nad Alya looked away. “Hey sis, what is it?”

“I messed up sis, I messed up big, I didn’t believe my best friend and I projected something I did onto her actions and she got hurt because I trusted the wrong person.” Alya said and Nora looked at Alya and raised an eyebrow.

“Do we need to get the parents sis?” Nora asked and Alya looked away. “Alya?”

“Dad’s due back for supper tomorrow night, and Mom will be here too, I’d like to tell all of you about it together, okay?” Alya said and looked at Nora. “I need to talk to Marinette, get an answer about something she said but it might be important.”

“Are you hurt little sis, that’s what most important okay?” Nora asked concerned.

“Only my pride.” Alya said and walked towards the door. “I don’t want to talk about it, okay sis?”

Nora only nodded as Alya passed her, promising that she would help her sister no matter what was wrong.

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As she sat in the teacher’s lounge before classes started, Miss Mendeleiv frowned as she looked over the report on Lila. None of this makes any sense. She should have had a meeting between her parents and the school by now, I don’t get it. The only reason that she hasn’t is either…… two things one that stupid owl was scared off or he was payed off! After what happened with her you think that stupid owl would have remembered what not to do! I swear this school is going to be shut down! She thought as she sipped her coffee and tried to get her emotions back under control. “Come on, don’t give that scum someone to take advantage of so early in the morning, take a deep breath and stay calm.”

As she sighed and did a meditation exercise to control her heartbeat and emotions a commotion outside caused her to look up with a raised eyebrow. As the door opened she heard the

“………and I’m telling you that’s how it happened!” Caline said as she came in to the room, her head looking over her shoulder before she turned it and walked to the counter and grabbed a cup to pour herself some coffee.

“I can’t believe it, no! I know how the laws are, I know what’s right or wrong! To think that you did nothing Caline!” D'Argencourt voice caused Miss Mendeleiv to wince. This wasn’t going to be good. “At the very least you should have walked them to the office yourself.”

“I had to watch my class, I couldn’t leave my students alone!” Caline said and at this D’Argentocourt only scoffed.

“Then you should have had the class representative watch them while you took them! If something happened

“Marinette was the representative! And I still need to get a new one soon!” Caline said and at this Miss Mendeleive looked up and hid a glare at her words.

“Then the deputy then! And calling her to the front of the room without bringing her outside the room?! What in the world were you thinking?!” He countered and Caline winced and looked around, when she noticed Miss Mendeleive there she looked up, hoping for some help but when Miss Mendeleive only scowled she looked down.

“Even I have to admit that you messed up by doing that public, and for an anonymous report? And if the answer sheet was missing before the test, then you shouldn’t have gone through with it in the first place Caline!” Miss Mendeleiv said and Caline Buister looked at her with a shocked expression.

“But it went missing after the test!” Caline said and then she went silent at the looks she was getting.

“What??” D'Argencourt exploded and Miss Mendeleiv stared at Caline as she looked back at them.

“You mean to say that the answer sheet was taken AFTER the test?!” Miss Mendeleiv exclaimed as she shot up, her face angry beyond and Caline looked at them confused and could only stare at them in confusion. “Then Marinette couldn’t have used it to cheat on it! What were you thinking!?”

“And what was the sequence the events that led to her being expelled?!” D'Argencourt demanded and Caline swallowed at the look on his face and collected herself before she started to speak.

“I discovered that the answer sheet was missing during lunch after the test, and then someone nocked on the door to my room and ran away, I found a paper tapped to the door that said that Marinette took the answer sheet.” Caline

“What kind of paper?” Mr. D'Argencourt demanded and Caline looked at him before continuing.

“The paper was typed, by a computer it could have come from anywhere, Then when the answer sheet was found in her backpack Marinette accused Lila and after a few moments we all heard a scream and Lila was down at the bottom of the stairs. Then Lila said that Marinette had stolen a necklace and it was in Marinette’s locker.” Caline began when Mr. D'Argencourt interrupted.

“Did that fool even check for fingerprints or was it all done on the word of one person with no proof!?” Mr. D'Argencourt demanded and Caline shook her head. “Unbeleivable, and Miss Marinette’s locker has been broken into this year alone, and there are no locks for heaven’s sake!”

“Lila grabbed the necklace and then Marinette’s parents were called, then after she was expelled those scarlet Akuma’s attacked and well.” Caline explained and the other two teachers shared a look with each other.

“She did that before she was taken to the hospital? What were you thinking letting her move about like that.” Miss Mendeleiv and Mr. D’Argencourt both looked at each other and Caline started to get a sinking feeling. “What is it Caline?”

“Who, Marinette? Why would she have to go to the hospital?” Caline asked and Miss Mendeleiv only stared at the younger teacher.

“I’m talking about Lila, after a fall down the stairs to the courtyard, onto hard cement!” Miss Mendeliev said angrily and Caline looked at her in total confusion. “What’s with that look Caline?”

“She didn’t go to the hospital.” Caline said and Mr. D’Argencourt stared at her as Miss Mendeliev’s mouth dropped open and stared at Caline as she

“The nurse said she didn’t have to go the hospital?!” Miss Mendeliev asked in total shock, wondering how she didn’t know that. “What kind of fall did Lila have to not be injured!?”

“She didn’t go to the nurse.” Caline said and the other two teachers went still in shock.

Mr. D'Argencourt and Miss. Mendeliev only looked at Caline as the bell rang, Caline smiled at them and walked out of the room. The two teachers looked at each other and Mr. D'Argencourt started to swear in German and Miss. Mendeliev put her head down.

“How does this work with the notes you’ve been taking my dear?” D'Argencourt asked weakly and Miss. Mendeliev sighed.

“I still can’t explain the scarlet Akuma’s the first time, and then there’s this attack! The only answer is one I’m sure you came to as well.” Miss said as Mr. D'Argencourt nodded and they both sighed. “Well we best go and take care of our classes my friend, we’ll find some way to survive.”

Of that I have no doubt my lady, of that I have no doubt. Mr. D'Argencourt said as he openend the door for Miss. Mendeliev who laughed and curtsied after she got up and grinned at him.

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Fred Haprele sighed as he walked around the courtyard and shook his head. I can’t believe that happened the other day, none of it feels right! And something’s bothering me about Marinette’s punishment, I mean was she even giving a chance to defend herself? There’s something else here, I can feel it! He thought as he walked towards the stairs and frowned as his eyes looked over them. As he walked up the stairs he saw nothing that indicated that Lila had fallen or that anyone had cleaned the area. “Nothing about this makes sense, I mean nothing at all. Maybe the nurse will know

He looked back down at the courtyard and saw a group of people, a man in a suit and three police officers. He walked down the stairs at a brisk pace and moved towards them, frowning when he saw them looking at him with scowls on.

“Good morning, my name is Fred Haprele, how can I help you?” Fred asked and he relaxed as he saw the scowls leassen.

“I’m officer Jacob, this is Officer Robert and Coby. We have a warrant to serve, I’m going to have to aske you to take us to the security room so we can download a few files.” Officer Jaccob said as he held out a hand that Fred took and shook.

“I don’t suppose I can see it could I?” Fred asked and the man in the suite smiled and took out a few papers that he handed over to Fred who took them and whistled when he saw the name on the document and nodded. “These all seem to be in order, this way please.

As Fred walked towards the security room he looked over his shoulder and saw the four people following behind him and smiled over his shoulder. “You all came in the right time, class just started so you’ll be able to get in and out fast……but I’m guessing that you all planned it this way?”

“A few files that I need for a case. Mr. Haprele……. You wouldn’t be someone who’s been at this…….. school long have you?” The suit asked and Fred shook his head.

“No I only started working here a few years ago….. about three now that I think about it. The people who’ve been here the longest are Mr. D and Miss Mendeleiv.” Fred said and the suit relaxed and smiled at him.

“Then you needn’t worry, but you might want to find another job.” The suit said and Fred stared at him, stopping and looking at him. “Mr. Haprele, is something wrong?”

“Why would I need a different job?” Fred asked and the suit smiled darkly and Fred felt a shift of terror.

“Let us just say that old sins have a way of coming back, and this place has quite a few.” The suit said and smiled at Fred. “But that’s not important right now, the security room sir?”

“This way please.” Fred said as he swallowed. Maybe I should talk to the old man about becoming the manager of the theater after all. It might be the best decision after all. He thought as he led the way through the school.

A few moments later they moved down a flight of stairs and the suit looked around. “You know, I remember the security room being on the top floor once.”

“Oh it was.” Fred said as they walked down a hallway. “But the story is that it was moved after a fire in the old science room burned down the wall dividing them and fighting the fire destroyed the computers. They had to get new computers, there was a bit of unused space down here so the decision was made to destroy the damaged wall and turn both rooms into the new art room.”

“Oh, I think I heard about that.” Robert said and Fred nodded.

“Came into this place during the construction really, and parts of my duties are to transfer the data to a new drive every month.” Fred said and the suit nodded.

“Good, but I have to know when the next scheduled transfer is supposed to take place.” The suit asked and Fred looked up

“Actually it’s supposed to be tomorrow, you’re lucky that you’re here now.” Fred said and the suit nodded.

“Wait, what? But this is only the second week of the month!” one of the officers exclaimed as the other two nodded as the

“Yeah, it’s usually later but the principle was adamant about it, he wants it done sooner this month for some reason.” Fred said and the suit chuckled.

“That makes sense, so the old man could learn.” The suit muttered and Fred looked at him as he only grinned back.

A few moments later in the security room the suit had taken out an external hard drive and Fred sent the last month’s CCTV camera’s for the last two weeks and nodded at the suit.

“Now the cameras are sub divided by day, good luck finding out anything that you need, and they turn on at the first bell and turn off at a the last.” Fred said once and the suit offered his hand that Fred took.

“Thank you, now officers, Mr. Haprele I just need you all to sign that you witnessed the transfer and you Mr. Haprele just need to sign for the authenticity.” The suit said as he got out a piece of paper from his briefcase. As they finished sinning the paper Fred looked up at his boss’s voice.

“What is the meaning of this?! Mr. Haprele; who are these people and what are they doing here?!” A voice from behind them caused them to turn and see Mr. Damocles standing outside the room looking in with a glare and

“Hello Damocles’, how long has it been?” The Suit asked and Mr. Damocles’ turned towards him and paled as he saw the suit

“Mr. Artoga….. what are you doing here?!” Damocles asked and Mr. Artoga only grinned at him evily.

“Oh, I’m just serving out a warrant. I expect that you will be hearing from the school board sooner or later about it.” Artoga purred as Fred watched as Damocles backed up and started to sweat. “I think this time I’ll get justice without a girl dying. Goodbye Owl-man”

As the suit walked away Fred looked at his boss and frowned as he leaned against the door. “What was that about sir?”

Damocles shook his head and looked at Fred with a glare full of anger and Fred scowled back.

“NEVER MIND THAT! Why on earth did you take that…..that parasite down here?!” Damocles demanded and Fred crossed his arms.

“He had a lawful warrant and three officers of the law as backup, that was legal and I was full within my rights and responsabilites to this school to have done that! if you have a problem with it then I will contact my union rep for you to talk to with me!”

“Nevermind that, what did they want anyway?” Damocles demanded and Fred shrugged.

“Nothing much, just the camera’s recording for the month so far. Why?” Fred asked as Damocles just paled and looked at the security system and staggered off to Fred’s confusion.

Chapter 7

Chapter Text

As the bell rang Miss. Bustier looked up from the board and turned around and frowned. “Since we couldn’t finish I want you all to read the next two chapters and be ready for a discussion on Monday, everyone have a nice weekend and we will have to get around to choosing a new class represented next week.”

Max looked over and saw Kim keeping his mouth closed as he heard what Miss Bustier said and felt proud of his friend, the work that they had done on his temper was working.

“I’ll see you next weak everyone.” Miss Bustier said and she seemed obvious to all the anger and rage Kim was sending at her as she moved about her desk gather what papers she would need for the weekend. As Max watched Chloe took a step towards her before turning and walking off with Sabrina following behind her, putting their teacher out of mind and ignoring her on purpose, surprising Max and now that he thought about it, those two hadn’t been even remotely taken in by Lila.

Max looked at Kim who swallows what he was about to say and got up, joining the others as they moved out of the classroom, Max waited a few seconds more before making a show of checking his phone before he got up, noticing Lila had been looking at him for some reason. Max watched as Kim caught Max’s eye and nodded before he got up and looked around, seeing Lila was leaving and Miss Buistier noticing Kim was heading towards the exit into the school, Max looked down at his phone as it vibrated and saw a message from Kim.

MonkeyMan; Hey, going to talk to the weather girls, I think there might be something the student council can do, will tell you after the I talk about it with the others, keep quiet science-kid.

Max smirked.Great idea Kim, if they know anything then we can get some justice for Marinette that much easier. Wait, what about Alix? And if Lila figures out Kim is going to help Marinette?!

Max thought and saw Alix heading towards the courtyard and notice Lila talking to Nathaniel loudly.

“Yes, the shoot the other day was terrible and with the Akuma it was pushed back to today. I hope that we’re able to get it done today.” Lila said as Nathaniel listened with one ear and nodded.

Max saw Alix stopping at the door before she turned and walked towards Miss. Bustier.

“Hey teach, I got a question about the subject, got a few minutes?” Alix asked and Max sighed and moved past them as Miss. Bustier looked up and smiled.

As Max walked out of the room he looked down and saw Alya and Nino walking with Nathaniel and Lila and frowned.I don’t want to not trust those two, we all fought together and she choose them for a reason. I have to hope that Lila hasn’t pulled them into her web.Max thought as he followed the mass of students as school ended and everyone went about their business and moved towards their homes.

As Max walked slowly out of the College he stopped at the top of the stairs as the other students left and cleared out of the area, he looked around, noticing Kitty Select had all walked off together talking quietly as Lila looked around before moving towards a car, something about a photoshoot because the last one had failed utterly. He was far enough back to see Alya and Nino watching Lila drive out of sight before they both nodded and walked towards the Dupree-Chang Bakery and he sighed as he finally saw the last data points he needed to know for sure who they were

Max looked up at the bakery and sighed.This isn’t going to be pretty, but if I don’t do this then I’ll hate myself forever. And they should know that I know. And then there’s what Markov discovered about Lila, there’s a 100% certainty that they don’t know about this, any of it.Max thought as he shuddered as he remembered what Marokov had found on the web. “I have to tell them, I can’t not.”

“I don’t know Max.” Markov spoke up from his bag causing Max to look down at his friend. “Have you thought about if Marinette’s know?”

“Oh, of course,” Max said and hit his head and shook his head. “Then keeping quiet about it around others is probably best then.”

Max watched as Nino and Alya walked into the bakery and sighed. “You’re right, I have to do this, I can’t not.”

Max walked towards the bakery and he felt Markov bump him through the bag and smiled, making Markov was one of the best things he had ever done.

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“So what’s the reason why you two aren’t going back to the College when this is done?” Nino asked as he, Alya, Marinette and Adrien sat around Marinette’s room and he smirked at the way that Adrien and Marinette were acting. Those two finally wised up and confessed that they’re into each other, about time. But I have to wonder about that other girl Adrien told me about, and how he didn’t feel right going after Mari because of his feelings for her? Nino thought as Alya grinned at her friends.

“Yeah, and about you two!” Alya said and Marinette blushed as Adrien rubbed the back of his head.

“What gave us away?” Adrien asked and Alya squealed and hugged Marinette as Nino chuckled.

“You did it, finally!” Alya said with a laugher as Marinette just blushed and Adrien looked sheepish. “After everything you finally told him and he accepted, girl you have to tell me what happened!”

“Yeah dude, I mean you used to talk to me that you didn’t feel good about dating because of those feelings for that other girl.” Nino said and Alya perked up and looked from Nino to Adrien with a strange look in her eyes. Marinette looked on with a small grin as she hoped Alya wouldn’t dig into this, but knowing that she would. Marinette just looked down trying not to look Alya in the eyed as Adrien coughed and both of them wondered how to explain their love-square without exposing their identities.

“It’s complicated bro, and if I knew the school I was trying to get into was that school I might have stayed homeschooled.” Adrien said and shook his head. Nino’s mouth dropped open and he stared at him in total shock as Alya looked between the two of them and when Marinette nodded she looked at the three of them with a spark of fear. I can’t believe this, I just can’t. Sunshine always talks about how he prefers to be around us……. What happened in that school?! Alya thought as a shiver went down her spine.

“What do you mean?” Alya asked and with everyone’s eyes on Adrien, nobody noticed Marinette’s hatch open.

“An adult…….friend of mine’s goddaughter, she almost committed suicide because of bullying, at Dupont!” Adrien said and Nino jerked back and Ayla’s mouth dropped open. “And given how the school been treating bullies even after that, I wouldn’t trust that place with someone I hated!”

“What do you mean?” Alya asked and Marinette just sighed and shook her head.

“Given how our teacher acted with regards to Lila, I can guess with about seventy percent surety that it’s more something from the principle office.” A voice caused the four friends to turn and see Max sticking his head up.

“Max, what are you doing here!?” Marinette asked as the others looked shocked at him.

“My apologies for coming in uninvited but I wanted to talk with you all.” Max said as he got up and brought out his phone and suddenly Marinette’s phone vibrated. Bringing it out she saw a message from Max on it and looked at it before showing it to the others.

Brainy: Is this room secured?

As they watched Max brought out a small remote controller with a screen on it and pointed it around the room and stopped at a statue on a table. Max turned towards them and Marinette shook her head and Max put the remote away.

“Are you sure Marinette? My device detects a wireless signal from this thing, and given what I saw online once this is one of the ‘Parental Overwatch’ line.” Max asked and Marinette nodded.

“Yeah it’s fine Max but what are you doing here?” Marinette asked and Max pushed his glasses back and Markov flew out and orbited Marinette.

“We were so worried about what Lila did Marinette, and what I found on the net we just had to come over.” Markov said and Alya looked down with shame that it had slipped by her.

“That’s it, no wonder about why Adrien is hiding here?” Alya asked as they looked at Maxx who nodded.

“No, given who he is I expected him to be here if he was hiding.” Max said as he closed his eyes, missing the looks of confusion appeared on the others faces but how it turned to horror on Adrien’s face. “I can understand the need for secrecy but given what has happened with Lila the two of us thought that talking to you two about what we found was important, when I saw Nino and Alya come over I thought to do the same and well.”

“Wait, what secret?” Alya asked as she saw Marinette and Adrien pale.

“You don’t need to hide it from me Alya, I must say that the way you’ve been using the Ladyblog has been amazing. If I didn’t know better I would say that you didn’t know anything at all.” Max said with a grin as he opened his eyes but it fell as he looked at Alya and he started to pale as he saw confusion on her face and shock on Marinette and Adrien’s pale faces while Nino looked between them with a look of slow understanding. Max stared at them before his own mouth dropped open. “You didn’t know, oh my. I am so sorry you two, this makes sense.”

“What are you talking about Max?” Alya asked and Marinette just face palmed and Alya looked at her as Adrien sighed.

“You know he can’t blame us for this one, but how Max, that’s what I want to know.” Adrien said and Max grinned sheepishly.

“Interactions with all of you on both sides of the mask so to speak, and help from my friend here.” Max said as he nodded at Markov who floated and ‘smiled’.

“I kept track of everyone when Akuma attack, and after a while I noticed a pattern after a while. And then there was Star Train, the Horse made me realize a few things and then I told Max once we were away. That’s how I figured you two out, then Heroes Day with Bubbler and Lady Wifi not being part of the mess I and then the appearances of Rena Rouge and Carapace, that figured out with what I deduced.” Markov said and at this Marinette started to look resigned and Nino’s mouth dropped open in awe as he looked between Adrien and Marinette, a look of stark disbelief in his eyes as Alya just looked more confused by the minute.

“That’s impressive; I wonder how you figured it out when nobody else ever did.” Marinette said and Alya started to get angry, not understanding anything about what she was hearing.

“Probably because of what I am, that’s my guess. And the way that I figured out Lila’s lies and what I found on the internet about her.” Markov said as he started to look worried and maybe scared. “She’s really something, worse than I thought people could be out of stories.”

“Okay that’s enough! What are you talking about?!” Alya asked with a scowl and Max looked at Marinette and Adrien who looked down at their bodies for a few moments.

“No choice kids, we’ve been breached.” A dry voice came from Adrien’s shirt. Before Alya could react someone else spoke up.

“Plagg!” A voice from Marinette’s purse called out angrily caused Alya to jerk from Adrien to Marinette. “They might have gotten by without you!”

“No way sugarclub, we’ve been found out!” The first voice said as a tiny black cat like creature floated out of Adrien’s shirt. Alya’s mouth dropped open as she saw the creature before a huff caused her head to whip around and see a red and black spotted creature the same tiny size come out of Marinette’s purse.

“Those are Kwami…… those are the black cat and ladybug Kwami. Those are Ladybug’s and Chat Noir’s Kwami…. Your two are!!!” Alya began until Nino covered her mouth.

“Baby, deep breath girl. Through your noise, out your mouth.” Nino said and after a few moments of doing that Alya seemed to calm down and Nino moved his hands away. “Better baby?”

“Yeah…… girl you’ve been Ladybug all this time?! Wow, that was your textbook I found all those months ago!” Alya said and Marinette smiled a little as the kwami next to her looked at Alya. “And you’re the kwami that’s been with every Ladybug!”

“Yeah, we’re them. I’m Plagg and that’s Tikki, nice to finally meet Tixx’s newest kit.” Plagg said with a laugh in his voice.

“I can’t believe this, all this time I’ve been sitting next to Ladybug….. and I can’t believe that Max figured out my ‘Ladybug hunts’ haven’t been real.” Alya said and Marinette’s eyes widened.

“What!? They haven’t?” Marinette said and Alya shook her head with a grin.

“I’ve read enough comics about what happened when the super-villain finds out who the hero is before I came Paris to do that in real life. And with Hawkmoth not being an idiot I figured out that he’s probably following my blog.” Alya said with a shrug. “The hunts are basically the most out of the box and unlikely ideas about how to find Ladybug that I could do, I mean I want to be a reporter an all but knowing what to put out and what not, that’s important too. And if Hawkbut spends time following what I do instead of looking himself, that’s just a bonus.”

Everyone could only look at Alya with respect in their eyes and Marinette whistled a little.

“Thanks Alya, you even fooled me.” Marinette said as she stared at her friend.

“Sorry about that, but I read a quote a long time ago, ‘to fool your foes fool your friends’ and well.” Alya said and laughed a little. As she smirked she looked at Plagg and Tikki as they floated by their chosen and grinned. “But don’t think you four are off the hook like that, and Max when did you figure it out.”

“Markov figured their secrets a few weeks after I introduced him to everyone, and after yesterday I was positive who you two were.” Max said and Nino leaned forward.

“So back on track dude, what about the battle yesterday let you figure me and Alya out, you hack into the stadiums cameras or something?” Nino asked and Max laughed a little. “Did Markov?”

“No I had firsthand data to finally realize the truth.” Max said as he smirked. “Allow me to reintroduce myself, the name’s Pegasus.”

Alya and Nino just looked at him and then laughed a little, Alya shaking her head in mirth.

“Man o man, I would not have figured it was you Max! I don’t believe this, I really didn’t believe one of my top three questions would have been answered today!”

“Top three, who Ladybug and Chat Noir but what’s the third?” Marinette asked as she tried to come to terms with what had just happened.

“Why Hawkmoth wants the Miraculous for, it’s gotta be important to him but why?” Alya said and as they saw Marinette and Adrien look at Plagg and Tikki she realized that they knew the answer to that question.

“A wish, that’s what Hawkmoth is after.” Plagg said and looked around at the others in the room and raised a paw at Tikki who glared at him. “They know enough to be in trouble, best to tell them the rest so they don’t get into it.”

“A wish…..is it like a genie or a monkey paw?” Nino asked and Tikki shook her head as Plagg growled in anger.

“Neither, the wish is all about balance.” Plagg said bluntly. “The Black Death was worse then it was the first time because somebody wished that his family didn’t’ die from another diseases and they caught the ‘death instead. Because it could spread faster the disease spread farther because his brother was a trader.”

“Wow, that’s horrible.” Adrien said and Plagg nodded grimly.

“The bastard was one of the last ‘great’ mages too. The only justice is that I think the guardians said he died last out of his family.” Plagg said with a dark chuckled.

“A bit dark, aren’t you.” Alya asked as the others looked at him in concern as Tikki floated over and hugged him.

“He killed my kitten, the bastard stabbed him in the back literally!” Plagg said with a growl. “They had been fighting together against something else and betrayed him at after it died, I won’t talk about what it was okay.”

“Fine Plagg, we won’t push right?” Adrien said as Plagg just looked at them and he and Tikki floated down to Marinette’s bed.

“The wish is about balance, the only times it should be used is when there is no other choice, a dead end, mass loss of life at the least, and not the death of a city or a country, death of a continent or the planet.” Tikki said solemnly. “If one person wishes that someone doesn’t get a diseases then they get another that they hadn’t, if they wish to save a life another is taken that means the same as the one saved.”

“But Hawkmoth…….” Max trailed off and the others looked at each other, the horror they were feeling reflected by all the teens and Tikki sighed.

“Personally kids, I think he learned about it from a diary of somebody who heard about the existence of the wish and not the exact details, Nooroo wouldn’t be able to tell if anything.” Plagg said tiredly as they looked at him. “Me and Sugarclub are the only kwamis that can talk about it openly, everyone else can only give small details, a safety feature that the old mage who made the Miraculous put in to keep secrets.”

“This is worse than I thought this talk would go, and I haven’t even gotten to the information I found about Lila.” Max said with a shiver as the others looked at him.

“What did you find Max?” Adrien asked and Max looked between Marinette and Adrien before he took and released a deep breath.

“From what I found, Lila has driven a few people to suicide over the years, at least two and once or twice she might have destroyed a few people friendships like she was trying to do to Marinette.” Max said and closed his eyes as he saw Alya start to go red as Marinette paled and Adrien grabbed her, Nino put his hat down and the Kwami only looked on, something about Lila had bothered them and this wasn’t a big a shock as it was to the others.

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Chloe walked through the hotel’s entrance and saw Nathalie following behind her and smirked. Good, this is perfect. All I have to do is make sure she overhears me. She thought as she walked towards the front desk.

“You, the special guest in the ninth Suite, he hasn’t had any problems so far right?!” Chloe demanded and the receptionist nodded and

“Yess….. he hasn’t bothered anyone so far and his meals were delivered on time Miss. Bourgeois.” The receptionist said and Chloe brought her phone called up one of the lobby’s cameras and saw Nathalie hiding nearby enough to let her overhear them.

“Good, I want no excuses; I don’t want him to have any reasons to leave.” Chloe said and the receptionist looked a bit startled.

“To leave, but Miss Bourgeois……” The receptionist began began but stopped when she held up a hand.

“I don’t want ot hear it, I don’t want anyone to even know who he’s using it, am I understood.” Chloe said with a growl. The receptionist nodded and Chloe looked at her phone and saw Nathalie move away and smirked as she realized her plan had worked.

“But Miss Bourgeois I really don’t understand, why are you telling me this, the guest couldn’t even leave the room on his own and we make sure he’s safe while he’s recovering.” The receptionist said and Chloe smiled at her and looked her name tag before making a note on her phone.

“I know that, you know that but she didn’t.” Chloe said with a grin and waved her away. “It doesn’t matter Elizabeth, just know that you’ll get a small bonus, very small for what you did.”

“Thank you? But my name is Ester…..” Easter said as she watched as Chloe walked away and quickly turned towards the other employees nearby and shrugged when they looked as confused as she was. As Chloe got into the elevator she activated a messenger program and sent a text to Sabrina

MayorDaughter; Hey Rina, I just tricked Gabriel’s Girl Friday into thinking that A’s in the Ninth Suite, I can’t wait until they try and break down the door.

CopDaughter; Chloe! You know who’s in there!

MayorDaughter; Yeah, I stopped last night and he’s left the room this morning, all that’s in there is a little waste that I hope they get a face full of. And I have his permission to do it, and I asked housekeeping not to work on it until the day after tomorrow.

CopDaughter; Will your dad be okay with that?

MayorDaughter; The truth is that floor of Suites is being giving a thorough cleaning and a remodel, something daddy’s being planning so all the guests left already, the new furniture won’t be in until next week, also the only reason dad let him have the room.

CopDaughter; Lucky, I found a good homeschool program with group projects that we need to record how we’re working on them, and the test looks good.

MayorDaughter; Perfect! All we have to do is make sure Adrien and Bakery-girl partner up enough to let the feelings they have for each other get through Adrien’s obvious head.

CopDaughter; I still don’t get why you’re trying to set them up Chloe, I mean I know you don’t hate Marinette but why?

MayorDaughter; Marinette is the girl I love to bite at because nine out of ten she bites back, it’s good practice for later in life….. and those two deserve each other, they both need each other.

CopDaughter; But what about Kagami?

MayorDaughter; As good as she’s trying, she sees Adrien as what he isn’t, I got that from a few talks with her…… and she’s got as much baggage as he does but she needs something else. Someone who’s I don’t know, not hiding who he is like Adrien is.

CopDaughter; You get people a lot better than I do, so okay. And I’ll talk to dad about it tomorrow, something about how the school might be an Akuma breeding ground.

MayorDaughter; We were ground zero after all, and it might cut down when the school closes, the things I’ve heard……. And I overheard a plan the education department was going if a school is ever shut down, I think that all the clubs will continue but they might move to the new convention center in another arrondissem*nt.

CopDaughter; Not too far I hope, I mean a good…… wait there’s a plan incase a school is shut down for an investigation?!

“And once again you prove that you’ll the smartest person in the school ‘Rina. Why you like acting like a servant I don’t know, if you just…..” Chloe said as the elevator stopped on her floor and she got out.

MayorDaughter; Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow when I’ll ‘get’ my homework from you.

CopDaughter; I know why we do this Chloe, but I don’t like it anyway. I mean I get your reasoning why and why you keep quiet from everyone but they would help you, I’m sure of it!

“You always were the most hopeful of the two of us ‘Rina, I love that about you. But this has to be my cross.” Chloe said as she opened the door to her room and moved towards her desk.

MayorDaughter; I don’t doubt that most of them would help me ‘Rina, but I learned that a secret is only kept the fewer people know it a long time ago. See you tomorrow, going dark.

Chloe turned off her phone and smiled as she called up an outside camera on her laptop and saw Nathalie looking at the hotel. “The trap has the bait, but will you bite into uncle G, or will you wait until it’s disarmed?”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Outside the hotel Nathalie looked upwards and shook her head. “I knew you were hiding here Adrien, I didn’t expect to find you so easily.”

As she walked away from the hotel she tried to think about what she could do with this information, how she could handle this. I need to tell Gabriel about this, but should I? He’ll just charge in and make this worse, that’s what will happen. I need to find a way to talk to him alone, if I can do that. Nathalie thought as she looked down at her tablet and looked up the information for the hotel and the various entrances she could use to slip into the building.

“I can arrange to be around here tomorrow, maybe I can tell him that I found a clue that he’s around here and I just want to talk to him. “Nathalie muttered as she walked towards the Agreste mansion. All I need is a particular rampaging Akuma to attack and then I can say it’s best to grab him to protect him, he’ll buy that. Nathalie thought as she walked away, a plan forming in her mind, all she needed to do was talk to Gabriel and hope for the best, that the best intern could be found. “And if this one works out, so much the better.

As Nathalie walked away, she never notice a camera had turned and was looking at her, never knowing that she had fallen into a trap that would lead to something…… messy.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Alya walked through Paris in a daze, what Max had revealed and what Adrien had told them about the school was still causing her to barely perceive Paris around her. She didn’t even notice that Nino walked next to her, holding onto her arm and shepherding her towards her building, and a few times he had to stop her from walking into traffic. As they walked Nino looked at her with concern his own thoughts running wild. “Babe, you can’t let what Max told you get you down, Lie-la has had experience at this sh*t from what he told us.”

“It’s not just that Nino, what Adrien said about the school, I should have found out about it!” Alya said angrily as she turned to Nino with a glare and he held his hands up, trying to calm her down.

“Why?” Nino asked forcibly and Alya stopped dead still and turned her head towards him.

“What?” Alya asked as Nino was able to shock her and as she looked at him she realized what she had said.

“Why should you have found out about Alya?” Nino asked and she looked away, causing him to soften his gaze and put a hand on her shoulder. “Come on baby, talk to me Alya. What is it?”

“Before we moved and got our apartment, I investigated the schools so we would know the best ones to apply to were, for me and my sisters.” Alya said as Nino ahhed as he understood what had really been bothering her. “If I missed that, then what else did I miss about their school?”

“I’ve lived in this city for all my life, and I never heard about that too Alya. And the school your sisters go to, I went there and my brother does too. The principle is a lot better than the Owl and the teacher they have, he wrote a book on spotting bullying and dealing with it, they’ll safe there.” Nino said and smirked when Alya looked at him. “Yeah, the teach is that good.”

“That takes a little off my mind, but I’ll still look into the teachers there on the web, see what I can find.” Alya said and looked at Nino. “So, going to talk to your parents about it?”

“Yeah, a program with projects that we could do together, that would be nice.” Nino said and smirked a little. “At least this way Akuma ground zero would probably move away from others and all.”

“Around our age at least.” Alya said and smirked. “And just think, on a good day we could all gather together and maybe learn with each other or other stuff.”

“Adrien’s a wizards with physics, Marinette’s great at geology and history, you’ll great at math and I’m a pro with literature, heck I think even Chloe does great at science.” Nino said and Alya grinned back.

“I guess even Chloe has some skills hu?” Alya asked and Nino smirked.

“Yeah she does, I mean the year before she had to tutor me for a while…… long story something about something her dad needed and she had to skip a lab and I need a few more points on my average.” Nino said with a shrug at Alya’s look. “Like I said; it’s a long story.”

“Fine, but I will get around to getting the answer sooner or later.” Alya said with a smirk as she punched his arm lightly and he laughed and looked at her with a small smile. “What?”

“Your back to normal, guess I shocked you out Alya.” Nino said with a smirk and Alya looked at him before looking down with a blush as she realized how she had acted before.

“Okay, yeah I admit I was a bit over there, but after what we learned I think I was within my rights Nino.” Alya said as she looked around and Nino nodded at her, agreeing with what wasn’t being said.

“At least that we’ll talk to whoever gave ‘em soon about this.” Nino said with a shrug, Alya nodding as she remembered that Marinette had promised to text them once they talked to ‘The Guardian’. “And I’m going to talk to my Ma about maybe switching to homeschool, you?”

“Yeah, and we have to tell the others about this, we can’t let them get caught flat footed.” Alya said and Nino nodded.

“I’ve got to head towards the river for a pickup for ma, I’ll stop by the Liberty and tell Jules about it, she’ll tell Rose and the others, and I’ll tell Alix tomorrow before school, and we so need a chat without her. “ Nino said as Alya growled in a canine way and he looked at her with a smirk. “Your Trixx is showing.”

“Low blow.” Alya said with a laugh as they crossed the street and she sighed as she saw her building. “There’s home, I can’t wait to tell ma and pa about this.”

“Look on the bright side, we could all join the same program and take ‘classes’ in the park.” Nino said and looked up and sighed. “I will miss the library and the music room.”

“The public library has most of the books, we could track copies down online and well.” Alya said with a shrug. “And your music…… maybe you could rent a recording room or something, are there even places like that around town for that?”

“Sometihng to look into, maybe I could ask about on the net.” Nino said with a shrug and Alya laughed a little.

“Maybe, but wouldn’t Juleka or Luka know something about that?” Alya said and Nino grinned back at her.

“Yeah, maybe I could ask them about it when I stop by. Best to have everything ready before you need it, ya know?” Nino said and Alya laughed a little.

“Yeah I’ve been around Marinette’s parents long enough to have heard that saying, they’ve got a lot of them don’t they?” Nino said with a grin that fell as he looked ahead and saw Nora standing there waiting. “Party’s over, Hey Nora? How are you, I saw that you won your last match?”

“Sup stringbean. There you are Alya, ma and da are upstairs waiting for us so let’s go.” Nora said and Alya sighed and nodded, kissing Nino’s check.

“See you tomorrow Nino.” Alya said as she walked into the apartments and Nora pointed at her eyes before pointing at Nino who only laughed and walked away. Nora looked at Nino before sighing and turning around and walking after Alya, finding her sister heading towards the stairs and frowned.

“Okay little sister, what’d you do…….. no what didn’t you do?” Nora asked as she caught up to Alya who looked down and closed her eyes.

“I thought…… I believed that Marinette was pulling a me when I met Aisha.” Alya said and Nora looked at her sister and softened her eyes and grabbed Alya and hugged her, Alya stood there and started to cry as Nora held her.

“Oh little sis.” Nora said as Alya released her emotions, Nora looking around on the lookout for any Akumas. “Hang in there sis, you’ll stronger than this.”

“And the worst thing is she forgave me for it, Lila got Marinette expelled and she forgave me for not going with her to the principle,

“Why didn’t you call me as a character witness for her hearing? I mean I coulda been a character witness at the least.” Nora said as Alya calmed down and her older breathed a sigh of relief as no butterflies came towards them.

“She didn’t have one! And with what I learned, I’m not surprised at anything anymore about that place!” Alya said with a scowl as Nora looked at her with shock that slowly became anger.

“Okay that’s just wrong!” Nora said with a scowl and Alya nodded.

“Someone was driven to try and commit suicide at Dupont, and the staff still doesn’t protect victims!” Alya said and Nora looked at her sister not believe what she was hearing.

“Okay let’s go talk to transferring out of that place.” Nora said with a scowl.

“I want to become homeschooled. A few friends are considering that too, and a few programs have ‘classes’ where we can work together.” Alya said and Nora raised an eyebrow and snickered.

“Better not let the twin terrors hear about it, I mean they might want to try it too!” Nora said with a chuckle.

“Yeah, I mean can you imagine what they will be like if they do?” Alya asked and Nora laughed a little, glad to hear the joke in her sister’s voice.

“I’ll take your side little sis, but you have to convince mom and dad.” Nora said and Alya sighed.

“They are not going to be happy when I’m done with telling them about it.” Alya said as Nora nodded and moved forward and looked over her shoulder as she climbed the stairs.

“Well at least it’s takeout from mom and dad’s favorite tonight; at least they’ll be in a good mode.” Nora said causing Alya to laugh and follow after her.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Adrien looked at Marinette who sat staring at the wall, completely shocked as Tikki floated by her head.

“Cheer up Marinette, at least you can say that you all didn’t transform in front of each other by accident right?” Tikki said as Plagg just snickered.

“Come on sugarclub, I mean how many times has something like this happened?” Plagg said from where he sat on Marinette’s bed with a laugh in his voice. “A thinker figures out who everyone is because he made a self-aware golem that talked to him about how they always disappeared and then he blurted out everyone’s identities! Oh man, when Fu hears about this!”

“Master Fu, oh he’ll be so mad; he’ll take our Miraculous and find a way to blanket our memories about this, when the new heroes show up Lila will figure out what happened because we won’t remember her and then Hawkmoth will Akumatize her then she torture us until they realizes we don’t remember anything and then….!” Marinette began to spiral and stopped when Adrien put a finger to her lips. She looked up and saw him smiling at her and looked down as she realized what she had been saying.

“So that was a Marinette freak out you always talked about Tikki?” Plagg asked with a grin as Adrien smiled at Marinette and Tikki only sighed.

“She’s getting better, at least this one was about something serious.” Tikki said as Marinette flushed and looked away and Adrien smiled and hugged her, not noticing that Marinette’s blush had intensified.

“This wasn’t our fault and I think Master Fu won’t be too mad at this, I mean it was so out of what we could prepare for that I don’t think that we could have done anything differently.” Adrien said as Plagg and Tikki snickered at how Marinette was handling him hugging her. “And given that we trusted them with Miraculous, and that we know them I think he’ll trust them.”

“Yeah…. So think we should call him now or after supper?” Marinette was finally able to look at Adrien who looked back at her and sighed. “Now would be best, right?”

“Yeah, better get it over with now.” Adrien said and Marinette got her phone out and put it on her table and activated the speaker.

“Hello, is something wrong children?” Fu asked and Marinette looked at Adrien who reached over and squeezed her shoulder and smiled at her.

“Master Fu, there is no easy way to say this……” Marinette said before looking around at the others.

“The horse, the fox and turtle know old man.” Plagg cut in. “The horse’s golem figured it out and they thought the fox and turtle knew.”

“Oh my, I never even thought that something like that could happen. But how did……” Fu trailed off and muttered to himself and Adrien and Marinette looked at each other and shrugged.

“What’s happened happened, from what you all said this was not your fault and the others who have been with them have nothing but good things to say, but take them here tomorrow if you can.” Fu said after a while and a sigh was heard from the other end of the phone. “All in all, I never even thought that something like this could happen, but this wasn’t your fault all so don’t worry about me taking away Plagg or Tikki.”

“You knew master?” Adrien asked and Fu’s laughter came over the phone and they looked down.

“Yes, I think I’ve got a sense of who you both are by now and your worries by not new.” Fu’s voice came over with a chuckle and they heard a ding and an ahh. “Our dinner’s done, text me tomorrow children and good night.”

Adrien looked at Marinette as the call ended and chuckled. “You know, the few times I talked to him when he was teaching me Chinese, well Standard Mandarin he’s always seemed……… merry.”

“He does, doesn’t he? Since Tikki brought the book to him, he’s been helping me get my…… freakouts under control.” Marinette said and Adrien nodded.

“Yeah, the few times we’ve practived Mandarin together he’s been trying to help me, I like that about him you know? He’s not judgmental and with how dad is about The Brand I think he’s just like a therapist at all.” Adrien said and Marinette looked at him with sadness in her eyes. “What?”

“I heard from Chloe how you were when your mother…… he never let you talk to someone about it, did he?” Marinette asked and Adrien sighed and shook his head.

“Dad just……….. shut down when she disappeared.” Adrien said as he looked down, both humans missing the look of rage on Plagg’s face as Tikki floated over and bumped him.

“Adrien….” Marinette trailed off and moved closer to him, he looked up and saw how close she was and instinctily moved his head closer to hers, their eyes slowly closing before.

“MARINETTE, Louise is here, COME DOWN!” Tom’s voice caused them to jolt back and realize what they had been about to do and laughed a little and then they got up, blushes on their faces, both beating themselves up for taking advantage of the other, missing the giggles of their Kwami’s

As Marinette and Adrien came down stairs they saw Louise talking with Sabine and Tom. “…… so I swung around to the Italian Embassy after I hit the local education department and so far I was able to find her mother…. Adrien, there you are!”

“Hey Louise, how’s the case going?” Adrien asked and Louise scowled a little.

“You’ve got the patience of a saint kid, a lot of my other clients would have gone to me a lot sooner then you. And my interns finished the last of the interviews earlier today and we’ve got a bonus with that photographer, Vincent. I won’t say much but I think that part of the case is a slam dunk.” Louise said with a nod. “Now the abuse aspect of the case, my interns had a thought that we’ll be able to handle…… how do you feel about a full physical?”

“What are you thinking Louise?” Adrien asked as he squeezed Marinette’s hand subconsciously as she squeezed back, although they didn’t realize what they had done her parents had noticed and grinned at each other a little.

“I don’t like how skinny you look, with the emotional abuse I think that’s enough on its own but well it would be good to have a second option from a neutral source.” Louse said with a shrug.

“Okay, I can do that. But you can’t get me for that here, a pick up somewhere else is best.” Adrien said with a hard nod and Louise nodded.

“Yeah, I guess it is. Okay the best thing would be for you to be in disguises….. I could probably grab an outfit for you to wear, but it might take me a day or two.” Louise began when Marinette spoke up.

“I can handle that.” Marinette said and everyone looked at her and she looked down. “After that time we tried to go see Solitude, I rememberd how hard it was so I figured a disguises would be best for next time he was out and about, then I figured outher celeberties might need something like that so I’ve been working on a jacket with a pocket in the hood to hide a wig.”

“Clever girl.” Louise said as he blinked and Adrien grinned at her. “How far along are you with a prototype?”

“I finished the jacket’s body, a little work and I can finish it tonight, I just need to remodel it into a vest with a detachable hood.” Marinette said with a shrug.

“Thanks Marinette, once this is over with I’ll pay for the material cost.” Adrien said and smiled as Marinette giggled.

“It’s fine Adrien, but I got them from thrift stores and it was financed by my Jagged money.” Marinette said with a grin. “It’s the profits from glasses and CD cover I made for him, most of it is going into a trust fund, but I take away about 1 percent of it for materials. Just give me a review of it once you’re done with it.”

“Thanks, but thrift stores?” Adrien asked and Marinette giggled a little at his questioning look and shrugged.

“The biggest problem I have is what the final work will look and feel like, so I started to use pre owed clothing to get my final drafts finished and make notes on how what to use for the final material.” Marinette said with a shrug. “It’s been doing wonders for letting me learn how to handle different fabric and others materials.”

“That’s interesting. But about your case.” Louise said and looked around with a sigh. “From what I’ve found so far, you have not been expelled.”

“What!!” Adrien, Marinette and her parents exclaimed and Louise nodded.

“But Damocles expelled her, we were there and he called us in!” Tom snalred and Adrien looked confused before he started to growl.

“Adrien, what is it dear?” Sabine asked and Adrien looked at them before he sighed and looked at them.

“It’s in the school’s power to let a student go if they don’t show up for a certain number of classes and days, right?” Adrien asked Louise and Marinette and her family looked at him before they got his meaning and Tom started to growl as Sabine hands started to flex, imagining a certain owl’s neck was between her fingers.

“From what my contact found out, the only thing that a request for the paperwork to let a student who doesn’t show up go.” Louise said somberly before he grinned. “My contact was so shocked once I told them about what happened, in a day or so the paperwork for the hearing will be done, the judges needed will be contacted and then you’ll get a summons.”

“So this won’t happen to my daughter?” Tom asked and he breathed a sigh of relief as he squeezed Sabine’s hand.

“Yes, in fact if you go to the education board tomorrow we can get the ball really rolling.” Louise said and looked around the room. “Okay, I’ll call around and find a doctor who I can trust to keep who he’s looking at quiet.”

“Thanks Louise, thanks a lot for this.” Adrien said and Louis laughed and smiled at him.

“Hey, kid I’ve found that sometimes you’ve got to help people out when you can, sides you helped me keep my license so I owe you big.” Louise said and waved off the others before they even opened their mouths. “Long story, basically he was recording his mom for a project for a gift, I was there under contract and he was using a model that gave the time it was made and well long and complicated.”

“Okay….. What time should we head over to the board of education tomorrow?” Sabine asked and Louise looked down at his watch.

“I would say around eleven ma’am.” Louise said with a smile as he got up. “Once there head to complaints, tell’em that you want talk to anyone about an illegal expulsion, that should get you where you need to go.”

“Thank you.” Sabine said as she shook his hand and he grinned.

“Like I said, sometimes you have to help others.” Louise said with a smirk and walked towards the staircase down and out. And I need to do a little pro-bono work every now and then, and this is one of them, and if I get to hurt the institute that hurt her, so much the better. He thought as he walked out into the back ally and smiled up at the darkening sky.

Chapter 8

Chapter Text

Alya slipped out of her room and stopped at her sister’s room, opening the door and looking it, smiling as she saw them sleep as she looked into the room. I am never letting those two hang around Lila if I can ever again, I mean I trust her to look after them and she probably told them nothing but lies about herself. And I can’t believe that Adrien thought we wouldn’t believe him, but I can see why he was thinking that. I let both of them down and I let my sisters down! Her thoughts died as she felt a hand on her shoulder that caused her to turn to Nora’s smiling face and she sighed, now or never.

“Come sis, it won’t be that bad.” Nora said as Alya smiled and sighed.

“I dropped the ball so bad sis, so bad.” Alya said as she walked towards the kitchen, keeping her hand closed as she walked, mentally preparing to exposed everything that she hadn’t done, sure that her parents would be ashamed of her. As she came into the room she saw her father Otis seating at the table as her mother Marlena put the last of the leftovers away in the fridge and Alya coughed and they both looked up at her and Nora.

“So what’s wrong Alya?” Otis asked as Alya and Nora sat down at the table as Marlena walked over and sat down next to him. No one noticed Alya slipped something onto the underside of the table and Alya took a deep breath before she started.

“I messed up, I…… to start with about two days ago a liar that I trusted framed and got Marinette expelled.” Alya began and Otis looked shocked as Marlena gasped as Nora scowled.

“Marinette, your friend Marinette? Why?” Marlena asked and Alya looked down. “Alya?”

“They found the answer sheet for a practice test in her bag, then the liar said that Marinette pushed her down the stairs while they were walking to the principal’s office and then a necklace belonging to the liar was in Marinette’s locker.” Alya said as

“Wait the lockers, but they don’t have locks! And why didn’t the teacher see what happened when she was ‘pushed’?” Otis demanded as he stood up from the chair, a scowl on his face and Alya looked away.

“She stayed in the class room, they were alone when they went to the principal’s office. Then the lieing bitch took us to our locker room and her necklace was in Marinette’s locker.”

“She, the liar just walked after falling down the stairs to the courtyard? After a fall like that you’d get some wounds. And the nurse just let her?” Nora asked with a growl and Alya looked shocked before she started to look sick. “What is it sis?”

“Lila didn’t even go to the nurse’s office, she just led us to Marinette’s locker.” Alya said and at this Marlena gasped.

“Wait, don’t your lockers not have locks!” Marlena said and Otis looked shocked.

“They what?! What kind of school is this?!” Otis demanded and Alya looked down. “Alya?”

“That’s not the worst of it. I missed it when I investigated the school…… about five years ago a student almost drove another student to take their own life.” Alya said and her parents paled as Nora started to growl.

“How the heck did you miss that Alya?!” Nora asked angerly and Alya looked down and Nora winced. “Sorry sis, I mean……”

“It was kept quiet, I….. it was part of a settlement to spare the school and to try and make it better.” Alya said and looked up at her parents. “My friends…..Marinette’s family is going to sue the school about this, how he said she was expelled and well everything, there’s going to be an expulsion hearing last I heard and no matter how it came out she’s……They were talking about going homeschool definitely.”

“And you want to join them Alya?” Marlena asked as she reached over and grabbed her husband’s hands as he looked thoughtful.

“Homeschooling? Are you sure about it little sis?” Nora asked and Alya nodded.

“The way they were talking, they might close the school to go over everything and if that happens well they might send us off to any-school in the city no matter what we want or what kind of school it is, this way we’ll be ahead of the curve and all.” Alya said with a nod. “I’m setting up a private blog so that the other students can look over all the programs tomorrow.”

“You’re setting up the blog because you want to make up for not believe Marinette right sis?” Nora cut in, causing their parents to look from her to Alya as they tried to understand what Nora had said.

“Not believe her her……why?” Marlena asked and Alya looked down ashamed.

“I thought it was like what happened with Daisy and me mom; I just saw what I did in her actions.” Alya said and Otis looked at his daughter and released a sigh as Nora shook her head.

“Oh Alya.” Otis said with a look of self-hatred that almost broke Alya’s heart.

“Dad, it wasn’t your fault. And you were right about me and Daisy.” Alya said as she looked at him with a smile.

“Sis, you gotta let it go. The way it came out, the both of you were having a bad day and you acted like that for about a month before dad talked to you.” Nora said as she smirked. “And he only knew what to say to you because he had a bad first encounter too right?”

“Okay, I’ll admit to that. But homeschooling……… how are we going to not have the twins know about it?” Otis said and then he chuckled at Alya’s confused expression. “What, are you thinking that they’ll not have problems with them doing it too?”

“Fair point…… Alya are you going to the hearing?” Marlena asked and Alya nodded. “Then Nora will be going with you, she’ll ask for a copy of the minutes so the two of us can look it over and then we’ll talk about it, how the other hand how about looking into school around here that might be a good place to transfer to.”

“Okay, okay.” Alya said and sighed. Nora walked over and hugged her. “Sis?”

“Look Alya you made a call based on what happened to you. Yeah it was the wrong call but everything that you knew said it was the right one to make.” Nora said as she drew away. “This isn’t gonna be the last time, and that you know it was the wrong call will help you a lot latter in life, trust me.”

“Thanks.” Alya said as her parents got up and hugged her as well.

“So, homework done, anything else that you need to do to get ready for tomorrow, anything we can do to help out?” Otis asked and Alya looked down and thought about it for a few seconds.

“First, I need to talk to someone without Lila knowing, Nora can you watch the twins tomorrow, I need to track down a few people.” Alya said and Nora nodded.

“Sure little sis, I’ll be glad to, but I’ve got something I need to do on Sunday.” Nora said and she shared a look with her parents. “You head off to bed, I’ll be on twin patrol tomorrow.”

“Thanks sis, I think I take a shower and hit the sack, is that okay?” Alya said and the other three stayed where they were until they heard the shower being turned on.

“You’re going to talk to Marinette about this, aren’t you? And nothing we say will stop you right?” Otis asked and Nora nodded.

“Yep.” Nora said and Marlena sighed.

“Make sure you grab some of their cookies when you leave then, need some money for that?” Marlena asked and Nora shook her head.

“Why talk to her?” Otis asked and Nora sighed.

“I think there might be something off with the story Alya told us, that she left something out on purpose.” Nora said with a shake of her head. “I figured that the little girl won’t.”

“She is honest.” Otis said as he got up, never noticing a microphone on the underside of the table that Alya had slipped there when no one had noticed.

As Alya got into the shower she removed an earbud as she turned off an app on her phone. So glad I got that tech piece form Max, glad I commissioned it from him. I gota send a message to Marinette about this, I mean I can’t not tell her, I mean I never told them about the ‘Akuma Attack’ attack that fizzled out, nothing happened and the butterfly never even got me! But if Lila is working with Hawkmoth then I don’t know why she didn’t try and grab one during………..because if anyone of us saw it then she would have been exposed! That lying rat, I will do everything that I can to take her down! Alya thought as she gritted her teeth and finished undressing before she got into the shower and let the water flow over her. “Something else to deal with latter.”

Later on as she walked into her room drying off her hair she grabbed her phone and got onto her bed before she activated a texting App.

Reporterox; Hey girl able to talk or are you talking with your guest?

BakeDesign; Alya!! It’s not like that!

Reporterox; Sure it’s not, not yet anyway. Anyhow, my sis is going to come over on Sunday, I told them about the liar but not the swarm.

BakeDesign; You didn’t you tell them about the red bugs that attacked?

Reporterox; No….. I should have but I don’t want them to worry to much, say do you know where the weather girls will be tomorrow?

BakeDesign; Alya. Fine I’ll try and not say anything, I can keep secrets you know. And I think Nadia said she saw them at the station sometimes on the weekends before lunch once.

“Don’t I know it girl, don’t I know it.” Alya said with a smirk as she typed another replay.

Reporterox; Yeah, I know you can girl. I guess I don’t want to make more waves now then we need, I mean my dad when he gets bit by bugs is one thing but my mom, let’s just say Nora inherited her temper.

BakeDesign; Ouch.

Reporterox; Don’t get me wrong, we’ve all got problems but well, mom once turned the air blue when someone insulted dad.

BakeDesign; Okay I would do the same thing if someone insulted my mother or father.

Reporterox; Yeah, well tomorrow I’m planning to talk to Aurora about what you told me, find a way to get the information you got me to the others in the school.

BakeDesign; Make sure that you do it safely, if Lila figures out anything that might then you’ll be her next target.

Alya looked at the text and a tear escaped from her eyes and she shook her head. After everything that happened you’re still putting others ahead of yourself, girl you are too good for this world. And that bitch is going to be driven out of here on a rail if I have anything to

Reporterox; Don’t worry, Lila said she’ll be gone for the weekend so I’ll head to the station early to talk to Aurora.

BakeDesign; Good, I’ve gotten in contact with him and he wants to meet you all tomorrow so after lunch then, you see Manon is coming over tomorrow for me to watch so we’ll have to go see him after I let her go, so after lunch if nothing happens.

Alya went still and released a deep breath and looked around her room before smiling that at least she might say goodbye to Trixx. This is bigger than you Alya, this is about Paris. The best thing that could happen is that Mari and Adrien can keep theirs and keep fighting Hawkbutt, if I have to loose Trixx then so be it. Alya thought as she got her emotions back under control.

Reporterox; Good girl, then I’ll talk to Aurora and swing around to help with Manon after, maybe a play date at the park before she’s picked up…… no the twins are staying home for the day……. Long story okay and I don’t want to talk about. So I’ll see you tomorrow and tell you about it all, have a nice night because I’m sure my dad will be here any minute.

“Lights out Alya! You’ve got a big day tomorrow so make sure you have a good sleep!” Otis said from the other side of her door and Alya looked up from her bed and smiled and sent off one last text as she got under her covers.

Reporterox; he just gave me the bell, see you.

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Max sighed as he put away his dishes and finished cleaning up his dinner as he looked around his home as Markov recharged behind him. I can’t believe that I was so wrong about them. I’m usually better but then that napkin thing was proof that I don’t always think things through. Max thought as he finished.

“Come on Max, I mean you couldn’t have known. With all the data it stood to reason that we were right.” Markov said and Max sighed as he walked out of the kitchen towards the living room as Markov took off and flew after him. “You can’t blame yourself too much.”

“I know Markov, but I guess with what happened I was too sure of what we found to think we were wrong. That’s a problem I have I guess.” Max sighed and shook his head. “But what really gets me is what they told us about the school.”

“I suppose that the Principal wanted to protect the school’s reputation. But you would think that they would have tried to keep that from happening again.” Markov said and Max sighed as he sat down and grabbed a controller as he turned the tv and game system on, quickly starting one of his creations.

“I guess…… but still.” Max said as he leaned back against the couch and sighed.

“I believe this is another reason your mother said that you need to talk to people more Max, at least Chloe wasn’t involved.” Markov said and Max looked at his robot as he hovered there. “I predict that she would have, what’s the term, blogged about it right away.”

“Maybe not right away, but maybe.” Max said with a laugh. I mean, maybe the old Chloe. She has become a lot better, but then I did see her mother and I can guess where how she acted came from but man, I don’t know who’s at fault. I never thought the fact that my father is dead would be a good thing, I can only know him from the stories mom told me, I can never know if how he would thing about how I’m more brains then brawn. Max thought as he called up a save file. “I think maybe she’s trying to be a better person, but I can kind of see where and why Chloe became who she is.”

“That is still beyond me Max, I am getting closer to that level of thinking is still beyond me.” Markov said with a sad ‘face’ and Max smiled at him as he paused his game.

“I know you are Markov, that’s something else I’m proud about you, and then there’s the face that you showed the inactive to investigate Lila on your own, I’m so happy.” Max said and Markov ‘blushed’.

“From the interactions with Marinette I knew that she wouldn’t do something so out of character. I first went through the easiest thing I could figure out, Lila’s fall. I calculated with a seventy percent chance that Marinette tripped is the only reason Lila could have been pushed at all, but even that is suspect because of how Lila was able to walk away with the supposed fall.” Markov said and then hovered to the left. “Of course then there is the necklace found in Marinette’s locker, that was very suspect, how could Lila have known the stolen necklace was there? How could Marinette have known about it since Lila never mentioned it before?”

“A few things to mention to Marinette when I talk to her then.” Max managed as he realized all the unanswered questions that the principle hadn’t even thought of because of the chaos of the event. “I can’t believe we missed all that!”

“Don’t be too sad Max, nobody notice it even me; it was only after I looked over my files did I think of those questions.” Markov said and Max looked at him and his mouth dropped open in total shock. “Max?”

“Why didn’t the principle or Miss. Buister call for the nurse, why didn’t she come?” Max asked shakily and Markov looked at him and a question mark appeared on his face as he landed, a sign that he was trying to find out the answer in his data banks.

“I don’t know…. I can’t create a possible idea.” Markov said and Max went still as he thought of one reason but there was no way. “Max?”

“Nothing Markov, I just can’t think of anything myself.” Max said before a ringing came from the phone. “Markov?”

“There’s a video call coming in Max, shall I put it on the tv?” Markov asked and Max nodded.

“Do it Markov.” Max said as he put down his controller. A few moments later a woman with dark skin, brown eyes and short brown hair a low bun wearing a orange uniform with a patch of a moon before a yellow star.

“Mom! You’re back on earth already?” Max asked with a smile

“Hey baby, Markov how are you two?” Claudie asked as she stood before a camera with

“Quite fine Claudie, a few problems here and there but everything is fine.” Markov said and Max looked at him as his mother gasped.

“Are they serious Max?” Claudie asked and Max looked at Max and then sighed.

“When are you able to come home?” Max asked and Claudie looked at him and he hoped that she didn’t read into more then he wanted as he tried to keep his face expressionless.

“I should be home in a few days but if you need me to come I could see if I can get bumped up.” Claudie said and Max shook his head. “Are you sure Max?”

“No mom, it can stay as it is for now. When you get back we will have to talk but what happened didn’t happen to me.” Max said with a smile and she looked at and sighed.

“Okay, okay I’ll still try and get my post mission work done first, but I will let it take the normal course.” Claudie said and looked at them with a smile. “So anything else, any new Akuma’s that push the understanding of science?”

“The last one was yesterday, I think it was someone who either loved dogs or worked with them, he could control dogs and rode a giant one.” Max said and Claudie looked at him and shook her head as an old horror that he knew all too well came over her.

“You were safe right Max?” Claudie asked and Max grinned

“When the attack started I was in my room, and I he didn’t come over here at all, I think he might have been defeated near the stadium according to what Chloe posted.” Max said and Claudie looked at him and sighed.

“With what’s happening in Paris that’s the best that I can expect then. I’ll be back in a few days and we’ll talk about everything then.”

“Thanks mom, be safe and have a good day.” Max said and Claudie laughed a little.

“Have a great night’s sleep baby.” Claudie said as she closed the video chat. Max smiled and got back to his game was soon lost in the action.

“That was better than I predicted Max, I was sure she would have tried to get here faster.” Markov said and Max nodded.

“Mom promised me that if I said it was okay, she’d not rush home. And this way I have a few days to look over the data and give a good presentation to her about it.” Max said with a smile. This is perfect, this way I don’t have to bother mom on the station and we can talk about what I learned and then work from there! I just hope that those programs that Chloe found for Marinette are right for all of us. I know mom fought against me doing that before but after what happened this might be for the best. Max thought as he played his game, his mind trying to relax when a beeping from his phone caused him to look down and saw a message from Marinette. “This is perfect, Marinette is going to take me to

“I think I’ll stay home Max, if someone hacks into me then Hawkmoth could have the other Miraculous!” Markov said as he hovered around the room. “One stray Akuma and he’ll know!”

“Then I guess we’ll have to work on your security programs Markov.” Max said before a bit of music from the tv caused him to frown. “After tomorrow.”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Nathalie walked into the mansion and stopped before Gabriel’s office, sighing as she did so. He’s not going to like this at all. But the plan I made is the best thing for everyone involved. She thought as she gathered her courage to knock on the door when a voice came from within.

“Come in Nathalie.” Gabriel said from within the office and Nathalie swallowed and opened the door. “Have you found my son?”

“I think so, after checking his friend Nino’s place I then went to the next likely place he could be, the Hotel.” Nathalie said as she looked at Gabriel as he sat behind his desk looking at his computer. “Once there I found evidence that isn’t a definite it is the best lead we have.”

“And what did you find that told you that?” Gabriel asked and Nathalie smirked a little.

“I overheard the Bourgeois girl talking to a staffer about a special guest, something about how he hasn’t had to leave the suite.” Nathalie said with a small smile. “Given how she feels about him I’m positive that he’s there.”

“Good, once you can talk to him about this then it can all be fixed.” Gabriel said as he looked up and frowned at something before nodding. “Yes, that should work.”

“What should?” Nathalie asked and Gabriel smirked a little.

“The secondary Lila problem. I’ve scheduled a shoot for her tomorrow while you were gone, got back a reply and have just received another report from a special photographer who will be covering the shoot.” Gabriel said with a smirk that caused Nathalie to raise an eyebrow.

“And with everything that’s happening you think pandering to Lila is a good idea?”

“With this photographer, yes. She will give me a perfect report on just what kind of model Lila is.” Gabriel said and looked down with a smile at another email that he opened and read the contests of. “And he’s gotten to the last school she’s been in, I should have a very revealing report on her by sometime in the next few days.”

“When did you send an investigator to look into Lila?”

“After she was in the mansion the first time Miss Nathalie.” A voice form above caused Nathalie to look up and see Nooro hovering there with a scared look on its face. “I begged Master to do that, she doesn’t feel right.”

Nathalie looked at Nooroo for a few moments before turning to Gabriel with a frown. “And you decicded to work with her after an empath told you she wasn’t right?”

“Again yes, but if it had worked out perfectly then we would have finally had what we. Why the Dunpain girl alone might have won us the day!” Gabriel said with a scowl. “But of course that girl Lila couldn’t even do that right!”

“The mass attack didn’t fail because of her, it was because I was week.” Nathalie said and Gabriel sighed and shook his head.

“She planned the expulsion with my help, but it was her idea. We just tried to make it……larger.” Gabriel said as he looked up. “Perhaps the next attack should be someone with a grudge against the Bourgeois, someone who will cause enough chaos that it will let you get to the floor he’s on and get him out. If you can talk to him about it, then maybe this nightmare will end without too much damage.”

“What about Lila?” Nathalie asked and Gabriel smirked.

“I expect that I will have all I need to fire her within the next few days. I will of course have to explain to Adrien why I did it…… I plan on telling him that I did it because I didn’t trust both Adrien and the school to tell me about what has happened there.” Gabriel said and Nathalie looked down at her tablet before looking up at Gabriel.

“Are you sure that’s a good thing Gabriel?” Nathalie asked and Gabriel looked up before looking down and sighing.

“No, it’s not. But that is the only way I can go and still have a chance not to destroy my relationship with my son. And when will she get back from those negotations with our overseas distributers?” Gabriel asked and Nathalie looked confused before she realized who he ment.

“Oh, her? A few days if the airport does their jobs right.” Nathalie said as she looked up

“Good, once she’s here I want her to talk about the lawsuit about Adrien. I want her to go over everything that the courier gave to us.” Gabriel said and sighed and looked down. “Nothing is going to be the same no matter what happens, will it?”

“No, I’m sorry Gabriel but I have said before you need to make more time with him.” Nathalie said and Gabriel sighed and shook his head. “Gabriel.”

“My Miraculous gave me empathic abilities that I haven’t been able to turn off, even working here I still get traces of Adrien’s feelings about her absences and it magnifies my own. The way I’ve been has been the only way I was able to stay partly sane and still be able to function.” Gabriel reminded Nathalie who looked down. “And remember what happened when you used it? You were unconscious for the entire day when they overwhelmed you.”

“I know, I remember Gabriel. But there had to be a better way to do this that didn’t sacrifice your relationship with him.” Nathalie said going over an old argument and Gabriel sighed and Nooroo floated lower, a look of sadness on his face.

“I’m sorry master, but all my holders always have had this problem with others emotions when others have feelings based around the same pain.” Nooroo confessed and Nathalie looked at Gabriel who only looked down, this old argument the three of them had was something that had been said many times during his campaign as Hawkmoth.

“On another note, the Pack Leader was something else sir. Shale I put it into the possible returns file?” Nathalie asked and Gabriel looked up at her and sighed before nodding. “Of course sir.”

“Oh, make sure you that you are notified the moment the paperwork about Miss Dupain-Cheng is underway, if the Lila situation is brought up I will of course deny everything. The modeling contract was just to get Lila help in keeping an eye on Adrien, a mistake that I am paying for.” Gabriel said and turned to look at his wife’s portrait. I know that you will hate what I have become, but I only did this to get you back, once Adrien knows why I did this he will understand, I’m sure of it! I know it will take a long time to heal what I’ve done, but I know we can fix this! Gabriel thought as he looked away from Nathalie as she shared a look of long suffering with Nooroo.

“Of course sir…….. but could he have gone to her house to hide?” Nathalie said and Gabriel shook his head as he understood what she was saying.

“No, from what I know she’s just a school mate that is friends with that Nino boy’s girlfriend, beside being classmates they have no interactions.” Gabriel said and looked at her and held up a hand. “The reason that Adrien did that to Lila is because she was used by Lila because of something about him, no more than that, from what Chloe has said the two girls aren’t friends, Adrien would not risk his oldest friendship by befriending her.”

“I will look into the school; something is bothering me about what has happened.” Nathalie said and looked at Gabriel. “If this plan fails and we can’t find him before Miss Dupain-Cheng hearing I’ll head there, if she has one then I’ll head there and take away a copy of the minutes.”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Alya walked out of her building and sighed. At least I was able to slip out before they woke up, now Aurora should be at the station so all I need to do is head there and my Ladyblog should let me into the station and talk to her, I hope. Alya thought as she walked through Paris, keeping an eye out for any sigh of Lila. For this to work she had to make it to the station without Lila having seen her, and given that she had said that she would be taking a weekend trip to help out a charity auction she had to hope that meant that Lila would be staying in, but given that she didn’t know where Lila lived she had to keep on her toes, she couldn’t mess this up.

As she moved through the streets she kept an eye out for anything that might hide Lila the false fox and within moments she had left the area and got on a bus, never noticing that Sabrine and her dad had been driving by, nor that Sabrina had noticed Alya.

“So you want to be homeschooled Sabrina?” Rodger asked and Sabrina tore her eyes away from the bus and nodded at her father. “If something’s wrong with the class you can always transfer.”

“It’s more that I discovered something about the school itself dad, its bad.” Sabrina said and sighed. This is so not the place for the conversation but dad had to pull a late night and then this time was the earliest we could talk. And I don’t want to talk while we’re moving. Sabrina kept an eye out and notice that they were almost to the Seine where Chloe was waiting for her. “It’s complicated and I’d rather we not talk about it in a moving car.”

“That bad then?” Rodger asked and cursed himself when he saw Sabrina nod. “Okay, then lets talk about it tonight when I get home, but what sparked you finding out about it?”

Sabrina stayed silent until Rodger stopped the car and she looked at him with a hard stare before replying. “Marinette was framed and expelled.”

Before Rodger could react Sabrina got out and ran towards Chloe and the two walked off, Rodger staying still for a few more moemnts before he drove off, a scowl on his face from what he was told.

Sabrina walked on and kept her face blank and Chloe looked at her before sighing. “So you just told him about what happened?”

“Just the results, not the nitty gritty Chloe, he stayed out late.” Sabrina said and Chloe sighed.

“Once the report crosses Daddy’s desk I’m homeschooled no matter what, the only thing I can hope for is that I’ll be pick the program.” Chloe said as they started to hear music that grew louder as they walked closer to it. “Sometimes I don’t know if being a mega bitch is worth it.”

“I know why you’ll the way you are, you might not think like a lot of people our age but the core results of it is worth it Chloe, you just need to learn to……show it more like other people.” Sabrina said and Chloe sighed.

“Well, no more tears or jeers! Let’s enjoy the morning and then lunch out, my treat Rina!” Chloe said and Sabrina laughed as they walked closer to the music.

Alya got off the bus outside the TVi building and took a deep breath before she prepared herself and walked in. she moved towards the front desk and smiled at the receptionist.

“Hi, I was wondering if Aurora, the Kidz weather girl came in yet today?” Alya asked and the receptionist looked at her and then at the computer.

“Yes, she and Mirelle are due to record a segment today, but they haven’t made it in yet……. And there they are.” The receptionist said looking over her shoulder and saw Aurora and Mirelle walk into the building talking.

“…..so I was thinking, maybe we should get some new dresses for that party next moneth from Marinette if she can slip us in. I mean I love her work and a nice dress my size…. What is it Mirelle?” Aurora trailed off at how Mirelle’s face fell when she saw Alya and when Aurora turned she scowled at Alya as soon as she saw her. “Oh it’s you. What do you want Alya?”

Alya winced, for the last few weeks Aurora had been a little short with her and Alya could figure out why now, she didn’t believe Lila and with how Alya had put the interview on her blog she deserved it and more. “Aurora I need to talk to you, please.”

“About your new friend Lila, oh she wants to broadcast her recent activities?” Aurora asked and Alya glared back.

“I wouldn’t help that liar if she was on fire! This is about the school and Marinette!” Alya said forcefully and Aurora took a step back and Mirelle spoke up.

“So what happened finally made you realize she’s a liar then?” Mirelle said and Aurora looked around and Alya did as well and noticed the people in the lobby were watching them and Aurora grabbed Alya’s arm.

“Come on, we’re a good hour early and we can talk in one of the unused dressing rooms.” Aurora said as she Mirelle led the way to an elevator and soon they were going upwards. “I’m sorry what happened to Marinette was what it took to have you see the light Alya.”

“Me too.” Alya said and stayed quiet until they reached a room with Aurora and Mirelle’s names on it. Stepping inside Mirelle grabbed a paper cup of water and gave it to Alya with a smile.

“Here, you look like you need it.” Mirelle said with a smile and took a deep sip of it and smiled at her.

“Thanks, I did. I can’t believe that lying bitch tricked me so bad. I can’t believe that I didn’t believe Marinette.” Alya said and Aurora scoffed and shook her head. “What is it?”

“Look Alya….. Marinette is a great judge of character, a really great judge.” Mirelle said and looked down before taking a deep breath. “A year ago she didn’t like a sub, and he was caught trying to steal the proceeds of a school function.”

“Yeah.” Aurora said as Alya gasped. “If Marinette doesn’t like someone that’s a big red flag right there.”

“But Chloe….. I mean she and Marinette are getting along better.” Alya said and Aurora shrugged and Mirelle giggled. “What?”

“Marinette hates what Chloe does not Chloe the person.” Mirelle said and shrugged. “I know it’s weird but Marinette said it herself and well she’s trusting her instants about people.”

“That’s our girl but let’s not talk any more about our favorite designer and let’s talk about what you want to.” Aurora said and looked at Alya who sighed and looked down. “It can’t be that bad.”

“What if I told you that a few years ago a girl was driven to attempt suicide at our school by a bitch like Lila, that the reason more people don’t know is because a deal was made that got rid of the principle who shield the bully?” Alya asked and looked up at Aurora who stared at her stormily and Mirelle who had paled in horror.

“Then I’d say that if the school did that and expelled Marinette then I wouldn’t trust our current principle.” Aurora said and Mirelle looked at her and Aurora sighed and shook her head. “Of course when he didn’t even react to the fact what happened to Marinette, that he did, was illegal but of course he didn’t.”

“Yeah, Kim sent me a text about that.” Alya said and then she looked at the two girls before her. “But I’m here because I got a lot of information about home schooling programs from Mari, and I knew I had to get them to the other students at school and I knew you would be the best person to go to for help with that.”

A knocking at the door caused them to turn and Theo wearing a headset and with his eyes closed pocked his head in. “One hour ladies, the makeup artist will be by in about ten minutes so finish up and get ready for work!”

“Thanks Theo, see you in a bit.” Aurora said and smirked as Theo left. “Good that he’s still doing that think after the last staffer was fired for accidently peeping.”

“Yeah. And no Alya we won’t say any more about that, and don’t spread it around okay?” Mirelle said and Alya nodded and looked around and threw her cup into the trash.

“Well thanks, I’ll send you the address for the website I’ll put the information onto and you’ll get it to everyone who needs it?” Alya said as she stretched and smiled at them. “I’ve got to go, I promised that I’d help Mari watch Manon today.”

“Nadia’s whirlpool, ouch.” Aurora said and even Mirelle cringed.

“Don’t worry.” Alya said as she left. “I’ve got a lot of experience keeping track of kids like her.”

Chapter 9

Chapter Text

Adrien looked at the black pants and a black jacket/vest with dark blue pockets he was wearing before looked at how he looked in the mirror with the rig and smirked. “You know I look normal with black hair.”

“You’re just lucky that it’s a cold enough for some people to wear a jacket.” Marinette said as she looked at him holding the arms of the jacket and sighed. “But it isn’t cold enough for the full piece so……”

“Yeah, good call with the zipper arms.” Adrien said and Marinette shrugged.

“It was like that when I found it; it did give me a few ideas and it taught me a few ideas about some tricks to try out.” Marinette said with a laugh that caused Adrien to stare at her and blush and he heard Plagg snicker in the jacket vests pocket.

“Well this is pretty good. Why’d whoever give it to a thrift store?” Adrien asked and Marinette chuckled and smirked.

“I had to replace a zipper on one side, there was a stain on the pockets that caused me to cut them away and put in some new ones, that’s why they’re a different color.” Marinette said and Adrien ahhed.

“Thanks for this Marinette, I better go before Nadja gets here, see you after where ever we’re supposed to meet up.” Adrien asked and Tikki spoke up before Marinette could.

“The movie theater in the 17^th near the Arc.” Tikki said from Marinette’s purse.

“Thanks Sugarclub, come on lover boy the sooner we’re done, the sooner we can talk to Fu and the others.” Plagg said from a pocket in the jacket and Marinette looked away with a blush as Tikki giggled.

“I’ll meet you and the others there, this way we won’t press our luck more then we have to.” Adrien said as he looked at Marinette and took a deep breath. “And we will have to have a talk before Monday.”

“About…..” Marinette asked and Adrien looked at her.

“Us.” Adrien said and Marinette blushed and looked away. Adrien bent over and kissed Marinette’s forehead and she blushed harder and he smiled at her as he rubbed her right cheek. “I’ll see you at Fu’s.”

“Wait, don’t forget this.” Marinette said as she handed him a slice of cheese breed wrapped up and Adrien smiled at her and hugged her.

“Thanks Marinette, thank you for being you.” Adrien said before he quickly left through the door and moved along the streets towards a location he could transform and blushed a little bit for what he had done.

“Nice going lover boy, and what do you want to name your kittens?” Plagg teased and Adrien looked down as Plagg snickered.

“Plagg, will you keep it down?!” Adrien said as he looked around, hoping that no one was nearby enough to see or curious enough to investigate.

“Relax, nobodies close enough to hear us.” Plagg said and Adrien looked around and force himself to relax a tiny bit but kept walking, his eyes looking around for any trace that someone had heard Plagg. “And if anyone does hear they’ll probably think your phone is on speaker.”

Adrien kept quiet as he walked through Paris and away from the area of both the school and the bakery, he had to find a place to transform that he wouldn’t be seen. “We have to be careful Plagg, especially now. Once mistake and this will be like the time Marinette and I tried to see that movie!”

“You’re paranoid, but in your case that’s a good point.” Plagg admitted as Adrien walked down a blind alley a few moments later.

“Plagg, claws out!” Adrien said and within a moment he had transformed into Chat Noir and jumped upwards and began dashing over the Paris skyline. You know I’m right kid

Marinette stayed still for minutes after Adrien had left until Tikki moved up and got in her face, grinning at her. “I told you he would still like you Marinette!”

Marinette snapped out of her daze and still blushing moved upstairs and got the area ready for when Manon would get here, leaving Tikki to follow behind and giggle as she flew after her chosen. Five minutes later Marinette was finished putting the last finishing touches on the living room when she heard the doorbell and gestured for Tikki to hide and hurried down stairs and opened the door and smiled when she saw who was there.

“Some one’s been dying to see you again Marinette.” Nadja said with smiled at Marinette as Manon hugged the designer.

“Marinette!” Manon called happily as Marinette laughed a little, glad that Manon was still the same given the chaos of the last few days.

“Hi Manon, my friend Alya is coming over later so let’s hope unlike the first time there isn’t an Akuma attack.” Marinette said and Manon giggled. “Now I left out a juice box and cookies upstairs, who can I trust to be a good girl and go drink it and eat the vegetable cookies?”

“ME!” Manon called out and Marinette let her run to the stairs and walked up them carefully.

“Thanks again Marinette, I’m sorry for bothering you like this all last minute but I was originally going to have the day off but then my boss called me and I had to go in for a surprise interview. So everything is good then I’ll be back before noon.” Nadja said as she handed over a small bag and Marinette nodded.

“Don’t worry; this is fine. And I might be on hand to watch her during the mornings on weekdays in the future if you need me to.” Marinette said with a smirk as Nadja looked shocked. “I’m going to be homeschool for the rest of the year at least, so I’ll get back to you about what days I might be able to handle her.”

“Did something happen at school?” Nadja asked and Marinette sighed.

“That is a long story that I can’t legally talk about until my expulsion hearing.” Marinette said and held up a hand as Nadja opened her mouth. “LEGALLY I can’t talk about it, but once I can I’ll tell you the whole story okay.”

“I’ll be back in a few hours Marinette, thanks again.” Nadja said and walked off, a frown on her face. Why, in the name of everything on this planet would Marinette, Marinette of all the students in that school be expelled, this makes enough sense as….. nothing at all! I think I have a new subject for my next investigation, the current state of the Paris Education department and schools! She thought as she looked at the school across the street and she hoped that it wasn’t as bad as she feared it was.

As Marinette moved upstairs she saw Manon as she drank her juice and smiled at her. “Okay I’ve got a game, there’s a good movie you like or you could play one of the video games your mom brought.”

“Movie!” Manon said and Marinette turned the TV on and she laughed as it started.

Marinette got out a drawing pad and started to work on a dress design as she sighed, happy that this would be easy for once.

“Hey Marinette, your parents said I could come up and help…… okay TV and movie, good.” Alya said softly as she came up from below.

XXXXXXXX

Chat Noir dropped down into a back ally and dropped his transformation and Plagg flew into his pocket that Adrien put the cheese slice and Adrien could hear the kwami eat the food. He moved out the alley and saw Louise waiting by his car and moved towards him. “Hey Louise!”

Louise looked up and blinked a few times before he realized who he was seeing. “That you kid, I wouldn’t have known it was you if I hadn’t heard you!”

“Thanks, she does good work doesn’t she?” Adrien asked as he smirked as he got into the backseet and Louise got into the driver’s seat and started the car. As they drove along Adrien looked at the windows and whistled.

“What’s with the tainted widows?” He asked as he felt Plagg move against him and waited

“Security feature that I got when my car needed to be replaced.” Louise said and smirked at Adrien through the review mirror. “Let me tell you, that modification really help me get my clients around safely. And at least this way your fans won’t see you in the windows!”

Adrien laughed lightly as they drove through Paris, letting the radio takeover the small talk. As they passed by a Limo Adrien went white as he saw the Gorilla in driver’s seat. As the car passed by and he looked back and saw the limo drive away he breathed easily.

“Yeah kid I know, we passed your family’s car. Don’t react, we’re almost there. All we have to do is make it a few more blocks and we’re home free.” Louise said and Adrien sighed as he leaned back. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this car after your mom disappeared and he doesn’t know what my license plate is so we’re golden.”

Adrien kept silent and Louise looked at him and frowned, not liking how Adrien was behaving. Come on kid, I know that Gab did a number on you, but I really want to believe that there’s still a way for the both of you to heal. He thought as he went over everything that he could do to get a rise out of him. “Hey kid, your dad ever tell him the first time he met your mother she threw up on him?”

“No, really?” Adrien asked and Louise laughed a little.

“Okay, let me tell you all about how those two met. It was college, Gabriel was putting together this fashion show and your mom was between shows at the theater so she decided to give it a try, IE her sis talked her into it. Of course acting and modeling is kinda different so she was nervous as heck.” Louise said as he drove the car through Paris. “Unfortunately her sister gave her a cure but it was actually meant to purge her system and well you can guess what happened when Gabriel walked up.”

“No way!” Adrien said and started to laugh.

“Yeah, man o man he had this expression as what the f*ck happened and then Emilie was apologizing and then Gabe went and changed into his spare clothing, it was his suit and then he started the show, and since it was high class clothing his complimented it and he got a great review!” Louise said and laughed. “Emilie worked in a few more of his shows and then they started to date after they graduated and then well you know.”

“You know they never told me that story. Any other stories like that?” Adrien asked and Louise laughed and shook his head as he looked into his past.

“Plenty kid, plenty!” Louise said as he looked into his past and snickered. “I’ll tell you all about then once we’re inside there.”

“There? Oh.” Adrien said as he saw they were just in front of a blocky building with a garage door next to a black glass door with a card reader and a keypad next to both doors and he whistled. “You know, I never noticed that before.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Louise said with a sigh. “Strange isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Adrien said as they drove up to the garage door and Louise opened his window and inserted a card into the card reader next to the garage door and put in a code before it started to open.

They drove into a well-lit garage with rows of parking spaces and a door on the other side with a card reader next to it. Louise parked and then parked the car, Louise looked at Adrien and smiled. “Okay kid as we went into the door, it started to close and we just need to wait another minute then we’ll be able to leave. And don’t worry about anyone talking about you being here, everyone signs a contract of confidentiality and if anyone talks, everyone is punished until the person responsible is discovered.”

“Oh.” Adrien said and looked at the garage door and saw it closed and then he opened the car door and Louise got out as well.

“Another fun fact, the door to the waiting room outside turns twice, no way for anyone to get camera shots of inside.” Louise said as they walked towards the door to the building, it opened and a man in a suit with a face mask and thick glasses walked out and signed a few words to Louise who nodded at him. “And the doctor is great with people who have particular objections and personal requirements to their treatment, hey man how’s it been?”

The man signed a few more words and walked away towards a car and got in, not reacting and Adrien looked at Louise who grinned.

“Motion sensors, this way the doors out only open when nobody is out of the building.” Louise said and Adrien whistled.

“They really work to keep their clients identities safe don’t they?” Adrien asked and Louise nodded with a laugh.

“Yeah they do kid.” Louise said as he opened the door and then walked infront of him into a waiting room with a girl Adrien’s age with black glasses, pink hair and she was wearing a nurse’s uniform with a black hat on. Adrien noticed that she was wearing a grey choker around her neck. “Hello, wait are you Sarah’s daughter Lisa?”

“Yes I am, are you the three 10 o’clock appointment a MERZETH?” Lisa asked and Louise nodded and grinned at Adrien.

“And another thing, they give our appointments code names and password. Yes, I am Mr. Duty.” Louise said with a smirk. “Kid go with her, she’ll take you and I’ll be here when you get back.” Adrien nodded and walked after Lisa who led him to a room and gestured for him to enter. As Adrien sat down in one of the chairs Plagg pushed his head out and looked at Adrien.

“I’m going to poke around a bit; this is about an hour right?” Plagg said before he darted away, Adrien watching helplessly.

Plagg flew through the vents and smirked as he saw black cobwebs followed them until he reached a drop and moved down until he found a circle of the black webs on the side and phased through it into a small chamber with a black sphere of the webs that glowed, illuminating the space.

“I thought I felt you Webby!” Plagg said with a grin as he looked at who he had found.

“Don’t call me Webby stinky sock!” A high pitched voice said as a spider like Kwami with four ‘stick legs’ sticking out of it’s back and it had it’s arms crossed. “And what are you two doing here?! I thought you all went with those people to Tibet centuries ago!”

“The order fell before WW2 Zera.” Plagg said and Zera looked at him in shock and gasped.

“Then this Hawkmoth thing isn’t those guys trying to drag us out of hiding?!” Zera said, shocked. Plagg looked at her before wincing, remembering a few things the Order had done to get some of their holders to give the Miraculous over to their ‘care’.

“No, it really isn’t. So how about, want to talk your holder into fighting alongside us?” Plagg asked and Zera looked down, her mind elsewhere. “What is it; your’s is on the side of the good right?”

“Yeah, but she’s not one who likes to fight. I mean my powers are best with a team, my webs can hold foes down or help protect others, and she’s a medic!” Zera said and then looked at Plagg. “I’ll talk to her, I’ll say that I found you when I saw Chat Noir on the roof and you detransformed and you swung by while your holder was eating at a restaurant nearby.”

XXXX

Nadia walked into the hotel and looked around, trying to find her crew when she spotted someone waving at her from the elevators.

“Hey Nadia, sorry about calling you in but we really didn’t have a choice.” The executive said and looked at her with an apologetic look on his face. “I mean nobody expect that to happen to him, really we didn’t. I’m sorry; I’ll give you a day off with half pay so please I’m sorry.”

“We were just lucky that I could get a babysitter, that’s all I will say about this. So who am I meeting with?” Nadia asked and he sighed at her answer and bowed to her.

“An executive from a movie theater that is looking to open a studio nearby, and by nearby I mean outside the range of him.” The executive said and Nadia looked shocked. “We need you to well, read off a few question for the preliminaries and hopeful if nothing happens then we’ll have an interview at the studio.”

“That’s something; I mean it would be the first new business that’s come into the city in, well since this thing started!” Nadia said and the executive nodded.

“Then you see how this could be big, right?” The executive said with a smile. “And the studio might make a superhero movie first!”

“That is amazing.” Nadia said and looked up at the clock and nodded. “But I have to be finished before noon, I promised the sitter that I’d get her before then and this was last minute.”

“Of course, I promise no more than an hour.” The executive said as they walked towards the elevators,

“Nice, and I might have a good story about one of the local school within the next few days.” Nadia said and the executive looked interested as the doors closed. Meanwhile outside the Agreste limo came to a stop in front of the hotel and pulled to a stop.

Nathalie got out and looked at the ‘Gorilla’ and nodded at him. “Go park nearby, hopefully I’ll have Adrien and we’ll be back at the mansion in a few hours.”

The Gorilla looked at her and grunted and scowled at her, and Nathalie winced and looked down. “I promise I won’t stop you if at the end of it all Gabriel and Adrien doesn’t make up and fix this, you can take Adrien to the police and testify okay?”

‘Gorilla’ nodded and Nathalie looked around at the hotel and walked inside, her eyes looking all over trying to find a clue that Adrien was there. After a few moments a hand fell onto her shoulder and she turned to see the mayor looking at her with a smile.

“Nathalie my dear, how are you? You usually talk to my people over the phone if you need the space, has something happened?” Chloe’s father, André Bourgeois the mayor of Paris asked as he stood there in his usual clothes. Nathalie looked at him and smiled.

“No, I just thought I’d hit the café here and grab a coffee. With everything that happened lately I thought it might be best that I grab one from here.” Nathalie said and Andre sighed and shook his head.

“I know just what you mean my dear. With all Hawkmoth and now this newcomer, what’s her name, Karula Zayura….. whatever. First it was how people just needed to feel strong emotions and now what she uses to make monsters, I just don’t know what Paris is coming too. Thankfully tourism hasn’t fallen too much.” He said with a laugh.

“I think her name was Mayura, and it’s never a good idea to taunt the crazy Mr. Mayor, I would have the name memorized before any speeches.” Nathalie said frostily and Andre nodded.

“Of course, but with the special guest I have……opps! Please forget I ever said anything my dear, and don’t mention it to Gabriel.” Andre said as he looked at her.

Nathalie kept silent and looked at him and barely kept a smile down. “So you don’t want Gabriel to know about it then?”

“Just until the announcement my dear, a day at most and then go right ahead.” Andre said and he shrugged. “I know it sounds convoluted but that’s what they wanted.”

“I understand completely, truly I do.” Nathalie said and smiled at in self-thought victory. “Just for the sack of wondering, is the guest in the ninth Suite, that has nothing to do with this one right?”

“Oh of course, we were obliged to give that room to them, a point of honor as you can guess.” Andre said and then looked at the clock and then nodded. “I’m so sorry, but I have to leave, I have a meeting about a concert and well I don’t want to be late.”

“Of course, I’m sorry that I took so much time from you.” Nathalie said and watched him leave before taking out her phone.

Nath; I have two pieces of evidence that he’s here, plan is a go

Gabe; Good, I’ll see you with him hopefully, good luck.

Nathalie walked towards the café and looked around the lobby, she was sure Adrien was here and once Gabriel found the right target, she would have her chance. Once it started she would go up to the top floor and then she would find Adrien and talk to him about everything as the Gorilla drove them away from the attack.

XXXX

“When you have that court date, call me. I want to have a talk with your nutritionists, a talk involving my hands around his neck.” Doctor Albert Wayzong said with a glare as he looked at Adrien. When he had seen Adrien’s results it had taken some fast talking before he hurt Louise and then after hearing that Adrien was filling for emancipation and he calmed down a bit after that.

“Thanks doc, I really appraised it.” Adrien said as he shook Albert’s hand. Doctor Albert Wayzong was a middle aged man with a bald head and had blue eyes and a small beard. He was wearing a blue shirt under a white doctor’s coat and black pants. Adrien leaned against the wall and after a moment he felt Plagg press against him from within his coat and he kept a grin down. “And this place is great; I mean you’ve got great service and well you really take care of your clients privacy!”

“Don’t thank me my boy, this place was set up after one too many paparazzi broke down my old place. And helping you, well that was part of my weakly charity work. Keeps my optimism alive and I get to stay in practice.” Doctor Albert said with a laugh.

“Goodbye, come again!” Lisa waved as she sat behind the counter. As she looked down at her pocket she frowned and looked up at the doctor and cleared her throat. “Sorry doc, bathroom breaks be right back in a bit.”

Adrien and Louise walked out and got into Louise’s car and then they were on the road outside of the building.

“Okay, so where do I need to take you Adrien?” Louise asked and Adrien looked at him.

“Back to where you dropped me, that’s all I need to get back to my friends.” Adrien said as he felt Plagg push against him from his pocket. Louise smiled at them and shook his head. “Anyhow, I’m sure that with how the doc reacted to your physical that part of the case is won, just give me a few more days to look over everything my investigators have found and your own interview I think we’ll win, but I am sorry you had to do this kid.”

“I know Louise, I know.” Adrien said and looked thoughtful. This is going to be very hurtful no matter what happens, I guess in the end I have to hope that dad wasn’t this way on purpose. But I don’t understand how he could have done this otherwise. He thought as he looked out the car’s window, not paying attention to anything until he felt the car stop.

“We’re here kid, are you sure you’re okay?” Louise said and Adrien nodded and got out of the car and bashed towards the alley, slipping down it and after a few moments he found the dead end he had dropped his transformation before.

“Well kid that was hopeful.” Plagg said as he grinned at Adrien and smiled. “I can’t wait to talk to the others at Fu’s!”

“What is it Plagg?” Adrien asked and Plagg grinned wider.

“Let’s just say that I might have helped us win a victory today, and I really hope I did something right this time!” Plagg said with a grin. “But I’ll talk about it later, let’s go kid!”

“Right, Plagg, Claws out!” Adrien called out before transforming into Chat Noir and then he leapt upwards and moved towards the meeting point.

XXXX

“Thank you so much for this Marinette, this was such a blessing.” Nadia said as she held Manon’s hand as she smiled at Marinette. Nadia looked between Alya and Marinette and then looked between them. “Are you sure I can’t get you to tell me what happened at your school?”

“No, I really don’t want to talk about it. But I will tell you when I can okay?” Marinette promised and Nadia nodded.

As Nadia walked away holding Manon’s hand Marinette waved as she watched them walk away and Alya looked at him and laughed a little.

“That wasn’t as bad I feared you know?” Alya said and Marinette nodded.

“Manon’s very sweat, either just right or is a complete monster that destroys everything.” Marinette said and then looked at her watch. “Come on, we’ve got to meet the boys!”

“Yeah, but you know that she won’t give up right?” Alya asked at they walked away from the bakery. Marinette sighed and nodded.

“Being you’re friend taught me that about reporters. And I hope we get paperwork back after that tells me at least what this will be.” Marinette said with a sigh that turned into a glare. “My parents and I talked about it; if we have to we will sue the school and or my former principle and trial by public works too.”

“Ladies, hey!” Nino’s voice kept Alya from reacting and turning towards his voice she smiled and kissed his check.

“Hey you ready for this?” Alya asked and Nino grinned and looked at them.

“Yeah, we’re just waiting on Maxie and his bot?” Nino asked and Alya nodded.

“Don’t wait for me everyone, I’m here!” Max said from behind them and Marinette jumped and looked at Max as he stood there and smiled at them.

“Learning to walk silently bot boy?” Alya asked and Max laughed and rubbed the back of his head.

“Well, all those times I ran and hide from Akuma’s had to have done something to me sooner or later.” Max said with a smirk.

“Let’s go, we have a nice walk until we get there.” Marinette said a she walked off, her eyes looking all over until Alya looked at her and cleared her throat.

“Uh girl, are you looking for someone?” Alya asked as Nino and Max looked at Marinette as

“I’m looking for Lila, she can’t follow us.” Marinette said and the others looked at each other and nodded, all of them agreeing that if Lila found out anything about this then it would be bad.

XXXX

Sabrina smiled at Chloe as they walked through the streets, glad that they had spent the day listing to the bands and having lunch out. “So think we’ll have to do that after Marinette’s hearing?”

“Probably yeah. I mean I wasn’t a great student but they should have called me out on a lot of the stuff I did.” Chloe said with a scowl as she looked away.

“You really don’t like Miss. Bustier at all, do you?” Sabrina asked and Chloe got an ugly look on her face.

“If there are word that describe how I feel about that bi…..witch I don’t know them in French, English or Chinese!” Chloe said with a growl. And that’s why I really didn’t think that teacher bitch deserved Marinette’s work like that, sorry Mari but sometimes there is collateral damage. Chloe thought with a frown as she looked away from Sabrina and sighed.

“Hey what are they doing?” Sabrina asked suddenly and Chloe looked up and saw Marinette, Nino, Alya and Max walking on the other side of the road and Chloe looked closer when she saw Marinette was looking all around. “Are they going somewhere?”

“And they don’t want anyone to know.” Chloe whispered as she pulled Sabrina to a storefront. “Don’t look at them, look at their reflection, and keep your eyes focused on Marinette.”

“Chloe?” Sabrina asked before she could see Marinette look all around through the cars passing by the window. “What is this?”

“Marinette probably doesn’t want Lila to find them so let’s follow so we can intercept her.” Chloe said as she led Sabrina parallel to Marinette and friends. “Come on, let’s help her out since we couldn’t during the attack.”

Sabrina laughed a little and let herself be dragged along behind her

XXXXXXXXXXX

Chloe looked at them as they followed Marinette and the others, a frown on her face as they

As the four friends moved turned down the alley Chloe frowned and moved quickly and quietly towards it as Sabrina followed behind.

“What is it Chloe?” Sabrina asked and Chloe ignored her. “We saw where they were going, and Lila isn’t around here as far as we know.”

“This theater, it’s had the same owner for years, they always pay their taxes full even when they have terrible business, dad’s been……” Chloe trailed off as she saw Chat Noir drop down by them and a flash turned him into Adrien with a black cat kwami floating by his head. Sabrina’s mouth dropped open as Chloe looked from Marinette to Max, Alya and Nino and suddenly Chat Noir flashed and Adrien was standing there with a little creature hovering over his shoulder. “Oh my. god.”

XXXX

“Adrien, how was the checkup?” Marinette asked and Adrien frowned a little.

“Not as bad as I feared but better then I hoped, I’m getting a bit underweight and well Plagg said that while the Miraculous help us use energy in a balance and heal us, it can’t make things from nothing.” Adrien said and rubbed the back of his neck.

A sound from the door caused them to look up and see Master Fu looking out at them and smiling with a look that had a hint of mischief in it.

“Ahh there you all, come in come in.” Fu said as he gestured for them to come into the door and then pointed towards a doorway farther down. “This way my young friends.”

XXXX

“I can’t believe it, I mean it’s so obvious.” Chloe said dumbly as she watched them walk into the door and then she ran towards it after it closed and then calmly brought out two pieces of metal and got to work on the door

“Chloe what are you doing?!” Sabrina demanded as she watched Chloe work.

“I’m not giving up a chance to give that old man a piece of my mind for throwing Marinette and Adrien at Hawkmoth!” Chloe said as she unlocked the door and they saw a hallway, a door closing a few feet away.

XXXX

Fu led the way into his apartment under the theater and opened the Miraculous Box and let the kwami out, but only those who had partners who went to their humans as they all sat down and Fu brought out a tea set and cups, filling them with tea and.

“Welcome, one and all.” Fu said as he bowed to them. “I had lost hope that I would ever sit with chosen of the Kwami again.”

“Is there a difference between us and Hawkmoth and his blue witch?” Alya asked and Fu nodded before looking at her with a glare and she swallowed.

“Yes, but I must insist that you keep it from your blog. If Hawkmoth or anyone else finds out about it!” Fu said and Alya nodded.

“Chill, I’ll keep quiet, I promise.” Alya said as Trixx giggled from her place on top of Alya’s head.

“I told you she was a true Fox! We know when to find and when to hide!” Trixx said and Alya looked at her. “And we choose you Alya, we choose all of you.”

“Indead.” Kaalki said and nodded. “Each of you have traits that we Kwami……. The closest word in the common tongue is resonate but it fails to catch a few things. This was so much easier when people spoke Altantian.”

“The problem with the wish, as Plagg has said is that it is balance in its purist form. To make a selfish wish, that causes the universe to deal the same damage to the wisher.” Fu said as he put down the teapot and looked at them. “To save a life of a loved one, a loved one is struck down. To cure of a terrible diseases, then they get another one just as bad.”

“Wait, Atlantis was real!? What happened to it?!” Max asked and Adrien only pointed at Plagg.

“He did.” Adrien said and every human aside from him, Fu and Marinette stared open mouthed.

“To be fair, I had no choice. There was this monstrosity that was part animal and plant, and Tikki’s powers can’t destroy life.” Plagg said and looked down. “Unfortunately it had it’s roots all under the island and well.”

“And this wish couldn’t be used then why?” Nino asked and Tikki nodded.

“My holder at the time, she died before and her body fell into the sea. I slept for hundreds of years until it made it to shore and I found someone I could see would use it right. I meet Plagg again about three hundred years later in the early days of Rome.” Tikki said and looked down at the floor.

“What happened to you Plagg?” Adrien asked and Plagg shrugged.

“Me and my holder had a fallen out with the survivors and fought our way free and with like-minded people escaped to what you all know as Africa and I spent the next few hundred years fighting against them, and then I found Tikki and a few hundred years later the Guardians found us.” Plagg said with a scowl. “The survivors really went mad after that.”

“So what was Atlantis like?” Max asked with stars in his eyes.

“It had a caste based society, only it wasn’t based on birth but potential and what they would like. They had an understanding of sociology that is still unmatched so their tests helped a lot of people find their passions.” Wayzz said with a laugh as the Kwami grinned. “One of our missing siblings was usually partnered with a member of the Healing Caste, and they passed on many things to the Guardians.”

“Amazing, but back up a bit okay. Then you think Hawkmoth is after the wish to save someone?” Alya asked and Marinette looked down before she nodded as a scowl grew on her face. “Why, what happened?”

“It was the last time we fought Mayura.” Adrien began and looked at Marinette who was just a s messed up as him.

“The day that I was expelled and that mass attack fizzled out, Mayura made an appearance. She tried to trick Adrien with a Ladybug Senti-Monster…… I gave the item that created her to her and Mayura, she just killed her by recalling the energy used to create her.” Marinette said as she hugged her arms and looked down, never noticing that Adrien had hugged her as well or the stormy expression on her face was mirrored on his. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget the look in her eyes as she died!”

“Oh Mari…..” Alya whispered as they all took in what she had said.

“Dude….. that’s evil on another level.” Nino siad and even Max with his limited social skills knew that this was beyond anything. Even Fu looked both mad and sad.

“In fact, all that I know that shouldn’t have been possible. Once the Imok has it’s item, you can’t just recall the energy used, and as someone who has created one I should know, you need the item to destroy banish it away, otherwise you can’t.” Fu said as he looked at the children before him. “But what happens next is why we think this.”

“She got sick, like she almost passed out.” Marinette said and looked at them with a haunted look in her eyes. “And then Hawkmoth appeared and saved her.”

“Hawkbutt came out of his lair?! Dude.” Nino breathed and Alya looked shocked as Max’s glass slipped off his head. A gasp caused them all to turn and see two figures at the stairs, Chloe and Sabrina.

“CHLOE?!?” Adrien gasped and Marinette face palmed as Pollen who had been hovering by the gamohpone shot towards her and hugged her cheek.

“The puns, how caring Marinette is, I should have seen it.” Chloe said and Sabrina looked out from behind her and waved.

“How the hell?” Alya asked as Fu looked on and stroked his beard and Chloe shrugged.

“Sabrina saw you four move along the streets and I saw Marinette looking around and then we saw Adrien transform back and then I picked the lock.” Chloe said with a shrug at the looks she was getting. “What, I had to do something to pass the time when I was younger and stuck in my apartment while dad was out, learning to break out was something to do, at least until he moved me to the roof.”

“Come in, the both of you, let us talk for a bit.” Fu said as he looked at Chloe and Sabrina, his eyes on them and with a curious glint in his eyes. “I have wanted to talk to you for a while Miss. Bourgeois. And this is as good a time as any.”

“Good. I wanted to talk to the person who chooses kids to fight Hawkbutt anyway.” Chloe said as she glared at Fu as he grinned as the others looked at her.

Chapter 10

Chapter Text

Hawkmoth moved around his lair, his mind going towards places that he didn’t want to tread.I didn’t want this, I just wanted her back as I promised her so long ago! And thus my relationship with my son might be destroyed until I can get her back!He thought before going still as he looked towards City Hall and smiled, he had finally found what he was looking for.

He smiled as he felt a spark of anger and rage, a perfect combination that always gave such wonderful results grinning as he activated his powers. “Fly my little Akuma, fly and Akumatization my new champion!”

XXXXXXX

A woman in a black dress with her brown hair in a bun and a red diamond necklace on scowled as she left the town hall, a petition in her hands.How dare that idiot just send me out without even looking at what I wanted to do! I mean just because there was that carnival for next month I get shafted before I could even say anything! I mean really what is this world coming to!She thought as she walked through the streets, not noticing the Akuma Butterfly as it flew at her and then went into her necklace. She went still as the energy Hawhmoth mask formed over her face and her eyes widened.

“Inferno Empress, I am Hawkmoth! I felt your rage and I can see what they’ve done to you! How dare they show you the door without even letting you speak of what you wanted! Get me the Miraculous of Chat Noir and Ladybug and in return I will give you the power to burn those peons to the ground with the full power of flame!” Hawkmoth voice came into her brain and she grinned, something that few of them did when he took control of them.

“Let the corrupt burn, let new life be born from their ashes!” She said as black muck covered her and she started to laugh.

XXXXXX

“How the hell did you find us?” Alya asked and Chloe shrugged.

“Me and Chloe were walking around the city and saw you, Chloe wanted to follow you when she saw how Marinette was acting she wanted to follow to help keep Lila away from you all, then we saw Adrien detransform and Chloe followed and here we are.” Sabrina said and the other teens looked at Chloe.

“But how did you get in here, I’m sure I locked the doors.” Fu said and Chloe grinned.

“I picked the lock.” Chloe said blandly and the others excluding Adrien looked at her in shock.

“You what?” Marinette said and Chloe shrugged and looked at them.

“I like puzzles, there’s easy for me, and by the way Marinette? Make that box of yours a lot harder in the future, I figured out how to break it open a minute.” Chloe said and Sabrina looked at her and laughed.

“But it was nice around my hand, not too heavy and very tight.” Sabrina said and grinned. “That model is kind of nice and good for beginners.”

“Wait, beginners? You could have gotten out her out anytime, couldn’t you? All she had to do was hide and you could let Sabrina out.” Marinette said and Adrien looked at Chloe in confusion before he winced.

“I never wanted to be the rep, ever!” Chloe said and looked down. “His honor has used me a lot in his campaigns and well I always hoped someone would take him down, at least take the mayor’s office from him.”

“You wanted everybody to see you with it, didn’t you?” Alya said and looked at her as things slowly crystallized in her mind. “And that present Marinette made, you destroyed it because you think she, Miss Bustier didn’t deserve it!”

“Yeah I did.” Chloe said and Marinette looked at her shocked. “Let’s be frank, she took you out of the classroom to ‘victim blame you’, didn’t she?”

“Yes.” Marinette said and then looked at her. “But she protected me from Akuma that tried to get me, that’s how it got her!”

“What I did caused Hawkmoth to send an Akuma to you?” Chloe asked horrified and Marinette shook her head.

“It was more how Miss Bustier reacted and the lector she gave me than anything, at least I think it was.” Marinette said as Adrien looked at her in sorrow as Alya stared in shock as Nino covered his eyes with his hat as Tikki landed on her shoulder.

“Then she’s not completely slime, but she still should have done something to me, and her reactions caused me to forget her as a teacher.” Chloe said and Marinette looked at her and tried to say something but stopped and sighed.

“To begin with, I’ll need to go over some old things that Marinette and Adrien knows. I was a child when I was found by the Order of the Guardians.” Fu said as he sipped his tea, the teens and Kwami looking at him as

“How old were you?” Chloe asked and Fu looked at her and she continued talking. “How old were you when you joined this Order?”

“Around seven, I was the youngest of three children and there was a famine going on at the time so my parents gave me to the order.” Fu began and Chloe looked up and Adrien and Marinette both looked at him in shock. “I was ten when I was ordered to meditate in isolation, I spent 36 hours and then I was so hungry that I used the Peaco*ck Miracouis to make a Sentimonster to get some food for me. Unfortunately, I miscalculated and instead, I created a monstrosity and was based on hunger, it was Feast the blue thing that Hawkmoth awoke a few months ago, and that is why I was identified by him.”

“So you’re an old cult baby that got away.” Chloe said and Fu did a double-take and looked at her in shock.

“The Order of the Guardians were not a cult! I mean sure they recruited young, the oldest newcomer was around maybe nine……. And I did spend three years just listening to lessons that were basically just about the rules………… and I was ordered to meditate because I disagreed with some of the lessons, the same meditation that was the root cause of me losing the Miraculous that Hawkmoth uses………” Fu said as he trailed off and then he looked around the room and paled in horror. “Oh my god.”

The others looked at Chloe in shock and horror as they realized she might have been right.

“Okay, disturbing revelations aside, you wanted to talk to us?” Alya asked and Fu nodded dumbly.

“Yes I did, I had to. As I said most of my knowledge comes from the Kwami and the order, the wish is about balance, what will be will be, but it can be different, either give people a stronger chance of survival at someone else's expense or transfer the sickness to someone else.” Fu said and Sabrina looked shocked.

“So this wish, it can’t change what happens but it can change who it happens to, make it happen to other people instead?” Sabrina asked and Fu nodded as he looked at the Kwami.

“Yes, there might be other concerns but it looks at the person making the wish, they are the source of balance that affects it.” Fu said and they looked at Tikki and Plagg who preened under the attention.

“We’re the only ones who can decide when people are told about it.” Tikki said and they turned to look at her as Plagg nodded.

“Yeah, that’s the truth. There have been three times in the history of man that we judge that it was bad enough to risk it. One of them was the first time, we used the wish to cause a Tidal wave not to hit Atlantis and destroy it. Instead it was an earthquake that sank half of the island and killed maybe a quarter instead of 90 percent of the population. Unfortunately one of the survivors eventually started a rebel movement that caused the events that led to the birth of that plant thing that destroyed Atlantis!” Plagg said and then he looked at Tikki. “You know I never asked you what you did before we were reunited.”

“I was in Egypt, like that Akuma said he I had. There was one that was the worst though, Tutankhamun only did what he did because of my first enemy in that land.” Tikki said as she started to scowl and Plagg was scared at the look in her eyes.

“Sugar Cube?” Plagg asked weakly and then Tikki shook her head and looked around at the others looking at her with concern and rubbed the back of her head.

“Sorry, even now I stillhatethat thing for what he had done.” Tikki said and sighed. “It was a dark time for me okay?”

“So that’s why you never talked about your time away from us.” Wayzz said softly and everyone felt for Tikki. However just then their phones started to buzz and looking down and they took you their phones, their eyes widening as the Akuma alert came on.

“Oh god, it’s at Town Hall!” Chloe said as she looked up and Marinette could see the fear in her eyes.

“Dad’s there, there’s a meeting about a fundraiser for renovations!” Alya said she looked towards Trixx but before she could say anything, the sound of Master Fu’s cane banging against the ground caused them to stop.

“Ladybug, Chat Noir will go, and only them for now.” Master Fu said and everyone looked at him. “Just because you know about it doesn’t mean that you all need to go, and you Miss Chloe will stay here for now. If Hawkmoth thinks something has changed then all of Paris would be in danger, not to mention the world!”

“He’s right, if he figures out who we are because we all go there and I let up how I treat you all then I don’t know what he’ll do!” Chloe said and Fu looked at Chloe and nodded, a small smile forming on his face as he watched them all look at Adrien and Marinette as they ran upwards, Plagg and Tikki following behind.

“They’ve done it before and they’ll do it this time too, don’t worry.” Chloe reassured Alya and she looked at Chloe and smiled.

“So how much of your personality is a mask?” Alya asked and Chloe grinned.

“Finally figured that out about me? About eighty percent, I like to do my own homework but I have terrible writing so Sabrina usually copies it and we work together on it.” Chloe admitted as she sat back and drank some of her tea.

“She’s really good at Literature and Foreign language!” Sabrina chirped and Fu looked at them both and nodded, looking at the Miraculous box and grinning.

XXXXX

In City Hall people ran about screaming in fear as Alya’s father Otis tried to find a way out, looking at the metal shutters as the Mayor cowed behind the main desk.And to think I voted for him! I expected him to be a little braver!Otis thought as he risked a look out a nearby window and winced as a flash bomb went off outside and he lost his sight.

“Could you see anything about it?” An office lady asked and Otis looked towards her voice and shook his head. “Are you okay?”

“I tried to see anything and lost some of my sight. I can only hope that the heroes can get bye that thing out there.” Otis said as he started to blink and he started to see shapes.

“Is it getting hotter in here?” A man asked and then Otis saw that the door was starting to generate heat and glowing.

XXXXXXXX

As they ran over the Paris rooftops, Ladybug wondered just what they were getting into. As they rounded the corner she paled when she saw flames leaping towards the sky from where City Hall was and she cursed. “Of course it’s an elemental one this time.”

“Don’t worry My Lady, the two of us can handle it and most of our allies are a call away!” Chat Noir reassured her as they ran. As they made it to the plaza they were able to see that City Hall was under attack by arrows of fire that were being shot from five fireballs that moved around the building, the door starting to glow red as they watched. As they looked around they felt heat coming from behind them and they dived to the side and turned and saw the Akuma.

She was a tall woman with ruby hair in two buns on the side of her hair with crimsons horns sticking out them point up. Her face had red eye shadow and lipstick and her mouth revealed fangs from her bottom and top teeth. She was wearing a red dress and red knee-high boots and as they watched she formed a whip of flames as fireballs formed by her horns

“So you are the fools that have troubled master Hawkmoth, I am Flame Striker and I will burn you to ashes and take the Miraculous from your remains!” Flame Empress roared and pointed the whip at them as the fireballs spat arrows of fire at them. Ladybug dodged but Chat Noir stayed still and began to spin his baton but after a few arrows hit it he started to dodge as well.

“Don’t block, if they hit it causes your weapon to grow hot!” He called out and Ladybug kept dodging and they tried to find anything that might be the item, but nothing seemed to be obvious. A dart hit her left arm and she felt it grow hot and after a few moments she realized it wasn’t going down.

“Whateverthey hit grows hot!” She screamed and dodged a bolt that hit a lamp post; Flame Striker grinned and suddenly all the fireballs shot their arrows at the post, and within moments it melted into slag.

“Oh.” Ladybug said as she looked at City Hall and noticed that the paint was starting to drip away.

XXXXXXXX

At the hotel Nathalie had slipped up the staircase before the attack and had made it to the right floor and looked around, seeing that most of the doors were in the process of being repainted and after a few moments found the one that wasn’t and walked to it.Perfect, this plan might not even fail after all. I just need to talk to Adrien and then I can hopefully end this.She thought as she knocked on the door. After a few moments she frowned as she heard the sound of someone walking around. “Adrien, it’s Nathalie. I know your father is a hard ass, but he really has what he thinks is your best interests in mind.”

All she could hear was silence and she frowned.Oh come on Adrien, I might have found out where you were hiding but this is not what I expected from you!She thought as she looked at the door and started to pound on it. “Adrien please I know that you can’t help but feel betrayed, but please just talk with me for a few moments!”

Nathalie heard the sounds of something moving and tried again. “I know you have to feel betrayed about what Lila said but please it’s not what you think it was, she was lying through her teeth! Please Adrien just talk to me!”

She couldn’t hear anything from within and started to bang on it.he’d usually at least call back to me, and I thought I heard something moving in there before, but was I wrong about it? No, if it was somebody else they would have called out, and who else would Chloe call a special guest?!Nathalie thought as she tried to figure out what to do.

Nathalie looked at the door and frowned.Okay, okay. This is worse, maybe he feels that I helped Lila, maybe he doesn’t. Maybe he feels that I’m always on Gabriel’s side, maybe he doesn’t. I need to talk to him face to face.Nathalie thought and looked at the door before pounding on it.

“Adrien please talk to me at least! Please understand that I want what I think is best for you truly!” Nathalie pleaded and then heard nothing from the other side.

What is this, I don’t understand he has to be here, I can’t let it end like this!She thought as she started to bang on the door and then nodded. “I’m coming in Adrien!”

She backed up and started to ram into the door, feeling it move a little and smiling as she heard some movement from inside. As she moved backward she heard the elevator ding down the corridor and cursed.It must be security, but I have to talk to him face to face!She thought as she ran at the door and put all she had into it and broke through. She smiled as she ran in but she stepped on something and started to slip before falling to the floor.

She felt something lick her and towards it to see a crocodile pant and smile at her. She moved backward and felt something soft in her hands and then she smelled it. Looking down she saw biologic waste everywhere and throw up on the floor and she saw she was sitting in some of it and her cloths were all stained.

“Hey, aren’t you Gabe’s secretary or something? What are you doing in me Fangster’s sick room?”

Looking towards the voice Nathalie saw Jagged Stone and Penny Rolling looking at her with complete confusion on their faces

"What is this?!" Nathalie demanded and Jagged shrugged.

"Fang ate something that didn't agree with em bad fish or something. After the third gas attack I asked if he could stay here since this floor was being redone…….wait a tick, what are you even doing here?!" Jagged demanded as he glared at her, Nathalie could only wince as she tried to figure out what to say as she looked away but before she could say anything Penny spoke up.

"She can tell us later, for now let's get her in the shower, we can talk after she's not in danger of getting what Fang has." Penny said as reached down and offered her a hand.

XXXXXX

Ladybug dodged another arrow and Chat Noir landed by her and grinned. "How about the fastball special with the whip?"

She grinned and nodded. Chat Noir charged at Flame Striker and started to swing his baton-staff at her and she dodged the blows, moving to the left before a trash can flewthroughher, Flame Striker coming apart as the heroes looked at her in shock.

"What the?" Chat Noir breathed as they stared in confusion before a regal sounding laugh came from all around them.

“So you were able to handle my Flame Striker were you, let’s see how you handle the Inferno Empress!” The voice called out before fireballs started to fall around them, forming a ring of fire that slowly shrank towards them as they tried looked around, trying to find a way to get away.

“How is she doing this, she’s not an illusion powered Akuma, no…… it’s fire-based, all fire! “ Chat Noir said as he looked around and

“You mean mirages……. Of course but how can she control what we see?” Ladybug asked in shock and then looked around. “Do you have a recharge for him?”

“Three more of them.” Chat Noir whispered.

“Give me a second, then make a hole into the sewers, if I can’t find a way to get around this.” Ladybug said called out her power. “Lucky Charm!”

Above them, a red and black spotted projector and a magnifying glass dropped into her hands.

“Is that?” Chat Noir asked and Ladybug nodded. “Then let me help with a Cataclysm!”

As his power activated Chat Noir slammed his hand against the ground and a hole formed that they dropped into it as the circle rushed to them, the fire missing them by inches.

“Follow me!” Chat Noir cried as they heard her scream from above them as light started to pour down from the hole, they both dashed away from the Akuma and within moments they had slipped away into the darkness, the screams of the Akuma echoing off the walls.

The two stayed silent as they ran, the beeps of their miraculous the only sound until they reached a place to hide.

“That meant what I thought it did, right?” Chat Noir asked as their transformations dropped and they turned back into their civilian forms.

“Yeah it does, and this time we can tell him what we need.” Marinette said and then frowned. “That Akuma, it was using heat to hide so we need someone with the ability to find it so a new Miraculous needs to go into play, right?”

“Yeah but we need to keep her eyes on us, so then whoever will need someone to take her down, that means we need Chloe again. And we’ll need someone to protect her while she tries to get a clear shot.” Adrien said and Marinette nodded.

“Then we need Chloe at least, and a way to find the Akuma ……is there a kwami who can give a hero that power?” Marinette asked and Tikki nodded.

“Yes, Barkk the Kwami of Searching.” Tikki said and she looked at them all from where she was floating. “And Sabrina is also the best choice to join with him, like him she protects her pack at the expense of all others.”

“And that doesn’t bother you Marinette?” Adrien asked. “That Sabrina and Chloe need to use a Miraculous?”

“If Chloe did that to attack ourteacherthen a lot of what I had against her I can work on my problems with her.” Marinette said and then sighed. “And I gave as good as I got when we bit at each other if I’m honest. She’s more……complicatedthen I thought she was.”

“She’s like that, isn’t she? And I always thought she had a better reason than hated to attack you, and to go after that gift for Bustier.” Adrien said as the Kwami floated above them and Plagg started to laugh.

“That’s Pollen’s nymph’s alright! They always go after what they see as damaging their allies!” Plagg said and Marinette looked at him and opened and closed her mouth, her mind going strange places as she looked back before she shook her head to clear her mind. “You okay Pigtails?”

“We’ll worry about that later, we need to call them.” Marinette said as she got out her phone, a promise to talk with Chloe alone after the Akuma was dealt with being made in her head.

“At least this way will be a lot easier in the future, right?” Adrien asked as Plagg grinned and Tikki frowned as Marinette giggled and nodded.

XXXX

As Fu drank his tea as he listened to the teens talk with their Kwamis, he tried to get over the revelation that Chloe had given him.I don’t understand, I helped deprogram survivors of the Nazi’s, why didn’t I notice my own problem? I suppose that the worst fool is one who can’t see the trees for the forest after all.He thought before a phone rang and they all looked to Alya as she answered it.

“It’s Marinette! Marinette what is it….wait I’m putting it on speaker.” Alya said as she pressed a button on her phone and put it down on the table. “Okay, you’re on girl, how was it?”

“Bad, the Akuma can control fire, it’s able to generate mirages, hide and use fireballs to fire arrows that heat up whatever they hit.” Marinette said and they all looked at each other in horror. “So far she has the town hall under siege, but the arrows hit a lamppost and melted it!”

“You need help then, the lucky charm?” Fu asked and they heard a giggle from Plagg on the other end and he winced.

“We need a tracker and someone to immobilize her once they find her, so we need Queen Bee.” Marinette said and Chloe’s eyes widened.

“NO!” Chloe said and looked around the room at their surprised looks. “Think, if I show up with a new hero Sabrina will be in danger!”

“Wait……. If you don’t show up with Ladybug then you had to have gotten the Bee Miraculous from someone or somewhere else, then Hawkmoth could!” Alya said as her eyes widened and Fu grinned.

“So you don’t want the chance that Hawkmoth could hurt one of your friends?” Fu asked and looked at Chloe who nodded. “And that’s what’s going through your mind right now, giving how you showed the world you were Queen Bee.”

“Sorry if it finally hit me that my parents would never love me and I had a mental breakdown.” Chloe said bitterly. “And while I appreciate the thought behind how you turned down my mother's offer, I might have been happier if she left Paris and my life.”

“Chloe……” Alya said as she looked at who she thought was just a bully and privileged queen bitch and saw how valuable she was and what she dealt with.

“You’ve always got me sis.” Adrien’s voice came from the phone and Chloe smiled.

“Pollen, you were right about her. Are you prepared?” Fu asked and they all looked at him and Pollen who grinned.

“Yes I am, I knew she was the right person to wield my power and I hope you will think that about the new comers.” Pollen said and Trixx giggled.

“She’s got a few more people than I’m used to, but I really want to help with the snow job at least.” Trixx said and Wayzz shook his head.

“Not yet Master Fu, I will stay with you primarily until I am ready to leave.” Wayzz said and the teens looked around the room as Kaalki cleared her throat.

“Young Max is a soul with much potential, and I always wanted to try and best a golem at chess, it might be fun.” Kaalki said and Max’s mouth dropped open.

“What are you talking about?” Marinette asked and Fu grinned.

“What I’m talking about is finding permanent homes for all the Miraculous.” Fu said and the teens all looked at him in shock.

“WHAT?!” Marinette screeched and Fu chuckled.

“It was always a long term plan of mine, a way to help and protect the Miraculous and Kwami. I was actually planning this for a while since before Hawkmoth’s first appearance.” Fu said and looked around and grinned. “There were times when the Miraculous were originally in family lines, maybe it has become the time for that again.”

“Newsflash, Queen Bee can’t engage with a new here!” Chloe said and Fu grinned back at her.

“Then let Queen Bee die, become someone else.” Fu said bluntly with a smile and Chloe looked at him as he got up and moved towards the box, removing the Bee Miraculous. “Did you all think that these were the permanent forms of the Miraculous? They have changed many times over the years, but to change the Kwami must use up their abilities before they need to recharge and wait a few minutes between the transformation and first-time use. Ready Pollen?”

“You bet!” Pollen said as she hovered above the comb and started to glow, sending a light onto the Miraculous that started to glow, and after a few moments it started to shift and release a flash of light that blinded them. When it died down there was a golden hair stick where the comb had been. Pollen started to grin when she suddenly fell towards the floor.

“Pollen!” Chloe cried and grabbed the Kwami before she could fall, Chloe’s heart started to beat and then Pollen laughed. “Wait, you did that on purpose! Why?”

“A final test my dear, just to reassure my heart. And now for you miss Raincomprix.” Fu said and smiled at her as she looked back at him in shock.

“Me?” Sabrina asked and Fu nodded.

“Yes, they were right that you might have been in danger with Queen Bee, but will you step forward anyway?” Fu asked and Sabrina gasped in shock and Marinette laughed a little. “I guess from your laughter that she was your pick my dear?”

“Yes she was.” Marinette said and Sabrina looked at the phone in complete shock.

“What! Why me?!” Sabrina asked and Chloe grinned as her friend was about to receive recognition for all that she was.

“You have one of the keenest eyes in class, and I can trust you to do what’s right. And recent events have made me rethink a lot of things and I will talk to you and Chloe about them when this is over. But for now, Sabrina will you accept the Miraculous, will you stand up and help protect Paris?” Marinette asked through the phone and Sabrina looked around, Chloe had a blank face and Sabrina knew she had to decide this on her own,

“If it will help people, yes I will.” Sabrina said and Fu laughed and looked at her with a smile and handed her a small box.

“Sabrina Raincomprix, this is the Miraculous of the Dog, with the power of Tracking. You will use this for the greater good and return this to me when the danger has passed.” Marinette said as Sabrina accepted the box and looked around at the others.

“Yes!” Sabrina said as she opened the box. A ball of light formed into a dog shapped kwami with light brown with a white mark around her mouth, between her eyes, and on her chest. She has gray eyes, drop ears, a whisker on her forehead and a tail that curved upwards.

“Hi Sabrina, I’m Barkk! My transformation command is Let’s Hunt!” Barkk said with a grin before Sabrina hugged him.

“AWWW, you’re so cute!” Sabrina said and Barkk laughed as he snuggled with her.

“Thanks! Now my power will let you see any magic being used within a mile, you just have to focus on what you’re hunting and I’ll do the rest, just say ‘Tracker’s Eye!’ to activate it!” Barkk said with a grin and Sabrina nodded.

“Ready Sabrina?” Chloe asked as she removed her hairpin and put the Miraculous in its place as Sabrina removed the Dog Miraculous, a collar around her neck, undoing the bow around her neck to do so.

“Go, remember Chloe, think about how you want your costume to change, it is not Queen Bee but a new persona that you and Pollen must construct together.” Fu said and Chloe nodded.

“Pollen, Buzz on!” Chloe called out and Pollen shoot into the comb. As the lights went up her body it formed a yellow bodysuit with a solid black corset with a yellow collar and a white fuzzy choker around her neck and black gloves that went to her elbows and she had on black knee-high boots and her mask was pure black hiding her eyes with pitch-black spots over them and her hair became two ponytails with a black line down the top of both and a golden comb formed before them as a yellow spinning top materialized in her hands that she started to spin around her head.

“Barkk, let’s hunt!”

Sabrina called out and Bakk flew straight at the collar and a flash of light covered Sabrina and then when it died down she was covered in a brown bodysuit with a dog tail from a belt around her waist and she had a face mask across her eyes that went to her ears and two dog ears on her head, two Escrima Sticks formed and she put them on her back and glared out a fierce look in her eyes.

“Welcome to the team!

Say, what are your names?” Alya asked and the two looked at each other and grinned back.

“Apisera.” Chloe, the former Queen Bee renamed herself and grinned, her voice sounding different.

“And I’m Canixia!” Sabrina said and grinned as she took out one of the Escrima Sticks from her back and looked at it.

“Good, the two of us have recharged, what’s the plan?” Plagg’s voice came over the phone and they all looked at it.

“We can’t find her without you two, so we’ll attack and try and take out the fireballs. Once you get in range, Canixia can use her power and track the Akuma, then fall back and transform back, Apisera you attack her and then try to break her concentration.” Marinette said and the heroes nodded.

“Good luck to both of you,” Fu said as the two heroes nodded and ran upwards.

“Let’s back up a bit. You want to give us the Miraculous we used?” Max asked and Fu nodded.

“I am mealy the keeper and protector of these beings, not their jailer. They have talked about you all, and that might be the best thing in the end.” Fu said and smiled at them. “But I will have to ask that you go to battle when called only. And we will need to change the way the Fox looks like.”

“Why? Wait…….. the Bee was changed because everyone knows about it, so who knows about the Fox?” Alya asked and then she started to glare. “Oh don’t tell me, Lila again!?”

“Yes, tell me did they talk to you about what book Lila took from Adrien?” Fu asked and at their head shakes, his eyes hardened.

XXXXXX

As they dashed over the Paris rooftops Apisera led the way and looked back and saw Canixia lagging.

Sabrina doesn’t like to fight but we might be the MVP here, I need to give her a pep talk I guess.Apisera thought as she looked at Canixia and stopped at a building and looked at Caxina and smiled.

“Que……. Why are you stopping? We need to move!” Caxina said as she landed and looked at Apisera who looked back and sighed.

“What?”

“Your scared aren’t you?” Apisera asked and Caxina looked down and nodded.

“I mean yeah.” Caxina said and looked at Apisera. “I’m not that brave, but I know that this can help save lives and I will help out!”

“Then don’t forget about it. Embrace it and use it to save others.” Apisera said and Caxina nodded and took a deep breath. “Ready girl?”

“Yeah, let’s do it!” Caxina said and Apisera grinned at her friend and they took off, running over the rooftops. After a few moments they were looking towards the town hall and winced as they saw the Chat Noir and Ladybug try and destroy the fireballs. “There it is, this might be the best place.”

“Yeah, let’s do it!

Tracker’s Eye!” Caxina said and her eyes went pure white and she stepped back.

She suddenly saw a red line going from the fire towards the east. “That way, she’s that way!”

“Let’s go!” Apisera said and they moved forward, Caxina leading the way. They moved until they found a clearing with a woman in a red dress with a ruby crown on her head with a ruby staff with a black gemstone sphere on top. Before they could do anything Caxina saw a purple energy line shot from above and then a mask of a butterfly appeared over her face. Caxina grabbed Apisera’s hand and gestured backward with her head. Apisera nodded and they moved away from the clearing and

“I saw Hawkmoth talking to her!” Caxina said and looked at Apisera. “I mean I saw the magic go talk to her before it formed that mask!”

“What?” Apisera asked in shock before a beep was heard and a spot on her collar went away. “Your timing out, get to safety and talk to the others, if we can use this then we could win!”

“Good luck.” Caxina said as she ran in the direction of the theater. As Caxina psyched herself up she looked towards the Akuma and grinned.

“Time for my debut.” Apisera said with a grin. “And with luck Hawkmoth will only know that I’m here.”

XXXXX

Chat Noir and Ladybug rushed towards the mirage of Flame Striker they hoped that they would have all of her attention. Ladybug threw her yoyo out and grabbed a trashcan and threw it at one of the fireballs and destroyed it as Chat Noir threw a garbage can lid at another destroying it. As they dodged the arrows from the other fireballs, Ladybug hoped Chloe and Sabrina would soon find the Akuma, and moments after she had this thought then the fireballs died, however a moment later an explosion of fire herald Apisera flying through the air and she rolled and landed next to Ladybug and Chat Noir as she winced, her top was around her arm.

“What happened?!” Ladybug asked as the true Akuma walked out, fireballs forming around her staff.

“I don’t know! I was about to attack her when…….Hawkmoth has eyes on us!” Apisera said with a snarl. “He contacted her before I sent my partner away and got the jump on me before I could do anything, sorry LB.”

“Don’t worry, you got the real one out……. Wait what?!” Ladybug asked as she and Chat Noir swung their heads and looked at Apisera who nodded.If she means what I think she does, then that’s……That’s a game-changer…… we can talk about it later but for now we need to stay alive.She thought as she looked at the Akuma as she walked out.

“So you need help to deal with me, the Flame Empress?” Flame Empress purred as two fireballs formed and started to fire arrows at them, the three heroes dodging as two more fireballs formed behind her.

“What’s the plan my Lady?” Chat Noir asked and Aspirea chuckled as she readied herself.

“Let’s try a Lucky Charm!” Ladybug called out as she threw her Yoyo upwards and a red and black spotted fog machine dropped down. She looked at it and then around, seeing the alley that Flame Empress had come out of and then Aspirea flashed as well as Ladybug understood.

“Take this and get back to where you left your partner and recharge,lookfor an opening and activate it once youseeone.” Ladybug said as she handed the machine to Aspira who looked at Flame Empress and nodded. “We’ll holditoff, go!”

“Got it Ladybug!” Aspira said with a grin as she realized what Ladybug meant and dashed away, Chat Noir looked at the Akuma as it moved and sent fireballs at them and they started to dodge the arrows. Ladybug used her yoyo to grab a bench and throw it at Flame Empress who burned it to ashes with her staff as Chat Noir landed near the town hall. He looked at the door as he felt the heat from it and frowned as he felt the heat from it and looked at the walls, seeing the paint start to drip down he hoped Chloe would be able to finish this before the two of them timed out.

“I’ll just be able to get Ladybug’s Miraculous before I try and get the cat! You can’t stop what you can’t see!” Flame Empress roared assheraised her staff and fired a bolt of flame at Ladybug who dodged it and

XXXXX

Aspira moved upwards and away, a scowl on her face.He saw us, that’s the only explanation for who it happened! I guess the ideas that we’ve brainstormed about Hawkbut is dead, at least that one.she thought as she made it to the rooftop and looked down at the alley, her eyes not finding anything but feeling the breeze she activated the fog machine. As the fog started to drift down she saw an area that wasn’t being covered by the fog, an area in the shape of a person. Aspira grinned and looked down at the space and jumped towards it, a grin on her face. “Venom!”

As she fell down she hit something and saw Flame Empress fade into reality as Aspira grinned and looked at the Akuma.

“Not bad, the only thing that’s bad is that you won’t remember much so we won’t be able to ask you how you found out we were there.” Aspira said as she reached down and picked up the paralyzed Akuma. She walked out of the alley as Ladybug and Chat Noir moved towards her.

She grinned at them and smirked before she heard a beep before another beep sounded and she put the Akuma down. “Well I’m off, hopefully, I’ll get back to my partner and we’ll hand them over to you once we de-transform!”

As Aspira jumped to the rooftops Ladybug looked over the Akuma until she found the necklace and tore it from her neck. “Catch Chat!”

“Cataclysm!” He called out and with a touch the necklace was destroyed, black energy flowing over the Akuma as she was turned back to normal as Chat jumped upwards and ret. As the black butterfly flew free Ladybug started to spin her yoyo.

“No more evildoing for you little Akuma!” She called out as she threw her necklace at the butterfly and caught it. She pulled the yoyo back to her and smiled, releasing a white butterfly from it as Chat Noir came down with the fog machine.

“Together?”

“Together!” Chat Noir answered with a smirk and they both put their hands under the Lucky Charm and threw it into the air.

“Miraculous Ladybug!” They called out as it came apart into ladybugs that swarmed around, repairing the light post and then swarming over the town hall, the glow was gone when thy swarm passed.

“I’ll go, you handle the victim.” Ladybug said as she ran towards one of the buildings and jumped away, Chat Noir looking at her and smiling before turning back towards the victim as people, including Otis came out of the town hall.

“Are you okay?” Chat Noir asked the woman who shook her head.

“Wha….Chat Noir? Why are you…… oh god! He got me didn’t he?” The woman said and Chat Noir nodded.

“Can I ask what was the cause mam?” Chat Noir asked

“I wanted to update the fire safety rules for public gatherings, I spent a month working on it but I was told that I would have to come back because a new festival was just planned for next month and to bring in new laws or rules would affect it so I was told to come back when there wasn’t one planned, and with the way the city is that would be sometime next year!” The woman said loudly as people came closer and Otis scowled in anger.

“I don’t believe this, did you talk to the mayor about that?” Otis demanded and the woman shook her head.

“I didn’t even get that far, it was this secretary outside his office.” The woman said and then they all looked towards Chat Noir as his ring beeped.

“You all look like you got this, good luck!” Chat Noir said as he jumped to the rooftops and dashed away and Otis looked at the woman and offered her his hand.

“I’m Otis, I work at the zoo and I’ve been chosen to plan a fundraising party, how about you and I look over your proposed new rules and we see what we can do?” Otis said and the woman smiled at him.

Chapter 11

Chapter Text

Nathalie finished drying herself off and heard a beeping from her phone. Tying down the towel around herself, she grabbed it and cursed mentally as she looked at it.

HeadAgr; Failed again, any luck on your end?

She typed a reply and sighed as she read it before sending it.

Me; Guest was crocodile with a stomach ache, had to shower to clean off and get new clothing from assistant, will return to base.

As she started to put the clothes Penny had given her on, she sighed and hoped that they would fit, with how they had different builds. As she forced the shirt down she looked at herself and blushed a little, she liked how the clothing highlighted her figure.Maybe I should look into upgrading my wardrobe, maybe see if I can find a seamstress to make my clothing tighter.She thought as she turned this way and that as she looked at her reflection.

“You done in there Nathalie?” Penny’s voice caused her to remember where she was and what had happened to her.

She got out and she heard a whistle from Penny who smiled at her.

“Damn girl, not bad! So before we send you away, mind telling us why you broke down the door and who you were trying to find?” Penny asked as Nathalie looked at her and Jagged laughed from behind her.

“Remember that we’ve got you dead to rights, we dropped a recorder to keep an eye on my boy, so spill it lady!” Jagged said and Penny moved to stand in front of the only way out of the room.

“I was looking for Adrien.” Nathalie said and Jagged looked up and frowned.

“What, did he finally run away from Gabe?” Jagged asked and when Nathalie nodded he whistled. “I didn’t think that guy had it in him, what happened?”

“It’s a long story; basically it started because Gabriel started to have doubts about the staff of the college, and if Adrien would tell him if people were using him.” Nathalie said and Jagged looked at Penny and after a few moments nodded.

“Yeah, I can see that. After the ‘Owl’ came out I was starting to be a bit worried about that place myself, so what’d he do?” Jagged said and Nathalie looked a little angry.

“After a girl lied to get into the mansion Gabriel was…….impressedwith her and thought that he could use her. He offered her a contract to model with us if she told him what happened at the school, and tried to keep those who would use Adrien away from him.”

Nathalie said and Penny gasped as Jagged laughed and shook his head.

“Oh Gabe, when you screw up you screw up good! So what happened, how’d he figure it out?” Jagged asked and Nathalie looked truly angry.

“The little twit supposedly got a girl expelled, she painted her as someone who was taking advantage of Adrien in her reports but giving his reaction we’re starting to doubt them.” Nathalie said and Jagged frowned, something about that was bothering him.

“So how did Adrien figure that out?” Penny asked and Nathalie looked down. “Come on, it’s not like the twit told him right?”

“She even painted it like the modeling contract was a reward for doing it. I don’t understand what she had against this Dupain-Cheng girl.” Nathalie said and Jagged’s eyes went wide and looked at her as Penny gasped. “You know her then?”

“She’s done some work for me, made me Tower glasses and the cover of one of my CDs. The girl also has a crush on that boy o yours, one that everyone but him knows.” Jagged said bluntly and Nathalie looked at him before facepalming and moaning.

“Of course, that’s why she painted her so bad! I can’t believe this, I’m usually better at spotting people like that.” Nathalie muttered as she walked past Penny, shaking her head in a semi daze as she realized that they had been played. As Jagged sat down and let Fang rub against his leg he reached down and rubbed his head.

“I think we need to contact Marinette Penn, if she was expelled she should have at least had a hearing!” Jagged said and frowned as he saw the look she shot him. “What?”

“Mind telling me that you know that Jagged?” Penny asked and Jagged shrugged.

“Fangster stowed away one day back when I was in school and I almost got expelled for that, long story but in the end, the principal was fired, Fang became the honorary mascot, the team was renamed and I got me my first gig to play for a dance.” Jagged said and smiled at her look. “What can I say, I had a crazy youth, really a crazy one!”

“I’m sure, I’ll head to the bakery and ask Sabine what’s going on when I pick up our weakly order. And is there anything you want me to tell Marinette?” Penny asked and Jagged nodded.

“Yeah, tell her my next tour is the beginning stages of being planned, I have a few ideas for some costumes I want to talk to her about.” Jagged said and looked at Penny. “And tell her if she needs character witness that I’m there if she needs me.”

“We’ll be there if she needsus.” Penny corrected him and he gave her a thumbs up and smiled at her.

“Thanks Penn.” Jagged said as he got up and Penny laughed a little.

“After the time with Bob, I think we should help her if it’s legal.” Penny said and frowned. “But I think I’ll take a look into this girl, I know where the photographers gather after hours; I’ll see if I find out about any shoots that were canceled.”

“Think you should Penny?” Jagged asked as he put a collar around Fang’s neck, attached a leash, and started to lead him out of the room, Penny following behind them.

“Yeah, something about this is bothering me, I want to know exactly what this other girl did in the school, I have a bad feeling about this.” Penny said and frowned as they left the room and looked down the hallway and saw the door to the stairs closing.Did she go that way, why? I don’t like how she was here during the Akuma attack to look for Adrien, I mean hanging out to wait for him is one thing, but why do I have a feeling that there’s more to this story than she said.Penny thought as they walked towards the elevator.

As she walked down the stairs, Nathalie frowned and started to scowl as she went over what Penny and Jagged told her about Marinette.Of course she has a crush on Adrien, of course she does! And I bet Adrien likes her back but can’t see it and Lila tried to attack her to better her chances! And we swallowed it hook line and sinker! I can’t believe this, but at least some of how Adrien reacted is explained.She thought as she got out her phone and sighed before texting.

Me; Will talk more when I get back, but who Lila targeted might be the reason why he reacted the way he did, need to talk in person.

As she came out into the lobby she heard her phone ding and looked at the message.

HeadAgr; What is it?

Me; Have to tell you in person, I need to talk to you face to face.

She finished the text moments before her phone dinged and she saw that the Akuma Alert App was off, she knew that the Akuma had been defeated but now the rest of the city were being told, she knew within moments the siren that the mayor had created would soon sound, but she hoped that she could get home before the rest of the city knew it. As she walked out of the hotel she saw the Gorilla move out of a building and nod at her before gesturing towards a parking lot and she nodded back, walking towards it as he helped a few people out of the store before walking towards the limo.Take the soldier out of the army, but you can’t take the army out of the soldier. And that’s one of the reasons we hired him as a bodyguard. Still the time he was an Akuma was interesting, but if he had been a better form……. Maybe I should talk to Gabriel about how the magic works, if we can craft them better, we could try and create a custom Akuma and hopefully end this.She thought as she waited for the Gorilla who grunted as soon as he saw what she was wearing.

“It was a no show; the guest was just a sick crocodile. And by that yes, I mean an actual sick crocodile.” Nathalie said as The Gorilla only looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “And believe me it was physically sick, vomiting and everything. Vomit that I fell into.”

At the disgusted look he sent her she nodded.

“Yes it was as disgusting as it sounds, and but at least I learned that Adrien is most likely not here.” Nathalie said as she got into the limo.And I learned that the little witch probably played us even more than I thought she could. He is not going to like this but then this is what we get for trusting someone who lied to get into the mansion!She thought as she sat back as the Gorilla drove off, her mind going strange places and she hoped, hoped that he wouldn’t do anything too far off when he learned that Lila had played them all.

XXXXXX

As Chat Noir moved over the rooftops he saw Ladybug wave at him and then drop down into an alley and he moved faster, another beep caused him to hurry. He dropped down and landed before Sabrina, Chloe, and Marinette and their kwami smiled as Plagg floated above Adrien’s shoulder.

“What happened?” Marinette asked and Sabrina looked down. “Hey you did great, you found where the Akuma was hiding and got Chloe there, a lot better than my first outing.”

“Really?” Sabrina asked and Marinette saw Chloe wince and put that away in the file that she had that she and Chloe needed to talk about a lot of things.

“Oh yes, on the ranking of bad first times, I think it’s in the middle.” Tikki said and giggled. “She even called me a bug-mouse!”

“Really?!” Pollen asked and Tikki laughed as the Kwami all chuckled or giggled.

“Yeah, and I transformed before Tikki could finish telling me what to do, hence why the Akuma multiplied.” Marinette said with a shake of her head and looked at Sabrina. “You did everything that you had to do, and keeping these things and the Kwami safe is job 3, job 2 is protecting other people and job 1 is staying alive.”

“Thanks. Once we were in range of the battle I activated Barkk’s power and I tracked the magic to the alley, then I went away after I started to time out, after I was away I heard the explosion but I had only just transformed back and I don’t have anything to recharge Barkk.” Sabrina said and looked up at Barkk who smiled back. “But before I left I saw a bolt of magic go to the Akuma right before an energy mask appeared on her face.”

Adrien gasped and looked at Sabrina as Plagg looked at Bark.

“How’d the power do that, I thought you said that whoever used your power had to think about what their after!” Plagg said as the Kwami hovered in the air.

“They do, maybe because the Akuma uses Nooroo’s power, I don’t know!” Barkk said and Chloe looked at Pollen as she ahhed in shock.

“Could it have been that easy?” Pollen said as she looked around. “If that’s something then we could find Nooroo!”

“I’ll need to stay active but this might be the best lead we’ve found!” Barkk said with a laugh as he somersaulted. Sabrina looked at the Kwami as she tied her bow back on, covering the Miraculous and grinned at Marinette.

“If that’s what it takes, then so be it! So what do you like to eat?” Sabrina asked and Barkk hugged her cheek.

“Anything a dog can eat, but I love dog treats!” Barkk said with a laugh and Sabrina looked at him and nodded.

“I can order them online, and I have ways so my dad won’t see them, should be about a day or two for them. But how did you get thrown by that explosion Chloe?” Sabrina asked and Chloe nodded and took over.

“After I brought Sabrina away from the edge of the roof and sent her off before she timed out, I prepared to jump at the Akuma, but the moment I did it the explosion happed and I was airborne heading towards you guys. The only thing I can see is if Hawkmoth was able to see around the Akuma, maybe he saw Pollen’s magic aura or whatever.” Chloe said and Marinette looked at Tikki who hovered next to her and she saw the same worry that was in her eyes.

Marinette looked into space as she tried to understand what was being said here.this changes things, I mean I was always worried that Hawkmoth could have a way to see through his Akuma’s eyes, but this is something different. The pages of the grimoire, if the Butterfly pages can tell anything about it then we might learn something, he said he was trying to translate but each one Miraculous had a different code so only it wouldn’t be easy to break but if we can even get confirmation of what he can see then that’s a victory.She thought as Adrien handed Plagg a piece of cheese.

“So I’ll see you ladies back at the theater, I’m sorry but I don’t want to risk the Gorilla seeing me. Ready Plagg?” Adrien asked and Plagg grinned.

“Ready kid!” Plagg said, snapping Marinette out of her shock.

“Wait!” Marinette said and they all looked at her. “Once you get there, tell Master Fu about what happened with Chloe and Sabrina, we need to rethink everything we thought we knew about fighting Hawkmoth if I’m right!”

“Got it princess, Plagg claws out!” Adrien said as he transformed into Chat Noir and looked at the others. “Good luck on not being seen by Lila!”

As Chat Noir jumped upwards Marinette turned back to Chloe and Sabrina and smiled, it dropped a bit as she saw the grin on Chloe’s face. “What?”

“Princess? Oh, I’m going to be holding that over my brother’s head for a while now! And wait……..didn’t you….. oh god it was a two-person love square wasn’t it?” Chloe asked she put her head into her hands and started to laugh as Marinette blushed and Sabrina started to giggle.

“It’s something he started to call me as Chat Noir, not as Adrien!” Marinette said and looked away.

“Let’s not forget how you kissed Chat as Ladybug during the Dark Cupid attack!” Tikki said and Chloe squealed and looked at Marinette as Sabrina grinned as Barkk and Pollen giggled.

As the three girls walked through Paris, Marinette looked at Chloe with a strange look on her face, her thoughts running wild.

“Chloe, I have to know, when you stole my design for that hat contest, did you do it on purpose? I mean did you keep my signature on the hat.” Marinette asked and Chloe nodded. “Oh Chloe.”

”I have baggage, that’s true; I mean I have a lot of stuff, I wanted to be burned as a cheat and liar so that the arranged marriage proposals would die down.” Chloe said with a snort.

“I noticed the signature; we knew you’d be able to prove that you were the creator.” Sabrina said and giggled at Marinette's look. “Yeah, I'm a lot more independent than I act, my mom really worked me over before she left me and my dad.”

“Wow.” Marinette said and looked at the two girls and could only stare as Tikki floated down and rubbed her cheek.

“Okay, time to share everything is done, time to move!” Sabrina said as she opened her purse and Barkk slipped into it, Pollen and Tikki both hide in something their chosen carried. Moments later they walked out of the alley as the Akuma All clear sounded. “That was faster than usual.”

“It was at City Hall this time, that has to have something to do with it.” Chloe said bitterly.His honor would only care about himself, the same as his bitch! I mean after everything I've seen them do I'm not even surprised anymore!She thought as they walked along the sidewalk.

“Still the band's along the river were great, you know?” Sabrina said and Marinette looked up.

“Bands?” Marinette asked and Sabrina nodded.

“Oh yes. Chloe and I like to see what bands are playing, it really is nice and we can see what new bands are coming up to see what the clubs might have.” Sabrina explained as Marinette looked at her. “Oh I'm talking about the local dance clubs; they usually recruit those who don't have contracts like Kitty Select. There are some interesting independents in the city.”

“That's interesting. And you two do that on the weekends?” Marinette asked and Chloe nodded.

“Only in late spring to early fall, that's when the bands play really. And in winter that's when they play little concerts here or there when they’re not performing at the clubs. You know there's this little place that's basically just small rooms for private parties and they play recordings for small gatherings or dates away from reporters and gawkers, I'm sure Adrien would love to take you dancing there.” Chloe said and laughed at Marinette's blush.

Chloe looked at her and sighed, shaking her head as she brought a small case and pulled out an earbud and put it into her right ear as she dialed a number on her phone as Marinette looked at her.

“Hey fox-girl, me, Sabrina and Marinette were able to stay safe until the heroes dealt with the problem! So we're gonna grab some sandwiches from Subhub and meet you there, so what do you all want?” Chloe said and Marinette looked at her.

“Chloe?” Marinette asked as Chloe ignored her and listened to her phone and nodded.

“Yeah, my treat, footlongs for the big guys and six or salads for the small guys, what do they want?” Chloe said as she started to type out a few things on an app she activated and smiled. “Got it, see you in a bit!”

Marinette tried to say something when Sabrina laughed and pulled Marinette after her as Chloe came up behind her, the Kwami giggling and flew to hide in their chosen’s purses.

XXXXXXX

Lila pouted as the all-clear sounded.So another of his pawns failed again, he needs to learn that only those who want to take down Ladybug can truly win against her. People like me with the right mindset, the ones that won't fight against the power he uses to force them to fight; he should only help those who will use all of the power, to be stronger than the usual fools are. But of course there is the way that he can sometimes make them more powerful if he gets them again.Lila thought as she looked around her room as she sat on her bed.

As she looked at the Ladyblog she frowned as she saw nothing about the fight.That's weird, that blogger bitch usually live streams what the Ladybitch and her cat do, was she out of range or had what happened to Marinette, oh if she's worried about how she couldn't see her true nature. To fully destroy her friendship with Alya would be the icing on the cake.She thought as she sighed. “But I can't believe how easy it was to get her expelled, I thought at most it would be suspension, and to think I didn't have to fake being hurt!”

As Lila surfed the net she went to the class chat room and frowned as she saw the conversation was about the events, nothing about how much of a bitch Marinette was. “They didn't say anything when it happened, but do they have any doubts about my version of events? And where was Adrien yesterday? At least none of them heard about what he did.”

Lila looked thoughtful as she looked upwards and sighed.But that was out of left field, after everything I thought I knew about Adrien that if I even hinted that his father was okay with what I did then he would have completely folded. I guess that I was wrong, I can only hope that his father will get through to him about the reality of the world before he lets him out again.Lila thought as she stared at the ceiling.

“And with luck after this he'll understand that people like him exist to be used by people like me.” Lila said as she smirked.And the first thing I should do after school is stop by that bakery across the street and start working on those people, it's the best in the city and I can't wait until they ban her family. It's your own fault really Marinette; if you’re not with me then I crush them utterly.She thought as she giggled. “So let’s see what the peons are talking about.”

Gothleta; After everything that happened at school, I’m looking forward to the field trip at the Lourve next month.

FlowerChild; Yeah, it’s for science class right, something about planets?

SuperPen; I think it was about Saturn and how it inspired art or something, do you remember what she said exactly?

Actfear; I think your dad is involved with it right Alex?

Timehopper; No, it’s because the Lourve has the new planetarium on the bottom floor; they cleared out some of the storage and even moved into the catacombs and set up new security for it! it’s a great show, and I know your all going to like it!

RockRocker; Killer! I wanted to talk to you about it Rose, I got an idea I wanted to talk to the group so I’ll see you in that room later tonight, okay?

FlowerChild; Sure Ivan, I’ll be free around seven, see you there!

Hey is it still okay that I’m coming over for dinner tonight Juleka?

Gothleta; Perfectly fine Rose, my mom loves when you come over!

She asked me to invite the whole group for a nice meal but then this happened and well…… you know.

Actfear; Yeah, this was terrible. I hope Luka is okay after what happened to him.

“Oh gag me, how can those people be such

“I wonder what those three are always talking about on this, I can’t exactly weave my stories if I can’t know everything about them, now can I?”

Lila asked aloud and frowned as she went still.

“Wait a second, hello what’s this?”

After rereading the day's chat she discovered that neither Kim, Max, Alya or Nino hadn’t talked to anyone on it at all.

“Where are you four and Adrien didn't contact anyone at all? And what about Chloe and Sabrina, I know that you two don’t talk to the commoners, but what” Lila mused as she leaned back and looked out her window. “Maybe I should contact that assistant, if she told his father about how he acted then I can just imagine how dear Gabriel reacted. Adrien is probably grounded until he learned his lesson to his father’s satisfaction, and took his tech until he feels he can trust him with it. But should I text or phone? Text, yes that makes more sense, the perfect way to see what I should do on that end and not seem too ”

Lila got out her phone when a text message popped up from the person in question.

Nathalie Sec; We are currently dealing with the fallout of the photo-shoot on our ends, don’t contact us until I send you the all-clear. As of now also do not contact Adrien at all or try to visit him here.

“I was right then, he is grounded. Poor Adrien, I will have to get him alone and talk to him about the facts of life once I see him again.” Lila purred evilly and grinned.Of course, once he understands the truth of this world and I teach him how to rule, in time we’ll be the power couple of Paris! And it doesn’t hurt that he’s handsome and the heir to a company!Lila thought with a grin as she laughed.

“Everything is going perfectly for once! I can’t believe this. I have a good line with Hawkmoth to get that bitch Ladybug squashed, I have a job as a model to get invited to parties with celebrities, and within the week I’ll have a perfect boy-toy!” Lila said as she kept laughing as she saw her future and enjoyed what she fantasized about it.Everything is coming together, a few more modeling gigs to buff up my portfolio and even if I have to leave Paris I’ll still have something to show for it! And I might get close enough to him to take it or I might even get the Fox, with that power my life could be perfect!She thought with a laugh.

“But all to make sure this happens I have to make sure that nothing that could affect my web, and I have to make sure that Mari-Trash stays gone!” Lila said with a smirk as she looked around her room and grinned.I’ve had many foes over the years, but she was the hardest to break, I’m just so sad I wasn’t able to hear what her parents did to her. I mean if the school punished her then they will have to as well.She thought as she giggled and fell backwards onto her bed.

“I wonder how school will be now that I've finally won against Marinette, but that Kim…….. I think I need to have atalkwith him, if he keeps doing what that I would hate to discover that he’s just like Marinette, or he’s taking drugs to enhance his athletic performance.” Lila purred as she leaned back and brought out a book, and started to write down a few plans to deal with what they might move against her, not knowing that her plans would soon become the chain around her neck.

XXXXXXXX

Gabriel sat at his desk and tried to figure out how this Akuma had failed.I was able to give her complete power over heat and she still failed! At least I learned that there's a new bee and they sent out a new Miraculous.He thought as he sighed.

“How did they find her, were they coming that way, no then why did the other one fall back? Still perhaps I can use this, if I have a way to get another lawn who will accept the power on their own then I might have a better Hero Day 2.0” Gabriel said as Nooroo hovered above him.

Nooroo stayed silent, but his thoughts were running wild.I might be right, my set is still around, I I thought it had been destroyed with the others. I can't let on that I know anything, if he orders me to tell him anything then I have to word it right, I can't let on I know anything.Nooroo thought as he looked at Gabriel and hoped that he wouldn't ask a question in a way he had to answer.

Gabriel eyed Nooroo, something about the kwami was bothering him but he couldn't tell what it was. He was about to say something when the doors opened and he looked up and saw Nathalie walk into the room with her borrowed clothes and he went still for a second.

“What happened? Why did you change your clothes?” Gabriel asked and Nathalie looked at him.

“The special guest was Jagged Stone's pet crocodile. It was sick and I slipped and fell into its vomit. Thankfully its owners were taking him back there room and Penny let me borrow something to change into.” Nathalie said and Gabriel winced and Nooroo shuddered.

“Oh I'm sorry miss Nathalie! I remember when Trixx used horse manure in a prank, Plagg almost cataclysmed the horse before Tikki stopped him!” Nooroo said and Gabriel nodded.

“Yes, I'm sorry Nathalie.” Gabriel said and Natalie shrugged.

“It happened, and I learned why Lila was so happy to act against Miss Dunpain-Cheng.” Nathalie said and Gabriel looked at her.

“Then she had a reason beyond the contract and staying onhisgood sides?” Gabriel asked and Nathalie nodded. “What?”

“Miss Dunpain-Cheng has a crush on Adrien.” Nathalie said and Gabriel's mouth dropped open.

“What do you mean; Miss Dunpain-Cheng had a crush on my son?” Gabriel demanded icily and Nathalie nodded.

“That is what Jagged Stone and Penny Rolling said Gabriel.” Nathalie said as Nooroo hovered above them looking down at them, his normal face hiding the worry that he had.Of course those two would find out about how they feel about each other now, perfect! If they figure out one of those two then they could win! I want master’s wife to be healed but this is too much, the wish is only when there are no other avenues to get what you want, to act against terrible events in the near future!Nooroo thought and cursed that Gabriel had ordered him from telling him anything else with his order.

“Then that little witch played us, she fingered Dunpain-Cheng as a disruptive influence because she wanted to get rid of a rival for Adrien’s heart.” Gabriel said and looked up at Nooroo who felt the rage that Gabriel was keeping under control with force of will alone. “And you couldn’t tell me that?”

“I can only sense the emotions that people are feeling when they first happen master, if I wasn’t around them when the crush first started then I wouldn’t know at all!” Nooroo said and Gabriel nodded and looked down.

“Oh, right. I forgot about that, it’s normally hard enough to find someone to use from here I forgot about that limitation of yours.” Gabriel said and Nathalie giggled and he looked up at her. “What is it?”

“Just that this crush might not be as one-sided as people believe giving how Adrien reacted when Lila told her that you said to get Miss Dunpain-Cheng expelled. It paints a clearer picture of Adrien’s actions at the shoot Gabriel.” Nathalie said and Gabriel nodded, his mind going strange places.

“I can’t believe this, I just can’t.” Gabriel said as he looked at his wife’s painting.I can’t believe she tricked me oh so well, I can only blame myself for this. I was so sure that if the theater I helped Lila sculpt worked then the emotions from what happened would have let me bring back some of my most powerful Akuma and with Dunpain-Cheng among them then I was sure I could have won at last!Heroes day only failed because they broke Nathalie’s item .......item………..wait………she was miles away, I don’t believe it, how could I have missed that.He thought as he went still and started to grin. “I just had a thought, why have we been having my champions keep their items on them?”

“Gabriel?” Nathalie asked as Nooroo went still and actually looked shocked at the question.

“Why do our Akumas have to hive their items on them? What if we have can keep the item away from them, is there a range the item has to be in Nooroo?” Gabriel asked and Nooroo actually looked confused and then started to think. “Well do they?”

“I don’t know master, I’ve never really tried, the items my champions resonated with things that were usually weapons or items that were nearby or they were wearing.” Nooroo said and Gabriel nodded. “Then this might have a good test, I think I need to talk to Lila as my other ego, have a talk about how the Dunpain-Cheng thing failed, how I want to try again with an experiment when her trial happens.”

Nooroo looked at Gabriel as he grinned, a strange feeling through the kwami as he looked through his memories and saw that he had never even tried that with any of his Champions, he tried to figure out why he hadn’t but he just hadn’t thought of it, and that bothered him for some reason.

“I still don’t like this Gabriel, if she used Gabriel Agreste then what about Hawkmoth? If she’s trying to get closer tohimto take his power for her own then we might have a problem.” Nathalie said and Gabriel nodded.

“Yes, I think she might be too much for us to associated with too closely. Since the photo-shoot has she contacted you at all?” Gabriel asked and Nathalie nodded

“No I texted her on the way back, I told her that Adrien was unavailable and not to bother contacting him.”

Nathalie said and Gabriel nodded.

“Good, good. With luck, we’ll be able to finish her and hopefully we’ll be able to weather this.” Gabriel said and looked at Nathalie and then away, Nathalie saw this and smiled a little as she

and looked towards her as a beep caused them to look at Nathalie’s tablet. They frowned and looked at it as Nathalie looked at it before her eyes found Gabriel. Gabriel was starting to get worried when he saw the way Nathalie’s eyes were wide.

“We so shouldn’t have gotten involved with her Gabriel, not at all!” Nathalie said quietly as she paled in horror and Gabriel looked at her as she passed over the tablet and he started to read it.

As his eyes went over the files, the first one was a travel itinerary of Lila and her mother through the last few years, then there were files on school websites and emails from students and then there were articles from newspapers about how people got hurt in accidents, deaths that happened in the same cities during the time that Lila had been there and then there were incidents that might have been linked to her mother.What is this; this is………….. I don’t understand, why hasn’t anyone found this before, I mean people aren’t that stupid so why hasn’t anyone…….wait, where is her father?Gabriel thought and frowned as he looked up at Nathalie.

“I, this is so far beyond what I thought we would find, maybe another expulsion or something but this is beyond anything, I can’t believe that nobody found out about this girl before now!” Nathalie said and Gabriel nodded.

“I agree, it is impossible for anyone not to have found this before now……..who was watching out for her, and where did they go?” Gabriel asked softly before nodding at Nathalie. “Send our payment to the investigator, and tell him I want anything and everything about her father and family.”

“Of course sir…….do you think that there’s something there?” Nathalie asked and Gabriel stood there and looked at his wife’s painting and nodded, a strange feeling coming through him as he looked at it.

“A father will do anything to protect his child; I fear that before this is over we will see that in someone else.” Gabriel said and then he had a thought and frowned and looked at Nathalie. “And make a copy of the files, and make a separate file with only the school information and itinerary, make sure to send that to the Dunpain’s at the first opportunity, as an ‘apology’ and hope it works from the hacker.”

“You seem to be really trying to help this girl Gabriel, why?" Nathalie asked and Gabriel shrugged.

"I don't want to do lasting harm to anyone, especially one of Adrien's friends. This is a way of helping my own conscious, and when my wife wakes up and she learns about all this, do you want to think what she will do to the two of us?" Gabriel asked and Nathalie looked shellshocked and nodded.

XXXXXXXXX

Nora walked through Paris leading her sisters with a scowl on her face as she saw people come out of hiding after the Akuma alarm sounded the all-clear. As she walked she heard the comments as she sometimes did, wondering if Hawkmoth should just be given what he wants at this point and scowled.The whole city is giving Butterfly-man too much fear, I mean Mister Whiskers and Buggirl have reasons not to give up their bling, and I bet Butterfly-man knows them. If given an impossible choice you fight, I mean I would!She thought as she led the way towards the park in front of the bakery.

“So we can go play once you grab some snacks sis?” Ella asked as she and her twin Etta tried to keep the excitement from

“Yeah rug rats let me just touch base and I’ll take you to the park.” Nora reassured her as they reached the bakery. As they walked in she saw a few people ducking out of the backroom and she grinned, how they used their basem*nt offices as an Akuma shelter was part of how the Dunpain-Chengs dealt with Hawkmoth and part of what she really liked that about them.

“Thank you all for being so good, please come again if you want some cookies or cakes!” Sabine said as she herded the people out and looked up and saw Nora walking in. “Oh Nora, good to see you!”

“Hey Sabine, I was in the area and I really wanted to talk to you about what happened to your kid.”

Nora said and Sabine raised an eyebrow and Nora winced.

“And that’s all?” Sabine asked as Tom came out behind his wife.

“And I really wanted to get some of your cookies.” Nora admitted with a chuckle.

“I just put in the last of the new stuff in Sabine, why don’t you go and talk to her while I watch the front.” Tom said as he got Nora’s usual into a bag.

“Thanks, and some for the twins please!” Nora said and Tom laughed and put a few vegetable cookies into another bag.

“And that’s the total!”

Sabine said as she punched in the last of the snacks and Nora nodded at the total and pulled out her bank card.

“I still think that a five percent discount is too much for stuff like this!” Nora said as Sabine laughed before a phone rang next to them.

“Membership discount is four percent, and family and friends is five. That’s how my dad did it, that’s how I’ll do it!” Tom called out from the kitchen.

“Hold on one minute…..Hello, Boulangerie Patisserie how can I help you……..Penny, hi! Did you want to talk to Marinette or is this about your order?” Sabine asked with a smile that fell and she winced. “Oh, how did you find out about that? Oh, wait Fang’s what?! How is he, oh good……. To tell you the truth someone else wants to find out what happened, are you near the store……good we’ll be at the park across the way, you’ll see me there okay? Good.”

Nora looked at Sabine as she moved from behind the counter. “I’m guessing I’ll be waiting for whoever that was until you tell me what happened, right?”

XXXXXX

Penny walked through the park, her mind going strange places as she tried to understand how this could have happened to Marinette, and knowing that neither she nor Jagged would like what she would be told.

“Penny, over here!” Sabine called out and Penny looked up and saw Sabine sitting next to Nora on a bench as Elle and Etta ran about the park. As Penny reached the two Sabine got up and hugged her.

“Hey Sabine, so who’s this?” Penny asked and Nora got up and offered her hand.

“Nora Cesaire, I’m the sister of a friend of Pinkie’s.” Nora said and Penny looked at her and frowned. “What, do I have crumbs on my mouth or something?”

“No, but I know your face, I can’t tell from where but I know you.” Penny said and Nora laughed a little.

“I’m a kickboxer, maybe you saw one of my matches on the tube or something.” Nora said and looked at Sabine. “But enough about me, what happened at the school Sabine!”

“It started out simple enough for us. We saw got a call and we went over, once there we were told that Marinette had cheated on a practice test, pushed a student down the stairs and then the girl said that Marinette stole a necklace from her, led us to the locker-room and Marinette’s locker and there it was in the locker.” Sabine said bitterly and Penny frowned and Nora scowled.

“This necklace, was it small enough to fit through the grating on Marinette’s locker?” Nora asked and Sabine nodded, Penny meanwhile was deep in thought. “Then there’s no evidence that Mari took it, and people saw her push this girl down the stairs?”

“No, and they didn’t even check the CCTV camera’s.” Sabine said and Penny’s mouth dropped open and she gasped.

“This girl who fell down the stairs walked into the locker room of the school, the nurse let her?” Penny asked and Sabine shook her head.

“No, the nurse wasn’t even called. And after the principle expelled Marinette on the spot, before Hawkmoth attacked everyone.”

Sabine said and Nora and Penny both looked at her in shock.

“Another crimson moth attack?!” Nora said in horror, remembering the chaos of Heroes Day and how the whole city had fought back against

“Why didn’t anyone tell the rest of the city?! Were the heroes able to contain them all!?” Penny asked and Sabine winced.

“The attack, stopped in the middle, no one turned but butterflies hit us all.” Sabine said and looked down as the others looked at her in sympathy.

“You Sabine?”

“Me and Marinette.” Sabine said and Penny winced and Nora just started to curse. “I……..he just named us when the attacked stopped, he called me Verity Queen and Marinette Princess Justice.”

“Damn, I mean damn.” Penny said as she paled. “Thank god it failed, otherwise Paris would have fallen.”

“Mr. Whiskers and Beetle handled the first mass attack, with help they would have handled this one.” Nora said and Penny shook her head and even Sabine looked confused at what Penny meant.

“I meant Marinette as an Akuma. The girl is strong, more creative than a lot of people in the business, she would have won, at least Jagged and I think so.” Penny admitted and blushed at the look Sabine sent her. “It was at the end of a day, we had seen a report about a musician who acts like so innocent on camera but is a total bitch off it, we made up so Akuma’s and then Jagged went pale and gasped out that Marinette as an Akuma would have won against them and well…..”

Sabine looked at Penny with a strange look on her face, Nora nodded after looking thoughtful for a few minutes.

"What, she's smart enough to have made a trap that would have worked." Penny said and Nora chuckled.

“Makes sense, when Hawkbutt used me, I was so straightforward according to sis.” Nora said and Penny looked at her with a look of sympathy that

“You too?” Penny asked and Nora nodded, a guarded look in her eyes.

“Yeah, I was this spider wrestler Akuma that grabbed my sister and Mr. Whiskers until that Turtle guy helped Beetle handle me.” Nora said and grabbed her arms. “At least that’s what Alya said about it, so you?”

“A punk groupie with pink mohawk armed with a pen that made me intangible.” Penny said and Nora snickered.

“All I could do was make webbing and had six arms.” Nora said as Penny laughed and shook her head.

“I….. I was trying to figure out how to contact you and Jagged, Marinette wanted to talk to you about the lies she heard, one of them was about him.” Sabine said reluctantly and Penny felt a headache starting to form.

“What could she had said?” Penny asked and Sabine looked down.

“That she saved his kitten from being run over by an airplane and that she got tinnitus from it, and that he wrote a song about her.” Sabine said and Penny looked at her before she face palmed.

“Good god, this is too stupid! And if the paparazzi heard about this then Jagged could be accused of courting a minor!” Penny said and Nora started to laugh it up before she went still.

“Alya didn’t put that up on her blog, did she?” Nora asked and Sabine shook her head.

“No, Marinette said that she didn’t feel constable putting something like that on the Ladyblog, and if Jagged made a song to thank someone for saving his pet and not sing it at concerts then it was because the person didn’t want him to and she wouldn’t bring attention to it.” Sabine said and Nora sighed and nodded.

“Nice to see that she’s learning at least, I do not want to have to deal with her being sued!” Nora said and Penny looked interested and Nora shrugged. “Sis wants to be a reporter, so she has this blog and well.”

“Yeah, she could have been sued for slander if she did. I swear, the number of times Bob Roth did that, you think that was his business instead of his company!” Penny said with disgust and Nora snorted.

“Know a few promoters like that around the ring, don’t like them at all! Always trying to do something to get ahead at the expense of others, you two are going solo from this Bob right?” Nora asked and Penny nodded.

“We’re under contract for one last concert, then everything Jagged is his and we’re free from him.” Penny said as she got up and smiled at the two. “Thanks for the talk, call us if you need character witness Sabine, please.”

“We will Penny, have a good day.” Sabine said as Penny walked away

Chapter 12

Chapter Text

“Mari got expelled without a hearing!? That ain’t right dude!” Jagged growled and Penny nodded as Fang growled from where he sat at Jagged’s feet.

Penny had made it back to the hotel and up to their suite and after a few moments had told Jagged everything that Sabine had told her.

“They're dealing with it Jagged, but Sabine and this Nora said something about homeschooling Marinette and another one, probably more if this is as bad as Sabine said it was then it might cause the school to close!” Penny said and Jagged whistled and shook his head as dark memories went through him.

“Heavy.” Jagged said and Penny nodded.I remember how my school treated me because of what I wanted to do, how they tried to use peer pressure to try and change my mind. Never worked but I did learn who I could trust there, hard lesson but one I needed.Jagged thought as he looked at Penny.

“But there’s another problem Jagged. According to Sabine she heard from Marinette that this liar has been telling stories about knowing celebrities.” Penny said and Jagged scoffed and looked at his partner.

“Why would that matter more than what she did to Mari?” Jagged asked as he picked up a glass of water.

“She’s only sixteen. And she said you wrote a song about her because she saved your cat from being run over by an airplane when she was fourteen.” Penny said bluntly as Jagged started to drink from his cup. Jagged drank for a few seconds before his eyes went wide and he spat the water out and Fang started to growl.

“Good Rock and Roll! I could be accused of courting a minor!Can we sue her for anything Penn?” Jagged asked and Penny grinned at him.

“No, it was never put on the web by any of the kids she told it to, the Ladyblogger even edited the interview she had of the liar to leave it out. But we can speak as a character witness that it never happened and help them put this little bitch away!” Penny said and Jagged laughed and smirked.

“I can’t wait until that happens love, but I’m worried about little Mari at that place!” Jagged said and Penny grinned.

“Sabine said they’re considering home school because of what happened to Mari, this might be good for them all.” Penny said and Jagged nodded.

“Good, so the last of the spots for the next tour are ready then?” Jagged asked and Penny nodded.

“I’m just waiting on replies for the last three venues and Sabine told me that Marinette will be done with the last of the costumes for the shows by tomorrow night if nothing happens but with this city…… And she said that they might home school Marinette, but about the last show before we leave...... it will be good to get away from this place, and to release our emotions healthily.” Penny said and Jagged nodded as Fang ragged his tail.

“Might be for the best if that happened to her……. Still, this might be good, might let the little lady handle her education and her design career better.” Jagged said and looked into his past as he remembered how he got into show business and the first few gigs he had, and that was all after he had become homeschooled and everything.

“Maybe, but this is going to be a very big mess if half of what Sabine tells me about the school is true.” Penny said and then Jagged looked at her for a minute.

“Isn’t that place where the guy who was Akumatized into The Owl is the principal?” Jagged asked and Penny nodded and Fang started to growl. “Yeah Fangster I don’t like him either.”

Penny looked at Jagged as he sat and stewed and she knew from comments he had made over the years that he had a few scars from his own school years. And she had to admit that she hadn’t had a good time in that school with that racist bastard as a principal. But still, this wasn’t about them, it was about Marinette.

“So besides we have nothing we can sue her for? Please tell me we do.” Jagged begged and Penny looked away and went over everything she knew about the incident and then frowned.

“No, and since it was in school when she said that, and because the Ladyblogger………. Wait a moment. We might have something, I’ll need to call Sabine and have Marinette ask her friend if she still has the original interview that the Liar gave her……. Then maybe just maybe.” Penny said and Jagged grinned and Fang wagged his tail. Penny looked between them and tried to calm them down. “I said maybe, maybe. I’ll need to talk to our lawyer and it’s their anniversary tonight so I’ll call tomorrow but I might not be able to get in touch before noon.”

“Oh yeah, it’s that time of year insist it? Remember when we walked in on them?” Jagged said and chuckled as Penny went red as she did remember how they had surprised them and what the two had been doing.

“I’ll just call and make sure it’s not video. But even if Marinette is doesn’t get us the clothing we order by the weak after next then we still have a month to get everything ready for our departure, and we have a city-wide show before we leave of course that we have the costumes for already.” Penny reminded Jagged and he laughed and looked up at the ceiling before smirking at her.

“Good, with luck we might just celebrate the show with the closing of a terrible school! I can’t wait until they tell us what’s going on!”Jagged said and looked at Penny and smirked at her friend as he celebrated. Jagged is such a man-child! Still, the fact that he’s bounded with Marinette and her parents as much was good for all of them! Still, he has a lot of baggage that I hope he can put to rest. Still, I hope that Marinette is okay after everything is done, I mean this is terrible, why on earth would that idiot even have done this?Penny thought as Jagged looked at her and smirked.

XXXXXXX

As the kwami ate their little feasts and the teens ate their sandwiches Fu frowned as he stroked his beard.

“So you say that you could see Hawkmoth talk to the Akuma?” Fu asked and when Sabrina nodded he put his head down and muttered prays of forgiveness and creativity.Why didn’t I think of taking out the Dog, if I had even tried to use it then we could have found Hawkmoth by now!He thought as he tried to figure out anything else he might have missed but he couldn’t see anything

“You didn’t even think it was possible, did you?” Alya asked dryly and Fu shook his head, completely shocked about what he was told.

“No I…..I had no idea there was even a small possibility of it Barkk’s powers working like that. I mean nothing in all my training and the grimoire even mentions this was possible.” Fu said and the kwami started to chuckle and laugh a bit in Plagg’s case.

“My chosen have seen when mages cast curses at our side during battles in days of old, this may be like back then.” Barkk said and Sabrina looked thoughtful and frowned, her mind going strange places as she looked at Barkk who looked back at Sabrina with a grin. “Up for trying again the next time partner?”

“Yeah, I am! If it’s okay that he stays with me that is.” Sabrina said as she blushed and Fu nodded.

“I was thinking about having them stay with all of you, with the exception of Wayzz for now.” Fu said and looked around at the teens, Nino nodding in understanding.

“That’s the reason you changed the hiding form for your Miraculous Trixx?” Alya asked as she looked at the new Fox Miraculous around her neck, an orange pentagon with a tribal fox face painted on it.

“Yes, but we have to talk about how you’ll handle the attacks in the future, while I would love to have all of you handle the Akuma your schooling might face troubles with that. And how to deal with the new Bee hero.”Fu said and Chloe looked at Alya and smirked.

“Say, you’re going to be staying at the hotel tonight right? Sleeping in one of the rooms that we set aside for the staff and their families when they can’t make it home right?” Chloe asked and Alya nodded.

“Yeah, my little sisters are sleeping over at the Zoo because dad will be there tonight looking over two of the animals, so the kids of the staff are all watching a movie and sleepover tonight.” Alya said and Chloe grinned.

“Good, then tonight you are going to have supper with me, Sabrina and the Kwami in my condo, after which we’ll have an interview about how I feel about the new hero, who will then crash it and then you as the ‘New Bee’ will take a selfie with me, which I’ll then be able to post about passing on the Miraculous. And to make it better I’ll make it so it’ll auto-post on Monday at lunch, with a link to the exact page of the Ladyblog where you’ll post the interview.” Chloe said and Alya looked at her and smirked back. “But you’ll have to publish the interview on Monday; I’ll hide in my rooms over the weekend, watching some movies that will make me cry and have food brought up so if any of the bellboys who will gossip about it, then if our liar comments about it on Monday I’ll be able to explain that away and hopefully we’ll make that little liar scramble to explain how she evens know I was crying.”

Alya looked at her and grinned, a crafty light coming from her eyes. “An interview with a hero, and then we might be able to catch Lila in a lie, I like it. No false Fox is gonna pull me around where she wants to anymore!”

“My thought exactly!” Chloe said and smirked.And with luck Hawkbutt will try and get me to go over to his side, but if I can learn anything about him…… I need to talk to Pollen about this, and Marinette.Chloe thought and then Alya’s phone beeped.

Alya looked down at it and paled.OH boy! Nora went and talked to somebody and heard about the Mass attack, at least she understands to talk to me about it first!She thought as she tried to keep her smile up but she cringed, causing the others to look at her

“What is it, Alya? What happened?” Marinette demanded and Alya sighed.

“Yeah, is it bad, another attack……no all our phones would have gone off if that was the case.” Max said and Alya looked away.

“I didn’t tell my parents and Nora about the attack in the locker room. Nora just texted me…… she says she’ll let me explain before she passes on what happens to our parents if I don’t convince her it’s the best to stay silent.” Alya said and Chloe giggled a little causing Alya to glare at her. “What?”

“Sorry, sorry. I just remembered your sister is a kickboxer and then I thought about how we could throw her at Lila and then!” Chloe said as she started to laugh and the others started to chuckle, even Fu grinning a little.

“Perhaps you should try and explain to us, gather your thought for your talk with your sister?” Fu suggested and Alya nodded and Trixx grinned as he finished his sandwich.

“Okay, to start with I already told the family all about the Lila situation, just want to get that out there. I never mentioned the attack because, well I thought mom and dad might pull me from the school, but then I was talking about going homeschool like Marinette and Adrien and well…… I guess I didn’t want to worry them with everything that’s happening now.” Alya said and Nino nodded.

“Yeah I get that. I talked to my Ma about doing that too, I mean with what happened it really doesn’t paint a good picture about the school. And that’s not even talking about what you told us Adrien.” Nino said and Alya winced. “You didn’t tell them about that either?”

“I just told Nora, and we decided not to spring it on them……Dad’s busy at the Zoo, the Panther is pregnant and the elephant is sick and mom has that big conference to cook for at the hotel tomorrow……..” Alya said and Chloe nodded.

“Makes sense, I mean mom fired the last head cook the last time this group came through and he was a minute off because of some problems with his kid.” Chloe said and Adrien winced, remembering how that had gone down.

“I remember how you’re mom went off before she left…….. didn’t that guy only not make it there by a minute because of an accident outside the hotel he was almost in and had to talk to the police?” Adrien asked and Chloe nodded.

“Yeah but he was late and almost in it because his kid was attacked at school and dad rehired him after she left, gave him a raise and everything.” Chloe said with a shudder. “Of course he did quiet about two months later and moved to London a year later, but well that’s how far he ran from her.”

“And your father did nothing to stop this, nothing at all?” Fu asked and with how Sabrina looked away he knew that whatever Chloe said he would see just how far from being a good person the mayor was.

“With him, it’s more the fact that if he can ignore it then he’s happy to do so, most of the time he throws money at me to keep me quiet.” Chloe said with a bitter edge to her voice and scoffed. “And I’m fifty percent sure that their marriage was forced by my grandfather on my mother’s side in exchange for backing in dad’s first campaign.” Chloe said bluntly and Fu looked at her in concern as the others absorbed what Chloe had said, a look of shock on Alya’s face and a look of worry on Marinette’s.

“They might not have……” Wu trailed off at the look Chloe sent him and Adrien nodded with a somber mood.

“They got married after he won, she only stayed here to give birth to me and went away as soon as she recovered and had a reason to fool the press, do the math.” Chloe said bluntly as Adrien and Sabrina put a hand on her shoulders as the others winced. For Marinette this knowledge made her remember how Chloe had first attacked her when she had complement Chloe’s mother so many years ago, for Max with how much love his mother showed him he couldn’t comprehend how Chloe’s parents could treat her like that and for Alya she remembered a few old classmates whose parents were abusive.

Wu looked at her in shock and then seeing all the teens nod he face palmed and shook his head.This girl needed someone in her life like Pollen more than I thought, and with her friend and Barrk hunting down Hawkmoth, we might have a better chance of finding him than ever before. I could step forward, but no……..my mistakes won’t taint these young ones. I need to find homes for the others, I need to make sure that they all have someone to look after them, and I know who to give Hawkmoth’s and Mayura’s when they get them back.He thought as he looked at the teens as they confronted Chloe.

“So that’s that. Anyhow I’m sure my dad will want to know where I was, so I’ll tell him I was with Sabrina and we were going to see a move.” Chloe said and Fi laughed lightly.

“Good, now if you are all done I’ll show you the sewer entrance to this place, this way you can drop down if you need to talk to me and you need more Wayzz help in the future.” Fu said and looked at Sabrina and Max. “And there’s a space for you to make a portal so we can try and see if we can track him down and get her away fast.”

“We’ll talk about our plans later, okay Sabrina?” Max asked and Sabrina nodded. “Oh, I just remembered, a while back Markov and I made this secure video chat program that uses the background codes of the internet to communicate, I’ll send you all a copy so we can talk easier.”

“Good. But before you go, young Max would you mind looking at the network here, my manager said it was slowing down………whatever that means. I am of course willing to pay you an honest wage” Fu said and Max nodded.

XXXXXXXX

As Nino, Alya, Marinette, Chloe and Sabrina walked out onto the streets of Paris, Chloe looked at Marinette and smirked at her. “So got any plans for next week?”

“No, not now why?” Marinette asked and Chloe shrugged.

“I was hoping that you and your renter would mind if I come over for some help with my geography? I’ll help with English in return.”Chloe offered and Marinette smiled.

“I’m still looking into what program I’ll be doing, but I think we might be able to arrange something.” Marinate said and Chloe laughed a little as Alya looked around and saw a bus stop.

“I’m heading off, my sis wants to talk to me about this before her match tonight, and dad’s taking the twins to sleep at the Zoo with the other worker's kids, a movie night so the vets can watch the elephant tonight.” Alya said as she walked off.

“And I need to pick up a mix board dudetess, talk to ya later and I want a copy of those programs Mari.” Nino said as he left in the opposite direction. A shadow caused them to look up to see Chat Noir fly overhead heading towards the Tower, and Marinette smiled.

“And I still can’t believe you two didn’t know.” Chloe said and Marinette looked down and Sabrina giggled. “Good luck with those programs Bakery-Grill. Me and Sabrina have a talk to finish along the river.”

“Why are you going there?” Marinette asked and Sabrina grinned.

“Because of the Indie Bands who haven’t signed on to brands yet! There’s a stretch that bands love to sing at, and the acoustics make the area perfect for little concerts!” Sabina said and Chloe giggled.

“It really lets us know what teen clubs to go to in the winter, they always put up who they have playing on social media.” Chloe said and Marinette nodded and walked off, Chloe waving at her. “I’ll talk to you over the weekend Marinette, I want to commotion something for when you have some free time!”

Marinette looked at Chloe as she and Sabrina walked away, a strange look on her face.I didn’t even think I would like Chloe enough to be sad that she’s walking away from me. I mean I always thought the girl had issues but that much, it didn't even seem possible. I guess that's the way the world turns sometimes.She thought as she looked ahead.

“I told you everything would work out Marinette!” Tikki said from Marinette’s bag. Marinette looked down at her bag and smiled. Tikki had told her when Lila had come back that things would get better and they did, it just took a while. With everything that happened she was sure that sooner or later everything would turn out okay, they knew Lila was a liar but she and Adrien had to talk about their relationship, and how to keep Hawkmoth from figuring out their identities but she was sure that things would be good.

“Yeah, and it did.The team is stronger than ever, we’ve got a lead on tracking down Hawkmoth, and with everything I feel……..hope.” Marinette said and Tikki giggled and Marinette laughed and walked back towards her home, deciding to just move slowly to make sure she could absorb everything that happened to her today.

XXXX

Adrien slipped into the back doors to the Dunpain-Cheng and sighed as he closed the door.That was incredible, Chloe is finally dropping her mask and letting the others in, and that will help her more than anything else! But I can’t believe that she followed them to help keep Lila from finding them, I knew was hiding a lot of stuff but this, I almost didn’t think she’d do that!he thought as he walked up to the living room, never noticing that Sabine was waiting

“Oh there you are Adrien.” Sabine’s voice caused him to turn and almost jump out of his skin.

“Man miss Cheng, you sure walk quietly. I didn’t even notice you.” Adrien said as he held his chest as he felt Plagg giggle.

“Oh I was just heading back to the bakery after putting some food into the slow cooker. How was your appointment?” Sabine asked and Adrien smiled bitterly.

“I’ve lost a bit of weight and I’ve gained a bit of muscle, the doctor thinks that I need to eat more and that my dad might have underplayed my needs.” Adrien said and looked ashamed. “Anything for the brand of course.”

“But you don’t believe that, do you?” Sabine asked supportively and Adrien nodded.

“Dad is crazy overprotective and he did move away from me emotionally a bit……. But I can’t believe that he would do something that would hurt me.” Adrien said and Sabine smiled at him.

“I hope your right, for you at least.” Sabine said and Adrien smiled and moved up towards his guest room to stay out of sight and think. Sabine watched him go and sighed, hatting that his father was putting him in this position, hating that Gabriel used Lila to get her daughter expelled and she hoped that this didn’t break her kids.After all those kids do for this city, I want to think that Gabriel is just neglectful, I mean my father fell apart when his brother died, mom says it took getting pregnant with my sister for him to snap out of it. And I can understand how hard it if you hide away from the world to feel safe, but he had a family to help him!She thought as she walked into the bakery.

As Tom saw her he smiled. So far the ‘dinner rush’ hadn’t started yet, and lately the rush started in about an hour and was over well before it was time for their own supper but working with his wife always made it easier for work.

“Hello Love, did our guest make it back in one piece?” Tom asked and Sabine nodded and Tome sighed.

“So how’s the batch for the dinner rush coming along?” Sabine asked and Tom grinned.

“It’s going to be ready on time, but we need to talk about what we’ll do with the leftovers from now on.” Tom said and Sabine looked at him before ahhing as she understood what he meant.

“Yes, I know what you mean. Maybe we might have to send Marinette to the shelters or ask them to come by more often than the weekend.” Sabine said and Tom nodded.

When Marinette had started at the school she had the idea to bring the leftovers for free advertising by giving them to the school for the students and faculty to have. It had worked but with the school probably closing down they needed a new way to get rid of the leftovers and the second way that they

“It was a good deal, we give some of our old bread to the school for their meals and we get free advertisem*nt, but I guess the Owl doesn’t care about that!” Tom said with a scowl and Sabine glared at the school and Tom felt his hands clench as he remembered everything the principal didn’t do for their daughter and what he did.“In the last few days, I’ve wanted to put my hand around that man’s throat and so help me!”

“Calm down dear, I know how you feel but we need to help him deal with it, we just have to help them with all the burdens their under. And with Marinette, we can’t let that bastard win, either of them!” Sabine said sharply and Tom sighed and tried to center himself as his mother taught him long ago. He nodded and looked at the store as the doors opened and slipped back into the kitchen as Sabine walked towards the counter and smiled at the customer as he came towards her.

XXXX

Alya looked around the park and tried and failed to get herself under control and keep calm, Trixx was riding in her pocket and she felt the warmth from her and smiled, part of her being jealous that she had Tikki helping for so long, wondering how much the little Kwami had helped her friend by just being there.

“Don’t worry Alya, no matter what happens your sister will help you, just be calm and explain your reasoning.” Trixx said and Alya smiled and rubbed Trix’s head and sighed.

“Yeah, sis is great. A little overprotective but I can’t deny that she’s helped me a lot over the years.” Alya said softly and Trixx laughed and looked up at her.

“Then just be calm and explain why you didn’t say anything calmly, if she’s like your saying then all you need to do.” Trixx said and smiled up at Alya.My kit is gonna handle this fine,

“I guess yeah, I can do this.” Alya said and looked around for Nora before a million problems began moving through her mind as she started to spiral like Marinette.Oh this is terrible, I mean I…….this is going to be bad, sis is going to tell the rents, they’re going to come back and mom will be fired, dad will be discredit when the panther dies and he could have saved it, he’ll lose his job and we’ll be homeless in a week!She thought as she walked through the park until she found her sister.

“Hey sis, there you are!” Nora called out and Alya looked up and saw Nora.

“Please don’t tell them sis, please.” Alya said miserably and Nora sighed and just looked at Alya.

“I gotta baby sis, I mean it was another mass attack! I mean you were able to hide last time with string bean but this time you were in ground zero!” Nora said and Alya nodded as she sighed.

“But nothing happened! The attack failed, it was more of a scare tactic than anything else!” Alya argued and looked at Nora who only shook her head.

“Sis, mom was worried after the last time the scum did it for two weeks, she jumped each time the alert went out! We have to tell them about it!” Nora said.Why is she fighting me on this, I mean she has to know how mom and dad are, but what’s she thinking acting like this?!Nora thought and looked at her sister. “ I have to do this sis, you know how mom and pops will react if they learn from anyone but us!”

“But with everything that’s happening now!” Alya said before she clapped her hands over her mouth and Nora looked at her sister and sighed and shook her head.

“It’s because of what they have on their plate, isn’t it sis?” Nora asked and Alya nodded.

“Oh Alya.” Nora said and shook her head. Her sister was a great kid, but she always put more on her to help the family than was healthy for her.

“Yeah I know, but I did what I think was right for the family.” Alya said and Nora looked at her and sighed

“Kid, you know how to give your sister problems.” Nora said.On one hand, I should tell the rents right away, but on the other hand I can understand why my sister does what she does, most of the time.Nora thought as she looked at her sister.

“Sis, there was a mass attack again, there going to find out sooner or later even if it fizzled out. But I get it that you don’t want their jobs to be in danger…….so I won’t tell them about it, but after dinner when dad’s back tomorrow the three of us will sit down and talk to him about it.” Nora said and Alya hugged her sister who laughed a little and smiled down at her. “Hey sis, I just doing what you were, it’s something to talk about sure but we can throw it on the back burner until this is done okay? But once dad is back we’re talking all about it.”

“Thanks Nora, I……sorry.” Alya said and Nora grinned at her sister.

“Hey you choose the harder option, and I’m proud of you for doing that, even though I don’t like the fact you had to do it.” Nora said and sighed before she reached over and grabbed Alya around her shoulders, drawing her closer. “But it shows maturity, but we need to talk about that kid!”

“Okay, okay!” Alya laughed and Nora laughed with her. As they walked through the park Nora and Alya just made small talk with each other; letting the stress of their lives die away from their minds as they just bonded as sisters. As they were turning the corner Alya looked ahead and pulled Nora to the side, hiding her from view behind a statue before she put a hand on Nora’s mouth. As Nora looked at her sister in confusion she saw a look of anger and hatred and followed her eyes to a teen girl with long, hip-length chestnut brown hair with bangs similar to a horse mane in a vermilion jacket over a dark gray strapless jumpsuit that has tiny white spots and wears light gray tights and brown ankle-length high heel boots.

“Lila!” Alya growled as she saw the girl walk towards an empty area of the park where the fence separated the park from the street. After a few moments, Alya moved her hand away and looked at where Lila had gone.

“I’m betting that was the liar who snowed you little sis?” Nora asked and Alya nodded.

“That’s her.” Alya said softly and looked at where Lila was going and looked at Nora.

“Let’s follow her.”Nora said and Alya grinned and hugged her sister, remember where she had gotten her sense of justice. As they dashed after Lila, they saw her sit down at a bench.

“What’s she doing?”Nora muttered and Alya shrugged as she brought up her phone and started to record what Lila was doing.I don’t like this, what wrong? Something about this is making my teeth chatter and something is setting me on edge.Nora thought and looked at Lila as she sat there doing nothing. After a few minutes Nora frowned and looked at Alya. “I’ll walk over, I mean I can say you described her and I’ll trash talk Marinette with my phone recording, see if she bites.”

“Might not be a good idea sister, but……wait what?” Alya breathed as a limo drove up and stopped behind the bench and Lila. As they watched the window on the passenger side behind the cab dropped down to reveal Gabriel Agreste who looked ahead.

“You’ve been quite Gabriel, how’s Adrien? After the incident at the photoshoot I would have thought you might have done something beyond keeping him from school, I told you that those peasants were a bad influence. ” Lila’s voice carried to them and Nora’s mouth dry as she heard a growl from Alya.

“He’s not at home, he ran away.” Gabriel said and looked ahead and didn’t react when Lila turned her head to gape at him.“Has he contacted you at all?”

“No, I haven’t seen him at all and he hasn’t called me. He hasn’t made any announcements on his social media accounts has he?” Lila asked and Gabriel scowled.

“No, he’s completely dark. I don’t have to tell you how bad this could be for both of us. If he tells anyone about what you said how you were given a modeling contract because of how you got Miss Dupain-Cheng expelled, though why you even think that I can’t understand at all! When we came to this agreement I thought I was very clear, that all I wanted from you was a complete understanding of how Adrien conducted himself in class and how people interacted with him, and if anyone was trying to take advantage of him!”Gabriel said with a growl and Lila looked back into the park to keep Gabriel from seeing her face and the scowl she had.

“Dupain-Cheng is the most useless girl in the school. A terrible student, a trash fashion designer and she clings to Adrien in a completely inamorata manner!” Lila said and it was all Alya could do to keep from screaming at her for the lies that pass from Lila's lips.

“Her talent won a competition of mine in the past, do not tell me lies. I am beginning to think that I should tell your mother about your travels.” Gabriel said and Lila kept looking into the park and even Nora could tell that this threat worked on her.

“My mother is so busy sir, please don’t bother her!” Lila said and Nora frowned as she saw Lila’s eyes were full of rage.

“Don’t drag my brand down young lady, I don’t know why you went so beyond what I expected from you, but I will not have my family name or my son around people who are so low class.” Gabriel said and Alya bit her lips as Lila paled in fear.

“Don’t worry sir, I won’t. And after what I did there’s no way for her to get back into school, I was able to check the camera’s, the one in the courtyard doesn’t even have power running to it!” Lila said and Nora gasped softly, Lila looked around the park and frowned.

“What is it?” Gabriel asked and Lila shook her head.

“I thought I heard something, it must be some brat playing by the trees nearby.” Lila said and Gabriel stayed silent. “And sir, about the shoot?”

“What about it?” Gabriel asked and Lila swallowed.

“Well it was canceled but if there’s a chance for me to have a solo shoot without Adrien sir?” Lila asked and Gabriel looked ahead and the limo turned back on.

“I’ll be in touch with you.” Gabriel said as his window raised and he drove off. A few moments after he had driven out of sight Lila started to grit her teeth and screamed to the wind.

“That idiot! Why did that idiota Adrien have to develop a backbone after everything that’s happened!? He’s nothing but a pretty face, at least until I start to teach him how to rule over people! He’s not like the others, with time I could have shown him the right way to live! But instead, he wants to be one of those sheep like that whole class and the school, they are all completely idiotic fools, I was able to use momentum to get Dupain-Cheng expelled, she doesn’t have a leg to stand on especially with the principal, I told him exactly what he wanted to hear to get him to like me just like all the other fools in that school!” Lila spat and Alya grabbed Nora and pulled her down before she could confront Lila. As the Italian liar walked away Alya kept Nora down until Lila had been gone for ten minutes and Alya turned her phone off.

“I didn’t expect that.” Alya said as she looked at her phone and felt Trixx press against her.But this might help Marinette get and us put Lila away for life! And I better call Max about the…….wait. Mari was sent a file that showed what Lila did, but then does that mean what?Alya thought as she tried to figure out what Lila had thought as she did

“What the heck was that about girl!? That was Sunshine’s old man, what’s that mean! And the Cameras don’t work at your school!?” Nora demanded and Alya looked away.

“Adrien said that Lila said his father told him to get Marinette expelled, and he and Marinette aren’t going back to the school after everything. And that one camera might not work but others do, I’ve seen proof.”

Alya said and Nora frowned, wondering what Alya was hiding.

“The old man said Adrien ran away, so where is he?!” Nora asked and Alya looked away.

“I can’t say Nora, I don’t know where he’s staying but I saw him at Marinette’s place.” Alya admitted and Nora whistled.

“Woah, Sunshine moves fast.” Nora said and Alya looked at her before blushing as she realized what her sister meant.

“Not like that! He went there to apologize for some advice he gave my girl when he didn’t know everything about the topic, and then he stayed there after he served his father some papers!” Alya said dismissively and Nora grunted.And then when we talked again Max spilled the beans and showed how logic could get around the glamor. And those two have to have a talk about their feelings for each other. What I wouldn’t do to learn what they decided in the end!She thought and looked at Nora. “But back on topic, you’re staying at the apartment all alone tonight right?”

“No, at the zoo. I’m the second chaperon.” Nora said and Alya nodded. “So you’re not at home tonight either sis?”

“No. I’m staying at the hotel in the servant’s quarters. Mom wants to keep an eye on me I guess.” Alya said and Nora grunted and looked at her.

“I promise sis, I won’t say anything to dad but you will say something when we’re all home okay?”

Nora said and Alya hugged her sister goodbye.

“Say hi to the twin terrors sis, good luck with them and the rest of the gremlins.” Alya said and walked off, looking down at her phone as she moved.The way that Gabriel talked to Lile-la, he didn’t want Marinette expelled at all. It doesn’t absolve Gabriel from spying on Adrien, but a father trying to look after a son if the son had to fight to go to school…..Alya thought before sighing and shaking her head before she walked towards the hotel, wondering how she could tell the others that she had proof that Gabriel used Lila to spy on Adrien

XXXXXXX

Chloe looked around her room and smiled as she put away her tablet and watched as Pollen flew around the room, smiling at her as she sat on her bed.

“Everything is done Chloe, you don’t have any of those cameras around here and all we have to do is wait for Trixx’s kit and her to come over here.” Pollen said and she looked at Chloe who frowned and looked around her room. “What is it?”

“I want to make you a little bed, but I don’t know where to put it so my parents won’t have somebody find it.” Chloe said and Pollen grinned and nuzzled Chloe’s cheek as she buzzed in happiness.

“Thanks Chloe!” Pollen said and Chloe looked down at her with a slight scowl.

“You deserve to at least have a bed at least!” Chloe said and Pollen giggled and smiled.

“Some people wouldn’t.” Pollen said and beamed as Chloe looked away.I knew it was fate that we found each other Chloe, I knew it! I’m just happy that Fu let me stay with you.She thought before Chloe looked down at the Kwami.

“I just realized something; I listen to relaxing music, soft and simple to help me sleep. That won’t be a problem with you, will it?” Chloe asked and Pollen looked back.

“Vocal or instruments?” Pollen asked with a smile and Chloe looked away.

“Instruments and the sounds of rain.” Chloe answered and Pollen grinned.

“That sounds wonderful; Biao and I loved the sound of the rain when we were partners!” Pollen said and A knocking at the door caused Pollen to jet and hide under the bed as Chloe walked towards it, opening it to reveal Sabrina who smiled at her as she came in. As soon as Chloe closed the door Barkk flew out from Sabrina’s purse. As Pollen came out of hiding Chloe smiled as Sabrina sat down and put her purse on the table, a grin on her face.

“Well, the plan will work.Pollen checked everything and as far as she can see there’s nothing that records what happens here, so we’re safe and secured. And all those times I was sure he was spying on me.” Chloe said and Sabrina giggled and hid a smile. After a few moments of silence, Chloe looked at Sabrina and just crossed her arms and as she looked at her friend.

“What?” Chloe asked as she looked at Sabrina who grinned back at her.

“I’m just happy that you’ve finally gotten around to opening up to more people besides me and Adrien! And you’re ship is finally sailing!” Sabrina said and Chloe looked away and blushed. Ever since she had learned that Marinette had a spine that the latter wasn’t afraid to use against Chloe, and seeing how the teen felt about her brother Adrien, she had hoped the two of them would stop dancing around them, something a lot of students at school wanted too and because then they would win……Chloe went still as a grin suddenly grew on her face, one that wouldn’t be out of place on her mother.

Sabrina looked at Chloe’s expression and paled in fear, the Kwami huddled together as a strange feeling that they couldn’t identify. “Chloe…….what is it?”

“Oh I just thought about the pot for the bet. When did you give your date for when they would go on their first date?” Chloe asked and Sabrina looked at her before giggling.

“And the two of us haven’t placed a bet yet and with your insider knowledge……. I like it.” Sabrina said and looked up at the ceiling.

“And the pot is big enough even if we split it four ways for us each to get a nice chunk of change.

“Four ways? Oh our partners!” Sabrina said and Barkk started to smile as Pollen buzzed. Sabrina looked at Chloe who blushed and looked away as she realized just how that sounded.

“Well they're here and will be with us now aren’t they?” Chloe said as she hid a blush.

“Yes they are.” Sabrina said and smiled at her friend. Sabrina’s dad used to have the hotel as his beet, back during the time after her mother had died so Sabrina had stayed at the hotel and gotten to know Chloe and Adrien then, and even now she helped Chloe out with her plans because she knew what caused Chloe to do them.

But no matter how long Sabrina had known Chloe, she had always been hard and closed off from others beyond her and Adrien, having a hard time letting others in. But learning that they had Kwami partners too, that let her drop a few of her shields. She still had a lot of baggage that held her back, but she would deal with it and maybe this would help her move on and grow, but Sabrina was worried about what Lila would think if Chloe acted differently.

At this thought Sabrina went still and winced and looked at Chloe who looked back at her with a calm look that turned into a sigh. “You always could read me Sabrina, what gave me away?”

The Kwami looked at each other, both of them not understanding what Chloe meant but Pollen feeling a strange feeling.

“At least tell them all first!” Sabrina exclaimed and Chloe nodded with a hard look

“Yeah, that is the plan for this weekend, before I watch a few of those movies I love to cry too.” Chloe admitted and Sabrina nodded.

A knocking from the door caused Sabrina to turn and Chloe shook her head and walked over herself and opened, Alya walked in pushing a cart with food, and Chloe smiled as she smelled Pizza under one of the domes. Chloe was about to say hi when she saw the look in Alya’s eyes.

Chloe gestured to Sabrina who turned on the music and as Chloe looked outside and not seeing anyone stepped back inside as Alya sat down and Trixx came out and joined the other kwami.

“Spill it reporter, what happened now?” Chloe asked and Alya looked at them.

“We saw and heard the false Fox and Adrien’s father talk in the park.” Trixx said and Chloe looked at the Kwami and

“He didn’t tell Lila to get Marinette expelled.” Alya bit out and Chloe’s head snapped up and looked at her.

“What.” Chloe said flatly and Alya paled at the way Chloe was looking at her.

“He said he just wanted a completely independent view about how Sunshine’s acting in school, how people interact with him!” Alya said as she held up her phone.

“That is so like Uncle Gabriel. So Lila was the brain behind everything?” Chloe asked in wonder.Hu, I didn’t think the little parasite was that smart, I mean I always saw her as an idiot but what happened to Marinette…….no I don’t believe it. Chloe thought as Trixx started to growl.

“Yeah, that false fox is a total liar! After what Tikki and Plagg said she was like as Volpina, I didn’t know why I expected something different from her!” Trixx said as the others tried to calm her down.

“Wait…… She was Volpina!? Oh god!” Sabrina said as she dropped to the floor, her eyes shrank to pinpoints as Chloe dashed to her.

“Brina? Sabrina are you okay!?” Chloe asked as she started to worry

“She’s working with Hawkmoth.” Sabrina whispered in horror. Alya gasped as Chloe looked at her friend and tried to follow her logic before she realized what Sabrina said and started to growl.

As Chloe started to growl Alya went pale in fear as she realized if Sabrina was right then she had let a terrorist watch her sisters! She was already feeling down about Lila watching them before, but if this was true then she might have put them in real danger if Lila ever figured out she was Rena Rouge.

“What do you mean!? She’s slime but how do you get from that that she's working for a terrorist? How do you get what her Akuma was to that!?” Alya demanded and Sabrina swallowed and looked at them

“Think about it! He can’t make those scarlet akumas on a whim!

He has to prepare before he does it! how did he know those events would have happened if Lila didn’t tell him!” Sabrina said and Alya went still as Chloe eyes became pinpoints as she realized that yes, what Sabrina said made sense and if she was right, then they were in a lot more trouble than they thought they were.

“That little idiot!When I get my hands on her throat I’ll kill her! I don’t care that……..” Chloe began before she went still and swallowed and looked at the others, a million thoughts going through her head, none of them good.

“Chloe, what is it?” Sabrina asked and Chloe looked at them and glared into space.

“We only have her word that her mother is a diplomat and after the first super-villain attack anywhere with embassies, all high-level policymakers leave the city, especially mind-benders like Hawkmoth, that’s the rule most countries follow. So why would a diplomat high enough to give immunity to family members go to a city under attack?” Chloe said and Alya’s mouth dropped open, about to say why would Lila lie about that when she realized how many lies the girl had told everyone.

“Hell. She probably said her mother was a diplomat just so that people wouldn’t bother her about the lies Lila tells! And how could any diplomat believed whatever lie let Lila skip months of school?! We don’t know what could happen when we bust her!”

Chloe said and Alya scowled and Sabrina went over a few things that she had learned from her father and she agreed with her friend, this was shaping up to be a lot harder than she thought it would be.

A rumbling caused them to look at Sabrina as she blushed and looked away, both Alya and Chloe looking at her before they started to snicker before turning towards the food Alya had brought and grinned at each other, promising to talk to the others once they were done with their meal.

Chapter 13

Chapter Text

Adrien smiled as he washed the dishes. The dinner was perfect, good food and he had actually talked with Marinette and her parents over it! They had reacted badly to how Adrien described his dinners with his father and then when he spoke of how his life was when his mother was still around Tom and Sabine had looked at each other and Marinette had the last of the plates. Meanwhile, Tom had gone down to make some more dough for tomorrow’s bread and Sabine was finishing up the last of the days' paperwork as he and Marinette cleaned up dinner. He looked at Marinette as she dried them off and for a moment he imagined that they were older and blushed at the image that invoked. As Marinette finished the last dish and looked at him Adrien blushed and looked away and started to put the cleaned dishes away. As she reached for another plate she grabbed Adrien’s hand as he put it down and they both looked at their hands before their heads snapped to each other before they both looked away from each other.

Marinette giggled a little and looked away as Adrien blushed. Sabine started to laugh a little and both of them looked at her who only smiled back at them and Marinette blushed and looked away from her as Adrien looked down.

“That’s all kids, I’ll put the last of them away and you all go and watch something on Marinette’s computer,” Sabine said and Adrien and Marinette looked at her and she smiled at them.

“Mom?” Marinette asked as she looked at her mother, something about the way she had said that bothered her. Marinette had to admit that sometimes she wasn’t sure what was bothering her, but sometimes the way they talked made her think they had known something, other times they seemed as obvious as dead ants.

Sabine just smiled at them, never giving off any clue to what she knew or thought she knew. Inside she was laughing up a storm at how Marinette was looking at her and it kept all she had to stay silent.

“It’s fine, you all go now, and Adrien? You can’t sleep up there,” Sabine said and Adrien looked at her before blushing as Marinette blushed as she looked at her mother with an open mouth.

“MOM!” Marinette said and Sabine laughed.

“Go on, I’ve got this and have a good talk, and only a talk,” Sabine said as Marinette led Adrien away, both of them blushing and looking away from each other, Marinette leading Adrien by his hand.

As soon as they were gone Sabine got up and moved towards the dishes and laughed a little as started to get to work. Oh, those two are so cute! I wonder if this will finally stop those two from dancing around each other? And if they go on a date before the month is out then I win the pot! Sabine thought with a grin as she finished putting the plates away. The two of them had been dancing around each other for too long as far as she and Tom were concerned.

The problems with the school……that was even more than they needed now, and with how Hawkmoth seemed to be getting stronger every attack and with the new villain, the kids needed something to change before the two of them broke. And I will have a nice long talk with whoever gave those two those items! I just want to have a few minutes alone before I call the kids back in! I mean who gives out magic items with genies without teaching them how they can be used the right way! She thought as she scowled and put the last dish away. Looking around the room before she walked away, heading downstairs to talk to Tom. As she reached Tom he was kneading bread quite fiercely and from the scowl on his face she

“So pretending it’s his father or his mother?” Sabine asked and Tom looked back at her over his shoulder and sighed.

“Both really,” Tom said and Sabine nodded. The talks the two of them had had over the last few days painted a worrying picture that they didn’t know what to feel about them. The stories Adrien told spoke to them about either overprotective parents or people who were trying to mold a child a certain way, and Sabine didn’t know what she hoped the truth was.

“Good cop bad cop approach then?” Sabine asked and Tom nodded. “I feared that was the case.”

“I know,” Tom said miserably as he worked out his frustrations. Too much of Adrien’s story about his parents and the life with them had struck him as wrong. But it was how he describes how Chloe was raised that bothered him even more, Marinette had let her feelings for Adrien blind her and she hadn’t seen many bad parents in her life but the two of them were worried about what Adrien’s family was really like.

Sabine personally had an idea about Gabriel, and she hoped she was right but part of her hoped she was wrong if only to spare Adrien from questioning everything that he knew about his parents, and she felt terrible for hoping that. Tom had his own problems with his parents, he loved them and all, but the way Adrien talked about his parents had given him flashbacks of a few friends that had been abused emotionally, and the parallels made him worried about

“The stories he told, they seemed to paint her in a bad light, I mean the time she said that she’d talk to Gabriel about going to a fair, but how they couldn’t because she was sick?” Sabine asked and Tom nodded. That story and a few others caused a lot of alarms to flare in Tom’s mind, and what had happened to friends of his when he was younger also bothered Tom.

As Tom kept kneading the dough Sabine only stood there, both of them lost in their thoughts. As they stood there they both let their minds wander and tried to find anything that might have told them they were wrong, but everything that Tom and Sabine knew about people told them that something had been wrong in the Agreste household long before Emilie Agreste had disappeared.

“So when’s your mother due back again?” Sabine asked and Tom smiled at her.

“I last heard from her about a week ago, she said she’ll be back in Paris in about ten or so days from then, so soon few. She said something about a back to nature retreat and she met this group ……..and since she and dad are better she’ll be staying at his place,” Tom said and Sabine released a sigh and smiled.

“Yes, I wonder what will happen first? Marinette accidentally walking in on Adrien in the shower and passing out or Adrien doing it and he faints?” Sabine asked and Tome chuckled and smiled.

“I think Marinette. Adrien can make a good pun, he gouda the distance and wouldn’t moew-out from that. And maybe we should look into a new child monitor or tell them we know?” Tom suggested and Sabine giggled.

“Well at least Adrien and Marinette won’t have to bunk with more than one other being for a while,” Sabine said softly and Tom chuckled and a moment later a knocking came from the door. Looking towards the storefront they saw one of their employees looking at them from outside. “Janet? Her next shift isn’t until Monday.”

Tom shrugged and Sabine walked over and let Janet in. Janet was a tall woman of about eighteen years with red hair she wore in a bun, she had blue eyes and wore a simple blue dress most of the time and she went to a cooking school, Tom and Sabine having a deal with the school to let students from it work for credit in a few classes.

“Janet, what is it?” Sabine asked as she let her in.

“Mrs. Chang, hey. Sorry to bother you but I think I left my phone in my apron.” Janet said and Sabine smiled and Tom chuckled as he stuck his head out and looked at her.

“So you’re the owner of that red phone. You’re just lucky that we always empty all pockets before we wash them my dear.” Tom said and Janet blushed and looked away.

“Sorry boss,” Janet said and Sabine giggled as she brought her inside.

“Oh, it’s fine. I remember when Marinette accidentally forgot a pink cloth in one of them, died all the aprons pink!” Sabine said and Janet looked at her in shock and then started to snicker and Sabine started to do so as well.

“So that’s where the Pink Apron on the door to the kitchen came from?” Janet asked and Sabine nodded as they both started to laugh and Tom chuckled from the kitchen.

As Tom looked at the two of them he moved towards a draw and opened, removing a small clear plastic open box and then carried it towards Janet.

XXXXXX

As soon as Adrien entered Marinette’s room she closed and locked the door behind her and moved a small box onto it and put another box on top of it and huffed as she blushed.

“So that’s what you do to keep them out Marinette?” Adrien asked as their Kwami came out of hiding. Marinette nodded as her blush died and she looked at Adrien it took all she had to keep from blushing and nodded.

“Yeah, and that statue? It’s used to hear what I’m saying, one of the parental guidance series, Tikki and me have taken out about five of them in the last few months!” Marinette said fondly and Adrien nodded, having dealt with a few tricks from either his father or Nathalie had used to try and spy on him before Gabriel had finally stepped over the last line Adrien had.

Adrien looked around Marinette’s room as she sat down on her bed as Plagg and Tikki flew around the room above them in the air. So far the time he had been spending with Marinette and her family was wonderful, but he thought he might have seen something pass between Sabine and Tom when he talked about his life when his mother was around, but he didn’t know for sure and didn’t want to know.

And while he didn’t want to think badly of his mother, seeing Tom and Sabine interact with Marinette, even he had seen something different from how his mother raised him. He didn’t want to but so far, the rose-tinted view he had of his mother was slowly being destroyed, and he didn’t know what the truth was but he could only hope that he was strong enough to handle it. And then there was how he had been

When he had a free moment last night he and Tom's hand talked about Lila, how he was always taught not to raise a fuss, how a few liars had a breakdown on set and other stories about diplomats getting away with terrible things according to other models. In the face of something like that, how could anyone fight back when it would only cause nothing in the end?

Tom had sat him down and talked about a lot of things his parents had told him growing up, and other lessons he had learned here and there over his life, things Tom had straightened him out on. And looking back Adrien had seen what Tom meant, and a lot of things about boundaries and limits that his father hadn’t told him about. But he still wondered why his parents had wanted him to learn the things he had.

“It shows they care I guess, but then that’s not what we need to talk about is it?” Adrien asked and Marinette blushed pink and looked away as Tikki giggled and Plagg grinned.

“Yeah…… so let’s call the others, Max should have everything ready for us,” Marinette said as she turned her computer on and moments later Nino, Max, and Markov appeared in a box on the screen and he grinned at them.

“Sup dudes, have a nice diner with the Dunpain-Chengs Bro?” Nino asked with a smirk and both Adrien and Marinette blushed and looked away as Nino chuckled and Max grinned.

“Salutations my friends! Good evening, anyway they should be on in moments and there they are….” Max said as a box with Alya, Sabrina and Chloe in it appeared.

“Max, is everything safe, no one will be able to listen in?” Sabrina asked and Max nodded with a smirk.

“Yes, I made sure of it. It’s quite interesting, I made it so the program will crash if more than the original number of computers tries to get into the chat the program crashes and I’m sent the IP address. This is as good as I can make on a rush job. If I had more time then I could do a better job but…..” Max began.

“LIA’S WORKING FOR HAWKMOTH!” Alya cried out suddenly, interrupting him and Marinette rocked back as Adrien’s mouth dropped open.

Nino and Max went bug-eyed and Alya blushed and looked away, but the bomb she had dropped caused everyone who hadn’t learned this to stare at her in shock.

“What?!” Adrien asked and Chloe scowled as she crossed her arms.

“We think she’s working for Hawkmoth. And her mom might not be that high up if she’s even a diplomat!” Chloe said bluntly and Marinette felt dizzy as she sat down as Adrien squeezed her shoulder.

“What do you mean, how could you have even thought she could be working for him?” Marinette demanded and Sabrina spoke up.

“She’s Volpina right, then that means that she or another Illusion Akuma was behind the Hero’s Day attack! And the scarlet Akuma’s that happened after you were expelled by Damacolis, it was only the second time he’s ever done that, that means he has to prepare beforehand so how did he know?! The only way is if Lila told him!” Sabrina said and Marinette went still and stared at the screen, a million different thoughts crystalizing as Adrien went still and Max swore under his breath.

“Give me a moment, Markov prepares to scan a video file!” Max said as he turned to another computer and started to type away as Markov jacked into it.

“What are you, wait go back, Chloe. What are you talking about her mother, explain it more clearly,” Marinette demanded and Chloe nodded, a grimace on her face.

“Okay, it's government policy, when a mad brainwasher is at large you keep all policymakers away from the city he’s in. And even the president moved away after Ivan’s episode,” Chloe said and she looked down, Marinette could see a hint of shame in her former actions.

Marinette sighed, deciding not to bring up how Chloe had been a part of that. And she didn’t want to bring up how Chloe had tried to act like her mother and looking back on how the so-called ‘Style Queen’ was Chloe’s actions made a lot more sense, and none of it was good as far as Marinette was concerned. All in all, she and Chloe needed to have a long talk in person, a way to clear the air between them both.

“And get this, I saw Gabriel in the park talking with Lila from his limo, he didn’t tell Lila to get you expelled girl, she did it on her own!” Alya said and Adrien blinked as Marinette’s mouth dropped open.

“What?” Adrien asked and Alya looked at him as Chloe looked away.

“Yeah…….” Alya trailed off and looked at Adrien as Chloe looked down and away. “Look sunshine, according to what I overheard, he hired her to spy on how you acted at school and how people treated you, he didn’t want any leaches or people who took advantage of you.”

Adrien blinked and shook his head after a few moments. “No, no. That doesn’t make sense, Chloe and I’ve picked out more of those people than he has, and once or twice we’ve detected a few of them even when they slipped by dad’s last assistant!”

“Yeah, that’s the only thing that really bugs me the most about this. Gabriel is a control freak, you know and I know it. Having a spy he couldn’t control go off the leash that much, no way,” Chloe said bitterly and looked at Adrien who looked away and she just sighed. “Adrien, come on, you know he is. If he let her get Marinette expelled then he gave her the rope to do it, why he treated her like that I have no but we both know he would have done it that way.”

“Yeah. Or he knew she would and didn’t say anything to stop her,” Adrien said bluntly and shook his head.

Adrien didn’t know what to feel, on one hand, Lila might have done it on her own, but his father hadn’t even once asked how he was handling public school. If he had asked him about how the other students were treating him, that would be one thing but he never even asked once, just lived in the same house and never even talked to him about it.

Marinette looked at Adrien and sighed, something about this was bothering her, an old feeling that she couldn’t identify. However, before she could say anything Markov beeped.

“Done! I have the camera data from the Tower on Heroe’s day and I have identified Lila as being on the premises!” Markov said and suddenly a screenshot of the tower appeared, Volpina turning back into Lila as she hid from the heroes. Marinette stared at the image and then at the date and time stamp in the corner and scowled.

“So she wasn’t with her mother out of the city,” Sabrina said darkly and they all looked at the screen with anger, they knew that this showed that Lila had been lying about one thing, and that made the fact that she was likely lying about other things that much more likely.

“I always thought she was just a compulsive liar really, but this? When you told me about what you saw Reporter, I thought that was as low as she would go, but this? Is it possible that she actually wants to be Akumatized?” Chloe asked in disgust and Alya nodded.

“And Lila was the reason I was pulled from school, she stole my father’s book

“The book of the Guardians of the Miraculous, that I showed to Master Fu first before I gave it back to Gabriel……Adrien, did he say where he found it?” Marinette asked and Adrien nodded.

“Yeah, mom and dad went to Tibet for their honeymoon, mom found it in a bookstore……….” Adrien said and Chloe’s mouth dropped open in horror.

“Oh god, Hawkmoth followed Aunty Emilie and Gabriel back to Paris!?” Chloe said shocked and Marinette nodded, a hard look on her face.

“It makes sense, I mean after the Collector and Simon Says, the odds of him being Hawkmoth are few if any, I mean it makes sense…….” Marinette said and Adrien nodded.

“Yeah, after Master Fu made Feast and lost them all, then Hawkmoth had to have found the Miraculous and the book……” Adrien said and Nino nodded.

“After he spent years tracking down the rest of them, and the chaos of the Second World War must have made it impossible……” Nino took over and Max whistled.

“When he failed to figure out how to translated the book, he dropped it in a store to see who would bite and tracked Adrien’s parents back to Paris,” Max continued and Sabrina gasped.

“Then maybe he was getting tired of waiting, he had to have started his attacks because he was sure he wouldn’t find the others the way he had been so he finally took action!” Sabrina reason out and Marinette nodded.

“And Plagg told us that the wish is all about balance, so by healing someone else will have what the first one was heal from right?” Adrien asked and Plagg sighed and shook his head.

“If we’re lucky kids, Pompeii wanted better harvests so the volcano ash really helped enrich the soil and Atlantis’s noble wanted to be unconquerable so the island sank, that girl who wanted to punish nobbles who killed her family caused a nine-year famine in China,” Plagg said bitterly and Marinette and Adrien gasped.

“What did the little dudes tell you bro?” Nino asked and Adrien swallowed and looked at Marinette.

“Pompeii’s Eruption, Atlantis sinking, and Famine have been some of the results of the wish,” Marinette said bluntly and the others all paled in horror.

Chloe hugged Sabrina who stared into space as Nino whistled and Max went white as he realized just what keeping the Miraculous from Hawkmoth was really about.

“It’s all a balance, for one action then must be another. All of those actions caused the wishes to come to pass, but the way they did must be up in the air,” Adrien said bitterly and shook his head. “And I bet if he is after it to heal someone, then someone who is loved by the sick one will get struck down with what they had.”

“Or death on a mass scale is even possible, we have even more reasons to keep it out of his hands then, don’t we all?” Alya said and they all nodded.

Sabrina looked at her phone and cursed before she looked up. “Lila’s talking to the others on the group chat! Give me a few moments to see where she is, I think maybe I can trap her!”

“Do it Brina, let’s see what we can find out from her,” Chloe said and Sabrina grinned.

Marinette was about to say something when Tikki floated over and put her hands on Marinette’s mouth, shaking her head as she looked at her friend.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lila cleaned her hair with a towel as she walked back to her room from her shower and sighed, so far everything today was perfect. She had seen the data about the early part of the fight on the Ladyblog and how Alya had been stuck and asked for anyone who had a piece of the battle to send it in so she could try and get a better picture of the battle. I suppose that would-be reporter would finally come across something when she couldn’t go and get the story…….what’s this? A new Bee hero? Ohhhh I can’t wait until Monday, I’ll have two targets to stir the pot, and that’s not talking about how we have to have a new class rep! I think I’ll say how I can’t do it because I might have to leave for one of my ‘charities’. I can’t wait until I can finally talk to Adrien, I’ll explain the facts of life and I’ll have a new boy toy for a while. Lila thought as she purred and imagined all she could do to Adrien.

As she walked into her room she looked around and sighed as she got her clothes out for tomorrow and gathered her sleepwear, frowning on her ‘seduction set’ that she had hoped that she would be able to break it out finally. Her room was normal for how she lived her life, a few framed posters and a painting of her hometown, a desk with a modern-looking computer on it next to a window, and a dresser across from her bed with a place to put her laptop next to her bed.

As she finished getting dressed to sleep she looked out and smirked, with luck everything would go her way and soon, everything would be perfect until her mom and she had to move again. But if her modeling gig sparked a career like she hoped, then sooner or later she’d be able to move out and Grabbing her phone she went to the class chat and saw that once more Marinette and

TravelStar; Hey all! It’s good that the Akuma was dealt with, but I wonder why they were fighting town hall?

RockRocker; Me and Mylee were with her father,

FlowerChild; I was with Rose and her brother at their home, everything is okay here! I can’t wait until my project is done, I think you’ll like it guys!

Gothleta; I know I do so far, and I’m happy it was away from the river this time, the last time one of them took to the rivers my brother and I had to hold our mother back from attacking it!

RockRocker; Where is she anyway, I mean the last time I was there during and Akuma incident she almost

Lila frowned, she hadn’t been able to figure out where Juleka lived, but from what she was reading she might have to look into that more. And whatever project the two were working on, she wondered if she could angle a way to get a part of that, if they were doing extra credit then anyway to profit off the work of others, then that was just good business as far as she thought.

SuperPen; Me and Marc were at his house, everything was quiet here, so it attacked the town hall?

Copdaughter; I don’t know what happened, but dad will probably tell me the general things tonight.

Timehopper; So glad my dad wasn’t on tap to go and beg the man for money. Of course, if my brother was there he would be all about the mystic nonsense he’s sure about.

TravelStar; Oh Alix that’s wonderful that he’s safe, it reminds me of a time a friend who works at this museum in Russia and how he was almost caught up in a terrorist attack. I was so glad I convinced him to show us his latest find when I started feeling strange about something!

Copdaughter; Oh Lila, that’s terrible! No wonder you always try and stay away from the Akuma’s! You must be so brave and smart to notice when things are so wrong! Say, are you out now?

Lila smirked and giggled. Finally I’m getting into that stupid cop’s daughter into my web! I just need to reel her in. She thought as she grinned before typing away.

TravelStar; No, I’m home. I was lucky and all, I had a lot of mail to answer and everything just built up you know? With all my work, so when the Akuam Alert happened, I was able to hunker down and ride it out.

As Lila kept typing away at her phone she never noticed a light on her computer go red.

FlowerChild; Good job! Anyway, I have to go guys I just got what I was waiting for, see you at school or about town!

FlowerChild has logged out

RockRocker; I just saw the news, there’s a new Bee hero guys!

Lila looked at it and grinned, if she could attack Chloe now, if she could get the little entitled bitch to make a big enough mess, then even Chloe’s father couldn’t keep her in school!

TravelStar; Oh my, did Ladybug really go through with it after all?

CopDaughter; What do you mean Lila?

Lila grinned as the others all sent question emojis and she knew she had them hooked, now to start laying the groundwork.

TravelStar; Well, you didn’t hear it from me, but lately Ladybug has been worried about Chloe, how she always seems to be around when Akuma or are the reason most of them happen……. She’s been wondering if some of them aren’t on purpose………. Or just really bad luck.

Lila grinned as she looked at the chat, letting her poison sink in, all it took was to wait a few seconds before the class all started to talk about it.

RockRocker; She might be a pain, but she’s been trying to be better, and with her mother as a role model……..

SuperPen; Say no more guys, if Chloe was looking to act like her mom, then that explains a lot.

Actfear; To want a parent to love you, that’s something every one of us can feel and understand right? I want to act like my dad, so I guess Chloe copied her mom, and like Rocker said, she’s trying to be better lately, she hasn’t even caused an Akuma in a month, and I‘m not talking stalker boy!

Gothleta; Yeah, I mean I turned down that boy after he asked me out and he was Akumatized because of it, no girl alive could

FlowerChild; How many ex’s, or people who asked for a date have been Akumatized?

RockRocker; As one of them, too many. But I didn’t even come across the best, so maybe embarrassment was a cause for some?

Lila scowled as the conversation went away from Chloe and scowled but she sighed. “Will those idiots even take the bait that I leave out? What is with these fools, are they all such goodie goodies? Maybe I should throw something at Kim?”

TravelStar; I guess you’re all right, but I’m worried that Chloe will try something on Monday because of everything, you know with the new Bee. After what happened with Marinette, I guess I’m jumping at shadows, with how

Timehopper; Kim was all about how Marinette is required to have a hearing Lila, no matter what someone does you are given the protection of law to defend yourself, that’s the law and the Principle broke it!

Lila fumed as the class talked about laws and evidence, none of that mattered. She was the victim, her play should have had those fools falling over, she had tricked her teacher but the rest of them were showing signs that she should step up her game, maybe a few more acts, or should she discover another one who helped Marinette?

Gothleta; The Owl is always crooked, and the Zombie teacher is all about protecting the greater by sacrificing the one, I always hated her for that.

RockRocker; Yeah, and she’s been like that for a long time, no offense but remember how she handled at her birthday, but remember how she got Akumatized guys? That means she cares, in her own way.

Gothleta; But that doesn’t give her a pass, I mean she shouldn’t be a teacher if she can’t teach right and protect her students!

Actfear; Yeah, she should have gone with Marinette and Lila!

Timehopper; Of course as long as one student needs help she expects the rest of us to bend over backward to do it ourselves and well the Owl doesn’t care as long as he’s not bothered about

SuperPen; Guys, about what happened the other day…….. I told my friend about and he laughed before he realized I was telling the truth.

Timehopper; Well, see you guys later, I need to go and get supper ready, talk to you all later!

“Those idiots! By the saints, when will it finally get in their heads that what I showed them all was ‘true’!!” Lila growled and dropped her phone to grab her pillow to scream into it.

“When will that those fools realize I’m the one who won!? And that little bitch, when realizing that no matter what I will always come out on top, that she’ll never have a future? Just like all the others who got in my way.” Lila growled as she looked up at her ceiling and scoffed.

XXXXX

Marinette stared at the screen and swallowed as Adrien started to growl. “Calm down Adrien, please.”

“No way Mari, I’m looking into the laws, see if we can bring back the guillotine for her,” Chloe growled and Alya nodded.

“I’m there, need someone to hold her down?” Alya asked blank face as she looked at the screen on their end. She couldn’t believe that such a bitch had tricked them, tricked her. That she and Nino had let a monster like her spend time with their siblings, she didn’t how but she would get even with her.

“Akuma!” Sabrina suddenly cried out and everyone looked at their screens in horror.

XXXXXXX

Lila sighed and shook her head, sometimes she wondered if she could dump them before she screamed and exploded on these idiots. As she pouted a purple butterfly flew through her open window and she smiled as she held out her Volpina necklace and smiled as the Akuma entered her necklace and an energy mask formed over her face.

“Hello Hawkmoth, how are you tonight?” Lila asked before she clutched her head as a spike of pain lanced through her head. Why did the plan fail Lila, and why should I not punish you! I am not in the habit of keeping those who fail me around! Hawkmoth sent causing Lila to hold her head as the pain increased before it lessened and she panted as she tried to get her wits back.

“I did everything the right way, I did! Everything was perfect, don’t blame it on me!” Lila snarled and she felt a twitch from Hawkmoth. Very well, however, I have a plan in the works, I will contact you soon. When I tell you what to do, do it! I will give you one more chance, do not FAIL or I will have to……….cut you out. Hawkmoth sent and Lila swallowed as she got what he was saying and nodded before she remembered that he couldn’t see her.

“Whatever you need Hawkmoth, I will do it. All to defeat Ladybug,” Lila said and looked towards her necklace and tried to keep how she was feeling away from her voice. You have given me many a target and have helped me out more than anyone else, I expect you to carry out the plan to the letter my dear, if you fail there will be consequences! Hawkmoth sent before the butterfly flew away and Lila was all alone in her room.

As she glared down at her floor she kept calm for a few moments before exploding. “That scum-sucking fool! I can’t believe I have to work with that idiot to get back at that Ladybitch!” And then there’s that Mari-bitch! I mean may the goddess grant me patience, how hard is it to get a boy toy and put that half-breed bitch in her place?!”

As Lila huffed and fumed she let her emotions out, since Hawmoth had just contacted her, she knew that he wouldn’t use her as an Akuma so she was free, another reason that she loved it when he contacted her. As she finished she sat down and sighed, a long-suffering sigh escaping her as she leaned back.

“Why do things have to happen to a good girl like me, why can’t the rest of the people in the world just be happy that they’re in the dirt like they belong?” Lila asked and leaned back

XXXXXXXX

“Why do things have to happen to a good girl like me, why can’t the rest of the people in the world just be happy that they’re in the dirt like they belong?” Lila’s voice said as Marinette just blinked as Plagg started to laugh madly as he rolled on Marinette’s desk.

“Plagg!” Tikki said and Plagg kept laughing.

“Sorry Tikki, I can’t help it! Whenever we run into those delusional idiots, I always crack up!” Plagg said as he kept laughing.

Max had been able to hack into Lila’s computer easily, and turning on the computer’s camera, they had all seen Lila accept the Akuma, Marinette had almost transformed but Adrien had stopped her as they watched Lila actually talk with Hawkmoth, Marinette had almost passed out, they had thought Lila was working with Hawkmoth but this, part of her was hoping they were wrong.

“Gods damn her, I knew she was slime but this!? I’m gonna bring back the guillotine just for her!” Chloe snarled from her window on Marinette’s screen as Sabrina sighed and shook her head.

“And we can’t give this to the police, because if Max does then we’re all go down for hacking and accessories,” Sabrina moaned and Alya nodded along with her and but everyone looked at Max as he coughed.

“But this means we know about her, and we can watch her from now on,” Max said and Nino grinned.

“Yeah man! I mean she still thinks we’re not on to her, well most of us anyway,” Nino said and he looked at the others, a frown on his face and he looked away. “Well, everyone but Kim cause of how he said you deserved a hearing Dudette.”

“Kim did, oh because of that report he did a few years back,” Marinette said and frowned, a strange look coming over her face as she started to think up a plan and grinned as she looked around at the others. “Guys, this is important, did Alex say anything that might show that she was onto Lila?”

“No, why?” Alya asked and Adrien grinned as he started to understand what Marinette was getting at.

“Thinking of asking her as Ladybug to keep watch on her Milady?” Adrien asked and Marinette nodded.

“Time for Alix to be awesome,” Marinette said and Adrien grinned.

“What’s that mean dudes, does this have anything to do with that time my bro time-traveled back as an Akuma?” Nino asked and Chloe perked up and looked at Alya who looked shocked.

“Wait, what?” Sabrina asked and Max gasped.

“That tagger who appeared after Mr. Pigeon that one time, I was nearby and heard the rabbit hero say Chris, so I figured it was him,” Nino said with a shrug and Marinette nodded and Chloe just shook her head at this before going paler as she realized what this meant.

“Wait, that means someone will use the Peaco*ck for evil in the future?!” Chloe demanded and Marinette nodded and Sabrina started to mutter to herself as Max started to run calculations in his head as Markov hovered next to him as Nino tugged his hat down over his eyes. Alya stared at Marinette and Adrien through the screen as they sat there and just absorbed the fact that whatever the outcome, they would still have to fight for years to come.

“Guys? Lila said ‘Just like all the others who got in my way’, right? Who was she talking about?” Sabrina asked and everyone looked at her, Max of all people looked at Markov and nodded, a motion that everyone but Nino missed.

XXXXXXXX

Penny walked into the bar and looked around, spotting who she was looking for at a small table in the corner. She walked over and saw that they were far enough away that no one would overhear them and she knew Vincent cared about his subjects, so there was that at least.

Vincent had been feeling terrible since Adrien had left the shoot and he had heard from his own lawyer that someone wanted to talk to him about Adrien. Vincent felt for the kid, he really did. He respected his boss but there was something about the old man that bothered him, and his new model…….she was toxic. The girl had a story for everything and she had to be at the center of attention and sure, in his business he had dealt with Diva’s before, but Rossi……… she was even more wrong than Chloe was after her mother left. As Vincent sipped his tea and tried to not let the worst reasons why lawyers were contacting him about Adrien go through his head he looked up as someone pulled a chair out and was about to open his mouth when he blinked and realized who was sitting down with him.

“Rollings? What are you doing here?” Vincent asked as Penny looked at him.

“I needed something, Vincent, something off the record,” Penny said and Vincent scoffed and looked away. Penny looked at Vincent and hoped he knew something about Lila, the way Nathalie had said Lila was worrying, the way that Sabine had spoken about what had happened was concerning, and Vincent’s reaction, that was troubling in the extreme.

Vincent sighed and looked back at Penny, his mind going strange places. He knew Jagged and Penny, at least he thought he did, and those two were good people and if anyone could help Adrien then it would be them and Chloe.

“What do you want to know?” Vincent said after a few moments and looked at his coffee as Penny sighed and looked down.

“I heard about a new model for Gabriel, what do you think about her? Hear any tall tales from her?” Penny asked and Vincent scowled and looked away.

“She’s a diva, no saying that is an insult to divas! She’s a menace and I think the only way that she got the contract was because she did something for the elder Agreste,” Vincent growled and looked up at Penny’s gasp.

“He did things with her?!” Penny whispered in horror and Vincent nodded. He looked at her in confusion before he realized what she thought he meant and blushed as he shook his head.

“No, Not like that!” Vincent exclaimed, cutting through the sounds of other conversations. The hush caused them to look around and Vincent smiled and waved, the other people in the room looking at them for a few moments more before going back to their own as he looked at her.

“What do you mean then?” Penny asked and Vincent sighed and looked away

“I mean she might be spying on Adrien for Gabriel,” Vicente whispered with a hard look and Penny rocked back and looked at him in shock.

“Oh,” Penny said faintly and Vincent nodded.

“Yeah, I’d say more but the contracts say we can’t talk about anything that’s said on set, a little legalism that Nathalie set up years ago after a model almost caused the company to fold, long story I can’t talk about because of a contract I signed, got a nice bonus that year,’ Vincent said shaking his head. And that and a few other aspects of my contract are all that kept me from calling the authorities on that bastard Agreste! Vincent thought with a scowl and Penny nodded.

“I wasn’t expecting that,” Penny said and looked at Vincent. Vincent shrugged and looked away, feeling terrible about how he couldn’t help Adrien out.

Penny didn’t always have a thing to say to that, she only looking at him as a waitress came up to the table.

“Can I get you anything gov?” The redhead girl who looked to be about twenty years old, tall and curvy asked as she brought out a notepad. Penny saw Vincent grin as he saw her, turning his head towards her and beaming at her.

“Nothing for me thanks. I just came to talk to a friend,” Penny said and the waitress nodded.

“Well if you change your mind, just come to the counter,” The waitress said as she walked away, Penny looking at Vincent as he watched her and sighed.

“Got a crush?” Penny asked with a smirk and Vincent blushed and looked away.

“What, a crush on her?! No, no. She’s just photogenic but she doesn’t want to go into that my world, a lot of others have already asked her to model for them, but she doesn’t want to,” Vincent said and shook his head, the girl was a looker but she had this presence that caused all who worked the camera to want to capture in their art, but the girl was very adamant about not going into that world.

“Her choice. But for me, I like the background work most of all,” Penny said with a smirk and Vincent laughed with her and nodded.

As Penny looked at Vincent she remembered another reason that she needed to find Vincent, with their next tour happening soon Jagged wanted a few shots of him in a costume for his show for one of his new songs, and Vincent was one of the best in the business.

“Vincent, how free are you in about a month?” Penny asked and Vincent frowned and looked up at her.

“If things happen as I think they will, I think I’ll be free….. but if I’m needed elsewhere I won’t so please understand,” Vincent said and Penny nodded at smiled back as she stood up.

“Perfect, I’ll get in touch with you once we learn about anything else,” Penny said as she got up and Vincent shook her hand.

As Penny left him Vincent looked at the waitress who moved around the bar and sighed, she was beautiful but she carried herself differently, she seemed to have this air about her that would look wonderful as a model but she wouldn’t even take a step into that life. For a moment he wondered what had happened to her, but he would work her down, and hopefully, he would change her mind.

Penny walked out of the restaurant into the darkening air of Paris and smiled a she looked around, people were going around more than they normally did, the night after an attack by Hawkmoth was concerned a rest period for many, people were having fun and kids were still playing in the parks, having a good time.

She remembered how Jagged had been offered a contract to play a gig after the next Hawkmoth attack a few weeks ago and how he had just played a few songs he had already released. They had seen a lot of people just having fun, and with everything this city had dealt with they all deserved it. She passed a woman having a good cry and Penny smiled a little as the woman looked up with a smile on her face. Penny nodded to the woman who nodded back and she moved on, wondering if the Hotel would have more of that wonderful soup they had last night or if they had something better.

XXXXXXXXX

Nathalie paced back and forth, a dark look on her face as she moved. They had finally gotten the report back from their investigator and everything was there, every school Lila had ever been to, every town. And there was a trail of lives she’s ruined over the years, friendships and relationships she’s destroyed and every person she’s used. And to make it even worse, it seemed that Lila had learned to do this to people. I don’t like any of this, I knew that she was a rat, but this? What are they after, this is even more complicated than I thought. I knew there was something wrong with Lila, but this is too much! She thought as she looked over at Gabriel’s office, a strange feeling going through her.

She had told Gabriel that she didn’t think Lila would help their plans, and she was right! He thought her feelings came from the fact that Lila had tricked her and Gorilla to get into the mansion, and she had thought he might have been right but this proved that she was right about her. But with everything that was going on, if this was brought up in court that would hurt Gabriel’s and Adrien’s relationship, he had said that he had a few plans to work around that, but this was too much!

As she sighed and shook her head a beeping from her tablet let her know that Gabriel was coming down from the top part of the lair, she could wait a few moments and gather her thoughts, but she knew that Gabriel would summon her soon. As she stood there she locked down the mansion, a quick check on the surroundings showed nobody around and she sighed and walked towards the office. As she opened the doors she saw Gabriel sitting down at his desk, looking at his monitor.

He looked up at her as she walked into the room with a hard look on her face. “Nathalie, what is it?”

“We finally got the report back from our investigator sir, the one we sent to find out about Lila,” Nathalie said as she handed over a folder and he looked at it. “I was right about her, but I was underscoring how bad she is, and her mother.”

Chapter 14: Chapter 14

Chapter Text

Marinette sighed as she closed the program on her computer and leaned back. She wasn’t sure what she was thinking, but this, something was bothering her………. She didn’t know what it was but something was missing with what they knew about Lila. Come on, what is it? I mean okay Lila is working with both Gabriel and she seems to be on a conversational basis with Hawkmoth, we already ruled him out before, and according to Adrien the Collector got both Nathalie and his bodyguard, so who could he have given the Miraculous to if he was Hawkmoth? There isn’t anyone that he trusts, and his bodyguard was apart of that party and Nathalie was with him when they both left the city………but what am I missing? She thought as she looked at her blank screen as Adrien looked at her with worry.

“Your Ladybug face is showing my lady,” Adrien said with a smirk and Marinette looked shocked and blushed as the two Kwami in the room chuckled. “The fact that Lila is working with both my father AND Hawkmoth?”

Marinette looked at him, seeing the way his eyes were troubled and she sighed. “Oh, Kitty……”

“I thought the same thing my lady……… and about Lila? When Kagami was Akumatized the second time…….. I think Lila tried to make a deal with Onichan,” Adrien said with a bitter edge to his voice and Marinette looked at Adrien in shock.

“Remind me again, wasn’t Onichan after Lila to kill her?” Plagg asked and Tikki nodded. “Okay, she’s a psychopath or a sociopath.”

“Yeah……. I don’t know what we should do,” Adrien admitted as everyone looked at him. “But with everything we’ve got, maybe the most we should do is wait for now, I mean there’s Sabrina and her new partner, we might find out where Hawkmoth is hiding!”

“But Adrien, if he’s in the area of your home……” Marinette said and Adrien nodded.

“Yeah, but we have to find him, we don’t have a choice……. And since we figured out why he might want our Miraculous…… I thought about my mom,” Adrien admitted and Plagg winced and looked down.

“Kit……” Plagg said and landed on Adrien’s head as Adrien tried not to cry.

“I mean, it makes sense right? But that means that he knows what happened to mom and he never told me……” Adrien said and Marinette felt her heart break a bit.

On the surface, this was another mark against Gabriel but the sheer odes against it…… but the more that she thought about it the more it made sense. If Gabriel was Hawkmoth then how he always tried to keep Adrien locked in, out of the way of Akuma………. He was the head and owner of a company so he could ditch work and become Hawkmoth whenever……. But the Collector, that was the only mark against him. And they didn’t know that powers couldn’t affect the wielder, and Mayrua had created a Senti-Monster on her own!

As they all thought about it Plagg looked around the room and frowned. He hated Gabriel for how emotionally abusive he was, but he didn’t know that he could admit that

“So let’s table that and talk about the feelings between you two instead! I mean when the Bug’s parents called you down for that game it was just getting good!” Plagg said causing Adrien and Marinette to blush as Tikki giggled.

“Let’s leave them alone, me and Plagg will be on the rooftop balcony!” Tikki said as she shot forward and grabbed Plagg and pulled him up and through the door to the roof. Adrien looked up at the roof and took a deep breath.

As soon as breached the door, Tikki spun around and looked at Plagg with a scowl. ”Plagg, did you have to do that!?”

“What’s wrong Sugar-club? Wouldn’t you be happy that they’re finally letting each other know what they feel?” Plagg asked and Tikki only sighed.

“Before yes I would, but something happened…….. Fluff happened,” Tiki said and looked down as Plagg’s eyes widened.

Down below Adrien looked up at Marinette and smiled at her. Marinette looked away and blushed, her mind going miles in seconds as she tried and failed to figure out how to bring up everything she needed to, so after a few seconds Adrien started.

“So we have to talk about this, don’t we?” Adrien asked with a smirk as Marinette

“We do,” Marinette said and sighed as she looked up at Adrien with a hard look. “And I have to tell you about something, something that happened before everything the other day…….. I need to tell you about Chat Blanc.”

Adrien looked at Marinette and saw such despair and pain in her eyes that Adrien was caught up in this desire to grab her and hug her.

“Chat Blanc? Who was that, I never even heard of him……. Was Theo hit by Hawkmoth when I was away or something?” Adrien asked and Marinette shook her head and looked at Adrien with sorrow.

“No, one did but everyone did. It would have happened in the future, and the victim was you,” Marinette said and Adrien went still and looked at her shocked as she started to cry.

“Me?” Adrien said faintly as he felt himself grow cold as he looked at Marinette as she cried. He wanted to hug her and never let go,

“The whole city was underwater, the ‘Tower was on its side and the Moon was broken. I cleansed it and you said that our love was what destroyed everything,” Marinette sobbed out as Adrien looked at her in horror and pain as he shook his head, a hundred different things going through his mind.

“Oh Bug,” Adrien whispered as he put his arms around her as she just cried and he held her, letting her just cry as he whispered to her. “I’m here, I won’t become his victim, I promise.”

“Our love, that’s what you said caused it,” Marinette bit out and for a moment Adrien went still as anger suddenly went through him before horror hit him as he made connections in his head, connections that he hoped wouldn’t prove to be true.

“I signed my name for that barred I gave you and transformed to deliver it, then Bunnix appeared and then, and then….,” Marinette said as she started to cry.

As Marinette cried and leaned into Adrien she tried to think about everything was different now, how the rest of the team was helping each other and everyone was on board, what happened that caused Chat Blanc wouldn’t happen again, she would make sure of it.

“Oh Mari, I’m sorry you had to hold this in on your own, I really am,” Adrien said and part of him was sure that he was right about his fear, but as he held Marinette he let deal with her feelings.

A few moments later Marinette took a deep breath and moved away, a shaky smile on her face. “Thanks Adrien.”

“Anytime,” Adrien said as he looked at Marinette. As he looked down at her he swallowed as he zeroed in on her lips and for a moment he remembered how she had kissed him when Dark Cupid had corrupted him and then when they had been hit by Oblivio. He looked at Marinette as she looked back at her and smiled shakily at her as he noticed that she was blushing. “Say, when everything with our court dates are over and everything works out okay, how about you and me watch a movie when I get my new place set up? Just us and our kwami, a good movie or two, and some food?”

Marinette looked at Adrien and blushed harder, looking away from him as her mind went strange places and she chuckled lightly and looked at him with a coy smile.

“I’d like that Adrien,” Marinette said softly as she put her arms around his neck and smiled at him with a strange expression on her face as her suddenly felt heavy as she opened her mouth.

As Adrien started to feel strange and after a few seconds he acted on them, slowly he moved his head towards her as Marinette did the same as they both closed their eyes slowly before a call came from below.

“KIDS GET OVER HERE!” Tom bellowed and Marinette and Adrien both blink and seeing how close they were they to each other, they jerked apart and laughed shakily as they realized just what they had almost done and they laughed as inside Adrien and Marinette were both fuming.

“Dad only does that if it’s important, we should check it out,” Marinette said as she rushed towards the ladder down as Plagg and Tikki came from above, shooting into their chosen's pockets.

The teens ran into the living room and saw Tom and Sabine on the couch looking at the TV. On it was a scene of one of the local hospitals as three ambiances were out front with doctors bringing people in. “And repeating the top story, over twenty people within ages from 10 to twenty were found earlier today asleep, dead to the world. So far all the doctors have said is they are not in danger of dying and seem to have all their organs and no marks that could explain their state. This reporter will update on this developing situation as it develops,” The reporter said as Tom turned off the TV and shook his head.

“After everything, I wondered what could shock me. If Hawkmoth hadn’t set off an attack earlier today I would have thought it was him again,” Sabine said and Marinette looked at Adrien who shook his head as she felt Tikki press against her and she nodded to him before turning to her mother.

“It’s terrible, but why did you call us down?” Marinette asked and Sabine sighed and looked at them.

“Nadia called, her station is sending out interns to ask around where they were found, and they were found within two streets of us so for the next few days we might have people coming and asking to talk to us, so I want you to only open the door if you know who is on the other side and Adrien, keep away from the windows or stay in Marinette’s room,” Sabine said and Adrien blushed and looked away as Marinette started to stammer and Tom chuckled, Adrien meanwhile looked into his mind, remembering a lot of Tabloid ‘reporters’ and what they would do for a story, if one of them found out he was here………….. he didn’t want to think about what some of his fanatics would do, much less what his father would do.

“So you two up for a little four-part tournament of Mecha-Strike?” Tom asked and he was met with three grins.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kim sighed as he got out of the pool and toweled off as he walked towards his chair. As he looked up at the skylight and saw the night sky and the moon shining down he tried to calm down, even after swimming lanes he couldn’t quiet his mind. He was still very angry about what happened to Marinette, he might not be too bright but he knew all about law, and what happened was against all of the laws of both respect and dignity! Before he could spiral like Marinette a towel hit his head. He looked out from under it and saw his girlfriend Odine walk towards him, her peach skin was wet, her swimming leotard dripped as she walked over, her swimming hat in her hands, her short red hair free and her brilliant turquoise eyes above her freckles shined with worry.

“Hey, you were hitting the lanes hard tonight, what’s up?” Odine asked and Kim sighed and looked away.

“A lot of things, I don’t know where to start,” Kim said as he looked at Odine.

“Well start at the beginning, what happened?” Odine asked and Kim sighed and looked down. Odine was his girlfriend but she was also a friend of Marinette and Nino, they had all gone to elementary together and they had been friends for a long time, only he, Nino and Mari had a longer friendship.

“Marinette was expelled without a hearing!” Kim bit out and Odine just blinked a few times before she looked at Kim and she started to growl. Kim swallowed; Odine’s grandfather had been a judge and she was very strick about the rules, it was something that had drawn him to her in the first place.

“What?! What happened?” Odine demanded and Kim scowled and looked away.

“It was crazy, first a stolen test answer sheet was found in Marinette’s bag, then Lila supposedly was pushed down the stairs in the courtyard and then Lila led the way to Marinette’s locker and then the Owl expelled her on the stop!” Kim said bitterly and Odine sat down and looked at Kim with a scowl.

“And you didn’t stop it?!” Odine demanded and Kim looked down.

“I was shocked! And then before anything else could happen there was a Mass Akuma attack and I was one of the victims!” Kim defended and Odine gasped and looked at him with a scared look on her face and he smiled at her. “But it stopped in mid-attack, weird really, and after that, I was kinda out of it for about twenty minutes.”

“Oh, Kim that was terrible!”Odine said as her own nightmare flashed behind her eyes, when she flooded Paris and most people had been stuck in buildings, thankfully most buildings had been airtight because of her powers.

“Yeah. I thought that the principal would at least give her a hearing her but when other class representatives tried to get it he threw them out, yelled at them and me and Max were barely able to get away without detention! My little buddy said he was going to talk to Marinette about her rights, but then the Akuma and he’s gone silent!” Kim defended and Odine huffed and looked at him with a scowl on her face.

“Who the heck does that scum think he is!?” Odine asked and Kim grinned darkly.

“Yeah well my buddy sent me a message the other day, she’s suing them for what they did and she will get a hearing,” Kim said and Odine grinned darkly and started to chuckle.

“Good, very good,” Odine said evilly and Kim started to feel scared for a few moments before he realized that she wasn’t thinking about him.

“Yeah…… say do you want to get something to eat tomorrow? Just the two of us?” Kim asked and Odine looked at him shocked before she blushed and nodded, not noticing how close the two were to each other.

“Hey you two! The pool’s closed, go shower and change and I’ll lock up when you leave! And no PDA HERE!” A voice startled the two of them and they both looked down and saw how close they were to each other and laughed as they moved towards the changing rooms, both blushing as they walked away.

About ten minutes later they walked out the doors and the lifeguard locked the doors behind them and Kim smiled at Odine.

“Would the lady like an escort home tonight?” Kim asked as he offered her his arm. Odine giggled and accepted it and off they went. As they walked they made small talk, Odine smiling at Kim as they walked, when she was with him she knew she would be okay no matter what happened, that her dreams weren’t too far out of reach.

“Hey, Odine are you okay?” Kim asked and Odine looked at him and she looked away, only for Kim to put his other arm on her shoulder. “If there’s anything I can do to help, anything at all you just have to say it you know?”

“I…… I just haven’t had a good week at school, Kagami’s been having the same troubles lately,” Odine admitted and Kim raised an eyebrow.

Kagami in Kim’s mind was one of the most straightforward girls his age, coming in behind Odine, Marinette and Chloe. If both she and Odine were having troubles then it was probably like Lila, someone not something.

“What is it, or who?” Kim asked as they turned down a side alley that went to a small courtyard near the Tower. Odine opened and closed her mouth, not knowing how to describe it but if Kim had seen through Lila.

“The school has a new principal and student, there putting more…….” Odine trailed off as she looked ahead of them and gasped.

“What…….. Ah, Shi-bal,” Kim breathed as they saw over twenty bodies on the grounds of the small space before them. Odine ran towards a child’s body as Kim ran towards an older body lying face down and rolled it over and saw a woman whose chest was moving up and down. “She’s still breathing!”

“Here too!” Odine called out, looking around for anything. “I don’t have my phone, it’s getting repaired!”

“Mine too, stay here I’ll get help!” Kim called out as he ran away, leaving Odine alone.

A few moments later a low moan came from an older woman in a beige blouse and dress. Odine ran towards her and crouched down and looked at her, the woman looked elderly and had her white hair in a bun. “Who’s there?”

“I’m Odine, my boyfriend is getting help, hold on!” Odine said and the woman grinned at her, looking at her with glowing eyes that shocked her.

“Oh….. good. I ssee you, you’ll do what needs to be done, protect her, get the others please,” The woman said as she pushed a small white square box with a red circle in the center of it into Odine’s hand. “Don’t let anyone know you have her, promise me!”

“I don’t understand….” Odine began holding the box when the woman lunched and grabbed her.

“PROMISE ME!” The woman said fiercely and Odine nodded and the woman slunk back down and Odine examined her and saw that she was still alive.

Odine looked at the box and frowned before she put it into her purse as she heard a siren, looking up she saw Kim running back towards her with police and paramedics following along behind him. Waving Kim and one paramedic came over to her and she looked relieved that help had come. “This woman just woke for a few moments, she didn’t say anything but she was semi-coherent!”

“Good work, I’ll take it from here!” The paramedic said as he started to look over the woman.

As Odine stepped back a police officer came to her and smiled at her. “Good work, but we’ll need to make a statement about what you two found, I’m sorry but we need everything we can to help these people.”

Odine nodded and Kim took her hand and squeezed it, both of them drawing strength from each other as they followed the policeman. The box in Odine’s purse made it feel even heavier as she walked, not knowing that her destiny had been changed, that her life would change in the short term and become stranger but better.

XXXXXXXX

Max looked at his computer as he quickly hacked into the school database and frowned. It had been too easy to do that, he would have to try and send a message to the school about how easy it was to get into it. As soon as he was in he went through a few files here and there on school evens before sending Lila’s file to a cloud server set up in Russia.

As she floated, Kaalki looked at Max as he worked, Max finding her stare and looking away.

“Not so, honorable is it?” Max asked bitterly and Kaalki looked back at Max and smiled at him, her eyes holding understanding and

“By a certain point of view, it is,” Kaalki said bluntly as she floated there and looked at her chosen with a calm look. “Many of my own have been spymasters or helping with steeling things that they needed too. Honor is in the reasoning, not the doing as one of my first ones said.”

Max smirked as he finished his work as Markov came back online and floated upwards he looked at Max who was turning on another computer next to him. “Finished with your shadow work Max?”

“Yes, for now, let’s just get the file and then start looking into Lila,” Max said as he quickly navigated to the cloud website and download Lila’s file before opening it. As he looked over it he frowned as he saw the numerous health concerns that were listed for Lila with no doctor’s note to back them up.

“I don’t know procedures about this Max, but shouldn’t there be notes from her doctor scanned in?” Markov asked and Max nodded as he finally found the data he needed from the file and turned back to his hacking one, quickly finding the school in question he started to look for an online yearbook.

“Yeah, they should,” Max muttered as he finally found a list of students and then looked at the number of graduates for each year before Lila came to Paris and frowned when he saw a few numbers off, more than he thought. “Markov, I want to know who didn’t graduate from this school and what happened to them, I’ll hack into the records and find out where Lila was before she was here.”

“Of course Max, give me a minute,” Markov said as he slotted into the computer and started to absorb the data as Max worked.

“Done, three students beyond Lila left this school for other reasons. One is a grade lower than Lila would have been, two are the same age and both left not long after Lila did,” Markov reported and Max nodded as he worked.

“Good, find out what happened to them please,” Max said as he found the school and location where Lila had been before. He frowned, the city wasn’t one of the big ones that he expected a diplomat to have been sent to, something was wrong……… he needed to find out just what had happened in this city to have sent any diplomatic staff there long enough for Lila to go to school? Wait, this says she left this one after only four months? I guess an appointment to overlook something for the embassy would explain why she and her mother were only there so long, but why, where did they go after that? Max thought as he looked at his screen and tried to figure out why Lila had moved when she did. As he sat there and let his mind wander over all the possibilities for why that was done, he couldn’t find anything. He knew that Lila said her mother was a diplomat, but with what they all knew he doubted it. He tried to think of what kind of job her mother could have that let them travel so much, but still the longer he tried to the more he came up empty for an answer.

“I found them Max………. it’s not good. One of them is a girl named Arianna Bianchi; she’s currently in a monastery…….. I tracked down a medical report that she tried to take her own life,” Markov said mournfully and Max swallowed. “I found social media posts and she was cyber-bullied a lot, the sheer viciousness of some of these posts……. The other is a girl named Daniela Candreva, she left the school after testing out the grade and is currently studying to become a prosecutor, I think I can find her address to email her. But Max…….. most of the posts are about what ‘she’ or ‘they’ did to Lila,” Markov said and Max almost told him to send a message off but stopped himself and shook his head.

“Why would Lila……oh god!” Max said faintly and started to shake in fear as everything started to make sense to him.

“Max, what is it?” Markov asked and Kaalki looked at him in concern.

“That’s what she would have done with Marinette, because she discovered Lila was lying! She made this class hate her and then she tormented the girl until she did that!” Max snarled and Kaalki looked sick.

“Yes, it fits. The way she was acting, she had to have had practice at this. she goes to a new school…….” Max began and Markov took over.

“And someone either finds out about Lila or she finds a target to get the rest of the class on her side, and then when things go too far she’s either already gone or moved schools. Smart, evil but smart,” Markov said bitterly and

“Scum, I haven’t seen such monsters in centuries! I thought that modern schools looked for that! People like that actually like it! Why else if she’s been doing that for how long?!” Kaalki snarled as Markov unhooked himself and floated upwards. Max looked at his computer as he saw the data on it, he found another discrepancy and looked at Markov with a hard look.

“Markov, I’m going to find her third school, do what you did again with the second, we hunt for any and all evidence about what happened while Lila was there,” Max said as Kaalki nodded as Markov connected to the computer again.

“One thing bothers me, what about the younger child?” Kaalki asked and Max went still. Markov beeped and made a ‘smily face’ with his visor.

“Good news, from what I found the child only moved away with his family because of a death in his family, nothing to do with Lila!” Markov said and Max released a sigh and Kaalki floated with a lightened look in her eyes.

“Well, there’s that at least,” Max muttered as he looked back to his computer and sighed.

Kaalki looked at Max and his creation as they worked and hid a chuckle as she smirked. He might be a worthy Horse after all are very smart. But they all saw the big picture, but we have to remember the little things and how they affect the big. She thought as she floated there and looked at Max as he and Markov hacked. “Still what does she get out of this all? No one is pure evil, three are reasons for everything that is the truth of the universe. But what is Lila after?”

“I don’t know…….. Markov new mission; I want you to look into the relationships of each student in Lila’s class before she joined up……. Wait see if there’s a class chat first,” Max said and Markov ‘nodded’ with his visor and Kaalki floated over to his shoulder.

“There is, and three people are active tonight,” Markov said and Max nodded.

“Then let's talk, time to hack into it,” Max said softly as he looked at his screen.

“Done Max, I found a chat and I’ll need to relay and translate it but we’re in,” Markov said and Max nodded.

As Max looked at the chat room, he kept his mind blank and he hoped that these people would help him.

“We’ll be visible to them all in 3.2.1, message sent,” Markov said and Max nodded and started to type.

Starhacker909 has joined the chat.

Bloodhunter; Who the hell is Starhacker909, Rob did you invite somebody new

StrikeBak; No, who are you and how’d you get in here?!

Starhacker909; Wait, please! I’m sorry about this but I needed to talk to you about a person named Lila Rossi, she got a friend of mine expelled a few days ago!

Stanford; That witch is still doing that again!?

Bloodhunter; Okay Starhacker909, we’ll talk if you tell us what city you’re in!

Max breathed a sigh of relief and Markov blinked his eyes.

“Max, my barriers were hit by ten viruses and whoever is behind it is trying to find out where we are but I fought them off and they stopped, I think we’re safe for now,” Markov said and Max nodded as he looked at the screen.

“Markov, try and find out if Lila really did what we think she did at other schools, if she did we need to talk to a lot of people about her,” Max said grimly and Markov ‘nodded’ and Max started to text as Kaalki watched from behind him, a somber look on her face.

XXXXXXX

Odine looked at the small box as she sat in her room as the box set on her desk next to her bed as she looked at it. After the police had questioned them she had been driving home, her father had been worried when the police had shown up but after being told that she had found the people on the news he had relaxed a little. After she had gotten o her room she had locked the door and put the box on her desk as she looked at it, trying to understand why she hadn’t said anything about it, and why that woman had been so instant that Odine take it. After a few moments she took a deep breath and opened it, a moment later a ball of light shot up into the air, forming into a tiny grey creature with a large head with blue eyes, a fin on its back, a small snot, short arms and it grinned at her.

“Hi! I’m Bottla, nice to meet you!” Bottla said and Odine swallowed a screamed as she looked at Bottla as it looked around with a frown. “Wait……. Where’s Melisa?”

“You mean the old woman, she’s at the hospital,” Odine said and the creature gasped!

“Oh no, she found us!” Bottla said and looked around, a scared look on its…..her? face as Odine looked at the creature and tried to calm Bottla down.

“Hey, calm down. She was okay and breathing last I saw her,” Odine said and the little creature nodded and looked at her with a strange look on its face.

“Sorry, I’m Bottla, the Dolphin Kwami of Discord and …….” Bottla began before Odine gasped.

“A Kwami?! Like Ladybug, Chat Noir and Hawkmoth?!” Odine interrupted Bottla who nodded before going still.

“Ladybug….. Tikki’s chosen?! What happened to bring them out into the light of day?” Bottla asked and Odin looked at the Kwami in surprise.

“You don’t know what’s been happening in Paris!?”

“We keep moving, staying ahead of the Seven Deadly,” Bottla said and Odine looked at the kwami with a bad feeling going through her.

“The who?” Odine asked and Bottla sighed and looked away.

“The holders of seven of the 7 miraculous of Dark Emotions, they’ve been tracking me and mine for years, I’ve lost so many friends to them,” Bottla said and sniffed as Odine looked at the Kwami in concern before she remembered what Melisa had told them.

“Was one of them responsible for what happened there?” Odine asked and Bottla nodded.

“The sin of Gluttony; the Vulture. Those people who were hurt won’t wake up until the egg she forms is used up or destroyed. And the sin of Lust; the Ant gave her eggs to her, we destroyed a Soldier before

“Soldier?” Odine asked and Bottla nodded.

“A non-sentient monster created from the Ant’s Powers. The created warriors obey the one who activates them, wielder or civilian,” Bottla said and Odine swallowed.

“What are they after?” Odine asked and Bottla looked down and away.

“Me, my power of Turmoil causes all abilities to be turned on whoever used them, Melisa got away by hitting the Soldier so it would go after Vulture instead of us,” Bottla said and looked at Odine with a hard look. “If they take my Miraculous, then they can do whatever they want with no way to counter their powers.”

“So these Miraculous have been passed down for how long, and most of the time they’ve been hunting you?” Odine asked and paled when Bottla shook her head.

“No, it’s the same people……… They have a ritual that uses the energy that the Vulture gathers to empower them and extended their lives. Anything they kill, they all gain the years, in the past they left totems near where battles might happen to gather the years of killed soldiers, WW1 and 2 gave them centuries!” Bottla said with a haunted tone

Odine looked at the kwami as she tried to figure out what to do. The easy thing to do was get in touch with Alya, she ran the Ladyblog and if anyone could get a message to Ladybug then she could. But then the woman trusted her with this, and why shouldn’t she do something to help out? By the way the kwami was talking, if she was able to get even one of them away from the Seven then she might be able to stop them. And her home was perfect, it was in a section of the city away from the center and the main roads, if…..when the other seven made it to the city she would be out of the way. And she knew the sewers and catacombs well, she had played there as a child and knew them almost as well as she knew the streets. And Bottla was a dolphin, her favorite animal.

“If I used your Miraculous to transform, can I breathe underwater?” Odine asked and Bottla nodded and Odine took a deep breath. “Then I have one question, what’s the name of the hero who uses it to transform?”

XXXXXXX

Alya blinked her eyes as she woke up and looked around, seeing Chloe’s room in the hotel and for a moment she was confused before she looked down and saw Trixx sleeping on her chest and then remembered everything. She after they had all learned how much of a psycho Lila was she, Chloe and Sabrina had done a quick interview, she had transformed and had Sabrina record ‘Ladybug’ and ‘Apisera’ and talk to Chloe about how she had been retired and Chloe had agreed with them, only saying to listen to their ‘teacher’, a good trick they had to keep Kwami from being on the news and in the public eye.

As she looked around she saw Sabrina and Chloe leaning against each other with their kwami sleeping on their chosen, she smirked as she looked at them. Who knew that the three of them loved to watch feel-good movies or that Chloe was such a romantic? As the sun shined down Chloe and Sabrina both woke up, all the kwami did as well.

As Sabrina got up she looked around and saw Alya as Chloe turned the news on as she grabbed a PDA and looked over it, smiling as she listened to the morning news.

“……… And in local news, if you can head over to the zoo tomorrow, the tickets will be half price and there’s a presentation on fire safety there as well. And next on Moth Watch, the latest Akuma was defeated by three heroes, our protectors Chat Noir and Ladybug with the help of a new hero we haven’t been able to get in touch with, as usual, the victim has been hidden and the reason why they were influenced,” The reporter said as Chloe looked at the screen, scoffed and muted it, causing Alya to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

“What, have you got a thing against the press?” Alya asked as Trixx landed on her right shoulder

“Yeah. No offense Alya, but a lot of the reporters on the Hawkmoth case are worse than tabloids writers,” Sabrina said

“Daddy tells me that reporters are always trying to get dirt on people who were Akumatized, a reporter even had a piece about how a girl who was almost raped before she was Akumatized in the first month should have fought harder,” Chloe said bitterly and Alya gasped before she nodded.

“Trash like that, you should give them nothing at all, they’re just a stain on journalistic integrity,” Alya growled and Sabrina looked at her with a strange look as Chloe grinned evilly. Alya looked up and saw the look Sabrina was giving her and Alya looked ashamed. “And before you say anything about my interview with Lila, I never published it because I was still working on fixing it before I met Trixx here for the first time and after that well…..”

“Yeah, nice to know that you’ve got a good head on your shoulder,” Chloe said Alya nodded. “Thankfully daddy went down hard on all the editors, something about banning their people from any events he or mom held in the city,” Chloe said with a dangerous purr and Alya whistled as Sabrina giggled evilly as the Kwami looked at each other shrugged.

“Nice……” Alya said with a smirk and looked at the two girls as they looked at their bodies and Chloe felt her hair and shuddered.

“So, I’ll get the first shower, then I’ll order breakfast while Sabrina showers and Alya can finish last and Sabrina can act like she’s drying off when the food gets here,” Chloe said as Alya looked at Chloe with a frown as she tried to figure out what Chloe meant. “Me and Sabrina will get dressed in my walk-in closet, Alya, you will get dressed in the bathroom. Order the usual for me Sabrina, and ask Alya what she wants, and don’t forget the honey mustard please”

Alya opened her mouth closed it and nodded after she realized Chloe’s plan. She grinned as Chloe walked away but frowned as she looked at Sabrina who grinned back at Alya as Barrk sighed as he ate a small part of a dog cookie.

“One thing I don’t get it, why do you act like a servant to Chloe all the time?” Alya asked and Sabrina looked away and Alya felt a little bit dirty for a second. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to……”

“It’s not a good story, but well……” Sabrina said and sighed and looked away. “My grandfather on my dad’s side and Chloe’s were godbrothers growing up, they promised we would have a place with each other…….. and after I moved here with my dad four years ago…….. I just didn’t want to be around people for a while and I got to like acting.”

“So it was an act? Everything?” Alya asked in complete shock and Sabrina grinned at Alya.

“Yeah, I actually bought most of the ‘gifts’ Chloe gave me, it was all part of our plan really,”

“But your Akuma?” Alya began and then winced. “Sorry……. ‘Don’t talk about what caused it’, forgot for a moment there.”

“No, it’s okay. A…….person I liked didn’t notice me when I left them a gift…….. when he hit me I was cursing how I acted and I think Chloe for her part of our plan…….. at least I think, you know how when you’re ackumatized you forget about a minute before and what he offers you?” Sabrina said as Barrk rubbed his head against Sabrina’s check,

“Yeah. But romance, that’s hard,” Alya said and Sabrina chuckled.

“At least I’m not like Marinette and Adrien!” Sabrina said and Alya laughed a little as Trixx giggled while Bark nodded.

“Bugs and Cats kit, they always orbit around each other. The stories I could tell you about them all,” Trixx snickered as Bark nodded.

“Yep, I remember sometime around 800 years ago, me and my chosen were tracking down this necromancer when we came across the Black Cat, we worked together for about a month tracking the varmint down and saving all we could and all he could talk about was this girl he knew, turned out she was the Ladybug of the time,” Barkk said and Sabine looked at her kwami, for a moment she had forgotten that Barrk and the other kwami were as older as their concepts, the sheer time they had been around staggering for a moment.

Sabrina looked at the TV screen and paled at what she saw. “OH MY GOD!”

“What?! Oh,” Alya said as she and the Kwami turned and saw the screen, the reporter in the foreground as behind him was a shot of last night in front of the hospital.

“CHLOE GET OUT HERE!” Sabrina screamed and Chloe shot out of the bathroom a moment later clad in a yellow robe as Pollen flew behind her.

“What is it……” Chloe trailed off as she saw what was on her TV as Sabrina raised the volume.

“ at this time nothing has changed since last night, the victims are still unconscious but sources have reported no casualties at this time. Police are still looking for what could have caused it with the Park by the ‘Tower still closed as the ECDC look it over. With nothing new to go on, most authorities are waiting for any of them to wake up to hopefully explain what happened to them……. And now on to the weather,” The reporter said moments before Sabrina muted the screen again.

As Chloe dripped onto her floor she looked at the screen in horror, horror that was mirrored on the faces of Alya and Sabrina.

Chloe however was feeling something else, she remembered an old meeting from when she was a lot younger when she was learning to read. She couldn’t remember it but she heard something like this before, she couldn’t remember what it was exactly but it was there.

“This is terrible; I wonder if it’s something to do with Hawkmoth?” Sabrina asked and Chloe hugged her as Alya looked at the screen with a hard look.

“It sounds familiar, doesn’t it?” Trixx asked and the humans looked at the kwami. Pollen and Barrk were looking at the screen while Trixx floated upside down.

“Trixx, are you okay?” Alya asked and Trixx just floated there for a few moments before snarling. “Trixx?!”

“No, I…….this is something I’ve faced before, but I can’t remember when!” Trixx snarled as old emotions came back, emotions the kwami couldn’t place.

“I’ve never heard of something like this, but it was a long time ago,” Pollen admitted and Trixx just floated there as Alya looked on in concern.

“Why can’t you remember?” Alya asked softly and Trixx just kept floating and Alya shared a look with Chloe and Sabrina.

“We lived a lot longer than you all, and sometimes when the old Guardians would take us out the box, sometimes the others would come back having forgotten things,” Pollen said darkly and Chloe held Pollen to her body as the Kwami relaxed against her.

As the three girls exchanged worried looks, the way Chloe called Master Fu a ‘cult baby’ yesterday came back to them. Chloe was only speaking in jest, but the evidence was something that they couldn’t deny. If the guardians were a cult like Chloe suggested, then they all might be in more danger than they thought they were, with the surprising fact that Hawkmoth might not be the only foe they would have to face.

XXXXX

Lila smiled as she looked at the Hotel before her, all she had to do was find anyone who worked here and say that she was a friend of Chloe’s and that she was blocking her calls. Then all she had to do was say that she was worried because of the class chat, well that was enough for the old-timers to tell her how Chloe was feeling. If she could find out anything about how she was feeling about the New Bee because of how much pride Chloe had, how she was worried she might do something, and if anyone heard her then that’s all the better for when she was Akumatized.

As she walked into the lobby she looked around and smiled, there were enough people there that she could do her plan and not be obvious about it. She saw a woman with tan skin in a white uniform talking to a man behind the desk and she walked towards it as a woman with purple hair and dark skin walked out of the elevator, but Lila ignored her once she saw the dark clothing the woman wore, writing her off as a goth once she saw colors of her hair and clothing.

“Excuse me, but I haven’t been able to get in touch with my friend Chloe for a while, and since the new Bee hero was revealed on the news last night I was worried about her reaction,” Lila said as the two people by the counter looked up at her.

“No Madame Chloe is currently in her room and I believe that she is fine and doesn’t want anyone to come up there now,” The man said as the goth walked closer and looked at Lila with a strange look on her face.

“Is she okay, she’s my friend. With the last text of we exchanged I’m so worried about her, it seemed like she was angry when she wrote them, and well with Hawkmoth….” Lila trailed off and noticed a few people looking at her from the mirror behind the counter and barely kept from smirking.

As the man looked at the Italien, Marina looked at Lila and frowned, she remembered Alya talking about a girl who was a liar and how she messed up, if this was that girl who tricked her daughter then so help her then she would beat the girl herself.

“Miss Chloe was alright the last I saw her,” The woman said and Lila grinned, not seeing Penny looking at and frowning.

“Oh good, I mean the way the texts I saw, it was all I could do to try and talk to Chloe about it, I was so worried about her,” Lila said sweetly and Penny looked at Lila, she knew the girl looked familiar, but she couldn’t remember where she had seen her.

“I…..well she did look like she was crying last night,” The woman muttered and Lila grinned, something that she could use against Chloe to string along Hawkmoth was just what she needed. She might not have turned Marinette into an Akuma yet, but the return of Queen Wasp might win her some points. As she wondered if Chloe would get expelled before or after Lila got her Akumatized?

Before Lila could say anything else Penny finally reached the desk and spoke up from behind her.

“Hey, you got our mail from yesterday right, J’s been chomping at the bits to finalize the paperwork on a few things,” Penny called out and the woman behind the counter nodded and handed over a bundle of mail.

“Here you go ma’am. Will you and your friend be leaving us soon?” The woman asked and Penny shrugged.

Lila looked at Penny, something about the woman was bothering her, she knew she had seen her before but she couldn’t remember where. She looked at Penny as she shrugged.

“Maybe not too soon. There’s this girl who tried to start a rumor that Jagged made up a song about her when she was a pre-teen of all,” Penny said as Lila’s eyes shrank as she realized she was looking at Penny Rolling, the woman in the chief’s outfit gasped and shook her head.

“That reminds me about this lying girl my daughter told me about, I can’t believe that there are such people out there, liars that just want to make themselves look good!” The chief said and Lila paled a little and took half a step backwards.

Her lies and tales were all to get a good life for herself, but sometimes people just didn’t understand why she did what she did and those people always made trouble. She fought back against them and set things up so her revenge would happen after she left, and was it her trouble that people never understood that she and they were legitimately fighting?

As Lila slipped away as the woman chatted about their own experiences with liars, Penny suddenly went still and then turned and saw Lila’s back as she left the hotel, finally realizing exactly who that had been and cursing the lost chance to give that young lady a piece of her mind.

“Is everything okay ma’am?” The woman behind the counter asked and Penny shook her head.

“Yes, everything is fine for now, I just need to give someone a talking to,” Penny said darkly as she took the mail.

Chapter 15: Chapter 15

Chapter Text

Marinette yawned as she woke up, the last few days had been hard but she was sure that she was almost over it all. With the paperwork that the lawyer brought with him sent in, she would soon have a hearing and from there she and her family would survive and thrive. “Morning Tikki, how are you?”

“Fine Marinette, but something about what was on the news last night,” Tikki said as she floated free and looked at her chosen. “Something about it bothered me, I don’t know but something about how they looked, I’ve seen it before but I can’t remember where or when.”

“Well, if this is Hawkmoth or something else then we’ll find out and deal with it, I think I’ll stay home today and maybe message Master Fu later……..,” She said with a yawn as she walked out of her room into the rest of the house carrying her clothing, smiling as she heard her father singing down below, the only reminder that she needed to head towards the bathroom.

As she walked through the house she knew she was forgetting something and as she turned the corner and walked into something. Looking up she blushed as she saw she had walked into Adrien and that he didn’t have a shirt on.

XXXXXXX

Adrien got out of the shower and grabbed a towel to dry himself off. As he finished his arms he put the Ring of the Black Cat back on and Plagg formed in front of him and scowled at his chosen.

“Okay Kit, what happened last night?” Plagg asked and Adrien sighed and looked away.

“Tikki told you about Blanc, right? I think there’s a bigger chance that my father is Hawkmoth than before,” Adrien said and looked at Plagg with a hard look to his eyes. Plagg’s eyes opened wide and he looked at Adrien with horror, he didn’t like Gabriel but was he that much of a bastard? And that meant that his kin might have been held captive in the same house he lounged around in!

“What do you mean kid?” Plagg asked as Adrien put his clothing on, hoping that he could disprove whatever Adrien thought he had discovered.

“You know how I’ve been feeling about Marinette, how my crush was on both of her was starting to make me feel filthy? If I discovered both of them were her, then I would date her in my civilian form and try to keep her from knowing I knew. The Lila plan that got Marinette expelled? Turning Mari into an Akuma must have been the goal!” Adrien said grimly as Plagg floated there, a frown on his face as he watched Adrien.

“Okay…. Okay so Gab would have threatened either you or Bread to get you to break up, probably her. Then when she was feeling down about it Bread would have been a prime target for an Akuma……. You see it, you transformed to save her, then he/Hawkbut saw you and then the events where you were an Akuma, probably revealing who he is in the process,” Plagg reasoned out and looked at Adrien who had a dead look in his eyes. Plagg looked at Adrien and tried to think of anything to say, but he had to admit that what Adrien was saying made sense. “Come on kid, it might have been something else, I mean Gab might be overprotective but that doesn’t mean….”

Plagg wanted to cataclysm himself as he saw his kit look so forlorn, he wanted to help him but before he could think of anything to say Adrien spoke.

“My mom Plagg, if dad has the Butterfly then that means that mom might have had the Moth, if the Moth is damaged then that means it’s why she’s gone,” Adrien said softly. I

Plagg’s eyes widened. His mom, the Peaco*ck! If that’s what happened then the Assistant is the current wielder! Oh kid you don’t deserve this at all! Plagg thought as he looked at Adrien as he put his shirt over his shoulder and Plagg slipped away, out of sight as he followed his chosen.

Adrien was so caught up in his thoughts that he never noticed Marinette before he walked into her.

XXXXX

Marinette looked at Adrien and swallowed as she saw his bare chest and how his hair was still damp.

“Marinette, hey…… uh, the showers free?’ Adrien said as he looked down at her and blushed with how she looked in her sleepwear. He could feel Plagg laughing silently as he leaned against Adrien’s

“Yeah, I should……. Want to watch a movie in my room once I’m done over breakfast? I mean we’ve got nothing better to do……” Marinette said and blushed as she saw Adrien’s bare chest. As she blushed she looked up and quickly tore her eyes away from the sight before her. “I’ll see you later!”

As Adrien stood there he looked down and blushed as he put his shirt on, two hidden little laughs all the evidence of the three beings who had seen what had happened.

XXXXX

As Sabine smiled from the side room that they used as an office to keep track of expenses and when they needed to order new supplies. Those two deserve all the help we can give them, and all the love. But that doesn’t handle our problems with the excess, we could do that and it will be a good tax benefit as well….. She thought as she closed the door and went to work, As it was with Marinette not going to that school anymore they would have to look into another way to handle the leftovers, they gave over a quarter of them to the school, and the rest to the homeless shelters, so there was that at least……… maybe have the pickups every day before opening? They were a bit out of the way but maybe he could come another way? Sabine shrugged and sighed as she started to check over the supplies from last night and nodded as she looked over the bakery’s books.

“I wonder if I could get Adrien to come over for breakfast once this is over if everything goes right?” Sabine muttered as she finished going over everything and nodded, jotting down a few notes over what she needed to order over the next few days. As she finished getting everything done she left the room.

Passing by Adrien she smiled at him. “While you’re here Adrien, please remember to get dressed in the bathroom first before you leave please!”

Adrien looked at her and gulped as Sabine left, Sabine giggling as she left and he felt Plagg laugh from his pockets.

As she entered the bakery part of the building she smiled as she heard the sounds of their crew starting to work, walking by them she nodded as she headed towards the counter and dropped a franc a new empty jar, Tom chuckling as chuckles were heard from the others.

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The sun shined through a window showing 5 teens around a table, each around 19 years of age. All of them were looking over a map of Paris, a few marks locking down an area into five sectors.

“So I’ll ask around the Tower, Sarah will take the area by the school, Jonny will take that street outside the courtyard and Robert will look around the river, everybody okay with that?” The person who asked was a tall male in a blue shirt and sweat pants with red hair in a wolf’s tail.

“God, after coming here to intern they send us out like gophers, they want to get their money’s worth from us,” The teen who muttered was a black-haired man dressed in a green jacket and black pants, short greasy black hair snickered.

“We will all have a cameraman with us in case we find anything, and if we can get something then I think we’ll get partial credit for it, there’s that at least,” The greasy teen said and a blond-haired male teen in a white shirt started to laugh and shake his head.

“Come on brother Robert, live a little!” The blond teen said and the final member of the group and the only woman there, a mousey looking girl with brown hair in a bun wearing a white blouse and silver pants.

“Jonny’s not wrong you know,” The mousey girl said and Robert glared at her.

“Oh stop it, Sarah, you and Bob are just like each other!” Robert barked and Sarah blushed and looked away as Bob coughed. The two of them were alike, but then the secret they both shared did explain some of that, but they wouldn’t talk about it

“So let’s do it people, we’ll meet our camera crew downstairs and get to work!” Bob said as he stood up, the others following his actions as they walked out the door and towards the elevator.

As Bob pushed the elevator button he smiled as he waited. He had worked hard and he was finally in the news business, at the ground level sure but he was there! As the elevator came and they moved into it Sarah hit the button for the ground floor. As Robert looked around as Johnny told a joke that made Sarah giggle he looked at the door. As the elevator stopped and the party walked out they were met with laughter.

“Well well, the brat pack coming down from the tower, what spilld some copier?” A haughty voice called. As one Bob and Sarah both winced and all four of them turned to see what they knew but most hoped not to see

A woman with flashy makeup, a beige skirt that went to her thighs, and a white t-shirt that hugged her curvy figure and long platinum-colored hair went to her shoulders laughed. Next to her was a woman that was Bob’s height and age with her black hair in a bun and large glasses dressed in a green sleeveless shirt, black vest and black pants wearing flats.

“Kate what are you two doing here, it that gossip rag show of yours finally going down? No? Then what brings the queen and her handmaiden down from their tower?” Bob asked as the flashy woman looked at him with a scowl.

“We’re heading to the management to talk about a new story that …….. Miss Ava found last night, it might even be something Nadja missed!” The bun-haired woman, Kate said and Ava looked at her with a look of anger.

“Yes miss Ava,” Kate muttered as she looked down.

“There you are Bob, I was looking for you all,” Nadjia’s voice caused all of them to look and see her walking towards them, a smile on her face.

“Good Morning miss Nadja!” All the interns said as she came towards them and saw Ava and Kate standing there.

“Good morning Kate. Ava,” Nadjia said with a glare that Ava returned and Bob winced. He had heard there was bad blood between the two of them and

“You wanted to talk to me Miss Nadjia?” Bob asked to break the tension. Nadjia nodded and looked at him and her eyes found Sarah. Bob didn’t react, but he was protective of her, as much as anyone with their relationship but he didn’t say anything

“Yes, I spoke with your boss. You and Sarah are working for me today, you two still have your jobs to do, but you can just go out and talk to whoever you want,” Nadjia said as she looked at Johnny and Robert.

“Now I’m sorry, but please keep up you two,” Nadjia said as she turned and walked towards a side office.

“Got it Miss Nadjia !” Sarah said before she walked off. Bob looked at his friend and shrugged before he walked off after Sarah.

“So they go off and work for her and we get stuck holding the bag!” Robert said bitterly.

“Don’t worry brother, be happy!” Jonny said as he walked towards the doors to the street, Robert following behind with a scowl.

Kate looked after where Bob had gone and smiled a little, she always liked those two, they seemed to be willing to get dirty if it meant someone who did a worse crime paid in the end. Those two were perfect to take over for those two, all she had to do was take those two out and bring them in, a few years to slowly change their thinking and she would have two allies that would back her up, and after she takes over the news station she would have two partners for the rest of time.

“Come intern, move it! You need to look over the reports I got from my ears, I want a story to blow that Prime Queen out of the water!” Ava barked and Kate nodded subserviently and followed after her, a small presence in her pocket told her that what her partner felt about her boss, and she couldn’t wait until she found a way to………. direct Ava better, and she wondered if what let Hawkmoth operate could help her in that way.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Max sighed as he left his house and pulled out his phone, the weight of Markov in his bag didn’t feel as heavy today even with Kaalki in there with him. Last night he and Markov had tracked down Lila’s last three schools, and all of them had a variation of the same story; Lila came into their lives with grandiose stories, sometimes a person would see through them, confront her about the lies and then Lila would spend her time there making the person’s life hell or if nobody saw through her then accidents would happen to other people whose only crime Max could see was to be more talented than Lila was. And in the end, people would only figure out the truth once Lila was gone, some survived her other times people were left broken in her wake.

But after talking it over with Markov and Kaalki he had been advising to talk with Fu, Kaalki had said that the guardian had experienced quite a lot and he would have advice that would help Max, and while he knew he should send the links and contact information on to the others…… this was so much more and this could ruin more lives than just Lila, he needed advice before he could move forward.

Fu seemed to him to have a lot of experience, having seen a lot during his long life, he had to have dealt with people who liked to hurt others before

As he walked he suddenly felt his phone vibrate and he pulled it out and smiled, Fu had texted him back and said to come to the same side street that he and the others had used and that he was wondering if Fu could hire Max to check the theater’s network, something about making sure that he wasn’t being taken advantage of. Max smiled and sent a reply, as he walked he saw a police car roll by and frowned as he turned a corner and saw a truck roll by and frowned as he saw it was from the ECDC[European Center of Disease Control].

“Markov, scan the net and find what would bring the ECDC out here after staying away because of Hawkmoth!” Max commanded as he walked towards Fu and called up a chat room and smiled as he saw that Lila wasn’t there and that there were mentions of a page Alya had set up because of Marinette’s situation. His talk with his mother about what had happened to Marinette had forced Markov to call the center and have her commander come in and join the talk, thankful he had helped calm her down and promise to fly her to Paris herself, something about a budget meeting in France about a new drone they were going to launch in a few months, a mission that was still in the planning stages. He had almost offered to make an AI when he heard the way the commander mentioned how isolated it would be, his AIs were too human for that kind of work, but perhaps his Virtual Intelligences might be more in line with what future missions need.

“Max? I found it……. There were people found last night at least twenty. And they’re all still unconscious and haven’t woken up,” Markov said and Max went still and looked down at his bag and paled before he started to run towards the theater. As he ran he remembered the stories his mother told him, one story about how her friend had slept for weeks, waking up so weak after she woke up, the girl had been drained, she became a baker in a small bakery in their hometown, looking for peace when originally she wanted a life as a member of the national police.

He also remembered how his mother said her friend was only one of many people who had fallen asleep for so long, all of them seemed to be…..drained was the only way she had to describe it. If half of what she talked about was happening now, then the others had to know about what Max knew. If there was a chance that a new supervillain was moving into Paris, then the others had to know. And if this was something that missed his mom, then he owed whoever was behind this and he would stop them in Paris and save all that he could.

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Kim hadn’t said anything to the police, but when he had found the people and touched one of them to make sure that they were okay, and he felt something, something he had only felt twice before, when he used the Miraculous to become Roi Singe and when Hawkmoth had used him. Part of him was worried that this wasn’t Hawkmoth and part of him was worried it wasn’t. Ever since he had transformed and fought, he had been different, he had an easier time keeping his focus and his memory was even better. He didn’t know what it meant but he liked it a lot. Still, as Max would say, everything has a reason and a cost…… so what’s mine? I mean this is weird but I haven’t changed, it’s like something was gone……. I like this but I don’t like not knowing why! Kim thought as his mind tried to get away from the people he had found last night.

After Odine had gone home, he had stayed there and slept in an empty room so the police could ask him some questions in the morning. Last he heard the ECDC ordered the area isolated and the buildings all stores had been closed for hours in most cases. All in all he wished he had either his Miraculous or a way to call Ladybug, they might know something

As he walked he saw Max hurrying along and was about to call out when Max turned down a street and frowned. That’s not like him, he’s always talking about how you should stay on the main streets, what’s he doing now Max had been silent since last night, he had seen him go to Marinette’s place after Alya and Nino on the last day of school, but what was up with him now? As he pulled his phone out he quickly sent a quick text to Odine and smiled at the reply. They had been planning to meet up again after last night but she said that she was hoping they could cancel, she wasn’t feeling that well. He sent off a text and promised to make another date when she was feeling better and he sent another message to Max.

As a car drove by him he frowned as he notice it looked official, something told him it had something to do with what he found last night. Times like this he wished his little buddy was with him, the two of them could run around town and try and find out what had happened, of course, he would have to change headbands. Ever since he had first transformed he had been wearing a headband after a few days, he had said it was something about a lucky charm that he read about and Max had found a few articles that other athletes had done it so people ignored him with how Paris had been.

A beep from his phone caused him to look down and see that Max wasn’t able to talk to him today, he sighed and walked off, he would keep an eye out and hope for the best. If something was wrong with those people beyond a quick sickness or poisoning, then he hoped that Chat Noir and Ladybug was on the case.

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Odine got off her phone as she looked at Bottla as the Kwami ate some lettuce. She hatted to cancel their date, but after last night she needed to talk to the Kwami she had found and get the whole story about what was going on, and she needed to decide what she would do.

“ This is great! Thanks for the greens kid! I just love me some lettuce!” Bottla said as she floated on her back and burped a little. Odine giggled and looked at the kwami who finished off the last of the food and grinned at Odine.

“No problem, you know I can’t believe that Plagg and Tikki are fighting against somebody who kidnaped Nooroo. That little guy was always so happy and carefree back home!” Bottla said and Odine looked at her.

“When we spoke last night, you said that they have a ritual that could give them centuries, but how?

“It’s all of them really; most importantly Sloth’s ability to takes energy and Lust’s ability to create minions, that’s all we’ve been able to understand, the others never used their ability when we could see them combined or how, but each of them is enough of a scum that the others need to have some reason to work together and not take everything for their own,” Bottle said with a growl.

Odine looked at the Dolphin Kwami and tried to figure out what

“I don’t know what happened, she renounced me an hour before you found her, they don’t know who I am and I don’t think they can track an active Miraculous,” Bottla said and Odine nodded and smiled.

“Good, well it’s not but it's better than I feared,” Odine said. That means I might be safe once I transform back……. Oh, what am I thinking! She thought as she looked at the Kwami who didn’t see Odine’s expression as she looked all over the room, looking out the window and cooing as she saw the grounds.

“This is nice, I mean I’ve been mostly mobile for years but this place is good! If we had Sparkk here then we could ward it so hard it would take all of them an hour to break in!” Bottla said and Odine blinked and looked up.

“Sparkk?” Odine asked as Bottla turned and looked at Odine.

“The Firefly Kwami………. She studied the mystic art of warding. After Atlantis fell, our holders escaped with a fraction of the knowledge that they once held. To keep it alive they had us learn it, so we could be living repositories of what Atlantis could do, she studied the mystical arts of warding a place. They could do such wonders in the old days, a ward to heal, to recover magic, and to learn things faster! They experimented with magic and what they could do, it was amazing!” Bottla said and Odine looked at the Kwami as it floated there.

“Then she would tell us how to ward my home?” Odine asked and Bottla nodded.

“Yeah, we all studied a few subjects; mine was the stars, legends, and history!” Bottla said with a grin before she zipped over to the computer and typed a few words onto a document program and cooed at it.

“So what are these seven like?” Odine asked and Bottla scowled.

“Every one of them is a threat not counting their powers, well I’ve fought six of them, we’ve never seen Gluttony,” Bottla admitted and Odine frowned.

“What are they like, how hard are they to fight?” Odine asked and Bottla looked away.

“Wraith is a master strategist, Greed is an ambush fighter, Lust and Sloth love to cause pain and play with our minds, Envy always had a plan, and Pride is great at close quarters,” Bottla said bitterly and Odine winced and looked at the box the Kwami had appeared from and pulled out a small silver choker with a blue gemstone in it with a white dolphin on it. As soon as she touched it the stone flashed and turned black and the metal turned white.

“Woah,” Odine said as she looked down at it.

“That’s hiding mode, it’s different for every person who picks up a Miraculous, so are you my new chosen after all kid, or will we hide, that’s good too,” Bottla asked and Odine took a deep breath and looked down.

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Lila ran along the sidewalks and tried to keep from looking over her shoulder, the way that chief and Penny Rolling had talked about her stories had told her that she needed to leave fast. As she slowed down after she put a few streets between her and the hotel, she released a sigh and tried to keep calm, so far she had been able to handle those people who dared to try and stand against her, was it her fault that those idiots stood against her? The woman’s daughter must have been in one of the other classes at school, she didn’t know about any of them having a chief for a parent, she could have gotten such bonuses if she only could have drawn them into her web.

She wondered who the chief’s child was, she would have to ask Alya about it, maybe tell a tale about how she knew a chief and lost contact and they mentioned they had a child or something like that, the little idiot would drink it up. She started to giggle, she was glad that she had come to the College if she could find tools like Alya! Now all she had to do was wait until they forget about Marinette before she started to ‘admit’ a few times Marinette bullied her, how she didn’t want to make a big deal, maybe even bring Kim into it if the jock didn’t start to play ball.

a through Paris, she looked around and noticed more police were around than normal, they usually stayed away and let the so-called heroes handle it, why were they out and about? Did she miss something or was there a crisis that wasn’t an Akuma? As they weren’t trying to get people to safety, so then the Akuma was probably the wrong thing, she’d have to keep her eyes open.

As she came closer towards a policeman standing ideal by his car she put on her best worried expression. “Sir, excuse me….. but I’m seeing so many police out, did something happen?”

“You didn’t hear ma’am? Over twenty people were found unconscious last night, and they’re all still asleep at the hospital. Currently, we’re trying to find out what happened to them all,” The policeman said and shrugged at her look. “It was on the news kid!”

“Oh, I don’t follow the news much, it’s all so depressing lately,” Lila said absently and reached for her phone absently.

“Yeah well you stay safe, we have a curfew for around 7 tonight, so do your business and get back home or indoors fast when night falls!” The Policeman said and Lila nodded.

“I will!” She called out before she walked away, a strange look on her face. As she moved through Paris her phone rang and seeing who it was from she smiled and walked off with a swing in her step that most people would have thought meant that she was going to her boyfriend, not to cause the downfall of a beloved public figure.

As she walked Lila’s smirk became vicious and evil as she imagined how she might soon have Ladybug’s body at her feet.

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Gabriel sighed as he looked out over the city from his window, a frown on his face. So far Adrien hadn’t been anywhere that Natalie had thought of, the Gorilla had even gone around the homes of Adrien’s other classmates that had been at his party but he hadn’t been at any of them. With Lila I messed up so royally, with what my investigator found out about her what was I thinking when I decided to use her? But the little witch probably thinks I believed her lies about Miss Marinette yesterday, the perks of talking to her as two people I suppose. Still, I wonder …… it would be interesting to try a few of the other powers the book I found said the Miraculous of Transmission gives the wielder when they enslave a target…….. yes that might be perfect, it means Catalyst would make a comeback for a few times but……. Yes, that could work. He thought as he walked back towards his desk, looking down at the paperwork on it and frowned.

That was another issue and one that he needed to find an answer to soon. No matter what she had done, Natalie hadn’t been able to find out who was serving the lawsuit for Adrien. He didn’t expect much to come from it, as far as he and Nathalie knew, everything about Adrien’s contract was above board, his wife set it up herself.

For a moment he was brought back towards when she had asked him out all those years ago, he was a student and she was an advanced student a few months short of graduating early, plus she had already had played in a few parts in her parent's movies. She was the school heartthrob and he was a loner who made clothes in his spare time, the jocks and queen bees had been shocked, but when they showed up to a dance in his designs they had all wanted Gabriel’s to wear. They had moved to Paris when his grandfather had passed away, the mansion he lived in now had been in his family since the occupation, his family had owned the biggest grocery store in all of Paris and they had gotten into the black-market during those years, sold to anyone and even now Gabriel had a few feelers out with the criminal element around the country, Paris was clear of other criminal families since his first attack as Hawkmoth to his surprise, the criminal element trusted mind controllers less than the law did, the only ones left were the smaller street-level gangs and he had ignored them, but the way things were going he might have to look into them if his experiment worked out like he hoped it would.

But with what he had heard on the news that morning, he was more worried about the fact that Adrien could have been one of the victims of what had happened last night. The people found at the alley unconscious hadn’t been identified, so there was a chance that Adrien was there but he didn’t know what he would do if he was. Lila would pay, and she would if

The Gorilla had gone to the hospital but the Akuma Taskforce was keeping everyone out, they said they would release the identities to the family of the victims first and go from there, but they would do so after a day had passed and the doctors had a better idea about what had happened. I never should have let that little witch anywhere near my company! I should have sued her myself when she broke into my house, why did I try and have that witch help me!? Still, after today’s experiment, I might have gotten something from her after all! He thought as he looked at the city.

A cough from behind him caused him to turn and see Nathalie walking into the room, Gabriel moved towards her as Nooroo floated from his desk. “Miss Nathalie, you should stay down!”

Duusu laughed and floated from one of Natalie’s pockets, a grin on its face. Gabriel looked at the Kwami and then turned towards Natalie as she grinned at him.

“Nooro is right Miss N, you gotta rest!” Duusu said with a laugh and Gabriel scowled at the kwami, the way the Miraculous’s damage was affecting the little thing was beginning to get on his last nerve! But his work to translate the book was going nowhere, he needed something to change soon, or sooner or later what happened to his wife will happen to Nathalie.

“I contacted Lila, she knows to try and spark something from a reporter, I’ll be using it to help……” Nathalie said and Gabriel guided her to a chair as she coughed.

“No, stay here for now Nathalie, that’s an order. I was thinking about putting the third area of the lair into use again, what do you think about it?” Gabriel asked and Nathalie looked at him and grinned darkly.

“Would a certain young miss be one of the subjects?” Nathalie asked as the Kwami looked at each other in concern, each of them remembering what other wielders of their powers had done with them and Dussu felt fear for the girl while Nooroo felt fear of what Lila might become, already she was one of the worst people he had ever encountered as far as he was concerned.

“The Primary one, but for that to happen we’ll need Catalyst so please rest,” Gabriel said and Nathalie looked at him before shaking her head.

“No, if I can create a Senti-Monster to track down Adrien,” Nathalie began but Gabriel shook his head.

“No, if Adrien figures out the connection between the villains and our then I do not doubt that he will tell others. Stay here Nathalie, if you learn anything about my son call me, join me later if you’re better but do not transform,” Gabriel said as he walked towards the painting of his wife, Nooroo following behind him as he watched as Duusu floated towards Nathalie as she looked at her tablet.

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Kim sighed as he walked along the sidewalk. Max had said he was busy with some research but promised to talk to him tomorrow about everything. As he moved down an alley he saw a woman in a raincoat rushing past him, a strange feeling going through him as he spun around and looked after her as she ran away. He looked after her, trying and failing to figure out what was bothering him before he ran after her a moment later.

Reaching the end of the alley he looked around and while he didn’t see the woman, he did see Max walking towards the entertainment section of the city. He frowned, if Max wanted to see a movie then he would have said something, this was something else. For a moment he wondered why then he realized what could have happened and he growled, Lila wouldn’t get away with bothering his pal!

As he ran after Max, he scowled as his hands clenched and unclenched, if Lila was behind this then she was behind what happened to Marinette, then Lila would face Kim’s angry words!

Ahead of him, Max ran faster, his thoughts about what Markov had found consuming him. As he reached the street before the movie theater he looked around, not seeing Lila he sighed. If what they had all figured out last night was true then with everything he found on the net then Lila was a sociopath that would do anything to come out ahead, if Hawkmoth got too close to her, the chaos that she could do if she got the Moth Miraculous……… he shuddered as he made he moved on, not noticing Kim following behind him.

As he entered the theater, he saw Master Fu standing by a doorway, looking around, spotting a worker cleaning up a soda spill. Fu saw Max walk in and smiled.

“Ahhhh you Max, thank you for coming. The computer has been on the fritz for a while,” Fu said with a smile as Max walked towards him.

As Kim followed Max he frowned, something was bothering him, he was starting to think that Lila wasn’t here at all. But why would Max be here, was he researching movies for something? As he followed Max into a movie theater he saw a small bald old man in a Hawaii shirt. As he watched the two of them talk as Kim frowned, wondering just what was going on here. As one movie finished and everyone left, both Max and Fu were blocked from Kim’s sight for a few moments and when he could see the door Fu was standing by flipped back and forth with the two of them gone.

Kim blinked and moved against the crowd of people and quietly opened the door and saw Max walk through a doorway. He dashed down the hallway, finally reaching the door and opening it, staring shocked at what was with the room. The door was at the top of an open staircase and below was Max sitting down at a table with a Kwami floating above him, with other Kwami flying around the room, the old man setting up a teapot.

“……. So what did you want to talk about Max?” The old man asked and Max looked around and sighed.

“A long story sir, at first I wanted to talk about Lila, but then I heard about something else this morning, something my mom told me about when I was a child,” Max said and looked around the room, gathering his courage. “It’s a long story sir and I don’t know where to even begin…….”

“Sounds tough, but before that happens how about our friend comes and joins us?” Fu said as he looked towards the stairs, Max followed Fu’s eyes and saw Kim looking down at them, a look of shock as Kaalki looked at him.

“Roi Singe welcome, come join Pegasus and myself for a cup of tea, I know that Xuppi was hoping to see you again!”

“Roi Stinge?” Max asked in a shocked tone.

“Pegasus?” Kim asked in wonder as he looked at Max as Xuppi flew and hugged Kim’s cheek.

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Robert scowled as he walked around the park with a cameraman following behind him, the two of them had so far found nothing that the police hadn’t. He didn’t know what Nadia wanted those two to do, but he could smell that it was a better story than this busy work was an insult to him! He was strong and smart, he had been a reporter since his first years of school and found the juiciest scandals, even made a few if he was honest about it. But the point was he worked for this for years before Hawkmoth came along, but those two came out of nowhere and the big shots are calling them by name? What kind of dirt did those two have on the station owners and how could he get some as well?

He looked around the empty park trying to find anyone to talk to, anyone who might help him find anything to lead him towards a story!

“Excuse me miss, I’m sorry to bother you but do you know anything about the people found asleep in the alley nearby?” Robert asked an older woman who smiled at him.

“No sonny, but I did see a teen with sausage hair talk to a police officer, maybe she’ll have something,” The woman said and Robert looked at her before bowing a bit.

“Thank you, mam, thank you so much!” Robert said before he walked off, the cameraman following along behind him, blowing some gum as he walked.

“Think this might be something boss man?” the cameraman asked and Robert shrugged. Robert knew that this was a long shot, but he didn’t know if anything else could work right. So far the day was nothing but busy work so anything might be better than nothing.

As they walked through the park they looked around until finally, they found Lila sitting by a fountain looking at the water.

Robert grinned and smirked, the girl looked like the perfect mark, all he had to do was sweet talk her, and then he could get everything that she knew, with luck she would have a piece of the puzzle that would let him track down something that would blow whatever Bob was working on out of the water.

“Ma’am, can I talk to you for a moment?” Robert asked and Lila turned to him, grinned beautifully, and looked at him.

“No, never in a million years!” She said brightly and he nodded.

“Thank you, I just want to…….wait what?” Robert asked as the cameraman raised an eyebrow and looked at Lila with a strange look in his eyes.

“I believe the proper words are no comment and that is the only thing I will say on the subject no matter what I know about it,” Lila said with a smile on her face as Robert looked at her in total confusion.

“I just want to ask you a few questions mam, about something that happened last night……”Robert said before Lila interrupted him with a glare

“What part of no comment don’t you idiots understand?! What is wrong with you paparazzi wannabe! Can’t you get it through your head, you pathetic idiot?” Lila asked as Robert started to get angry with his cameraman.

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As Mirelle and Aurore walked through the streets on their day off, Mirelle smiled at her friend. The two of them had talked to their parents, and after they were told everything they had to hold down Mirelle’s mother to keep her from wringing both Damocles and Bustier’s necks! After she calmed down the two girls showed their parents the data on the homeschool programs and after a while they all agreed to start the paperwork to transfer the two girls, but to hold it off until Marinette’s situation was more clear, but it was taking all she had to keep her mother from charging or attracting an Akuma!

Aurore looked around at the city and grinned as she and her girl-friend walked through the city. The other day after Alya had come and seen them she and Mirelle had a long talk about their futures with their parents and both wanted to switch to either homeschool or go to a school that would help them get careers in the news business. They were looking at other schools or programs they could apply to, both of them were sure of what they wanted to do with their futures and they were hopeful for their chances.

Aurore looked at her friend, ever since the two of them had been working together she had gotten closer to her friend, Mirelle had even joined the College so the two of them could carpool together, she had only said that she was looking for a new school after her old one wasn’t the best for someone with her passions or needs, Aurore didn’t even know what school she had gone to but that was okay, Mirelle could tell her when she was ready.

“Nice day, I mean after yesterday’s attack people are a lot freer, not that they should be,” Mirelle muttered and Aurore looked at her with a strange look on her face.

“You still think that Hawkmoth can do whatever he can more than he does?” Aurore asked and Mirelle nodded.

“We’ve seen days and attacks where Chat Noir has disappeared after using his power and then appeared and did it again, and if they have the same power source as Hawkmoth, then maybe…….” Mirelle said and Aurore sighed and shook her head. Mirelle had that theory for a while now, and part of Aurore hoped her friend was wrong that the only thing keeping Hawkmoth from attacking with multiple Akuma like Heroes Day was that he wasn’t creative enough to do it more often.

As they walked towards one of the parks to do some work, scout out a few locations for a segment the bosses were planning, they had asked the two of them to check it out and Aurore had seen the looks the others had sent at them, Aurore knew that they all knew about the crush that she had on her co-host, and part of her wondered if she and Mirelle had bets on them like Marinette and Adrien. She giggled as she remembered how she had put down some change on the two of them admitting their feelings before they left the College, with the way the situation was going everyone but the school bookie would lose their money, but if she won then she would get enough to treat Adrien, Marinette, and Mirelle to a nice dinner out.

“Hey, isn’t that the liar?” Mirelle asked suddenly and they both stared as Robert and his cameraman tried to talk to Lila. They moved closer and they heard what Lila was saying.

“……And you think a hack like you and that idiot behind the camera could actually find out anything that would make a difference? Please, you people are just like that bitch of a blogger in my class, and if you record me I’ll have the embassies lawyers blacklist you so hard you’ll bounce!” Lila spat as she walked away.

Aurore clicked off her phone’s camera and looked at Mirelle whose mouth had dropped open. They didn’t like Robert but that was brutal, he didn’t deserve anything like that. They saw Robert just stare as his face turned red and the cameraman started to Aurore looked at Mirelle and they both nodded, he needed someone to help calm down. But before they could move they saw the cameraman put his hands on Robert’s shoulder moments before an Akuma Butterfly was absorbed into the camera.

“AKUMA RUN!” Mirelle yelled and grabbed Aurore’s hand and pulled her away as the cameraman and Robert was engulfed in purple energy.

Aurore looked down at her phone and quickly sent a message to Alya with the video about Lila attached to it with the message ‘Akuma in Camera’, with luck she would live-stream it so Ladybug and the heroes could see it.

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Marinette smiled as she walked back towards the living room, so far the day beyond what had happened that morning, everything was going well. She and Adrien had looked over the programs offered, and she had noticed a few offered from schools that had good fashion programs. Adrien had fallen in love with a physics program from another school and the ‘Piecemeal’ law Mayor Bourgeois set up let them take classes offered from multiple schools so they could sign up for classes they could work on projects together and still follow singular classes to help their futures.

Adrien had mentioned that a model elective from Marinette’s school might be something Juleka would like and Marinette had seen a history of acting class that she knew Mylene would love. All in all even with what happened to her, she was surer than ever that all of their futures were bright.

A knocking from the front door caused her to frown, Nadja had said she might need Marinette’s help over the weekend, but it was still up in the air. She moved towards the door and looked through the slot and saw two sets of legs, both in styles that she hasn’t seen on any of her family or friends. She pulled out her phone as the knocking came again, a moment later she got a response and took a deep breath and opened the door.

Outside was Jonny and his cameraman with the camera down, both smiling at her.

“Good day miss, I hate to bother you but have seen anything around here last night?” Jonny asked and Marinate looked at him with a hard look on her face.

“You’re from Nadjia’s station aren’t you?” Marinette said and Jonny nodded with a surprised look on his face.

“Yes….. do you know miss Chamack?” Jonny asked as he looked around and suddenly looked around the street, suddenly getting a strange feeling. “Oh don’t tell me……”

“I babysit her daughter and I haven’t left my home since I came back after the Akuma attack yesterday, and I stayed on the main roads,” Marinette said and Jonny winced and looked away with a laugh as his cameraman sighed.

“So this is the bakery she’s always talking about, and you look after her little whirlwind, nice. Well, I had to try, any idea who might have been around there? Any idea at all?” Jonny asked and Marinette shook her head and the cameraman just grumbled as he stood there.

“Sorry, but no. While we do get a lot of customers from around here and they sometimes gossip about what they see, but it’s still too early for anything like that, the police are playing everything close to the chest then?” Marinette asked and Jonny nodded and sighed.

“Yeah, and the ECDC has the alley locked down and they’ve already started to investigate the area with drones from what I saw,” Jonny muttered and sighed as he turned away. “I wonder what Bob is doing with Sarah and why Miss Chamack wanted them to do something for her?”

Marinette stood there and blinked as Jonny walked away, something about what he said was bothering her. As she closed the doors she walked robotically towards the bakery part of the building, a strange feeling going through her as she walked.

As she passed by Adrien she held up a hand, Adrien and Plagg looking at each other as they watched TV and shrugged, something was up with Marinette but they couldn’t figure out what it was.

As she looked into the shop part of the bakery she saw her mother finish ringing up a customer and waited until she left and Sabine turned towards her, Sabine gave a small gasp as she saw her daughter standing there.

“Oh, Marinette, you surprised me! Do you need anything?” Sabine asked and Marinette nodded.

“Yeah, did you tell Nadja about what happened to me?” Marinette asked and Sabine looked away.

“I told Penny too,” Sabine admitted and Marinette looked at her and facepalmed.

“Mom……” Marinette said with an exasperated voice.

“Well with the lies she told about Jagged, I felt that she should know!” Sabine said and Marinette nodded.

“I guess, but I think Aunt Nadja is going to look into the Lila, I just wished you had told me about it first,” Marinette muttered as she left, leaving Sabine alone.

As she entered the room Adrien looked up at her, but before he could say anything their phones beeped, looking at them they saw the Akuma alarm going off.

Chapter 16

Chapter Text

“Hey, I don’t like how the bitch treated us either bro, but come on, don’t let her get to you. The number of times I’ve wanted to kill the people I’m recording…..” The camera said shaking his head.

“But I do want to hurt that bitch!” Robert said as he growled and he felt so mad, his cameraman put a hand on his shoulder moments before they both went still as Hawkmoth spoke to them. “Greetings Camera crew, down in the dumps because of what a brat told you? Well then let us change the heading and start over, after all why write about the news when you can make it? Cameraneer I will give you the power to hold people still or push them away at will and you News Jahral will strike hard and fast, with every strike you cleave even closer to the truth. All I ask in return is the Miraculous of Ladybug and Chat Noir!”

“I’ll make their defeat front-page news Hawkmoth!” Robert growled as the cameraman chuckled.

“With my help of course boss,” The cameraman said as the both of them were covered in purple energy.

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“I knew there was something about you that was different lately Max, but you were Peggy, I didn’t expect that!” Kim said as Xuppu laughed as he sat on his head. Max chuckled as he sat with Markov floating around the room talking with Sass as Kaalki sat and drank from a tiny teacup.

“Or that you were Roi Singe, I didn’t even think of the possibility, it was totally out of my predictions,” Max said and

Master Wu only rubbed his beard as he watched Kim, smiling as he looked at them. “It’s the Miraculous, they hide those who use them if they don’t transform in front of people or are told who they are. It helped me fight against the Nazis back in the day. But enough about that, you came for a reason young Max?”

“Yes, I did. Originally it was because of what I found about Lila, but then with what I saw on the road and then I heard about the people found,”

“Dude that was creepy! When Odine and I found them all, I thought they just might have been dead but when I checked they were all breathing, we just couldn’t wake them at all!” Kim said as the others looked at him in shock.

“You found them? Did you see anything that looked out of place, anything at all? My mother’s best friend was part of a group that was found when they were our age. They were all unconscious for months!” Max said and Kim blinked as Fu went still as the Kwami all looked at him, Xuupi was quiet as he looked down at Max as Kim looked at him.

“Unconscious? I remember sometimes before WW2, I was moving up from Italy…….. there was a similar event, a mafia family that controlled a town. The heir, the head, and most of the higher officers all fell into comas. I was trying to open a restaurant there and paid them protection money and they did protect my place so they were better than most, they even helped me repair it when some of their members were attacked in it by a rival family,” Fu said as he rubbed his beard as the two teens looked at him with open mouths prompting Fu to laugh lightly. “What, the mafias were originally vigilante groups, before WW2 they were more…….true to their roots.”

“Woah. You’ve seen a lot of history haven’t you dude?” Kim said in awe and Max shook his head and looked at Fu with a strange look.

“What happened to then?” Max asked and Fu shrugged.

“I don’t know, the same rival family tried to use the fact there were foreigners there as the cause. I was attacked by a mob to take me to a ‘trial’ to use me and a few others scapegoats, I escaped, saved the others we all ran away, a few weeks later Mussolini took power and then I escaped to Paris, stayed there until before the Occupation and I was on one of the last boats to England,” Fu said with a shrug. “You know, I think that the whole family was killed by Mussolini when he took power……”

Max and Kim looked at each other as Markov floated around them, neither of them noticing Markov made a note about what Fu said.

Before they could say anything their phones started to ring and Kim and Max stared at their phones in shock.

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Alya finished the last of her food and smiled at Chloe and Sabrina as the two chatted quietly with their Kwamis. As Trixx ate the last of her food she giggled and looked at Alya and smiled. Alya opened her mouth but before she could speak her phone buzzed, looking at it she paled. “Akuma.”

“What?” Chloe asked moments before both her and Sabrina’s phone’s started to beep, Chloe paling as she recognized her phone’s Akuma alarm. “What the Kwami?! Shouldn’t that scum give us another day at least after two?!”

“He stopped pulling his punches, or he something’s bothering him and he’s trying to fi…… fix it,” Sabrina said and Alya looked at her sharply before she nodded slightly, knowing just what Sabrina meant. They had talked about what Alya had heard after the chat last night had ended, Chloe had said that Gabriel might have been a control freak but he truly loved his family. Chloe said that

“Yeah, oh gods….. Lila did this and it's gonna be two at once!” Alya said as she saw the video Aurore sent her and Chloe looked up and glared at Alya.

“What do you mean, Lila did this!?” Chloe demanded and Alya scowled and put her phone on the table as the video played as Chloe, Sabrina and their Kwamis looked at it, seeing the scene that Aurore had captured.

“Oh, that little bitch! No, I take that back, it's insulting female dogs to be compared to Lila!” Sabrina snarled as Chloe looked down at the phone with a strange look on her face.

“Yeah pup, by existence! I’ve seen some scum over the centuries but this, I mean how can such a witch live and not have made enough enemies to kill her yet!?” Barkk asked as Pollen growled as Trixx nodded.

“I think we need to talk to the others, I really do. But should we go? I mean we can’t meet the others there but if Hawkmoth figures out we knew already by us telling them there, then what could happen, could he figure out who we are?” Chloe asked and Alya went pale before Trixx looked at the others.

“Then contact the others, let them know about what we know before we attack, misdirection is a part of Illusion after all, let him think what he will,” Trixx said and Alya nodded, smiling as Chloe chuckled. A beeping from their phones caused them to look down and Chloe grinned.

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Marinette ran to her room, Adrien Plagg and Tikki following behind her. Bellow her parents were closing down the shop and she knew they trusted her enough if the Akuma wasn’t close to hide in her room. As she pulled her phone out she saw it was in a park in the 16 arrondissem*nt and sighed.

“Where is it milady?” Adrien asked and she smiled at him

“The 16^th, we’re far enough away that they won’t check on us and keep working,” Marinette said and Adrien grinned and nodded.

“So we can go and talk to the team before we get there then?” Adrien said and Marinette grinned back at him.

“Right Kitty! Tikki, Spot’s On! Marinette called out as she transformed into Ladybug.

“Plagg, Claws Out!” Adrien called, following Marinette and transforming into Chat Noir, he looked at Ladybug and the two of them grinned at each other before they ran to the stairs to the roof and within moments they jumped away towards where the attack was.

Back in the room Sabine peaked up from the door down into the apartment and grinned, happy that the two of them finally had each other to lean on.

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Max looked down at his phone as it rang, Marinette but the number had a K on it, and he looked up at Fu and Kim. I already gave away their identities before, I won’t do it again! I have to tell her what’s happening here! He thought as he accepted the call. “Pegasus here. I’m with the Guardian and Roi Singe, he knows my identity but not yours.”

“Foxy here, I’m with the Bee and the Dog, we’re ready to move out!” A voice that sounded familiar to Kim came through the phone.

“Turtle here, I’m with family, I can’t get away……I’m sorry,” A voice said quietly and Kim raised an eyebrow, he knew that he had heard that voice before but where?

“Roi Singe…….. fine. Does anyone have any idea what’s we’re up against?” Chat Noir asked and Kim looked at Max as he looked at Markov who had jacked into Fu’s computer.

“Ivo here, I’ve hacked into the cameras and I see two Villains, one that looks like a long-range combatant and maybe a close-range……… Villain long has two weapons as his arms that he’s just using to destroy the park and Villain close has two swords but he seems to be mostly yelling, the police tried to move in and he attacked them with an energy wave that knocked them away,” Markov said and Kim whistled and looked at him as Kaalki floated and looked at the AI with a grin.

“Okay, that tracks, any idea where the Akuma is?” A female voice asked and for a second Kim thought it was Marinette but he shook his head, it couldn’t be his old friend. That was as likely as Nino being a hero too!

“It’s in the camera, so the weapon for the long-range one maybe? We’ll see when we get there……. Turtle is out, but are the rest of you ready to play?” Chat Noir asked and Rena Rogue started to chuckle.

“Yeah, we’ll tell you there, full press then?” Another voice asked and for a moment Kim thought it was Sabrina but he shook his head.

“No, Chat and I are heading towards the park from the south, Rena, Apisera, and Canixia, I want you all to come from the east, circle around, and get ready to strike. Pegasus have Ivo keep hacking, I want you ready to make a portal so we can escape if we have to, Roi Singe stay there, if we need you I’ll call,” Ladybug said firmly and Kim nodded before he chuckled as Max turned the phone off.

“You know, that sounds like a plan Mari made once, back for our gild in CombatCrafter, quick and simple with a way out,” Kim mused as he looked down, missing the look that passed between Max and Fu as the Kwami all giggled as Kim looked at them.

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Ladybug and Chat Noir dashed over the roofs of Paris as they both closed their tools. They looked at each other and shot a grin as they reached the park, looking down they saw police getting the last of the people away from the park. Chat Noir looked over at Ladybug as they stood on the building and as the sun caused her pigtails to sway a little he wondered how he had ever not seen who she was, personally Plagg blamed how lovesick he was and the Glamor.

“So a normal double attack, not too bad, after the last two……. Think the short one is like Kagami was?” Chat Noir muttered and Ladybug nodded.

“Yeah, and I’m worried about the second one, and if he’s experimenting……… if he’s trying to make something like Dark Owl……….” Ladybug trailed off as Chat Noir looked at her before his eyes widened and he nodded.

“Yeah, I can see what he might be after, he’s gotten luck today,” Chat Noir muttered as their tools beeped. Ladybug brought out her yoyo and opened it, giggling at what she saw before turning it to Chat Noir, showing him an emoji of a fox with a ‘+2 E’ next to it.

“They're ready, let’s go!” She said before she jumped into the park, Chat Noir following after her. the sounds of someone screaming caused them to grin and run towards them, hiding behind the foliage to take a look at their opens this time.

The closest one was the short-range one as Markov called it. He was tall with black hair wearing what looked like black Viking clothes with two short swords in his hands, a helm with four horns pointing up in a square formation on it on his head with his eyes covered by it. A black cap was down his back with a symbol of a white butterfly on it.

Farther away from them was the second Villain, a full conversion cyborg with green armor, a normal body but two canons in place of its hands, the right was black and the left was white, a symbol of a white butterfly on its chest. On its back was a strange-looking hi-tech pack with a camera on a swivel dead center behind the cyborg’s head.

Ladybug quietly brought out her yoyo and sent a text out to her team. Chat Noir looked down at his baton and saw the message and smirked, nodding to Ladybug he tensed as he waited for the others to act.

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Lila smirked as she walked away from the park, she had run away as soon as she saw her target had attracted an Akuma. But no matter how much she wanted to go and help them, she had no power and they might attack her first since she gave them their awakening to what this was, no it was for the best that for now her to stay away from the fight until she was called in; maybe even Volpina again. As she turned the corner a woman in a coat ran by her and pushed Lila to the ground as she ran by.

Lila scowled as she looked from the ground and looked at the woman. “Hey, where’s the fire bitch!”

Lila scowled and got back up from the ground and looked towards where the woman had gone, already crafting a story with her in it. She stopped for a moment and grinned evilly, she could spin this as Marinette attacking her, after all, why would anyone else attack her but Marinette? She was a helper, she volunteered for charities and tried to help everyone she could, whoever tried to attack her had to have been Marinette, should she play up the sympathy angle.

As she walked away she looked over her shoulder and smiled at the woman. “THANK YOU!”

The woman ignored her and ran towards a building, almost all of her face hidden by her hood, all but the evil grin she had as she ran ever closer. The chance to get another Miraculous, and the two of Creation and Destruction, was a gift that she knew would be appreciated by her lovers.

“So we get to try our luck against those two, I can’t wait!” A greedy sounding voice said from one of her pockets and the woman giggled as she brushed her left ear.

“You’re pretty excited aren’t you Nekka? I mean after that Dolphin bitch escaped us I expected you would want to eat more food until I got you ready to go out again,” The woman muttered and a laugh was heard from her pocket.

“Chick, we lost the little swimmer, we might have gotten her old wielder, and with the others deal with that crime family down in the old Empire, we have to handle this ourselves and with the Queen, and with her cover still in its infancy, we have to move more. And if that idiot gets here I want you to have enough skill to handle those who follow him,” Nekka admitted and the woman laughed.

“Let’s see what our juniors will do first my friend, and if need be we’ll see how Wraith’s work does first,” The woman said as she reached an alley with a fire escape on the right side. She threw a knife that cut through the chains on it, sending the ladder down and as she walked towards it she smirked, for once itching for the fight to come.

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At the station, Rob and Sarah chatted softly as they walked out of their meeting with Nadjia, both of them had taken the jobs that she had for them with some surprise, with the way the powers that be worked they had been surprised there was still a diplomat high enough to give their families immunity in the city. As hard as he tried, he could only think that Lila had lied about who her mother was, after the research, he had done for a paper years ago he knew that once a mind controller was in a city all but the lowest public officers were sent away, he had even covered how the President of France had relocated after Stoneheart. Lila’s mother had to be a diplomatic courier; that was the only way that she could even be a diplomat if she was telling the truth about that.

While Rob was thinking of the political approach to this, Sarah was thinking about a pen pal she had who told her about how her cousin’s life was made a living hell for a year by this new student who she called Liairla, the chances that this girl was Lila was something that she couldn’t ignore. The way that her friend told of the trouble that her relative, the way the cousin’s life was destroyed, how their life was destroyed, and how when the liar left the school almost closed down and there was a riot at the end. If this Lila was the same girl, then if she could get in contact with that pen pal, she might have enough information to get the bitch thrown into jail. But the main problem was the town her pen pal said that their cousin was from a town that wasn’t that diplomatically important but was commercial, something about a lab for a company that researched something or other, she wasn’t sure. What could a diplomat be doing there?

As they walked their phones suddenly started to ring and Nadjia came running out, grabbing Rob and pulling him along with her.

“Boss, what the heck!?” Rob asked as Nadjia pulled him into an elevator and pressed a button, Sarah barely making it inside.

“There’s and Akuma at a park, it's far enough away from us we need to fly to get there and I need a cameraman and you’re it,” Nadjia said as the elevator started to move upwards.

“ME!?” Rob asked with shock as Sarah grinned at him, happy that

“Yes, you were here and I needed someone who has a good eye. With Akuma, we need to know everything about an area so we can find the best vantage point, and well I need someone I can trust more. And you get hazards and over time so there’s that,” Nadjia admitted and Rob looked like he was about to say something when Nadjia sighed. “I’m sorry for how rushed this is but my normal ride along is at a funeral in Italy for his mentor. Please I need someone to help me on this.”

“Fine, but if I see something we’re out of there right?” Rob asked and Nadjia nodded.

“We get the scoop, but we stay alive first and foremost,” Nadjia said as the door opened onto the roof, a helicopter with its blades spinning waiting for them. “I’ll be waiting, you’ve got two minutes to say goodbye!”

As Nadjia ran to the helicopter, Sarah hugged Rob and he grinned at her as she kissed his cheek.

“Good luck brother,” Sarah said softly and Rob smirked.

“Sis, I’ve got luck, skill, and pride. I’ll be fine. You stay here, if the Akuma’s come this way, run. Don’t let others stop you get out of Paris, you got me?” Rob asked and Sarah nodded and Rob ran towards the helicopter, climbing into it and as it flew away, Sarah looked at it for a few moments before moving back inside, heading towards one of the lower floors to send a message to her penpal, telling her that she might have a lead on where that witch she was told about is.

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“Come heroes! Face News Jaharl! WHERE ARE YOU ALL?!” News Jaharl, the former Jonny roared as he looked around.

“My Jaharl, we will face our foes soon be ready,” The cameraman turned Cameraneer said as he looked around, his robotic eyes trying to find anything that might tell him where the enemy was. As he looked around he spotted two heat signatures and ignored them for the moment, thinking they were civilians who had hidden.

Moments later Ladybug and Chat Noir jumped out from the other side and stood there, ready to attack and News Jaharl laughed.

“So you’ve come out fools! You will fall to me, the greatest of all the Chosen of Hawkmoth!” News Jahrl called out only to be met with snickers from Chat Noir. “WHAT?!”

“Oh wonderful, he’s one of those Akumas then. Think he’s like this in civilian form?” Chat Noir asked and News Jaharl looked at the two heroes as they chatted like he wasn’t even there.

“And his partner looks like a robot and that crest? I wonder what Hawky is feeling to even try this?” Ladybug asked with a smirk and Caneraneer only looked on as they laughed as News Jaharl glared at them before screaming and charging at them, bringing his swords down in an X slash that sent an energy X from them straight at the heroes.

They jumped away forward, dodging the energy attack as they passed the attack Chat Noir attacked News Jarharl when suddenly he flew as if someone pushed him to the side. Camareaneer had hit Chat Noir with his left arm and News Jaharl laughed as he charged at Ladybug. Suddenly something yellow looped around his left arm and pulled it back fast, his arm going as far it could.

Rena Rouge and Canixia charged from the bushes as Cameraneer cried out as News Jaharl looked back and cursed as he saw the other three heroes joining the battle. With Chat Noir free from Camareaneer’s power he charged at News Jaharl who met the attacks with his swords as Ladybug attacked Camareaneer as Canixia charged at News Jaharl.

“Chat, help Canixia try and find anything that sword boy could have the Akuma on, I’ll help Rena and Apisera!” Ladybug called out as she ran towards Cameraneer.

As the other two heroes attacked News Jaharl, Ladybug swung her yoyo around Cameraneer’s other arm and forced it as far back as it could go as Apisera appeared from the foliage, pulling the arm her top was wrapped around, holding it in place, all of them keeping from getting into his line of sight or aim as Rena Rouge tried to get the backpack off him.

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“No!! They're just looking for the Akuma without a Luck Charm?! News Jarharl getaway and help Cameraneer now!” Hawkmoth bellowed as Nathalie entered the lair, looking at her tablet.

“So there are more heroes just like last time, and have they changed tactics?” Nathalie muttered as Duusu flew above her and looked down at her.

“Maybe, sometimes the old fogies just wanted to rush their foes, maybe they're hoping they have something new,” Dussu suggested and Hawkmoth went still and started to curse.

“NO! THE DOG! They're trying to track us down, I can’t give them orders!” Hawkmoth cursed and Nathalie went to her broach.

“I could send help…..” Nathalie began but she was interrupted.

“NO! This just proves to me that the other plan is the best course of action! For now, we wait and see what happens!” Hawkmoth said and Nathalie nodded, for now, willing to follow orders.

“Too bad you can’t use a carrier moth, you know?” Duusu said bluntly and Hawkmoth looked at him in anger.

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On the building overlooking the park, the woman pouted as she looked down at the battle in the distance. She was impressed with the heroes, they acted fast, trusted each other and so far hadn’t used their powers, a lot better than some of the other heroes her group had fought over the centuries.

“They’re a lot better than some of the fools we’ve dealt with, and Captain Reich was an embarrassment all things told, want to make a splash?” A voice asked and the woman nodded as they heard a helicopter coming closer.

“Yes, we should, we did have orders after all,” The woman said and a chuckle was heard.

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Nadjia smiled as she looked at the city as they flew through the air, Bob behind her readying the camera as he swallowed. When he had volunteered for this he didn’t know what to expect, but discovering he was sky sick wasn’t one of them. He could handle plane travel but why was this so hard for him to deal with?

As his stomach lurched he felt something in him, something that he barely sensed, and a moment later he saw the park and the battle winced as he saw the two Villians fighting against the Heroes, and once he got a look at them through the camera he recognized who they were right away.

“Jonny and his cameraman,” He breathed and Nadjia looked at him before she paled and looked down at the battle.

“Get us away, I want us to be at the edge of the park now!” She barked and as the pilot nodded she looked at the battle and hoped that Jonny’s anger at them wouldn’t cause the Villain to attack them.

“Thinking he might attack us boss?” Rob asked softly and Nadjia nodded and he sighed. Yeah, he might. I always hated that scum, but really what happened to him? What caused him to get that mad, no what caused both of them to get so mad? He thought as the helicopter flew away, however as they reached the street he saw something as they turned. “TO THE RIGHT, SOMEONES ON THE ROOF!”

“What?” Nadjia asked moments before something grey flashed by them. “What was that?!”

“No, who was that,” Rob said as he tried to focus on the battle with his camera, the rising dust cloud the only thing they could see.

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“DIE!!!” A voice screeched from above them, moments before something hit the ground, the force it generated caused everyone to be thrown away, a dust cloud generated by the impact. Ladybug got back to her feet and saw she was near Rena Rouge and Apisera was to their left, Cameraneer was getting back to his feet and Chat Noir, Canixia and their target News Jaharl weren’t in sight, they had to be on the other side of the dust cloud.

Out of the dust a figure emerged, she was a tall woman with an hourglass build who looked to be in her early twenties, she was wearing a white bodysuit with grey gauntlets on that went to just below her elbow, grey knee-high boots and her eyes were covered by a silver mask, her hair was white and long above a silver cape, and on her belt was a sack with silver spheres in it. In her hands was a long staff with two blades on the top and bottom of it on the opposite sides from each other. She grinned at them with silver lips as she glared at them with pure black eyes and sclera.

As the dust cleared Ladybug saw Chat Noir and Canixia were behind News Jaharl who glared at the woman in rage.

“So these are the heroes of Paris, I’m not impressed, but the Gems of Creation and Destruction……. Oh, giving those to Lust and Pride will be wonderful!” The white-clad figure said with a grin as the heroes and the Akuma looked at her, realizing that she wasn’t working with Hawkmoth. “But then the illusion powers of the fox, now that might be something to keep!”

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In his lair Hawkmoth saw what was happening through his Akuma’s eyes he was so shocked that he took a step backward, Nathalie looked at him in shock and looked down at her tablet, trying to find a video and gasped as she saw a feed from the helicopter.

“Who is that? What is this?” Nathalie asked and Hawkmoth frowned, wondering what was happening as well.

“Wait, ‘Gems of Creation and Destruction, whoever this is knows just what Ladybug and Chat Noir have! And my Champion is gone!” Hawkmoth said as he looked at Nathalie who only looked back at him with a scowl and Hawkmoth nodded after a few moments.

“And since they can’t bother to use the Dog’s powers now, isn’t this the best time to order your Champions,” Duusu asked with a quiver to its voice.

Hawkmoth grinned and started to chuckle as Nathalie looked at Duusu and sighed, shaking her head and wondering what could be done to fix its Miraculous.

“We’ll just watch from here, News Crew take her down!” Hawkmoth ordered as Nathalie looked down at her tablet.

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“Who are you!?” Chat Noir demanded as the woman laughed and looked at Chat Noir and smirked.

“EMMMM, I do love the leather look on you boyo, maybe I’ll keep you once I take your Jewel!” She said with a leer as she licked her lips and Ladybug went red as Chat Noir stepped back.

“Hands off the Kitty!” Ladybug snarled as the woman laughed and looked at her.

“Ohhh don’t worry, I’ll take you too, she could do with a new girltoy!” She purred as she spun her duel scythe and Ladybug blanched as Chat Noir started to growl.

“FOUL WRENCH, YOU DARE STAND AGAINST MY LORD’S WILL!?” News Jaharl bellowed and charged at the woman as Cameraneer fired its left arm, the woman jumped towards News Jaharl and slashed at him with her weapon, News Jaharl blocked with his right blade and she smirked as she flew by and brought her right hand to the center of her weapon and withdrew four organic-looking metallic spheres.

“Face the Legions!” She roared as she threw the spheres to the ground, releasing a flash of light. As the light died down four monsters were revealed. All of them were insect-like creatures five feet tall with black carapace bodies with legs that ended in three talons in a Y shape and two compound eyes and twitching antenna, two of them had mandibles in front of their mouths with two arms that ended in grasshopper-like claws while the other two had fanged maws that dripped a white liquid both of them had a clawed five finger clawed right arm and an organic cannon arm that dripped the same liquid as their mouths.

“What are those?!” Apisera demanded as the woman laughed.

As the two with two clawed arms charged at Chat Noir and Canixia, the other two attacked Cameraneer; shooting spheres of the white liquid from their canon arms that hit the arms and legs of the Akuma, clinging where they hit and keeping it from moving any part of its body that was covered.

As the heroes looked on as News Jaharl attacked the woman again she only laughed as the two canon-armed creatures aimed at the heroes as Chat Noir and Canixia fought the other two creatures.

“Who are you!?”News Jharl demanded as he swung out with his blades.

“My name is Nekhbet, fall to my power!” The self-named Nekhbet cackled as she spun around the Akuma, trying to hit him with her weapon.

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Ondine looked at her TV in horror as Nadjia kept speaking. “……. And as you can see here a new figure has attacked both the heroes and the Akuma! Somehow she summoned what I can only describe as insect monsters. Who this woman is and what she’s after is unknown, but this reporter can only hope that our heroes can handle this new threat!”

“Is that one of the Sins?” Ondine asked as she looked at the screen as Bottla landed on her shoulder.

“Yeah, the Sin of Sloth, the Vulture! She’s carrying the vitality of everyone she hit last night in that pouch around her belt, if you get that and use your power on it then they’ll all wake up, if you go that is,” Bottla said and Odine took out the Miraculous and put the small silver choker around her neck, looking at Bottla who grinned.

“What do I have to do?” Ondine asked in a hard tone as Bottla summersault.

“Yes! Okay, my power activates with the command, Bedlam and then you have to hit what you want when you activated with your fists or feet, you do know martial arts right?” Bottle asked and Odine nodded.

“I practice kickboxing, nothing I would show people but mostly to improve my leg strength,” Odine said and looked at Bottla and frowned. “But what are those monsters, how can we destroy them?”

“They’re the Legions, creations of the Sin of Lust. All we have to do is deal enough damage they’ll die and fall apart. And if we hit any of them with our power then all of those summoned at the same time will attack their summoner. But after you use my power we have a five-minute window then we’ll transform back. And my transformation lets you breathe water and swim miles in seconds,” Bottla said and Odine grinned, that was good as far as she was concerned. She knew the underground well, the parts under the city above the catacombs at least. With that luck, she could make it to the battle and away by the nearby river so no one can figure out who she is. “And to transform, just call out my name and the phrase, ‘Let’s Dance in the Water! But wait, remember to grab some lettuce so I can power back up if we have to. And we have to touch the golden egg with our power; that will release the vitality back to the people who’ve been drained.”

Ondine nodded and quickly gathered three plastic bags full of lettuce and nodded, taking and releasing a deep breath and nodded.

“Okay. Bottla, Let’s Dance in the Water!” Ondine called out, Bottla was sucked into the chocker.

Ondine spun around and raised her arms as grey light flashed down them, leaving grey coverings in their place. As it reached her body a grey bodysuit was formed, black coloring on her outer body and the sides of her breasts. As the light traveled up her neck it left a grey covering that went to the base of her head. She brought her right hand over the back of her head her hair grew until it reached the small of her back and turned black, she then brought her hand across her eyes, leaving behind a black facemask. As the light traveled to the ends of her legs as they passed she was revealed to be wearing a grey bodysuit, and when it faded away grey lights flashed around her feet and hands as gauntlets and boots formed above the bodysuit and she spun around, kicking out with her right before she posed.

She looked at a mirror and whistled as she saw how she looked.

“So this is how I look with long hair, not bad……. Wait…….I need a name, something to separate my civilian self from my hero……How about Salacia? Yeah, that sounds good,” Salacia said as she ran towards the basem*nt and the door to the underground her family had there.

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Kim looked at his phone and growled as Fu looked through a tablet as Max tried to find anything on the web.

“Nothing, I can’t find anything about whoever that is! She must either be new or she left no witnesses in her wake!” Max said bitterly and Fu looked up and nodded.

Fu had heard a few rumors over the century since he left the temple about people with strange abilities, at the time he had thought they were Miraculous users first, but then the Age of Heroes had begun but this was different, something about how she summoned those monsters……. He shook his head and looked at Kim, a strange feeling coming over him. “We can’t wait until you’re called, go and help them.”

“Wait, what? Me!?” Kim exclaimed and Xuppu grinned and shot to the box and back, his Miraculous in its arms.

“Yeah, if we’re needed we gotta go. So you up for it kid?” Xuupu asked with a smirk as Kim took the circlet and put it around his head, smirking.

“Let’s Go! Xuupu, Show Time!” Kim called out, Xuupu laughed as he was sucked into his Miraculous.

Kim slammed his arms onto the ground and light went up his arms and down his body, leaving a light brown superhero jumpsuit that is resembled a tracksuit behind, the top piece covering his stomach and pectorals is a light tannish, and a golden belt with a dark brown buckle and brown spots on either side of his hips with a brown rope attached to a hook with a golden tip that resembles the tail of a monkey. A spike forms on top of his hair as it turned red, looking like fire as a gold and dark brown mask that covers up most of his head formed. His boots and gloves extended away from his body as a staff appeared that he got on, smirking as the transformation finished, Roi Singe stood proud.

“How do I get there?” Roi Singe asked and Fu pointed towards his staff. Looking at the center portion he saw a small rectangular screen and touched it, seeing a map of the sewers, and grinned before he ran out of the room leaving the others behind as Max stood up and looked at Markov.

“Markov, looking into anything on the net about who this……woman is, I’ll be ready if something happens that they need an escape,” Max said as Markov ‘nodded’ and Kaalki followed after Max, leaving Fu to look over the tablet alone.

“Have any of you ever worked or knew anyone who could empower someone like this with that weapon?” Fu asked everyone, not caring that Markov was listening to them.

“No Master Fu, never…….could the Mage’s spellbook have survived?” Wayzz asked and Longg shook his head.

“No, my holder at the time was active, the Mage’s tower was destroyed in first……. One of his apprentices……could they have done something at the end, saved something?” Longg muttered and all of the Kwami looked at him as Fu raised an eyebrow.

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Nekhbet slashed at the Akuma laughing as she jumped around. This was fun, now all I have to do is As her monsters kept the heroes away she to the News Jaharl’s face. “So can you see and hear me Hawkmoth?”

A purple butterfly energy mask formed on News Jaharl’s face and his eyes turned purple. “I can, whatever you want with Ladybug and…….”

“Keep them for all I care, I was instructed to make contact with you. My leader wants a meeting with you, tonight at the Le Parc des Princes at midnight,” Nekbet said softly and smirked as the Akuma blinked and looked at her as the mask dissolved away. News Jaharl shook his head and headbutted Nekbet who stumbled back and he grinned and slashed down with his right sword, sending an energy slash that sent her flying.

Chat Noir parried a blow from one of the clawed monsters as Canixia blocked a blow from the other one. We need to break this tie, we can’t hold forever! I could use my power but this would be a terrible time to find out it doesn’t work on ‘living’ things! If these are like Senti-Monsters then I have to find the control item, but what could it be!? And who the heck is bird woman?! He thought as he dodged backwards and jumped over the monster he had been fighting towards Canixia, slamming his baton-staff into the monster she was fighting sending it flying into the other one.

“And here I heard that cats and dogs fight all the time?” Canixia said with a grin and Chat Noir grinned.

“Not this kitty, I grew up in a house with a nice doggie!” Chat Noir said with a grin and Canixia giggled as she kept her eyes on the monsters as they got back up growling behind their mandibles. “But I sure hate these things!”

“Yeah, wanna try and get to the others?” Canixia asked softly and looked at the two attacking their allies.

Apisera looked around as she and Ladybug used their tools to make a shield from the globes from the other monster as Rena Rouge hid behind them. I never thought I would be here on my first day as a permanent holder. So what can we do? I mean we need to handle the Akuma but these things………. The big guy has to have the Akuma, but if we take it while the other one is in combat with whoever that is. We need to get away, we need help or we need to bring in more help……. Viperion would have been perfect for this! As she looked at them Rena Rouge scowled before looking down at her flute and then back at the others.

“Guys, I’m going to make drop back, give me two minutes then I’ll make an illusion so you guys can fall back, it’ll be of you two going left, right, back and forward, join up with the others and. I’ll drop back, find a way down and recharge and get back to the fight,” Rena Rouge said and Ladybug looked at her as Apisera gazed around the battle, her eyes finding Canixia she and Chat Noir fought off the two monsters attacking them.

“Do it, we’ve got nothing better,” She said bitterly and Ladybug nodded.

“She’s right, but try not to get hit,” Ladybug said, Rena Rouge smiled and dropped into the foliage and once she was out of sight she brought her flute to her lips.

“Mirage!” Rena Rouge called out, a ball of light formed before it exploded, flashing a light that covered her and her friends behind her. She ducked down and moments later two spheres of liquid hit the trees around her and she moved towards the manhole she had seen there before.

Chat Noir saw the flash of light and smirked, hopefully, the others had a plan. Moments later multiple Ladybugs and Apisera charged in every direction and he smirked as he grabbed Canixia and jumped towards the right and a moment later a Ladybug and Apisera joined them and they looked at the battlefield.

Cameraneer was stuck with his arms locked down to the ground, the Villain was struggling from the bonding agent the monsters had fired at him, the monsters firing at the illusions before they disappeared, the other two monsters had been hit by stray blasts and were stumbling towards the heroes as News Jaharl attacked Nekhbet as she dodged the energy attack as she tried to get News Jaharl as she laughed.

“Anybody got a plan?” Apsiera asked as she gulped as all the monsters turned towards the heroes as News Jaharl attack Nekhbet.

“We try and take them down, we try and get Apisera to the new girl and then we break the butterfly free after we’ve dealt with those monsters!” Canixia exclaimed and the others nodded and

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As Roi Singe ran along the platform in the sewers he grinned, he didn’t expect to have something like this today, but man did it feel good! As he moved closer towards his destination he heard what sounded like someone swimming and wondered, what or who was down here with him.

Ahead of him, Salacia got out of the water, looking at her right glove and a holo-map that formed from a buckle on it and grinned. With tools like this, she had all the help she could need to handle this. And when she got the egg back and woke everyone up, then she could talk with the woman who gave her Bottla. As she looked at a ladder she heard a chuckle. Turning she saw Roi Singe walk towards her swinging his staff.

“Hello, who the pretty fish?” Roi Singe asked and Salacia scowled and looked at him.

“I’m not a fish I’m a mammal! And I’m here to kick the ass of the Vulture bitch up there!” Salacia said as she looked at Roi Singe who looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Okay, who is the Vulture?” Roi Singe asked Salacia looked at him hard and he chuckled and looked away. “The girl that attacked the Akumas and the others right?”

“Yes. She’s one of seven, look did you hear about the people who were found passed out last night? She’s the one who caused it. And unless I can touch the golden egg she’s got, then they won’t wake up until she uses it!” Salacia said and Roi Singe looked at her with a strange look in his eyes, and for a moment Salacia was worried that he didn’t believe her when he put his staff down and looked at her and shook his head.

“I’m gonna say that’s improbable, but we live in fear of evil butterflies so I’ll believe ya for now. But pull a fast one and you’d better hope I go down first!” Roi Singe said moments before the manhole above them opened and Rena Rouge dropped down, looking at them in shock as she stared at them in shock before glaring at Salacia.

“Who the heck are you?!” Rena Rouge demanded as her Miraculous beeped and another mark on her necklace turned black.

“She’s fighting against the lady up there, said something about how she’s responsible for the people found last night,”

“Wait what? What people?” Rena Rouge asked in shock and Roi Singe looked at her.

“The people who were found unconscious last night, didn’t you hear about it?” Salacia asked in shock and Rena Rouge nodded and looked around before she looked away.

“Okay, how could a minion maker cause people to fall unconscious?” Roi Singe asked as Salacia looked away.

“The minions are the work of another of them, the Ant,” Salacia said and Rena Rouge slapped her forehead.

“How many are there?” Rena Rouge asked and Salacia gave a hard stare.

“Seven, and each one of is as vile as the others. According to the Dolphin Kwami they’ve been around a while, I mean I could tell you but we’re on a timer right?” Salacia asked as another beep was heard as her Miraculous counted down. Rena Rouge looked at her before nodding and dashing off, leaving the two alone with each other as she dashed away and behind a corner. As she detransformed and reached for her bag and pulled out a bag with a chicken nugget in it and Trixx grinned and shot through the bag, eating the nugget in moments and grinned at her chosen.

“Ever seen anyone like this before Trixx?” Alya asked as she risked a glance back towards where Roi Singe and Salacia were waiting for her. Trixx shook her head, a look of concern on her face as she looked at Alya.

“No, I’ve never seen anyone who had this power back at Atlantis, I’m scared, I don’t think they came from Atlantis,” Trixx said softly and looked at Alya with a hard look. This is bad, this is so bad! I remember Bottla, but I thought she had been destroyed centuries ago, but she was alive and alone? What has she been doing all these years, has she been fighting against them? And who is powering the newcomer, I don’t like this one bit, and the others are probably having the same thought as me? Trixx thought as she looked at Alya. “We need to talk to this girl, find out where these seven came from, and that's if they know that is. We might have a big problem here.”

“And Hawk Butt is still around too……. This is gonna be bad isn’t it?” Alya asked as Trixx nodded.

Alya sighed and looked down, the troubles with the school, Lila, Gabriel, and now these added from all the problems they had with Hawkmoth? She didn’t know what was ahead of them but she hoped that they could handle it no matter what happened. As she looked at Trixx, she saw the looks in the Kwami’s eyes and knew that after this battle, the War they had all found themselves in was that much larger than they thought at all. For Trixx, she knew that if their luck held then sooner or later they might face those he Miraculous were originally made to fight against.

Chapter 17: Chapter 17

Chapter Text

Sorry it’s been so long. My New Year promise is this, I will try and write, I will not let the whispers of timidness get the better of me, I will put the story I create out and I will revamp my Patreon starting next month, and I will try and get another of these chapters out within then next 2 weeks and I will finish my novel!

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Ladybug threw her yoyo into the head of one of the arm cannon monsters and jumped backwards, letting her head take a glance at the battleground. Apisera was attacking the other cannon monster as Chat Noir and Canixia were fighting the two clawed monsters as they kept them away from her Apisera as the Akuma and the newcomer fought each other, so far the other monsters were ignoring Cameraneer, and that was good, if the Akuma was in the camera-backpack, then if it was destroyed then Villains civilian form might be hurt if these things released the Akuma, and if it multiplied then she didn’t know what they could do, they had never dealt with a duel Akuma that multiplied before.

As News Jaharl slashed his right sword sideways towards her, Nekhbet just laughed as she jumped over it and spun around, slashing out with her weapon as she looked at News Jaharl with a mad grin on her face.

“Foul Wench, how dare you!?” News Jaharl snarled and Nekhbet jumped backwards and glared at him with a look of such hate that for a moment News Jaharl went still in shock.

“You called me Wench…….. IT’S TIME TO HARVEST!” As Nekhbet’s voice rang out and every hero turned and saw Nekhbet smirk as her weapon’s blades were suddenly coated in black energy as she slashed it down through News Jaharl who screamed before he reverted to Robert and fell to the ground not moving, while that happened Cameraneer suddenly seemed to gain more power for a moment before he went limp as a purple egg that had blue lines spiraling down it formed in front of Nekhbet before she grabbed it and laughed as she caught it as her weapon gained a black glow around it.

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Hawkmoth stumbled and Nathalie was by his side in an instant, holding him up as he breathed deeply for a few moments.

“Are you okay?” Nathalie asked and Hawkmoth stayed silent as he panted.

“I’m fine,” He said as he steadied himself. That was……beyond anything I’ve ever felt before. Could that be what my love felt when…… no I’m still awake so it couldn’t have been but I need to ask Nooroo what happened when this is over! He thought before he felt Nathalie’s hand on his shoulder, looking up at her face.

“Sir, you blanked. Are you okay?” Nathalie asked and Hawkmoth nodded.

“Yes, but I have never felt anything like that before, not even when Ladybug cleanses my Akumas……… this almost tried to drink my power. I think we might need to have you come with us when I go and meet this woman and her ‘friends’,” Hawkmoth said and Duusu grinned and laughed as they somersaulted in the air.

“Oh that’s terrible, I don’t know how many more times you can handle this Miss Nathalie!” They said cheerfully and Hawkmoth frowned. He truly wanted the Miraculous to be fixed so the Kwami would get its mind back to normal, at least then he might be able to handle the little monster! And given what he learned about duel wielding Miraculous, when it was repaired he would use it normally. A moment later a beep caused him to look down at his Miraculous as one of the wings suddenly went white.

Everyone looked at it in shock and confusion, Hawkmoth slowly looked at Nathalie as she stared at him, a thousand questions behind her eyes, nothing that they knew about the Miraculous showed any hint about how this was even possible. Nathalie just knew that this was something new, but she didn’t know that this was only the beginning of what was to come.

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Ladybug starred at Nekhbet in horror before she jumped back as the monster she was fighting suddenly roared and attacked her harder, from the other cries she heard the other monsters were doing the same.

As she tried to get back enough to risk another look as the monster attacked her, Nekhbet meanwhile looked down at Robert’s body with a leer as he slept on.

“Oh, this was who that warrior was?! I wonder just what are the limits for that power he uses? And the other is still up and around, I wonder if I harvest him, will I gain more power?” Nekhbet purred as she looked around the battle and saw the four heroes fighting off her Legion and chuckled. Truly this is amazing, I wonder…….. does it take into account the person, something about them when it gives them powers? Does he choose or does he only have options about what he turns them into? He might be worthy to join our group after all, or at least we won’t fight him……… but this one. Ooooohhhh I need to look him up later, such a wild will somewhere deep down there! She thought as she looked up around the battle and smirked as she saw the news helicopter flying near the street and snorted. “So the mammal bitch isn’t coming, then I got her the other day, then all we need to do is search the possessions of the victims and we’ll find the dolphin at last, perfect!”

Nekhbet looked around and saw her monsters dealing with the heroes and frowned, one of them was missing.

Chat Noir dodged the blast from one of the range monsters as he tried to figure out a way the take it out without using his power, he might need it to free the Akuma! As he dodged he saw Apisera throw her top around the neck of her foe and pull it towards her, jumping in a circle to spin kick it away from her. He smirked as he lunged to the side away from another shot, he always knew his sister has hidden depths to her, but he hadn’t expected her or Sabrina to be such good fighters!

As Ladybug dodged to the right as the monster she was fighting fired at her and missed a red staff suddenly came down and dented the head before it screeched and flashed white before it dissipated into nothingness. She looked up and saw Roi Singe running towards her as his staff shrank in his hands, he grinned at her and slammed his staff against the other one and looked at her.

“Glad you made it, but how’d you know?” Ladybug asked him as she looked around at the battle, not seeing Rena Rouge and the others holding their own.

“I didn’t!” Roi Singe called out loudly as he grinned.

“What?!” Ladybug exclaimed and Roi Singe smirked at her.

“I just got lucky, figured it was a monster so go me!” Roi Singe smirked at her.

“Really?” Ladybug asked in shock and Roi Singe looked at Nekhbet who was examining Rob, trying to learn anything she could.

“No, I was told we just have to deal damage to them, break a bone or something and they die. And did ya hear about the people found knocked out, she’s behind it, there’s a new girl, she’s with Rena we just need to give them an opening,” Roi Singe said softly as he leaned towards Ladybug.

“Got it, anything else?” Ladybug asked just as soft and Roi Singe nodded.

“Yeah, see that egg on her belt, we need to get it to save a lot of people, we need to keep her distracted and moved her towards the right,” Roi Singe whispered and Ladybug nodded before she and Roi both sprung at one of the monsters.

Canixia had heard what Roi Singe called out as she blocked one of her foes blades with her right and grinned, she dodged a slash from her left and moved her right leg behind one of the monster’s and tripped it, then she slammed both of her weapons into its head, causing the monster to disappear after she broke its head.

Chat Noir ran in close and thrust out with his baton as it turned into a staff and hit his foe’s throat, it gurgled before it fell to the ground and died before disappearing. As the last of the ranged monsters looked around for its brethren before Apisera threw her top around its neck, pulling it towards her only for her fist to hit its throat, it coughed before Canixia slammed one of her weapons through its heads as every visible hero moved to stand before Nekhbet, their weapons raised.

“You know you could move away from the civilian and let us handle the Akuma before we talk, I mean you’re outnumbered, can you really keep fighting all of us? How long have you had that Miraculous since how long?” Roi Stinge asked and Nekhbet laughed and smirked at them.

She chuckled as she looked around, gripping her weapon tighter as she grinned. “Oh little fools, I made this with my group so many years ago, well before WW1,” Nekhbet purred as she spun her scythe and prepared to attack.

As the heroes' eyes winded they never noticed that the Akuma Cameranear had a butterfly energy mask on, letting them all know that Hawkmoth was listening in.

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Out o sight, both Rena Rouge and Salacia moved through the brush, Salacia keeping her eyes on the egg Nekhbet had on her belt and Rena swallowed as she heard Nekhbet’s boast. “What?”

“Keep it together, we need to get that egg, that’s what’s important right now,” Salacia said and Rena Rouge nodded and looked at her before nodding.

“Yeah, but you’re going to tell us all about that later on got it?” Rena Rouge muttered as they waited for the right moment.

“I’ll meet you and whoever you want tomorrow night on the Eiffel Tower,” Salacia promised and Rena Rouge nodded.

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Ladybug was shocked, how could she even be alive after all those years, and to have made a Miraculous? Who was this woman and what did she want, the way she fought Hawkmoth’s minions and did what she did, she had no idea at all what to do. A look at the others saw that they were all thinking the same thing, if she was that old then she wouldn’t time out, they needed to beat her or any friends she might have and then identify what her Miraculous actually was.

“We still outnumber her, all I need is one hit and we win!” Apisera encouraged the others and they all grinned and gripped their weapons tighter.

Nekhbet grinned and shot at them, her weapon still glowing. The heroes jumped away but she kept moving after Apisera who dodged the blows with a hard look in her eyes.

“Then if I take you out, then I’ll win!” Nekhbet snarled and Apisera dodged backwards and tried to figure out anything that she could do, she could activate her power but then she would have 2 minutes at most before she had to escape before she transformed back, and with the way Nekhbet was fighting she had experience, and if she had lived that long then that made sense. They had to find a way to take her down. She saw Rena poke her head out of a bush behind Nekhbet and gestured for her to come that was and Apisera grinned as Chat Noir and Roi Singe charged at Nekhbet, only for her to cackle and jump backwards with a cackle.

“You can’t beat me, after all, how will you free that one, none of you can do it without hurting him,” She purred as she looked around at the heroes who all look half convinced.

“But I can witch!” A Salacia called out as she attacked Nekhbet from the right who jumped backwards, letting Salacia jump at Nekhbet when from behind her another Salacia lunged at her and grabbed both eggs as they passed each other as the first Salacia passed through Nekhbet who realized what had happened.

“THE FOX!” Nekhbet screeched as she looked at Salacia who held the two eggs and looked at her and screamed out her power. “You stupid little whor*, so I missed you last night!?”

“Disharmony!” At Salacia’s command, her hands glowed grey and the eggs cracked and from them rainbow energy streams flew out of them, one shot at Robert’s body, another shot to the east and most of them shot west.

As Nehkbet looked at her gritted her teeth and was about to attack Salacia when she heard something coming at her, she dodged backwards as Chat Noir and Roi Singe charged at her, dodging again when Canixa almost slammed her weapon into Nehkbet head. Looking she realized that she was in a lot of trouble.

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In a hospital room, the old woman who had given Ondine the Dolphin Miracouls lay in a bed and breathed evenly, even if she was unconscious. One of the energy streams followed into the room and then into the woman who shot up with a gasp and looked around smiling as she heard the commotion from outside starting up. Looking towards the door she saw doctors and nurses rushing about, and she heard enough to know the other victims were awake. “Good job girl, good job.”

As she leaned back, she sighed and closed her eyes as she fell asleep.

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“Damn you!” Nekhbet spat as the heroes and glared at them as all the heroes cornered her. Looking around she tried to find anything she could do to turn the tide and scowled as she realized what she had to do. “She’s going to be such a bitch about me using this but so what! You heroes think you won! THEN TRY AND DEAL WITH THIS MONSTER!”

Nekhbet withdrew another organic egg from her weapon and threw it down to the side, with a flash that died down to reveal a ten-foot-tall green insect creature with a large scorpion lower body and a mantis upper body growing where the eyestalks on the scorpion would be. The lower scorpion body had two scorpion claws and the upper body had mantis claws. As Nekhbet dashed away the monster spat a globe of white mucus at the heroes who dodged.

As she landed Salacia heard a beep and cursed as she ran from the battle as Roi Singe looked from her to Nekhbet and wondered who to go after. Rena Rouge suddenly appeared and tackled him, getting him away from the stinger that hit where he was. “Eye in the game Roi Singe! We’ll talk to her later but we can’t let this thing get to the civilians!”

Roi Singe saw the monster roar and look towards the other end of the park where the police were and he nodded. As he lept at it he swung his staff down and it blocked it with the right mantis claw, throwing him back into the air and it spat another white globe at him, but before it could hit him Apisera threw her top and lassoed him, pulling him away, the globe missing him by inches.

Ladybug landed from her jump and looked at the battle for a moment before shaking her head, quickly coming to a decision. “Chat, Roi you’re on intercept duty, take down that tail! Apisera once you’ve got a shot use it! Canixia you’re with me, we’re going after the scythe user, Rena fall back to the insertion point you used!”

“Got it chief!”

“As you order my lady!”

“On it Ladybug!”

As Roi Singe, Chat Noir and Apisera called out, Ladybug shot towards the edge of the park with Canixia following behind her. As they reached the street they saw police holding back the civilians as they did when an Akuma made its first appearance, with simple ones like Mr. Pigeon and others like him, they treated them like street performers.

“Did you see a woman in silver come this way?!” Ladybug called out to a police officer who pointed towards one of the buildings and Canixia cursed.

“I could activate my power, but if she still hasn’t turned back……..” Canixia said and Ladybug nodded and looked at the police as Officer Rodger came closer. Canixia kept looking away and hoped her father wouldn’t notice anything about her that would clue him into her identic

“Ladybug is the Akuma down?” Officer Rodger as he reached the heroes, wondering who the new one was.

“It’s a double Officer Rodger with extras, one is down but the other is still active, and there’s something else. Chat Noir and I will stop by the station and talk to the task force once we get a handle on whatever it is,” Ladybug promised and Officer Rodger looked at the park as a loud animalistic roar sounded from within, causing Officer Rodger’s mouth to drop open. “Stay out until you see the cure. Canixia, come on!”

As the two heroes ran into the park, Officer Rodger saw the News Helicopter land nearby and sighed as he knew he would have a hard time keeping the reporters back.

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The two heroes ran back towards the battle, Roi Singe and Chat Noir were wailing on the monster as Apisera panted. Looking towards them she smiled at them as they came towards them.

“Oh she got away? Great so how do we kill this thing?” Apisera asked as both of the boys kept striking the monster. Ladybug was about to say something when she noticed something. She lunged and tackled Apisera moments before a beam shot over their bodies. Looking towards Cameraneer she and Apisera him breaking free of the material holding him in place, moments before Apisera’s Miraculous beeped.

“Oh no,” Ladybug moaned as she remembered what she had learned from Master Fu, when a Miraculous that caused a continuing effect on an opponent like the Bee times out, the effect is gone. If the monster that Nekhbet had summoned was free with the Akuma still on the loose, that would be terrible. Looking at the monster she stared at it and knew she had no choice. “Lucky Charm!”

Throwing her yoyo up a red energy sphere formed and from it dropped a small spray can. After she caught it, Ladybug looked around, the whole area was grayed out to her. As she looked around, she saw Cameraneer’s eyes flash, the monster, Chat Noir, Roi Singe. Then Ron and Canixa flashed a blue color and she understood everything.

“Apisera, fall back and recharge, once the monster is destroyed hit the Akuma. Chat Noir, Roi Singe get the monster in front of the Akuma once it’s free! Canixia grab the former Akuma!” Ladybug ordered as she shot at the Akuma.

“Wait what?!” Apisera demanded as she watched Ladybug but shot away towards the forest and saw Rena Rouge waiting for her and looked at her as she dropped her transformation.

“What’s the plan?” Alya asked as Chloe reached into her pocket and handed Pollen a few seeds to eat to recharge.

“Trust our lady I guess, ready Pollen?” Chloe asked and smiled as Pollen nodded causing Chloe to grin.

As Canixia grabbed Rob and jumped away she looked on, partly excited to see a Ladybug Plan up close.

Ladybug dashed at Cameraneer, dodging the shots the Villain fired at her from both arms. and sprayed its eyes and the camera on its back.

As the monster started to move Roi Singe looked at Chat Noir and shrugged before hitting the monster in its eyes and jumping away as it screeched and followed him towards Ladybug and the Villain as Chat Noir followed behind them.

Cameraneer roared and broke free of the last of the material holding him down and fired both its arms, Ladybug dodged both beams and a bench was hit, being pulverized as both energy attacks affected it at the same time. Ladybug grinned and looked away from the Villain, smiling as she saw the monster and others run towards them.

“Come on, you couldn’t record the side of an aircraft carrier from five feet!” Ladybug called out as she stood between the monster and the Villain.

“FINE! I’LL TAKE YOUR MIRACULOUS FROM YOUR CORPSE!” Cameraneer roared and thrust both his arms at Ladybug, firing from both of them again. As the beams moved closer to her Roi Singe was suddenly there, grabbing Ladybug with one hand, the other held his staff as it grew and shot them away as Chat Noir went the other way, the beams passing beside it by an inch on both sides and hit the monster, destroying it as the beams hit the monsters scorpion claws, breaking the bones and causing the monster to dissolve.

Apisera was suddenly there stinging Cameraneer as Canixa put Robert down as Ladybug, Chat Noir and Roi Singe landed by the still active Villain.

“Five Minutes gang! Find that item!” Apisera called out and they all descended on Cameraneer and tried to pull things free, most breaking with nothing else happening but it was when Roi Singe pulled the camera on Cameraneer’s shoulder and dropped it to the ground it didn’t break that they knew they found it.

“Got it! Cataclysm!” Chat Noir called out, calling on his power and as the camera dissolved, as the Villain turned back into the cameraman a black butterfly flew free until Ladybug caught it in her yoyo.

“No more evil-doing for you little Butterfly,” Ladybug said with a grin as she released a pure white butterfly that flew away before she picked up her Lucky Charm and looked at the others as she held it out, they grinned back at her and put their hands under it, Roi Singe looked around than coughed and joined his own to the others, and then as one, they threw it into the air.

“MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!” They all roared out as the spray paint climbed into the air until it exploded into a ladybug swarm that flew around the park, fixing everything that the battle had destroyed, and the victims both woke up.

“What happened?” Rodger asked before his phone beeped, looking at it he saw that the Akuma Alert was turning off and he frowned.

“That was something LB!” A voice called out and Robert looked up and saw the heroes, gasping as he stared.

“Yeah Monkey boy, I mean a new Miraculous wielding villain and she comes with her very own nemesis who I hope is on our side!” Chat Noir said as he put his staff baton over his shoulder. Robert gasped and looked around her either of them, the chance to interview a new depowered villain or hero, but he only saw his cameraman sitting up as he held his head, where was the villain the heroes had fought?

“Talk later, let’s move people!” Ladybug called out as Robert looked at the heroes as they left, realizing what he had done

“Wait!” Robert called out but the heroes didn’t hear him as they dashed away and out of sight. Robert could only look in the direction of where the heroes had gone before he could even say anything. He couldn’t see the Ladyblogger around so the Ladyblog wouldn’t have any new content, so maybe that was a win? With how that teen was getting her footage they were being told to be like her, but with how she was so cavalier with her safety, he would prefer to stay alive. But he had overheard the heroes, there were two unknowns in this fight, an unknown hero and a new villain, that was something that he could use.

“Wonderful, new heroes and villains, I’m dead center and I’ve got barely anything!” Bob snarled and looked down, while he was spiraling about how after he lost his internship and his school expelled him the laughter of his cameraman caused him to break him out of his thoughts. Scowling as he looked at the source of the laughter as his cameraman looked at his machine with a grin on his face. “What’s so funny?!”

“Tell you after we’re done with them boss,” The cameraman said as he pointed behind Bob, who turned and saw the police coming towards them. Bob almost said something before he stopped, feeling dizzy so he sat down and tried to catch his breath. Moments later police, members of the Akuma Taskforce came towards them and he knew turned, not seeing his cameraman pocket the recording and slip a new one into the camera.

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Hawkmoth detransformed and Nooro fell before Gabriel caught him. “Who were those two?”

“I don’t know…….. I’ve never seen the first one’s Kwami before……but the Dolphin, I’ve heard of her from Xuppu after the Destruction of Atlantis……. She was his,” Nooro said as Duusu laughed and floated in the air.

“Oh yeah! He was so sad that she and the others never made it to the Order, he even lost his happy for a few decades!” Dussu said with a laugh and Nathalie looked at the Kwami and hated the effect the broken Miraculous had on the creature.

“What will we do, and if you think I’m letting you go alone!” Nathalie snarled and Gabriel nodded and sighed.

“No, you wouldn’t,” Gabriel said and looked at the window his Akuma always flew out of, a frown on his face. With everything his agent had found out about Lila, Adrien and now this, he didn’t know how he was able to stay above water. She said she made her Miraculous, and then invited me to me meet her leader, leader not partner……. It could be a trick but more Miraculous users not aligned with Ladybug or myself? Who are they, where did they come from and what do they want? I can’t believe this, with everything else that’s happening, I can’t understand how everything seems to go wrong now! He thought as he looked at the window, not noticing the looks

“Yes, we should…….Wait Atlantis!? Atlantis was real!?” Nathalie asked as her head turned fast to gaze at Duusu and Nooro as the two floated in the air.

Gabriel looked on with a raised eyebrow, he had always thought that the mage might not have been from the area of China, how they appeared in the hidden history he had found seemed to point towards them from being from the west of Europe. So that they had been on Atlantis wasn’t too out there for him to accept, really didn’t he ever tell Nathalie about it? He had thought he had but then it seemed he was wrong. He looked on as Nathalie kept speaking, he decided that he would see what she was after.

“Oh yes, it was wonderful back then, after the Mage created all of us we spent years keeping it safe until the end, it was wonderful,” Duusu said sorrowfully and Gabriel sighed as the Kwami talked before he did a double-take at the fact that the Mage had come from Atlantis.

“Yes it was, Atlantis always seemed to prepare for the worst, all but the last terror that ended them, sad that. They even set up catches from what they could rebuild if they ever lost their homeland, catches that had all their knowledge from Magic to Medicine and some things that bridged some subjects,” Nooro said and Gabriel blinked and looked at Nathalie who kept her eyes locked on Nooro.

“Could we find anything about hidden catches of their knowledge, say as a Champion?” Nathalie asked and Nooro frowned and seemed to be struggling with something.

“Answer her Nooro,” Gabriel ordered and Nooro frowned and looked down.

“Yes, a Champion would at least be able to see if it was possible, but you would need to translate whatever you found…….. we don’t know how to read the code……reading things like that was judged to be only for the High Class so they had a special language …… it’s the same as the Guardian Code....... And the rest of the nation used another language but whatever was recorded in the catches had to have been in the first code,” Nooro said reluctantly and with something that might have been shame.

“What are you thinking Nathalie?” Gabriel asked and Nathalie grinned.

“Atlantis created the Kwami…… if we could find anything that might have survived, then maybe it might help her, we might not need the Ladybug and the Black Cat!” Nathalie exclaimed and Gabriel looked at her and then turned to look at Nooro who nodded.

Gabriel looked from one to the others, could it be possible that they didn’t need the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous to save his wife after all? Could there be a way that they hadn’t even thought?

As Gabriel looked into space Nathalie smiled. She wanted Emile back, but with all the ways they had failed, if they could do it by something that was less effort or random as hoping to make a silver bullet, then they should do it.

“Atlantis could make wonders and horrors, if they knew anything that might help Ms. Emile then it might be possible,” Nooro said but frowned. “But how would we find them throughout the world?”

“Let me think about that for now, hopefully, I’ll have an idea after I go over our resources on magic, maybe something will spark an idea,” Nathalie said and Gabriel nodded as he looked at her. “And we should prepare the tunnel out to the river, we shouldn’t any other exit tonight.”

“Of course, and how are pictures for the new line with Adrien being gone for now?” Gabriel asked and Nathalie looked at him with a small smile.

“So far I’ve looked over more portfolios and I’ve identified a few models that might work, and I’ve looked over the hours Adrien’s been pulling…….. it might have been against the law, and that might hurt our case,” Nathalie admitted and Gabriel looked at her before sighing and rubbing his eyes.

“I made him the face of the company so we wouldn’t have scandals that destroyed so many of my rivals, and I guess he just wanted to help that he kept working or he thought it was normal……… wait, why did he become a model in the first place?” Gabriel thought out loud and Nathalie frowned.

“I don’t know, it happened when my sister died and I spent a few months away remember?” Nathalie said and Gabriel, frowning as he tried to remember just why Adrien had become a model.

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As an office building came back to life as the Akuma alert turned off, one lone office worker picked up a large envelop package and frowned as he saw the name on it. As he opened it he took out a packet and started to read the front page before he frowned, looked down at it and then read it closer, frowning before he got up and left his desk. Walking through the building he eventually came to an office and knocked on it, waiting for a few moments before he walked into an office with rewards on the wall and a photo of a graduating class in the center. Behind the desk by the windows sat a woman who looked to be in her 30s wearing a blue power suit with short red hair in a bun, glasses on her nose before her blue eyes.

She looked up and saw the man, the light revealing him to be in his forties wearing a white shirt, black jacket, pants and a bald head. “George, what is it?”

“Sorry boss, but you’ve got to read this, our least favorite college messed up again Rebecca,” George said and Rebecca took the papers, looking down and reading before she shot to her feet and started to growl.

“WHAT THE HELL!?” Rebecca said and George nodded, a scowl on his face.

“I know, when I read it I had to look over it again before I was sure it was real……..

“Who the heck is in charge over there?!” Rebecca demanded and George look upwards as he tried to recall the name he had seen on the paperwork one time nodded after a while.

“DamoclesI think, I can’t remember his first name but I’m sure of the last,”

Rebecca sat back down and started to look over the records for Marinette and frowned before she looked up at George. “None of the so-called bully’s files looks like someone who would do this. All in all, it seems like she’s one of the good ones, class president, good grades………. Wait this was a practice test?! And the teacher couldn’t grade the rest of them?” Rebecca asked and George shrugged.

Rebecca looked over the schedule the teacher had sent them and frowned as she opened another file and saw all the tests were graded on the day of the test and frowned as she looked at George. “I don’t see anything that shows she had a problem grading the tests…….. and if she lost them shouldn’t she have not down them or changed the test?”

“I don’t know, but since school starts up again tomorrow we can send people in to talk to everyone, and I could go and talk to miss Marinette to get her side of the story,” George said and Rebecca nodded as she looked at the paperwork before paling as soon as she saw who had sent it in, causing George to look at her in concerned. “What is it?”

“Did you see who’s sent this in?” Rebecca asked faintly handing it over to George who looked it over before wincing as soon as he saw who was responsible. For a moment George only looked at the name before he remembered where he had seen that name before, and then he remembered the connection the school and then he swallowed and looked up at her as he paled.

“We’re going to be dragged over the coals, aren’t we?” George said faintly as Rebecca nodded, already wondering just what he would want from them when he won whatever lawsuit that the Dupain-Cheng family would bring against the city or education department.

Rebecca only held her head and kept quiet; she knew that this was going to be bad for them. If half of the things that she thought might have happened to the family’s daughter at the school, then they could sue for a lot of money. As she looked up the records for Damocles she frowned as she saw who had signed off on his appointment shooting to her feet in shock. “He sent him there!?”

“He, no not him?!” George demanded as he looked at the records and Rebecca nodded causing him to start to curse as he held his head. “Oh hell, this means that she has that much of a better case! I mean remember how he was with what happened to his goddaughter? I thought we fired him!?”

“We did, but he might not have sent the message………. I need to schedule a visit to the prison after all,” Rebecca muttered as she looked at George and scowled, causing him to snap to attention.

“Your orders ma’am?” George asked and Rebecca sighed and shook her head.

“George I want you to get a team together to go and talk to everyone at the school on Monday, and after that I want you to go and talk to the victim, I want this done soon, collect all the reports on the incident, I’ll schedule a hearing for two days after your talk, get the email of the parents so we can send official notice, oh and collect the recording tapes from the school for as long as they keep them, and record anything that you can about that school!” Rebecca ordered and George walked off.

Rebecca rubbed her eyes as she turned to look out her windows, a strange and cold feeling going through her. She had gotten this job after her predecessor got into that coma about two years ago, and then his first replacement turned out to have been part of a slavery ring that was trying to use the school to find profitable merchandise. Thankfully he was found out during a raid by the police and he now was spending the rest of his life in a prison in Spain. As she looked out over the city, she didn’t know it at that time but she would slowly start to unravel a conspiracy that had been in place for a long time.

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As they dropped down into the sewer Roi Singe saw Rena Rouge waiting for them as they landed, a smile on her face. “You’re all okay!”

“Shouldn’t you go and recharge Rena, unless you don’t mind letting me know who you are?” Roi Singe said and Rena nodded at them all.

“Yeah, I will but not here, we’re ready for pickup driver,” Rena said into her flute before a portal opened and Roi Singe saw Pegasus on the other end with Master Fu standing there waiting for them.

“Me and Chat Noir needed to get back to where we were before, we’ll video call you as soon as we get back,” Ladybug said as she ran off, Chat Noir following behind her.

“So they know who each other are now?” Roi Singe asked and Apisera nodded.

“Yeah…… let’s just say someone thought they knew and brought down the masks and then these two followed us,” Rena Rouge said as she put her arms around Apisera and Canixia’s shoulders.

“So you don’t mind if I know who you all are?” Roi Singe asked and the others smirked at him.

“If you don’t,” Canixia said with a soft smile and Roi Singe nodded, smiling as they walked through the portal. When it disappeared Roi Singe looked around and grinned.

“Nope!” Roi Singe said as he detransformed into Kim, grinning at the looks on the faces of the other as Xuppu floated next to him laughing. Apisera even facepalmed and Canixia’s mouth dropped open in shock as Rena Rouge’s eyes widened.

“What?! Kim!? And she didn’t choose him!?” Apisera demanded and Master Fu laughed softly and smiled with a twinkle in his eye.

“It was a spur of the moment, but it worked out quite well,” Master Fu said with a grin as Kim looked around, surprised and a strange feeling going through him as he looked up at Xuppu.

“What’s that mean?” Kim asked and the others all laughed.

“You’ll get it in a moment lover boy,” Apisera said as the girls all detransformed. Kim’s mouth dropped open as he looked at the grinning faces of Chloe, Sabrina, and Alya as Max detransformed and Markov flew in from the door with the other Kwami.

Kim was dead still, not even moving with his eyes wide and his mouth had dropped open in total shock,

“Surprise!” Sabrina said as she and Chloe started to laugh at the face Kim made, even Max started to chuckle.

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Salacia dashed over the rooftops, a strange feeling going through her as her Miraculous beeped again, as she landed the final beep sounded and Ondine was on the rooftop, Bottla floating next to her with a grin on her small face.

“I knew you would do great! I just knew it! And that was the other Miraculous users, right? That redhead seemed to be familiar, I would have loved to have seen his power!” Bottla said and smiled at Ondine as she stood there and recovered from her first outing as a hero.

“Thanks, Bottla, I’ve got something for you to eat here,” Ondine said as she reached into her purse and pulled out some lettuce that Bottla shot at and started to eat. “And I think he’s Roi Singe and his power was……. Roar something or other.”

“Uproar!? Then it’s Xuppo, my monkey!” Bottla said with a laugh as she finished and somersaulted. “I can’t believe it, he’s here! Oh now, all we have to do is track down the others and then!”

“So you know this monkey?” Ondine asked with a smirk and Bottla laughed.

“Yeah, my monkey. I’ve loved him for most of my existence, and our holders have fought together and saved many lives!” Bottla said and looked at Ondine and grinned.

“That sounds romantic, but what should we do? If I understand won’t your old holder wake up since we broke the egg?” Ondine asked and Bottla looked at Ondine and sighed.

“Yes, but my old holder hadn’t used me to transform in years, we’ve lived in hiding for years, decades even trying to figure out any way to defeat them, we lost most of our team, those who weren’t killed by the Seven and a few of most of them lost their Miraculous to them, and some were just lost by unknown causes, we never heard from them again over the years,” Bottla said and Ondine looked at the Kwami, then her eyes winded as she realized what she had done and

“The Sins are that dangerous!? And they know what I can do to stop their plans, don’t they?” Ondine said and Bottla nodded. Ondine looked at the Kwami, she knew it would be dangerous when she did this, and she knew that villains didn’t let this go but to hear that others had been tracked down and killed for less, but then she had her reasons to fight. This was her home too, and if they were going to do whatever and hurt her friends and people, she would fight. “Okay, so how about we go and talk to your old holder at the hospital, her name was Melisa right?”

“Yeah, Melisa Giascorn. She’s great, and we found a few things over the years we’ve been together that helped put a few ideas together on what the Seven are after,” Bottla said and Ondine looked at her friend and nodded.

“Then let's head over to the hospital and talk to her, I mean she has to know something right?” Ondine asked and Bottla nodded.

“You know the words girl!” Bottla said and Ondine grinned.

“Bottla, Dance in the water!” Ondine called out and Bottla was swept into Miraculous and with a flash of light, Salacia was standing where Ondine had been before. With a new sense of purpose and a will to see this through she moved towards the hospital, hoping that Melisa was okay and could talk to her.

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Ladybug and Chat Noir landed on the rooftop of the Dunpain-Chang bakery and they quickly made it into the room, retransforming. Looking around they sighed as they realized that Marinette’s parents hadn’t come up to check on them, with a smile they moved down into the apartment and heard sounds from below in the store, causing both of them to smirk.

“We’re lucky m’lady, at least we’re still safe for now,” Adrien said softly making sure his voice didn’t echo.

“Yeah, come on let's…….” Marinette began before the phone in the hallway rang. Marinette frowned and walked over, looking up at Adrien with a confused look. “It’s that lawyer of yours,”

“Uncle Louise?” Adrien asked and frowned when Marinette nodded. “Strange, what’s he want? Go on ahead, I meet you back up there in a few moments.”

Marinette nodded and handed over the phone, both of their Kwamis grinned at each other, Tikki kissing Plagg’s cheek before following after Marinette. Plagg grinned and then he went still and looked towards the door and frowned.

“Hey Louise, what is it?” Adrien asked as Plagg shot back into his pocket as the door opened and Tom Dunpain came into the room.

“Hey kid, got some good news,” Louise said and Adrien could hear a grin in his voice, and he

“What, did you find out what my father’s deal with Lila was?” Adrien asked and Tom frowned and looked at Adrien with a hard glare and he shrugged.

“No, but I was able to talk to a judge and he’s granted you a no-contact order with Gabriel and Nathalie, I talked with your bodyguard and he’s sworn before the same judge not to help either of them to find you, so you can go to the hearing for that girl of yours!” Louise said, Adrien couldn’t help but grin.

“Great! But when will you send it to him?” Adrien asked and Louise laughed.

“Come Monday he’ll have a wonderful present, and then the real fun starts! And I’ll bring the big guy a legal document that says until your hearing he won’t try and bring you to your old man until after said hearing is done. He’ll be able to report that you’re okay and everything but he won’t bring you back, this is the best and I’ve almost got the paperwork for the primary hearing, sometime around next weekend I think, and I’ve heard a few rumbles I need to track down so I’ll get back to you about this, stay alive kid!” Louise said before he hung up and Adrien looked at Tom.

“So I’ll probably be leaving in a week or so, sorry again about this,” Adrien said and Tom chuckled.

“No problem what’s so ever my boy, we don’t mind when any of Mari’s friends stay over, especially when they need help!” Tom said and Adrien looked at Tom who sighed and shook his head.

“A long and private story, but let us just say that we’ve put up borders before this whole Hawkmoth thing started up. It’s personal to a few people so let’s leave it at that,” Tom said and Adrien nodded and sighed. Tom looked at him and hid a smile, Adrien was a good kid, and he hoped that Gabriel was only reacting to the loss of his wife by trying to be overprotective but something was bothering him about it.

“Dinner will be around 7 tonight Adrien, today’s one of our long days make sure to remind Marinette about that okay?” Tom asked and Adrien nodded and walked off, Tom smiling as he left.

Turning around he let the worry show on his face for a few moments, silently sending up thanks to whatever was watching over his the kids while they were fighting. As he walked into the kitchen he looked around at his few workers and smiled, happy that everything was going well. As he saw a few cookie sheets put into the oven, he smiled as he remembered Marinette helping them when they started to get more popular, how he had been so proud of how she helped whenever she could for those first few months before they could hire their first employee, how it got under control when Marinette entered Francis Duport last year.

As Sabine looked at him she coughed, catching his attention and he nodded at her and she sighed, happy that the two of her the kids were okay. She hated that she and Tome figured out their daughter was Ladybug, it should have been something that she told them when she was ready! But she still wanted to give whoever got her daughter involved with it a good wrack with her staff!

She frowned, letting some of her emotions show in her eyes for a split second, how people were always more free after a battle was something she was happy about but since she learned who Ladybug was, she was so worried. And with everything that was happening she didn’t know when they would have to tell them she knew. As her frown deepened, she really hoped that they knew at least who had given them the Miraculous they used, if only so she could punch them.

As the door rang as it was opened, she smiled and turned back to the register, ready to greet a new customer and hope that today would follow the pattern Hawkmoth had been following.

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Robert walked into a room and saw the cameraman that he had been sent out with working at a station with headphones on going through something. After the police had questioned them, Nadja had come to check on them with Bob following behind her. Both of them had been there by coincidence, and Bob was there because all the ones who could handle flight were unavailable. Of course, they were, I know that little fool is trying to get me fired, he’s scared of my work. I know that fool is jealous of how she’s been looking at me! I think I’ll talk to Alec about giving him anything I get from now on, maybe if I work with him I can get ahead of that brat! I knew today would be bad, I should have called in sick! He thought as he looked up as the cameraman gave out a cry of triumph!

“What did you call me here for? I mean with everything that happened we lost everything

“Nope, I took out the tape before they got to us,” The Cameraman said and Robert blinked, shocked beyond words.

“Then you still have the footage we took before the Akuma?” Robert asked and a small laugh caused his heart to beat harder, could he dare hope?

“How about that and footage of our transformation? And while we were villains?” The cameraman asked as he stepped away and showed a screen

Robert looked at the screen with a wide grin as he sat on a chair in a room at the TV station, looking over the recording. They even had footage of when they were Akumas, the new villain and hero both, all in all, this was perfect. I knew I felt good today! This is wonderful, a new villain and we’ve got ground zero footage, let’s see Bob top this! With this, I’ve got the golden ticket, I’ll be the newest He thought as he looked at the scene and grinned as he watched Chat Noir fight one of the new monsters. “This……… is……gold!”

“Who knew Hawky would let me keep recording after I was turned?” The Cameraman said and Robert looked at him, a strange feeling going through him as he glanced back at the camera and then looked down.

“Yeah, real nice,” Robert said absently as he thought about that. In the past some Akuma’s had turned items they owned into parts of their abilities, could Hawkmoth not know he could do that? Or maybe he did but didn’t care? Either way, he didn’t want to bring that up, if Hawkmoth didn’t know then he might not

“Come on, we’ve got what nobody else has, firsthand account of an akumatization and ground zero footage of a new villain and a new hero! This will make us!

“Yeah boss, and the name is Fish by the way, Zack Fish!” Zack said as Robert laughed and shook his head as Zack continued. “And I’ve got a few ideas to use a few drones like Prime Queen had, I think we’ll be able to get some great footage in the future!”

“Yeah, we can. I did a little drone racing in college so I could……..wait what?!” Zack exclaimed and Robert turned to look back at him as Fish looked at the screen, his back straight.

“What is it?” Robt asked and Zack waved him down.

“Give me a second, let me find that……wow. Yo need to hear this,” Zack said as he directed what he heard to the external speakers. Robert listened in growing awe at what Fish had recorded.

“Oh little fools, I made this with my group so many years ago, well before WW1,” Nekhbet voice came from the speakers and Robert went still as he slowly looked at Fish whose mouth had dropped open in shock.

“Before WW1, did you hear that, before WW1! The things she must have seen, what she must have done to live that long! This is amazing, I mean you know how the old supers are! And this one is in Paris, what a scoop!” Robert exclaimed and laughed as Fish grinned back before he frowned.

“Yeah, isn’t there that supervillain down in Italy that wants to live forever? And wasn’t she unsealed around the time of WW2?” Zack asked and Robert nodded, a stage look coming over his face and he swallowed, remembering the carnage he had seen once when an anti-hero villain whose issue seemed to be mortality had fought that same super. Three whole blocks wrecked and then he felt faint as he stumbled backwards and leaned against the wall, a haunted look on his face.

“Boss? HEY, HEY! You okay?” Fish asked and Robert shook his head.

“I just had a terrible thought that our work could cause a supervillain to be Akumatized,” Robert said flatly and Fish looked at him and winced.

“Yeah, that would be bad, really bad. So what’s the plan boss?” Fish asked and Robert looked at him for a few minutes before he nodded.

“Right, you keep that tape somewhere safe and copy over anything until she beat me, don’t let anyone ever see the raw source. If one of them comes to Paris, it won’t be because of us,” Robert said sternly and Fish nodded, both of them never noticing two small eyes watching from the grating of one of the air vents.

Chapter 18

Chapter Text

Nekhbat leapt over Paris’s rooftops, cursing that her prize was taken from her by that Dolphin Bitch! She was sure that she had gotten her last night, but if she was wrong then she had lost the witch, and what was worse was she didn’t have anything to show for months of work! I was sure I had tracked that old harpy down, but I must have lost her in that station after all! She probably jumped when that door was opened over that bridge, it’s the only thing that makes sense! Or she’s dead and this is a new one, but then how did she know how to awaken the Kwami after I killed the old hag? But He will not be happy about this, that’s for sure. She thought as she moved, letting her mind wander as she traveled to her goal.

Thought deep in thought, she never stopped looking around as moved ever nearer to her destination. Finally she reached a rundown area on the outskirts of Paris, swiftly moving along the rooftops until she landed on a particular five-story building. Once she was sure no one could see her she dropped down into it, landing in a decaying room with a broken mattress with the springs exposed, a chair with three legs and a door that was only had the bottom half of it with the handle still connected. She wasted no time in moving through the door and jumped through the open part, landing in a roll that she leapt from it to a wall she then kicked off it and started to jump from wall to wall going downward, after a while, she finally reached the basem*nt.

She looked around, smiling as she saw a few old signs of her past here, marks that she had made in a battle against some of the SSS’s ‘Super Aryan’ when the Seven had led them into a trap here. She still wondered sometimes about a few remarks the scum had made, but it wasn’t important. She moved behind a broken couch and dropped down a hole, landing in a cavern. As she hit the ground she released her transformation and her civilian form was revealed crouching.

As she stood up she shook her head, freeing her from the hood, revealing her long blond hair and as she moved her hair from her blue eyes, a cackling came from her hood and she frowned. “Nekka, do you have to laugh so much, I’m going to have a hard enough time asking for more Legions!”

“I can’t help it hatchling, after all these years of us picking off lone groups of ‘Supers’, luck finally beats us! I mean with how you were so happy to let loose, I expected this!” Nekka said as she glared at her parent. Nekka is a white Kwami with a slender neck, a bald ‘head’ with a silver beak.

“So then you failed?” A deep guttural voice asked and the two of them went still and turned towards where the voice had come from as saw two golden eyes glaring at her. “After all that talk you failed, the Dolphin is still active?”

“I missed the Dolphin, if I had some help to track her down the first time then maybe I wouldn’t have!” Nekka spat and looked at the eyes as they floated around the room in the darkness. As the teen looked around, trying and failing to find who she was looking for.

“If you’re looking for Keos, don’t. He’s sleeping until tonight’s meeting, you were able to get in contact with him at least Iris?” The voice asked and the teen, Iris, nodded, casting her gaze around the chamber for a few moments.

As Iris stopped looking around Nekka sighed and landed on her wielder’s shoulder as Iris started to speak. “I expected that all of the others wouldn’t be here, but where are Envy and Greed?”

“Envy sent us a message, something about tracking down a lead to setting an old score and Greed is in Italy, something about finally getting something back from those who stole from him,” Bemm said and Iris sighed and shook her head, she could understand what they were both after and she wished them well, after all they still had time until their target date. And the steps Greed and Envy were needed for the plan weren’t ready yet, not even close. It might have been easier if he was here, and with the few gemstones Envy gave her the last time they met up, they hall all the chips needed for her and Wraith could make a deal or treaty with Hawkmoth.

“Wait, what about Lust and Pride, where are they?” Iris asked and Bemm snorted from the darkness, away from where the voice came from the first time, forcing both human and Kwami to turn and try and find the source, just as Bemm wanted, forcing them to move to show his displeasure.

“Pride said something about tracking down another one in Russia and Lust still hasn’t made contact with us yet. She probably has a new target she’s looking into, or her cover needed her to stay away until she could sneak away and contact us I guess,” Bemm said bitterly and Iris nodded, knowing how her sister still didn’t trust Pride and was trying to find a replacement with the will to stand, now all whoever she chooses had to have a mindset willing to kill others for their goal.

“Well, I’m going to sleep for a few hours, I expect he ordered the firefly to stay by him right, good. Don’t be too loud you two, I need this!” Iris said and walked away, leaving the two Kwami alone. As Nekka floated there she heard light laughter from the shadows and glared into the darkness.

“Must you always be this way!?” Nekka demanded and she was met with silence.

“Yes vulture, I must! This blunder will have costs, one we can’t pay!” Bemm snarled and Nekka drew back before scowling towards the voice.

“Oh what do you know you old Lizard! My flight leader is every bit a cunning and savage warrior! So we missed the Dolphin, so what!? Does it truly matter that much?!” Nekka demanded and she was met with silence.

“Yes, because now the others know about us! When the Dolphin tells the others our history, they will try and track us down and destroy us just like that last one we fought said! Letting the rest of them think we’re the Mage of Light’s last works, that is what will keep us alive!” Bemm snarled and Nekka winced as she looked away.

The two stayed silent for a few moments before Nekka flew over to a TV and turned it on, turning the volume down and switching on subtitles as Bemm just floated in the darkness.

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Adrien walked into Marinette’s room and closed and locked the door down and sighed. He heard the voices of Alya and Sabrina laughing as well and he smirked.

“What’d I miss?” Adrien asked as he saw Marinette and Tikki before Marinette’s computer, with Marinette shaking her head in surprise as Tikki giggled.

“Adrien!? Bro that you? We were worried when you were so quiet man!” Kim’s voice caused Adrien to rush to the computer and look over Marinette’s shoulder, seeing the others with Kim, so he quickly realized where Roi Singe had gone.

“Kim!? I was not expecting you were Roi! And by the way Marinette’s reacting, Master Fu was the one to choose you didn’t he?” Adrien asked and Kim laughed.

At the room Kim and the others were in, he smirked as he looked at Adrien and Marinette and laughed.

“Yeah, and it’s great to see you and Mari man! After Mari got thrown out unlawfully, well I guess Max already told you about that right? But I swear that Owl is corrupt man!” Kim asked with worry and Adrien put his hand on Marinette’s shoulder as she nodded. Part of Kim was happy that his little sister was finally starting to loosen up around Adrien, but how do you give the ‘Shovel Talk’ to somebody with the power of freaking Destruction with a capital D?

“Yeah, he did. And thank you Kim for going to bat for me,” Marinette said from the screen and Kim grinned.

“Anything for my friends Mari……well, anything that’s morally right at least! So let’s talk about the big Monkey in the room?” Kim asked and Fu nodded and coughed, causing everyone, from the teens to the Kwami to look at him.

“Yes, how was the battle? How was it, did you figure out who the new Super was?” Fu asked and Alya started to look angry and Chloe started to giggle. “What’s the matter?”

“Alya’s just a little mad that she can’t publish the two new Miraculous wielders that appeared at the battle, and she can’t even report it on the Ladyblog,” Chloe said and Fu nodded before whipping his head to look at her.

“Yeah, I’ll need to try and find a way to get footage even if I’m a hero……… think you could help me with a commission Max?” Alya asked and Max nodded as Markov hovered nearby.

“I think so, I mean that project is almost ready for field testing……… and a few of your failed bodies might work Markov……… we would just need to make sure they're not normal wireless…….. maybe a handshake program in case someone steals them……” Max said as he started to look down and Markov hovered nearer, recording everything Max said for them to go over later.

“TWO!? Who are they?” Fu exclaimed in shock. He had thought all the other Miraculous had been destroyed by Feast; if they weren’t then where had they been all these years? Who had used them, and were they used for good or evil, had he people like the NAZIS and other dictators been helped by his action all those years ago?

“We don’t know, Ladybug and I went after one of them when she left the battle but then we came back after she escaped, and she called herself Nekhabet,” Sabrina said as she shrugged and looked around the room, the others nodding.

“Yeah, that was this woman with a scythe that caused one of the Akuma victims to turn back but he fell unconscious and she had these monsters that she summoned from these fleshy eggs! And the other was this girl who destroyed the eggs with the command Disharmony…….” Alya began when Xuupu suddenly interrupted her

“Disharmony!? Oh, my little dancer is alive!” Xuupu exclaimed and Lonng sighed and shook his head, a small frown on his face.

“That’s wonderful my friend, but I worry what kept her and the others who were sent out so long ago, especially him,” Longg said and Trixx laughed.

“Come on Dragon-boy, you mess that old serpent don’t you?” Trixx needled Longg who only shrugged.

“Yes, well he did play a mean game of…..!“ Longg began before he suddenly couldn’t talk,

“Who are you all talking about? What’s happening to you all?” Sabrina asked as Barkk fell into her hands as the other Kwami with holders all went to them.

All the Kwami looked at each other, and by the way Adrien and Marinette had turned their heads the same thing had happened to Plagg and Tikki as well.

“What happened to you all!?” Chloe asked as she hugged Pollen to her checks. The others were just as bad as she was each of them holding their Kwamis and trying to figure out how to help them, all while Fu looked around with confusion on his face before anger overtook him.

“The Order!” Fu exclaimed and looked murderous for a few seconds.

“Fu what is this!?” Marinette demanded and Fu looked down, ashamed as he tried to figure out.

“A…..command by the Holder of the Miraculous can last longer than they hold them……. And I found something when I translated a part of the book, the same book that Adrien’s father has,” Fu said and looked up with a hard look in his eyes. “So that’s what, ‘A law passed by the Celestial will last until a Celestial releases it’ means.”

“What are you talking about!?” Chloe demanded and Fu deflated as the sorrow he now felt was almost too much for him to bear.

“After you said I was a…… cult baby, I looked over all my notes on the copy of the Book of the Guardians, the same book that I had for only a few hours before..... Marinette had to return it,” Fu said and looked at Adrien sighed and nodded.

“Then who had it, girl? If we can track down who could have seen it, then maybe we’ve found Hawkmoth!” Alya said and Marinette looked away and Chloe looked at Adrien with her mouth hanging open in shock.

“My dad had it,” Adrien said suddenly and everyone looked at him as he looked down.

“Your dad!? Gabriel!?” Chloe demanded and Adrien nodded as Alya.

“Plagg found it in a safe he had, and I took it to school, Lila took it and that was why I was sent back to homeschooling. Marinette found it, gave it to Fu and then Collector and we were back to square one again,” Adrien said and frowned as the others looked at him. “I think he’s Hawkmoth, everything fits but we don’t have any proof!”

“What fits, I mean he was Collector, what don’t we know?” Alya asked as she looked at Adrien as he looked at Marinette who smiled at him.

“I’ll tell this part, Adrien. A while back Bunnix came and took me to a future, a future that was destroyed by an Akumatized Chat Noir,” Marinette said and everyone was shocked and Fu was horrified. “I saved him, but the last words he said was our love did that to the world. I did something that let Adrien figure out who I was and we think we started to date in our civilian forms, something and then Akuma Chat Noir.”

The others looked at her, Sabrina and Kim trying to wrap their minds around the fact that a Miraculous lets its users and others travel through time, Alya wondering when Marinette and Adrien met her in the first place while Chloe slowly but surely got madder and madder as things made connections in her head.

“That stupid, idiotic bastard! When I get a hold of him…….. Aunt Emilia, that has to be the reason he even thought of doing this! But wait how did they get the Miraculous in the first place?” Chloe demanded and Fu shrugged as the others looked at each other.

“And even if he is Hawkmoth, how will we find evidence? He does make jewelry in the shape of the Miraculous,” Sabrina said softly and looked around at the others when they turned to look at her. “I…… like to bead when I have some free time on the weekends, so I follow the jewelry scene, he came out with a Peaco*ck broach two years before all this started.”

“Let me see what I can find…..Got it! Wow, I mean Gabriel’s jewelry section has animal-inspired items, a new one is a whale pin of all things,” Max said and Fu frowned and looked around at the others who all had strange looks on their faces. Marinette meanwhile looked down, her mind going many places, and then she frowned and looked up, she realized something by the look in her eyes, something that caused her to look at Fu.

“Fu, I have a question for the Kwami, will Nooroo and Dussu know what Barkk’s powers are?” Marinette asked and the Kwami all moved their hands away from their mouths and nodded, Wayzz acting as Spokes Kwami.

“Yes, all of us who were grouped in the same box know what the other’s powers are……. But why do you?” Wayzz asked but Sabrina gasped and looked at Chloe who paled as the others looked at them as Adrien stared at them and sighed.

“Then Hawkmoth will force Nooroo to tell him what he knows,” Fu said gravely and Alya winced.

“Then Hawkmoth might try and find a way to command his Akuma from another location or something else, and if it is Gabriel then he won’t make it easy to find evidence right?” Alya asked and Fu sighed.

“Yes, but we’ve gotten off-topic, the Kwami. As I said this was something that was done to them, I’m not even sure they could tell us what was done to them,” Fu said and the way the Kwami hovered not moving, his guess was on target. As he released a sigh he started to curse himself as he went over everything he had learned so many years ago in the order, seeing them from the new direction his thoughts took, the darkness that was hidden was revealed by looking back.

“Then how do we fix this?” Marinette asked and Fu sighed and looked at the book with a hard look.

“There was mention of a ritual to free them, one of the things needed is a clear view of the moon overhead,” Fu admitted and the others looked at him with a confused look.

“That’s a long time from now, I mean the full moon was barely a week ago,” Sabrina said and Max nodded.

“Exactly 5 days ago tonight at midnight to be exact. What else do we need to do to stop this…….violation,” Max asked with a hard look in his eyes.

“I need to figure out a few ingredients, I mean seaweed was recorded as ‘ a branch from the dragon king’s garden’…… some of them I have ideas and I just don’t know what the rest could be, but we all have time to find out,” Fu said and looked up at them. Chloe looked like she was going to say something and frowned, Sabrina had closed her eyes as Max started to mutter to himself as Markov landed on the table while Alya got out her phone.

“So it needs to be somewhere we can control, a place where we can we can escape fast or make a fighting retreat……. The tower is out,” Chloe muttered and Alya looked up.

“Yeah, a flying Sentimonster or Akuma would own the sky and battle ……… the school courtyard maybe? No, the basem*nt runs alongside the sewers, a breach there, we could station a guard, no………” Max muttered his thoughts out loud and Alya nodded.

“The Le Parc des Princes stadium,” Sabrina said and blushed when everyone looked at her. “Well, Max could operate the roof, open it at the last minute and we can ask the police to guard the Tower, Rena could hide at the School and use her power to make it seem like we’re doing it there while the rest of us are at the stadium. And if we need to we can have someone be a lookout for Alya and a guard…… and with that grey woman we probably should.”

“Good idea,” Alya said stunned and Sabrina blushed as Chloe beamed at her. Chloe was glad that her old friend was finally breaking free and speaking up for herself, she needed to be able to do that, she really did, their fathers had hurt them a lot with how they believed people should behave. “But how can we get the police to help us?”

“I did promise to talk to Commissaire Laborous tonight, Chat and I could bring it up, see what he says,” Marinette suggested and Alya nodded before she went still.

“Hey, the new girl, the one who helped us? She promised to meet us at the ‘Tower tomorrow night!” Alya said and the others looked at her and she blushed and looked away.

“Who should go besides Alya, Marinette, and Adrien?” Sabrina asked and Chloe looked at them and smirked.

“Nobody. Alya’s flute would probably let her turn on the comms function discretely and then Max could drop us right on top of the ‘Tower if this is a trap. After all, if the enemy tries to trap you just turn it into a target-rich environment,” Chloe said with a dangerous tone to her voice as she smiled viscously and Max coughed and Kim grinned as well.

“Good, then soon the hex will be off all the Kwami!” Adrien exclaimed and the others all nodded in agreement.

Sabrina suddenly went still as suddenly something went through her head, she made connections that the others hadn’t. “All the Kwami? Even the one's Hawkmoth and Mayura enslave?”

The others went still and Marinette looked at something the others couldn’t see and Adrien closed his eyes as Fu looked at her in shock before putting a hand on his chin and started to think as the others looked at each other.

“I need to check over the book, try and figure out what everything means first, I think there was something about time being a factor for it to unravel, maybe it was a hundred years or so……” Fu said and Kim grinned.

“So we have time then, how many years ago did you lose them dude?” Kim asked as the others all grinned as well, all but the Kwami, Adrien and Marinette. Adrien looked at Marinette and

“170 years ago,” Fu said and as the others all looked at him he shrugged. “Long story about how I’m so spry at my age, I’ll teach you about it later. For now, I’ll look over the pages, try and find out anything and we’ll talk about this when I have something, anything else we should share?”

“I promised officer Rodger to stop by the station and explain today’s attack, what should I say? I know the Superhero Liaison Officer will have words for us about this,” Marinette said and Fu looked up, a frown on his face. Fu had often thought that politicians that gained power over those with abilities always tried to use them to advance their agenda, but the European United Heroes actually had less government oversight than he expected, but then there were always exceptions.

“Could you swing by my place when you’re done? I think we need to talk and clear the air so to speak,” Chloe said and Marinette nodded after a few moments before she turned off the call on their ends.

“So you want this and him back, right?” Kim said as he started to pull off the Miraculous still in disguise mode but Fu shook his head.

“No, you can keep him for now,” Fu told Kim with a grin as Kim smirked as Xuppu laughed and somersaulted in midair. “Now remember he loves barriers to eat, you must have some to recharge before you can transform again fast.”

Max looked around, a strange feeling going through him as he tried to remember what he was forgetting when he suddenly went still. He had forgotten about what he found out about Lila, and why he had wanted to go and talk to Fu first……… but with everything that happened so far. A beeping from his phone caused him to look down and wince as he saw the reminder. Oh, I have to go and meet mom for a late lunch, I hoped I would have more time, and then……. Tomorrow, I’ll have to talk to him tomorrow. Max thought and took a deep breath. “Master Fu, I originally came here to ask for advice but with the attack and an appointment that I can’t miss would it be alright if I come back tomorrow?”

“Of course my boy, of course. Good day to you all, and I’ll call you all when I’ve found anything,” Fu said as he bowed and Marinette and Adrien turned off their chat window. As the others left Fu looked at the Kwami that remained and sighed. “You all can’t tell me what’s wrong, can you? And that means a lot is wrong.”

The Kwami stayed silent and moved to him, each of them looking at him with expressions of hope and sorrow. They were hopeful that Fu would break the bindings on them, but they were filled with sorrow that their old friend was having all his notions on the Guardians destroyed.

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Adrien looked at the dark screen and shook his head, he had a few ideas about what Chloe wanted to talk to Marinette about, and he was happy that Chlo had finally found her way back. As Adrien looked at Marinette he suddenly remembered something Tom had told him. “Marinette, your parents said that supper would be around seven today, I think maybe we should talk to the police before then, you can go and see Chloe after that.”

“Smart, and if you play Mecha Strike with my parents when I leave after a few rounds, you can help me protect my identity,” Marinette said and Adrien nodded and gestured towards the roof entrance. Adrien looked back at Marinette who looked down, a strange look going over her face.

“Something wrong Marinette?” Adrien asked and Marinette looked up and nodded.

“No, I just had a thought. If time is a factor, then maybe the Eagle Kwami, Liiri would be free of it, then maybe we could ask her and Eagle if they know anything?” Marinette asked and Adrien looked at her as Plagg ahhed as Tikki beamed at Marinette.

“Good thinking bread, that old bird should be happy to tell you anything we can’t, and if she can’t maybe those people could help out anyway,” Plagg said and Tikki nodded.

“And since Max has been there before, we could travel there if they need to talk to us about it,” Tikki spoke up and Adrien suddenly looked at them in shock as he suddenly remembered something.

“Wait, Uncanny Valley knows who we are, the Miraculous Glamor doesn’t work on her! If we could show her a picture of Hawkmoth and my father, she could tell us that they’re the same person, right?” Adrien asked and Marinette shook her head.

“It doesn’t work that way, I asked her and she told me that she can only break our masking if she sees us in the flesh, a recording doesn’t work, unfortunately,” Marinette said and Adrien scowled until she put a hand on his shoulder and he looked at her with such love and respect in his eyes that she almost became a blushing mess.

“Of course, you’ve already thought about that?” Adrien asked with a note of wonder and M

“I asked her if she could figure out who Hawkmoth was just after everything

“Shall we Milady?” Adrien asked as he bowed as Plagg laughed and Marinette grinned.

“After you kitty!” Marinette said as they all looked up at the roof hatch. “Tikki, Spots on!”

“Plagg, Claws out!” Adrien called out and a moment later after they transformed the two left the room after Marinette locked her door down into the apartment.

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Outside the movie theater, Alya looked at Max as he walked away then looked away before coming to a decision. She dashed towards Chloe and Sabrina and reached them before they got into Chloe’s limo. “Hold it, if you’re going to go to town on my girl I’ll!”

Chloe held up a hand and sighed, looking away as Alya stared at her. “Look, there’s a lot of….personal reasons to why I act the way I do, and well only half of them have to do with my mom, okay? Sabrina knows most of it, Adrien a bit more and well, the whole story is complicated. After I talk to Marinette if she wants to she can tell you, but she deserves to know first.”

“So all you’re going to do is talk with her?” Alya asked and Chloe nodded and Alya looked at her for a few moments before nodding as Trixx poked his head out of Alya’s pocket. “Fine, but you try anything I will make a nightmare with Trixx that will destroy you!”

Chloe nodded as Alya walked away, slipping into the limo as Pollen and Barkk came out of hiding. I deserved that but man is that girl really something, I mean my dad employs her mom and she still talked to me like that after everything I did…….. good. That’s what happened to mom, she just never had anyone to fight her. I need people around me to push me, to make me think. And I have to stop that, I’m me, not her. As Chloe thought Sabrina looked at her and smiled, happy that her oldest friend was slowly starting to open up.

“That was brave my queen, I’m proud of you,” Pollen said and Chloe smiled. Sabrina looked on as Barkk smiled and chuckled.

“Yeah kid, you might have your fangs bared, but you’ve got a good heart,” Barkk said and Chloe looked at them before looking out the windows to hide her tears.

Chloe kept silent as the limo moved on, her mind going strange places as she looked back over her life and saw everywhere that she had taken the wrong path. Ever since she had her epiphany, she had hated who she had been. She would change how she acted, not for anyone but herself, she would be a better person than her mother if she had to work at it until she died!

As the Limo sped away Alya ran after Max, a bad feeling going through her as she ran. She knew Max was going to look into Lila last night, and with everything that they knew about the little witch, she just knew it wouldn’t be good.

“Hey Max, wait up!” Alya called out and he turned and looked at her, sighing as he saw her face.

“Alya no, I can’t say what I found until I talk to Master Fu, please give me a day,”

“Lila right, you found something?” Alya said and she sighed and looked away. “Fine, but if it’s that bad, make sure to tell Marinette so she can tell the lawyer about it.”

“I will, I will,” Max said as he turned away and walked off, Markov and Kaalki both looking up from his bag, both of them having learned what Max did, and both of them worried about what it meant about Lila.

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Ondine walked into the hospital wearing a hat and a hooded gray jacket and black pants, looking around and barely keeping from fingering the Miraculous around her neck as she moved towards the front desk. She noticed a few police officers around the room and barely kept smiling as she reached the front desk and looked at the person behind it. “Hi, I’m looking for Melisa Giascorn, I’m her niece and we just figured out she was here.”

“Okay, Melisa Giascorn…….. she’s old, too old to be your aunt,” The receptionist said and Ondine shrugged.

“She’s my great-aunt, but we just call you aunt, no one likes old age you know?” Ondine explained and the receptionist looked at her before nodding.

“Yeah, I’ve got a few relatives like that, oh. She said that whoever came would need to answer a security question, and well it sounds weird……..” The receptionist said and Ondine felt more than heard someone coming towards her and she smiled.

“That’s my Aunty, so the question?” Ondine asked as she reached for the counter and smiled at the receptionist, and tried not to let her nerves show. She had to give off the impression that she was who she said she was, that everything was normal. If she had even the single chance of pulling this off, then she couldn’t show a hint that she wasn’t who she said she was. As she waited she wondered if maybe she should have taken Acting classes, and as she looked at the receptionist who frowned and looked up with a befuddled expression.

“What is the Dolphin’s name?” The receptionist asked with a raised eyebrow and Ondine looked down but felt Bottla press against her and smirked, realizing just what Melisa meant.

“Bottla,” Ondine said confidently and the receptionist nodded and waved off whoever was there.

“Thank you, she was very insistent and as the victims don’t know what hit them…….” The receptionist trailed off and Ondine nodded.

A few moments later Ondine walked through the hospital, seeing members of the Akuma Taskforce around told her how the police were treating this like an Akuma or something Super related. If that was enough to handle the Seven or scare them off, more power to the police as far as she was concerned.

As she stepped into the elevator she pushed the button for the floor Melisa was on the doors started to close before a hand blocked them. As it opened two police officers, a man and a woman stepped in, the woman pressing the ‘CLOSE DOOR’ button and smiling at Ondine.

“Sorry kid, needed to get up there to talk to somebody……. Oh we’re going to the same floor,” The woman said and Ondine nodded and stepped to the back as the two police officers talked with each other, both of them making small talk and Ondine kept quiet until the doors opened, as they left the elevator the two officers watched as Ondine moved towards a room before going towards a meeting room.

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As Melisa sat in the bed, she sighed and hoped that she would be able to get out soon. She had to find a way to track down the girl she gave her old friend too, she had done something to free her from Sloth’s power but she needed to know everything! She hated what her mother taught her, but if they ever got her friend, she didn’t want everything they had been able to discover about the scum over the years, with all the rest they found out too. But she had to hope this girl wasn’t with the so-called Guardians that her ancestors had written about, if she was then Melisa didn’t want to think about what her old friend was going through.

A commotion from the door caused her to frown and sighed. Another doctor or nurse to look at her, to poke or prod her for something that she knew and she suspected they knew they weren’t going to find anything but they had to try and find something to explain what happened to everyone. But instead of anyone working at the hospital, a teenage girl walked into the room and closed the door tightly behind her and started to look around.

“Hi aunty, nice question using the name of the dolphin at that ocean park!” The girl said and Melisa frowned but when Bottla pocked her head out of the girl’s pockets she sighed when she saw the happy smile on the Kwami’s face.

“Well, I felt a little…… mischievous girly, wanted to make you think. I hope it wasn’t too much trouble,” Melisa said and Ondine giggled. Melisa looked at the girl as Bottla floated around the room, and for once she was happy that his kind couldn’t be detected by modern cameras. She made a few motions with her hand and Ondine moved closer to the bed.

Bottla sank into the walls and Melisa grinned, this was a trick they had used to check for recorders and spy tech over the years the two had worked together, and she hoped that the new girl wouldn’t need the more……..sensual tricks that her mother had taught Melisa before she had died.

“Oh Aunty, do they know anything happened to you all? Any idea at all?” Ondine asked and Melisa shook her head and winced before Bottla came back towards them with a smile and nodded. Melisa released her breath, they

“We’re clean M, and this calf did okay, but we did work with the locals,” Bottla said and Melisa winced and looked.

“f*ck, if they’re with the Order then……!” Melisa snarled and Ondine looked confused and Bottla sighed.

“The kid didn’t have a choice, we met in the sewers, two of the part-timers; they might not be following the orders commands at all. I mean it’s been a long time since we last fought those scum,” Bottla said and Ondine looked between them, confused beyond words.

“What Order are you talking about, and why didn’t you tell me about them Bottla?” Ondine demanded and Bottla sighed.

“It’s a long story kid. See over the years other Miraculous holders beyond our group would meet us, and after that these Monks would show up and try and take me and mine by force,” Bottla said and Ondine looked at them, shocked beyond words as she realized that Ladybug and Chat Noir were connected

“But there have to be others who use Miraculous beside you right? I mean Hawkmoth and Mayura are proof right?” Ondine asked and Melisa nodded.

“Yes, but we’ve only found single Holders in other countries around Europe, I mean grandma had stories about someone active in England during WW2 that held back some Nazi Supers. But whenever we’ve run into other holders besides the Seven, most of the time we always find monks after a while, and whenever two groups of Holders fought in the past, the monks and their Order were always behind one group trying to steal the others in the name of Balance.” Bottla spat and shook, remembering all the ways those scum had treated her holders and chosens over the years, when they stopped over a hundred years ago, she had always looked over her shoulder waiting for them to attack.

Ondine looked at them in shock, a million ideas forming and dying behind her eyes as she tried and failed to figure out what this could mean for Paris. The first thought was that one of the two groups had the backing of this Order, maybe Hawkmoth giving how he wanted the Miraculous, but Ladybug and Chat Noir had how many others to help them?

“When this affair started in this city, I stayed away because I knew that at my age I couldn’t handle a backstab as good as I did when I was younger…….. but then I discover that one of the gangs these bastards control were sending men into the towns around Paris, outside of Hawkmoth’s range, we had to go,” Melisa said and Bottla looked at her former chosen with a sorrowful look, the way she was talking about it, she wanted Ondine to take over her calling, but then the woman had fought for years and some of the hidden things in their ‘Carry-Space’ would help the newbie out.

“I……that’s…… you want me to keep Bottla, don’t you,” Ondine said, in a moment of complete surety, somehow understanding about why Melisa was telling her this. Melisa nodded and Bottla sighed and hugged her old friend’s face. Melisa had fought for years, and the girl was new and so totally outside of anything that might link to her, it was her best hope to pass Bottla on to someone

“Yes, I’ve been made by them. The best thing for me to do is to escape from here and go to ground for a while in a safe house in England. With the Star Train, I’ll be able to slip away, and then this little one can tell you my handle on Telegram and I’ll be able to drop a few things. I’m sorry to drop this on you, but I felt something when you found me, something that told me you’d be able to do this,” Melisa said and Ondine looked at her and then glazed at Bottla.

The Kwami was floating then with her hands crossed, looking at her with a questioning look but she didn’t say anything. This was Ondine’s choice and hers alone, but she had to admit that Ondine was right; there was something about the girl that……called to the Kwami and she could only wait for Ondine to make a choice, a choice that would affect both their futures.

“I’m not saying yes right away, I’m not but what’s their end game, the Seven? What are they after?” Ondine asked and Melisa sighed and looked away, a hard look on her face.

“Wish I could tell you, kid, I truly do. They’ve got years of life stored up, maybe even centuries! The smart play would be to hide away, maybe move to a different continent, but they keep trying to get me, I don’t know why,” Melisa said and Bottla looked away unseen by the two humans.

Bottla knew why they were after them, they were power hungry and couldn’t let a single chance that someone might be able to stop them exist out of their control, but something told her that she and her klan were being hunted for another reason. She looked on as Ondine and Melisa talked, and once again the Dolphin Kwami felt that there was a secret that not even she knew that explained everything about why they were being hunted.

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As Chat Noir led the way he somersaulted over a street as Ladybug followed behind him, a wild grin on his face. He lived for this, just letting his loose and trusting in his instincts to keep him alive, his Lady with him as they danced across Paris. He loved the fact they finally knew who each other was, but he was still worried that they might let their emotions call an Akuma but he knew that they would handle it.

A few moments ago Ladybug had dropped into an alley and he almost turned around but she had jumped back to the rooftops and she seemed to be embarrassed so he hadn’t said anything and put on a burst of speed, leading the way with a laugh as she joined in, just a few feet behind him. As they jumped over another street he saw the police station in the distance and smirked as he landed on a rooftop in sight of the station and waited for Ladybug who caught up a moment later and he grinned at her. “I win!”

“We didn’t race, and if I hadn’t thought I saw a mugging I might not come in second!” She said with a laugh and he frowned.

“Thought you’d seen a mugging?” Chat Noir asked and Ladybug looked away.

“It was a bit of roleplaying for……. Romance,” Ladybug said with a blush, and Chat Noir looked at her before he blushed as well and looked away.

“Oh, one of those,” Adrien squeaked and looked around, seeing people happy and a few yelling at each other in places that the mayor designated ‘anger zones’, so far they let people release steam after Hawkmoth’s attacks. And he had come across a few of those attacks himself since he became Chat Noir and it was always embarrassing. “Please tell me it wasn’t one of those reverse seduction fantasies?”

“Male seducer to a female thief and I still feel a bit…..dirty for seeing it,” Ladybug said and Chat Noir winced.

Suddenly a high-powered light shined in their eyes and they both covered them Chat Noir could hear a laugh from across the way and he sighed and smiled. “Got us again Chief!”

As the light died Ladybug grinned at her partner and they both heard the laughter die down before they jumped over and landed before the source. Commissaire Bertolfo Laborous was an Italian man around forty-five years and liked to walk the streets when he wasn’t doing paperwork. His blond hair had a few streaks of grey in it and he had a scar on the left side of his face below his eye, he said it was a souvenir from a super-villain’s minion, and that was all he would ever say about it. He was dressed in a general police uniform with his badge of office on his right shoulder and a tan trench coat with a hood over it.

“I got you again kids, you need better awareness to survive this gig, trust this old soldier, I know. Sometimes it’s the little things that keep you alive, the instincts and attention for detail that trump ray power,” Commissaire Laborous said in a lecturing tone and Ladybug sighed as Chat Noir grinned. The Commissaire was kind of a mentor to him, and he always helped people escape from Akuma and had helped the two of them escape from mind-controlling Akumas in their civilian forms. Marinette knew him as an old friend of her grandmother and someone who she had interacted with outside her mask and tried to keep from being too familiar with him as Ladybug. “So what happened at the park today, that roar scared the citizens and my men had a hard time restoring order. And that’s not even talking about the newbie Hawkmoth sent in that you and the …….Dog I think, chased after?”

“She wasn’t with Hawkmoth, she attacked both us and the victims and then another Miraculous Wielder appeared. And there were people found unconscious and couldn’t wake up last night?” Chat Noir asked as he took the lead as he usually did when they talked with the Commissaire. Laborous looked at them and then nodded slowly, a frown growing on his face.

“Yeah, they woke up a few hours ago, after the attack but before the ladybugs, one of the newbies then, the one you chased Ladybug?” He asked and Ladybug nodded. “f*ck. Thought it wasn’t our favorite magical criminal. Our favorite idiot is already up in arms about it downstairs; he said something about sending a report to his superiors about it, and how this might be connected to an old case file of theirs before WW1, know anything about that?”

Chat Noir and Ladybug looked at each other as Laborous merely waited and looked at them with his arms crossed. He trusted these two, but they were Magic users of a kind that from what he had been able to pierce together seemed to be dependent on non-human entities for their abilities, and while he wanted to believe that the kids had a handle on them, part of him was worried. He had a few scars left from the last time he had tangled with things that weren’t human, and he hoped that he was just being overly cautious but better safe than sorry.

“Yeah…….. there’s something else. To find the information that might explain a few things we need to commandeer a building within the next month, at night,” Ladybug said and Laborous looked at them as Chat Noir shrugged.

“This important then?” Laborous asked and Ladybug nodded solemnly and he sighed and shook his head.

“The person who we chased said she made her Miraculous and before WW2…….. maybe she did maybe she didn’t, but we need to do something, and to do it right we need the building,” Ladybug said and Laborous looked at Chat Noir who nodded. “To make a long story short we need to do what we plan to move forward.”

“Yeah……. We’ll talk to you about the particulars but think Trojan,” Chat Noir admitted and Laborous looked at them and grinned evilly.

All in all, this seemed perfect for him. A full mobilization would let him do three things, 1; put the task force through its paces, 2; keep a closer eye on a few ‘spies’ that he thought were reporting to someone in city hall or maybe Hawkmoth himself and 3; they might be able to get a look at Hawkmoth himself, finally find a clue to track him down.

“Perfect, I think I know just what you plan on doing, this would help out the department a bit, show everyone at City Hall that we’re up to snuff. Just give me about a week or so warning so I can get ready,” Laborous said and Ladybug nodded before a commotion from the doors caused them all to wince. “And that would be the warning I set up, get out of here you two, and remember to tell me what’s the what when you can.”

The two heroes nodded and jumped away, Laborous shaking his head as he turned back towards the door down as it flung open. He sighed, he just knew that who was going to give him trouble about the attack today, he just knew it. “But what those kids told me, he might be right for once. What’s happening to my city?”

Chapter 19

Chapter Text

Ondine walked towards her home, trying not to act like she was as nervous as she was. After the talk with Melisa, hearing about the Seven she knew that she was being hunted now. And she could stop these villains from hurting a lot of people, her loved ones might be among them. And for that reason alone, she would fight and risk her life to protect her world.

“Don’t worry too much kid, Melisa and I slipped up I admit it, but you keep quiet about everything and you’ll be fine,” Bolla said from within her pocket and Ondine smiled as she made it home. Looking around and not seeing the family car, she sighed and nodded as she saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Ondine opened her door and walked into her house, seeing a message note from her parents on a mirror in the hallway and smiled as she saw what was on it. Bolla came out and looked from Ondine to the note and shrugged. “I don’t understand, that looks like nonsense to me.”

“It’s a code my parents and I made up, everything is fine, Mom and Dad will be back tomorrow night and mom left a meal for me in the fridge, but let's go and check on what she said you had for me,” Ondine said with a smile and Bolla shrugged as they walked upstairs to Ondine’s room.

As they passed photos on the wall, Bolla landed on Ondine’s head as she walked up the stairs, sighing as she looked down at her wielder.

“Okay, it’s like this. Since my first Chosen after Atlantis fell, they’ve all always used our ‘pocket’ to store stuff, being on the move, really helped us survive. I remember during the war against the Nazis we smuggled medical supplies all over the occupied territories!” Bolla said as she landed on Ondine’s head and she smirked down at her ride.

Ondine almost nodded as she entered her room. Okay, that’s something. I wonder what they put away, loose change, nick-nacks? Might be something to look into now, I have free time now. She thought and closed her doors and pulled down her room’s shades. “Bolla, do you know everything that’s been put away in there?”

“I……. no. I don’t remember every little piece……. Want to check it out?” Bolla said with a grin that Ondine returned. “Great, now all you have to do is to will it to form on one of your gauntlets at the back, and that’s also your tool glove until the next transformation. And to open the pocket, just point it down and it will fall down, drop the transformation once you’re done, I want to see what I’ve been hoarding like that old Dragon!”

“Yeah, got it. Bolla, Let’s dance in the water!” Ondine called out and Bolla shot into the chocker and Ondine transformed into her hero persona.

She looked around for a moment before looking at her right glove and saw a raised circular bangle on the back of it. She tilted her arm a bit and looked at it before she ‘opened’ her pocket and a moment later a veritable tide of coins, clothing and boxes dropped onto her floor. She blinked and detransformed, Bolla looking at all the stuff. It was as tall as Ondine and it was at least five feet around. Slowly Bolla turned towards Ondine and laughed weakly.

“I guess that there’s a lot more stuff than I thought there was,” Bolla said sheepishly and Ondine looked at the pile with her mouth open. She bent down and picked up a black dress her size with a slit down the side that would expose her breasts and navel.

Bolla looked at the dress and smiled a little. “Oh, that belonged to Melissa’s teacher, she used it to get Intel from Nazis during the war. She would romance them, and if they were SSS, she would arrange their painful deaths in accidents she set up. If they stuck in it because of where they were born she helped them defect.”

Ondine blinked and looked from the dress to Bolla and carefully put it down on her bed, looking at it and imagining herself in and blushed as a picture of Kim appeared dressed formally in a tuxedo. As she looked at the coins she bent down suddenly and whistled as she held up a grey coin, paling as she saw the faces on it.

“This is from Rome…….” Ondine said faintly and Bolla nodded, looking at it with a fond smile.

“Yeah, after my holder stole me and my friends from the people who made the Seven, we found an old fortress and a hidden treasure that the old commander had squirreled away in case of Rome being destroyed. There were a few weapons and maps to a safe haven that we hide at until the Seven tracked us down. Most of the money we used, but we put a few coins away for an emergency fund,” Bolla said sadly and Ondine shook her head in awe. With how rare those coins were, if she could find a way to sell a few of them at an auction then her family would be set for years.

Ondine looked at a small chest and opened it, revealing a set of bracers with red gemstones on them.

“Nice, those were used in the Days of Magic by blacksmiths to handle the heat of the forge, they couldn’t be used in deserts because they stopped working after four hours,” Bolla said and Ondine looked at her before laughing as she went towards the other items before she stopped.

“Say, how about we get some supper, we can go through this latter and put most of it away, we can just separate what we know from what we don’t when I open the bag, right?” Ondine asked and Bolla nodded.

“Yeah, I think so. Can we have fish? I might love lettuce but I like fish too,” Bolla asked and Ondine laughed and nodded. As they left the room, the pile of stuff shifted and a golden chest with strange rigid runes on it, and as they glinted in the light of the room a strange golden glow formed around it for a few moments before dying away.

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Chloe sighed as she sat in her room, a thousand different thoughts going through her head as she looked across the skyline of the city. As Pollen moved around the flowers Chloe had set up after the first time she had transformed she wondered how she should handle this. She knew a lot of what she had done over the last years was wrong, but she had reasons!

She looked out the window, she had a lot of reasons to have been acting the brat, but looking back, she didn’t have a leg to stand on once she had her epiphany about who she wanted to be. She looked towards her laptop and smiled, at least her novel was coming along nicely. With luck Marinette would accept her apology and then well, the future was open to them. And she needed to do this, before what she feared would happen.

With her father and mother spending more time together she didn’t know how much longer until her mother got roped into her father’s plan to drum up sponsors or get numbers in the polls, once she got fed up and left again, Chloe knew she had to clear the air with Marinette before that happened. She would need their help to stay on the right path, not fall back into the wrong habits that she needed to break.

“It’ll be okay my queen,” At Pollen’s voice, Chloe looked at the Kwami and smiled. Last night the two of them had a long talk, Chloe had laid her soul bare to the little creature and sighed.

“Thanks, Pollen,” Chloe said as she leaned back and tried to keep calm. She had been on an emotional roller coaster since they had come back from New York. What she had learned, and then that time she was stuck with a therapist in one of the hotel’s elevators during a five hour Akuma attack, she knew what she wanted but to start to heal, she needed to apologize to Marinette and ask her for help, hell she had to ask everyone for help. And she just knew that Adrien will be completely happy to help, and he was trying to say that she was really making more of an effort than she really was.

A knocking on her door to the outside caused Chloe to smile as Marinette walked in and Tikki flew over to Pollen, the two zipping away to talk quietly as Chloe looked down and away as Marinette walked closer with a scowl. “Sorry Marinette.”

Marinette blinked and shook her head, she was sure that she had heard Chloe but that didn’t sound like she had.

“What?” Marinette asked and Chloe looked back at her and tears came to her eyes.

“I’m sorry okay?! I’m sorry about how I acted, how I treated you and everything I did in school! I tried to make my mom love me, I acted like her and she hated people from mix race families so I just!” Chloe began and looked away as tears came to her eyes. “And all that effort was worthless, the bitch doesn’t love me, she’ll never love anyone at all!”

“Chloe…….” Marinette said and sighed and looked away. So that’s what this is about, I wasn’t expecting this. But she’s might be trying to change, and that explains a lot…….. wait no, that means. That makes sense. Marinette thought as she blinked and s few things crystallized for her. “I’m going to be honest, you’ve been a brat, when you pulled the fire alarm on my dad and everyone was punished I almost hated you, and when you locked Juleka away during Picture day with her ‘curse’……” Marinette began but Chloe blinked and looked back, her mouth open in shock.

“Wait, Juleka thought she was under a curse, how!?” Chloe demanded and Marinette looked at her and winced.

“Photo curse, and well it lasted a year,” Marinette said and Chloe’s eyes widened and looked away, cursing as she remembered why she had really did what she did back then.

“f*ck, and my attack on Bustier got her Akumatized, that tracks. When I try and get her to be fired I really misfired that time, didn’t I?” Chloe muttered and massaged her eyes, Marinette looked shocked and her mouth dropped open as she processed what Chloe admitted.

“Wait…….. ‘Attack on Bustier’?” Marinette demanded and Chloe blushed and looked away as Marinette's eyes shrank as suddenly she looked at a lot of what Chloe had done over the years and suddenly understood a lot of things about Chloe.

Chloe looked away as the Kwami flew closer and Pollen scowled. “My queen told me all about this sub-leader your school hive group has, with the way she spoke of her, I’m surprised that she even breathes right, she and the other.”

“She isn’t that bad……. Okay, she puts a lot of work on Marinette, she punishes the victim, and…..why was I trying to defender her again?” Tikki asked as she started to frown and Marinette looked up at her Kwami and then looked at Chloe in shock as she realized something.

“Oh god. All this time, for the last year you’ve been trying to get her to act as a teacher, should, even before Adrien came?!” Marinette said, Chloe just looked away and sighed.

“You know how she treats her class president, don’t you? Did you think how it was is even a little normal?” Chloe asked and Marinette nodded, how she was supposed to plan all the trips, even if they were for education. Caline Bustier said it was for college applications and the like, but Marinette didn’t think so, and given the looks she had seen the other presidents send her, she knew that something was wrong.

“Yes at first, but with looks the others sent me, but they never said anything…… did she do something?” Marinette asked and Chloe nodded grimly.

“The Owl made it legal to let the teacher decide what duties the class president would have and said teacher must sign off on anything the president does. And the laws say the principal has total control of the school but must follow the rule set up for situations like yours. But the duties are his to assign soooooo,” Chloe trailed off and shrugged as Marinette shook her head in disgust.

“So the reason you didn’t do anything was because she always blocked you if you didn’t do her job for her?!” Marinette demanded and Chloe nodded with a scowl on her face.

“Yeah, I don’t understand that woman at all! I know that teachers need to lead the class, she’s trying to train all of us into her ideals of what people should be!” Chloe said with a snarl and Marinette went still as Tikki started to frown.

Marinette looked back at everything she thought she remembered the time she had spent as the Class’s representative and the looks some of the other representatives had sent her when they thought she hadn’t been looking. That Aurora had time to be a weather girl at the TV station and been a representative as well, well Chloe was probably right.

“So let’s drop that for now, the reason you attacked me with your remarks and trying to order me around was that you were trying to act like your mother?” Marinette asked and Chloe nodded with a look of shame on her face.

“Yeah, and I think deep down, I was jealous of you. Your parents always made time for you, they love you and they support you, dad means well but he did raise me, he bought things for me. Mom left for New York the first chance she had, and I…….. she cheated on dad,” Chloe said and Marinette’s jaw dropped.

“Wait, what?!” Marinette asked and Chloe looked away as Pollen hovered and nuzzled her cheek.

“Or mom and dad decided to each me and my sister separately. I met her in New York on the second to last day there……. I decided to surprise mom at her office there and I overheard people talking about how the daughter was visiting, how she was such a nice person when her mother was away,” Chloe said robotically.

Marinette winced and looked away, a strange feeling going through her, not pity but something else she couldn’t identify. “But you’ve never been to New York before the trip.”

“Yeah, so I hide and saw my mother and a girl our age walk out with the Queen of Fashion, hug her, and then walk away, with mother walking back in moments later. I followed her until she discovered me, confronted me and it was only when I showed her a few pictures with my dad that she believed me that I was who I said,” Chloe said and looked uncomfortable at this. “Get this, she thought it was an open marriage with my dad!”

“no…..” Marinette breathed and Chloe nodded and looked sick.

“Yeah. The story of how she saw a few of our mother’s hookups when she was drunk off her ass caused her to start to question everything. And after that we started to talk, turns out she was at a boarding school for years, she was only with her because the school had an infestation,” Chloe said and Marinette looked at her, feeling strangely proud of how Chloe had reacted to this girl. And looking back, she could see how a lot of what Chloe had done was just her trying to act like her mother and what memories the girl had of her.

“So that’s why you stopped acting like a queen bitch after the New York trip, you decided to what?” Marinette asked and Chloe sighed and looked away.

“Stop chasing approval from the witch who sired me,” Chloe said and looked up and sighed, smiling at Pollen who kept nuzzling her. “And the reason I was so silent these last few weeks was I was just living, trying to understand who I am and what I want out of my life.”

“Oh, Chloe,” Marinette said as she sighed and shook her head. I always thought she was just a brat, but I knew something was wrong once I met her mother. And that bitch, how could someone even treat her children like that, not to mention her husband? Marinette thought and Chloe grinned.

“Mom is a bitch, I’ve accepted it and that was hard. She was my idol, the inspiration for everything I did for so long……. But that’s not who I want to be, I want to be a better person,” Chloe said and Marinette looked at Chloe who looked away.

“Chloe….” Marinette said and Chloe grinned back.

“Don’t worry Mari-Bug, I’m good really. I feel lighter, I think I’ll be okay,” Chloe said and Marinette sighed and looked at Chloe for a few moments. “I needed to tell you so I could start to heal, at least according to the therapist I talked to.”

Marinette had interacted with Style Queen three times, and she might think of her as a person to admire as a Fashion Icon, she didn’t like her as a person. She sat there and held up a hand, just thinking for a few moments as Tikki landed on her shoulder as Pollen hovered next to Chloe.

“I can understand why you did with her as a role model, but I won’t forget what you did. And if I see you backsliding I will tell you,” Marinette said and Chloe grinned back.

“I was going to ask, I just………. I need to relearn everything. So on a separate subject, think the Ministry will come to the school soon about what Lila did to you?” Chloe asked and Marinette shrugged.

Marinette looked at Chloe as she gathered her thoughts and sighed. “Hard to say, I mean I hope? They haven’t gotten back to us yet but with the papers filled by our lawyer, I think they’ll react soon. And I just know Lila will make a stink about it.”

“Yeah, I can see that. But me, Sabrina and Alya shoot a great video and I can’t wait to see how that false fox reacts to it and what she tries!” Chloe said with a savage grin and Marinette grinned back.

If there was one thing that both of them had in common, it was to see someone who deserved it pay. Of course, they used to have different ideas of who, but this time they were both on the same target.

“I know what you mean, I’m almost sorry that I won’t see it. Think Markov will record it if I ask?” Marinette asked causing Chloe to grin and giggle as Marinette looked at Chloe, part of her shocked that they were bonding like this.

“Send an email to ask, you better go I’m calling my sister in a bit, see what’s happening in New York,” Chloe said and Marinette nodded as Tikki hugged Pollen.

“Have a good show on Monday Chloe,” Marinette said as she turned to the balcony and paused looking at Chloe over her shoulder. “What’s your sister’s name?”

“Zoe,” Chloe said and shrugged at Marinette’s reaction. “Yeah, mom sure knows how to name them doesn’t she?”

Marinette laughed a little. “No, Tikki Spots on!”

As Chloe watched Marinette turned into Ladybug and smiled before she jumped away. As she jumped back towards her home she never looked back, if she had she might have seen Hawkmoth and Mayura jumping from roof to roof just beyond the hotel, the three of them never having noticed the others as they all went about their business.

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An Italian woman with short brown hair dressed in a grey power suit walked into an apartment, closing the door silently behind her as she sighed. Her job at the embassy had kept her from her home much more than she would like, but then again what did she have to do otherwise, spend time with it? After what she planned to do, it just wasn’t a good idea to get attached to that parasite, it helped that it was colored like that bastard and well, she had done this all before so why change something that worked?

As the woman walked into the kitchen she saw Lila sitting at a table eating some food as she worked on a paper not noticing her coming into the room. The woman raised a hand as it was covered in black energy and suddenly Lila went still and her eyes glowed black as she looked towards the woman.

“Report, what’s been happing since the last time I was able to do this,” The woman barked and Lila stared ahead robotically before replying.

“Personality shell has followed directives; Directive 2; Isolate Marinette Dupain-Cheng; directive followed. Marinette has been framed and expelled by actions taken by shell personality. Directive 3; Become Model Modeling with Agreste fashions with the deal with Gabriel Agreste to protect son Adrien Agreste from unworthy friends; attempt to do so by framing Marinette Dupain-Cheng as being someone out to use him, failed ended with Adrien throwing unit into Seine river. Directive 6; Gain Hawkmoth’s trust; done by trying to expel Marinette Dupain-Cheng to Akumatize her and class, plan worked but failed do to an unknown variable on Hawkmoth’s end,” Lila droned out and the woman looked at her and started to chuckle that turned into a haughty laugh that was full with evil and vicious glee.

“Perfect, perfect! Once you’ve gotten close enough to figure out who Hawkmoth is, we strike ad kill him, take these Mira-whatever they are and then kill Gina and mindwipe Gina’s granddaughter into my new handmaiden! All in all, this is perfect!” The woman cackled as Lila stared into nothingness. After a few moments the woman stopped cackling and looked at Lila with a hard glare before her hands both glowed white and Lila’s head was engulfed by the same white glow. Hmmm, the remains of the original personality is almost completely dead, good. All I need to do is keep up with the plan, have an ‘accident’ once this doll has a big enough following and then ‘Lila’ will be an orphan with a trust fund and the public eye! She thought with a grin and almost started to laugh again but took a deep breath and smiled as she walked past Lila and turned a TV on to the news channel, Nadja on screen.

“…….And this one picture was the only thing that was recoverable from the broken camera, whoever this woman is we have no idea, as The Heroes of Paris have made no comment on them at this time, but this reporter fears that this is the start of a new terror,” Nadja said on screen as a picture of Nekhbet attacking News Jahrl appeared and the woman gasped.

“That can’t be…….. one of them is in Paris!? Why…. What could…no! They must be here for them! No, this place is my hunting ground! It’s been mine ever since those Thule fools were thrown during the liberation!” The woman snarled and slammed a fist against the table and Lila just sat there without reacting to anything as the woman walked around the room and fumed.

She held her face and massaged her eyes as she went over a hundred different plans, thinking about what she could do and then scowled as she remembered that she lost her best hunter to Gina! “That bitch, why can’t she ever understand, those things are but food for the strong! So some of them can work with them, and ascend that way but they lose so much of their power to it, and the beasts! The fact that Dragons are dead let them

As the woman raged Lila kept still, not reacting at all. The woman calmed down after a few moments and looked around the room, walking to a cupboard and grabbing a bottle of wine.

“Okay, work through this, you can figure it out,” She said as she got a glass out of another cupboard and poured some wine into it. “Stay away, you’ve still got a lot of time until you can jump, you just need to keep to the plan, you can do this.”

She sighed and drank the wine, letting the taste calm her down. Everything was going well for her, the trust she had set up long ago for her first ‘daughter’ was still going strong, she had added a fortune of scammed money and she had returned to Paris, and the harvest was going okay, better with the raw magic from Ladyslu*t as Lila called her.

As she walked to the windows she looked out as Hawkmoth and Mayura landed on the building across the way with two shapes following them. She blinked for a few moments and then turned robotically and walked to a locked cabinet, opened it with a key she wore as a necklace and opened it to reveal small figurines that could fit into a hand. She picked up a black bat, walked to the window chanting something before she opened the window and threw the figurine out it.

It glowed black and became a black stone bat that flew in the direction Hawkmoth and Mayura had gone and the woman sighed and shook her head. “Okay, Hawkmoth and Mayura just went by me, this is good. This will give me some intel to use to take over their power, all I have to do now is wake her up…..”

Suddenly her phone started to ring and she sighed. “Of course, three things all at once.”

As she took it out she looked at her smartphone and sighed as she saw it was the embassy. Turning it on she activate speaker mode and sighed. “This is Dolores Rossi, talk.”

“Miss Rossi, sorry to bother you but the meeting was pushed up, something about problems back home for one of the parties involved. It’s now about ten tomorrow night, sorry boss, but the ambassador said you don’t need to be in until nine at night to make up for it sooo……” The voice said and Dolores Rossi sighed and shook her head. Of course, the perfect end to a perfect day. Okay, I’m not close enough to start the ‘downward slope’ yet, I need to do this. I can tell Lila to continue and make sure Marinette stays expelled, then once I jump I’ll say I found a diary, it will say that Marinette saw through ‘me’ and that’s why ‘I’ did everything to get her expelled. Once she’s back Lila will try and be a friend to her. Dolores thought and she nodded after a few moments.

“Yeah, thanks. I’ll rest and see you tomorrow night, but I better get overtime for this. Oh, and I want a paid day off next week or lunch so I can have it with my daughter!” She said sternly and a gulp was heard from the phone.

“I’ll see what I can do boss, but that’s not up to me. See you tomorrow night!” Her assistant said as he hurriedly hung up.

“Okay, I can deal with this, I can really. Everything is still perfect,” Dolores said and sighed as she put her head against the wall. I can cast all my spells to reinforce the bot in that empty head this Tuesday, I just need to get through tomorrow and hope the so-called heroes don’t find out what I’m doing and Gina never sees me. She thought as she walked into the kitchen and started to clean up, putting the glass into the dishwasher and the bottle of wine away.

Smiling she looked around and laughed when she saw she left the cabinet with all her creations open, rookie mistake. If she had made one of those back during Paris’s occupation then the Thule would have bound her like so many of her fellows, but then she always kept her things away from where she lived.

She closed the cabinet and almost walked away before she paused and started to clean up the signs that she had been there before her daughter even knew and after a few moments she was done and walked towards the front door and opened it before she broke her spell on Lila.

Lila looked up as the door closed and she looked towards the hallway and moments later Dolores walked into the room, smiling at Lila.

“Mom, hey! How was your day?” Lila asked and Dolores smiled at her.

“Not too bad, I’ll need to leave for a meeting at ten tomorrow night so I’ll be sleeping away the day tomorrow, you okay to handle yourself? I promise a nice day out next week!” Dolores said and Lila smiled, but her eyes were dark and Dolores could see that the personality was trying to find a way to use that knowledge to her advantage. She hid a smirk, at least when she moved into her new body, so she wouldn’t have to act too differently when she jumped.

Lila looked at her mother and tried to keep a good face, but inside she was mad. Her mother was always ‘working’ and she couldn’t spare anytime at all to spend with her. Still, time apart let her build her skills, grow her empire and with her mother always on her side, if the school or anyone emailed ‘her mother’ it was easy to send something back herself without even bothering her oh so busy mother.

“That’s great mom! School has been pretty good lately, nothing to say that’s been different,” Lila said and Dolores looked at her with a carefully crafted look of worry.

“What about that girl who’s been bullying you, do I need to talk to your teacher about it,” Dolores asked and Lila fidgeted and Dolores waited, wondering how Lila would spin what she had done.

“She’s been expelled, I don’t want to talk about how she acted when the decision was made,” Lila said softly and Dolores smiled at her.

“Okay baby, say with the time how about we order some takeout and watch a movie together?” Dolores asked and Lila grinned and nodded.

As Dolores got up and turned away she never noticed Lila switch off a recording device built into her pen, a recorder that had listened in on everything Dolores had commanded Lila to report to her, and Lila would find the words once she listened to her notes.

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Hawkmoth looked around the stadium as Mayura stood next to him, waiting for anything to happen. When they had made it to the stadium they had sent the Sentimonster they had brought with them, a creature called Eye Hound, ahead with orders to patrol around them. It was a black blocky robotic dog with sensors on its back and a searchlight that moved around independently as it circled its maker and controller, the flashlight in Hawkmoth’s hand clenched tightly as they waited. Hawkmoth kept one eye on the light and his other on Mayura, not liking how she was breathing heavily as they waited.

“Think this might just be a trap, they might have planned everything from the attack, we could be surrounded for all we know,” Mayura muttered and Hawkmoth nodded, his thoughts following hers.

As Hawkmoth looked around and tried to find any signs of that being the case a laugh came from above them. As the two reacted and took combat stances, Hawkmoth willed his Sentimonster to shine its light towards the top and there, standing on the edge of the coverings on the roof stood Nekhbat looking down at them with a figure standing behind her just within sight but hidden in the darkness.

“You came, after all, my friend here thought you might not!” Nekhbat called down and Hawkmoth and Mayura glared up as their Sentimonster looked at them and growled, its lights locked onto her as it flawed its paws, its claws gripped the ground as it readied itself to lunge at anything that it was sent at.

“I thought that they wouldn’t trust us, but then I expected there was a chance that they might have come,” A hard male voice came from the other figure and Hawkmoth glared upwards.

“You are in my city, and I would have your measure first before anything else!” Hawkmoth barked and she nodded and laughed as she and the figure jumped down and landed before them within arms reach.

The second figure was wearing a black bodysuit with light blue accents on the arms and legs in the shape of lightning bolts. The bodysuit had a certain reptilian appearance to it and the black helmet that covered all but the figure’s face head had two horns that split in three at the end that formed exactly above where the eyes were and two blue saber fangs from the sides of his mouth, over his right shoulder was the handle of a sword with the head of what looked like a black reptilian face like the helmet at the end of the handle. The man bowed and offered a hand to Hawkmoth.

“Greeting Sir Hawkmoth, currently I am Thunder Lord; but only when I’m dual-wielding of course,” Thunder Lord said and Hawkmoth frowned and looked at him, trying to find the other Miraculous he used but finding none. Thunder Lord smirked and laughed as he looked at Hawkmoth. “Can’t find them, can you? Well, they're here, but they're hidden from sight, a trick we’ve learned over the years.”

“How many years, you don’t seem much older than my foes!” Hawkmoth said causing the two to laugh and shake their heads as he willed the Sentimonster to look at them, and for the others to move closer.

“Another little trick, and we have much we could offer you if you prove you deserve it,” Thunder Lord said and Hawkmoth kept his ire down and looked at him,

“And what do you want?” Hawkmoth asked taking the lead as Mayura watched the two newcomers.

As she looked at them she kept looking around, trying to find any hint that anyone else was here. As she looked around the darkened stadium, she never say anything,

“Our needs are something that we can handle on our own good sir, we are…….. hear to give gifts. Our group has lost a few members to other wielders over the years…….. so for our campaigns in new lands we speak to others like us who were there before us, so there are no problems between us,” Thunder Lord said and looked at Hawkmoth with a grin

“Like what, what could you offer me to let you stay in my city?” Hawkmoth asked as he looked at the two before him. He remembered what Nekhbat had done to his Akuma today, and the fact that she had allies was bothering him more than he

“How about our first offering? The translation of the so-called Order of the Guardian’s language that they use in their books, not something that’s worth being much but for a limited value. After all, they’ve been going longer than we’ve had this power, and what books that are still around harder to find than a copy of a 1^st Edition Gutenberg Bible,” Thunder Lord said and grinned at Hawkmoth and Mayura who kept silent as their Sentimonster moved around them. “I’m sure whatever scraps of knowledge you found with what you use it will help you go farther with your power.”

“And a way to repair yours, if you push the little spirit too far…… that’s a problem for us sometimes and I’m sure you know what I mean,” Nekhbat said and it took everything Hawkmoth had to react, Mayura’s eyes almost went wide but she kept calm but started to breathe a tiny bit heavier.

Nekhbat stayed silent as she watched Hawkmoth and Mayura try not to react, but to her, it was as if they were screaming at the top of their lungs. So that was why they want those two, a ritual using the Power of Destruction and Creation to heal? I wonder, is there something special that can only be done with them? She thought as she watch their hosts try and not react.

“Damaged Miraculous………….. that can happen?” Mayura asked and Nekhbat giggled and hid her mouth.

“Please, I can see your Miraculous is damaged from here. The skin is a dead giveaway my dear. Given that you aren’t in a coma you’ve not reached that point yet, if you had we couldn’t heal you as easily,” Thunder Lord said and both Hawkmoth and Mayura looked at him with even faces, keeping their emotions from their faces. They both stayed silent, each waiting for him to offer the ‘carrot’, he had to have mentioned the damage.

“Of course, there are ways to wake that person up,” Nekhbat said and Hawkmoth looked at her with an even stare.

“Oh really? The few things the Kwami I control told me, the fact that a Miraculous could be damaged and repaired was not one of them,” Hawkmoth said and Thunder Lord grinned.

“They didn’t did they? Well, the order kept a lot of information from them so any rouge users such as us couldn’t force it out of them. And the spells, my good sir the spells they would cast on the Kwami, truly sickening my friend! And then there was how they tried to set the course of history by their own beliefs, my god the audacity!” Thunder Lord said and Hawkmoth just looked at him as Mayura listened in with a raised eyebrow. Perfect, now I just need to bring it home. With him feeling indebted to us, we can start to set up for the ‘blast. Once we harvest at least a third of all that wonderful energy, we can use it to create a wonderful beast, and with the other harvesters we’ve set up at the other spots, our grand plan can truly begin. As Thunder Lord thought about how he would fool Hawkmoth, Nekhbat meanwhile looked at the two they had come to bargain with.

Nekhbat knew that she shouldn’t say anything, but something about how Mayura reacted caused her mind to run in strange places, regrets that she still had from years ago. Once before, when she had been traveling only with Lust during the last war in Europe, the two of them had found rumors of someone who had been stealing from Nazis and they had thought to team up with her, but they discovered she used a damaged Miraculous. They knew the dangers and sought to help her but they had only caught up with her after a SS Super had defeated her, the two of them had killed him and his unit before they could play with her but not before the wielder had fallen into a coma and stayed like that until she passed on.

“I keep Paris clean for my plans,” Hawkmouth said and locked eyes with Thunder Lord. “I have chased out all the other supers who would dare to try and use this place for their schemes, and most other violent criminals. One of the most successful times was when I use my powers was to break a human trafficking ring and gave them to the police.”

“Good for you, slavers deserve to die in fire,” Thunder Lord said and smiled at Hawkmoth who barely kept a straight face.

Mayura looked between Nekhbat and Thunder Lord, the two of them both had both felt a spark of joy, was that something they could use against them.

“Your operations, what will they be?” Hawkmoth asked and Thunder Lord looked thoughtful for a few seconds.

“Well, I must admit one of the others has been here for a few months now, our Lady of Lust. She likes to stay in the background, plan until she has every angle she can see covered before she moves in for the kill, but never against the wishes of our host. Now Greed, he likes to take over gambling in the underground where ever we set up, but Sloth will stay silently in the shadows, let his brain do the work and hire minions to rob a bank or something like that if the mode strikes him. Wraith likes to challenge the greatest fighters around and Envy will mostly steal any jewels, paintings, or things that catches his eyes,” Thunder Lord said and Hawkmoth kept his face blank as he went over the many ways this could go wrong, but he couldn’t see anything that might hurt his chances.

“I want the Ladybug and Black cat Miraculous, if you take them down and keep them, we will have problems,” Hawkmoth said and Thunder Lord drew his sword, the hilt glowed and a book fell out as Nekhbat came forward and handed over a small pouch to Mayura.

“This is the spell to fix your Miraculous, and the pouch has what will heal your partner. All she has to do is break the jewel in her hands then she has to crush the egg while thinking of being healed. When it works, we’ll talk about any more we might trade with you,” Thunder Lord said and Nekhbat grinned.

“We have an accord for now, if things change we will talk, hard,” Hawkmoth said and Thunder Lord nodded.

“Of course, watch out for the Dolphin Hero, her power lets her reverse the ability of anything she touches, and if you get her down we’d like that one,” Thunder Lord said and Hawkmoth nodded, a strange feeling of understanding passing between them.

Mayura called the Sentimonster back to them as they turned and walked away, leaving Thunder Lord and Nekhbat behind them.

“Maybe next time I’ll see you’re pretty skin without the blue!” Nekhbat called out as the two empowered humans disappeared down the tunnel. Smirking she turned to Thunder Lord who grinned back at her.

“We did it,” He said and she started to laugh as they turned and jumped up to the rooftops. Nekhbat threw her arms around him and he kissed her on the lips, she moaned as she closed her eyes. “My Bloody Beauty, with this we will rule!”

“Yes, but why do they want those two? I mean our little slaves never told us anything special about them, maybe we should ask them,” She purred as she hugged him and he laughed and smiled.

“We should head back and wait for the others. We have the time until it happens, and then we will have enough mana to rule over the whole world!” Thunder Lord declared and she started to laugh, he joined in.

“I think beloved that we should look into why he wants those two jewels, after all, we just need him to not bother us until we can finish our plans, we don’t need him afterward, and his jewel would be something for Lust. Or maybe the dead woman walking one, more monsters for the monster maker?” She purred and Thunder Lord looked at her and grinned back before they kissed each other. “Let’s go have some fun back at the base lover.”

Nekhbat smirked at Thunder Lord and walked towards the edge with a swing in her step and he grinned back and laughed, running at her and picking her up and he jumped to the next building, running as he landed he didn’t break stride to kiss her as she snuggled against him.

They never noticed a black stone bat hiding on the roof before it took flight and flew away in the direction of Lila’s apartment, and moments after it left a black metal owl, flew away from its own hiding place behind an air unit on the roof and after its creators, Hawkmoth and Mayura.

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Ondine sighed as she walked into her room as Bolla swam through the air, a smile on her small face as she licked her lips, savoring the aftertaste of their shared supper. “That was great and it was beer battered? That’s the word right?”

“Yeah, I hope you don’t want that to recharge with!” Ondine said with a laugh and Bolla shook her head.

“And give up my lattice, never!” Bolla said as she put her hands over her chest.

Ondine grinned at her friend and looked at the pile and sighed as she shook her head. “Okay, how should we do this? Split everything into piles, this way we’ll know how to separate everything once we put it back?”

“Better than a mess right?” Bolla asked as she dove into the pile and came out holding three coins.

“Good idea. Let’s put all the items together with others like it, coins, clothes, and boxes,” Ondine said as they started to work on the pile, slowly separating everything.

As Ondine was moving a pile of coins towards where Bolla had put the first few, she saw the golden box. Stopping as she worked she felt drawn to it and dropped the coins, startling Bolla who looked up and followed Ondine’s gaze and saw the box, giving off a squeal of delight she shot towards it as Ondine blinked, realizing what she had done. She felt dizzy for a few seconds and held her head as Bolla looked over the box.

“This was from Atlantis, I didn’t even know I had this!” Bolla said with glee as she tried to phase through the box only to bump into it. “Offf!”

“Are you okay, I thought Melissa said that you could pass through objects!” Ondine exclaimed and Bolla nodded.

“Only the Mage’s creations…….wait. this was made by Father!” Bolla said with a laugh as she flew around it and started to laugh. “Open it, open it!”

“Father?!” Ondine demanded and Bolla laughed.

“The Mage who created the Miraculous, open it please!” Bolla said as she looked at Ondine and made kitten eyes at her. Ondine smiled and opened it, revealing a strange double pyramid-shaped white gemstone. She touched it and a hologram her size appeared above them of a man with tanned skin, blue eyes, and short white hair wearing a golden robe with a circlet of obsidian around his forehead appeared, he was smiling down at them and Bolla grinned harder.

“Hello my little water dancer,” The hologram said and Ondine frowned, his lips weren’t following his words. Bolla only looked on and tears came to her eyes.

“Father!” She whispered as she cried, Ondine looked up and saw at the Mage, and realized that he was responsible for bringing the Kwami into the world and all the horrors and wonders that came with them.

“If I’m right, then you’ll be seeing this when you’re alone with your new wielder, just starting out with your new partnership…….. I don’t know how to say this carefully so I’ll be quick. A Convergence will happen in that city after the next Day of Wraith, and it will happen again,” The Mage said and Bolla’s whole body went white as she dropped to the floor.

“No, a Day!? I thought that the bindings kept that from happening!?” Bolla cried as she looked at the hologram with terror in her eyes as Ondine looked on with surprise and the Mage nodded.

“The bindings have been destroyed by time, ignorance, and bigotry. I’m sorry but your team will have to find many of the old things that remake them, but you will only be able to find everything after the Day,” The Mage said solemnly and Bolla looked up and whimpered as the Mage looked down at her. “The mission will be hard, difficult and because of others waking up, I can’t see everything.”

“Oh dad,” Bolla muttered as she looked up at the hologram.

“But I have faith in all of you, you will be able to handle this problem. When all of my children are together and unmerge, then will my final message be revealed. I love you all,” The Mage said as the hologram disappeared. Bolla looked at where her father’s message had been before turning towards Ondine and with a scared look on her face.

“We need to contact the others, fast! A Day is coming, you have to tell them that, you have to!” Bolla exclaimed and Ondine felt out of her depth, wondering what was causing her friend to feel such fear.

“What is it, what is a Day of Wraith?” Ondine asked and Bolla looked at her and swallowed, before speaking slowly and as she listened, Ondine started to feel terror that caused her legs to fail her and she dropped to the floor, her arms holding her up as she shook in fear and worry.

“It’s a day when the planet cleanses itself, every wound the Earth has taken will be healed. Earthquakes, Hurricanes and before it there will be a Convergence, a wellspring of pure Mana, what powers magic, will shoot up into the atmosphere and then the Day happens with a month of the Convergence,” Bolla said and Ondine looked at her little friend, trying to wrap her head around just what she just heard.

Chapter 20

Chapter Text

Hawkmoth scowled as he watched the projection from the robotic owl of Thunder Lord and Nekhbat jumping away as Mayura petted the Sentimonster dog. The plan to leave a second Sentimonster to spy on the rooftops was successful beyond their dreams.

“So they were keeping something back from me after coming to ask for permission to stay here? Bold of them, but then who in our line of work aren’t bold?” Hawkmoth asked and Mayura nodded as well.

Without a word, Mayura dismissed the two Sentimonsters and then both of the villains turned back into their civilian forms. As Nathalie looked at the gems in her hands she felt a wave of weakness hit her and crushed them by accident, a golden glow enveloped her and she blinked as she felt a sense of power, a power that she thought might heal her and she felt aches she had developed heal.

“NATHALIE! What were you thinking doing that?” Gabriel demanded as he looked at her. She smiled back as she picked up her tablet she started to look over the reports that had come in the hour or so they had been out, forcing down a smile as she saw how the company was doing.

“I wasn’t, it was an accident but I feel great!” Nathalie said and Gabriel blinked.

“So they were telling the truth, it worked?” Gabriel asked and Nathalie nodded.

“Yes, but let’s think about this. So they have another reason for being here, one they want to use against us then or they have goals we can’t even understand?” Nathalie asked and Gabriel frowned and looked down as he started to think.

Gabriel stood there and nodded, considering her point. So far all they knew was what they had been told, before they had gone to the meeting they had looked over the list of known ‘Supers’ around the world and found no one who was even rumored to be active that even looked like Nekhbet. That they had stayed away from public knowledge for so long, that bit of information was both amazing and concerning.

Gabriel looked at Nathalie who had done as instructed as soon as she had dropped her transformation, and so far she seemed to be back to perfect health, and looking at the translation matrix they had been giving, the spell to repair Miraculous in the book matched what they had been giving and already the program one of Nathalie’s Champion forms had created the rest of the book would be translated before too long.

“Still what they want might not have anything to do with us, and they didn’t know what the Miraculous of Ladybug and Chat Noir are capable of, a good thing for us. And my health as well, I feel great, better than the first time I used the Miraculous. But since it needs a will to direct it we can’t use this method to save her, but they might have others like they said,” Nathalie admitted and Gabriel nodded.

“Still Seven more Miraculous, and they might know how to bring more into the world!” Gabriel said out loud and shook his head as he looked at Nathalie. “Can you think of the power that that one act represents; just what we could do if we had that power?”

“A lot Gabriel; but the spell they gave us to fix the damage? I used the translation key they gave us on the book and the spell is the same, a bit more flowery but it’s the same,” Nathalie said and she looked at him. “I used a Swiss account to order what we didn’t have, and I set up delivery protocol 3, we should have it soon.”

“Good, very good. With your health returned we have more options. But if this works then I will use them together first, only after you rest will we begin to plan another Hero’s day,” Gabriel said and Nathalie looked at him and nodded.

“Yes we do,” Nathalie agreed and looked down at her tablet, an evil smirk forming on her face as she started to giggle evilly. Oh, this is perfect! What a perfect test run for both of them together! But what should we do if anything after her……. Wait. Yes, that could work, and it would make my life that much easier………… and if it worked then the Company would only benefit from this. She thought as she giggled as Duusu orbited her head.

Gabriel meanwhile was thinking about all his past Akumas; how some of them might have won if any one of them had been giving a Sentimonster help. From Dark Cupid to Oni-Chan; even Mr. Pigeon might have won if he had backup. But with the new heroes and how the last few times heroes had backup, he was worried that with his new power the stalemate was looked up

“Sir, do you remember my old Champion forms, how we used to use one to get you and her ready for that party once?” Nathalie asked with a blush and Gabriel looked at her confused.

“Your Champion…..Oh. Yes well, why did you bring that up?” Gabriel asked, blushing as well when he remembered what the three of them did after the party.

“Miss Dupain-Cheng will have her day in court within days, after Lila is revealed perhaps we should………rescue her. She did try and use us so let us use her, combined my old form with a Sentimonster to……erase her could have possibilities. After all, I could do with a new assistant myself, and she could become an asset if properly used,” Nathalie said and Gabriel looked at her as what she wasn’t saying sank in and grinned back as he realized her intentions, nodding.

Nooroo looked on in horror as Duusu grinned and laughed. To use my abilities to hurt someone, even this Lila girl is wrong! Sooner or later karma will strike you my master, and when it does I will be able to do nothing. And you my brother , how far the damage has affected you. The one good thing is you might be healed, but is it better for you not to understand what’s happened to us? Nooroo thought as he looked at his friend with worry and pain.

Dussuu only laughed and spun around as he felt such sadness. He still didn’t feel anything but pain and sadness about what happened to his old holder, no matter what she had used his abilities for. Miss Nathalie seemed to be a better person than she was, she cared about Adrien and Gabriel a lot more than his old holder had. And while he had to admit she did run a tight ship, most of the time she argued for Adrien to have more freedom, controlled freedom but the chance to talk and make friends on his own. He didn’t know what was bothering him about Adrien, but something about how the time when her Miraculous was broken was bothering her, but she couldn’t remember just what it was, and her memory was missing a few things, at least he thought it did, some of his old holder’s commands made that hard to see or even to understand. They were talking about fixing his Miraculous, and part of his broken psyche hoped that it would shed some light on just what that woman had done and commanded.

Gabriel meanwhile was thinking about how they had made the lair with a few Champion forms. He had to admit that the idea had possibilities, and with someone else on his side then the chance for victory was that much stronger. And it seems my ‘Tower plan’ to use Lila to cause another Scarlet Swarm won’t work. If the hearing will happen that much sooner, then so be it. And we still haven’t found Adrien yet! Gabriel thought with a scowl and looked at Duusu for a moment as he imagined what a Sentimonster tracker could do to find Adrien before dismissing it. That way led to his unmasking, as bad as it was, he needed to use more ordinary methods to find his son.

“Maybe, we will wait until we repair his,” Gabriel said as he looked at Duusu who kept laughing and Nathalie looked up at him and frowned.

“Of course……. Wait what?” Nathalie asked as her tablet started to beep. Frowning she looked down and paled in horror before slowly looking up at Gabriel.

“It seems that the shipment of new fabrics from Russia will be late,” Nathalie said and Gabriel raised an eyebrow as he looked at her and took in what she said.

“That’s not like them, what is the trouble?” Gabriel asked as he frowned, surprised that they would even think of being later after all the time he’s worked with them. His company’s relationship with their suppliers was something he was proud of, they had worked well over the years since his second collection and they had always delivered on time, they were never late. If they were then something must be seriously wrong on their end, but if this was the result of a new owner then he would have to look elsewhere for some shades.

“The trouble is that the entire region is under ten feet of snow and giants are attacking the city,” Nathalie said and Gabriel went still as the Kwami looked on, Duusuu laughing as Nooroo shot to Nathalie as Gabriel shook himself back to his senses and stalked over to her.

Nooroo looked at the screen and kept his face blank, knowing exactly what they were and hoping that Gabriel wouldn’t ask the right questions of him to make him talk. He was worried about just what his master would do if he even had a single idea that they were real, but something told him that he would find out about them sooner than he would like.

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Ladybug landed on her roof and moved to the door to her room, opening it, dropping down through it into the room below and smiled as she sighed. She felt a little lighter, the talk she had with Chloe had helped them to clear the air and she felt a lot better. And with everything that was happening now, that was something that she needed, a team and allies who knew and trusted each other. She knew that Chloe and her mother didn’t have a typical relationship but after learning everything, she should have tried to get the woman thrown out of the city, not stay and connect with Chloe. I know she hasn’t been in the city and with her husband for years, but for her to do that? And to think I almost went to New York with her, what would that woman have done if she had me long enough, what would she was molded me into? Ladybug thought with a shudder as she held herself.

Looking around she saw nothing out of place and she almost detransformed before hitting her forehead when she remembered she wanted to call Eagle but then she remembered the time difference and laughed, detransforming she grabbed a piece of paper and jolted down a note to text her penpal in New York tomorrow.

“So what do you think Tikki?” Marinette asked and Tikki smiled back.

“Chloe is trying to change. Pollen always said that Chloe had something good in her, just that something was blocking her from showing it. Pollen was worried about her mother this morning, something about someone who one of her old holders was related to,” Tikki said and Marinette looked towards the hotel.

“Yeah, if the Style Queen is there, she’d destroy any sense of harmony giving how I’ve seen her act,” Marinette said and Tikki shook her head.

“No, there’s something else, something that’s bothering her,” Tikki said softly and Marinette looked at her and sighed, shaking her head.

“Of course,” Marinette muttered and looked down. She’s probably responsible for about 80 percent of Chloe’s issues, and if she’s

Her phone started to ring and she looked at it in confusion for a moment. “Kagami? What’s she want….. she’s back from her vacation already?”

As soon as she accepted the call Kagami’s voice came from the speakers. “Marinette, have you heard about Adrien?!”

Marinette looked at Tikki who smiled back at her. Marinette sighed and clapped her cheeks before taking a deep breath.

“Kagami calm down, now what’s this about Adrien?” Marinette asked calmly

“Don’t you know?! I saw a post from a student at Duport that said that Adrien wasn’t at school the other day and someone posted that the photoshoot went bad and he’s been silent since then! I can’t get a hold of him and he won’t respon to my texts!” Kagami said and Marinette looked down and away. The idea for Adrien to get the battery out of his phone and stay silent until the restraining order came through was smart but they thought Kagami would be away until it came through.

“Gami…… I’ve been expelled from Dunport,” Marinette said and Kagami stopped and Marinette was worried, she

“Wait, what? You mean suspended right? It takes too long for a hearing and I would think I would be called as a witness for you,” Kagami said softly and Marinette had this feeling that Kagome had gotten out a katana for some reason.

“It was on the spot after something Lila did, a plan that I walked into when I fell into her trap,” Marinette said and Kagami went silent.

“Lila, Lila Rossi?” Kagami asked with a hard edge to her voice. “The liar who claimed to be related to one of the first fencing champions at the Olympics? The filth who kissed Adrien and sent it out to make it seem he did?”

Marinette looked at her phone, a few thoughts going through her head as she suddenly got a strange thought.

“Kagami, when you were Akumatized the second time, what were you thinking?” Marinette asked and prayed that she was wrong.

“I was thinking about how that witch had assaulted Adrien, I could tell right away that she had taken the picture and I was just so mad…… but don’t change the subject, what happened to you?” Kagami demanded, Marinette laughed lightly and sighed.

Marinette looked down at her phone and for a few moments stayed silent as she tried and failed to think of anything to get out of this, and she didn’t want Kagami to come over and see Adrien.

“It’s a long story, but please don’t act out and stay calm, please,” Marinette said and Kagami sighed over the phone, causing Marinette to smile.

“Fine, until I know what happened I will stay calm,” Kagami said and Marinette grinned.

“Okay, this is the story………” Marinette began and she hoped that her friend wouldn’t act out.

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In the living room downstairs Adrien laughed as Sabine beat Tom again, feeling more at home here than he ever had back at the mansion. He didn’t know why that was but he didn’t let it bother him as Sabine handed over the controller as Tom smirked.

“Ready for another round son? This is the last match of the night, for all the marbles,” Tom challenged and Adrien grinned back.

“Fine but I pick the zone,” Adrien said and when Tom nodded Adrien grinned. Perfect, now I just need to use that one battle-zone type and one I know well…… that one! Adrien thought as he chose a cityscape and within moments he and Tom were battling for supremacy controlling giant robots.

Sabine smiled at this, and for a moment she saw Marinette cheering the two of them on. As she looked around the room she saw phantoms of Alya, Nino, Kim, and Alix where they had each sat the last time they had been here for a video game tournament separately. She laughed softly before looking up as she felt her phone vibrate and brought it out and saw an app notification and Sabine smiled. So she’s back, I wonder where she went? I know she didn’t go on patrol, Adrien’s still here…… he was trying to keep our attention on him so Marinette could go and do something, smart. If I didn’t have this app then it would have worked when she snuck out the first time to patrol. Still, I wonder if I should mention that we know soon, everything is getting worse and they might need more help than they have right now, knowing we’re there to help might be enough. Sabine thought as she watched the game and shook her head as

Tom laughed as his robot ducked behind a building and it charged down the street as Adrien fired at him through the building. “You’re going to have to try harder than that to get me Adrien!”

As he controlled his robot he smiled, but inside he was worried about a lot of things. For one, Gabriel might find where Adrien was hiding even with the restraining order. Two; Lila might truly be a diplomat’s child and have protection from being sued, but then he didn’t even think that was enough given some things his godmother had said over the years. But then there was the school, he didn’t want to be alone with that principal, he didn’t trust himself.

“Then how about this?” Adrien asked as he sent his robot into the building and crashed into Tom’s.

As Tom tried to recover Adrien fired post blank, all his weapons, and moments later they saw the screen flash ‘DUEL TAKEDOWN’ and Adrien smirked as he saw the points screen. As he saw the minus from the ‘Suicide Takedown’ he saw the bonus points he grinned as Tom gasped while Sabrina giggled.

“HOW!?” Tom cried out as he looked at Adrien who grinned back

“I led you around the map, destroying all the buildings to get bonus points and the last building was where the shelter was. Learned about these levels when I watched the tournament Max and Marinette won a while back!” Adrien said and Tom looked at him as Sabine laughed

“So you were going for points, and then you tried to beat me……. Nice strategy,” Tom said and Adrien grinned. Tom shook his head and laughed, now understanding why Adrien had picked that level to play on. He didn’t know about those battlefields as he normally played the open field type and the city was something he’s rarely if ever played.

As Sabine clapped Adrien bowed and laughed. “Thank you, thank you. That was too kind!”

Even Tom grinned and shook his head. Even he could learn a few tricks and maybe if he played right the next time he could beat Marinette. “Good trick Adrien, mind showing this old wolf some of the other game modes?”

“Sure, I’ll start with the base level, if you pass through a building it repairs about twenty percent of your damage,” Adrien said as he used the controller to start explaining the different game zones types.

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Luka looked at Rose and Juleka as they sat together as Anarka finished putting their plates into the washer. Luka was worried, for the last day or so their songs were wrong, they weren’t there was a note of shock and sorrow in them, Rose even sniffed a little as his sister leaned against her. He frowned and sighed, he liked to let his sister hold back until she reached out, but this was too much. Something was bothering them and he would have to bring it up now, as their mother was heading towards the top deck to look at the sky as she read a book.

“Okay you two, what’s wrong?” Luka asked as soon as Anarka was gone, Rose and Juleka looking up and away as they stayed quiet. “Come on you two, your songs are telling me something’s bothering you, so fess up before I go and call mom on you.”

Rose and Juleka looked at each other for a few seconds, having a conversation with their eyes and after a few minutes Rose nodded and Juleka sighed.

“Marinette was expelled by the principal a few days ago,” Juleka said and Luka went still.

“How, why?” Luka asked and Juleka looked away and he frowned. “Juleka, sis please. Trust me.”

“It started when Ms. Buister called Marinette to the front, something about an anonymous tip that Marinette stole the answer sheet for the test-“ Juleka began but Luka held up a hand.

“Wait, someone stole the answers before the test? And your teacher still did the test?” Luka asked and Rose shook her head.

“No it happened after the test was done, then Marinette accused Lila of doing it, and then Ms. Buistier sent them to the principal alone, Lila fell down the stairs saying Marinette pushed her, Lila led the class to the lockers saying Marinette stole a necklace that her grandmother gave her, supposedly an heirloom. After it was found in Marinette’s locker Mr. Damocles expelled Mari on the spot,” Juleka explained and Luka blinked shocked beyond words. For a moment another girl’s face was suddenly in his mind’s eye, then it was gone and he looked at Juleka with a hard glare.

“And you two didn’t do anything?” Luka demanded and Rose looked away as Juleka looked at her brother with a hard look in her eyes.

“We argued that someone should have gone with them, and when Kim tried to bring up what happened today, Ms. Buistier shut it down and Lila started up about how we were defending her bully,” Rose said sadly and Luka looked at Juleka who only nodded.

Juleka had wanted to speak up but she wasn’t sure how, something about the situation after Lila had fallen down the stairs was still bothering her. She was couldn’t tell what it was, but something was so wrong with the events that happened, the sequence of them made her sense that something was off but she couldn’t tell what. And the worse thing was that she knew that as soon as she realized what it was when she finally did she would feel so stupid for not seeing it.

“What? That place did it again?” Luka asked with a growl and Rose looked at Juleka who had a strange look on her face.

Rose looked at Luka, a horrible feeling going through her as she tried and failed to understand just what he was talking about, the way he said that sounded all the wrong bells in her head. Luka meanwhile was trying and succeeding to keep calm and not summon an Akuma.

“What do you mean again?” Rose asked shakily as Juleka spoke up.

“Does this have something to do with how you hated that I was going to Duport Bro?” Juleka asked Luka looked at her and sighed and nodded.

“Yeah, it does. As bad as you said Chloe was, there was a girl who was worse back in my day before I started at my school. It was my only year at Duport, there was this queen bee type who transferred in and after a few weeks, she had most of the teachers eating out of her hand, all but Miss. M. It all happened when she was away, the old principle was tricked or bribed and expelled the only girl who saw through her on the spot; just like Marinette,” Luka said and looked away, a shadowed look on his face. “The girl killed herself a week later, and after that everything came out. The queen was tormenting her, she sent terrible emails to her and destroyed everything she did to try and build a future…….she was an artist like that friend of yours, what’s his name? Nate?”

“Yeah Nathaniel, he’s in a relationship with a friend of ours named Marc,” Juleka said and Luka nodded.

“Good for them,” Luka said softly with a small bitter tone to his voice the girls could detect. They looked at him for a few moments, trying to understand until Rose gasped and Juleka realized what her friend did and they both looked at Luka, seeing tears at the corner of his eyes.

“You liked her didn’t you?” Rose asked and Juleka looked from her brother to Rose, trying to remember how he was back then.

Luka looked away, a bitter smile on his face as he gathered his thoughts and sighed, shaking his head.

“Yeah, no. I had a crush on somebody else, I just tried to help her with her own crush, didn’t work right,” Luka explained and Rose frowned.

“But if you tried to help her, what happened?” Juleka asked and Luka looked away with a bitter look.

“Remember I broke my leg that year? Well, it was a few days before it all happened, the result of another plan by the ‘queen’. I tried to contact her but by the time I was out of the hospital, it was too late,” Luka said with sorrow and looked up at the girls. “The only good thing is that she was sent to jail for life, and she isn’t getting out ever, even her mother disowned her.”

“Was the mother abusive?” Rose asked and Luka shook his head and Rose looked down, not understanding how anyone who was not abused could do what this queen bee was said to do.

Juleka looked at Rose out of the corner of her eyes, knowing what Rose was thinking and

“No, I learned later the ‘Queen’ went to acting classes for years and used them on her mother and the school,” Luka said bitterly and Juleka whistled.

“Smart. Vile, but smart, gotta hand it to her, great planning,” Juleka said and Luka nodded with a scowl.

Luka didn’t tell the girls that the ‘queen’ was proud that she had forced the girl into suicide; that she was right in how she thought that there were only two people in the world; the sheep and the wolves. Luka hoped that she was made a prison toy by someone stronger or a corrupt guard, let the little witch see how it looked like from the other side.

“Yeah, and get this, her aunt was even proud of what the little witch did,” Luka said and Rose gasped and looked at him as Juleka’s mouth dropped open in shock.

“No…..” Juleka said shocked and sought out Rose's hand, both of them squeezing the other’s as they tried to gather strength from each other.

“Yeah, and cursed her victim for being so weak. That got her punched at the courtroom by said victim’s mother, I left the school a few days later with most of my class and we all separated to other schools, while at Duport a whole new staff came in and a year or so later you started there,” Luka said and Juleka looked down as Rose held herself, trying to deal with what Luka told them.

Luka looked at them, his mind going old places. He thought maybe he should get in contact with that lawyer that sued the school and got the old principal fired, if he knew about it then he would probably do something for Marinette. And maybe he should contact his old friend about this, see if they had heard anything about the teachers who had come into the school.

Up above in the bridge, Anarka turned off the one-way intercom and shook her head. That school she sent her daughter to was one of the best in the city, but when her eldest went there and that circus the ‘Queen Witch’ caused, she almost sent her to another school. Only seeing that one of her daughter’s bullies went to the only other one she would even think about sending her daughter to had stayed her hand. But this, she wondered just what was wrong with that school, was it cursed or something?

She remembered a few home school programs she had researched once a long time ago and wondered if she still had the pamphlets, if not a small matte to fix. As she sighed and shook her head, she wondered if she should call her brother-in-law, given how he cared about the little lady. As she looked at the stairs she never noticed behind her a beam of light from the moon reflect off something on Notre Dame, hit the water, and for a moment a red glowing circle formed above the water before it broke apart.

When Anarka turned back around and looked at the sky she frowned when a small wave caused the boat to rock for a moment. She looked around as Luka poked his head up and signaled her.

“What happened Mom? Did a boat pass by?” Luka called out and Anarka shrugged.

“Didn’t hear anything and saw nothing, don’t know……… have the girls stay below by the doorway and check the lower levels for leaks. I’ll check the rest up here and get the papers if we have to scuttle,” Anarka called back and Luka nodded.

As he ducked back down into the Liberty he met Rose and Juleka as they looked at him with fear in their eyes. He smiled and shook his head. “Phantom wave girls, stay here in case anything is damaged below, I’ll just open the door and check, if it is we get to the land fast and safe okay?”

“Is this that bad Juleka?” Rose asked as Luka moved away from the girls. Juleka looked at her and smiled.

“Not too bad, a phantom wave is a wave that we don’t know the cause of. It could have been anything really, we’re just checking to make sure the boat is okay,” Juleka said and looked towards her brother who had gone below to listen to the rest of the ship. But we rarely get them in Paris. I think we’ve only experienced them about three times since we’ve been here. Juleka thought as she tried to keep Rose calm.

Below Luka looked around, a flashlight illuminating everything the beam hit as he tried to hear anything that might give him a clue to let him know if there was any damage below the water.

As he moved through the lower level, he kept his eyes open and all his senses active but he felt nothing. As he was about to turn around and move on, he went still as he detected a song. He went still, the song was almost like an Akuma, but somehow worse more….. primal if that was the right word to explain what he felt.

As he put a hand onto the floor he tried to listen to what he heard more but it felt like it was muted somehow. As he looked around, he shook his head as the song faded away, looking around for anything he shrugged and sighed. As he turned back to head back upwards, he sighed again and wondered if he should say anything about the song he heard.

Rose held her head as it throbbed for a few moments, Juleka held her and looked around, hoping to find anything that could tell her what she should do. Rose started to breathe more evenly and after a few moments, she looked up at Juleka and smiled.

“Thanks Juleka, that was…….. unlike anything I’ve felt before,” Rose said and Juleka looked at her and stepped back, smiling as she looked at her friend. “I’m fine.”

“What happened?” Juleka asked Rose blinked a few times as she seemed to take stock of herself.

“It was……. I can’t describe it. It was like something broke and I feel……..better. My headache, the low constant one……it’s gone,” Rose said in wonder as Juleka looked at her friend and smiled at her.

Juleka knew Rose had been stricken with those headaches for years, but this was wonderful. Even if it was only for a little bit, she deserved not to have it weigh her down. But she was worried, Rose’s sickness had been with her most of her life, but what had caused that attack?

As Luka came up and shook his head, Juleka sighed and smiled. Whatever had caused the wave, their home wasn’t damaged and that was enough for her, for now at least.

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“……….So that’s what happened Kagami,” Marinette finished and for a few moments she didn't hear anything and she was starting to get worried. “Kagami, are you there?”

“I’m getting out my katana Mari-Chan, I have an appointment with M. Rossi to get ready for,” Kagami said and Marinette stared at the phone as Tikki started to laugh.

“Kagami you promised!” Marinette exclaimed and Marinette heard the sounds of Kagami sharpening her katana.

“Yes I promised. I promised that until I know what happened I will stay calm’, that’s what I said. And I kept my promise, my planning to talk to Lila forcibly based on what I learned from you doesn’t break my word,” Kagami said and Marinette looked at her phone as Tikki giggled. “Now how to find a single liar in a city this size?”

Marinette shot a look at the Kwami and then turned back to the phone. “Kagami, please stay calm. We’re planning to sue her; she’s not worth you going to jail!”

“I won’t leave evidence behind,” Kagami said softly over the phone and Marinette looked at the phone in disbelief and for some reason, she blushed a little.

Tikki only giggled, watching the way the three of them danced around each other was some of the best entertainment that she’s had in centuries. All those three had to do was talk it out, but the parents of two of them would be a problem, but if things happened like she thought it might only be one parent who might be a problem.

“Kagami, promise me you won’t attack her, promise me!” Marinette finally said and Kagami was silent for a long time, long enough that Marinette was starting to get worried.

“Fine, but when you sue this Baka for slander, my family’s lawyers will take part in the case

Tikki giggled as she looked at Marinette’s flushed face. These kids were something else, she hadn’t seen something like this since before the Order took her Miraculous!

“Okay Kagami, just come over tomorrow after school and we’ll all talk it out, and maybe you can have some fun and try out one of my games,” Marinette said and Kagami sighed and nodded.

“My mother is getting the car fixed, I could say I was visiting you to help you find a way to deal with this,” Kagami mused and Marinette looked at her phone as Tikki laughed.

Tikki grinned and somersaulted. She knew that Kagami was a good choice for Longg and this proved it. She had the heart of a dragon, anyone or thing that threatened those she saw as hers were due for the ‘wraith of a dragon’, that was something even the greatest and most powerful kings were scared of.

“Okay I’ll see you tomorrow Kagami,” Marinette said as she closed the call and looked at Tikki with a glare. “You weren’t that helpful Tikki!”

“Sorry Marinette, but let’s just say that I learned not to do anything but watch when my old wielders talked to others in situations like this,” Tikki said with a grin.

Marinette glared at Tikki for a moment before she realized what Tikki was talking about and blushed as Tikki started to giggle. Tikki grinned as Marinette stammered and blushed, this girl was one of her favorite Chosen yet. Say what you would about them, the Kwami all loved to gossip about their chosen and Holders' lives. And she, Longg and Plagg would a lot to tell the others once what she thought would happen happens!

Marinette kept calm and walked towards her door down, Tikki following behind her giggling zipping towards a vent to find Plagg.

Marinette came into the family room and saw Adrien talking to her father as he gestured towards the screen. Sabine saw her and smiled, she smiled back and came up behind her father and Adrien quietly.

“Can I play winner?” Marinette called out and Adrien and Tom turned and smiled at her.

“Sure, zone with a base, points based on what we destroy, or a good old capture and hold with respawn or minions?” Adrien asked and Marinette took the controller and grinned at him.

As Sabine laughed she got up and walked towards the kitchen, and as she walked she heard what sounded like two people whispering to each other at the edge of her senses and she smiled. If those two watched over the two of them, then she hoped their long experience would be listened to and they would guide them to make the right choices.

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Alya smiled as she finished helping her parents clean up as she saw Trixx go through the sink to grab a bit of the chicken before it went down the drain. So far this won’t be too bad. I mean I’ve got my own fridge and I played it off as keeping some leftovers in my room if I ever get hungry at night. And the twins know that I want them to stay out of my room when I'm away, so the next thing to get is gonna be a lock of course. She thought as Trixx shot back into hiding within one of her pockets moments before Nora came towards her and smirked as she hugged Alya from behind. “SIS!”

“Hey little sis, keep your mind on the game and watch yourself!” Nora scolded her as Ottis laughed as he looked up from his book at his two eldest as Elle and Etta giggled as they watched a movie.

As Otis shook his head he called out. “Now Nora, don’t hug your sister when she’s cleaning up the dishes, and El, Et? Learn from your sister on what not to do.”

“Yes dad!” Ella and Etta said as Alya laughed and Nora scowled.

“Heading to my room to finish some of my homework, call me when mom calls!” Alya said as she put the last dish away and Nora walked over to sit with their sisters as Otis nodded.

As she walked away Otis frowned as he watched her. He had been angry when he heard what had happened to Marinette, the idea that a school would go so far on something that supposedly happened between two students and not even checks the cameras, they were so pulling Alya out of that place the first chance they got. And the pamphlets for homeschool programs seemed almost as good as the school, how the student could work in groups on projects that they presented over the web or with the teacher coming to examine it, and with the students putting down who they wouldn’t work with, everything seemed perfect!

Nora meanwhile smiled as she sat back, watching her little sisters enjoy a movie as she thought about recent events. While her career in the ring was going great, this happened with that witch Lila. She knew her little sis was hiding something from her, but as long as it didn’t lead to something or someone like Lila, she would let it go.

Ella and Etta meanwhile knew something was different with their family, but they didn’t know what it was. As long as their family was happy and Ladybug and Chat Noir kept saving the day, they were happy.

In her room, Alya closed her door and locked it as Trixx flew out and smirked at Alya. “You’ve got a good family kit.”

“Yeah, they're great. Okay, science or math first?” Alya asked herself as she set her phone down sideways and Trixx giggled as she moved over and called up a show she liked.

As Alya worked Trixx thought back to the hexes the Guardians had cast on all the Kwami they once held.

She hated how she wasn’t able to talk about the creatures that she and her friends were called into the world to battle, or about their home. After the fall of Atlantis, she had spent years in what was known now as Africa, battling the worst humanity had to offer and others had to offer for generations, being held by a family line that she had come to love before the Guardians found her. They had spoken of balance and such, how they were gathering all the Miraculous and their Kwami to protect it and how it was their choice, but when Trixx had declined to join them, the monks had attacked the next night. Her wielder had sent his family away as they drew them the monks away in another direction until they had knocked him out and taken Trixx, using a spell to force him back into his Miraculous, and Trixx never learned if they let him live.

And they were true about their intentions at least. The Guardians were all about protecting the balance and they did it perfectly, the perfect tyrants and brainwashers who followed what they saw as Balance.

Sometimes she wondered if Duusuu hadn’t influenced the Sentimonster that Fu created, or if the little guy had the same kind of stories she and a few others had. And if the book had the way to destroy the hex on them, they would all tell Fu the truth; that while they respected him they didn’t feel too bad for what happened to the Temple. If she was honest then a lot of the way the world had developed wouldn’t have been possible if it hadn’t happened. She felt that the Order had strangled invention and growth, all to keep the world in what they saw as Balance, with them on top of course.

As Alya tried to work on her homework, her mind wondered. She wondered what the Guardians had done to the Kwami, and why. Fu seemed to be a great guy, but how much of that was because he had grown up away from the Order? How much of their practices were truly helpful and not the result of controlling who used the Miraculous? She made a note on a piece of paper to ask Fu if she could learn about the history of the Order, if that didn’t put to rest her fears then she didn’t know what would. And if the Temple was back, then they might have more problems than just Hawkmoth coming their way.

“AAAAGGGHHHH!” Alya said and put her head down on her desk and closed her eyes. Trixx flew over and nuzzled against her, causing Alya to smile at the Kwami.

Alya smiled at Trixx and wrote the words ‘Order bound you’, Trixx gasped and covered her mouth. Alya just nodded and sighed as she hugged Trixx against her cheek with one hand, Trixx purred in response.

Trixx hated the fact she couldn’t say anything, but the work Fu was doing was something that she hoped would break the chains on them all, and return the memories that were still blocked from them. Alya felt Trixx’s feelings and the sense of hope from her, and for a moment, just for a moment, Alya knew that together the two of them would be fine.

Outside Alya’s room Ottis put his book down as the door opened and his wife Marlena walked in. He gestured towards the kitchen and she nodded and moved towards it as he got up. Walking by the TV he saw that the movie was heading towards the climax and shook his head and chuckled.

As soon as he reached her he kissed Marlena’s lips and she smiled at him as she drew back.

“Hey wild man, how was the madhouse today?” Marlena asked and Ottis laughed.

“Not too bad, how was the inn?” Ottis countered Marlena shrugged.

“The Wife was in rare form today, and the Heir seemed to be turning over a new leaf, not trying to be a copy of her,” Marlena said and Ottis nodded.

Ottis sighed and looked at Marlena who sighed and shook her head. The school seemed perfect, with good ratings and all but looking into it deeper like that case Alya told them about, a different picture was painted. If the school did close down like he thought it would, a lot of students would transfer to other schools, and the paperwork for all of the students would be a nightmare, getting started before the trial was the best thing for them to do.

“Yeah, so homeschooling Alya, that might be the best thing we could do,” Marlena said and Ottis nodded.

“Yeah, so we’ll start to fill out the paperwork to pull Alya and send it through once the trial breaks, I’ll stop by the bakery and ask them what program they’ll sign Marinette up for,” Ottis said and Marlena nodded.

“Yeah, good idea,” Marlena said absently and Ottis looked at her and sighed.

Ottis knew his wife, when she had bad news to share she always had it on her mind even when they were talking about something important.

“Okay, what is it?” Ottis asked and Marlena looked at him before sighing.

“I just got the news, there might be someone important coming in soon and they want my best, so the boss wants me to try and create a new dish……… I’ve got a few ideas for some chicken and meat but if they want fish……. And he wants me to stay over the night before……. I might be warned within three days and it might happen sometime after a week!” Marlena said and Ottis smirked at her, infuriating her for a moment before she started to laugh a little.

“Don’t worry, whatever happens, we will handle it, the four of us will weather this storm,” Ottis said and Marlena nodded, frowning for a moment.

“Four of us?” Marlena asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ottis smiled at her and winked. “Why you, me, Nora, and Alya of course! With the four of us working together there is nothing we can’t do!”

Marlena only looked at him and laughed, Ottis grinning back at her.

Nora paused the movie as her mother walked towards them, Alya peeking out of her room after the twins called out ‘MOMMY!’ and ran to hug their mother, no matter what happened the family would survive and thrive.

Marlena patted the twins heads and looked at Nora and nodded, looking at the twins and whistling. “Come on you two, the movie’s almost over then you two hit the racks,”

Marlena walked over to Alya and hugged her, Alya hugged her back and led her mother into her room.

“So how are you Alya, did that girl contact you yet?” Marlena asked and Alya shook her head and Marlena nodded. She wanted to have a quick word with that girl’s mother at some point, and so help her if that little witch tried to get Alya to do her dirty work.

As Trixx watched from hiding as her chosen’s mother sit down on Alya’s bed, she almost phased into the wall behind her before darting to an air duct and hiding in it instead, watching as they talked.

“I hope that we’ll know what the education department will do soon, I mean she gave that lawyer her version of events, and well………… I just hope it’s not slow,” Alya said and Marlena nodded and sighed, shaking her head.

“Yeah, me too,” Marlena said and mournfully looked away.

Privately she blamed herself. Her job was why they had moved and she should have looked more into the school, not put everything on Alya. She cursed that Alya had worked so well and so hard that they never looked into the old reviews themselves, if they had then they might have found something.

Alya looked at her mother, knowing exactly what her mother was thinking. “Mom, it was hidden deep, no one could have found it, even when I knew what to look for, the school was never named.”

“And the twins?” Marlena asked and Alya grinned at her.

“I’m asking a friend of mine at school to check the web if their school has anything at all honkey, we’ll know by Monday,” Alya said and Marlena sighed and nodded.

Alya knew exactly how her mother felt, she didn’t want the girls in danger at all. As Alya and her mother talked, Trixx smiled and slipped away, going through the vent until she saw the living room, Nora carrying Etta and Ella away to their rooms and she giggled lightly and slipped back towards Alya’s room, never noticing Ottis looking up and frowned.

Ottis looked back towards his book and shook his head, he was sure that he had heard something up there but he wasn’t sure beyond a strange sound he barely heard. He looked around the room and then shrugged, going back to his book as he put it out of his mind for now.

As Nora put her sisters to bed, she wondered if she should reach out to any of her friends at the gym. If they heard about anything at the schools her sibs went to, then maybe she could rearrange her schedule to let her watch the twin terrors if they try homeschooling for them. Still, she wondered about her upcoming match, and she hoped that this out-of-towner puts up a good fight.

Chapter 21

Chapter Text

As Kagami walked through her house, she kept her mind on her goal. She was a female Japanese teen of average height with has creamy-pale skin with a light dusting of light-brown freckles on her cheeks and the bridge of her nose, sharp and slanted moderate vermilion eyes, straight black hair with blue reflections in a bob style with her bangs swept to the left in a face-framing way. She was dressed in a simple robe and walked silently, each step measured and all her mental efforts were towards not letting her phone call with her friend cause her temper to completely go wild before she talked to her mother. As she moved she was getting even more worried about just what else this liar might have done that Marinette hadn’t told her.

As she moved closer to low Japanese music being played and she sighed. Her idea to try and trick her mother was something that she might do, but she took a deep breath and looked at the door to her mother’s office silently for a few moments and sighed. Ka-san won’t be too happy about this, but if I frame this the right way then maybe I’ll be able to get her permission. She thought as she knocked on the door and the music stopped. “Ka-san, I’m sorry to bother you but there’s something we need to talk about.”

“Come!”

Kagami opened the door and walked into a room, her mother sat on a recliner with her cane next to her, dressed in a simple white robe with a white cloth over her eyes. Next to her was a small computer that she had been speaking to and a brail tablet to let her ‘read’ the words of the reports. Her mother, Tomoe Tsurugi was a pale-skinned slender Japanese middle-aged woman of average height with long black hair with dark blue reflections arranged in Chignon style.

Tomoe ‘looked’ towards Kagami and scowled, Kagami hiding a cringe before regaining her strength.

“You should be in your room getting ready to sleep, why aren’t you?” Tomoe asked softly and Kagami swallowed.

“After I came home I checked my local social media…….. Adrien has disappeared after a bad photo shoot, and his Official Accounts are silent. I wouldn’t be too……… surprised about this but a schoolmate’s account said he wasn’t in on Friday,” Kagami said and Tomoe ‘looked’ at her for a few moments.

“I see,” Tomoe said and she put down her tablet.

Kagami looked at her mother and tried to figure out what was going through her head. She might obey whatever her mother decided and most of the time she understood what her mother meant, but sometimes it was hard to even understand what was going through her head. She demanded perfection from Kagami and tried to stomp down on anything that she didn’t like about Kagami, and she retaliated by hiding from her mother what she didn’t like and doing what she wanted not her mother. Kagami knew that eventually the two of them would have a confrontation about it, but for now, she was content to let it lie.

Tomoe meanwhile sat there and thought about her options. Adrien was a prominent piece in her plans; if he had run away from Gabriel's sub-par parenting then she would have to rethink her Paris campaign, at least her secondary objective. But if her daughter found Adrien she could maybe score some points with either Adrien or Gabriel depending on what Adrien was doing, and what his plans were. If this was nothing more than a tantrum then Gabriel might take her ideas for a formal engagement between their children, with Kagami having a controlling share in the House of Gabriel of course.

“Gabriel has to be looking for him, but how can we find the boy first?” Tomoe asked and Kagami looked at her mother and cleared her throat. “What would you do to succeed where his father failed?”

“I could get to his school before practice and talk to Adrien’s friends and maybe see if they know anything, maybe stay out longer and try and talk to a mutual friend, see what they know” Kagami suggested and Tomoe looked at her daughter and kept her face calm.

“No, training and Monday’s schedule after is already set,” Tomoe said and Kagami looked at her mother, surprised that she didn’t want Kagami to look into this, she knew that Tomoe had plans for their stay in Paris and Adrien seemed to be part of it but how she didn’t know.

“Yes ka-san,” Kagami said and looked down.

“Do it tomorrow, instead. I expect you to report on what you find,” Tomoe said and Kagami bowed, a smile on her face.

“Yes, Ka-San,” Kagami said as she left the room.

Tomoe sat there and cleared her throat, a small tracked drone with a single manipulator on a crane with a camera and clamp on the end came over, with another tracked drone with a basked on its back beside it.

“Go and get my tea, and play Relaxation mix 3, second collection,” Tomoe ordered and she sat back. After the song started to play for a few moments a beeping was heard and she nodded. “So she’s gone, good. Program email, address Kyodai. ‘The younger has fled, the plan will need to change……. Prepare to send in rival, will need to think about other problems. Will update when data is available.’ Send message once time is 6 AM at destination.”

As Tomoe leaned back as the drones returned with her tea she sighed. The work to regain an old family passion was something that would never be easy, but then the best things in life to gain never were. She wondered again if she should bring her daughter into her world, but then the girl hadn’t learned to be a true Yuki-Hime yet, she still had a heart. And that wasn’t what she wanted her heir to have, soon she would have to try and destroy it, but it had to be in the right way of course.

She had spent so much time raising her, did she make a mistake on her choice? The girl was being the proper amount of defiance and loyalty but Still, with time, she would either become who she wanted or she would be a failure and have an accident. But Tomoe had done too much to let that happen, somehow Kagami would walk the family’s road, and once she was in too deep, she would have no other choice but to go only on way. Still, I wonder how the other is doing? Tomoe thought as she leaned back and drank her tea.

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Ondine looked at her room and smiled, she and Bolla had put everything back into the ‘pocket’ and put a list of what piles they had made so they could get the things out if they needed them. And she looked at the dress that she had claimed, each of them was truly beautiful and she wondered how or when she might wear them but something her called her to them. She remembered that Kim’s friend Marinette…….. she was a budding fashion designer maybe she could fix them for her. But that was later, now she had to handle what the Mage had told them.

“This convergence what will happen exactly?” Ondine asked and Bolla looked at her and sighed.

“The Fey will get excited and a lot of them will rampage, ancient seals will be undone and magic will be more powerful,” Bolla said and Ondine looked at her with a confused look.

Ondine tried to understand what Bolla said and she remembered a book that she read for school, a Mid Summer’s Night Dream, and wondered.

“Wait, Fey? Like Oberon and Titania, Fairies?” Ondine asked and Bolla looked at Ondine in confusion.

“No I mean the Fey, non-Sentient energy life forms that bond with animals and humans, overtime they merge ……… some say if they merge with a human the human is consumed or the Fey are consumed……… it wasn’t clear to the Magi,” Bolla said and Ondine looked at her shocked.

Ondine tried and failed to think how something like that could have been kept secret from the world, but then the Miraculous had. She went still and looked at Bolla and swallowed. “You said human, what about animals, what if they merge with animals?”

“That’s the source of a lot of monster legends. And me and my holders during the last war? We stopped a Thule plot to send a lot of Fey-Animals against the Allies,” Bolla said and Ondine looked at the Kwami and shook her head in awe.

Ondine just sat down on her bed and laid back, trying to wrap her head around this new information. Bolla had been active during WW2, and that meant the Seven had been as well. Since they weren’t in any of the history books about the Supers of WW2, that meant they stayed in the shadows and struck down anyone who dared to get in their ways. And since they’ve stayed alive through that and other wars were but harvest for them since they stole their extended lives. They would still know how to stay away from the public eye. And that thought caused her to stop thinking, the way she had fought Nekhbet hadn’t been silent or hidden, it had been loud. So why………Ondine paled as it hit her. “Oh, they wanted to talk to Hawkmoth.”

“What…… oh. Oh!” Bolla said and she realized what Ondine had.

“We’ve gotta talk to the heroes about this, and the Fey!” Ondine said and she shuddered.

“Yeah, we gotta warn…… oh, they know!” Bolla said as her eyes went still, suddenly everything crystallized in her mind. Everything was explained, why they had been at those locations over the years, what they had done and why they were here.

“What do you mean?!” Ondine asked as Bolla shot into the air and started to fly around, a strange look on her muzzle.

“The Seven, they came here to take advantage of the Convergence! They want to harvest mana for something!” Bolla said and Ondine went still as she tried to understand what Bolla meant and she suddenly swallowed.

“What can they do, anything like the Wish?” Ondine asked and Bolla looked at her with a confused look on her face.

“What Wish?” Bolla asked and Ondine looked at the Kwami in confusion and

“The Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous, supposedly they can be used to make a wish that will always come true, even alter reality itself,” Ondine explained and Bolla looked at her in shock before nodding.

“So that’s the last resort he mentioned. No……. they like to struggle for their goals. But maybe they want to cast a spell, overpower it or something. They’ve gotten copies of a lot of magical knowledge over the years,” Bolla said and Ondine looked at Bolla and tried to figure out everything the Seven could do and came up with too many dark ideas.

Bolla meanwhile tried to figure out when the Seven had learned about the Convergence and what they planned to do with their harvest.

The magic of Atlantis was something that was both wonderful and terrible, and the foes that they faced were just as bad. From the Fey to traitors, the Kwami and their partners fought to protect their people, when the Fall happened she was so sad, and to watch as their home became nothing more than myth had been even worse.

But to see what Magic was capable of over the years, it had been beyond anything he thought the masters of old were capable of. The times Magic had saved lives and towns, the way villains tried to exploit it, and rituals to get around problems they had to power their goals. The Convergence was something that if they did it right, the Seven would harvest a lot of power, power to do practically anything. I can’t let them do that! We need to reach out to the other Kwami and their partners, they have to help us, they can. Boll thought as she looked at Ondine as she laid back on her bed and tried to figure out how to handle anything.

Ondine didn’t expect anything like this when she and Kim went out for supper. She had fought with Ladybug and Chat Noir and the others, she had

A ringing caused them to turn to Ondine’s cell phone and she smiled when she saw who it was before she answered it. “Kim, hey! How are you?”

“Great!” Kim said and they heard the sounds of things being moved about and Kim trying to keep something or someone from making a mess. “Sorry I wasn’t able to contact you, I was near the Akuma today and my phone died on me, must have left an app running last night.”

“That’s fine……. I just had to stay home today anyway, I mean what we found…….. you doing okay?” Ondine asked and Kim chuckled through the phone.

“Yeah, I’m fine really!” Kim said and Ondine smiled as Bolla watched.

“So what’s up?” Ondine asked as Bolla looked at her before starting to smile.

“Just wanted to talk to you, and make sure you were okay at that school of yours……” Kim said and Ondine blushed and looked down at the floor as Bolla started to grin.

Bolla looked at her new holder and grinned. She liked it when they knew how to have fun, even more, when they had someone to care about, that always seemed to keep people from going down the wrong path.

“Everything’s fine, after practice tomorrow want to maybe get lunch?” Ondine asked and Kim sounded happy on the other end.

“Yeah, that sounds great, my treat!” Kim said quickly and then Ondine and Bolla both heard a crash over the phone. “Sorry, wild animal got in, gotta go!”

Ondine fell back onto her bed and hugged one of her pillows and blushed as she giggled. It was hard to get a date with Kim with how the city’s been lately, with how Hawkmoth seemed to be stepping up more. She looked up at Bolla who grinned back and for a moment she went still as she saw Bolla’s grinning face.

“So who’s Kim?” The innocent question with the look on her face caused Ondine to blush hard and hide her face as Bolla laughed lightly.

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As Lila came into her room she sighed and collapsed onto her bed and stared up at her ceiling. Her mom had come back early from work, she didn’t know how to feel about that. Happy she hadn’t been ordering takeout or planning how to handle Adrien when her mother returned and heard them?

She giggled, wondering how her mother might react, she had been fooling her for years, leaving behind a trail of destroyed do-gooders and leaches who probably were all doing minimal wage or something, and with her changing the contact information the schools couldn’t even try and track them down.

“Still enough about my memories, I need to actually do this paper on my own. She had to give everyone a different topic to write about, I can’t get one of those idiots to write for me!” Lila growled and shook her head. At least I can make something up easily enough for the meat of this stupid paper! She thought as she looked at her pen and smirked as she grabbed her laptop and turned it on, grabbing a wire and connecting one end to the pen, the other to her computer as it turned on, quickly downloading what she had said into the microphone and smirked.

She leaned back and sighed, that was done, getting that program and microphone pen was one of the best decisions she made. With it, she was free for the rest of the weekend! She wondered if Hawkmoth would contact her again, she would love to twist and use him to hurt Marinette. Or maybe she could get an Akuma and destroy Marinette's home first, making her family homeless? Of course to do that she would have to finish off Ladybug first or could Hawkmoth recall the Akuma so the damage would remain…… could that work? He’s never tried that before, if Ladybug capturing the Akuma had nothing to do with the repair work she did, then the plan would be nothing but a waste of time. But we could learn something about Ladyslu*t! All we need to do is wait and sooner or later she’ll make a mistake and then we’ll win! And when he takes over, I’ll have a place in whatever he does next, and then I’ll make Marinette a slave, her dress work is something at least. She thought as she giggled. As she leaned back she missed a form flying by her window, the same thing her mother had sent out their windows earlier.

It flew into Dolores’s room, and in the light revealed it to be a stone bat that landed on her desk. As Dolores walked into the room wearing a black robe that went to the floor she towed off her hair before she stopped as she saw the stone bat. It sent two beams of energy from its eyes into her’s and she stood there before the energy died down before she reacted. “What did they mean, harvest mana? What are they going to do ….. No. The question is what is going to happen in this city?”

As Dolores looked out her window, she wondered just what was going on and how she could profit from it. She suddenly felt her body spasm and she clamped her mouth shut by sheer force of will as she felt such pain as she dropped backward onto her bed. As she thrashed about her eyes were molten steel as the pain intensified, once she changed skins this would be a thing of the past for the next thirty years!

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Kagami got out of her car and looked toward the Bakery and smiled. She might be here on ‘orders’ from her mother but she was happy to have a chance to visit a friend’s house. As she looked at her car she looked around and nodded. “Testu, go to the school and wait for me there.”

“affirmative!” the car said and it drove towards the school.

Kagami looked at the bakery and took a deep breath before walking into the building. Sabine saw her and smiled at a new customer. Kagami wondered if Sabine was a worker at the shop, and then remembered how Marinette said her mother manned the counter once when the two of them talked about having family businesses.

“Hello, I’m a friend of Marinette’s, I was wondering if I could talk to her?”

“And your name?” Sabine asked as she moved her hand towards a rolling pin she kept behind the counter out of sight.

“Kagami Tsurugi,” Kagami said and Sabine blinked before looking at Kagami closer.

“Oh, I remember you! Didn’t you do that friendship scavenger hunt with Marinette?” Sabine asked and Kagami nodded.

“Yes, I wanted to talk to Marinette, a friend of ours is missing,” Kagami said and Sabine

Sabine looked at Kagami, wincing as she remembered how Marinette had gone on a date with Luka plus Adrien and Kagami as a double date.

“I’ll call her, I’m sorry but right now after a….. situation only friends we happened to know well are allowed up to the family apartment,” Sabine said as she brought out a cell phone and dialed a number, smiling at Kagami until Marinette answered the call. “Marinette, that friend of yours, Kagami is down here, are you decent?”

Sabine nodded at the reply and smiled at Kagami. “You’ll be down in a few minutes, good.”

“Thank you,” Kagami said and bowed. Sabine chuckled and smiled at her moments before Marinette appeared at the doorway into the apartment.

Marinette looked at Kagami and swallowed, after the phone call last night she wondered if Kagami had picked something up that told her Adrien was here. But the way that Kagami was just standing there, not glaring at her caused her to think that her spiral was wrong and she forced herself to calm down.

“Hello Marinette,” Kagami greeted with a smile and Marinette forced herself to relax.

“Kagami, hey how are you?” Marinette asked and Kagami looked at her before a bell rang and a customer came in. Marinette and Kagami stepped aside and she looked out the windows at the park and smiled at her friend. “Come on, let’s get over to the park, out of the way so we can talk.”

As Sabine dealt with the customer she kept an eye on her daughter and Kagami as they walked away. Part of her was worried about Kagami, she gave off the same vibe that Adrien had the first few times he had interacted with them, and she was worried about just why that was. She looked at Kagami and wondered if she should call on her family to look into Kagami’s, but for now, she wouldn’t.

As Kagami and Marinette sat down, Marinette sighed and looked away as Kagami gathered her thoughts.

“So…..” Marinette began and Kagami interrupted her.

“What are your plans for the liar and that place that tried to shame you?” Kagami asked and Marinette took a deep breath.

Marinette looked around the park, wondering what she could say and how to explain it. She felt Tikki press against her from within her purse and then felt something else pressed against her. Putting her hand into her purse Tikki handed over Marinette’s phone and looking at a note app she typed something and showed it to Kagami. “I have a few plans, nothing I want to say at this time until we hear back of course.”

Kagami looked at it and nodded after reading the following. ‘I don’t trust Lila not to be watching us, or your mother for not having spyware on your phone. So talk normally and keep it general.’ Kagami looked at Marinette for a moment and nodded as she brought out her phone.

“So you’ve taken steps to protect your permanent record?” Kagami asked as she showed Marinette her phone with the text, ‘Of course, you’ve been okay?’

“Yeah, with how fast everything was we think we can get a hearing that will hopefully put this all to bed, with the proper people being punished,” Marinette said and tipped out a message that she showed Kagami. ‘Yeah, and….. promise your mother won’t find out.’

“Good. And like I said last night, if you need a lawyer let me know, I know a few who would do some pro bona or take payment from the settlement,” Kagami said as she typed. ‘Yes, whatever you tell me I won’t tell her.’

“Yeah, well I hope so,” Marinette said and typed a message. ‘Adrien is safe, he came over with a lawyer to help after he gave me some advice that led to Lila’s plan. He’s also suing Gabriel for abusive behavior, and breaking child labor laws. And Gabriel might have been behind Lila getting me expelled, or she did it for Hawkmoth to use me to spark a mass attack.’

Kagami’s eyes widened and she barely kept a snarl from her face. That onna dared to use my friend and hurt her in such a way!? I’ll kill her! When I get my hands on her! Kagami thought as she gritted her teeth. It was only Marinette touching her shoulder that caused her to look up at Marinette, the look of worry in her eyes almost caused Kagami to blush before looking away and typing. “Good, very good. You should hire a lawyer through. The good ones can spot a lie, just like my mother. I wouldn’t be able to get a lie past my mother, and I doubt that onna would be able to lie that well.”

Kagami finished typing and showed Marinette who blanched as she read; ‘Yes I mean that.’

Marinette took a deep breath and sat there, trying to think what this could mean before realizing that Kagami didn’t want to know where Adrien was, her mother might get it out of her and then use it to her advantage.

“So do you know where Adrien is?” Kagami asked and Marinette looked at her before putting her phone away, Kagami started to smile as she did the same.

“Not right now, no. Maybe that fencing teacher is helping him out, try him maybe. Gossip was at one point he sheltered one of his fencers when his mother was abusive,” Marinette said and Kagami nodded with a smile.

As they got up Kagami hugged Marinette and leaned her mouth towards her ears. “Keep fighting, justice will help those who try. And if not, I have an in at my school, you and Adrien would look cute in the uniform.”

Marinette looked at Kagami and hugged back, a smile on her face. “See you later Kagami.”

As Kagami walked towards the school to continue “Investigating’, a small blush threatened to break out as she imagined herself and Adrien in variants of Kagami’s outfit and going to class with her. Then Kagami could show her and Adrien around, like the places where students hid from the teacher and then……… Marinette held her head as she blushed and she heard and felt Tikki laugh.

Kagami meanwhile walked towards Francis-Duport, a scowl on her face. A few of her teammates might have heard any gossip about what had happened, if they heard anything about how Marinette was expelled she might have a few words with her sensei about this as well. If the school wasn’t treating Marinette right then there might be an even bigger problem here than just one student.

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Rose smiled as she looked up at the sky, trying not to let what happened with Lila and Marinette weigh her down. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Marinette wouldn’t willingly hurt someone, even if they were after the same guy. But she had been shocked at the speed Mr. Damocles had expelled Marinette, and it wasn’t until Kim had mentioned it was illegal that she understood why it was bothering her so much. She didn’t want to think too badly of the school, but the way it had been handled was so wrong! And the talk the three of them had last night hadn’t helped, with Luka’s reaction to everything. So far the band planned to work out their next song and she hoped Marinette would come, they needed to apologize to her for not speaking up!

And her new song was something that would be great, after last night’s wave Rose had talked to Anarka about ghost waves and the talks had inspired her. So far she had a general idea about the lyrics and she had been experimenting with the idea of a pirate song so maybe a CD about the ocean and the myths there? She had a lot of material, Mermaids, Krakens and all the monsters of the ocean were possibilities and maybe even legends and strange folktales!

As Juleka came out of the boat and onto the deck she stretched, looking towards Rose, and blushed at how her friend looked as the sun shined down on her. She knew she cared about Rose a lot, maybe even love but she had a few issues with sharing her emotions, and she didn’t even know if Rose liked girls! And if Rose was disgusted by that, then she would lose Rose as a friend and she had a thing with that Prince!

Luka walked out onto the deck and saw his sister obsessing over watching Rose as she worked on a song. He shook his head and chuckled, those two were almost as pure as watching Marinette and Adrien dance around each other. He went still and looked around, he thought he had heard that song from last night again, out on the water. As he listened the song’s pitch rose higher and kept rising for ten seconds before it went down a good twenty at least and stayed there.

He walked to the boat's railings and looked down at the water, frowning. While he sometimes heard an animal’s song if he tried hard, this was different. It was more powerful and it sounded different from a human and a normal beast. He hoped it wasn’t something from Hawkmoth, if that was the case then they were all in greater danger, and he hoped that his friend Sass was okay with his siblings.

A call caused him to smile as Ivan and Mylene came towards the boat.

“Permission to come aboard?” Ivan asked and Luka laughed for a few moments before he scowled, Mylene grabbing Ivan's hand as she saw the look in Luka’s eyes.

“Yeah, but before we have our practice, we need to talk, all of us,” Luka said and Ivan looked back with an even stare.

“About what?” Ivan asked and Luka grinned, all teeth as he answered.

“What happened with Marinette and Lila of course,” Luka said pleasantly and Mylene looked at Ivan as he sighed.

“It just happened so fast,” Mylene said and Luka looked at her as she spoke. “It was like something out of a bad movie.”

Ivan looked away, feeling Ashamed. “Yeah, I mean I didn’t expect anything like that from her.”

“Marinette?” Luka growled the question and Mylene shook her head.

“No, our teacher. She just called Marinette to the front of the Class, said someone had sent an anomalously said they saw Marinette steel the test answers, then she looked into Mari’s backpack upfront for all to see, Marinette then accused Lila of trying to frame her and then Miss Bustier sent them to the principal’s office alone!” Mylene said and Luka looked from her to Ivan who nodded.

“The test wasn’t even important, it was practice!” Ivan said and Luka looked at him with a shocked expression before sighing and shaking his head.

“And I think Ms. Bustier had the answer sheet after they were all collected too!” Mylene said and Luka looked at her before face palming.

Juleka looked at her brother as Rose looked up with a smile. Juleka

“You’re all here, great!” Rose called out and the others all looked I’ve been working on a…… new……. “

Rose trailed off as she felt something hit her head. Her hand shot up and came away with a strange sticky liquid on them. She frowned she turned and paled in fear. Above her was the green tentacle of a strange-looking creature. It looked like someone had taken a crocodile, made it twenty feet high and turned its tail into a snake’s lower body, removed its front flippers and placed two tentacles in their place, and added four long tentacles around to its top fin. Surprisingly all four of these were plunging into the depths of the river, and somehow Luka heard another song, a corrupted piece that was slowly gaining strength.

It roared, bringing everyone the attention of everyone around, most people on the streets started to scream and run, Luka only stared at it in horror and Juleka went still as she saw Rose was frozen. The ends of its tentacles suddenly opened, revealing gaping maws and spat mucus at Rose she screamed before she went still as it covered her.

“ROSE!!!” Juleka cried but Luka grabbed her. “Let me go, let me help her!”

“No, we need to be smart about this! We need to get gloves and keep an eye on that thing!” Luka said as he looked at the monster as it fired more mucus at the people on the bridge, hitting three people as a police officer tried to get the stuff off one of them only to go still as soon as he touched it. Luka kept his eyes locked on Rose, he could still hear her song but it was slower, it was like something was being drained from her.

As he looked around Ivan picked Mylene up and carried her away back to the upper street as Luka pulled out his phone and activated the Akuma alert app. The sounds of something getting out of the water caused Luka to look up and stare as he saw a large green fish head glaring at him as a green arm pulled the creature onto the deck. Luka grabbed a nearby broom as he looked at the creature; it was a large fish the size of a dog that had grown legs from its sides at the center of its body and it had two arms in front of them that ended in claws. As Luka watched more of the creatures pulled themselves onto the deck, some of them where Rose was, those moving between her and the Couffaines and flexing their clawed hands and giving off small growls as Anarka poked her head out of the ship and scowled.

“These things again? Gonna get my blade!” She snarled and ducked back down, never noticing the looks

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Nathalie smiled as she watched a delivery person drop a box into the mansion mail slot. She was sure this was the overnight shipping with the few materials they needed to finally fix the Peaco*ck Miraculous, with this their plans would gain a new dimension, and with her healed health, they would be that much stronger against the heroes. But if only Adrien was here, we would be able to talk to him and explain how Gabriel was just being overprotective, that Lila did everything on her own and lied to Adrien. And if we offer to help Miss Marinette maybe it will convince him we’re being truthful. And we need to find him first, I hope he does today. She thought as she got up and walked out of the mansion. The Gorilla was currently away, trying to find out if Adrien was at any one of a few hotels that kept quiet about who was staying within, and they were near police stations.

She also frowned as she remembered getting a message from one of her ears in the company, a few people were nosing around asking questions about photo shoots. With what Adrien had sent in earlier, she knew this was either the police or Adrien’s lawyer, a lawyer that was still unknown. This whole thing was all Lila’s fault, and she couldn’t wait until they had her in their power and they would be able to rework her. As she reached the mail her phone buzzed and she frowned.

“An Akuma alert? He must have found someone to cover our tracks,” Nathalie muttered as she opened the app and frowned as she saw the scene by the Liberty. The Akuma was more monstrous than he usually made, was he trying something new, a new tactic he thought up? If he was trying to have Akuma with more physical abilities like that……. What did he call it, Horrificator or something like that, then it might work but something seemed to be wrong here, something that she couldn’t tell what but it was there.

She put her phone away and opened the slot, removed the package, and turned around to walk back inside. As she walked into the mansion she looked up and stared, the package falling from her hands as she saw Gabriel standing by her desk on the phone with someone.

“Yes John, I saw the news last night, it's fine. I can’t blame you for acts of Villains or whatever they are, unless you were behind this one……. A joke John a joke…….. well my sense of humor made my wife laugh,” Gabriel said as he turned towards Nathalie and saw the look on Nathalie’s face and frowned as she tried to say anything. “John just get the materials to my company in two weeks……… five workdays based on the estimated damage alone? Well then……..Oh of course. You’ve already sent them out by train, and then they’ll be loaded onto a plane? Good, just send an email with the tracking numbers, and good luck, hope this was a one-time thing then.”

As Gabriel put the phone down he looked at Nathalie before looking at the box and then looking up at her. “Good, that’s what we needed? Then I’ll fix it now, the first Duel Akuma and Sentimonster will be………. What’s wrong Nathalie?”

Nathalie shook her head and looked at Gabriel. “What are you doing here!? Shouldn’t you be controlling the Akuma?!”

“What Akuma!” Gabriel demanded and Nathalie grabbed her phone and showed him the scene at the river. Gabriel looked at it and his mouth dropped open in shock. “I did not create that.”

Nathalie nodded as they looked down at the monster as it rampaged before Gabriel shook himself and scowled.

“If this is one of those seven’s doing, then so help me I will break them! I thought they didn’t want them!” Gabriel snarled as the Kwami came out of hiding. Nooroo moved to look down at the tablet and gasped, his hands covering his mouth in horror.

“No….. one of them!?” Nooroo said as Duusuu flew over and started to laugh as he orbited Nathalie’s head.

Gabriel and Nathalie turned towards them, and both of them had looks of furry on their faces.

“You know what that thing is?!” Gabriel demanded and Nooroo looked at Gabriel with a deadpan and blank look.

“What do you think we were brought into this world to fight against? But I thought all of them were locked and away,” Nooroo said and Gabriel blinked and looked at Nathalie who saw a note of terror in his eyes.

“You’ve never even said anything about them?!” Nathalie asked and Duusu laughed and flew about.

“How could we whenever we tried you shut us up?” Duusuu asked and Nathalie winced and looked away.

Gabriel turned back to the screen, a scowl on his face as he thought. After nodding he looked down at the package and went over a few plans before he spoke up. “How long did it say that it would take to repair the peaco*ck?”

“Instantaneous once everything is ready, we should do it now. Maybe we’ll be able to help stop this,” Nathalie said and Gabriel looked at her and she shrugged. “This might be a side effect of whatever those Seven are after. And if it is and they can’t think we’re working against them if we try and stop this because they never told us about it.”

Gabriel looked at her and nodded before looking at the Kwami floating above with a glare. Nooroo just hovered there as Duusuu laughed and Gabriel thought about the bonuses of finally fixing the Miraculous. “Come, once everything is ready we’ll try a new plan, one that I based on deception.”

Nooroo followed after them, a terrible feeling going through him. First these unknown Miraculous and their users, now those old things were waking up, he didn’t know how this could have happened. Those that are sealed away are sealed to the planet, the mana of the world itself powers them, the ……..only way…..for them to break. Nooroo went still and dropped to the ground as he realized just what this meant and then what the Seven were after.

“Nooroo, where are you!?” Gabriel called from his office and Nooroo flew to his user, knowing that he would have to tell him everything once he asked.

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Ladybug and Chat Noir ran over the rooftops, both of them worried about their friends. Marinette had barely come back inside and told Adrien what Kagami had offered her before the alert had sounded. Luckily they had been in Mari’s room and they had quickly transformed and dashed towards the Liberty, hoping their friends would be okay.

As Ladybug ran over the rooftops, she was moments from spiraling. She hoped that this didn’t have anything to do with Luka being Viperion, there was no way

As Chat Noir ran, he cursed Hawkmoth. The idea about his identity seemed more so, Gabriel knew about how he wanted to play with Kitty Selection and then he attacked the houseboat of two members to draw him out. If they were right then Hawkmoth/Gabriel might think it would draw him out since he sometimes played with the band.

A buzzing told them that his baton was ringing and he looked at it and saw it was Carapace. He activated it as he jumped over a street and Ladybug landed next to him. “Talk to us Turtle.”

“Cat, me and Bee-girl are inbound from the east and west respectively, Dog-girl’s with her parent, Rena’s with family. Last I heard Horse was at base and Monkey was at that thing he had when the lockdown happened,” Carapace’s voice came out of the baton, Ladybug and Chat Noir looked at each other and nodded, this might be better or worse than they thought it would be.

“Bug here, the two of us met up once we got the alert and are inbound. You know anything about what we’re going into?” Ladybug asked and she heard a sigh.

“Nah Lady-Dude, nothing. The reporters aren’t even there yet I guess,” Carapace said and Ladybug frowned before wincing as she suddenly realized that from now on Alya would have to

“Anybody have any idea on how to handle this?” Apisera sounded worried and Chat Noir smiled, happy that his sister was finally letting her real self out.

“Let’s wait until we see what’s going on. Chat and I will move in first, Carapace come in if civilians are there. Apisera stay back, you see a shot take it. Everyone remove earbuds from your tool, this way we’ll keep in contact,” Ladybug said Chat smiled at her as they heard affirmatives from Carapace and Apisera before Chat Noir turned off the comm function.

Then the two of them each did as Ladybug suggested, and after putting the earbud into one of their ears they nodded at each other before they turned and dashed over the rooftops, not saying anything as they both knew what they needed to do. As they reached the river and saw the large creature as it roared and the smaller ones attacking the Couffaines, Luka and Juleka were using brooms while Anarka had a sword that was wet with blood and she was standing over one of the smaller ones with its left arm cut off and staining the Liberty with its blood.

Ladybug looked from the larger creature to the rest of the scene, and for a moment her eyes saw the people on the bridge and scowled as she saw a policeman with none of the mucus on him but holding onto a civilian with the mucus on and both were as still as the others. So the slime is keeping them still and it does the same to anyone who touches anyone with it on them, but why? The smaller ones aren’t trying to do anything to Rose and the large one is only standing there, why? Doesn’t matter. Ladybug thought as she looked at the large creature and frowned.

“What are you thinking, escaped experiment? Multiple sentimonsters?” Chat Noir asked and Ladybug shook her head.

“Doesn’t matter, we help the Couffaines. Carapace, Apisera as we discussed, but look at the police officer on the bridge, act based on that, Chat Noir we deal with the things attacking like those things yesterday,” Ladybug said and Chat Noir grinned.

“Always love a fish fry!” Chat Noir said as they jumped onto the Liberty and attacked the fish creatures with a laugh; he swung his baton in staff mode and struck one, sending it flying into the bridge and falling into the water. Ladybug lashed out with her yoyo and lassoed one of them and pulled it to her, her yoyo untangling as she punched it over the river to the bank on the other side.

“Reinforcements! Get these things off my ship me hearties!” Anarka called out with a laugh. Luka grinned and slammed down his broom and looked at Ladybug and Chat Noir as they attacked. Like the last time he had been around them both without his Miraculous, he just knew that he had heard their songs somehow before, but he couldn’t figure out where.

Juleka kept attacking, trying to get to Rose as the larger creature in the water stay still, not looking at anything as it raised its head straight up.

“So got anyone mad at you lately, anyone at all?” Chat Noir asked Luka as he spun his staff around blocking some of the fish creatures and Luka shrugged before attacking another fish creature, bashing it over its head before he replied.

“No clue, everything was normal then it came out of the river!” He called out. Ladybug heard them and she scowled as she fought the fish monsters. Great, just great. Then that means whatever this isn’t an Akuma! It must be that woman from yesterday, but why did she know to attack the Liberty? Could she have tracked Luka? Do we need to give him Sass to block it? She thought as she used one of the fish monsters as part of frail with her yoyo on another two.

Juleka only had eyes on Rose and charged, swinging her broom like a madwoman. When she reached Rose she looked around for anything to clean the gunk off her when suddenly one of the tentacles of the larger creature battered her away and into the air. She flew until she was caught by Ladybug’s yoyo and pulled into her arms.

“Rose, we have to save Rose! And the others of course,” Juleka manage to get out and Ladybug nodded absently as she set her down.

“Lady-dude, Chat-Dude? Was I seeing things or did that big thing guard Rose?” Carapace’s voice came over the earbuds and Chat Noir nodded slightly.

“Bee here, I’ve got a few of the fishes on the bridge, I do not like how they are looking at the people here, we need help to get rid of them!” Apisera called out and Ladybug looked towards the bridge and saw five of the fish monsters climbing out of the river close to the Liberty and five more on the other side and ten on the other shore.

Ladybug tried to figure out what to do as she spun her yoyo as a shield. Looking around her mind went over all the points before she nodded. “Your right Bee, we need the Snake and the Dragon. Chat, go and get them, have Pegasus deliver them to you and then get over here to help out. Carapace and Apisera, fight to the center of the bride then work out, keep the fish off the victims. I’ll stay here and do what I can! And Chat; remember that the Dragon is shedding its scales right now.”

Chat Noir looked at her before nodding, understanding just what she meant and grinned. “This Kitty will be back soon with help, good luck M’lady!” Chat Noir called out before he used his staff to jump to a rooftop and speed away.

Carapace meanwhile charged the bridge from the opposite shore as Apisera charged from the Liberty’s side. As they attacked the creatures, Apisera aimed for their eyes as the two of them fought. Down below on the Liberty, Luka had moved to the gangplank and tried to keep anything from getting on the ship as Ladybug and his family all fought on, each of them hoping that they would hold out until help arrived.

As Anarka slew another of the fish monsters, she looked up and frowned as she saw a news chopper flying overhead. She wondered where the police were and cursed their cowardice; it was just what she expected from them, but the one time she needed them they weren’t here. As she defended herself from another of the fish monsters she promised to do something to them once she survived this, and if her kids got hurt…… then not even the Miraculous Cure would help them! She scowled and attacked, wishing that she had some more help, a proper crew to handle these things!

Luka stayed where he was, trusting Ladybug to protect his back. He had heard what she had said and it was bad if he was being brought in. And as he struck one of the fish monsters he paid attention to the thing’s teeth he agreed with the idea.

As Juleka looked at Rose and tried to get to her only for another of the fish monsters to get in her way and charge at her. As she dropped back and swung out she wished she had something to burn them with, anything at all that would let her kill them! As she backed up she bumped into someone, looking over her shoulder she saw her mother looking back at her, with two more of the fish monsters coming at her and they nodded at each other before charging their foes.

Chapter 22

Chapter Text

Kagami looked around the few students around the gym and shook her head. Back at her school, the idea of someone coming to use the facilities during the weekend would have been laughed at by the teachers, but here the school was open until lunch for clubs and studying using the library. Well, I have to give this place some credit, the top might be rotten but the supporting roots are firm. But then the ones here, and the one I really want to talk to isn’t here, I can’t wait She thought with a scowl as she looked at the few teachers still around, not seeing any female teachers. She wanted to track one down, all to give Marinette’s former teacher a piece of her mind!

When the lockdown happened she had been talking with Mr. d'Argencourt and what she had learned from him made her rethink her desire to go to public school! The way he had to scrounge just to get the materials for the club and how he brought in his weapons for the other students to use, he even said how her friend's teacher was in his own words ‘a toxic mess who should never be allowed near children!’. With the problems Hawkmoth caused and all his emails to the school board going unanswered he was planning to march down there today and talk to someone about it all. He had admitted that he didn’t understand what drove Marinette but she was a good student, kind, and got good grades, he felt what had happened to her was a travesty that he wouldn’t let stand!

He mentioned a few rules that supposedly came from the school board, something about the greater good and how punishment was handled, but after he said that he realized who he was talking to plus where they were, claimed up and looked like he was going to walk away when the Akuma Alert sounded.

A loud cleared throat caused everyone to turn and look at Mr. d'Argencourt who had been talking with the other teacher, a Mr. Hap-something who stood next to him.

“Students, the disturbance is at the Seine, more to the point the area around the bridge near the Mayor’s hotel. So for now the Lockdown is being lifted, everyone is allowed to leave but stay away from that part of town. And on a hard note, this is not, I repeat, not MR. Pigeon!” Mr. d'Argencourt called out. As the various teen talked among themselves, some offered places to wait out the trouble if others lived across the river.

“Excuse me, you were asking about what happened to Marinette?” A voice asked and Kagami turned to see Aurore and Mireille standing there.

“Yes I was, she told me everything but I wanted to know what happened after she left,” Kagami said and both of the girls reacted with joy.

“She’s okay?! Great!” Mireille said and released a breath in relief and tension seemed to flow out from Aurore.

“We heard all kinds of rumors, from military school to prison to well, anything really!” Aurore exclaimed and Kagami looked between the girls before coming to a decision.

“She seemed fine, but doesn’t anyone know that doing that to her was illegal?” Kagami said and the girls nodded, scowls on their faces

“The principal doesn’t want anyone to even mention anything against his ruling. When we brought it up he threatened to suspend us,” Mireille said bitterly and Kagami glared at the school.

A few moments later Kagami walked away having gotten their numbers and promised to text them if she heard anything. She watched the girls dash towards the TV station and tried to figure out what to do next when a rock was thrown in front of her. Looking towards where it had come from she saw Chat Noir hiding in a nearby alley and gesturing for her to come to him.

Kagami looked towards where the parking for the school was, it was far enough away that she hadn’t been seen by the sensors yet. She could say that she talked to a teammate about Adrien then went back to the Bakery to talk to Marinette, ask her for details about the last time she saw him and then her family let her stay with them while the Akuma attacked. She took a deep breath and turned away from the parking lot, moving towards Chat Noir.

“Chat Noir, do you need Ryuko’s help?” Kagami asked as she reached him. He grinned back and held up a red Chinese box and grinned at her as she took it.

“Yes, and this might be a permanent thing, but Ryuko is benched,” Chat Noir told Kagami who only raised an eyebrow at him with the box unopened in her hands.

“Then how can I help?” Kagami asked and Chat Noir opened the box, a ball of light formed above it that revealed Lonng who grinned at Kagami.

“Your costume and name don’t have to be the same my dear, we can change it quite easily,” Lonng said and Kagami looked from him to Chat Noir who grinned back at her.

“All you need to do is think about how to change it, and there you are. A new form and a new name of course,” Chat Noir said and Kagami looked at the chocker and grinned.

“Rest well Ryuko, let Arashiko be born,” Kagami said as she put the choker around her neck.

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Pegasus ran over the rooftops of Paris, making his best speed for the river and he hoped he would be able to make a difference. He had been lucky that his mother was due back tonight instead of today so he had talked with Master Fu about some work he wanted down on the theater, they had been discussing transferring over to a digital system and how much money would need to fund it when the alert had happened, Fu had gone to put the Lockdown protocols he had for the building when Chloe had called him and when he said he would stay with Fu, best not to send in too many heroes at the start after all.

As soon as they saw what was happening after Fu came back down and they had all seen the scene from the news copter, the Kwami’s had all been in shock and had only been able to say bubbles. Fu had looked down, seeing this as another point in favor of the idea that the Order had done something to all the Kwami. Fu had scowled and gone to the copy he had of the Grimoire and been started to write down the ingredients he would need, then Chat Noir had called them.

After a short conversation, Pegasus dashed out into the sewer to the sewers and swiftly made it to where Chat Noir had waited for him and passed him what he had been carrying before dashing over the rooftops to the help the others. Finally, he reached the river and saw Carapace and Apisera protecting the civilians on the bridge from the fish monsters trying to get at them from both ends. Spotting Ladybug and the Couffaines fighting on the Liberty with the larger one standing still as the battle below it seemed not even to register to it.

Looking at the scene, he took in everything, from the fish monsters that seemed to have no end as they climbed out the river to how they were attacking the bridge and the Liberty. Pulling out his horseshoe he pulled down one side and formed his tool into an ax shape and yelled as he jumped down to the side of the river near the boat, slashing out with his weapon, sending some of the fish monsters back as he attacked.

“Pegasus, good! Get close and prepare to evacuate the civilians!” Ladybug bellowed as she bashed another of the fish monsters when it tried to get too close to her.

“Got it!” Pegasus called out as he jumped and landed on the Liberty, ready to call on his power when Juleka cried out.

“But Rose, we can’t leave her!” Juleka snarled out and Ladybug shook her head.

“We won’t, but we need to get you all away from that thing first. We can deal with the monsters, but we need to save everyone first, you included,” Ladybug said and Pegasus nodded. But as he fought he caught the look on Juleka’s face and he knew she wouldn’t leave Rose so he decided to throw out an idea he and Kaalki had last night.

“I might be able to open a portal at her feet! But if that stuff drains magic from people then it won’t work!” Pegasus called out as he slashed at one of the monsters and tore off its right arm. The monster dropped back as puss covered the wound, moments later the maimed limb had regrown and it growled as Pegasus stood there blinking in shock before he jumped back to dodge a slash from the same monster, bumping into Luka as he attacked the one in front of him.

As they fought on Carapace took a look down at the boat as he bashed one of the monsters fighting him as he and Apisera fought to defend the bridge.

Apisera threw her top and lassoed one that she then pulled towards her before bashing it with her free hand. As it flew back she looked at the monsters trying to get by her and hoped that she could still draw them in, if they ran into the rest of the city she didn’t want to……. As she thought this she saw one of the monsters still stuck in the car she had thrown it into earlier, as she watched it started to look like it was drying out, its struggles dying down before it stopped altogether.

She could barely register it before she dodged another two that attacked her, but when she was far enough back they stood there as two others got their captive kin free and threw it into the river. “These things dry out if they're away from the water for too long!”

Ladybug heard what Apisera discovered and as she fought things suddenly crystallized for her, she had a plan. “We need the Dragon, until they get here we hold the line!”

“Got it Ladybug!” Luka called out as he looked at Pegasus over his shoulder and nodded, both of them turning towards the gangplank.

Juleka looked at Rose as she just sat there on her knees, and all she could see was her friend when she met her in the hospital, and all Juleka wanted to do was try and protect Rose from the world.

Rose meanwhile heard everything like she was asleep and far away and the world barely registered to her, all she could think of was plants and how resilient they were.

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Gabriel carefully started up the special burner, shaking his head as he realized what his wife had gotten so long ago and put gold into it. Waiting until it turned to a liquid he put powered meteor rock that he had prepared himself and then dropped a real phoenix feather into the mixture. Taking a dropper, he filled it with the liquid and inserted the liquid in the cracks of the Peaco*ck Miraculous.

“Miraculous, heal theyself!” Gabriel commanded and with a flash of light, the damage was repaired. Duusuu appeared and somersaulted in the air laughing in glee unlike the Kwami ever had before.

“Wow, I feel so much better! What happened? Huh? Nooroo!” Duusuu called out before he saw Nooroo floating there and shot at him, grabbing him in a hug as Duusuu laughed in glee. “Oh wow, everything was so chaotic in my head, like a nightmare where I'd fallen into very bad hands!”

A cough caused Duusuu to look over his shoulder and see Gabriel wearing both Miraculous. Duussu started to understand what was happening when.

“The dream isn’t over just yet my friend!” Nooroo said and Duusuu swallowed and looked at his friend.

“Nooroo, Duusu, Unify!” Gabriel commanded and they shot into their respective Miraculous. A wave of black energy rose from his feet, leaving behind black dress shoes and black dress pants. As the wave passed his waist, a moderate blue-violet tailcoat formed, the tail possessed several rounded points with moderate blue, dark-purple-centered spots. The lapel of that tailcoat makes a large collar that's wider at the back, and he wears a peaco*ck-feather-like co*cktail mask which is the same color as his tailcoat and tear-shaped with a darker purple mark in the center and a brilliant crimson translucent eyehole over his right eye. He held out his arms as they were covered by the coat and his hands were covered by silver gloves, his cane forming in his right while a silver fan with blue-violet white-tipped feathers appeared in his left.

“Not too bad, an upgrade from your old from, and the name to go with this will be what?” Nathalie asked and the Miraculous user smirked.

“Shadow Moth! A new name for both powers, but first my dear let’s try out both of them out on a target, a close target in this room” Shadow Moth said as he looked at Nathalie and grinned, a white butterfly flew into his hands and he covered it and used his power, turning it black and it flew into Nathalie’s glasses.

“Nathalie, my champion! Once before you were given this power but with time comes wisdom that I have earned! No longer will the power you grant cause a shade of red! No, this time it will all be normal my Enhancetress! And to give us eyes on what is out there, a Sentimonster to see all!” Shadow Moth said as the feather and Akuma hit her tablet before she was engulfed by dark purple energy that covered her body.

When it dispersed her new form was revealed. She was wearing a light purple dress that went to her knees where it met knee-high purple boots, it was armless and hugged her figure. She had on dark purple detached sleeves that turned into fingerless gloves with her nails painted blood red. The dress had a slant down the middle that went from her navel up and it revealed the sides of her breasts, around her neck was a necklace consisting of a purple circle with a green peaco*ck on it. Her face was covered by a veil that was under her eyes, eyes that had on purple eye shadow, a purple crown above her eyes, and above that her hair had turned crimson, styling itself into a high ponytail. From her tablet, a blob of purple energy formed that dissipated into a purple origami butterfly that had two eyes at an angle on its upper wings, with tiny black dots as its pupils.

“Lord Shadow Moth, Optigami will go and see what’s happening, how you can best use what’s happening,” Enhancetress said softly as Optigami flew away. Shadow Moth looked at her and laughed as he took one of her hands and kissed it.

“A perfect plan my dear,” Shadow Moth said as he watched the Sentimonster fly away, trying not to think about how Encantress looked and how he was fighting down his reaction to how she looked in that dress.

Enhancetress meanwhile looked down at her tablet and thanked him in her head for giving her a veil that hid her blush.

A beeping caused them to look at the tablet and they saw what Optigami saw, and Shadow Moth scowled as he saw Chat Noir and someone he couldn’t identify.

“Is that the Dragon-Miraculous?” Enhancetress asked and Shadow Moth only nodded, wondering what they would see and how the heroes would deal with whatever was at the river.

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As Chat Noir led the way, the ‘new’ dragon hero Arashiko followed behind him. The way it felt as she transformed into a new form for the first time was strange but welcoming and her new suit and change looked great.

She still wore a red jumpsuit but it was collared differently. For one thing, both her legs were black and a golden dragon rose from her left leg and went around her body until its head was on the front above her chest, the mouth was open on her with a black circle, in the circle were three white shapes that represented lightning, air and water. Her arms became black at the shoulders and turned gold at the elbows. Behind her head were the same four hours only they were now gold and the tips were now black with red separating the points and the horns, her hair was a solid crimson and her eye mast was red with a gold outline and her eyes were silted and red with yellow sclera. On her back was a sword in a sheath, the handle ending with a dragon head with a sphere in its mouth.

As she followed after Chat Noir, she could barely keep how she was feeling from showing on her face. The way that it felt to simply move over the rooftops, the way the Miraculous augmented her abilities was amazing, and using them out of combat was amazing! She wondered if she could ask to join the patrols she’s seen them at night sometimes. If Arashiko was going to be part of the team, then a few nights out as practice wouldn’t be too much, but then she would have to find a way to get around the mansion’s security.

As they ran towards the river Arashiko promised herself that this time she wouldn’t go off on her own, this time she would work with them and not try and take everything on her own.

As they reached the river they saw the battle and seeing the bridge was being handled they jumped and landed on the Liberty Arashiko’s blade slashed out and slit one of the fish monster’s throat. The puss that poured out covered the wound but the monster kept fighting, Chat Noir slashed out with his baton staff and slammed one of the fish monsters into the river.

Ladybug looked at them and grinned, with them here the plan she had could work! Now all she had to do was………. A roar from the larger monster caused everyone to turn and stare. …….. what is that? Ladybug thought as the larger creature roared again and pulled a human-size fleshy sack from the depths using its four back tentacles before it was put onto the opposite shore. It pulsed and the smaller creatures moved back away from all heroes and Couffaines, two standing guard by Rose causing Juleka to growl and clench her weapon tighter.

As they watched the sack started to glow, lines of energy formed leading from all the people with mucus on them, even Rose to Juleka’s furry.

Suddenly an arm burst from the sack loudly to everyone’s shock. As they watched a tall man with black hair pulled himself out of the sack. He was wearing a black cloak over a white shirt and black pants, a fencing saber on the right of his waist. He clutched a large black book in his hands and he looked around, his eyes stopping and staring straight at Ladybug.

Ladybug the crazed and possessive look in his eyes and took a step backwards, Arashiko and Char Noir saw this and both of them glared at the man.

“My Joan, I knew you were alive my love!” The figure said with a crazed tone and Ladybug took a step back and looked at him, before paling as she realized who the man meant. “Oh to think those dogs thought they had caught you! I knew you could get away and we would find each other eventually!”

“Milady?” Chat Noir asked softly and Ladybug swallowed and looked at the man as the large creature growled softly

“Joan of Arc, he thinks I’m her because I’m using the same Miraculous she did,” Ladybug stammered and everyone’s eyes widened. They were all so shocked that they never noticed two eyes by their feet had heard everything.

“Wait, what?!” Luka asked loudly in a shocked tone, the man across heard and started to growl in anger as he looked at Luka and raised a hand.

“Who is this!? Don’t worry beloved, I; Gilles de Rais will take care of all of these traitors!” Giles called out and raised a hand, moments later a blast of energy shot out at Luka.

Pegasus reacted first. “Portal!”

His power formed a portal just in front of Luka moments before another portal formed to the right of the larger monster and the blast tore it in two, the top half falling into the river as the lower half fell forward.

Giles just blinked and stared, shocked at what he had seen before he started to grow red in the face and started to scream at them. “You dare kill one of my River Krakens!? Fishmen charge, take a blood harvest! Arise my creations, kill them for killing your brother!”

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Shadow Moth stared at the screen and shook his head. “Joan of Arc was a Ladybug? “

“It seems so,” Enhancetress said absently, stunned. “So we’ve been fighting the successor of one of my childhood heroes.”

Shadow Moth nodded, a strange look on his face. The question he wanted to know was who had the Back Cat during that time. Another way for him to try and find anything to get him what he needed. A spike of rage and hatred caused him to smile and look down, seeing that this Giles had called up more of his monsters, two more of the so-named River Krakens and ten more of the Fishmen were swarming the Liberty, one of the River Kraken had slammed into it, sending Luka tumbling off the ship only for the Dragon hero to grab him and jump away.

“This seems like we have a chance my dear. May I ask for your blessing?” Shadow Moth asked and Enhancetress just laughed and kissed his right cheek, Shadow Moth felt a surge of energy flow through him.

Calling down a butterfly he covered it with his hands and sent it out. A moment later he held out the fan and a feather detached and flew after the butterfly.

“Only one each?” Enhantress asked and Shadow Moth nodded.as they watched the view from Optigami

“For now my dear, let us see what happens and if we can get a better picture, and see what happens and what this Giles can do,” Shadow Moth said as they watched in silence.

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Anarka glared at the scum as he kept ranting and waving about how he would save this Joan whoever she was, as the monsters he summoned attacked her boat. The heroes were fighting the things he named Fishmen and the River Krakens or whatever were trying to hit them with the mucus things their tentacles spat, she had dodged a few blobs herself and the bridge sounded like it was being attacked even harder. Pegasus had taken Luka away after the River Krakens started to target him, but then they just attacked anyone, all the while Giles ranted and raved from the other side of the river.

Another blast from Giles had caused Cha Noir, Ladybug, and the Dragon hero to dodge and they were fighting on the river bank, with the River Krakens targeting anyone trying to get across the river to take out Giles. Anarka slashed out with her sword and blinded one of the Fishmen before she kicked it into the river.

As Carapace slammed his shield into one of the Fishmen he gazed towards the river and paled at what he saw. “AKUMA!”

Looking towards them, the heroes still on the Liberty saw the Akuma-Butterfly flying towards the ship. Juleka turned and looked at it as the

“Hello Seine Ravagers, I am Shadow Moth! Normally I only do this one-on-one, but today is something special so let’s try something new! I’ve got a deal for you all, save yourself then get me the Miraculous of Chat Noir and Ladybug! Captain Hardrock, with your Skull Crew you’ll handle the smaller creatures and the Heroes! Lady Blaze; use your mastery of water to keep the larger monster at bay. Princess Flora, use the plants within the river and along the shores to hold back all your foes and awaken from what is being done to you against your will!” Shadow Moth’s voice projected into their brains, for a single moment they stood there before they all reacted.

“Yes, Hawkmoth!” Anarka and Juleka said as Rose murmured something before dark-purple energy covered the Liberty and the three people still on it.

From Anarka came Captain Hardrock, who stood there with her long red hair in its upward spiked, a savage glint in her golden eyes as the dark eyeliner with three lines going towards the sides of her head made the grin on her blood-red lips look even fiercer. Her brow was covered by a black bandana with a white spiky-haired skull on the front, along with gold circular earrings. She wore a skin-tight, turtle-necked jumpsuit that was red from the collar to the chest and black from the chest down with the color separation looking like flames, and a black open captain’s jacket with a golden inner lining that had golden spikes on the shoulders and golden buckles on the sides. Black fingerless gloves with golden edges around the upper holes cover her arms up to her elbows and knee-high boots collared black and red in a flame-like pattern with black soles, golden heels, black inner lining, and black stripes with golden spikes above the ankles. A sword in a scabbard was on her right side and she looked ready to kill as she drew her blade and pointed it at Giles. “Bilgerat! You’ll feel me forces and my blade before this day be done!”

“Her forces?” Chat Noir muttered before they all saw what she meant.

Around her formed fifteen tall purple blobs her size that broke apart, revealing ten white skeletons with purple dots in their eye sockets. They were dressed in black ripped pirate clothing with nine of them wielding black metal short swords and guns and a tenth with a black metal saber and a black triangle hat on that stood in front of the others and saluted Captain Hardrock.

“The crew is ready Captain Hardrock!” The hat-wearing one said and Captain Hardrock just laughed.

Juleka was gone, from the blob that covered her revealed her new Akuma persona for all to see. Her hair once straight black hair was now curly and flame red with black streaks, in her ears were two ruby earrings shaped like a flame. Her eyes had black markings like her mother’s but above them, she wore a red metal tiara with red pearls above each eye. Her lips were as black as space itself and in a devilish smirk that was so out of place. She wore a tight red dress that exposed her neck to the tops of her breasts and had a necklace of a green stone on a red thread that fee to the base of her neck. Her red gown was armless and it had orange flame patterns on it and she wore a crimson shawl and shoulder orange gloves length fingerless gloves that went down to five black rings on her fingers, fingers that had ended in crimson claws, the outfit was finished with orange stockings that she disappeared under crimson knee high heeled boots.

When the purple energy was gone from where Rose had been a new figure was revealed. She wore a green dress that went down to her mid-thighs. Beyond that, she wore green pantyhose and jade green high heels. The upper part of the dress went to her shoulders and she had on shoulder armor with three small white open flowers pointing forward, and around both her wrists were magenta-colored wood rings. Her face had on jade lipstick, green eyeshadow and there was a green gem on her forehead.

The Liberty had also been transformed into a crimson pirate ship, it had a mast at the center of the ship, and the single sail had three speakers built into it in a triangle formation. The ship had four strange contraptions on the deck, they looked like cannons but they had speakers where the mouths would be, and at the front of the ship was a black wood figurehead in the shape of an angel with broken wings and animal ears on its head with a head consisting of a maw that took up the entire face.

“Shall we handle the monsters before the heroes Princess Flora?” What had been Juleka asked as she raised a hand and pointed it at one of the Fishmen before a ball of fire formed alongside her hand and shot at it. The Fishman screamed as the flames hit and cooked it, steam rising from it as it fell.

“My dear Lady Blaze, I think we should,” Princess Flora said clenched her hands and vines shot out of the river and grabbed one of the River Krakens and threw it at the other one sending both of them crashing into the river.

Captain Hardrock just laughed as she stood at the steering wheel, grinning as she locked eyes with Giles as the speakers set in the sail suddenly sent a blast of pure sound at the River Krakens, sending them flying through the air and landing on the opposite shore, missing Giles by a foot, Giles only glared back at her, watching as five of the skeletons ran about the Liberty fighting his Fishmen still on board as the one in the hat stayed by Captain Hardrock to protect her.

“What foul pacts have these fools made?! What price did they pay for aid from devils? To turn against the Angel serving Joan at God’s command! Oh my Joan, once you’re safe and healed we will liberate our nation!” Giles proclaimed as he looked at his two monsters and sent a blast of magic at them that energized them and they roared and shot at the Liberty.

The heroes and Luka had been forced to the staircase as more of the Fishmen came out of the river, only the Liberty dropping off five of the skeletons

“What do we do now?” Pegasus asked as his Miraculous beeped, the others looking at the battle as they all fell back, Ladybug and Chat Noir at the rear and spinning their weapons, Ladybug gritted her teeth and looked at Giles. The fact that he could control those monsters made a lot of things risky, and they didn’t know the rate he could make more.

“Pegasus, fall back and recharge, don’t use the underground! Chat Noir help the civilian out of here Dragon girl……” Ladybug began before a roar caused them to look at the river as a third River Kraken appeared.

Ladybug looked at the scene still spinning her yoyo and nodded. “ Dragon….”

“Arashiko,” Arashiko said and Ladybug nodded.

“Arashiko, go help Carapace, wait until Chat Noir and Pegasus get back with help and tell Carapace to make a large bowl, then once Pegasus makes a portal wind dragon to carry all the Fishmen into it,” Ladybug said as everyone nodded and then she looked at Luka. “Chat Noir, don’t forget to get that civilian out of here before you meet up with Viperion, and stay out of sight of the media!”

“Got it m’lady! Come on Luka!” Chat Noir said as he looked at Ladybug and when they nodded at each other Chat Noir grabbed Luka and pole vaulted away as Pegasus jumped to a roof and dashed over the rooftops away from the river in another direction from Chat Noir and Luka.

Back with the heroes, Ladybug and Arashiko charged the bridge, Ladybug stopping to fight with them as Arashiko ran past her to fight with Carapace. She lunged and sank her sword into one of the Fishmen Carapace was fighting and threw it into the other five he was fighting.

Back with Ladybug, she and Apisera were punching and kicking, waiting for their teammates to come back so they could try and do their plan.

“SO! That Joan he mentioned. Was it the Joan?” Apisera asked as she threw a Fishman into another one as she and Ladybug fought side by side.

“Fight now girl, talk at base!” Ladybug said as she spin kicked a Fishman and lassoed another to use as a frail.

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“…… and I repeat, after a human hatched from a fleshy egg carried by the large creature that paralyzed people, an Akumatization of three people and the transformation of a boat has happened! The Akumas are attacking the monsters, proving to this reporter that whatever they are, Hawkmoth has nothing to do with them!” Nadja Chamack’s voice from a phone was the only thing that the people crowded around it as people at the pool waited for the lockdown to lift so they could go to their homes or other shelters.

“What are those things?” A male teen swimmer asked in horror as everyone listened and watched in horror.

“Could this be a super villain from outside the city? A girl in a one-piece swimsuit with black hair asked in horror prompting terror to fill the eyes of the swimmers.

“I’ve never heard of anyone who can do this, have you?” A senior citizen asked aloud and most people muttered no.

“No, and somebody with those things would have been heard of by now, I mean right?” Another swimmer asked the group and they fell into quiet discussions.

Kim stood at the edge of the crowd with Undine, both of them in their street clothes. They had been about to go to lunch when the lockdown had happened, the operator of the Swimming pool closed the shutters, locking everyone there inside. When the Akuma Lockdown law was passed, it was supposed to keep people safe, but in government buildings, it called for a headcount of all the people there, and the pool’s supervisor followed it to the teeth. He was standing guard at the doors and since he had seen Kim first, he couldn’t escape to help the others.

Ondine was just as worried, she knew Bolla was mad they were stuck here. All she could do was meet up with the heroes tonight and hope they weren’t backed by the Guardians, the stories Bolla had told her, she just couldn’t believe that Ladybug and the other heroes were those kinds of people.

“Looks like we won’t be able to get out of here soon, hu Kim,” Ondine said, looking around as she tried to find anything that might let her escape the building.

“Yeah, I’ve been here before the supervisor kept us here a half-hour after,” Kim said and shrugged at Ondine’s look. “What, the guy is

Bolla was within Ondine’s purse, and she was looking at Ondine’s phone, more specifically the view from the news camera in the helicopter overlooking the battle. Bolla was of the Sea, and the monsters she had fought when the spirits were free were nothing like this! None of the others ever told of anything that even looked like either of the two species the others were fighting! She wondered what they hadn’t known back then, and what the price had been to gain such knowledge.

“No way for that man to let us leave is there? In case the battle comes this way of course,” Ondine said hurriedly and Kim looked at her and nodded after a few moments.

“No, no way. There’s only one way out of here, most of this place is made of concrete so the fire marshal was okay with only one exit/entrance I guess,” Kim said and Ondine nodded as they listened to the others talk about villains and heroes. Kim’s eye looked towards the locked door, he was sure if he could get away and transform he could get out of here but that would raise more questions, questions that he didn’t want to answer at all. Sorry guys, I only hope that you can handle this without my help. I need to find a new pool, a manager who handles the Akuma Lockdown really would be a lot better for my future. He thought as he sighed and shook his head.

He couldn’t know that Ondine was thinking the same as he was. She knew that her new responsibility meant changes, but this wasn’t one she had thought was needed, guess she was wrong.

A commotion from the door caused them all to turn and see the supervisor, a tall man with glasses, slick black hair and he was wearing a green suit. He was chaining up the doors. After he was finished he clapped his hands and nodded before turning around and blinked as he saw everyone looking at him. “What?”

“What the hell are you doing!?” One of the crowd growled and the supervisor only looked at him with a deadpanned expression.

“Those things aren’t caused by Hawkmoth, ergo Ladybug might not be able to fix this. So I’m protecting this place no matter what you all say about it,” The supervisor said bluntly, and that seemed to make most of the people wince and look away.

“But don’t worry! There is an emergence exit in the employee area, if we need to evacuate then I will lead you all into that area and you will not be in danger!” The supervisor said and Kim and Ondine looked around, trying to find where the door might be and how to slip out.

As Ondine looked around the room, trying to figure out where the door that led to the only other way out was. But the more she tried to figure it out, she suddenly figured out the one other problem she had, Kim. She knew he would try and find her, and she didn’t want to tell him about Bolla. He was a great guy, but he would want to get involved and she couldn’t let that happen, he might get hurt and ruin his chances to compete professionally.

Kim meanwhile tried to think up an excuse to slip away; but first, he would need to go to the bathroom, then send Xuppu out to scout out how to find the door out... But he knew that Ondine would look for him, and he didn’t have an idea on how to not let her know, the best thing he could do was just wait. He read the comics, if he told Ondine about it then she would get involved no matter what they wanted, and he couldn’t let that happen to her.

As the two of them stood there, both wondered how they could get away alone without the other wondering where they were, while the crowd around the phone looked down at it, waiting to see what would happen.

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Chat Noir dropped into an alley and let Luka down. As he stepped back and looked at him with a raised eyebrow, Luka knew what he had been brought here for. He wondered how Chat Noir knew who he was, but that was something that he could deal with after his family was safe. But as he stood there he thought about what happened when the Monsters attacked, and he knew he had to ask Sass something as soon as he appeared.

“So is this the part where you ask for my help?” Luka asked and Chat Noir grinned and held up a Chinese box wordlessly. Luka said nothing as he took it, as he opened it, a ball of light formed above it and Sass appeared, ginning at Luka who grinned back.

“Greetings hatchling, it has been a while,” Sass said and crossed his arms as he looked at Luka. “And I can tell that you have a question that you need answered.”

“Yeah Sass, I…….. is there a way to change the harp?” Luka asked and Sass nodded as Chat Noir looked on. “It’s just, those things out there, they have to be fought at range. And a different weapon would be a lot better for me.”

“Good call and yes it can. The harp may become a bow, and it fires a mana arrow. It has a range of about 100 feet, and if you form the arrow on multiple strings from the back of the bow back, the arrow is stronger. Be warned, the more strings used the longer it will take the next arrow to form,” Sass said and Luka frowned.

“How long is the wait?” Luka asked as his mind went over the ways he would need to use his weapon with this limitation.

“For the first string, none. For the 2^nd string, 30 seconds and all three will equal a full minute until your next arrow. The arrows can pull things towards you or pull you towards what you hit. You must judge the battle and how it will be affected by your actions, as all true Snakes must,” Sass said as Luka grinned and put the Snake Miraculous on.

“I will. Sass scales slither!” Luka said, prompting Sass to shoot into the Miraculous. With a flash of light, Luka transformed into Viperion. As his deep green, dark cyan, yellow, brilliant opal, and dark turquoise bodysuit appeared on him, a green harp formed in front of him that he grabbed and pressed a button on the center of it and it turned into a bow with three strings as a brilliant opal and turquoise-ish gray mask with fangs at the end appeared over his eyes as they changed color to jade green.

Viperion looked at his bow and drew back the closet string to him and an energy arrow formed and he shot it upwards. It landed on the roof and he grabbed it and started to run up the side of the building, jumping forward and landing on the roof as Chat Noir landed next to him.

“Let’s go and save the others, we have to hurry!” Chat Noir said and Viperion nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll find a place to look over the whole scene, once I get into position and Ladybug says go I’ll start Second Chance,” Viperion said as he fell into step behind Chat Noir as they ran towards the battle.

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Shadow Moth looked at what Optigami sent back and scowled at what he was seeing. He had told Enhancetress to get a better view of Giles and the more they saw and heard, the more he didn’t understand. He knew that he had never heard of someone like him before, but where did he come from?

As he watched the four heroes fight against the monsters, he knew now that the Seven’s offer was needed, this proved it. If all the Miraculous the other side had were set against them, then they needed something to even the odds or give them an edge. With the key they had from the Seven, they were able to translate the Guardians book. Well, not the Seven themselves but their Miraculous, that was what he needed. If they didn’t uncover something that could help them, then besides how he might feel for them giving them how to heal Nathalie and repair the Peaco*ck, he might have to make plans to take the Seven’s Miraculous, and with how they were hiding something from them that wasn’t too far beyond his shaky morals.

He looked at Enhancetress as she looked down at something on Nathalie’s phone and tried to figure out what she was looking for.

After a few moments, she gasped loudly and Shadow Moth looked up and saw her staring at her phone in shock.

“What is it?!” Shadow Moth demanded and Enhancetress looked up at him slowly.

“Gabriel……… there is one thing that connects to ‘Joan’ ‘Giles’ and ‘Betrayal’…… Joan of Arc,” Enhancetress said dumbly and Shadow Moth looked at her in shock.

“He…… Joan was a Ladybug….. Joan was a Ladybug!” Shadow Moth said with a grin as he started to laugh.

“Sir!?” Enhantress asked and she started to wonder if he was having a breakdown.

“Joan was killed; it’s possible to defeat a Ladybug!” Shadow Moth said as he grinned. This made everything better, even her Luck Charm could be beaten, his opponent was a human after all…….. Shadow Moth blinked and stood there as a weight seemed to be lifted from him, something that he hadn’t even known was there. With the reality that Ladybugs could be defeated, something that he had started to think was impossible beyond his thoughts, he felt stronger than ever, with the key from the Seven, he soon know everything the Guardians knew, and he would become even stronger! Even this Giles, one day he will take all his secrets and make them his own, and he would keep growing even stronger!

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As the transformed Liberty fired another blast at the River Kraken Lady Blaze shot a blast of fire and baked a Fishman, killing it as she laughed.

Before the bridge with Ladybug, Apisera looked down at the river as she panted and tried to catch her breath. “So think Jules has some anger issues?”

“Yeah, maybe, she has depths you know,” Ladybug said before a beeping from her yoyo came a moment before her earbud chirped.

“M’lady, Viperion is finding a place to watch everything. Me and Pegasus are inbound, we’ll be there in seconds. Ready for the plan!” Chat Noir’s voice caused Ladybug to smirk.

“Good! Carapace get away from the river, Pegasus go with him, Chat Cover for Carapace! Once you’re out of sight of the river, Pegasus make a portal with the other end at the bridge for Arashiko to send all of the Fishmen into with Water. Carapace make a dome once Pegasus is done, Arashiko use Wind to get back through the portal and go recharge out of sigh. Once Viperion activates his power, we wait 30 seconds then go!” Ladybug said and the others all nodded.

Chat Noir and Pegasus landed by the girls and dashed past them, running over the bridge. As soon as they reached Carapace he turned and ran, Pegasus following behind him. As Chat Noir attacked the Fishmen, he smirked as Arashiko slashed down with her blade, tearing off a Fishman’s arm only for the limb to shrivel up and turn to dust as a new limb grew from the wound’s pus.

“Second Chance!” Viperion’s voice came over the comms and then a moment later. “ABORT, ABORT! If Arashiko touches a single covered civilian even in Water or Air-form she’ll be stuck too! And Giles is about to turn a cat into a monster to attack his side of the river, Pegasus, Carapace it doesn’t dry out, you need to hold it there!”

Giles had grabbed a black stray cat that was moving along the river and looked at it before grinning. He held it in his right hand and in his left three orange spheres of energy formed before he forced them into the cat, the feline screaming in pain as he did so. As the cat started to glow he threw it upward and it landed on the ground, growing until it was eight feet tall, and it had grown a second head, both of the head’s mouths had grown downward saber fangs on the outward side. It roared and ran at Arashiko and Chat Noir before an energy arrow hit its rightmost eye.

Ladybug looked towards it and saw Viperion firing another arrow, this time at Giles who dodged the blast only for a blast of sound from the Liberty to hit him and send him flying against the wall under the bridge.

As the cat monster yowled as pus fell from its eye Chat Noir looked at it and realized that this newer monster wasn’t regenerating. “The new one, it doesn’t heal!”

As a River Kraken blocked the Liberty’s attacks, Giles got up and scowled. He knew that his fast creation wouldn’t have a long life, but he needed something to take the interlopers' attention while he figured out how to save Joan! He leaned against the wall and went still as he felt metal, turning he saw grating and an insect hive, grinning as he saw a rat fighting off some bees. He sent a black energy blast at the rat from his right hand and from his left came a white glow that covered the bees, as the other River Kraken broke the grating, letting him into the sewers.

Chapter 23

Chapter Text

On one side of the bridge Carapace and Pegasus had made it back and were attacking the cat, forcing it to face them as Chat Noir and Arashiko dealt with the Fishmen with help from Viperion’s newly discovered bow.

At the other end, Ladybug and Apisera fought together and held the line, in a lull as the Fishmen regenerated, Apisera looked to their left at the senti-skeleton pirates on the lower river bank, scowling as a Fishman lunged into the river before getting out and attacking the Senti-Pirates. So far the two of them had been able to keep the fish monsters away from the people, but they used the other staircase to get at them while the pirates held the other, but even Apisera could see that neither side was winning.

“We need something boss bug, we’re losing ground!” Apisera said as she slammed back the same Fishman she had been fighting.

“Yeah……… But where can we put them……” Ladybug said as a roar caused her and Apisera to look to the left and see another River Kraken appear and throw five Fishmen at Ladybug and Apisera, only for Viperion to fire arrows at them, hitting limbs and forcing them into the river.

A yell to the left let them know the senti-pirates were falling back to the stairs, and as the other River Kraken charged the Liberty, a blast of fire sent it back as Lady Blaze fought against it.

At the other end of the bridge, Chat Noir looked down at the river as he spun his baton-staff and tried to think up a plan; if he and Arashiko went over the side, would the people be okay? Still, he never thought he would fight side by side with Akuma! All that was needed was for Hawkmoth to appear and this would be the most improbable day ever!

Aboard the Liberty Lady Blaze and Princess Flora walked to the edge and looked at the heroes as they fought the monster cat. As she watched the cat Princess Flora sighed and Lady Blaze reached over and held Princess Flora’s shoulder.

“What’s wrong my princess?” Lady Blaze asked and Princess Flora just sighed.

“I just wish I could be up there helping them to kill that cat, she just hates all of the furry demons,” Princess Flora admitted and Lady Blaze kissed her nearest check.

“She never knew that about your host my love, what happened to her?” Lady Blaze asked and Princess Flora was about to say something when they heard a loud buzzing. From under the bridge ten bee-like creatures the size of wolves flew out!

They were colored like normal bees, but under their wings were two yellow chitin-covered arms, one on each side right under the wings. The arms had elbows and ended in four clawed hands, their faces were normal for bees, with two large eyes and mandibles on their heads but their faces had lipless mouths and teeth stuck in a grin. Their stingers weren’t normal either; it was instead of one stinger there was a longer one in the center of had three smaller ones in a triangle formation around it, with the larger one that half a foot long.

“All crew handle the sky threat! All secondary canons target and fire!” Captain Hardrock called out as she gripped the Liberty’s steering wheel and glared at Giles as he hid under the bridge.

As the skeletons all turned the speaker canons toward the incoming bee things, Lady Blaze stepped forward and raised her hands before sending blasts of fire at the monsters; however, for every one, she killed two more appeared.

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Shadow Moth scowled as he watched Giles cast a spell on a bee hive of all things, more and more of the bee monsters coming from it. He had to use moths to spread his magic, but Giles was turning whatever was on hand into monsters he directed. His minions were all humans or creatures that they could destroy if they went rogue, but he worried that this fool didn’t have anything like that in place. After a few moments of thinking about what he could do, he nodded.

He flicked the fan and two feathers flew out of it, they floated out the open window and moments later the window closed. Enhancetress looked at him in surprise, wondering if there was a special reason that he had done that.

“There is a real danger of those things getting free. If any one of them can reproduce on their own………” Shadow Moth said at her look and she winced and nodded.

Enhancetress went still and looked at Shadow Moth as he looked at what Optigami was seeing and looked at him, thinking dark thoughts as she realized why his comment bothered her.

“The giants that kept the shipment from reaching us………. You think it was something like this?” Enhancetress asked and Shadow Moth nodded.

“Yes, and if these things can track magic like the Kwami, we might be exposed, we can’t have that,” Shadow Moth said and Enhancetress nodded. She got out her phone and started to make a few notes, wondering if they should look into the mansion’s defenses and if they should contact their silent partner about this, after all, non-thinking guards were good.

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At the bakery Sabine held her hands as she watched the TV, just seeing those kids fight was bothering her more than she thought it would. Thankfully the bakery was empty, as the attack had happened in a low period for the store. As Tom came upstairs and came over he winched as he watched.

“So not Akuma if they're fighting the same enemy……. What is happening in this city,” Tom muttered and Sabine sighed.

“Another reason to find whoever gave her that item and talk to them with my staff,” Sabine muttered darkly and Tom chuckled and flexed his free hand.

“Save some for me if you find him. Should we talk to them about this?” Tom asked before their phone rang. Looking at each other they shrugged and Tom walked over and got it and smiled. “Oh, hello!”

Tom nodded and smiled. “So you’ve gotten a replay about the hearing, good!”

Tom listened and grinned. “A few days to make their case then it’ll happen? And you’ve got the raws of what was sent to us? Impossible to lose based on what he did? Good………. After? Do you think so? We’ll think about it, might be a good nest egg. Good luck with the attack…….. well you don’t know what happens until the butterfly is cleansed…… goodbye.”

“The lawyer?” Sabine asked and Tom smiled.

“Great news, with what he did the hearing must happen within the next few days or well…. Worse things than what will happen. And we probably have a good case against either the school board or a few people at her school,” Tom said and Sabine grinned, happy that it would soon be Owl Season.

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“We need help!” Lady Flora snarled as she called up plants from the river, the vines grabbing the bee monsters and pulling them down into the water and letting them drown. As she looked at them one of the bee-things fired its larger stinger at them and moments before it reached her Lady Blaze burned it with a blast of fire. As they stood there two feathers floated into Princess Flora’s magenta bands on her left arm and the other into Lady Blaze’s right glove.

“Two feathers just merged with the Akuma at the front of the boat! More Sentimonsters are incoming! I’m dropping back to recharge……. Good news, reinforcements are incoming on the Bug side!” Viperion called over the comms moments before the sound of gunshots came from the side Ladybug and Apisera were fighting on, moments before the five Fishmen all fell as their legs were shot off!

Ladybug and the others all looked towards them and saw SWAT armed with rifles and shields with police coming behind them as they moved towards the heroes, and behind the regular officers was a forklift with a wooden pallet on it. As the driver poked his head out Ladybug saw Commissaire Laborous grinning at them as the SWAT officers attacked the Fishmen, the police moving with the forklift holding long poles.

“Handle the other side, we’ll try and move the people to give you more room! As we planned people, let’s save them!” Bertolfo called out and the police officers all roared and acted. As the SWAT members pushed the Fishmen with their shields and the police officers succeeded in using their poles to move a paralyzed person onto the pallet and cover Bertolfo as he drove away. Looking at each other the two bug heroes shook their heads and charge across the bridge to help the others, striking with their weapons at the bee monsters as they flew out from under the bridge.

Below on the Liberty Lady Blaze and Princess Flora had gone still and were covered in a blue glow, as this happened the glow brightened on their feet and flowed along the deck behind them until it was three feet away from and then both grew into five foot round half spheres. Ask and you shall receive girls, two monsters to help you handle that monster. And if you get me some Miraculous in the process; then that’s just a good thing. Shadow Moth’s voice said in the Akuma’s minds as the spheres both cracked and revealed the Senti-Monster that had been created.

Behind Lady Blaze was a large five-foot-tall vulture made of black flame with white emeralds for eyes. It had black metal on its claws, beak, and front of its wings. It took off and shot at the bees trying to get out from under the bridge

From the other half sphere was a unicorn made of block wood with wings. It had a horn that was shaped like a cutlass and was a brilliant white that seemed to grow from a flower on its head and the wings were a crimson color and seemed to be made of three layered flower petals with three vines growing downward at the end of the wings. It had a tail made from a spiked vine and was long enough for it to be used as a whip and its hooves were crimson with spikes and as it walked towards the two Akuma before firing a blast of energy at one of the River-Krakens and screeched as it jumped off the ship flew towards the Krakens.

“Your Dark Phoenix is wonderful my Lady!” Princess Flora said and Lady Blaze looked at the wooden unicorn as it flew past one of the River Krakens and tore off one of its upper limbs with its horn.

“And your Death-horn is fierce my Princess,” Lady Blaze said and stepped in front of Princess Flora suddenly as she saw a bee monster charging at her and she turned it to ashes with a single blast.

“My favor for helping me my Lady,” Princess Flora said as she kissed the right side of Lady Blaze’s face before she looked at the battle as her Death-horn slashed

As the cannon-speakers fired at the bee-monsters Lady Blaze smiled and grinned as she directed her Dark Phoenix to attack some of the Fishmen fighting Hardrock’s Sentimonsters, it fired a blast of fire from its beak that burned one to death, but another grabbed it and jumped into the river, the second one came back up and moments after it left the river the burned one came back, only darker scales the sign the monster had been hurt. She glared and then looked up at the street level and raised an eyebrow at the police she saw.

“Oh look my princess, the police are actually trying to fight back,” Lady Blaze said and Princess Flora looked towards the road and giggled.

“Oh my, they’re actually trying? After all the times they’ve failed they’re still trying?” Princess Flora asked as she giggled. The police had tried to deal with the early Akumas, to their failure and after a grandmother, Akuma had turned most of the squad sent to deal with her into literal babies, they had gone the other way, letting the Heroes handle the Akumas while they evacuated civilians.

As the two of them fought and directed their Sentimonsters to strike Gile’s monsters, Princess Flora kept an eye on the heroes, waiting to strike at them when the flow of battle allowed it.

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Above on the bridge Ladybug and Apisera had reached the cat monster and Apisera took stock, besides the bee-monsters and the saber tooth two-headed cat there were ten Fishmen, as energy arrows started to rain down from above singling Viperion was back, she grinned and looked at the cat.

“I’ll handle the cat and get out of here, if I wait it’ll stay paralyzed right?” Apisera asked and Ladybug nodded moments later Viperion’s voice came over the comms.

“On overwatch and ready to take another Chance………. The Sentimonsters are dealing with the Krakens? And………. A Kraken is staying back…… I think it’s the one that came up first, is that important?” Viperion asked and Ladybug went still.

She went over everything that she knew about magic and other draining Akuma and Sentimonsters she and Chat Noir have faced. As she looked around she nodded as he saw the dead River Kraken, the police and SWAT dealing with the Fishmen and bee monsters, how the bees seemed to not need to stay wet and she knew what they had to do.

“Everyone, listen! We need to get the other River Kraken onto dry land, let it dry out and we might win! Second Chance now, if anything goes wrong stop us! Apisera handles the Two-faced cat and then she goes time out, Pegasus Portal, Arashiko water to bring the third Kraken onto land, Carapace Shelter it! After that Pegasus goes to recharge. Arashiko, Chat, we’re keeping the bees off him!” Ladybug ordered and they all nodded.

“Second Chance! Plan is a go with changes! Chat cover Apisera’s escape and watch the sky! Get away Bee-Girl, go over the fanged monster on the left side! Then get to the rooftops and run above until you’re at two and hide! Ladybug the Winged Unicron will attack you once the Kraken is caught! Arashiko leave the man under there and the sewer entrance alone, focus on the Kraken for now! Carapace make a dome with while facing the bridge, and Pegasus make the portal start point on the other side of the bridge from the Liberty and the endpoint ten feet down the street !” Viperion barked and they all acted.

“Venom!” Apisera cried out and as her stinger formed around her top she ran at the monster cat as Chat Noir and Pegasus following behind her. She jumped and stung the right head as she spun overhead and landed on the paralyzed creature and then bounded for the nearest rooftop. As the bees came at her Chat Noir jumped and swung his baton-staff and sent them flying as she escaped the area. As Pegasus rushed by the paralyzed monster Carapace followed behind him and as Chat Noir landed he show past them towards the bridge and bashed a Fishman into the air.

“Portal!” Pegasus barked and formed a portal away from

Arashiko jumped off the bridge towards the Liberty and at the top of her jump cried out. “Water Dragon!”

As she turned into water she hit the river and moments later a wave rushed under the bridge and carried the hidden Kraken into Pegasus’s portal. As the monster and water hit the ground the water flowed towards the bridge and formed back into Arashiko moments before Carapace cried out.

“Shell-ter!” He barked as he thrust his shield towards the monster and a large dome appeared around it as it used its tentacles to carry it and try to get back into the water. As he stood there, the Kraken slammed against the dome as the bee monsters flew at him. Ladybug’s yoyo flew out and caught one that she used as a frail against the black wood unicorn as it flew at her. Chat Noir growled and shot forward as Pegasus fell back as arrows fell from the sky.

“Viperion here, dropping back. Sorry but this is my last recharge,” Viperion said and Ladybug bit her lip as she tried to figure out how to handle this, how to plan this just right.

Arashiko slashed one of the bees in two and as it fell she looked around and for a moment she thought she saw something. Looking back along the bridge she saw knew she saw something and looked towards the bridge, however some of the bees flew by her towards Carapace and she jumped after them, slashing out with her sword again and landing on the dome. “Viperion, the people on the bridge, are they moving?”

Ladybug dodged a bee monster’s attack and looked at Arashiko for a second, moments later she saw the Twin Fang was starting to move and Arashiko was close enough for it to attack her, and Arashiko was facing away from it.

“Arashiko; the cat’s free! Move!” Ladybug barked and Arashiko didn’t hesitate, she lunged towards the bridge moments before the cay thrust out with its paw before it fell to the ground, both heads growling at each other before they screeched and bound towards the dome and attacked it, only for Chat Noir to hit it’s right head as Viperion rained arrows down at it.

Ladybug looked towards the bridge and saw her eyes went to the police officer holding onto the person covered in mucus and saw that he was starting to try and break free. She turned and saw the captured River Kraken and saw that it was slowly losing its strength. I was right, if we take out the drainer, then we save the people! And with the police getting the people out, we can handle the Akuma and this Giles! Ladybug thought as she looked around and then straight down at the other shore as the Fishmen and senti-pirates fought on as they were forced back towards the stairs.

Ladybug jumped onto the monster cat and If they took out the Akuma within the Liberty, the skeleton Pirates would disappear and the other monsters would swarm the street. They had to deal with Giles first, that was something they had to do. But they couldn’t leave the people on the bridge unprotected. Ladybug looked from the SWAT officers handling the monsters while the normal Police moved the civilians back and out of danger. As the Death-Horn flew back upwards and roared it fired a blast from its horn at Ladybug, she dodged and the blast hit the cat monster and sent it backward.

The River Kraken under the dome gave a last halfhearted roar before it collapsed to the ground moments before the Shell-ter dropped as Carapace’s Miraculous started to beep. A scream of fear caused all the heroes and police to look at the people on the bridge, all of the mucus had dissipated and they were all free, and in the middle of an Akuma attack.

Below Giles stumbled and the glow hitting the hive sparked and things flew out of the hive, five of them slipped by him and disappeared into the sewer. As Giles got back up he paled at what he felt. That’s a reaction, but how!? The surge just now, I must have pushed too hard, I have to destroy this The glow around the hive turned black and as it crumbled away but not before four final bees shot out, and he looked at them and paled, this time in fear. “No!”

As the bees started to grow, the first two grew into normal bee monsters, but the third grew twice as tall and the hands seemed to be even larger, but it was the final bee that was a true monster.

As it flew out from under the bridge it kept growing until it was as large as the Liberty, and unlike the others, this creature had four arms where the others had two and it had four wings, two on each side and a distance of ten feet between each set. And where its stinger would be was one a foot long in the center of three smaller ones each half a foot long with three small inch long needles around them. Its mouth was lipless like the others and it opened it before it roared and the other monsters started roaring back.

Above the heroes and police could on stare in horror at the ship size bee that floated in the sky before its stingers started to spark energy before firing a blast of lighting at one of the two remaining River Krakens.

Giles only looked at the ship-sized bee before his eyes flashed gold and above on the bridge, the cat monster’s eyes flashed the same color before it bound towards the bridge and jumped, landing on the back of the ship-bee near the other side of the stinger and with a roar and it started to tear at the monster it was on. The vessel bee shrieked and the bear-sized bee flew and forced the monster cat off and rammed it against the opposite concert wall under the bridge on the other side from the from that the heroes were on, the monster cat going still as the bear bee tore one of the creature's throats open before attacking the other.

Giles looked at the Drone and his eyes flashed gold before he ducked into the sewer, grabbing a rat that he mutated it into something he could ride, he and his mount escaped beneath Paris as his monsters all roared and attacked anything they could, the River Krakens attacking the Drone before it could fly off.

Bertolfo scars started to hurt as he looked at the monster before the bees redoubled their efforts and attacked everyone with electric blasts from their stingers. As he watched the SWAT members cover the freed civilians, the bridge was now clear of all but the heroes who fought on. Hearing a cry he looked around he saw a building’s door was open, a tall teen with a goatee was trying to get his attention and when they locked eyes he knew what the teen was trying to say.

“Get the civilians into that building now! SWAT switch to guns and cover our retreat!” He barked as he pushed one of the civilians by him towards the door, the teen now armed with a fireman’s ax right by it. As his men dropped back, the SWAT started to fire their pistols as they retreated, keeping themselves between the monsters and the civilians, Bertolfo with them. Within moments they reached the door, the teen had used his ax to kill one of the bees, the gash he made in its head through its right eye telling Bertolfo it was dead. As he pushed the teen inside he saw the other bee monsters grabbing the captive Fishmen and he scowled as he slammed the door closed.

Looking around he saw that they were in a lobby with tables, sofas, and chairs plus glass-covered windows. Hearing the buzz from outside he whistled, all eyes going to him.

“SWAT; get to the windows and keep them closed, use your shields if you have to! Everyone else helps barricade this door now! And good job kid,” Bertolfo barked and the teen grinned back moments before the door bucks and they heard the buzzing outside increase. “We hold here until help comes or the heroes put these things down! Now move kid!”

“The name’s Theo by the way!” Theo said as ran towards a sofa and started to pull it towards the door as some of the police came to help as the rest moved to defend the room.

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At the other end of the bridge, the heroes fought back to back as the bee’s attacked them, Carapace having run off to recharge. Viperion stayed where he was and fired down at the bees, they all watched as some of them grabbed the bound Fishmen and flew towards the ship bee, Pegasus saw the bear bee break the water’s surface as it fought the River Krakens and in a second he understood what they were seeing.

“Giles must have found a bee hive down there,” Pegasus said in awe causing Apisera to glare at him.

“Explain, in simple words,” She demanded as she spun her top next to him. Pegasus swallowed and took a deep breath.

“Bees have three castes that make up their hives; workers to well work, drones to mate with the queen, and the queen to breed more bees. We’ve been fighting workers, that’s a drone and the big one is the queen,” Pegasus said as they all looked at the vessel bee as it fired another blast at the Liberty, only for Lady Blaze to deflect it with a blast of fire.

“How many more times can it do that……oh, that explains why the workers are after the Fishmen,” Arashiko said faintly as they watched one of the Workers drop a captive Fishman above the proposed Queen only for it to be caught in one of the upper hands, the Fishman screeched before the Queen put it into its mouth and with a crunch liquid went over the monster’s teeth.

Ladybug felt faint and queasy at what they all saw, and she heard someone throw up, the muttered sorry telling her it was Apisera who had done the dead.

“Think my Cataclysm would kill it?” Chat Noir asked and Ladybug turned to look at him, seeing Arashiko standing there and how her amulet still had the power of wind and thunder, then she saw a mana arrow hit a Worker before another was hit by Carapace’s thrown shield.

“Het dudes, last recharge……. What’s that big thing with the mad smile?” Carapace asked as he saw the Queen as she attacked the Liberty again. As Death-Horn and the Dark Phoenix attack the bee the Liberty fired all of its canons and sent the bee against the bridge. Ladybug heard a crack and went wide-eyed.

“EVERYONE AWAY FROM THE BRIDGE!!” She called out and as one they moved, getting off it moments before it cracked as the Queen was pushed through it. Looking at the destroyed bridge, Ladybug noticed how the Queen wasn’t healing like the water monsters Giles had made. Looking at the battle, they all saw what looked like the last River Kraken rise out of the river and roar before the Queen killed it with a blast from her stinger. As the two sentimonsters attacked the Queen Ladybug swallowed and looked around at the others.

“We need to deal enough damage and then it’ll die, that’s the best I can think to do….,” Ladybug began before she was interrupted.

“Giles is not under the bridge! He must have escaped into the sewers!” Viperion interrupted and cursed. “And ten of those Worker bees are trying to get at the civilians and cops! Falling back to cover them, I might need help!”

“Viperion, how many of the bees do you see?” Ladybug demanded and the replay was almost instantaneous.

“A total of maybe twenty, maybe more…….the sentimonsters from the Liberty are attacking the bees that are after the people, I’m helping them!” Viperion said and the other heroes all looked and saw the skeleton pirates charge down the street towards the bees Viperion cursed and they could hear the anger in his reply. “Scratch that! More of the Workers are going after the news copter, I’m keeping them away but I can’t use Second Chance, they have eyes on me and I’m barely keeping them away from me!”

“The Liberty is the main Akuma, we take it out and we win that part of the battle right?” Chat Noir asked and Ladybug nodded.

“But we need the Sentimonster to handle the bees? And if Akuma is defeated and the victims are freed, won’t the bees just win? And the Queen might……eat then,” Pegasus said with a hint of worry and the others imagined the Queen eating a human.

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In his lair, Shadow Moth and Enhancetress looked on as the Queen Bee ate another of the Fishmen and fired another bolt at the transformed Liberty, both had scowls on their faces. Optigami had been on the bridge watching Giles escape when the Queen and Liberty destroyed the bridge, and they found to their furry that Optigami was since the piece it had been on was now underwater resting on the ground away from anything man-made. Lucky the news had made it there and they were watching all the heroes fight and their minions fight against the bees and

“Captain Hardrock sent some of her crew to protect the civilians, it might help our public image……. But we will attack them as soon as the ship bee is defeated of course,” Enhancetress said and Shadow Moth nodded, a strange feeling going through him.

As he stared at her tablet, his mind wondered. If we can find a way to force an answer out of one of the Seven if they can truly help her, but then there’s other magic out there. And with the repaired power and Enhancetrees or Catalyst to help me even the odds against all of them, and then there’s the possibility of using other powers to heal her……….. why did I only look to these jewels to save her? He thought as he looked down at his chest and frowned. He wondered just what had caused him to focus on them so much, and what was different now, how could he think freely? As he thought about this he never noticed how the light gleamed off the Peaco*ck Miraculous.

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The heroes stood there as they tried to figure out a way around this when Ladybug suddenly got an idea“Yes, that could work. Everyone, how many recharges do you all have?”

Arashiko wondered what she meant but how the others replied, not believing what she was hearing.

“One left,” Pegasus said and Arashiko looked at him in shock.

“Three,” Chat Noir said with a grin to Arashiko’s growing confusion.

“Last one Ladydude,” Carapace admitted and Arashiko looked at him shocked.

“Two more,” Apisera said as she flicked her hair and smirked.

“None,” Arashiko admitted as she clenched her sword tighter, not understanding how they all had so much food on them to give to their Kwami partners.

“The same as the Dragon girl Ladybug, I only had the one candy bar,” Viperion said and Ladybug nodded.

“Okay, this is the plan. Carapace, Pegasus with me; we’re on defense duty until we can kill those bees after the people. Viperion, keep them away from the news. Chat, Arashiko, Apisera; you three are the heavy hitters here, you keep any of the bees from getting into the city, once everything but the Queen is dead, kill it. Once that happens Chat, you need to destroy the Liberty, I’ll catch the Akuma then I’ll summon a Luck Charm to repair everything, but remember to call for me so it won’t multiply,” Ladybug outlined and the others all nodded.

“We’ve got nothing better, and this should work,” Apisera admitted and the others nodded.

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Bellow on the Liberty, Captain Hardrock scowled as she gripped her ship’s steering wheel. Her girl and the flower princess were directing their beast to attack the giant bee that was trying to scuttle the ship and the other Fishmen had all been caught and were waiting to be fed to that giant thing. She played with the idea to have the girls try and kill them first, but then they would probably be dropped into the water and then they would heal, and then they would be back at the start of this again.

“Our foes are doing something cap’n! Should we attack or keep it on the bugs?” Her second officer asked and she looked at him, seeing that he was still wearing his triangle hat. She followed his gaze and looked on, frowning as she saw Ladybug, Carapace, and Pegasus jumping over the river, landing on the bridge and running towards the other bees.

Captain Hardrock looked around the other side of the river, not seeing the other three heroes and scowling as another of the Worker bees flew at them only to be struck by the secondary speaker-canons. As the Queen bee hovered beyond the broken bridge, Captain Hardrock kept her eyes on it. Part of her wanted another raid on Ladybug for what she had done to her last time, but

“No, if the Admiral doesn’t say anything, then we don’t. Our targets are those things, nothing else. Girly, you and princess take down that big thing!” Captain Hardrock barked and the Sentimonster nodded.

Farther down Lady Blaze looked on as her Dark-Phoenix came around for another run on the Queen from above only for a Worker to get in the way and send them both falling to the ground on the other side of the river. As Dark-Phoenix tried to get out of the building the bee had tacked it into before the bee burned to death three more of the Workers appeared and started to aim their stingers at the Sentimonster. As the stingers started to sparked Apisera’s top flew out and lassoed one, pulling it done as Arashiko’s sword slashed off the head of another before Chat Noir’s baton-staff slammed into the last one and tore off its right wing. Before the bee could get back into the air Arashiko was there and cut off its head

As Dark-Phoenix looked at the heroes they stood there and moved aside.

“Listen Juleka or whatever Hawkmoth named you until that thing is defeated we won’t attack you, do the same to us and we won’t have a problem with each other,” Chat Noir said with his weapon raised and the Sentimonster just looked at them before it nodded and took flight, flying to attack the Queen near its stinger. Apisera looked at Chat Noir and sighed, hoping that they had made the right choice as the queen suddenly screeched and three eggs fell out of just before the stinger and fell into the river. They grew larger as the three heroes watched and from each egg, two more Worker bees were birthed.

“Keep them away from the rest of the city!” Chat Noir called out as the bees flew at them. The heroes attacked, each one hoping that the Queen wouldn’t create more.

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As they ran towards the bees swarming the building, they saw the Sentimonsters defending the doorway and Ladybug clenched her fists and scowled. There were more of the bees here than they thought, at least thirty. As the fiver pirate Sentimonsters charged the bees, Ladybug and the others found themselves in the strange situation of fighting side by side with their enemies.

With a yell Ladybug jumped and punched one attacking a pirate from behind as Carapace threw his shield and hit one fighting another.

“So you’re fighting with us? Down!” One of the skull pirates called out before he slashed out with his sword and blocked the stinger of a bee that was trying to attack Ladybug.

“Don’t be too happy, once we deal with the Queen Bee then it’s a free for all, and I know it’s the same with you!” Ladybug said as she threw her yoyo at another of the bees as it came too close to one of the pirates. The one she was talking to nodded and with a yell he charged at one attacking the door as Ladybug lassoed another one and pulled it down, letting two of the pirates kill it.

“Right! Keep fighting you dogs!” The first one bellowed as it thrust its sword into a bee’s head and killed it.

Pegasus slashed out with his ax-horseshoe and looked around, trying to find a way around this problem. As another Bee attacked him, he dodged to the left as one of the Sentimonsters slashed out with its sword and cut off the bee’s right arm. As it bleed out it started to fly towards the river before it fell before it could get six feet.

As Carapace blocked a stinger from one of the bees, another of the Sentimonsters killed it before Carapace threw his shield and it hit and bounced off another bee before it hit the wall of the building above a widow before it hit another bee and bounced back to him. As he fought he saw shapes in the windows and he hoped it was all of the people the police had rescued, that the bees hadn’t grabbed someone and flown off with them.

Above them on the rooftops Viperion ran away from three of the Workers, he spun around and fired three arrows rapidly and hit each one dead center, killing them. As they fell to the ground Viperion looked down at the battle and took stock, blinking to make sure he was seeing this right. Ladybug and a Sentimonster were fighting to the door as Carapace, Pegasus and the other Sentimonsters were fighting the other bees. He shook his head again before firing down at the bees trying to leave, hoping to keep them here so the bees wouldn’t get away.

As he fired down, Ladybug and the Sentimonster made it to the door, the Sentimonster killed a bee as Ladybug used one she lassoed as a flail to kill another one and the one acting as the flail.

“Now what?” The Sentimonster asked as it slashed down at a bee that got too close

“Ladybug, Ladybug is that you!? We’re in here!” Bertolfo called from a hole in the door. “The civilians are farther in, we’re safe but keep them off us!”

“f*ck! The queen can make more of the Workers! It laid three eggs and two hatched from each of them!” Apisera cried out before roaring and Ladybug looked at the bees in horror as she froze. A bee went after her but the Sentimonster next to her defended her and cursed.

“Back in the game girl, what happened?!” The Sentimonster demanded and Ladybug looked at the bees and tried to figure out a plan.

“The queen can make more of the smaller ones!” Ladybug said and the Sentimonster looked at Ladybug as she nodded before it growled and blocked a bee’s stinger. Ladybug struck out with her yoyo and bashed in the head of one of the bees as it tried to attack them and she looked at the body and shuddered.

“Viperion, you’ve got the eye on the battles, your turn to try and come up with a plan,” Ladybug said and Viperion blinked as he fired his bow. As he watched one of the bees tried to carry off one of the Sentimonsters only for Pegasus to kill the bee before it could fly more than five feet. As the pirate Sentimonster got back to its feet, Carapace’s shield knocked down another one that attacked it.

The Sentimonster cried out its thanks and killed the bee, charging at another two attacking Pegasus. As Viperion looked down, he tried to figure out a plan as he fired. What do we have to work with? Portal, Shield and Time here, Wind, Thunder and Paralyze there……… civilians and police in a building………… a building that Shield can protect probably………… what does Portal need? Viperion thought before a screech killed his thoughts. He looked up to see the Queen trying to fly higher, aiming its stinger right at Lady Blaze and Princess Flora on the Liberty’s bow as their Sentimonsters flew to defend them.

Charging up his bow to the maximum he fired the arrow and it hit one of the Queen’s wings and it dropped towards the water but stopped at the limit, the stinger touching the water, and a bolt of energy sparked from it before electricity flowed over the queen as it screeched in pain moments before Dark Phoenix used its fire breath on the Queen’s injured side until one of the Workers flew and forced it into the water with an explosion of steam!

Looking down at the battle by the building, he tried to figure out everything that he could see, counting the remaining bees and the Sentimonsters he thought of the area and after a moment a plan formed.

“Pegasus, the wide area that band, Kitty Select used to throw a concert a month back, say the word protocol in a sentence if you can make a portal to there,” Viperion said as he waited for his bow to recharge.

“These bees are terrible, their attack protocols are almost robotic!” Pegasus said and Viperion breathed a sigh of relief and looked down at the battle.

“Good, everyone get ready, once there are an even number of Sentimonsters and Bees, we go on my word without Second Chance!” Viperion said and he smiled as he pulled back a string and an arrow formed, firing it at a bee that tried to fly towards the river, the arrow killed it and the body crashed ten feet from the river.

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“Dark Phoenix!” Lady Blaze called out in fear before she felt the presence of her Sentimonster as it shot at the Queen and tore off one of its arms before it flew away and killed one of the guard bees as Death-Horn hovered protectively in front of the two Akumatized Villains.

As Dark Phoenix flew upwards Lady Blaze saw a bee break away from the Queen and fly towards the corpse on the road that Viperion had just created. The bee grabbed the corpse and flew back towards the Queen, it dodged an attack by Black Phoenix’s flames and dropped the corpse above the Queen’s head. The body dropped before the Queen caught it and shoved it into her mouth, the sounds of her chewing as the blood ran down her face caused Lady Blaze to hug Princess Flora to her body as both of their Sentimonsters attacked the Queen. As soon as the Queen had finished eating it, it dropped two more eggs, but Lady Blaze had seen it happen through Dark Phoenix's eyes. She sent it to attack them with a screech, dodging the Worker bees until it destroyed one of the eggs before they hatched, and then it killed one of the newborn Bees before the last one attacked it.

As Dark Phoenix fought on, back on the Liberty, Princess Flora looked through her Sentimonster’s eyes as it flew above the battlefield and saw the group of Chat Noir, Apisera, and Arashiko surrounded by the bodies of six Worker Bees and they were looking at the Queen. Those three what are they……Chat Noir’s power! They must be waiting for an opening to use it on the Queen! Once he kills it we can attack the heroes and claim their Miraculous for Master Shadow Moth! She thought with a grin as she started to giggle.

“Something funny beloved?” Lady Blaze asked and Princess Flora grinned and kissed Lady Blaze on the lips. Lady Blaze stepped back with wide eyes and looked at Princess Flora in shock. “What was that for my dear?”

“I just made a plan to win it all my love! We just need to get Chat Noir to attack the big one, and then we can attack them!” Princess Flora exclaimed and Lady Blaze looked at her before grinning as she realized what she was suggesting and turned towards Captain Hardrock.

“Then let us tell the Captain, and from her, Lord Shadow Moth will judge!” Lady Blaze said as she led the way to her mother’s Akuma form.

“Mother, my love has a plan, but we need to work with the heroes before we stab them in the back,” Lady Blaze said once they reached Captain Hardrock.

Captain Hardrock turned towards them and raised an eyebrow as a butterfly energy mask formed over her face. Princess Flora stepped forward and started to explain her idea, Captain Hardrock and Shadow Moth listening to her, the grin the Captain sent her was all the signal that she needed to know that their lord liked it.

“That is perfect lass, the admiral is happy! You go and get them to dance to our tone while we handle the rest!” Captain Hardrock said and Princess Flora nodded.

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Chat Noir looked at the Worker Bees as they guarded the Queen, something had to change, they needed a way to give Arashiko a clear path, the last time she had used her Lightning powers against an Akuma………. well it just hadn’t worked like anyone thought it would.

The only good thing about this was the Queen and her Workers seemed to be content to stay here and attack the Liberty, and only the new ones seemed to be trying to escape. Why that was they didn’t know but Apisera wasn’t looking into it too closely. Arashiko thought that maybe the creatures were damaged by their mutation, maybe the newborns were healthy for lack of a better term.

As they watched the Liberty’s weapons fired on the swarm as the ship was attacked, the bees were forced back but each one survived.

“We can’t get a clear shot, we can only watch!” Chat Noir said bitterly and Arashiko scowled and nodded. As they stood there they heard what their comrades were talking about as they fought across the river, the three of them had turned their earbuds into receive-only mode.

“Still I think I get why people watch you guys fight Mr. Pigeon so much,” Apisera said absently and oooed as a Bee was killed by a Sentimonster Pirate’s sword being buried into the Bee’s head.

“He’s not that bad really, and most people think of his Akuma form as a joke villain, some even say he’s not a violent man so his Akuma isn’t, at least at my school,” Arashiko admitted and Apisera looked at her and shrugged. As they listened in they heard Carapace cry out as he killed another Bee, and Ladybug and Pegasus both killed another, making the time for them to do Viperion’s plan that much sooner, but they needed to do their part and figure out what it would be soon.

Chat Noir nodded but tensed when he saw Princess Flora coming towards them. “Akuma victim incoming, get ready!”

“Well not the way I was hoping to start this off,” Prince Flora said as she used a vine to drop herself before the three heroes who all readied their weapons. “Hold on, I’m not here to fight

“Talk fast, I don’t expect much from Hawkmoth’s servants,” Chat Noir growled and discreetly turned his earbud on from his baton-staff while Princess Flora just shrugged.

“Well Shadow Moth really, but that’s not important. We need to kill that giant bee before it swarms the city, and we need Chat Noir to kill it. We can open the way, and then we give you a five-minute head start before we attack you all,” Princes Flora said as the Liberty, the two Sentimonsters and Lady Blaze killed five of the Bees as the heroes watched over Princess Flora’s shoulder.

“Any ideas you mad planner?” Arashiko asked and Chat Noir grinned as he looked at Princess Flora.

“This is the best thing that could happen to us, I’ve got a plan and you need to listen well all of you because every step needs to be perfect,” Viperion said as they all heard him fire another energy arrow and chuckle. “Another one down, that leaves seven! Heroes by the building do the plan! Heroes by the river here’s what you’ll do, for now work with them, but Dragon girl od is the main player!”

Lady Flora watched as the three heroes all listened to who she assumed was Ladybug give them a plan to use, and she hoped that her plan worked, they would of course give them five minutes, the five minutes to let their powers fail of course. After a few moments, the heroes looked at each other and nodded before Chat Noir stepped forward.

“Fine, for now we work together until that giant thing is dead. You just get those bees to clear a strike from outside and high, Arashiko can carry me high enough to let me kill it in one shot,” Chat Noir said before a screech caused them to turn and see the Queen eat two of her defenders before it laid four eggs. From the eggs came four new bees as the last three of the original Worker Bees flew towards the Queen’s mouth.

“Go, tell Hardrock now!” Chat Noir called out as a hurt bee came from the other heroes and flew towards the Queen, dodging Viperion’s shots.

Chapter 24

Chapter Text

First on Patreon and then at the others, here it is! And a shout out to sheepheadfred, you’ve seen a little behind my curtain with your thoughts, I wonder will did you pick up on a few hints I’ve dropped? And we’re entering the final arc next chapter, after this the next part of the series will be up and I will change the title so buckle up, the end is here!

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Captain Hardrock scowled as the four born Bees hovered and pulled up one of the dead River Krakens, once they had started to do that she had ordered her crew to keep the big one from eating it any way they knew how, Lady Blaze had sent Dark-Phoenix against it as the other bees attacked the Liberty, their canons barely holding the other beasts off.

Captain Hardrock however looked at the dead Two-faced cat monster behind the Queen and scowled, if that giant bee laid two eggs for eating either one of her bees and the Fishmen, then what would something like that let her do? Was it dependent on how much mass her food was? Is it the magic? Still, they were holding their own, but if they broke on these reefs of these bees then that would be it, and who knows how many eggs it would lay if it ate her and her crew?

Frankly, she didn’t want to know, but she knew that all she needed to do was keep that giant thing from eating anything else until Chat Noir killed it. As Princess Flora was carried by a vine from the river back to the Liberty her Death-Horn killed another Bee that tried to attack her in transit, the body split in two moments before Princess Flora was dropped next to Captain Hardrock.

Princess Flora looked down at the river, frowning as she raised her right hand and the River Kraken the Bees were after was suddenly pulled back down deeper into the river. The bees flew to the water’s edge before they stopped, looking around for anything before they moved towards the dead Two Headed cat.

“All hands fire at will, target is the beast’s corpse! Did you talk to them?” Captain Hardrock asked and Princess Flora nodded.

“Yes, they need the new Dragon to get right, and I told them we’d give them five minutes after they kill the big one,” Princess Flora said and Captain Hardrock glared at her as a Butterfly mask appeared over her face.

“The Admiral isn’t happy that you didn’t mention that to him lass,” Captain Hardrock said sternly and Princess Flora only giggled. Captairock scowled and looked at the girl, from what memories she had from her source, Princess Flora’s e was always one of those people who tried to look at the positive side of life, something Captain Hardrock’s source saw as a good thing but if the girl fought to mention part of the plan

“Oh but that’s the plan Master Shadowmoth. Yes, I said we would give five-minute before we attack them, but I never said we wouldn’t chase t-**hem down,” Princess Flora said and Captain Hardrock grinned as the butterfly mask went away.

“He’s laughing girly, how do we do this?” Captain Hardrock as Lady Blaze sent a blast of flames at one of the bees as it tried to attack the ship.

Princess Flora looked at the Queen, smiling evilly as her Death-Horn sliced off one of its right arms with a blast. “We need to drive it backward, then they kill it.”

A roar from the Queen as it ate the last two remaining first-created bees and two eggs dropped from the Queen’s back, two eggs that were picked up and carried away by two of the other bees. As Dark-Phoenix flew after them, a spinning top was thrown and destroyed one egg as the other hatched and flew towards the other battlefield.

“I hope your plan will work beloved!” Lady Blaze called out as she blasted away at the Queen. As Princess Flora sent her Sentimonster to attack the bee, Captain Hardrock gripped the steering wheel and grinned.

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At the other battle site, Ladybug killed another Bee and tensed for a moment before a scream came from within the building.

“Oh god! Help!” Theo cried out and Ladybug jumped back as Pegasus and Carapace moved to help as one of the Sentimonster Pirates joined them.

“What’s wrong!?” Carapace called out and The looked at

“One of the women in here is pregnant, the baby’s coming!” Theo called out and Ladybug went still, Carapace broke down the door and Pegasus ran into the building, they could all hear a scream of pain from the room the other civilians had retreated to.

The remaining bees attacked the Sentimonsters as they gathered in front of the building, Carapace and Ladybug fighting back as the Bees seemed to be guarding their dead. The answer why was revealed as two more bees appeared and grabbed two corpses, carrying them back toward the river.

“We need to get her out of here!” Ladybug called out as she spun her yoyo around as a shield. “Pegasus, make a portal to the hospital, Carapace keep the bees from getting by you and I’ll keep any if they get past you from going through the portal, we’ll evacuate the others with her! I’ll go and help move her!”

A screech from the river caused the Sentimonsters to look towards it as four bees flew towards them, two of them screeching as they attacked the Sentimonsters before an arrow killed one of them. As the Sentimonster skeleton pirates fought on Carapace defended the doorway, scowling as the new ones aimed their stingers and fired blasts from them.

Screams from inside caused him to wince and look at the Sentimonsters. He took a deep breath and nodded. “Hey Senti-dudes, I’m forming my shield get ready!”

The Sentimonsters nodded as a purple energy butterfly mask formed over one of them and it grinned. “The Captain is almost ready to handle the big one, we’ll give you five minutes once the beast is dead!”

“What if they go wild without a controller?” Theo asked and a hard laugh was heard.

“We’ve got plans for animal control like this! As we speak the rest of the cities SWAT are arming with shotguns and they’ll be here soon!” Commissaire Bertolfo called out and Carapace nodded.

As the bees fired again Carapace blocked with his shield before he grinned as he heard a screech from the river.

“Portal!” Pegasus called out and Carapace chuckled.

“Thanks for the help dudes, but I need space so Shell-ter!” Carapace called out before pointing his shield upwards as a large green energy formed, covering the building and pushing the Sentimonsters and the Bees against the building on the other side.

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As the Liberty fired from its figure cannon and sails, Captain Hardrock grinned. The plan was working, soon the monster would be slain and then they would chase down the heroes. Suddenly she went still as she saw through her away team’s eyes. They were being crushed against the building by Carapace’s shield power, and looking around she couldn’t see Ladybug anywhere. “What!? What are they doing!?”

“Waiting for/ Princess Flora said and turned to look at Captain Hardrock as Lady Blaze shot another fireball at the Queen, it hit one of the remaining arm on one side and blasted it off, the monster screeched in pain as Dark Phoenix and Death-Horn tackled the monster, holding it in place for Chat Noir, and in the perfect place to grab him once he destroyed the bee.

“NOT THEM, THE ONES AT THE BUILDING!” Captain Hardrock snarled as she looked towards the shore. What are they doing?! Why would they do that now? She thought before the Queen was pushed backward by her ship's volley and it cried out in pain and rage, she turned back and realized that was the signal the heroes were waiting for.

“AIR DRAGON!” A voice called out farther down the river and Chat Noir rose into the air.

“This needs a Cataclysm! Throw me!” Chat Noir cried out before he was shot towards the battle.

Captain Hardrock grinned as she watched Chat Noir arc through the air but she frowned, something didn’t look right. Suddenly she turned towards the opposite shore as everything made sense and crystallized. “No……. that’s it! Girls, get your monsters towards the far shore look for Ladybug!”

But before Lady Blaze and Princess Flora could do more than turn towards her, Captain Hardrock heard the one cry that she knew was coming.

“Thunder Dragon!” Arashiko called out and within moments she landed on and struck the Queen in her lighting form before she slashed out with her katana and Death-Horn and Dark Phoenix were blasted back towards the water. Chat Noir flew by her with his hand pulled back and all Captain Hardrock could do was wonder how this was possible.

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“For this to work, I’ll contact Commissaire Bertolfo and have them make a commotion to call you into building Ladybug and Pegasus,” Viperion said softly as he looked around and saw everything his plan would need.

Viperion activated his weapon-item’s communicator and after a few moments, he was talking to the Commissaire, explaining what he had to do.

“Yeah, we’ve got someone in here who’s a few months pregnant, that’ll work! Theo, go ask her to scream in pain and get back here,” Commissaire Bertolfo said and Theo nodded and ran off.

“While I’m doing that, River team; move downstream from the battle. Dragon-Girl, once your there use Wind to carry Chat Noir upwards, throw him so he can jump at the Liberty, then shock the Queen and the two flying Sentimonsters to give him cover!”

As Chat Noir led the way, they heard the Liberty attack and grinned at each other

“Remember Pegasus, the field where Kitty Selection had that concert a few weeks back, once it forms go through Ladybug and get that butterfly. All force Go on my SECOND CHANCE!” Viperion said as he formed another arrow and fired.

“Portal!” Pegasus called out as he formed a portal within the room Theo had led him and Ladybug to. As Ladybug jumped through he hoped this would work.

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As soon as Chat Noir touched the transformed Liberty, it disintegrated. As Captain Hardrock, Lady Blaze, and Princess Flora fell and turned back to normal Arashiko rode the dead Queen Bee into the river as the other bees dropped as well, and at the same moment, all the Sentimonsters disintegrated. As the corrupted butterfly flew free, Ladybug appeared, jumped over the river, and caught the insect in her yoyo as she flipped over during her jump.

“No more evil-doing for you little butterfly!” She said as she landed on the opposite shore. “Lucky Charm!”

As she threw her yoyo up, it released a blast of energy that coalesced into a small red anchor with black polka-dots all over it. She looked at it and laughed a little before she threw it into the air where it exploded into a swarm of ladybugs that flew around, fixing the damage some of the damage but leaving the bridge destroyed, but the Liberty reformed the same as always, and Anarka, Juleka, and Rose were deposited onto it, Rose stumbled until Juleka caught her.

“Rose!” Juleka cried as she hugged her friend. Rose looked up and smiled at her very good friend and tried to gather her strength back.

“I’m fine Juleka, I just feel so tired. I need to sit down somewhere,” Rose said as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

As Chat Noir and Arashiko made it to shore, Apisera dashed back to the area and looked at the destroyed bridge as Carapace dropped the spell, a bit of the damage done by the Monster Bees was still there, here and the bridge ad a hole going through it. As she looked around, Apisera hid a wince as she knew her father hadn’t paid the city’s Super Villain Insurance since Ladybug’s cure worked so well, but then maybe this would be the kick he needed.

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As Shadowmoth detransformed and Enhancetress turned back to normal, he sighed and shook his head.

“Another disruption! Who was that man? Where did he come from and how long was he down there?” Gabriel muttered as Duusu and Nooroo hugged each other and Duusu looked at his friend before sighing.

“I’ve fought someone like him before and his powers……. It’s the magic of Unlife,” Duusu said softly and flew towards Gabriel who looked at the Kwami with a shocked look.

“Explain,” Gabriel chocked out and Duusu looked at him and took a deep breath.

“Magic is, it follows its own laws. Unlife magic takes a life form and changes it according to the caster’s will. It was considered a Heresy back before the Order took me,” Duusu said and went still as Nooroo looked at the kwami who grinned. “The Order took me, the Order TOOK ME!”

Duusu started to laugh and fly around the room, the only sounds he made were that of pure joy. Gabriel and Nathalie looked on and after a few moments they looked at each other and then looked at Nooroo who kept silent but Gabriel thought he saw envy in the moth kwami’s eyes.

“Explain, please?” Nathalie asked Duusu flew to Gabriel and hugged his check.

“OH YOU WONDERFUL MAN, YOU FREED ME! Miss Emilia will be so happy…….. Miss Emilia, where is miss Emilia?!” Duusu demanded as he looked around the room.

Gabriel felt a flash of anger, how dare the same creature that led to her state be worried about her? But then he remembered how she said don’t blame Duusu before she passed out. Nathalie meanwhile looked at the Kwami and wondered if she should tell it, but then Nooroo took the choice out of her hands.

“She’s asleep kindred, the two of you pushed yourselves too hard,” Nooroo said and Duusu went still.

“That scum! If I ever find out who they are I’ll!” Duusu snarled and the others looked at him in shock.

“Wait, ‘Scum!?’ Someone did that to her!?” Gabriel growled and Duusu nodded.

“It was like when the Order killed my Chosen’s family and stole me! They woke me up from my slumber when they tried to drain our mana!” Duusu said Gabriel growled and looked ready to punch someone but something that the Kwami said caused him to go still and turn towards Nooroo and glare.

“What did they mean, stole Nooroo?” Gabriel growled. Nooroo stayed silent but Duusu spoke up.

“The Order whose book you used? They are nothing more than thieves who tracked down my friends and stole or took us from those who found us! They cast spells to keep us from telling others what they did and kept us from our friends beyond the groups they created for us! They used us by giving us to specially chosen wielders who they had captives to threaten or were related to elder members of their cult! They used to protect the balance, the balance with them on top ruling over others!” Duusu said angrily and Gabriel frowned as Nathalie gasped as Nooroo hung his head.

Gabriel frowned, something about this was bothering him. It was horrible and he could see another factor that would affect his plans, but there was something else.

“Oh my. Was the temple in Tibet, the one that appeared there a few weeks back?” Nathalie asked and Nooroo nodded.

Gabriel went silent, looking at Nooroo who kept silent, wondering how the spells affected what the Kwami had been able to tell him. And given how he had treated the little being, he wouldn’t be too mad and punish it. But those spells put everything he had learned in doubt, and he needed to be sure nothing would happen that would hurt more people than he already had to save his wife.

“The temple is back?! Then those monsters will come! This time we have to send Nooroo’s champions at them with my monsters, even the help of the heroes might not be enough! I don’t want to be caught by them again, please don’t let them take me, Miss Nathalie!” Duusu cried out in fear as he hugged Nathalie’s neck.

“We won’t let them take you, I promise,” Nathalie said and Gabriel nodded before he realized just what had been bothering him. As he looked at the cowering Kwami, he realized just what it was and spoke up before he could stop himself.

“Wait, if they were so evil, why didn’t they use the wish to rule the world?” Gabriel asked and Duusu looked at him, totally flabbergasted.

“What wish? Wait……. Tikki and Plagg? They can only affect the future without destroying the planet at least! You need the time warning of Fluff and Lonng to know what to wish for! And even then, if fate is changed something similar, either worse or less will happen! When the warning was that Atlantis was destroyed by a tsunami, the wish changed the steps but the dance remained mostly the same,” Duusu explained and Gabriel looked at the Kwami in shock.

“Backup, destroy the planet and remake so what is wished for happens, that’s how it affects past events!?” Nathalie asked as Gabriel paled in horror. Nooroo looked down and sighed as Gabriel’s eyes found him and looked up, his eyes showing Gabriel that what he heard was true, and more.

“The Order, they cast spells that kept you, you as in the Kwami from telling your holders information?” Gabriel asked and Duusu nodded. Gabriel just stared into space before he exploded. With a scream, he threw a chair against one of the walls, Nathalie and the Kwami only watched as he destroyed the few small pieces of furniture that they had put into the room.

A few moments later Gabriel panted as he held a broken chair leg.

“So at the end if I had won at all, the entire plant would have died for my wish to save her?!” Gabriel snarled out the question and Duusu shook their head.

“But we don’t need the full wish to help miss Emilie, all we need is Tikki and a few others, then a ritual done by each holder in order and she should be healed if she’s just asleep,” Duusu said and Gabriel felt a spark of hope.

If they could heal her without the wish, then they wouldn’t destroy the world to save her. And that meant the information the Seven gave them might not be needed, sure they had healed Nathalie but something about their mysterious goal was bothering him. And with the drama about Lila and Marinette, plus how Adrien was hiding somewhere and trying to get emancipation, he needed good news and this might be what he need.

A thought struck him and he looked at Duusu, knowing he had to ask a few questions that he had to ask if he wanted to move forward. “What did you mean, slumber?”

“The Order changed it, now when a Kwami enters their Miraculous, we fall asleep. We can’t see anything, we just sleep,” Duusu admitted and Gabriel looked at him and nodded. That meant he had just had one last question, he had to know just what he might have been fighting for.

“And if I use the wish to just heal her, not to change what happened, would that have worked with no side effects?” Gabriel asked and Duusu nodded.

“I’m sorry but no. If you had only wished her to healed…… then it would only transfer what’s wrong to someone else that you cared about the same amount, and you can’t make the choice who is affected,” Duusu said softly and Gabriel went still as Nathalie paled as they both realized who would be the one to truly pay to get Emilie back.

Gabriel looked up and away, a thousand thoughts going through his mind. He wanted her back for his son, not to lose him forever. “We go ahead with our plans like normal.”

“Are you mad, didn’t you hear what Duusu said about it!?” Nathalie demanded and Gabriel winced.

Turning to look at he saw the look Nathalie sent him he shook his head. “We won’t use the wish, Nathalie. We’ll find a way to heal her without it, but we’ll just go through the motions until we have a sure way that no one will have to pay for or one that will cause Emile to kill us both when we save her Nathalie. We might need the Seven’s help after all but we go forward with our plans for Lila and we go from there.”

Nathalie paled as she remembered how Emile would react sometimes in the past when someone tried to hurt people when she was around. The things she probably would do to them, well she didn’t want to think about it more than for a minute.

“And you,” Gabriel said as he looked at Duusu who floated there. “We will talk about who exactly we need to heal her, and what happened to you two later. My nerves can’t handle anything else after all this.”

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As Carapace dropped his shield Commissaire Bertolfo and Theo looked at the dead Bees as the SWAT members moved out and started to make sure the bodies were all dead.

“Cleanup is gonna be a mess. Well this should get the Mayor to raise our budget at least,” Commissaire Bertolfo said as Theo looked at him and Bertolfo shrugged.

“Your budget!? That’s what you're taking away from all this!?” Theo demanded and Bertolfo looked at him and started to laugh.

Theo only stared at him, not understanding what had set him off.

“Why are you laughing, this is terrible!” Theo said and Bertolfo just laughed harder until he finally stopped.

“Kid, this is nothing! What’s so bad?” Bertolfo asked and Theo gestured all around them.

“The Bees!” Theo said gesturing around at the carnage around them.

Bertolfo just looked at him in disbelief and shook his head as he laughed a little more.

Theo stared at him in shock and felt his cheeks turn red. “What’s so funny!?”

“Kid, the fact that Ladybug and the heroes have been able to clean up most of the damage has been a miracle, this is normal for the monster maker villains. We’ve got a few vehicles, by this time tomorrow the city will be back to normal,” Bertolfo said and Theo looked at him before sighing.

Carapace winced behind them as Pegasus looked down. They knew all about such troubles the Commissaire was talking about, they had been eight when the Monster Winter happened and the efforts to recover and repair the damage. If whoever did this did it again, then the entire city was in danger. All they could do now was hope that they had killed and stopped all the creatures if even one of them escaped and they were capable of breeding………

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Deep within the catacombs, far below where people ever went, a large rat the size of a cat ran through the darkness. Behind it a buzzing followed it, the rat moving faster and faster before a large hand suddenly grabbed it and squeezed it, breaking its spine and neck, killing it instantly. The hand was covered in chitin and long. The body was carried back the way the rat had run until it reached a cavern lit by strange glowing fungus. The cavern was the size of a football field and at the center, three Drone bee monsters hovered as a bee the size of a motorcycle ate rats the same size as the killed one, revealed to be carried by a Worker. As the Worker flew closer to the newborn Queen was easier to see, like the one the heroes had killed it had four arms but the top pair were covered in strange mucus, and the newborn creature's eyes shined a black color as an egg fell from its behind. As it looked upwards towards the surface more Workers flew into the cavern, each carrying the result of their hunts.

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As she sat and watched the TV, the app on her phone give the all-clear signal that the Akuma had been defeated, it was all she could do not to scream at what she had seen. A Bio-Hacker, here, now?! How, just how! Most of them live in the wild, why is he here, so close to Rome?! This will cause them to come to the city, to try and purge every one of us they can find, this will let the world know about everything! And if that fool is still alive, then my plan is in danger! He’ll know what Lila is, I have to keep her close, no act normal don’t draw attention to yourself, that’s how you gain your goal. Once I have my revenge, I’ll use her bones to make fine china and I’ll force her grandchild to serve me food on them! She thought before such pain suddenly went through her and she dropped to the ground, biting back a scream.

As Dolores’s grabbed her stomach she bit her lips as she felt pain and heat from deeper within, after a few moments the pain died down and the heat cooled down, she looked at her arm as it throbbed and she knew she would need to start the preparations to change her clothing soon. So far everything was going well on that end, the directives she told her fleshbot to prioritize last time had been perfect, all she needed was for it to get into an accident in a week, fall into a coma, and then she would get a new dress soon.

As she got up she walked towards the cabinet and she kept her materials and slowly opened it to reveal ten blocks of stone six inches high and long. Picking one up she called up her power, a white glow formed around her hand and then the block, the block slowly changed shape until it had transformed into a black rat with a pentagram indention on its back and another on its head. Closing the cabinet she carried the rat statue toward her room. “Hmmm, I need to order a few new blocks soon, and I should put a few of my white failures, it would be good to get some new funds.”

As she walked into her room she saw the small chest on her desk that she needed. Opening it once she reached it, the box was revealed to be full of pentagon gems of multiple colors. She looked at the gems and sighed as she shook her head. “I’m running out of a few colors, I should make more once I have the time.”

Reaching into the chest she took out a white gem that she put into the statue’s back, after that she put a red gem into the statue’s forehead, and then she dropped it to the floor. As it fell it came to ‘life’ and landed on all four paws, it looked up at her as wisps of flames came out of its mouth as the red and white gems gave off glows in their colors.

She glanced down at it and scowled. “Go and see if you can track down this Giles, and if you find any of his creations kill them all.”

The rat ran away, up the wall into an open duct, and ran into the building's internal airways. Dolores just sighed and shook her head.

“I need to increase the size of my creations, maybe set up a studio lair along the waterfront using one of my other identities, if this is to be war then I might need it,” She muttered as she looked out the window and frowned

and walked back to the living room as the phone rang. Smiling she moved towards it. Looking at it she saw it was the embassy and sighed, wondering what it was

“Yes, Dolores here. How can I help you?” Dolores said and she pulled the phone back as someone screamed at her.

“What the hell is that brat of yours doing?! We just got served a summons to a hearing in three days for an ‘Ambassador Rossi’! I swear if you weren’t one of the best I’d!” The angry male voice belonged to the current head of the embassy and Dolores's direct boss.

“Sir, it is in my file that my daughter has a habit of telling tall tales, harmless she said she saw things, I have no idea what this is about!” She said as she scowled. The little wrench must have cried to her parents and they believed her! This is……. Good! She thought as she blinked and grinned as plans bloomed behind her eyes. The idea that the girl would cry to her parents, that they would even be able to get the ball rolling like this was just what she needed for her long-term plans!

“Well find out! I don’t want to have to tell the head office about this! Ban enough we’re stuck here and are only a relay for the Ambassador, I don’t need your brat f*cking everything up!” Her boss snarled and hung up without a word.

Dolores looked at her phone with a glare as she let out a quiet growl as her face turned red. That over-empowered public Leech! He talks nice and big when he’s just the single highest coffee boy who was ordered to remain when all the decision makers left! I wonder, before my cloth fitting should I send one of my statues to him as an anonymous gift, then make it kill him one night? She thought as she imagined that playing out behind her eyes and giggled a little.

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Back at the river, Apisera looked at the damage and knew that this would cause a lot of trouble for the city. But then again, it might force her father to transfer money from a few plans his advisors had suggested for ‘the good of the city’ that seemed to be nothing but stupidity.

As Arashiko looked around she heard three beeps and looked around as Ladybug barked out an order.

“Time to leave, now! Arashiko with me! Chat take Carapace and Pegasus back, Apsiera……!” Ladybug called out and Apisera waved back.

“I got this boss bug, you go I’ll lead Viper boy away!” Aspirea called out and Ladybug nodded before grabbing Arashiko and leading her away from the river as Chat Noir ran towards Carapace and Pegasus who fell in behind him as they jumped past Viperion who hit the grounds near Theo who almost screamed.

As Apsiera came closer the Commissaire frowned. “I thought Miss Chloe was the wielder of the Bee. Did something cause that to change?”

Apsiera smiled and nodded. “Hawkmoth and his girl Friday made a play to get her on their side and other reasons, I’m the new wielder. If you want the full story check the Ladyblog tomorrow at Lunch, that’s going to explain everything. And a small favor, keep the alert up for about….. twenty minutes please?”

Bertolfo looked at the new Bee and nodded, understanding more than he wanted that the heroes needed the time to get back to their civilian lives. He looked at her as she sighed and then when she turned towards Viperion and walked over to him before he could speak, he just shook his head.

Looking towards the SWAT he whistled to get their attention. “Everyone keep the civilians inside! We’re treating these bodies as bombs for now! If they don’t go off in an hour we let everyone go! Somebody call the cleaners, special division now!”

Commissaire Bertolfo looked around and saw Theo and grabbed him, pulling him as he walked towards the river.

“HEY!” Theo called out and Commissaire Bertolfo just kept walking.

“Your with me boyo, I need another pair of eyes to check on the damage as I talk to the Akuma victims,” Commissaire Bertolfo said and Theo nodded after a few moments.

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Viperion looked around as the police kept the people back, nodding to Apsiera when she looked at him. So far Viperion had to say that he hadn’t had too many reversions with the power of the Snake, and he wasn’t too mentally drained. But something still bothered him, who was that person, how was he able to create those monsters? Anyone who just heard about this would tell you it was Hawkmoth who had created the man, but then he had sent the Akuma after the attack, and then the villains it created had fought against the man and his monsters, and then there was the attack the other day, people say the Akuma’s fought against monsters and another super villain but nothing he read online told anyone anything about it.

All he could figure out from this was that this wasn’t as clear-cut as it was at first and he hoped this wasn’t a sign that things would get even more convoluted in the future.

As Apisera looked around she nodded, noticing that none of the bees were moving at all, and with the police ‘double tapping’ them, the threat was gone. She looked at Viperion and walked over to him and grabbed him before he could take a step towards the river. “Come on Snake-boy, let’s get out of here before the vultures get here and see you in your other suit.”

As she jumped upwards she looked over her shoulder as Viperion followed, after a few moments they had made it to a small area out of sight of the streets. As they landed they heard a beep from the Snake Miraculous aw he was at two beeps, with three minutes left on his timer.

“Good, this is perfect! Listen, the long and the short is we’re trying to get the rest of the Miraculous permanent wielders to deal with……. Problems. You’ve been chosen, will you accept?” Apisera asked and Viperion looked at her in shock.

He looked at her, wondering what to ask and then he looked at his Miraculous and then her, but he shook his head. “There are more reasons than just getting a bigger team, aren’t there?”

“Yeah,” Apisera said and shook her head.

“It’s a long story and basically……. The old Order might have been a cult and enslaved the Kwami,” Apisera said and Viperion stared at her before he felt himself shake a litter in anger. “Cool it snake boy, we’ve got a plan to fix this. And getting every one of them a Wielder is one of them.”

“Then for Sass, I will. If after he wants to leave me he should,” Viperion said and Apisera nodded.

“Good, you got time or do you need to get back to your civilian life?” Apisera asked and Viperion nodded back.

“Life, my family were the Akuma after all,” Viperion said and Apisera stared at him before giggling a little.

“Your Juleka’s brother? That Glamor does work wonders!” Apisera said as she laughed and Viperion transformed back into Luka.

“Yeah, I’ll see you later miss Bee,” Luka said as he dashed down out of the alley and then he ran towards the river. Apisera looked after him before jumping away, heading back towards the hotel.

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Ladybug smiled as she jumped from rooftop to rooftop, Arashiko following along behind her. the battle had been different but the team had done it, and they had two new permanent members hopefully. And letting someone else come up with the plan, that felt right, she wasn’t the leader she was one of the team, no more, no less.

As Arashiko landed next to Ladybug she moved to hand over her Miraculous when Ladybug raised a hand and smiled at her as her own Miraculous beeped again. “No Kagami, you don’t need to return it.”

“I don’t?” Arashiko asked in shock as she detransformed and looked at Ladybug who smiled back at her.

“No, Longg spoke of you with respect, he feels that you are an ideal candidate to wield his power, and you can join the team permanently like the others,” Ladybug said as Kagami’s mouth dropped open.

Kagami looked from Longg to Ladybug and felt the weight of this, she didn’t know what she felt really. Having a friend like Longg around would be something, she was sure he would have a lot of advice for her, and help her through her problems. But then she wondered if she could hide him from her mother, with how controlling she was. She was cold at the best of times and demanded that Kagami perform at a level that she alone demanded and even without her sight, the woman could detect a fault in Kagami’s swordsmanship and behaviors and seemed to be on a mission to force Kagami into a mold.

But no matter how she tried, Kagami wouldn’t bend or be broken to her whims. She felt proud of that and having someone else to talk to in the dead of the night was something that she would like, but part of her was worried that he would convince her of something that she knew but didn’t want to say.

“I…… that is an honor that I don’t know if I can accept, you know how my mother is when I first became Ryuko,” Kagami and Longg laughed a little.

“Hatchling, you are kind and honorable, perfect to wield my power. And there are other reasons for adding more heroes,” Longg said and Kagami looked up at the Kwami then she looked away. She didn’t know everything, but the chance to fight alongside the others more often, it was very tempting.

“I……. I would like this, but my mother……. If her robot guards see him, she might take you,” Kagami said and Longg grinned.

“There is a way around that hatchling, trust me. When the Kwami and the Wielder both believe that it’s best for we Kwami have to hide, just hold it and I can hide in it, I do have the ability to talk to you with our minds. But we won’t be able to transform for an hour after I’m released,” Longg cautioned and Kagami looked at Ladybug whose Miraculous beeped again.

“If that is okay, then yes I will,” Kagami said and Longg grinned and Ladybug smiled as another beep was heard.

“Welcome to the team Kagami, this will be like that time on Friendship Day,” Ladybug as she detransformed into Marinette with Tikki floating next to her. Kagami’s mouth dropped open and she stared at her friend as she brought out two cookies, one she handed to Longg who nodded and ate it quickly.

“What?” Kagami breathed in total shock. Looking at her, Kagami’s mind went over past events and saw many of them in a new light, seeing the understanding that explained it all and she laughed. She couldn’t believe it, after all those times something about Marinette called out to her, it was because Marinette was the person who gave her a second chance after she messed up with the Miraculous when her mother had become an Akuma.

“Yeah, it’s a shock seeing me and breaking the glamor right? Same thing happened to me. Now transform and get home before your mother starts looking for you,” Marinette said and Kagami nodded and looked at her.

“We will talk about this later, but thank you for your trust. Longg, Bring the Strom!” Kagami said clearly.

“Tikki Spots on!” Marinette called out as well.

The two superheroes hugged before they both dashed off in the same general direction, Marinette hopped that her parents hadn’t gone looking for her or Adrien, and Kagami hoped that her mother hadn’t been trying to get ahold of her r activated the cars AI.

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A few minutes later Luka reached the street and some SWAT officers setting up barricades as others moved the Bee corpses away and into piles. As he tried to move by the barricades one of the police stopped him.

“Hold on son, this street’s closed,” One of the two officers said as he put a hand on Luka. Luka only looked at him and tried to keep his temper down.

“My family were the Akumas, the heroes brought me to safety and when I saw them leave I came back here. Are they okay, that thing appeared before the Akuma, did they hurt them?” Luka asked and the officer looked at him before nodding.

“Go straight to the river, don’t touch the bees,” The officer said as he let Luka pass. He ran, not stopping to gawk as he had already seen and even made the plan that defeated them. He reached the Liberty, seeing his mom talking with Commissaire Bertolfo while Rose and Juleka weren’t around made him worried, he hadn’t seen any doctors around so where were they?

“MOM!” Luka called out and Anarka looked up and saw him moving down the stairs toward the ship.

“Boyo, there you are! So you got away before the Hawk-scum could get ya? Good for you!” Anarka smiled and he nodded.

“Yeah, I was far enough away, where’s Jules and Rose?” Luka asked and Anarka looked down into the ship. Luka followed her gaze and realized what she meant but he figured out what she meant quickly. “They're down there, are they okay?!”

“Rose is a bit weak, I don’t know. She’s okay otherwise and well…… I said for her to try and sleep it off,” Anarka said and Luka went still as he felt Sass press against him.

“Oh, I hope she’s okay,” Luka said and the Commissaire nodded. Luka took a moment to look around and saw the giant Bee monster, and shuddered a little. Just looking at that thing and how it ate it to birth more of its kind, it made him scared about what it might have made if it ate his family or a human. He felt Sass press against him from his pocket and smiled, he would have to talk to Sass about this later, for now, he had to check on his sister.

“So those monsters attacked first like I heard, and after that Hawkmoth sent an Akuma?” Commissaire Bertolfo asked and Luka nodded.

“Great,” Commissaire Bertolfo muttered as he scars started to throb. He thought that Hawkmoth would be his last Super Villain before he retired, but it looks like he was wrong.

He would have to talk to the mayor about putting more money into the budget and contact the other stations, tell them to pay attention to anything, even if he had to use his authority as the Head of Paris’s Super Heroes Affairs office if he had to. A monster maker was seen as the worst because sometimes one escaped and bred in the wild, and that was the last thing the city needed. Looking at the sewers tunnel under the bridge, he just knew he would have to send in either drones or people to check them. And with how the things ate others, he wouldn’t send his men down there if he didn’t have to so drones it was

Luka looked at the damage and saw Theo taking notes on the other side of the bridge and smirked, he always knew his friend would run into trouble like this and help people. He had known Theo for a long time, and besides working part-time jobs to pay for his sculpting work he had a strong sense of justice. Most people wondered if he would become a sculptor and maybe a private eye on the side, since he often helped people find things they lost or missing pets.

He shook his head and moved into the Liberty as his mom and Commissaire Bertolfo kept talking, his mom telling him everything she remembered about Giles and what he had done.

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Rose slept soundly on the bed, a smile on her face. Juleka had brought Rose down into her and Luka’s room, putting her into Juleka’s bed and within moments Rose had fallen into slumber. Juleka was worried, even with how her illness had treated her, she never reacted like this! And when she was freed from being Princess Fragrance, she had been better than she had ever been for weeks after that!

As she looked at Rose, she never noticed Luka coming up behind her. Putting a hand on her shoulder and one over her mouth, Juleka turned and saw Luka standing there, gesturing to go to the main room. Following behind him after she closed the door, Juleka followed her brother and once they reached the main room she hugged him and cried into his chest.

“I don’t know what to do Lu, I just don’t!” Juleka said softly as she cried into him.

Luka only shushed her as he patted her hair. Rose had been a friend of the family for years, and he saw her as another sister. “There, there little sister. Rose will be fine.”

“How Luka, how? This is the worse she’s ever been!” Juleka said as she looked up as she cried.

Luka nodded, he knew it. He hated when her sickness got the best of her, but this wasn’t like anything that had happened to her that he knew about. A stray thought about how she had been drained by those……… Luka went still and looked at the ceiling, moving towards the door.

“Jules, stay here I’ll be right back!” Luka said as Juleka looked after him. As soon as he reached the deck, he looked around and saw Theo talking to Commissaire Bertolfo quietly.

“Commissaire!” He called out as he ran towards them. As they turned and looked at him, he bit out a question. “The people you found here, are any of them very tired?”

“Yes, a lot of them were slimed first and now they are. Some almost fell asleep while we were hiding. Why?” Commissaire Bertolfo asked and Luka nodded.

“Thanks!” Luka said as he turned and ran back to Juleka. If his thoughts were right, then

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Sabine smiled as she heard someone land on the roof, the threat was over. Thankfully the bakery had been empty so they had closed it down and then headed back to their apartment, and a quick check told them the kids had gone to fight. She was proud of them but she so wanted to talk to whoever choose them and have a nice long talk with them. As she looked down at her phone she saw the ‘Akuma, shelter in place’ warning on the app was still telling people to hide, but with them back it must be done, so what was happening?

As she sat there she looked out the window she saw Kagami moving towards where the school’s parking from where the alley was and frowned. Another child who had a strict parent, she hadn’t talked to Tomoe at all, but after hearing how and why she became an Akuma, that said all that was needed about her. Sometimes she wondered if being rich or important in the city meant being a parent that controlled more than loved their children, and the four examples she knew about did seem to favor that, but still. Tom reached over and squeezed her shoulder and she smiled at him.

Tom was a bit angry at whoever choose her himself, but at least he trusted Marinette to handle it, mostly. His time as an Akuma was something he regretted, but not the actions he took.

As he looked upwards he sighed. “We have to talk to her about it soon, you know.”

Sabine nodded, Tom was all set to tell her they knew once they figured it out, but then she suggested that maybe it would be best to let her keep going, only acting if they had to. But the failed mass attack, they were worried about what exactly it meant. And she knew that they would have to talk to her about it soon, after the hearing at the very least.

As Tom flipped the sign to open, their phones beeped and they looked down the ‘Akuam Alert’ was deactivated, he looked the outside and smiled. His daughter had gotten away, but then maybe she was back to get something to win, they didn’t know exactly what she had hidden away up there, after all the ‘Listener’ was just so she could destroy it and give his father piece of mind after what had happened to his old friend.

The two of them shared a look, both of them wondering if they should call out to the kids but a ringing told them the door was opening, time to get back to work.

Chapter 25

Chapter Text

Sheepheadfred/ That question will be answered in the special I’m working on; and in this world, the Miraculous World; New York happened before Season 3 Episode; Ladybug. And just for fun, I threw in two characters from a show that ZagToon has been talking about for years but did nothing that I can see.

So here’s the trailer; In New York; Sparrow will face a threat from the ancient past, causing a pair of old rivals of her and her sister to fight side by side with them as they save old foes. When the threat multiplies, what will turn the tide for those against it? Find out in Miraculous New York the Movie; The Coming Darkness. Hoped date October 1^st.

But that’s enough promotion, for the next two chapters or so, it’ll be filler for the last great battle, after that there’ll be a what’s happening to everyone chapter then next there’s the Pride Saga of this series.

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As she looked around the platform on the Eiffel Tower, Salacia was worried. She wanted to believe that the heroes were on the side of the angels, but if they were with the Order then she would deal with it, it would make fighting the Seven harder but then she decided to do this. And her escape strategy would work, all she had to do was jump down and then make it to the river and swim away.

She hoped she wouldn’t have to use it, but she learned a long time ago it was always better to have something and not need it than need it and not have it.

A sound caused her to look up and see Rena Rouge, Ladybug, and Chat Noir land on the other side of the platform from her. She swallowed and took a deep breath.

“Hello, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you when we can all talk as long as we need to,” Chat Noir called out from where he was. Salacia nodded, feeling a little relief that it was only the three of them. But then with the portal maker, they could have all of them here in moments, she needed to know the truth.

“Are you allied with the Order of the Guardians?” Salacia asked as she clenched her hands.

“The Order was destroyed for over a hundred years before Chat and I defeated the Sentimonster that ate them. We work with the sole survivor until I brought the temple back. And we’ve learned, that the others aren’t as on the side of good as the survivor believed,” Ladybug said and Salacia went still as she looked at her.

This was better than her worst fear, but then the fact that the temple was back, that might work against her. Okay, from what Bulla said about them, they always talked about Balance and all, balance under them. They might be against them, but I need to tell their Kwami at the very least. She thought as she took a deep breath.

“The user we fought together in the park? She’s one of seven who each brought a Miraculous into existence after Atlantis fell. My Kwami said that the line of her last Atlantis holder has fought them for years,” Salica said and Ladybug looked at her in shock as Rena Rouge’s mouth as Chat Noir dropped to the floor as his legs failed him. “And for years the Order tried to take her to enforce their ideas of ‘Balance’, and they were not above killing to do so.”

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“Okay……” Ladybug said stunned and looked at the others as they stared at the Dolphin-heroine. They had known that the Order wasn’t all that Fu thought they were from the way the Kwami had reacted, but this was beyond what they feared. If she was to be right, then the fact that they had been brought back might work against them, if they sent other Miraculous against them!

“Okay, that was worse than we thought, just gonna say that right there,” Rena Rouge said softly as she looked at Salica who nodded.

Chat Noir looked down at his ring, wondering just what they had done to his friend. He was worried, more worried than he was before they had come here, this tracked with the information Fu was able to get out of the Kwami before they were silenced by what they now knew of as the spell they were going to break. The last message Marinette and he had sent to Uncanny Valley about how they needed to talk had been sent a replay that her mother was gone, and she was in battle. They hoped to hear from her soon, but until then they could only wait and deal with this.

“How were they even able to create new Miraculous?” Ladybug asked and Salica

“Because my Kwami was part of a group that took relics from the Mage of Atlantis when the island fell,” Salica admitted and looked at them and took a deep breath. “She protected an artifact the Mage used as a message in a bottle, he had a warning that in twenty-nine days, a Day of Wraith will happen.”

“Day of Wraith?” Chat Noir asked and Salica looked down.

They didn’t know what she was talking about, but they had a feeling that whatever it was, it was very bad. The others who were listening in from Rena’s flute were probably talking about it too, and Chloe was probably in a frenzy worrying about what this ‘Day of Wraith’ could mean for Paris.

“My Kwami described it as a day when the world healed, a time of fury when the wounds our planet gained. One single day where the wounds that happened over years were healed all at once. She’s told me that the ancient magic users constructed towers to keep it from happening, but they’ve been destroyed. When it happens, it will be bad,” Salica said and looked away.

Ladybug did the numbers in her head. The new moon would happen in twenty-three days, after that this Day of Wraith would happen, which gave them a few days to maybe prepare for it after the ceremony that would hopefully free the Kwami.

“So that’s why you wanted to talk to us all?” Rena Rouge asked and Salica nodded.

“Yeah, I needed to tell you that The Mage had a message for all the Kwami, once we trust each other more, we’ll hand it over,” Salica said and Ladybug looked at the others and leaned against a support beam and held her head.

“The Order cast spells on the Kwami, we’re going to break them but we need to wait until the next full moon to do it,” Ladybug said Salica sighed and nodded.

“That tracks. My Kwami told me that the Order sent people after them, and sometimes Miraculous users as well. All for the ‘Balance’ under them of course,” Salica said bitterly and Chat Noir growled and Rena Rouge covered her mouth as Ladybug just blinked.

“Okay, that’s a lot to unpack,” Chat Noir said as every bad feeling he had once Chloe made her ‘cult’ comment was coming back at him driving a tank.

“The person we fought together, she was one of the Seven then?” Rena Rouge asked and Salica nodded.

“The Sin of Gluttony, the power granted by that Miraculous is to drain the energy from a person, the basic energy we use day by day. They turn it into an ‘egg’ that they can drain, if I destroy it then the people drained wake up, otherwise, it takes them a week to do so,” Salica admitted and looked at the others before sighing. “The minions were created by another of the Seven, not by her power but by her skill.”

“What,” Ladybug asked faintly and Salica nodded as the others looked at her shocked. The three could hear Master Fu coughing in shock and horror as they listened in.

“The way she tells it, it’s some kind of magic that Lust picked up around WW2 in the Pacific, something about a mad monk that she seduced or something………. She said that her sister, the Dove was lost then, and there was something about the Armadillo disappearing,” Salica said and Ladybug swallowed and looked at her as Chat Noir looked at Ladybug in concern as Rena Rouge looked at Salica.

“Hey, how many Miraculous were with your group?” Rena called out and Salica nodded.

“Counting her, six. It was sometime after Atlantis fell and the people who became the Seven were fleeing religious prosecution or something. The Dolphin isn’t sure what exactly,” Salica said and Rena Rouge nodded.

Chat Noir looked at Ladybug as Rena Rouge questioned Salica about the other members of her Kwami’s group and he saw the worry in her eyes. If he could see fear in her eye, something was bothering her beyond what he could see.

“Can the Seven bring other Kwami and Miraculous into the world?” Ladybug asked and Salica shook her head.

“No. The way it was explained to me, when her group broke free they took what was needed to do that with them. The group split it apart and two of them took their pieces and hid them away from the Seven,” Salica admitted and Ladybug turned and looked out over Paris.

She didn’t know what they would do, with Hawkmoth having gained more power with the latest attack, this Giles who escaped while they were fighting the bees, and now six more Evil Miraculous users were out there allied to the who attacked them during the attack of those two Akuma! And to top it off, this Holder before them just said it was possible to bring more Miraculous into being if they had a relic from the mage, that her group split into six parts.

Ladybug didn’t know how everything that happened over the last few days would affect the battle against Hawkmoth, but she doubted it would be good.

“Besides telling us about this, why did you want to meet here?” Ladybug asked and Salica shrugged.

“I can escape easily if you drop the rest of your team with the Horse, this way I can keep the fight. And I had to warn you about the day of Wraith, I wouldn’t live with myself if I didn’t tell you,” Salica said as she turned around and looked at them over her shoulder. “See you next battle!”

Before they could say anything, she jumped off the edge! They ran and saw her hit the water, surface, and wave before diving deep and swimming away.

“She’s a Dolphin so maybe she can breathe underwater. So see you later guys!” Rena Rouge said and turned away, Chat Noir and Ladybug laughed a little and nodded.

“Everyone, we’re heading home too. Master, good night,” Ladybug said and they all heard the others' detrasnform commands over their earbuds as each line died.

Rena Rouge grinned at Ladybug and Chat Nori and smirked. “Bye, guys. Don't go making kittens now!”

As Ladybug and Chat Noir blushed Rena Rouge laughed as she jumped away. She was giddy and trying to think out but inside she was as worried as the others. With the sheer chaos and damage that this Day of Fury could cause, Rena could only hope that the Mayor had paid the ‘Special Events’ insurance so Paris could recover faster.

As Ladybug and Chant Nir jumped away to do a patrol before heading back to her home, she decided to send a text to Eagle about everything once there, hoping that Eagle’s Kwami might be able to verify what Salica told them. If such a terror was coming, they had to warn people, and they might have to work with Hawkmoth to survive.

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As the Monday sun shinned down, Lila walked into school, she tried to keep the fear and suspicion she was feeling at bay and off her face. She had been shaking when finished listening to what she had recorded in the kitchen.

She now knew her mother wasn’t normal, that she had somehow programmed Lila to act the way she did, and she didn’t know how to handle that. But for now, all she could do was try and see if she could find a way to get away from her control and get her first before whatever reason she had to do this was done. Ladybug was out, so the only option she had was to somehow get Hawkmoth to help her. Maybe she could become an Akuma that could force anyone she wanted to obey her orders and interrogate her mother?

She shook her head, she needed to get her head in the game. Right now she had to hope Adrien was back after his…… escapade. She had to get him to understand the finer points of living as a modern noble and get him to understand that that baker’s brat was nothing, worse than the slime beneath her feet. And with her gone, I’ll be able to slowly mold these fools into the perfect worshipers, I’ve done it before. And that Kim, if he doesn’t shape up I’ll have to do something to him, maybe get him blacklisted from sports computations if he doesn’t fall into line after I threaten him. But to get that kind of power I need these sheep to make me their class representative, and once that happens this school will one day worship me! She thought as she grinned evilly.

She knew most people would fight if they knew someone was controlling their actions, but to Lila, it just meant she had someone to blame if she was confronted, and she would enjoy that boon to the hilt. And the only thing she hated about what her mother had done to her was that she wasn’t the one to do it to her.

“Well, time for my first day at this place without that brat Marinette! Goodbye girl, may you take your own life soon!” Lila cackled and entered the building, never noticing someone had seen her and recorded her.

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In Miss Bustier’s room, the class was softly talking to each other as Rose was being fussed over by Juleka.

“I’m fine Jules, really. I feel great, after my sleep, it’s like it never happened,” Rose said as she looked at her good friend. Juleka sighed and nodded, turning towards the others as they talked. The few pictures the reporters had gotten before they had been forced away from the battle had been all the news had talked about this morning, So far her classmates hadn’t asked what happened, they all knew that at best she would only have impressions of what she had done as her new form. Juleka however blushed a little as she remembered how she felt when she saw the picture of her new form, it was something else and she was thinking about asking Marinette for a dress in that color, something nice to wear for the next time she went to the Teen Casino.

Alya looked down at her desk and tried to keep her mind off last night’s revelations from showing on her face. The fact that someone beyond the Mage had brought more Miraculous into the world, that the Mage was from Atlantis and everything, she had no words for it. With the way the past was slowly becoming more active, she didn’t know what. And the worse thing was that she couldn’t tell anyone outside their circle about it!

Master Fu had taken this information the hardest, last she heard he was poring over the pages of the Grimoire he had, trying to find anything that had the simplest scrapes about the Mage, but so far he found nothing the last she heard from him on the group chat this morning.

Chloe looked down at the front of the class as Sabrina looked over her phone. The two of them had been talking about maybe bringing in the others into their secret, but then she was still unsure what would happen to the two of them if they did win their battle. She wanted to do what was right, and ever since the two of them found out the truth, at least they had found it out after she had her revelations about her actions and how she was acting like her mother. And with the ‘Guardian Cult’ possibly coming for them, they didn’t need her drama before the little ones were freed

Sabrina was looking over disaster drills and possible scenarios, this ‘Day of Fury’ that Salica told them about had caused their Kwami to clam up, not a good sign. If it was as bad as she feared, then they needed to do something soon. With everything she’s heard on the ‘Cadet Net’ lately, and with the ‘Club’ sending out notices of coming attractions that made her worried, and then there was her elephant to handle, at least Barkk agreed that something was wrong with how her father had taught her.

Kim meanwhile sighed and looked out the window, after the Lockdown was lifted from the pool, he had tried to ask Ondine out but she said that she had to do something. After that, he had gone to Max’s place and they had listened in on the talk with the Dolphin hero, and to say Max’s mind was blown was like saying water was wet. He had gone set up a web search for everything Plato had said about Atlantis and with the monsters, he started to look up legends of heroes fighting monsters, wondering what was real or not. All Kim knew, was that the world was a lot bigger than he thought it was.

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As Lila entered the school, she smiled as she looked around. This was hers now, and if anyone tried to bother her, then all she had to do was cry to her pawns and they would be expelled. This was even better

As she walked towards her class, Lila tried to keep focused. Taking Marinette’s former position was her goal in the short term, but first, she needed to get rid of any chance that Chloe would take it back. She needed to remind the class how infective Chloe had been when it had been her, based on the stories she heard the mayor’s brat did the bare minimal

And the fact that there was a new Bee hero, that was gold. If she could cut away more of Chloe’s social power, it would take nothing to step into her shoes once. She stopped before the door and listened in, hoping to get anything that could help her plans.

“I can’t believe all three of you became Akumas Rose, I just can’t!” Mylene’s voice caused Lila to smile, with Hawkmoth getting stronger, soon that Ladybitch will fall like she’s meant to, and then she would rule with him until she can take over for him.

She shook herself, slapped her face, and forced a smile onto it. She opened the door and walked in, grinning happily. “Good Morning everyone!”

Lila saw everyone but their teacher and smiled at Chloe, ready to start her plans. “Oh Chloe I saw the news the other day, to think

“Eh, I’m good with that,” Chloe said with a shrug and for a moment Lila heard a crack within herself as she looked at Chloe as the others in the room all looked at the conversation. “In fact, I even got a picture that should be going up just about…….now!”

A beeping caused them all to look to their phones and saw there was a new photo on the Ladyblog, the photo was of Chloe and Apisera with their arms over the other’s shoulders with the caption ‘Passing the Buzz’.

“Wait, this is the Ladyblog! Alya you did this?” Mylene asked and Alya nodded.

“Yeah, Chloe called me over and after promising this wasn’t a trick I came on over and Apisera turned up! We did an interview that’s going up around lunchtime!” Alya said with a grin. As Lila stared at the photo feeling her plan die and break into pieces Chloe spoke, each word causing her almost physical pain.

“Actually, I flagged down Ladybug one night and we talked about it, and I was the one to suggest she find a new hero to replace me,” Chloe said and Lila felt the world tilt as the class looked at her.

“You did? If it was me I would be a bit mad even if I went public!” Alix said and Chloe shrugged and smirked up at her.

Chloe looked around as people looked at her and fought down a grin, this was what she liked most of her bad years, people waiting to hear what she said and

“Pinks, let’s just say that I spent a bit of time looking back at my actions and well, personality and didn’t like what I saw. But I gave the photo and interview to Alya to try to make up for the Lady Wifi thing, and I admit that I went a bit overboard, but why I did so was something she was supposed to know! And I will have a talk with him about it!” Chloe said and the

“Wait, you gave the interview to Alya?” Ivan asked and Chloe nodded.

“Yeah, Ladybug was originally going to come and back me up, but then the new Bee showed up instead and well there it is,” Chloe said with a shrug and then she looked at Juleka then looked away.

“Yeah, but back on the why Marinette was able to get so better results instead of Chloe when she was class president?” Lila asked sweetly and Nino scowled at her, remembering a former bully before he and Marinette even joined the same class as Chloe.

“Because Marinette only asked if it was allowed, and if it was the funding she gathered from her fundraisers were always handled by her as a non-profit that Sabrina helped set up, and she made the goodies with her parent's help here at school,” Chloe said absently as she did her nails, blowing on them after a few moments.

“And you couldn’t why Chloe?” Lila asked, trying to put some doubt about how Chloe dealt with the position.

“I’m a terrible baker, and the lunch ladies only work part-time, the school won’t let them make goods for sales due to insurance issues, plus they won’t let them work overtime. And most money that I did collect was always a lot less than Sabrina’s figures at the end so I told Marinette to keep the money and use it herself to get what she collected it for. She did but she just bought the materials to make them,” Chloe said bluntly and Rose looked down at the pillow she used on her chair and frowned, suddenly understanding why it had a yellow flower on it and she was told to take it home every day.

Max meanwhile nodded to Markov who winked back, hopefully, his friend would be able to hack into the school’s servers easily enough, taking a look at where the school’s funds went, that seemed like a good way to spend their time while the program he made was running.

A moment later Ms. Bustier came into the room all smiles, but Chloe knew that whatever the worst teacher in the school had planned, she wouldn’t like it.

“Calm down everyone, we have a long day. And will anyone who wants to be the new Class Representative please think about it and talk to me at Lunch!” Ms. Bustier said with a smile as she locked her eyes on Alya and Lila. Chloe just barely kept a growl down as Ms. Bustier turned towards the board, not seeing the glares most of the class was sending her.

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A car stopped in front of Francoise-Dupont and three people got out, George plus a woman and a man, all of them in black suits. The woman just sighed and shook her head. “I wanted to never have to come back to this place ever again, at least until I retired at least.”

Another car stopped and two men in suits got out and looked at the school behind black sunglasses and the woman nodded at them before one moved towards the back of the school.

“Come on Rebecca, you know you live for this kind of thing like us!” The man who spoke had tanned skin and Rebecca only glared at him and she looked at him, he only laughed at her look.

“Maybe Albert, but I really hate that we have to come back here and with the why!” Rebecca said and Albert nodded as the final member of their group snickered and glared up at the building.

“But you know I was right, this place is trash!” Albert said with a scowl as he looked up at the school. “The only thing that makes this place even halfway decent is some of the teachers, so shall we?”

As they walked towards the school as one, Albert looked at the building and remembered the pain, sorrow, and anger that had caused him to come here. After everything, he was back here again, and from what he had found out this was going to be almost as bad as what happened before.

As they entered the school, Fred Haprele was coming out of a doorway that led into the front office and paused before look

“Hello, can I help you?” Fred asked nervously and Rebecca smiled at him. Fred was wishing there were more security members

“Albert Allberg, with the country’s Board of Education, Internal Affairs Division,” Albert said and Fred gulped. “We need to talk to all the students and the teachers.”

Fred looked at them and swallowed, he hoped privately that they were here about Marinette.

As she entered the main office, Rebecca saw a microphone and grabbed it, the secretary tried to stop her but Albert grabbed her arm. Mr. Damocles came in and scowled at them and was about to speak when Rebecca turned on the intercom.

“Attention all students and teachers, my name is Rebecca and I work for the Country’s Board of education. Classes are over, my assonates need to talk to every student, once done talking with them after being called please stay on the premises until the day ends, we might need to talk to some of you again. However you may choose not to talk to us if you like, you may then leave but be aware if we need to talk to you we will find you. All teachers please gather in the teacher’s room,” Rebecca said and then looked at Damocles as he paled as listened to her.

As the other two people who came with her went off, Rebecca looked at Damocles and smiled evilly. “Now please bring me to your office, I need to look over all your paperwork! And you, Mr……?”

“Call me Fred mam,” Fred Harper said and she nodded.

“Yes, please tell the Libran and the lunch monitor that they don’t need to come for now, and then please watch over the gym until I send the gym teacher to take over once I’m done with him,” Rebecca said and Fred nodded before he winced and looked away.

“Mam, we don’t have a lunch monitor,” Fred said and Rebecca looked at him for a few moments before glaring at Damocles who swallowed. Rebecca kneaded her eyes before looking at the secretary and sighed.

“Fine, you. Is there a phone in the lunch room? Or can you take that phone and answer it there? Good,” Rebecca said as she nodded.

“You cover the lunch room, then I’ll send him once I’m done with him, right??” She growled at Damocles who nodded with a fearful look on his face

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Chloe shared a grin with Sabrina as the announcement ended. She had a feeling that this had something to do with Marinette’s expulsion and she couldn’t wait to tell them everything she saw!

Miss Bustier looked up at the loudspeakers as her class all stood up. This would set them back a bit. They needed to find another Class Representative to be an inspiration for everyone! After Chloe shot down all of Caline’s advice, Marinette was the perfect idol for the class until the end. She would have to teach the next one better. She hoped that this wouldn’t hurt any of them too much, that they would become people who

As Chloe looked at her jailer teacher she wondered if she should send all the evidence she had gathered against her to the investigators, she knew she hadn’t been a good student but even then she had known something was wrong with how Caline Bustier acted.

“Everyone, please go to the library, gym, or cafeteria and wait until you’re called, and everyone please read the next chapter and do the worksheet for it on the class page on the school site!” Caline said as she walked out of the room.

Lila went out the other door, Rose saw her leaving the group and called out. “You okay Lila?”

“Bathroom, see you later!” Lila called out as she left. Chloe, Sabrina, and Alya looked at her as Kim and Max looked at each other before shrugging.

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Aurore looked around the small room and took a deep breath as she walked to the table and sat before Albert.

“Thank you for talking to me, please state who you are for the record,” Albert said and Aurore nodded and sat down before a microphone.

“My name is Aurore, Aurore Beauréal. Class President of class B, teacher Ms. Mendeleiev,” Aurore said and Albert nodded.

“Thank you, please tell me everything you know about the incident between Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Lila Rossi,” Albert said and Aurore looked at him.

She didn’t know who these people were or if they were just trying to cover the school for what they did to Marinette, but she had to take a chance.

“I have to state that I don’t know much as my class was not in school for the incident in question,” Aurore said and Albert nodded.

“I understand, but please what can you tell me about what happened as you understand the situation from the talk about it around the school,” Albert asked and Aurore looked at him with hard eyes.

“Thank you, as we came to school the next day as the trip was for all of the day it was all our fellow students could talk about,” Aurore said and a savage glare came onto her face. “And I knew from the beginning that there was no way that Marinette would have done that to Rossi!”

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Lila had slipped away, not bothering to talk to anyone and heading towards the back door. She reached the stars leading out she stopped as she thought she heard someone out there. Opening the door a sliver she brought out a hand mirror and used it to look through the crack and she saw a man in a uniform waiting out there by the door. She moved backward closing the door silently and glared at it as she wondered what to do now. If someone found her before she got away……… with everything that was happening she needed to do it now.

As she moved softly away she tried to remember how the school’s grounds were set up. The door on the west side was in sight of the front door, so since someone was back here they would see her. The only chance she had was to slip away through an exit on the east side near the gym, she remembered how some kids broke the alarm by a dodge ball hitting it after escaping the gym, that day had been crazy and an Akuma WASN’T involved no matter what some people said, she had that from the psycho himself.

As she moved out of the corridor she saw Armand D'Argencourt looking right at her. He was the Physical education and fencing teacher for the school, considered one of the best fencers in Europe who wasn’t a Super. He was wearing his usual white fencing uniform and glared at her. His large curly mustache twitched as he glared at her before he spoke.

“Well, don’t just stand there! Go, and find a way to so that little wench will stay out of my school!” He barked and walked past her towards the gym. Lila blinked and looked at him leave, she had always thought the teachers were split into two categories, those who hated her or those who she tricked, she had never seen a teacher who wanted to help her.

Lila shook her head and slipped into the door outside, running towards her home, not expecting that her mother already knew about the hearing and was planning on taking her there, or that she had been seen by and Armand had been heard by someone who had recorded it.

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“When we heard about we couldn’t believe it, it made no sense at all,” Mirelle said and looked down. She and George sat in a room like the one Aurora was in

“Who is the ‘we’ in this situation?” George asked and Mirelle looked up from her lap.

“Aurore and myself, we’re the president and vice president for our class and we’ve worked with Marinette and her vice-president, Alya on the council and it didn’t make sense given what we knew about Marinette’s character,” Mirelle said as she looked at the investigator with a sheepish look on her face. “But you don’t want my feelings, do you?”

“I do but I deal with facts alone miss,” George said as he smiled at her gently. “I just want to know everything you can tell me about what happened as you know.”

Mirelle looked at him and smiled a little and looked away, wondering how to even begin to explain what she knew about the school.

“Okay, I guess what we knew was when our teacher came into homeroom the day after, now she…… looked terrible. She always smiles and sometimes tells a few jokes before class, when it's chemistry she’s always strict but only so we’re safe,” Mirelle began and the man nodded. He had known teachers like that a lot, they were some of the best as far as he was concerned. A teacher who was human and was able to keep their charges safe even if they were strict.

“That fits with the profile we have of her, a good person and a strict teacher when class starts, but someone who will still show her humanity. Now what could have caused her to feel that?” George asked rhetorically and Mirelle smiled at him.

“First off, do you know what Miss Bustier’s class is called by everyone else?” Mirelle asked and George shook his head. “The Akuma Class.”

“Lots of drama there then?” George asked with a grin.

“Yeah,” Mirelle said with a grin. “But this was beyond anything so Aurora and I decided to ask the principal about the Marinette’s hearing. So we headed over to the principal’s office and tried to get a meeting, and well……”

Mireille looked away and George felt a headache forming.

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In his office Principal, Damocles locked eyes with Rebecca who had commandeered his school as she sat behind his desk and looked over his files and he was happy that he had put his secrets on lockdown, without the counter code from him if the button was pushed nothing would happen. And moments later she found it and frowned as she looked down and hed bashfully.

“That’s the emergency button if I press it when it's working, it sounds the alarm telling everyone to run to safety,” Damocles said and Rebecca looked at him with a raised eyebrow and he shrugged. “It was the last project of old Professor Berrymore before he retired, last I heard he was in New Zealand bicycling.”

“If it’s working?” Rebecca asked dryly and Damocles grinned shakily.

“Well when the First Akuma happened the damage wasn’t repaired, and well the budget didn’t have it with everything else and since what happened was ruled to fall under the ‘Brainwashed are Innocent Act’, we couldn’t sue Stoneheart, and then since it’s all magic……” Damocles said and Rebecca looked away, never noticing him press a small statue’s head, deactivating many of the improvements he made off the books.

Rebecca rubbed her eyes as she sighed and sat down. She wanted to hate him but he was right, with insurance Science Villains would be paid right away, but with Magic Villains, they had to be caught before the companies made a payout. And with how Hawky’s been hiding so well, that’s going to be a very time. So the result is that I can’t fault him for that! She thought with a glare as she turned to look at him.

“It was all we could do to fix the cameras, the system still says they’re not working when they are!” Damocles complained and sighed as Rebecca looked up at him and he hid a smirk under his beard. “But if you’re looking for the views from when this even happened, it’s already been erased, again a command from city hall, delete everything every third Friday at closing time.”

Rebecca looked at him and glared, prompting him to raise his hands in surrender. “It is a policy that the mayor set up, I have my orders about it.”

Rebecca looked at him and sighed as she started to look over the paperwork and frowned before looking at Damocles with a worse glare. “Where is the paperwork on Miss Dupain-Cheng?”

“I was planning on finishing that today, just backdate it to last Thursday,” Damocles admitted and Rebecca frowned, he looked away and blushed.

Rebecca wanted to yell at him, but backdating paperwork like Marinette was at the edge of acceptable. She didn’t know if he was serious, he forgot about it or wanted to expel her due to being tardy too many times. She had dealt with a few cases like that in the past, and the storm she had rained onto those scum who tried to do that, well most of them couldn’t get jobs at dog schools.

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Chloe looked at Juleka and Rose as they came up to her after talking with the investigators as Sabrina came from checking out something. Looking at her friend, Sabrina nodded and Chloe sighed.

“I want to talk to you two, privately,” Chloe said and Rose almost said something before Juleka spoke up.

“And we can trust you why? And where” Juleka said with a scowl and Chloe looked away.

“In the entrance way to the basem*nt, and I’ll be outside. You can let someone else stand guard with me if you want,” Sabrina said and Juleka nodded before spotting Alix walking towards the library and smiled at each other.

Moments later Ax looked at them as she closed the door, leaving Chloe, Rose and Juleka alone n the basem*nt.

“So what’s this all about?” Juleka asked Chloe who looked at them and swallowed.

“Well…… gah!” Chloe stammered out before she just bowed to both of them. Juleka and Rose just stared at Chloe in shock. Chloe looked up after a few moments and saw how they both reacted she looked away. “Goth-g……Juleka…….. sorry about the photo thing, our teacher should have maybe put us last while everyone went to find you at least!”

Juleka blinked and shared a glance at Rose who looked as surprised as Juleka felt. Nothing ever prepared her for Chloe of all people to apologize. And she was right, how Ms. Buister and Damocles dealt with that incident was bad, it was just another mark against them. But it still didn’t make what Chloe did any less bad.

“Still that doesn’t make what you did any better!” Juleka said and Chloe winced and looked down at the floor.

“Yeah, I know. Well, that was when I was trying to act like my mom would, hoping the witch would like me back,” Chloe admitted and Rose winced and Juleka frowned. She was the last person to talk about having a normal relationship with her parents, and she could see why Chloe had thought that she needed to do something for her mother to like her.

But then Audrey was a total bitch, no calling her a bitch was an insult to female dogs! She had seen the woman a few times around the city, and to say that the only reason that she wasn’t in jail was that her husband was the mayor was like saying the sky was blue! If that was Chloe’s role model who she based herself on, then that explained a lot. But it was the ‘witch’ comment that bothered Juleka, something about that tickled her senses, it was like she knew was at the edge of understanding something but she couldn’t the whole picture yet.

“So why are you apologizing to me and not Rose for her letter?” Juleka asked and Chloe winced. Juleka didn’t know what this was, was Chloe trying to turn over a new leaf or was it part of a plot she had going? Either way, Juleka would watch Chloe’s reactions, she wasn’t her brother but she had a good eye for tells.

“Yeah about that,” Chloe said and looked away. “It is hotel policy to not let guests, special or otherwise be given letters by hand, all letters must be sent through the mail and post office. It’s because a hotel was sued when a hate letter was delivered by hand, given by someone who said they were a big fan of a guest.”

Rose blinked a few times and Juleka’s exposed eye went wide.

“OH,” Rose and Chloe nodded.

“Yeah, I could have been nicer about it, but after learning about that and the number of close calls the hotel’s had over the years, and don’t ask what happened okay?” Chloe said and Rose nodded.

Juleka frowned, her mind going strange places as she looked at Chloe. She could imagine a lot of close calls that could happen to have to do with the mail, she had read about a lot of them and heard lectures from family friends. She could accept it, she didn’t like it and Chloe could have been nicer about it but then she understood why she did what she did.

Rose meanwhile was worried for the person who had been giving the letter and the person who hand-delivered it. She hoped nothing bad happened to them in the end, and that the person who sent the letter was giving help if he needed it.

“So this was just to apologize then?” Rose asked and Chloe nodded.

“Yeah, I looked at myself and I’ve got a list of things to make up for. I’m going to be a better person, one that Pollen would have been proud to call a partner! Oh, Pollen was the Bee Kwami,” Chloe said smiling as Juleka shared a look with Rose.

“About that Passing posting this morning, are you okay?” Rose asked softly and Chloe smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, I’m just fine really. The interview she crashed will tell you all everything,” Chloe said and smiled at the girls.

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Alya sighed as she left the interview room and looked around the cafeteria, at least that was done. The teachers had said that classes were canceled for the day, and everything would instead be free study as long as the investigators didn’t need them. She looked around the room, spotting Max and Markov talking to each other quietly as they sat by his computer. If she was a full-time hero, she needed to talk to Max and Markov about a workaround, maybe he could build something and Markov could pilot it remotely? Still, she needed to talk to someone while she waited for Nino to come out.

As she walked she noticed Chloe entering the room at the head of a group consisting of Alix, Sabrina, Rose, and Juleka. She had mentioned apologizing to Juleka and mentioned something about hotel rules to do with the Rose situation and not to ask. She looked around for Lila and frowned when she didn’t see her. She thought that the witch would have been watched, but if she wasn’t and escaped………

Alya moved towards the doorway and Chloe saw her and stopped, the others walked by her for a few moments before they all stopped and looked from Chloe to Alya as she was walking towards them.

“Something wrong blogger?” Chloe challenged and Alya looked up and nodded.

“Lila’s missing,” Alya said simply and Chloe looked around the room.

“f*ck,” Chloe said and looked at the group.

Alix looked as well, frowning as she looked at the speakers on the ceiling, a frown on her face. “Was she called in already?”

Alya shook her head before replying. “No, I’ve watched everyone who has, she hasn’t.”

“Sabrina go check the bathroom on the second floor, Alix the gym. Alya, you’re with me on the first floor, Juleka and Rose, check the nurse,” Chloe said in a commanding tone and the others nodded

As Alya followed Chloe, she blinked for a moment before chuckling; she just saw how Chloe was the Class President before Marinette. A beeping from her phone caused her to wince, that was her and Chloe’s interview, well so much for watching their reactions.

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Marinette sighed as she worked on a design as Adrien did a little research online. After last night they had both asked questions that had gotten Plagg and Tikki to ‘go silent, and that answered if the Guardians had killed their wielders to get them under their control. Marinette had asked Master Fu to send a list of the materials needed for the spell to break the enchantments on the Mother Box, hoping that more heads working on it might get the answer faster.

She had spent the last hour on it while Adrien looked up the definition of the words in a French to Chinese encyclopedia, hoping that if they knew the Chinese definition that might help point them in the right direction.

After falling for the hour but having a few ideas, Adrien had taken a turn on the computer to research other modeling agencies he could get a contract with, and he had liked voice acting so he was looking those up too, something about how he would need a job his father didn’t control after the hearing, hopefully, if it went well. Tikki and Plagg were in the closet, talking quietly. It seemed they could talk to each other but not them without tripping the spells. She hoped that they were able to break the spells on the next full moon.

A beep caused them to look down at their phones and smile. It seemed the time was right for that ‘special’ post that Alya had made over the weekend was up. Marinette just hoped the bread crumb they left would lead to where they wanted it to.

“Looks like the interview is live, wanna watch it?” Adrien asked and Marinette giggled and got up and looked at her closet.

“Plagg, Tikki! Come on! Chloe’s interview is on!” Marinette called out as Adrien turned the TV on.

As the Kwami flew out Adrien sent opened the blog on his phone and cast the video to the TV.

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Alya’s face filled the screen and she smiled as she started to speak. “Hey Ladybloggers, this is Alya here! Rumors of a new Bee hero brought me here to the Le Grand Paris to talk to the Queen Bee herself, Chloé Bourgeois! After a few questions, I learned that this was a bit bigger so I thought, let’s have an interview and she agreed!”

The camera panned and showed Chloe sitting in one of two chairs with her back to the door to her balcony smiling. “Hey Alya, glad to have you here! So what’s first?”

The Camera panned back to Alya who fiddled with something behind the camera as she smiled and moved to the other chair and looked at Chloe.

“So Ladybloggers I’m using my new phone stand on Chloe’s bed so you can see us, might need to fix it if Fang comes and vests us so let's start. Chloe, you said that you were all behind a new Bee hero…….” Alya trailed off as Chloe giggled.

“Oh, her? I knew about it even before she did!” Chloe said with a grin. Alya blinked a few times and looked at her in total shock.

“Wait, you what?! How…….” Alya trailed off as a knocking was heard and Chloe stood up and walked to the door, she opened it and revealed Apisera herself standing there. Chloe stepped backward as Apisera smiled at her.

“Hello Miss Bourgeois, I hope you don’t mind me calling on you…….. oh the Ladyblogger?” Apisera asked and Chloe smiled.

“Come in, I was just talking about you, this is perfect!” Chloe said and walked into the room with Apisera following behind. Alya stood up from her chair and went behind the Camera, picking it up as Apisera and Chloe sat down in the chairs.

“Ladybloggers hold on, this is gonna be a double! Both the former Queen Bee and the current Apisera, only on the Ladyblog folks! And I’m workshopping a new name, the Miraculous-Zing? The Hero Watch? The Poll is on the site from the main page, drop by and cast a vote! So first question for Chloe, how does it feel being benched?” Alya asked and Chloe smiled.

“It feels nice Alya, very nice,” Chloe said as she smiled. “Looking back I did it for the wrong reasons, and I told Ladybug that she should find a better Hero. One chosen like she was,” Chloe said and Apisera nodded.

“So you said for her to find a new Holder for the Bee? Well, I came here to apologize for taking your spot but if you gave the okay,” Apisera said and Chloe laughed.

“It’s fine. I was in some bad head space for a while; I had a revelation about a few things that put everything I did into place, let me see it for what it was. The rest is too personal for this interview, but I have nothing but respect for you, just treat Pollen better than I would have before my head got screwed on right,” Chloe said and someone bobbed the camera.

“Okay, let’s step back. Who’s Pollen?” Alya asked and Chloe looked nervous while Apisera smiled and put a hand on Chloe’s shoulders.

“Don’t worry about it, Ladybug and the others cleared me to tell. Pollen is a Kwami, entities that give all Miraculous their powers. Hawkmoth doesn’t just attack Paris, he holds the entity of his Miraculous hostage and enslaves them. And I will take care of Pollen, she will never have reason to hate me,” Apisera said and Chloe smiled.

“Back up, Hawkmoth is holding someone captive?! Forcing them to work for him?” Alya demanded and Apisera nodded.

“Like how the butterflies empowered by Hawkmoth can’t appear on cameras, neither can Kwami. They are…….. good friends and loyal companions. I just stopped here to talk to Chloe to clear the air so to speak, good luck miss ……. Ayla? No Alya right? Well, good luck Ladyblogger,” Apisera nodded and got up and Chloe looked at her for a moment.

“Everything okay?” Chloe asked and Apisera nodded.

“Yeah, I just need to complete my patrol,” “Apisera said as she left the room and jumped away.

“Well that answered more than I thought it would, I gotta come again if this is what interviewing you will be like Chloe!” Alya said as Chloe nodded.

“Yeah, if something happens that you want to talk to me about, call me Alya. If nothing happens I might be able to squeeze you in,” Chloe said and Alya giggled.

The camera turned around and looked at Alya’s face. “Well folks that’s all the time we’ve got for now, I want to thank all my viewers and I hope you all have a good day, this is the Ladyblogger signing out!”

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Marinette smiled and laughed as she leaned back on her bed. Adrien was chuckling and he almost laughed as looked at her.

“Calm down milady it wasn’t that bad right?” Adrien asked as Plagg started to laugh.

“Not that bad? Kid, you don’t get it! Right Bug?” Plagg asked with a grin.

Marinette grinned and nodded as she looked at Adrien. She loved him but he was having a hard time picking up the subtle stuff, but then that was something that could be learned so it was okay for now.

“This will remind people that Hawkmoth is holding a sapient being hostage, that besides all the terror he’s done with brainwashing, holding something that can think as a slave is worse. This way people will look, and personally…….. if anyone who works for your father finds anything out, then they will tell people,” Marinette said and Adrien nodded with a bitter smile.

When Chloe had laid out her idea for the interview, Adrien had asked her to include that bit about the Kwami, hoping to let anything move in their favor. He was convinced that the chance of his father being Hawkmoth was good, and he knew that with how the last few months had been he was very good at keeping to the shadows.

He hoped that this would lead to something, but he didn’t trust luck. They needed to track down anything that could lead to Hawkmoth, and he knew it wasn’t going to be easy. But then he thought about Sabrina and the Dog Miraculous, if they could find a way to zero in on where Hawkmoth was, and if there was proof that his father was involved…….. well a nice Super Human Affairs Search Warrant could find the answer one way or another.

And if Hawkmoth was put off his game if people started to talk about how he enslaving someone, so much the better.

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In their hideout Thunderlord looked at their TV and frowned, he didn’t know what he watched. He had heard about the Ladyblog and figured it might be a good way to gather intelligence but that put to rest a few plans he had. Chloe Bourgeois had seemed like a good target for a minion, but whatever that was demolished that idea. He had come back to Paris when he heard about this Hawkmoth and after meeting the man, it seemed that he was completely wrong to take over one of his problems in the Seven, too much Pride in him. And with Lust still trying to take him out, he needed to begin to build up the numbers of his pawns……..

There were always those out there who wanted power, and well the Way of Enchantment made it quite easy to find slaves. All he needed to do was find the few gangs in this city that used this place as a drop-off point for smuggling, there were always people who wanted power among those types. A few backed takeovers, a few enchanted magic items to help them and a few promises of a new life as a ‘super’, and then the usual.

He had done that with the SSS during the war, playing off the factions that appeared among them and leading a few into ambushes and killed all of them that knew about him once the tide turned all to make sure so no one would know about him or the other six. And now with the time to harvest so soon, he wondered if she would wait until after to strike, yes she probably would do that. Best to know all so she could rule after all, that was who and what she was, even when they were children.

“So that was something, wasn’t it?” The voice of Nekhbet caused him to turn to look at her longing on a sofa.

“Yes, it shows that this team might not have as many blind spots as we thought they did. And the Dolphin is probably already telling them all about us,” Thunderlord said as Nekhbet laughed.

“That’s what you take away from that!? Oh, I can’t wait to play with them again!” Nekhbet laughed as she planned.

“Lust barely made enough to guard us Gluttony! Remember we need to prepare for the Harvest soon!” Thunderlord snarled and walked towards his room. Nekhbet laughed as she watched him leave.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll see you later Chief,” Nekhbet said as she smiled and leaned back. Riling him up was always fun but maybe she should leave, take her years and go find a nice war to harvest more time, and then take a vacation for the next twenty years or so, maybe write that novel she was always thinking about. Still, she had a feeling that before she left Paris, a lot of things would change. A buzz on her phone caused her to lift an eye, but the ring tone caused her to smile, that one would only phone her because he found something, something that might help his faction of the Seven.

Chapter 26: Chapter 26

Chapter Text

A bit of a warning, a few characters who will have a bit of a bigger place in the plot down the road will appear in this chapter, and also spoiler and trigger warning, before the hearing we will meet a racist cop, soon to be ex-cop who will be not as important.

All in all, enjoy the show.

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As Alya moved through the school she saw people talking about her interview with Chloe and Sabrina as the New Bee and smiled. Already the talks she could hear were more pro-Chloe than she thought they would be, and that was good. After having a sit down with her and talking about a lot of things, Alya had to admit that Chloe was trying to be better and this might work, especially if what they wanted to happen.

Alya had been looking into homeschool options for a day, and the ones offered by the education department were good. With Hawkmoth’s campaign, they were offered to a lot of students if their families felt it would be better for them. Funny, the students at François Duport never got them, something that Alya was going to talk to the investigators about.

As she and Chloe headed into the main courtyard she saw the others all looking around with worry. “Didn’t find her?”

“No, where is she?” Chloe said with a scowl. “It’s just like that witch to do something like this!”

“You know, looking back you’re right. And I can’t believe I didn’t see it before,” Nino said as he pulled his hat as the others all nodded.

Nino and Kim shared a look, the two of them were childhood friends with Mari, they couldn’t believe that they had let that snake slither through the school biting at her for so long without seeing it! Kim knew he couldn’t see things people did sometime, but he should have seen this!

Chloe looked at them and grinned, happy that they agreed with her. Lila had been a slippery little witch, and she was so happy people were finally wising up to it! Now all they had to do was find Lila, set her down in front of the investigators and then, well then she knew a nice reform school on an island in the north sea that wasn’t coed.

A few moments later a cough was heard from behind them. They all turned and saw a slender and fairly tall French boy with rock-style black hair, tan skin, vivid green eyes under thick eyebrows and visible lashes, natural pink lips on a slender face and his chin was pointy. He was wearing a V-neck rainbow tie-dye shirt which displays the colors in a ripple pattern originating from the center under an open bright red jacket, moderate azure jeans with the bottoms rolled up and several horizontal rips around his knees, and black boots with rainbow oil slick blotches.

“Yeah Marc, you looking for Nath?” Kim asked and Marc shook his head.

Marc looked away for a few moments as he wondered if he should get involved. Do I owe him any loyalty at all? He’s the stereotype of every bad teacher in the movies plus ‘jocks over all’, and there’s what happened to Mari. He thought and nodded, having come to a decision. He took stock of himself and he scowled as looked back at the group.

“If you’re looking for Lila, d'Argencourt let her out the door by the gym,” Marc said with a hard look in his eyes.

“He did what?!” Chloe snarled out as she looked at him with a glare as the others behind her watched in shock. I just thought the owl and the appeaser were the only slime in this school, but him!? He’s a bastard, but letting her go after hearing what happened!? I thought he had more principals than that! She thought with a glare. “Show us.”

Marc said nothing and brought out the recorder she had been using and sent the file to Chloe’s student account. As the others listened to it their respect for their gym teacher was destroyed completely, Chloe glared even harder and she started to growl in anger. It was when she heard Marc gasp that she looked up and saw him pale in fear as he backed away from her. she looked away and cursed her old actions.

“Not mad at you writer, I expected some of the teachers would be better,” Chloe said and Marc went still before he nodded.

Above Rebecca walked out of a meeting room and closed the door, sighing as soon as the door was closed. So far this school was even worse than she thought it would be, even with the history of this place! The problem in the lunchroom alone, the way some of the teachers didn’t seem to match what their files said they were plus how the students described their classes…… she knew this would be a problem but this, this was beyond anything she expected! The sound of talking caused her to look down and see kids gathering below and frowned. She had specifically said where they could gather, what were they doing out there?

She scowled as she walked down the stairs and cleared her throat to get them to look at her. “Excuses me, can you all tell me why you’re all out here?”

Chloe looked up as Rebecca came closer to them, she didn’t know how to react to the question, having no idea how it would be taken. The Education Department wasn’t something that she knew a lot about, how it was under the President and not her father, they spent most of their time away from the city and dealt with problems all over the country and they never bothered with Politics at all, so Chloe didn’t have any idea how she would react. But before she could come to a decision Alya jumped the gun, causing Chloe and Sabrina to facepalm.

“Lila’s gone!” Alya spat out and Rebecca blinked and then went still as she remembered who Lila was and how she was connected to this.

“She left a few minutes ago, and I’ve got proof of who helped her,” Marc spoke up and Rebecca looked at him and frowned.

“How do you have proof?” Rebecca asked as she tried to figure out how this all happened. If the only student of the two at the core of the issue that brought her here ran away, that

“I’m a writer mam, and I always record myself while I walk, better than writing on my phone……. Anyway I was going to the gym to maybe make a video for help writing sports scenes when, well I came across them,” Marc said and Rebecca looked at them all with a raised eyebrow.

“I see,” Rebecca said as she turned around and looked up at Damocles as he stood at the top of the stairs. So far Rebecca was convinced he was hiding something, and she wouldn’t like whatever it was when she found out. Now this happened, and the picture is slowly becoming even worse! If a student helped Lila get away, then it makes it seem that someone else was involved in this situation, and that meant it wasn’t a simple frame job. She felt that she could call it a trick to frame Marinette, everything was probably going to be a lot harder. “So another student is involved in this?”

The students looked at each other as Rebecca turned around and took a step up the stairs, she would have kept going but Marc spoke up.

“It wasn’t a student ma’am,” Marc said and Rebecca turned towards him and he cowed a little.

Chloe had a moment when she thought that she should step back when she saw the look in Rebecca’s eyes.

“What did you say?” Rebecca asked with a dangerous tone and Marc swallowed and removed a small recorder with a camera that he handed over to her.

“Download from the USB port, has a few Gigs of memory,” Marc said and Max nodded.

“Some of my best work, good microphone too,” Max said and Rebecca looked at it and frowned.

“Really….” She muttered before she pulled out her phone, a wire that she plugged into her phone, and then she pulled out two headphones. Playing the most recent file she found, she watched. Nice picture at least, good sound……. If this is from that far away, then up close might be even better. She thought before she looked up at Max. “You’re name and Class young man?”

“Max Kante, Miss Bustier’s class mam,” Max said and Rebecca winced.

“Of course,” She muttered as she held her forehead. So far the other students from that class had told her things that raised so many red flags that she was surprised that they could function normally! So far she had to wonder how that woman had passed as a teacher in the first place! The other teachers were good, but they were mostly overworked and had blind spots and she wondered if their training was up to date.

All in all, it seemed that no matter what happened they would need to close the school for a while, at least the home school programs could handle them. She might need to release a few laptops or something, but she knew she could find a way around all the problems to help these kids. And then there was the worst duty she had, talk to the person who was ‘expelled’ and tell them the truth about the paperwork. This is gonna be painful. And to think, this might have gone unnoticed if I didn’t come here. After all, she could have been expelled………. Rebecca’s thoughts stopped and she went still as a dark thought appeared in her mind and she knew she had to look into a few files, she had a bad feeling about this.

“Okay, all you kids go back to wherever you’re all next on the list to interview. After that, once everything is done, you all stay home until we contact you all, as of the end of the day, this school will be closed for a while,” Rebecca said bitterly as she turned and walked towards the office, trying not to let what she had thought of bother her.

Chloe looked around at the other's faces and tried to keep calm. The fact that another teacher, one that once ran for office against her father was slime was bad, the fact that he was Adrien’s teacher was even worse! She just knew when she told the others about this, Adrien was going to take it hard, and Marinette was going to take it just as badly.

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Marinette smiled and looked towards the door, smiling as she looked at the sky through the glass. The lunch rush was over and her parents were enjoying a break and late meal, and for a moment she saw the good homeschooling might let do for everyone and sighed. The last few days were the most chaotic she had ever experienced since Tikki had come into her life. But she was stronger, with the team knowing each other’s identities, the school and Lila being dealt with, and the family looking into homeschooling for her, she felt that she was in a better position than she was before. With her team knowing how Lila was and the hearing soon, she had a good feeling that the Lila problem would soon come to a close.

The bell dinged and she turned and smiled, expecting a customer but saw Louise walk into the building looking concerned.

“Louise, what is it?”

Louise looked up and smiled shakily. “Hey kid, your parents here? As in here downstairs?”

“No, Dad and mom are having lunch upstairs and playing a game with our guest for an hour while I watch the store…… what’s happening?” Marinette asked and he swallowed.

“Well the board of education reached back, they sent a team to investigate the school………their agent is gonna come over here soon,” Louise said and Marinette went still. On the surface that was something that could be good, but then she thought of Adrien hiding out here until his hearing……… if this person found him, then he might be taken back to his father, even if the restraining order was held up or with their luck, the person ignored it!

“Go now, tell him to hide in my room!” Marinette said as she noticed a woman walking towards the store. Louise must have seen something in her eyes because he dashed past her and she heard him head upstairs moments before the woman walked in and smile at her. Marinette smiled as she heard someone come down the stairs and her father came to stand next to her.

“Can we help you?” Tom asked and the woman nodded.

“No actually, I can help you. My name is Rebecca, I work for the education department……. Now I have a few things to tell you, first your daughter hasn’t been expelled yet,” Rebecca said causing Marinette and Tom to blink in shock.

“I’m Sorry, what!?” Tom demanded and Rebecca nodded as Louise appeared from the door to the apartment with Sabine behind him.

“Yes, he never filled out the paperwork, I expect that if I hadn’t come then he might have made it out that he expelled you for being absent too much Miss Marinette,” Rebecca said and Marinette went still as her parent’s mouths dropped open before Tom started to growl as Sabine clenched her fists.

“How dare he! Who the hell does he think he is!?” Sabine demanded and Rebecca sighed and shook her head.

“I don’t know, frankly that school was supposed to have been a lot better, I mean really!” Rebecca said as she looked at them before turning to stare a Louise as she brought out her phone. “During the investigation, I came across some data that will affect the case, I turn it over to you here and now because I have to.”

“What data?” Louise asked and Rebecca sighed and pulled out her phone and after a moment Louise gave her an email address and she nodded and sent it over.

As the Dunpain-Chengs, all listened to the file, Marinette’s parents glared at Rebecca who raised her hands.

“Now I’m just the messenger, please understand. Finally, the hearing for this terrible situation will be on Wednesday,” She said as she bowed and left the building before they could say anything.

Sabine looked around and scowled, her good mood from watching Tom and Adrien play the game was gone, she was almost tempted to curse before she sighed and took a deep breath.

“Well, this changes a few things. Let me think and I’ll get back to you tomorrow and go over our strategy and what I expect the hearing will be, good luck and stay safe,” Louise said as he left through the door. However, a moment after he left Alya appeared with a scowl that told Marinette that she had bad news to share.

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Two days later, Marinette and her parents walked towards the courthouse, her nerves shot. Hawkmoth had been silent the last few days, no Akumas at all. Lila had gone home early from school the other day, escaping the investigators and her classmates, part of Marinette wondered if she had left the country. But then she half expected Lila to come and with a sob story turn the entire case around and have Marinette punished for wasting the court’s time. And with everything else that happened she still didn’t know what they would do.

But then she thought about what Rebecca had told them about what Damocles did or didn’t do, and she knew that the record had to be set straight. And then when Alya told them how Lila had gotten away and how d'Argencourthad helped Lila and insulted Marinette, it had taken a lot of talking on Marinette’s part to keep her parents from finding d'Argencourtand shaking him on her father’s part before her mother introduced her to her staff. That night, she and Adrien had talked, both of them and their kwami’s were worried that Damocles had done something like this before.

“Don’t worry Marinette, this will be easy,” Sabine said softly and Marinette grinned at her.

“Yes mama,” Marinette said and she hoped that this would go well, but her thoughts were on what the holder of the Dolphin Miraculous had told them. Master Fu had gone through the Grimoire page by page, nothing at all about Atlantis or the Mage, and Fu was hurt. He said he almost made himself believe that whoever had brought the Miraculous from Atlantis to the Order had cast the spells for a reason and forgotten about them over the years, a secret carried to the grave by accident or death in battle, but the book had been recreated half a year after he had been conscripted, for it to not have the truth, that was painful for him to admit that the Order didn’t deserve his loyalty.

Max meanwhile had made a program to look up oriental myths and another to look up lore about flowers and gemstones, trying to find anything that might give them a clue to the ingredients they needed and Markov was searching as well, so she hoped they could find what they needed soon.

“Don’t worry Marinette, the case is open and shut, we’ll win,” Tom said and Marinette nodded as she caught a flash of black on the rooftop. They had thought that Lila or Damocles would be a great seed for Hawmoth, so above them Chat Noir, Carapace and Roi Singe were ready to come in to fight while Viperion was ready to Second Chance to make sure every civilian got out okay.

“THERE YOU ARE!” A voice bellowed and they turned to see a bald man in a black suit walking towards them with a scowl on his face and had been arguing with Louise the lawyer. “I don’t know how one of your kind thinks, but how dare you try and get out of your just punishment! When I’m done, you won’t even be able to get into a school in any of Europe!”

“Louise, who is this……. person?” Sabine asked as Louise made it to them.

“All I know is this person came up to me and started to yell at me. He has yet to give a name at all,” Louise said with a glare and the man puffed up and glared right back.

“All you filth need to know is that I am empowered by the education board to handle cases like you!” The man said and Tom started to get angry himself. Marinette saw movement above and shook her head, hoping that her team wouldn’t move and that Weredad wouldn’t make another appearance.

“No, I don’t think that’s right at all,” A voice caused him to turn around and took a step back toward Tom. Marinette saw that his whole body was paling in what she thought was fear. Following his gaze, she saw Rebecca walking toward them with a smile on her face that hardened as she looked at the man.

“Hello, I didn’t fully introduce myself when I met you all before. I’m Rebecca Clynefluss, the head of the Education Department for all of France. When I heard of this travesty I had to come and see it personally, and then I heard what this man said just now,” Alice said and the man paled as the family looked at Rebecca in shock.

As they all watched the man swallowed and looked at Alice who grinned back and Tom thought he saw the man begin to sweat and lose color on his face.

“You didn’t have to mam I was….” He said and Rebecca smirked at him and interrupted him.

“I find it amazing that you’re here and made those threats just now, as I am the only person who has that authority in ALL of France,” Rebecca said softly and the man paled as she looked at him. He gulped back up until he walked into Tom who glared down at him and he swallowed nervously.

“I can explain!” He said and Rebecca smiled evilly and he paled more as she shook her head.

“No, you won’t,” Rebecca said as two men in black uniforms appeared behind her and grabbed the man’s arms. Rebecca smiled at him as one of the two men hit the back of his head and knocked him out.

Tom took a step backward in shock before he took another step forward, even if the man was a bastard he wouldn’t let the man be kidnapped in front of him. Rebecca held up her hands to placate Tom as the man was picked up.

“Easy. That was an Anti Hawkmoth protocol that the Union allowed that after the last contract/wage negotiation,” Rebecca said and looked back at the man. “Good luck in there, and if something happens that was affected by what just happened to you, we’ll be in contact.”

As they watched her turn and follow the two men and their prisoner to a car, the family looked at each other in confusion.

A cough behind them caused them to see Nadja standing there with a smile. “Well, that was interesting, maybe a good story too.”

“What are you doing here Nadja??” Sabine asked and Nadja grinned.

“After I learned what happened, I decided to look into the school, I’m just here to take a few notes. When I show my story, I will keep Marinette’s name out of it I promise,” Nadja said and the family looked at each other before Marinette nodded.

Moments later all of them walked into the courtroom and saw Mr. Damocles and Miss Bustier sitting at one of the two tables in front and Ivan, Mylene, Nathaniel and Nino sitting all over with Aurore and Millie sitting with Miss Mendeleiev, Rose and Juleka sitting together near the left exit. A cough caused Marinette to turn around and see Nora in her street clothes with Alya standing against the right wall. Alya waved and gestured with her chin at her phone that was recording everything. Nadja grinned and walked over, getting into a short conversation that ended with Alya and Nadja shaking hands, evil grins on their faces.

At the other end of the room was a high table with a woman with blue eyes, red hair in a bun in a green blouse, and black pants, who banged a gavel, the sounds caused everyone to look at her.

“It is now noon, and I am Lenore Zarklis, assigned head of this hearing; sent by the Education Department of Paris. My friend to my right is Judge Daniel Rortarn of the greater France Justice Department and the final member of our panel is Doctor Leonard Carlson of one of the local hospitals,” Lenore said as she gestured first to the right and then to the left. Daniel Rortam was a judge who had severed Paris for over thirty years, his tan skin, bald head, and black eyes behind glasses held a trace of wisdom in them, while his white shirt and blue pants gave off an air of peace. On Lenore’s other side Leonard Carlson was a young man with black eyes, pale skin, blond hair dressed in black slacks and pants, a look of disdain on his face as he looked at Damocles.

“Now this is the hearing that is required by law to happen in cases where the principal or a teacher feels a student has done something to warrant expulsion, as according to the law I am one of a trio of judges who will hear the issue, the evidence and then render judgment. And for everyone here I am talking this way so the automatic record that will hear everything, it’s one of the procedurals that’s being tried out after a lawsuit against a ruling on a case last year, so let us start with the bare bones so to speak,” Lenore said and Daniel snorted.

“Let’s get this over with, I’ve got plans later,” Daniel said and Lenore glared at him.

“Yes well, may the principal please speak the name of the school and the charges,” Lenore said and Damocles stood up.

“Of course Madame, I am Damocles, principal of Francoise-Dupont College. The incident that resulted in the expulsion of the student in question; One Marinette Dunpain-Cheng cheated on a test, pushed a student down the stairs and had stolen from said student,” Principal Damocles said and Marionette heard her father growl at this. Damocles looked at them with a cold expression, but the look in his eyes caused Marinette to gasp, as she realized he had been behind that man outside. “And I offer the other parties the chance to end this as it is, no need to drag it out.”

Louise smiled at them and stood up next a savage grin on his face. “Your honor I am the lawyer for the Dunpain-Cheng family. I will prove by the evidence and testimony that such actions were not only illegal but immoral as well. And we are not backing down!”

Damocles looked at them and blanched before he looked at the door as if he was expecting someone to come in and stop all this, an action that didn’t escape the three people at the high bench.

“So let’s begin with the paperwork, more specifically the school’s version of events,” Judge Daniel said as the judges each opened the folder before them and started to read them, Leonard felt a frown growing on his face as he did so as he read the papers.

After a few moments, each of the judges looked at each other and moved to talk to each other, each of them covering their microphones as before Leonard sighed and nodded

“This makes no sense at all, did this happen as it’s written?” Leonard asked and Damocles looked a little confused.

“Yes, that is what happened, at least after I left my office,” Damocles said and the judges all face palmed in unions ion and Marinette fealty a

“This is a travesty! If a lawyer had brought this to my court it would have been thrown out!” Daniels spat as Damocles looked shocked.

Marinette looked and saw with some surprise that Caline Bustier wasn’t reacting at all. And that worried her, she had been expecting that Lila or Caline to make a show about being a better person but the silence, and that bothered her more than she wanted to admit.

Sabine meanwhile looked at the two people who failed her daughter and barely kept from going over to them and tearing them apart with her bare hands.

“Gotta agree with the lawman here, this doesn’t make sense. Let’s start picking apart from the test…… Miss Bustier if you had the answer sheet stolen before the test, why on earth didn’t you change it?” Leonard said as he looked at Bustier who looked away as she realized something and palled in shock.

Daniel and Leonard looked at each other as Lenore stared at Bustier, something about the woman was bothering her but she couldn’t figure out what it was.

Leonard looked at the other board members and sighed. “Madame, answer the question please.”

“The answer sheet was stolen after the test Sir,” Miss Bustier said as she turned her head back to the front and then winced at the incredulous looks she was getting. Next to her Damocles jerked slightly and paled in fear, he was starting to think that this was going to be bad.

Behind her Marinette could hear Alya start to snicker when they had all realized when the answer sheet had to be taken after the test, it was all Marinette could do to keep Alya and Adrien from going to kill Bustier, saying that this was better.

Aurore meanwhile was starting to grin evilly, next to her Mirelle giggled. The two of them were here to see the Owl become an endangered species.

“I’m sorry, the sheet was stolen after the test?! That doesn’t make any sense at all if anyone wanted to cheat!” Daniel spat out and glared at Caline Bustier who looked back with a blank look on her face.

Leonard looked at the woman’s face and tried to figure out where he had seen her before, there was something about her that he couldn’t place.

“More how cheating was even possible at all. I…… let’s table that for now,” Leonard said and took a deep breath and looked at the others.

Daniel looked like he was going to argue, but he took a deep breath and nodded, Lenore only huffed and looked away.

“The next thing that’s bothering me, why didn’t anyone go with them?” Lenore demanded and Caline looked at her and took a deep breath.

“I trusted them to walk on their own,” Bustier said and even Damocles looked at her in shock. As she looked around a confused look was on her face.

“Both of them accused the other, or as you saw it, one thought the other was framing her, what did you expect nothing to happen?” Daniel asked with a scowl and Bustier looked at him and frowned.

“I trusted Marinette to be a good example to Lila, not cause any trouble at all, I didn’t expect anything like this to happen,” Bustier said and she was obvious to how the people behind her reacted, but the judges saw it all.

From how Ms. Mendeleiev was face palming to Aurore and Mireille scowl while next to her Marinette swallowed as she saw her parents look at her with a ‘you will explain this to us later’ look on their faces. Lenore, Daniel, and Leonard only stared at Bustier as they tried to understand her reasoning and failed.

“I know that she was a bad role model in this situation, but Marinette has such potential…….” Ms. Bustier tried to continue but Daniel held up a hand.

“You shut up now, every word you say makes me want to hurt you,” Daniel said and Bustier looked shocked that he said such things.

A commotion at the doors behind them caused them all to turn and see Lila being dragged into the room by her mother, an apologetic look on her face.

“Apologies, I was told it was an hour later, I was just lucky enough you sent one to my work address and my home,” Dolores Rossi said as Lila tried to hide behind her.

As the three judges looked on they smiled and grinned at each other.

“Well, good, you were right on time. Now the record says that you said that Marinette pushed you down the stairs in the courtyard, stole a necklace, and then hide it in her locker,” Leonard said and Lila nodded as Dolores looked at her.

“It hurt so much! I could barely stand but I…….” Lila began only for Daniels to interrupt her.

“Show me proof then,” He interrupted Lila and she went still as she looked at him. “Show me proof that Miss Marinette stole your necklace and pushed you down the stairs show me proof that you were even injured, and no your word doesn’t count.”

“It was found in her locker!” Lila said and Dolores looked up with a scowl only for Leonard to snort.

“Except the lockers at the school don’t have locks,” His blunt answer caused Lila to stare at him and her mother to jolt and opened and closed her mouth.

“They don’t have locks?! WHY!” Dolores demanded and Damocles looked a little embarrassed and looked away. “What about the cameras then!”

“I’m sorry mam, but the cameras weren’t checked and we have no paperwork because your daughter didn’t go to the hospital or even to the nurse,” Lenore told Dolores gently, only for her to stare in total confusion.

“What? My daughter fell down the stairs and they didn’t send her to the nurse!?” Dolores demanded and inside she was shocked beyond words, she had been around for a long time and this, this was shocking her to the point she was almost sure this was a dream. She knew the school had issues, but maybe she should look into changing schools before she had her new coat.

“And again mam, this is happening because the person who your daughter blamed said she didn’t push Lila and didn’t steal a necklace that she, your daughter, said was a family heirloom and the girl in question was expelled without a hearing before this or being able to defend herself at all,” Louise said and looked at Dolores who’s mouth dropped open in shock.

“That’s illegal!” Dolores said and then jerked and looked at him. “And what heirloom!?”

“And hence why we are here today, and why I’m particularly mad, especially since the last time this happened, well I don’t need to tell you about that sir!” Louise spat out and Damocles looked at him and did a double take as he realized who Louise was and paled in fear.

“What…..what do you mean the last time?” Caline asked as she looked at her boss and Louise looked away with a glare on his face.

“It’s a little something that the school it seems took great pains to hide but years ago a liar almost pushed a teen to suicide with just their words, turning most of the school against them. Since that happened this school now needs more than one person’s word to do anything about anything and always check the cameras first,” Lenore said before looking at Damocles with a glare in her eyes that made him shiver in fright. “Something that you should know sir! As you were the vice principal back then! And this entire episode has become nothing more than he said she did, with no paperwork to back it up!”

Damocles swallowed and looked down, pale and shaking as Miss. Bustier looked at him in total shock. The other students were all looking at him with disgust and part of Marinette was just as happy to have this happened if only to bring this to light.

“Your honor, about the video, I was able to grab a copy from the school’s servers before they were delegated, defense exhibit A,” Louise said and took out a folder from his briefcase and took it to the judge's table. As they read it he stepped back and smiled at Damocles. “And as you can see from the paperwork this is verified by the police’s data experts, and here it is now.”

The door to the street opened and Officer Rodger walked into the room, holding a briefcase with a key around his neck. Setting it down on the table before the judges, he opened it and revealed a disc as two officers rolled a TV and DVD player into the room.

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In his lair, Gabriel smiled as he, Nathalie, and the Kwami all gathered around a TV on the wall showing the courtroom. Gabriel felt a little giddy, he was wondering who would be his target today besides Lila. The plan they had was solid, and soon they would have more options open.

Nathalie looked at the screen and tried to think about what to do to bond with ‘Lila’, the backstory they had crafted had been perfect, and another of her Champion forms had gotten the records they needed into the computers and a fire at the location where the ‘original’ hard copies had gone up in flames thanks after

“What do you think, Lila or her mother?” Gabriel asked and Nathalie looked at him.

“We are betting about this? This is so wrong and immoral!” Nathalie said and then she smirked a little. “And it will be the teacher or the principal.”

“You know, this time why don’t you give him Sentimonsters like the pirate lady?” Duusu asked and Gabriel blinked and grinned, that might cause enough chaos that they could counter the heroes numbers! All they had to do was have Lila follow after Ladybug when she went to get them and they could track down the Guardian and find out their game!

Nathalie looked at Duusu as Nooroo could only look on blank-faced, not reacting at all.

“You’re more helpful than the other one,” Nathalie said and Duusu looked at her with a hard stare.

“He’s still bound by the Order’s Spells, I’m not,” Duusu said bluntly. A chuckle from Gabriel caused Nathalie to smile. As they saw the video reach its end Gabriel smiled and looked at the others around him. He had never expected to have come this far, or to have gathered such a group around him.

“It’s time my dear, let us………get dressed in our costumes,” Gabriel said only for Duusu to fly in front of his face.

“BOOO! Weak, very weak. Better have your ending phase better!” Duusu said and Gabriel laughed as Nathalie giggled.

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Back in the courtroom, everyone looked at the TV as it showed Lila sitting at the bottom of the staircase, Louise couldn’t believe that Lila’s plan had actually worked. Dolores stared aghast, shocked and horrified that she would inherit such bad karma, that she might have to act so stupidly. Sabine was gripping her chair’s seat to keep from attacking Lila herself.

“Wait a second……. If I remember right, doesn’t your class have a great view of the stairs Ms. Mendeleiev?” Lenore asked with a strange look on his face

“Yes, but I had taken my class on a trip to the local zoo that day,” Miss. Mendeleiev admitted and the judges nodded. “But really, when I heard about what happened……… I have no excuse for not pushing harder against this your honor, I accept any punishments you feel I deserve.”

“Miss Mendeleiev, from what we have learned you weren’t even in the building when this farce went down. It’s not your fault if they didn’t listen to you,” Daniel said kindly and Mendeleiev smiled at him.

“Tell my heart that,” Miss Mend said and sighed, shaking her head.

“Impossible to tell the heart anything it doesn’t want to acknowledge. But that is why you are a truly good teacher mam,” Lenore said and

Damocles looked at the TV, pale as he tried to figure out how to fix this.

“In light of something that I should have seen……. I suppose that the events didn’t happen as I thought……..” Damocles trailed off as Lenore looked down at him. “What?”

“Exhibit 2,” Louise said with a savage grin.

“This is Aurore Boreale, activating a recording app on my phone before myself and Mireille Caquet to go to our Principal, Mr. Damocles, to talk about what happened when he ‘expelled’ Marinette. I hope that this won’t be needed, but better safe than sorry,” Aurore’s voice came from the speakers as Mr. Damocles suddenly went white.

The sound of a door opening came from the recording and then Mr. Damocles’s voice came on.

“Can I help you?” Damocles’s voice asked.

Miss Bustier looked at Damocles next to her and saw him pale, she hoped whatever this was didn’t hurt the children too much.

“Sir, we heard about what happened with Marinette and we were wondering when her hearing would be,” Aurore’s voice came over and Marinette looked at her as she preened.

“There will no hearing, she is expelled with no way to come back ever!” Damocles voice said and Tom growled under his breath and

“Sir that’s illegal!” Aruore said and the sound of a chair scraping against a floor was heard.

“This is my school and what I say goes!” Mr. Damocles voice thundered from the speaker.

“Sir, that doesn’t matter, they are rules about this! You aren’t allowed to do that without a hearing!” Aurore’s voice came out as Marinette looked at Aurore who winked at her with a grin.

“OUT NOW! Any more and I’ll suspend you for talking against the authority of the principal!” Mr. Damocles voice thundered.

Marinette looked around until she saw Aurore looking at her and smiled. Marinette nodded and promised herself to give Aurore a nice gift for this, this might win the case.

“Wow, there is so much in this recording to talk about, I don’t know where to even start!” Daniels said with an evil smile on his face as Damocles sank into his chair.

“I know that I should have handled this better, but I saw a……… an escalation of events. I acted to protect my school,” Damocles said bleakly and Alya looked at him as Nora nodded, having seen what made him decide to do that, but logic wasn’t always the right call.

“That’s enough from you,” Lenore said bluntly and looked at them before scowling and standing up. She picked up two folders and walked towards a small step on the left side before the judge’s table.

“This hearing finds that the actions against Marinette Dunpang-Chang were unlawful. The expulsion will be stricken from her records,” Lenore said as she put one of the folders down on the table before the defense and the other before the Damocles and Miss Bustier. As he opened the folder and read what was within, Damocles paled as Miss Bustier smiled.

“Well, that was a terrible situation that I’m glad is done, I suppose I’ll see Marinette back in class by Friday then?” Ms. Bustier said with a smile on her face, blind to the reactions of the entire room around

“No, she won’t. And nothing it done!” Lenore interrupted her as she walked back and one more sat behind the judge’s table before joining the others in glaring at the two behind the prosecutor’s table. “Caline Bustier, everything that was found has caused the school board to have….. doubts about your future as a teacher. You will be suspended until a decision is made! But I would expect to have a hard time proving you should remain a teacher Madam! And finally, due to a contract signed when he became the principal, Mr. Damocles alone is responsible so if you want to sue the school you can only sue him.”

As Damocles paled in horror, if they investigated then they would find everything! he had thankfully gotten all his treasures out of the school, all he had to do now was use his escape plan, and then after he shaved his facial hair and washed out the die, he could relax. He had everything ready, all he needed to do was get through the day and not be held, but he did feel a little bad that his cushy extra retirement was canceled. He had to get away before he lost everything he had worked for!

Miss Bustier blinked, wondering why Marinette would even think of doing that as it wouldn’t make a Good Example for others. She would have to talk to the girl and show her the right way to go, she did need guidance after all. But she couldn’t understand what they meant, her teaching records were perfect, and she always had a Good Example Student for the others in her class to learn from and follow once they understood what was right! They sometimes needed to be shown the way, but before they left her loving care, they understood just how to inspire others! She couldn’t think of anything that could have caused this to happen!

As Marinette grinned Tom and Sarah smirked as Louise grinned evilly. The people watching were all smiles and some even cheered, but Lila fumed as she looked at Marinette with a glare that could cull milk.

Marinette looked around then palled as she saw something, an Akuma had just flown through the open door. As others saw it the Judges looked up and paled as the Akuma hit the papers masks formed on the faces of Caline and Damocles.

“Oh god, a double attack!” Marinette said shakily as she got up and everyone started to scream and run towards the doors.

“Lila follow me!” Dolores ordered and Lila’s eyes went wide before running after her mother, r9ight past Alya who got a perfect screenshot of her face before Nora pulled her behind her and out the door.

Sabine grabbed her daughter and pulled her towards the right side door, Tom following behind them as the Judges all reacted and most of them started to back away as Daniel grinned. Mirelle went weak and almost fell before Aurore grabbed her and pulled her as Ms. Mendeleiev glared at Damocles and Bustier, she kept still until all the students left before she flowed them and closed the door as Louise made it through. Looking around she saw Lila and her mother had kept moving, running towards an exit leaving everyone behind.

As Louise looked around he saw a long wooden bench and grinned. “Quick, help move this thing! We can block the doors, give us and the heroes some time!”

Aurore looked up from her phone as she activated the Akuma alert and Mireille nodded as she did the same as her coworker. Ms. Mendeleiev looked at him before rushing to help as all their phones started to beep with the Akuma Alarm. Nora pushed the bench in front of the doors and looked around for anything

“Need some help?” A voice from behind caused them to turn their heads to see Chat Noir, Carapace and Roi Stinge.

“Roi Stine, find anything to help keep the door closed! Carapace, get ready to block whatever comes out! Who are we looking at here?” Chat Noir asked as the others went to work as the civilians moved away.

“Double attack, both Damocles and Bustier, the Akuma is in a folder!” Mendeleiev said and Chat Noir almost went still as he realized what they were facing. “Wait how did you know to come in?”

“Lila Rossi and who I think is her mother made a new land speed record, yeah we came in,” Carapace said as Roi Stinge handed a wooden chair to Nora.

“We heard about this and what almost happened, figured some of us should be on standby,” Chat Noir said and Mendeleiev looked at them moments before a gunshot rang out.

“Everyone move now! Out!” Chat Noir commanded and everyone ran towards the exit, the heroes watching their back.

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Inside the room Bustier and Damocles were still standing there, not moving an inch as two energy masks formed slowly over their faces before Shadowmoth could speak to them.

“Dark Owl, hello again. And hello to you Moon Raven! I am Shadow Moth! So these fools dared to go against your Authority Dark Owl, grant me my prize and I will make you the head of all Education in the City! Moon Raven, why should these people not understand the lessons you were trying to teach the students under your care, serve my goal and I will make you the teacher who sets the rules all must follow, with your Midnight Coven, bring me the Miraculous!”

“Let Justice be done under the claws of the Coven!” Damocles called out as the slime covered his and Bustier’s bodies in a ten-foot sphere.

From the sphere came ten balls of slime that shot out and hit the ground, each one grew into an androgynous humanoid the size of a teen. They had grey skin and all of them were dressed in orange shirts and pants that formed into brown gloves and boots with an orange cloak on their backs. Their heads were all covered by beaked helmets that exposed the grey skin of their mouths.

The energy died down and revealed the Dark Owl was the same as he had been before, a grey-skinned being with yellow round eyes with half white, half orange sclera. His face was still covered by a black mask with white edges of the eyes, above were two brown tops that started over the eyes and went around the face to point backward. His beard was visible and brown, his mustache had grown to be more notable with the tips sticking out while the whole thing had black strips going up it. His black suit was the same down to its brown coveringing and padding over the arms, legs and upper body, and the covering had darker lines and a brown owl’s face on the chest. His arms were ended with brown gloves with brown ridges and on his feet were brown boots with steel soles. His brown cape flawed out and turned into wings and back and there were feathers on the edge

Caline Bustier stood there in her new Akuma form. Her skin was a stark gray, and she wore a form-fitting golden bodysuit with a red raven’s head on her right breast. On her head was an open helmet with a beaked visor that went to just above her golden lips. Around her waist was a black belt with white lines on the outside and small pouches and on her shoulders was a golden cape that went to her feet, feet that were in high-heeled knee-high boots. In her hands was a fighting staff and she grinned evilly as she looked around the chambers.

“Come Moon Raven, let's find these fools and show them what true justice is!” Dark Owl declared as Moon Raven laughed and nodded. “Quick Moon, take the documents of justice and keep them safe!”

“Got it Owl, let's hunt down those misguided ones, Marinette will be a perfect Sparrow to spread our message!” Moon Raven said with a grin in her voice. Before they could move a slow dark laugh caused them to see Daniel was still behind the table, a crazed look in his eyes.

“You know, this is great! I finally get to see if Akuma are bulletproof!” Daniel said as he brought up a double-barreled shotgun and with a boom, one of the Midnight Crew’s heads was blown off. As it collapsed into slime Dark Owl and Moon Raven moved backward as the Midnight Crew rushed towards the door. As they tried to open it Daniels grinned and lined up another shot on Dark Owl as he jumped around the room. “Stop jumping! You’re gonna make me get out the axe!”

Dark Owl threw a small ball at the ground before the judge’s table and a blight light flashed and Daniels closed his eyes instantly.

“To the side door crew, follow me!” Dark Owl bellowed and led the way, two of the Midnight Crew attacked Daniels and he shot again hitting one in the head but the other was on him before he could draw a bead. As he fell backward he let go of his rifle and grappled with the Sentimonster.

However moments later someone bashed the Sentimonster’s head off, and its body collapsed into slime that pooled away from Daniel. Looking up he saw Lenore holding a chair in her hand, breathing heavily.

“Come on, we need to get away now!” Lenore said as she reached down and Daniels sighed and nodded. A bubbling sound caused him to turn and pale as he looked towards the remains of the first Sentimonster he ’killed’.

Chapter 27

Chapter Text

As the last of the civilians left the courthouse Arashiko jumped down as Viperion started to look over the area, his bow deployed and ready to fire down. As Chat Noir led the last group out with Carapace and Roi Singe watching their back, the civilians ran away, Alya looked for any way that she could slip away as Nora pulled her along.

“Who’s the Victim?!” Arashiko asked as she looked around, trying to find the supervillain.

“Two of them, Damocles and the teacher! Look for a dark Knight-Owl and a kissing zombie maker!” Chat Noir called out and Arashiko just looked at him and shook her head in disgust.

When she heard the whole story about what had happened to Marinette, she had originally planned to let the teachers have a piece of her mind for their actions, but then she heard the school was closed. And she didn’t want her mother to look too into Marinette at this time.

A crash from the door showed Night Owl, Lunar Raven and the Midnight Crew charging toward the heroes moments before arrows from Viperion rained down.

“Be careful, and don’t destroy the Sentimonsters, they multiply a minute after they’re destroyed!” Viperion called down and fired another arrow at Lunar Raven who dodged backward as Lunar Raven threw four feather-shaped knives towards him at half the speed of bullets that he dodged and fell back. “And the knives explode when they hit people and stun them!”

As the midnight crew moved towards them Chat Noir looked at the others and nodded. “Fight them to wound only, if you got a chance try and maim them, stay away from the heads!”

“Right!” The others called out and attacked. As Viperion fired down at the Akumas, Dark Owl and Lunar Raven both dodged his attacks and the female Akuma laughed.

“Not too bad, want me to go around and take him from behind Dark?” She asked and Dark Owl laughed.

Carapace blocked with his shield a punch from one of the Midnight Crew and moved backward cursing the fact that he only had a shield. He and Adrien had been talking about how he could set enemies in the ‘game’ for others to knock out, but they had nothing to do that now!

As Roi Singe dodged a blow from his Midnight Crew opponent he scowled as it took out a staff from its cloak and they clashed weapons. So far this thing was behaving like a lesser version of him, if Viper-Bro hadn’t told them that they could multiply then they would have been in trouble, these things seemed to be just strong enough to make them work at defeating them, but if they had to deal with three times their number then it would have been really bad.

As Chat Noir and Arashiko charged at the two main Akuma, Chat Noir attacked Dark Owl as Arashiko attacked Lunar Raven with a battle cry. Lunar Raven dodged and drew a long feather-shaped dagger that met Arashiko’s blade. As the sparks flew Arashiko tried to find anything that might be the item with the Akuma-Butterfly in it, but she couldn’t see anything that might be it!

Dark Owl moved away from Chat Noir and threw a few owl-themed boomerangs at the Cat hero who deflected it with his baton staff. As Chat Noir glared at Dark Owl as he jumped backward and landed on the wall, throwing more boomerangs at his opponent.

“Cat’s never hunt owls, owls hunt cats! I’ll win this time and give your gems to Commissioner Shadowmoth by dusk!” Dark Owl called out as he jumped forwards and landed before Chat Noir, slashing out at him with his gloved hands.

As Chat Noir moved backward blocking with his weapon, he tried to keep his anger down as he glared at the filth before him, something about every action this man did to Marinette was bothering him fiercely, there was something that he just couldn’t see. But then he realized just what the Akuma villain had said. Shadowmoth?! That must mean! I have to tell the others once I’ve got a chance! He thought as he moved backward and looked at Dark Owl.

“Tonight I’ll dine on an owl and raven with m’lady instead,” Chat Noir called out as he moved backward before energy arrows flew over his head and Dark Owl lunged to the side. Okay you bird, this time I’ll shred your clothes if have to. I just hope none of those things went after Mari! He thought, roaring as he attacked his foe.

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Marinette looked at her parents as they ran through the streets, their phones had chimed with the Akuma alert as they left the building so some of the others had gotten away. Part of her was beating herself up, she knew that this would happen eventually! She had expected to be able to run away once she was free if an Akuma happened at the hearing, not that she would be carried along by her parents. She looked around, trying to find any pretense she could use, she had to get away and tell the others where the Akuma was! She felt Tikki in her purse and cursed, she knew that something was going to have to happen to let her go help the others, even transforming in front of her parents; but she couldn’t think of anything that would let get her out of it.

As they ran down a side street, Marinette looked around and saw a small ally that she could use to get away and transform, thankfully she had an idea to use to get away from her parents. “Okay, it might be after all of us, so I’ll go another way. If they can track me, then you’ll be safe.”

“Marinette,” Tom began only she kept talking, not letting her father get a word in edge-wise.

“No, we need to do this!” Marinette said forcefully. As she closed her eyes she kept talking. “This is what has to happen. You keep running towards home and I’ll contact you once I get away and find a place to hide. I won’t tell you where I’m hiding and you don’t tell me where you are until the all clear, this way if it’s a mind controller they won’t know where either of us is hiding. It’s the best way to keep us all safe.”

“You need to go, don’t you?” Sabine said and Marinette stopped and looked at her parents who looked at her with caring eyes.

“Yeah I mean I have to hide away from you two. I know it sounds bad but it’s the best idea I have for dealing with the Akuma so please don’t argue and …….” Marinette trailed off as she saw Tom just shake his head as Sabine sighed. As Marinette watched her parents looked at each other and after a few moments, moments that caused Marinette started to slowly feel scared as an impossible idea echoed just out of sight of her understanding.

“Marinette, we know,” Sabine said as she brought out her wallet and pulled out the corner of a red card with black dots on it out before putting it away. Sabine and Tom smirked as they saw how Marinette’s eyes widened and her face paled.

Marinette looked at her parents and tried to figure out how and when they could have learned her secret. As she started to spiral about how Master Fu would have to mind wipe her, how it would go wrong and reduce her to an infant, and how her parents would come under investigation for how it happened to her. As she thought of even worse things her mother shook her shoulder, snapping her out of it.

“Spiraling again dear? Go, just come and talk to us with the others after, okay?” Sabine asked softly and Marinette nodded and dashed off. Tom sighed and shook his head.

“I wonder where she gets that from, something that witch Bustier got in her head?” Tom asked and Sabine scowled.

“That one is lucky she’s not in range of my staff! And that the magic heals or I’ll have broken her back!” Sabine growled and Tom nodded.

Both of them hated everything that Marinette told them and with what Bustier had done to her when Marinette was the Class representative, it made them so mad that Tom thought Sabine would attack Bustier once they saw her. To say that the parents wanted to ‘talk’ to the woman alone for a while was an understatement.

Marinette ran into a side alley and stopped at a dead end out of sight of the main road and sank against the wall as Tikki her purse.

“That was surprising, I thought that we had covered our tracks better,” Tikki said and Marinette was dead quiet as she held her head against her legs. Tikki flew over and smiled at Marinette and tried to get her to react. “Come on Marinette, it’s not the end of everything.”

“Not the end!? They know! Oh, Master Fu will be so disappointed and if Hawkmoth gets them, they’ll know and……..” Marinette went still as she looked at Tikki with a strange look in her eyes.

“They know….. could they have known since before or after Weredad? If it’s before then his reaction makes a lot more sense. But then we always thought Hawkmoth was able to get knowledge from his slaves……. Could it only work on Champions? No, we can’t risk it. Tikki we have to work on trying to make a blocker to give out to people!” Marinette said and Tikki tried to follow everything but she nodded, that goal was something she could get behind.

A beeping from her phone caused Marinette to gasp as she read what was there. She sat there before nodding and looking up at Tikki with a hard glare in her eyes. “We can talk about this later, for now, we need to get to Chloe and Sabrina, they’ve found something that might make the Akuma situation impossible. We have to deal with some of those insect monsters first!”

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As Chloe and Sabrina ran through the streets of Paris, Chloe scowled as she saw the alert on her phone. The two of them and their Kwami had been going to a store near the courthouse when Audrey had come into the hotel and made a commotion that took up a lot of their time before they could escape. Sabrina had said that after thinking about it, she would change her name to Miss Hound, it just seemed better to her.

Chloe didn’t have any thoughts about the name change, but she had nodded along. The name she had chosen first, Chloe understood where it came from but then Sabrina had a second thought and talked with Barrk and Chloe about it. Chloe felt that Sabrina had chosen a much better replacement.

As they dashed through the streets Chloe smiled as she saw people still going about their lives. So far the alert was only at stage I; that meant that the Akuma was being contained in one block of where the attack happened, if it became stage II then people were encouraged to shelter in place until the attack was over.

They had to get a location where they could transform before they were found. As they ran a beeping caused Chloe to pull out her phone and smirk. “Paparazzi girl is still with her sister and inventor boy is inbound, from the south. No word from our rep yet.”

Sabrina nodded, hoping that meant that Marinette hadn’t been captured by the Akuma. She didn’t know who they expected to fight, either Dark Owl or Zombizou and she didn’t know who she wanted to fight less. With how Hawkmoth had been lately, fighting against either of them with greater power was just looking for trouble as far as she was concerned. But she hoped her ramblings last night were wrong, but then they might not be that lucky.

As turned and ran down an alley they heard a crash above them and looked up, seeing some of the Legions jumping the gap between the buildings. Sabrina almost gasped before Chloe slammed a hand over her mouth. She looked at her friend and saw a similar hand over her mouth and nodding they ran farther away from the monsters, hoping that none of the beasts had seen them.

Sabrina felt Barkk push his head against her own and smiled as she brought a hand to her hidden collar and smiled as she followed after Chloe. A few moments later they were out of hearing

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Alya ran after Nora, cursing that her sister had a death grip on her hand. She felt Trixx purring in her breast pocket and wondered how she would be able to get away to help the others. As she looked down she tried to figure out how to get away, hoping to find anything that might work and then she grinned as a thought bloomed in her head, she knew just how to get away from her sister and more importantly, have Nora let her go out of her sight.

“Nora just wait a minute okay! Slow Down and talk for a few seconds before……” Alya began but Nora kept pulling Alya behind her and spoke over her sister, not letting go as Alya fought to free her hand.

“Not now baby-sis! Stay with me until we can get home!” Nora said as she pulled Alya a bit faster, looking around for anything that might harm them.

“Nora that’s why you gotta let me go!” Alya said as she finally pulled her arm out of Nora’s grip. Nora turned and glared at her sister and crossed her arms.

“No way little sis, that thing might be after you! I’m not letting you go back there to make it easier on those two!” Nora snapped and reached for her sister only for Alya to dodge her.

“Exactly! Whatever Ms. Bustier became will be after me and Mari, and I don’t want to lead them to the sibs! I’ll head towards the Tower, if the Alert doesn’t upgrade then I’ll go to the Museum to hide! She’ll never find me there!” Alya said and Nora looked at her sister and scowled.

Nora started to think, remembering the flashes she had when she had been used by Hawkmoth and she had to admit, that seemed likely. And the Failed Teacher had been behind that kissing Zombie outbreak, who knew what powers the scum had now? As much as she wanted to deny Alya, her sister had a point so with reluctance she nodded.

“Fine, but you are not going back there for footage, you got me!? I better not see you anywhere near that mess or so help me I’ll make sure you never leave my radius for a year!” Nora said and Alya nodded.

“Cross my heart, I will not go back there for any footage!” Alya said and held out her hand and Nora grabbed her in a hug. Alya hugged back and leaned into her sister, feeling the same protectiveness she always had with her family. As Nora pulled away Alya smiled before her sister nodded and turned, dashing away towards what Alya knew was their sisters.

Nora ran towards their home, the way Alya said about leading them to their younger sisters; that hurt because Alya might be right. The girls were home alone with a sitter, she had to get there and get them away from the apartment and to safety.

Alya looked at her sister before running towards the Tower, not to hide but to find a place to transform.

“Quick thinking Kit!” Trixx’s voice came from below her ear and Alya smiled.

“Thanks.”

“I mean you used my concept so perfectly to deceive her!” Trixx said and giggled as Alya smirked a bit wider as she ran towards the Tower.

“I didn’t lie exactly, I just said that I wouldn’t be at the scene to record, nothing about you and me going to mix it up!”

“True…… that’s the messenger!” Trixx said as they heard a ringtone and Alya felt her clothes move as Trixx zipped to her phone. “Bee and Dog found the Dolphin with more of those monsters, and maybe the boss of the other one!”

Alya looked stopped and looked around as Trixx sat against her with her pocket. The reaction to the information of the Dolphin had told them been the ‘forced silence’ that they were all coming to expect from whatever the Order did to the Kwami. Personally, Alya was worried about what these Seven knew, what they were after. The fact that it took them until now to come to Paris, how this ‘Day of Fury’ was coming, she was worried if they were connected.

As she stood there she turned as she heard sirens and saw Police cars heading towards the courthouse she swallowed as she saw who was riding after it on a motorcycle. Alya went still and ran down an alley and waited for a few seconds before she covered her mouth and screamed into her hands, the sound being muted as Trixx flew free and looked at Alya from level with her face.

“He’s back!? I thought he was transferred! Oh Kwami!” Alya snarled and looked at Trixx who nodded. The officer in question had a bad habit of trying to fight the Akuma victims and he didn’t mind collateral damage. Alya had looked into him once and found nothing; the mind was a black hole. She finally had the idea that he was related to someone who covered him so no matter what complaints came against him, nothing would happen to him and would come back on to whoever it was. Politics were a messy business, and she had to admit that she couldn’t fully put that idea to rest, after all the person who covered for him didn’t have to be in Paris.

Finally, the office had disappeared. The gossip at school was that the mayor had done something, and most people who had been attacked by him as Akuma had all breathed sighs of relief. Chloe had been silent about it, and that should have told her there was more to the situation than what was obvious. And now he was back, and that would mean a lot of bad things.

“We can go help the girls, or go and fight the Akumas. Or we could warn snake boy about who’s coming and go help the girls. But those are the only option we have,” Trixx said seriously and Alya looked at the little Kwami before sighing.

Trixx was right, Alya knew that. So the choice was to either help Chloe and Sabrina against things like Sentimonsters, or go and help the others fight against the Akuma……….. she released her breath as she made her choice.

Pulling out her phone, she sent out a quick message before looking up at Trixx. “We have to trust them to handle the Akuma without us, we need to help Chloe and Sabrina! And I never thought that those words would ever leave my mouth.”

“You know the magic words to let us go!” Trixx grinned and Alya grinned back and nodded.

“Trixx let's pounce!”

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Lunar Raven dodged a blow from Arashiko who glared at her, Arashiko moved closer as she slashed out with her sword. Lunar Raven jumped backwards away from Arashiko who kept up the attack, every slash of her sword coming closer to hitting the Villain before she jumped backwards with a summersault. As Arashiko scowled at Lunar Raven as she landed, her cape flapping in the breeze as she looked at Arashiko.

“You should give up now my dear, after all the law is on my side,” Lunar Raven said with a hard edge in her voice. Arashiko scowled and glared back at the Akuma, not moving back a single step and keeping her blade aimed at her foe.

“Baka sensei should not talk about the law when one does not respect the rulings of the law!” Arashiko spat and Lunar Raven scowled back.

Arashiko shot forward and slashed out with her sword while Lunar Raven dodge until she grabbed Arashiko’s hands. Pulling the Dragon hero closer, Lunar Raven glared at the younger girl. “And one who does not know the truth shouldn’t speak of it!”

“I know enough!” Arashiko said as she jumped upwards and kicked out, breaking free of Lunar Raven before the Akuma grabbed her legs, spinning before throwing Arashiko away from her. Before Arashiko landed, Lunar Raven grabbed at the insides of her cloak with both hands and pulled free four feather-shaped throwing daggers that she threw at the Dragon hero as she landed, but Arashiko blocked each knife with her sword and glared at Lunar Raven.

“Such language! Once Marinette is our Sparrow and understands the proper order of things we’ll work on you my dear,” Lunar Raven said and Arashiko looked like she had a stroke before glaring at the Akuma.

“You will not touch a single civilian as long as I am here!” Arashiko called out as she ran towards the Akuma who drew a long feather-shaped knife and met her blow for blow as they fought, Lunar Raven always a single inch from the blade.

Chat Noir used his baton-staff to vault into a sidekick and Dark Owl gagged as he was hit in his stomach. As Chat Noir sprang back to his feet, Dark Owl threw a smoke bomb down, but Chat Noir moved backwards out of the smoke and he heard Dark Owl cry out as he hit the wall. He looked at Arashiko on the other side as a banging on the door caused him to realize what this was. “Dragon-Girl, move back now!”

Arashiko kicked out at Lunar Raven and jumped backwards landing near Chat Noir as the door burst open and four more of the Midnight Crew charged out from the courthouse and moved between the two heroes and the Akuma.

Roi Singe jumped backwards and looked at Carapace as he jumped over the Sentimonster he had been fighting and landed next to the monkey hero as Viperion shot arrows at the others, only aiming to wound not kill least they multiply.

“Time’s up, dropping back to recharge! Good luck!” Viperion said over their coms and the two of them looked at each other before they each dodged a blow from their opponents

“What the? No…….Everyone to Carapace Now! Carapace Shelter once you’re all together! Don’t ask questions do it now!” Viperion called out. Chat Noir and Arashiko dashed to Carapace as Roi Singe looked around, but he couldn’t see anything that might have caused Viperion to react as he had.

“SHELTER!” Carapace bellowed as soon as the others gathered around him. As he thrust his shield upwards the energy dome formed moments before they heard a voice that Chat Noir and Arashiko didn’t want to hear, and they instantly knew exactly why Viperion had reacted the way he had.

“FIRE!!” A voice from the far left called out, and a second later they heard the sound of guns being fired and all the Sentimonsters fell to the ground as bullets tore through them. As the bullets hit Carapace’s energy dome, they fell to the ground as the heroes all stared out.

As the shield dropped away, Carapace looked at the others as his Miraculous started to beep. “Dudes……”

“Go Carapace, we’ll handle this! Get to a safe place and get back here!” Chat Noir said as he looked at the downed Sentimonsters in horror, trying to figure out just what had happened to cause this. Roi Singe grabbed Chat Noir’s shoulder and Chat Noir looked at the Monkey hero and followed his gaze.

“Isn’t that the police captain who was always a problem? The one who fought the other Stone Hearts?” Roi Singe asked and Chat Noir felt his temper flare.

Lieutenant Eduardo Monasterio grinned from the firing line down the side road, the ten police officers he brought with him from his station reloading their rifles. As long as that idiota from the Super-Freaks office doesn’t come here and take my credit! Once that Ladywitch comes I’ll break the item holding their power and finally prove that she’s in on this like he said! And once that Hawkscum is dead I’ll give him the gem and his gang will rule the county with me having this city! He thought as he curled his black short mustache. In his police uniform with his tan skin and blue custom hat, he always knew he cut a good figure but winning this battle might get him a date with that lady reporter.

As the shield dropped the heroes ran towards the police and he grinned at them. “Ahhh, good you’re coming to let us handle the monster villain? Good, I knew you……”

“You Idiot!” Chat Noir snarled as he grabbed Eduardo and pulled his face closer to his own. The other police officers all looked at them and one raised his weapon slightly only for Atashiko to put her blade against his throat. “Who told you to fire on the death-multiplying Sentimonsters?!”

“I judge the situation as I saw it! From the scene that was the perfect choice! And those things are nothing but monsters so there was no way to hurt civilians,” Eduardo snarled as he pulled himself free and looked at Chat Noir as the other heroes looked at the plaza as Dark Owl and Lunar Raven moved out into the open as the still ‘alive’ Sentimonsters took guard positions between them and the Police.

“Now all we have to do is deal with the……Wait……what was that!? Death-Multiplying?!” Eduardo choked out as he paled in equal parts horror and fear as he looked at the ‘corpses’ of the other Sentimonsters as they started to convulse as they broke apart into piles of slime and from each pile two more of the Midnight Crew grew.

“That’s right scum! Commissioner Shadowmoth granted our Midnight Crew the best ability to help us! Truly this was the greatest boon the Commissioner granted us!” Dark Owl called out as the Midnight Crew all turned in unison and drew clubs.

“Viperion back on and Chance is ready…… fall back now! They’ll let the police ‘kill’ them and then overwhelm you with numbers!” Viperion called over the coms and Chat Noir paled as Carapace returned.

“Everyone fall back, do not fire!” Chat Noir called out and without a word the police retreated, Roi Singe carrying Lieutenant Monasterio despite the man’s protests.

“UNHAND ME! And don’t run, we can still!” Lieutenant Monasterio barked and Roi Singe snarled back.

“Get overwhelmed because those things will let you kill them to increase their numbers till they can fight us ten to one dude!” Roi Singe barked and Lieutenant Monasterio went still as he realized the tactical advantage the enemy had against them.

As Chat Noir and Carapace held the rear as the Sentimonster horde moved closer to them, they never saw two of the Midnight Crew run past them into the city, one holding a briefcase and the other its guard. The only one who saw them was a single individual that not even Viperion had seen, a figure who silently followed after them.

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Salacia ran over the rooftops, a scowl on her face. When she heard the alert she remembered how Kim had said that his school was closed until this his school and how he might go there to support Marinette. With how everything had been quiet since she had told the heroes about the message, she was hoping Hawkmoth wouldn’t attack but then that was asking for something that she knew he wouldn’t give them.

She hoped the other heroes believed her about the Day of Fury, when she had learned about it the first time she had nightmares that night about her Akuma form, only this time it was more deadly for the city. She had to keep moving forward, and when the day hit fight tooth and nail to keep her city alive, there was nothing else she could do.

Now all she needed to get to the courthouse, help handle the Akima and then, well then…….

A screech caused her to throw herself to the side before something hit the rooftop where she had been. Looking up she saw a five-foot black insectoid biped, it had two mandibles that were alongside a circular mouth full of at uncountable needle-thin teeth below two compound eyes. Its right arm ended in a large lance that it rammed into where she had been standing and its right ended in three claws in a pyramid shape with two on top. Its legs were backwards, with two thin wings on its back.

She rolled to her feet and saw another one on a rooftop to her right with one of the Blaster Legions with her. As she looked for others she heard a slow clapping and scowled.

“Well, that was nice. I must say, you’re better than the old woman!” A male voice caused her to turn and see Thunderlord standing there with two more of the new Legions standing in guard potion at his sides. “To think you handled the Lancer’s attack that easy, well done.”

“One of the Seven?” Salacia asked as she looked at the monsters and their controller. Thunder Lord looked at her and just laughed, a deep dark laugh as he grinned at her.

“Not just one of them my dear, but the leader himself,” Thunder Lord said and Salacia gasped and took a step backwards only for the Lancer Legion to chitter at her as Thunder Lord laughed.

“You Mean!” Salacia gasped as she looked around, trying to find anything that might help her get away from here.

“Yes, I am Thunder Lord, the Wraith Sin! And you my dear misguided Dolphin have a choice to make,” Thunder Lord said as he looked at her, his eyes going up her body and detecting that the magic hadn’t changed it too much, but the masking aspect of the magic kept him from remembering any details and he held back a sigh. He loved it but it made his plans so much harder when they came across other users.

“And what choice does a lifetaker want with me?” Salacia asked as she looked around as the Lancer

“Life-harvester thank you! My runes only take the life force that anything still had before they died violently. Otherwise, it goes into the environment and it can cause such births of monsters,” Thunder Lord said stiffly and Salacia looked at him with a scowl.

“What kind of Monsters?” Salacia asked and Thunder Lord laughed and grinned at her.

“Nothing that matters right now but I do need an answer my dear, and I must instinct that you answer me,” Thunder Lord said as the Legions around them started to chitter.

“Okay, and the question is what?” Salacia demanded as she clenched her fists and looked at the nearest Lancer, judging how to get away from them.

“Oh nothing much my dear. Only you have to decide, will you die or hand over the Dolphin Miraculous? That ability that grants is the only one in creation that can kill my clan with but a touch, and it will no longer be out of my control,” Thunder Lord growled and Salacia looked at him with a scowl.

When her partner told her about the Seven, the leader was the worst of them. The Sin of Wraith, the strongest fighter and the most deadly. But the name, the name had been different……… he must be using another Miraculous in unison, that’s the only explanation that made sense! But then that didn’t matter, with those Legions she could see and any others that were hidden, this was going to be hard to escape, almost impossible but she had to try.

As they stood there, they never noticed an eye in the shadows of a chimney before they went away, a hunter who had found them while searching for its prey. It paid the interaction no mind but sent what it had seen to its mistress while it followed her will and charged on into Paris, hunting its target.

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Back at their lair, Shadowmoth and Enhancetress both sat silently, Enhancetress looking at her tablet. Part of him didn’t want the battle with his Akuma to finish in his favor, but then part of him wanted to win, this whole thing was just a smokescreen to let the others think he was still after both Ladybug and Chat Noir’s Miraculous.

And the more he thought about it, the more it was possible that something else could heal her. They knew an Akuma was able to, both he and Nathalie had tried in two Champion forms, but maybe that was a problem with the Butterfly Miraculous, a master of all was a master of none after all.

It stood to reason then, that it was entirely possible that a Miraculous with the power of healing would be so much better, but then the power of Creation, that was the real prize. Duusu didn’t know who the others were in that ritual he told them, the Kwami had only heard about it in passing once by the Ladybug Kwami. Nooroo didn’t know anything or didn’t remember anything, and trying to figure out the truth from the grimoire but there was nothing at all about the spells on the Kwamki or Miraculous. He had realized that where ever the knowledge was, the Order had hidden it away from the actual proctors of the Miraculous, obvious that was in case whoever they were grew to care for the Kwami and wanted to free them.

Enhancetress looked on, after the last few revelations truly made her feel felt for Gabriel and all the time he had wasted trying to get both. And Emile’s condition was the result of someone or something that attacked her, and then there was happening with Adrien, everything had to be a cause of stress for him. She had argued against treating Adrien the way he had, but Gabriel justified it if they failed then he wanted no doubt that Adrien had done nothing to help them with their actions, and she agreed with it after a while.

She looked at Shadowmoth and hid a scowl, how he was using Lila on both sides of her mask had bothered her. But then both of them had no idea that the little idiot would have done anything like that at the photo shoot, but then their her plans for Lila were both something that would help them, punish her and maybe help Adrien out once he was found and brought back.

A beep from her tablet caused her to look down and scowl. As she listened her eye’s widened before she looked up at Shadowmoth.

“Sir, Thunder Lord is talking with another Miraculous user, and he said something about how their power could kill them. Should we send the Akuma or Sentimonster after them?” She asked and Shadowmoth looked at her and stared for a few moments as he went over the possible pros or cons.

“No, so far we only know of two of them, maybe in the future. But for now, we stay the course. Send Optigami to find Lila and I’ll bring one of the spare Sentimonsters to follow it, it’s time to see if we will move to plan 2A or 2B,” Shadowmoth said and Enhancetress nodded, her mental command to her Sentimonster sending it away from the battle.

As she watched what Optigami saw, Enhancetress tried and failed to keep a grin off her face as it noticed Lila and her mother. As Optigami flew closer she frowned as she saw the way Lila’s face was slack, something was wrong here. Enhancetress scowled as she looked at her screen before a beeping caused her to smirk. “It seems Payday is back sir, shall I tell him to bring some of his particular brand of help to the fight against the heroes or to attack Thunder Lord?”

“No, not now. We do as we planned, for now, we just gather resources and personnel while we wait for our chance to strike,” Shadowmoth said and Enhancetress nodded, sending off a reply.

“Yes sir, I’ve found Lila she doesn’t seem to be ready to accept anything….. but you should send a butterfly and a feather so she can be ready for her part. This is after all the final performance of Lila Rossi,” Enhancetress suggested and Shadowmoth nodded.

“Of course, better early than never as she used to say,” Shadowmoth said as he focused his powers and sent off the two tokens.

“Yes,” Enhancetress said absently as she looked around the lair and frowned, something was bothering her, something she couldn’t place. When the Sentimonster she was controlling had made it to Lila, the girl looked like she was in a trance but moving after her mother. She knew that something was wrong with what Lila was doing, but she couldn’t actively see it. But Enhancetress had learned a long time ago to trust her hunches and Lila, how the girl was acting was setting one off.

“Nothing, I can sense nothing from her! Someone sleeping makes more of an echo than she does! What is this!?” Shaodwmoth growled and Enhancetress looked down and willed her Sentimonster to fly ahead of Lila, to get a view of her eyes and face.

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Pegasus dashed over the rooftops towards where he hoped the others would meet up before chasing down those insect monsters. If he was honest, he was dying to find out how they were created and the laws behind their creation, anything to let him understand magic. So far Kaalki hadn’t been able to tell him much, the cult Miraculous Guardians had done a wonderful job of keeping the Kwami from knowing anything about the other magics besides their own. But then what happened to Nooroo made that argument a moot point he guessed but the scientist in him was almost mad with how he couldn’t understand half of what Fu had told them about the potions he needed.

As he jumped over another building he heard the retreat from the courthouse, Viperion and Carapace were following the two Akuma who seemed to be trying to find Marinette or anyone who escaped before they left the building. And so far the other three were keeping the police safe from the Midnight Crew as they fell back, a good strategy as the Midnight Crew’s death multiplication ability made defeating them a true challenge.

He gritted his teeth as he acknowledged that even then, dealing with the twin attack of Dark Owl and this Lunar Raven would be hard, maybe even impossible with help from their Sentimonsters. Okay, thing. We can handle them by sending them away from the battle but then I’ll need to recharge. But where to send them, the outskirts or the stadium, but is anyone there now? I need to figure out places to send enemies for situations like this. He thought as he jumped onto another rooftop and dashed over it, moving ever onwards towards the meeting spot Apisera had sent him.

As he jumped over the last gap between buildings he saw the others were already waiting for him. Ladybug, Rena Rouge, and Apisera stood around a chimney stack, each looking down at their weapons.

“Greeting girls, where’s……” Pegasus asked and Apisera spoke up.

“Miss Hound is a bit closer and below them. We tracked them but we dropped back when we saw that those things are with another of the Seven is leading those things,” Apisera said and Pegasus looked at her and shook his head.

“So the plan was for us to drop Apisera through a portal for a point-blank shot at them, get their Miraculous, and then go deal with the Akuma situation before we deal with what happened,” Ladybug said and Rena Rouge looked at her with an exasperated look.

“Gurl, you gotta relax. They’ve had to know for a while, and they didn’t tell you until they had to so relax and get your mind on what’s happening here,” Rena Rouge said and Pegasus looked from one to the other and tried to figure out what they meant before his mind went to the worst possible outcome.

“You’re parents know!? How!?” Pegasus asked and then they heard their coms beep.

“Miss Hound here, Dolphin girl is running from the monsters and the villain! And I was close enough to hear that this guy is the leader of the Seven! She’s running to the west, need instructions now!” Miss Hound voice came from their weapons and Ladybug looked around as she quickly created a plan that she thought would work.

“Then there’s no time to lose! Miss Hound follow far enough back they won’t see you, we’ll be right behind you! Rena, you’re with me! We’re backing up Miss Hound

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Lila blinked as she looked around, realizing that she had fallen to the ground. She was outside the courtroom, and the last thing she remembered was Mari-Trash winning the case, Damocles and that teacher Bustier were both turned into Akuma Villains, the butterfly had just hit the papers, and then she was here how? Looking around she saw she was on a street outside the courthouse and her mother was farther down the street from her. Her mother ran on before looking back at Lila who was crawling away from her back towards the Akuma.

“Lila come on! We need to get away!” Dolores said and Lila shook her head.

“Stay away! You took my mind like when you did at our apartment!” Lila said before she slapped a hand over her mouth and paled in fear as she looked at Dolores who blinked before grinning evilly.

“So you know, how I wonder? Something to find out when I peel your mind away for the last time before I change my clothing,” Dolores said as

Lila grinned as she saw the Akuma butterfly flapping towards her and grabbed it and it into her necklace as a blue feather floated into it. Lila glared at her mother as the logo of Shadowmoth formed over her sneer. Volpina, in a bind are you? follow my commands and what you saw will be the truth, while Dark Kitsune will be your protector! Shadowmoth’s voice came into her head. Lila grinned and Dolores looked at her with a scowl.

Lila’s eyes went wide and Shadow Moth heard the fear in her voice. “You won’t control me anymore!”

Before Dolores could say anything one of the Midnight crew was suddenly there behind her and it slammed its weapon into her head, knocking her out. As she started to fall the Midnight Crew caught her and laid her down on the road before dusting off its hands and turned away from her with its head in the air.

Lila nodded as she accepted the Akuma, the energy flowing over her. As she felt the transformation, it seemed stronger than last time. As it finished she looked at a window to use it as a mirror and took in the changes. Across her eyes was an orange mask with black edges, but her eye’s sclera were now pitch black with orange slit iris. Her hair was the same, black at the top but the color changed to light brown with the tips pure white like last time and fox ears on top, but now there were streaks of white that went to the black and the fox ears were now real. She made them move and laughed, bringing her attention to her mouth she saw she now had orange lipstick on but she had fangs in her mouth’s upper jaw. Her outfit was the same, orange with a white section going down the front but the section had an orange fox face above her breasts. Around her waist was an orange sash that ended behind her in two fox trails instead of one like last time, and her collar and upper arms still had black lines with her forearms and lower legs still a solid black but her hands ended in claws. Her feet were covered in the same black boots as last time the toes were covered by steel claws, on her back was a large black staff, she didn’t need to use a flute to channel her powers.

Next to her a purple blob formed and grew until it was a ten-foot-tall sphere, breaking apart to reveal her Sentimonster. It was a large orange fox the size of a horse, with a black face and three tails, each which ended in a black crystal sphere and its head had three eyes with the third above its noise and closed. Volpina looked down at her ‘mother’ and kicked her savagely before getting on her Sentimonster and laughed as Shadowmoth’s emblem in light formed over her face. Go quickly Volpina, yours is the most important of the plan today. Shadowmoth’s command’s echoed in her head and she grinned.

“Of course my master, what is it?” Volpina asked and another of the Midnight Crew appeared and handed over a briefcase. Volpina looked at the case, looking it over, and saw a symbol, Shadowmoth’s symbol on it and looked at it in confusion. That is the Akuma, take it and run from the ‘heroes’ until I recall it! Volpina looked at the case in shock as her right eye started to twitch.

“Wait, recall it?! What about my mother?!” Volpina snarled and Shadowmoth chuckled. Don’t worry my dear, the plan will handle everything. Just make sure that you get to where you have to no matter what happens once I give you the go-ahead. Shdowmoth sent and Volpina nodded.

As she rode away and the Midnight Crew both jumped to the rooftops Officer Roger appeared with a few policemen from a side street, looking shocked at what they had seen.

“Wasn’t the Akuma at the courthouse nearby, what was that?” One of the officers asked and Roger looked at him and shook his head.

“New turn in our war against Hawkmoth Joe, a new turn for his side,” Roger said bitterly and Joe swore as the others took positions around the two officers.

Roger looked down at Deloris with a frown, they had heard Lila call out her words and then they had run towards the scene, turning the corner and seeing Lila put the Akuma into her necklace. Thankfully their body cams worked, so they had proof that Lila reached for the Akuma, the bug might not show up on the screen but her actions of grabbing for ‘something’ and then transforming into an Akuma would be front page news soon. But that left one question, just why was Lila calling out, what was the reason that caused this, and what did this woman have to do with it all?

“Sir, wasn’t that that Illusion making Akuma that caused that meteor a while back? And didn’t Hawkmoth make people think Chat Noir killed Ladybug before the Scarlet Swarm?” Joe asked Roger looked at him for a few moments before face palming and cursing. As the police moved away they never noticed a set of eyes in the shadows of one of the buildings look at them before it dissipated.

“Yes, that was…… you two, pick her up, we’re heading to the nearest shelter to hold our ground there. As of right now, that girl is now a person of interest to be brought to the proper attention within the department. For now, move!” Roger barked and after a few moments the police were gone from the scene. Once they were out of sight, a man with a video camera with a sleazy air about him came out of an alley and grinned as he looked down at his camera.

“Oh you’ve just got me my yearly bonus twice over! A girl who was scared of her mother enough to reach out to Hawkmoth…. No a girl who reached out for Hawkmoth! That’ll sell more papers faster! And by selling you to the news stations after the papers, I’ll double my profits! James my boy, you’re star is rising!” James said with a laugh as he walked away, already getting out his phone to call a contact that had taken him a while to get. “Arlette, baby it’s your favorite independent news hound, James! How would TVI like the first case of someone willingly reaching for an Akuma to help out Hawkmoth, plus the police saying she’s a person of interest? Yeah, double sounds great!”

Chapter 28

Chapter Text

As Enhancetress giggled evilly Shadowmoth looked at her and smirked. “So then Rodger saw everything then?”

“Yes, and a freelance reporter got everything on film! With him added in, the plan will work perfectly Lord Shadowmoth,” Enhancetress purred and Shadowmoth grinned as he felt excitement burst out of him. After all his failed plans, this was working! Was this what the heroes felt when they won?

“Perfect my dear. I think your idea was right, we do see better results when they don’t fight the transformation. Let this be a new beginning for us,” Shadowmoth said as he grinned, ideas forming being his eyes. “For too long I looked only to what I was able to gather from that book. Let us look to other means, other ways. And we only looked at one source, perhaps we can find another way.”

He didn’t know what could work, but the fact that he had been so obsessed with the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous, that might have been the only reason that his wife was still lost to them. He had tried to craft stronger Champions, and how he had Lila do so much to make Marinette fall and become his masterpiece! He had a lot of respect for the girl, she was creative, caring, and had a nice reputation. But that creativity……. If he could make her his Champion then he knew beyond a doubt that she would have won with an army behind her, hence the mass attack.

He hated to admit it, but his planning ability wasn’t even a faction of Marinette’s, that was why he had decided to use Lila to try and get Marinette to feel a strong enough negative emotion to let one of his Akuma take control of her, to use her abilities for his goal. But he wasn't heartless, he planned to reward her if she defeated the heroes, and returned to the school even if she failed. But after Nooroo had told them everything about the wish and the price for it, he was glad he had failed.

But then there was the way things had spiraled out of control, and all because of Lila! He scowled as he thought of what that fool had done. After the attack failed because Nathalie was sick, he had planned to honor his contract with Lila, since “he” had no other knowledge about what Lila had done and why, since all he wanted was an ‘unbiased’ view of his son’s school life. But then the little twit had lied about how his civilian persona had ordered Marinette’s expulsion, he admitted that Lila’s plan to get Adrien to think he had ordered everything that happened to Marinette so Adrien would ‘play ball’ with her was insulting, but then Adrien had exploded and this restraining order after he had run away…….. nothing had turned out like he thought it would and he could only hope that he could pull off a win in the end, and with their new direction and goals the end game might have been different, but it was there for them to take.

While Shadowmoth had his internal revelation Enhancetress was having her own, and after a few moments decided to bring up what she had just realized.

“Of course, and I wonder if we should reach out to other possible pawns, non-magical ones,” Enhanctress suggested and Shadowmoth looked at her and grinned as he started to see her point and the possibilities that they had ignored for so long.

“Yes, that might work. Alone we have failed so much, but only because we’ve been working with the same power as our foes! We can find a few gangs and empower them, send them against more civilian targets and then from there, make a war chest,” Shadowmoth commented and Enhanctress nodded with a grin. I mean what was I thinking? With all, I’ve done all I didn’t do was turn to crime, and with everything they’ll charge me with if they ever catch me, why not go for broke? And with the Seven in my city, I just need to reach out and take it all. He thought as he grinned as he let his imagination run wild with the possibilities before him.

“A wise move, I’ll have a list of people we can use and targets later today,” Enhanctress said with a sly tone to her voice as Shadowmoth nodded.

Her past had shown her that such people were necessary to get some work done in the wilder parts of the world, and looking back it was stupid of them not to have reached out to that kind of people, there were so many other possibilities to look into that they hadn’t even considered before!

Had they been so fixated on the Miraculous, so sure of what they had deduced based on their research that they ignored all the other possibilities? A doctor who knew about Magic could have found out what was wrong with Emile so much sooner, but they were so sure that the only way to save her was to get those two Miraculous, but then breaking the spells on Duusu and what they learned! The only way forward was to move and do things that weren’t what they had done before, all they needed to do was keep trying and eventually they would have a win!

Ehancetress smiled as she got off her stool and curtsied to Shadowmoth. “Lord Shadowmoth, might I trouble you for passage to our secondary site?”

“With the power that the Miraculous of Emotion has granted us, that is but a trivial matter,” Shadowmoth said as he summoned a feather and put it into his staff. As the purple blob formed next to him, Enhancetress grinned under her veil.

“I’ll go and prepare the next stage my lord, good luck making it look real,” she said and Shadowmoth just laughed as he shook his head.

“I did marry an actress my dear, I’ll be fine. I have gotten some experience in directing our Champions. And these two can’t be worse than the divas I’ve had to deal with,” He said as his Sentimonster finished forming.

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As Thunder Lord looked at her, Salacia looked around and tried to figure out if there was any way that she could get away. She pressed one of her legs into the roof and glared at Thunder Lord. “You think I’ll give her to you?”

“No, but I hoped you would see reason, but then your kind rarely do,” Thunder Lord said softly and shook his head. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to take it by force then. So your answer then my dear?”

Salacia just took a stance and readied herself as Thunder Lord shook his head releasing a sigh.

“I suppose I expected this, really I did. But then I had hoped the time you’ve had that little god wouldn’t have let you bond, but then I suppose I was expecting less from you than I would have from myself if I’m honest about all this,” Thunder Lord said dramatically and looked at Salacia and sighed again as he shook his head. “How do you want to die then?”

Without a word, Salacia threw herself to the side moments before another Lancer appeared and attacked the place she was standing. As the two Blaster Legions fired at her she didn’t even wait until she landed, as she was horizontal with the roof and away from it by inches she shot out her arms and pushed off the roof, somersaulting into the air and spinning to the right dodging the blasts as she threw herself off the roof.

Thunder Lord watched with a bit of shock on his face and started to laugh. “Well done! Perhaps I won’t let her go after all. A few weeks of conditioning and I’d have a good warrior for one of the other jewels I have! And she might be cute under that mask.”

The Lancers chittered at him and he looked at them for a few moments. “Well, go get her, alive please!”

The Legions all roared and ran, jumping off the roof to chase down Salacia as Thunder Lord drew his sword with one hand and reached for the hilt with his other.

Below Salacia ran, going away from where the people and the Akumatized villain was, hopefully, she would be able to handle this without going there, letting the others handle the other problems without adding this to it. She ran on as blasts from the Blasters fired down at her as the Legions and Thunder Lord chased after her above on the roofs.

As she reached a park she smiled as she knew that the space would let her try and handle the monsters one by one, hopefully, she could get a Blaster or one of the Lancers with her power and have them cover her back as she escaped. Looking over her shoulder she saw two Lancers ahead of the pack with the Blasters staying back. She looked around and noticed a tree ahead of her, dashing at it she jumped at it and somersaulted, landing against the tree she pushed off and spun in the air and punched out at the Lancer’s spear as they tried to strike her as she passed over their heads.

Running at the Blasters she dodged their attacks and sent a savage blow against one of them, cracking its head as it screeched in pain as it fell, bleeding from the ruin of one of its eyes. As she dodged to the right as the Lancers caught up and attacked her, she smiled as she saw that the maimed Blaster looked like it was dying. She felt a small amount of pride, she had taken one down on her own, but there were so many more to go.

As one of the Lancers charged at her, she landed and pushed its lance aside with her right arm as it tried to attack her, then she punched with her left arm and it moved backward for a moment, stunned but that was all she needed to do as she jumped and did a spin kick and tore off its head!

As the dead body of the Legion crumbled to the ground, Salacia looked at the other Legions as they stood there growling at her. Her Kwami had told her that they were just large insects with larger versions of the same organs regular bugs had so she didn’t feel too bad about this, but they were still alive and they might have a small sense of loyalty to their broodmates.

As the last Lancer stood there protecting the lone Blaster the sounds of an incoming energy blast caused her to jump to the right in a lunge that made her horizontal for a moment.

As she landed in a roll a roar from two more Legion Slashers charged at her. She jumped up and in the air she prepared to attack them as soon as she landed when suddenly the Slashers were both lassoed by a red yoyo! As soon as that happened they were pulled into the air and a spin by Ladybug before being thrown at the remaining Lancer!

As Salacia landed she saw Ladybug was suddenly there, smiling at her as Miss Hound took a defensive stance before them.

“Thanks, Ladybug!” Salacia said and Ladybug grinned back. “How’d you find me?”

“We were on patrol when we saw these things chase you, where’s that girl from last time?” Miss Hound asked as she looked at the monster

“She’s not here, it’s……” Salacia began only for loud clapping to sound.

“ME! So this is the famed Ladybug? My my, your photos don’t do you justice my dear! And who is this canine beauty?” Thunder Lord’s voice came from behind them. The heroes whirled around and saw Thunder Lord looking at them with four more Lancers guarding him. “And you handled the Lancers so well, that Lusty wrench will be so disappointed that her works were done away with so easily. Oh wait, where are my manners? I am currently Thunder Lord, leader of those who call ourselves the Seven Deadly Sins!”

Ladybug looked at Thunder Lord and let her eyes roam over his body, trying to find anything that might let her figure out was his Miraculous. ”So the woman with the scythe, she was under your command? And what does a life-taker want in my city?”

“Life harvester as I told you friend behind you both. My works only gather the leftover life energy that people release after they die violently,” Thunder Lord said and he grinned at her. “I wonder my dear, what a few hundred years of experience with that Artifact would do for you, want to find out?”

Miss Hound was doing the same thing as both noticed something on his right leg that drew her eye and she wondered if was it, thankfully Thunder Lord hadn’t noticed her eyes, he had looked right at Ladybug and kept his attention on her.

Ladybug looked at him and clenched her yoyo as she glared at him, keeping an eye out for anything else as she kept her focus on him and his monsters. So far his team seemed not as bad as Hawkmoth, they had only fought the heroes and used monsters, not civilians as the ‘villain of the day’ as he does.

Thunder Lord only looked at Ladybug and he could barely keep a smile from his lips. The girl was as strong as he hoped but her magic, it was there under the locks of the Order just waiting to burst free. He had to admit that Hawkmoth’s campaign was a good thing if it led to her being given a Miraculous before one of those things found her and claimed her. The death and carnage such a corrupted birth her power would have resulted in, that was almost unthinkable.

Salacia looked around covertly; so far the two Lancers and Blaster were just staying where they had been thrown to the ground. How did Thunder Lord and Nekhbet control them? Bolla didn’t know much about the magic the Legions were created by, but she had said that golems needed an artifact to let others control them. So by that logic then, Thunder Lord had to have something that let him work his will on them, and he had to have it on him, if they could get it away from him then maybe they could escape.

“You offering to share your stolen lives?” Ladybug asked and Thunder Lord shrugged.

“The wars on this continent would have been so much worse if I hadn’t gathered the life force of those who passed on my dear, truly it would have. But ask those little ones of yours about the Elementals and watch them clam up, like all the Kwami the self-named Guardians took,” Thunder Lord said Ladybug went still as she tried and failed to hide her surprise.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ladybug said as she looked at Thunder Lord and hoped that he believed her. To have another person, even an enemy, confirmation that the Order had cast spells on the Kwami; it was something. But then his words about how the last two wars might have been worse if they hadn’t taken the stray life force, that was shocking and it only showed that they didn’t know everything there was in the world. If there was something that they needed to know, then capturing one of Seven’s Kwami and Miraculous to question them was something that they had to do.

“We gonna keep talking or we gonna do something?” Miss Hound asked as she spun her escrima sticks in her hands and Thunder Lord just sighed and gestured at the three girls, the Legions responded with a roar.

As two Lancers charged at them, the Blaster and other Lancer behind them fell back as the Blaster fired at them.

“Handle range, Miss Hound follow me!” Ladybug called as she moved to attack the charging Lancers, Miss Hound falling in behind her as Salacia ran towards the Blaster. As the guardian Lancer tried to get at her she spun to the side and lunged at the Blaster, it dodged but she landed and dealt a spin kick that tore off its head.

Meanwhile, Ladybug and Miss Hound attacked the two Lancers. Miss Hound blocked her foes with her right stick before piercing the Lancer’s left eye. As it fell back with a screech she punched through its throat and as it wheezed to death as it fell she grinned and moved to help Ladybug.

Ladybug had made sure to keep the lance away from her with her spinning yoyo as she tanked the blows from the Lancer with it and kept moving backwards until Miss Hound was there and killed it from behind.

As one the two heroines nodded to each other they charged at the Lancer fighting Salacia and within moments it was dead on the ground and then the three stood together glaring at Thunder Lord who watch with a stage look on his face.

“Well done, but then I can do this!” He called out as he threw two large fleshy eggs into the air, as they reached the top of its arc, they glowed black and broke apart, each one releasing four energy stars that shot out and hit the ground, revealing eight Slashers. As the two Lancers moved forwards slowly toward the heroines' as Thunder Lord just laughed as he looked at the girls.

“Did you two think that three of you would be able to run in and win without a plan? I mean really! Two Rookies and a semi-experienced Wielder?” Thunder Lord asked and Ladybug grinned.

“You forgot the other semi-experienced Wielders on our team,” Ladybug said and Thnderloord look at her before he went still and fell forward.

As he fell behind him a portal was revealed, Apisera grinning as she held her top and from her stance, she had stung his back. Apisera grinned at them as she stepped from the portal with Pegasus.

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“We can’t run in without a plan, so ideas?” Ladybug asked the others as they ran after Thunder Lord, Miss Hound leading the way.

“I’ve got one, it might work……… but you’ll be alone with….. Salacia,” Pegasus began, causing the others to look at him as he continued. “I’ll go with both Miss Hound and Apisera, we’ll move along the rooftops until I have line of sight on the battle. You meanwhile backup Salacia fight off the monsters. Then I create a portal behind him, he’s stung and then we’ll take his Miraculous and whatever he’s using to control those things.”

“No, I’ll go with Ladybug, it looks like it’ll take more than two heroes to handle them,” Miss Hound said and the others looked at her.

“You sure about that?” Ladybug asked and Miss Hound nodded.

“Yes, I need to be better, so yes,” Miss Hound said and Apisera looked at her oldest friend and smiled.

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“Well, that worked great!” Apisera said with an edge to her voice as the Legions went still.

However a moment later the Legions roared and four Slashers and Lancer charged at Ladybug, Miss Hound and Salicia while the rest charged at Apisera and Pegasus.

“Quick, grab the items with magic and throw them through the portal!” Apisera called out as she put herself between the Legions and Pegasus.

“Try around his feet for the Miraculous!” Ladybug called out before dodging a blow and throwing her yoyo around the neck of a Lancer that tried to attack the others.

As Asperia punched the Lancer, Pegasus felt around Thunder Lord’s feet and found something that he felt around and found a clip that let him remove it. He pulled away a small grey circle as the bodysuit of Thunder Lord started to change, the yellow becoming ruby with black streaks that went to the sides.

“He has two Miraculous?!” Pegasus stammered as he stared at the transformed wielder before the roar of charging Legions made him jump backwards as he clutched it. A ball of light formed and be a green chibi Kwami.

The new Kwami had a yellow body, two antennae above large blue eyes on an oversized head and four single limbs on a small humanoid body with a small light from its behind and two short insect wings on its back.

“You freed me! No, he’s still alive?! His power lets him make an explosion! Dodge his Wraith Bolts if you want to live!” The Kwami screeched in a feminine tone.

Pegasus looked from the Legions to the Kwami, his mind going at lightning speed as he tried to figure out what to do before he nodded, coming to the only decision that he could make. He held his hand with the Miraculous towards the Kwami and opened it. “Take it and go! Stay safe!”

The Kwami looked from Pegasus to the Miraculous and nodded with a small smile. “Thank you!”

The Kwami flew away and one of the Slashers roared and lunged for the Miraculous but Pegasus intercepted it and with a few blows he killed it. As the depowered Thunder Lord roared and jumped to his feet he looked around, finally spotting the Kwami flying away with its Miraculous clutched tightly to its body. Looked around he saw the heroes in combat. He zeroed in on Pegasus and he saw red as he roared, drawing his sword and charged at him.

Looking up Pegasus saw Thunder Lord charging at him, he dodged the blows as the others dealt with the Legions, however, a beeping told him that his transformation as a hero was almost done for now.

“You worm! Do you know what I had to do to take that power from the fools who held it?! The chaos I had to engineer to even find out who had it!? With that power, I was able to do so much, much that is now gone!” Thunder Lord spat as he locked blades with Pegasus.

“So I what, stopped your ability to use lives?” Pegasus asked and Thunder Lord laughed and shook his head as he glared at the hero.

“No, all you did was keep me from killing things and then leaving their bodies intact, now my rage has returned to those who earn my wraith,” Thunder Lord said before a yoyo wrapped around his arms. They looked to see Salacia, Ladybug, Miss Hound and Asperia ready to attack Thunder Lord and

“If I’m right we took your thunder, so what? You still call yourself Lord or something like that?” Asperia asked with a smirk and Thunder Lord laughed.

“No, for now and forever I am Wraith Lord! And you will feel this drake’s fury! Wraith Bolt!” The self-named Wraith Lord cried as he pointed his sword at the heroes and a beach ball-sized energy ball formed at the tip before it shot at them. They dodged but it hit one of the Legion that got back to its feet, setting off a large explosion.

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As the police and Heroes moved down the street to get away from the tsunami of Midnight Crew Sentimonsters after them, Chat Noir looked around for anything that might let them turn the tide, let them get ahead. Viperion had been following after the horde, keeping an eye on the two Villains who followed after their minions, ready to attack when the heroes were occupied with the Midnight Crew. While they had tried to keep from killing them, the Sentimonsters had done everything but kill themselves, moving into the blows or taunting the police so they would fire at them, then dodge so one behind them would be hit in the head. These tactics had raised the number of Sentimonsters to just below one hundred, but Roi Singe was thinking that something was wrong, but he couldn’t see just what it was.

“Any change?!” Chat Noir called out and Viperion called back.

“No, they’re still too protected for me to even think about getting a shot off! Keep running, should I try Second Chance?!” Viperion asked and Chat Noir cursed. He saw Arashiko falling back next to him as Carapace helped an officer move faster while Lieutenant Eduardo was carried over Roi Singe’s shoulder. The good Lieutenant was cursing up a storm, but nothing he said had any value to it at all.

“No dude, we need you to stay as you are man! If something happens we might need you to rock and roll!” Carapace said and looked around for any place that they could use to make a stand!

Viperion nodded and cursed that he forgot he was alone at the other end of the horde overlooking Dark Owl and Lunar Raven as they hid behind a large France flag Dark Owl had ordered some of the Midnight Crew to use to block the back from anyone seeing them. Viperion knew he could attack but if he was wrong and the Akuma Item wasn’t where he thought it was then………. Maybe I can try Second Chance and see what I can learn about them? Need to run it by the others but it might be the only chance we’ve got to turn it around and pull off a win! Viperion thought as he looked down at the street and tried to judge the best place to try and attack them on his own.

“Who could have the Akuma?! Can you see anything Viperion?” Arashiko asked and Viperion was about to respond and then a feminine chuckle was heard over their communicators.

“Neither of them has it heroes, but I’ve got my eyes on them,” A sensual female voice said as the heroes all looked at each other not knowing who was talking to them.

“Who are you?” Viperion asked and the voice chuckled.

“Well in honor of the cute Archer-Boy’s question, the names Arachne. And let’s just say I’ve been watching you all for a while and my little partner recently met Chat-boy’s, so after the problems at the river and park I decided to throw my towel into the ring so to speak. I’ve heard about the issue that probably caused this from a few sources I’ve got. And how both were Akuma before, I wanted to be on guard nearby in case of another attack using one of them. I didn’t expect to see two at once through,” Arachne said and Viperion blushed as he looked around, trying to spot her.

“f*ck, I forgot the item doesn’t have to be with the Akuma!” Chat Noir’s voice said from over their communicators and Viperion winced as he saw how bad this could get.

“Yeah and the guard is another separate Akuma, two of the first group of Sentimonsters and one of her own,” Arachne said and Viperion looked down at the throng of Sentimonsters and then at where he thought the two Akumatized villains were. If they didn’t have the Akuma on them, then they had to go and get it to Ladybug, but they couldn’t let them rampage until they could find the butterfly Akuma!

Chat Noir meanwhile thought much as the others did, and he could see a few options to handle this but all of them required Viperion to go off on his own, and that was a problem. He couldn’t see anyway for Arashiko to disengage without letting the enemy know, and then when you add in the question of how Hawkmoth had done this, with the name change he thought Hawkmoth had merged Miraculous, and that just meant that things will be a lot worse in their future, plus then there was the fact that two separate Akuma, this was looking very bad.

“No choice dudes!” Carapace said and looked at the other heroes with a troubled look. “I’ve been running plans, and I can’t think of anything to let anyone beyond viper-dude leave!”

“Me either, we need to stay here and hold the line,” Chat Noir said as Roi Singe and Arashiko both nodded and Chat Noir looked at the horde of Sentimonsters.

“Yeah. Go Viper-bro, we’ll hold the line until you and the others can

“And where are the others?” Arashiko asked before they heard a large explosion from somewhere else in Paris that shocked the Sentimonsters.

“I can guess where they are bro,” Roi Singe said dumbly before picking up the pace, the others putting on speed as the Midnight Crew stayed where they were for a few moments, moments that would make all the difference.

“Viperion, go!” Chat Noir commanded as he looked at the police and took a deep breath. “We’ll draw their fire and keep moving until you can get the Akuma and find Ladybug!”

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Rena Rouge stopped and looked from the explosion in the distance to her left and the courthouse to her right. She had moved towards the courthouse after she transformed and she expected to make it there soon, but she grew worried as the longer she ran, the more time passed that she hadn’t heard from anyone and then there was that explosion that she just heard. She didn’t dare try and contact anyone either, if they were in combat that might let whoever they were fighting win. On one hand, she should go help out with the double attack, but on the other the explosion…… people might be hurt or need help. But a moment later before she could do anything she heard the sounds of something large running nearby. Ducking behind a chimney, she looked around and saw Dark Kitsune carrying Volpina who had a briefcase in her hands with two Midnight Crew members following behind. Rena Rouge knew instantly that they were only along as guards.

As soon as she locked eyes on Lila’s Akuma form, Rena Rouge felt nothing but anger. With all the revelations that Marinette had given her and then the talk about Adrien’s book, Alya had figured out fast that Lila had been bullying Marinette for a while now and tried to use Alya and their other classmates to isolate her, the incident that caused the hearing just her most explosive yet.

But Rena Rouge had seen a briefcase in Volpina’s hands, but one hero against an Akuma plus three Sentimonsters? She wasn’t suicidal but that just seemed to be too much for one girl alone. She was about to move when suddenly something covered her mouth and whatever it was pulled her into the shadows. She started to try and break free before someone spoke next to her right ear.

“So fox-girl, but I thought one of those things was gonna see you. If I let you go will you please calm down and talk quietly?” A sensual voice asked and Rena Rouge went still before she nodded before whatever was covering her mouth moved away and released her.

Rena Rouge shot forward and looked at whoever it was and blinked. Staring at her was a girl her age with an athletic figure dressed in a grey bodysuit. Her head was free but a grey eye mask with two pure black coverings over her eyes. Her hair was jet black and in two buns on the side of her head, and her lips were pitch black. On her bodysuit above her breasts was a red spider whose legs reached out to both sides, and in her hand was a black gymnastic ribbon. “Sorry girl, but I couldn’t let you ruin my tracking down that false fox! And I figured that it would be bad if the little witch over there caught a foxy girl like you!”

Rena Rouge blinked and blushed as she looked at the teen before her and she took a moment to shake her head and look at the spider heroine. “Who are you?!”

“Oh, yeah. My name’s Arachne, nice to meet ya. Soooo. Some of your team is holding on against two Akumatized villains and these death multiplying servants of theirs…… so I saw them send two of them away with a briefcase and then that witch become an Akuma told your teammates about it, then the explosion happened and here we are!” Arachne said and Rena Rouge blinked, her mouth dropped open in shock at what she had heard.

“Okay, so Ladybug and the others are holding the line and……..” Rena Rouge began, trying to think about how to handle this and get the item to Ladybug without breaking it or Volpina trying to stop her. Okay, Lila’s a liar with the power to make illusions, and she’s probably got a powered-up Akunma with how Hawky’s been lately. Add in that Sentimonster I saw her riding and the two guards……… with just Viperion and the new girl this is gonna be hard! Maybe I can make an illusion of Mari being given a Miraculous….. not that would just put her in more danger! How to handle this? She thought before Arachne coughed and smiled awkwardly.

“Yeah, No not Ladybug. I just saw the Chat, Turtle, Viper and Ape boys with the Dragon-girl,” Arachne interrupted her and Rena Rouge looked at her and then down at her flute.

“Okay, okay. That means time to call in some help before we strike!” Rena Rouge said as she smirked and activated her tool’s communication function.

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As Ladybug blinked away the buzzing she looked around, and saw that everyone even Wraith Lord was shocked. As she got back up she saw Wraith Lord look at her with a bit of awe in his body language.

“You got up first, I guess that you deserve to hold the Ladybug after all,” Wraith Lord said as the other heroes all stood up.

“Don’t think you’ll leave Paris the same as when you entered!” Apisera declared as she heard a beep and knew they had to finish this fast.

“You’ve lost your minions, the chances of you winning are next to nothing!” Pegasus said as Miss Hound nodded.

“You asked for my friend, we’ll take your slave instead!” Salica said proudly as she looked at Wraith Lord.

“You’ve used that Miraculous for evil, we will stop you!” Ladybug declared as Wraith Lord looked around.

“You’ll try,” Wraith Lord said as he looked around and almost reached for his belt but he knew how many of Lust’s creations he had taken and he had used all of them. That bolt was a lot stronger than the last time, I guess the ability to use magic does increase with age. Still this might be good, and this is done. I’ve learned a lot and I’ve taught them a bit. For now, I will leave that way. He thought before he started to grin and laughed as the heroes looked at him as they moved closer to him.

“Let me tell you all two things my foes. 1, this is not the end but the beginning of our fight! And 2, what I did just now? That wasn’t my Miraculous’s power!” He said before he was suddenly engulfed by a black energy sphere before he shot into the air like a bullet, laughing madly as he flew away.

As the heroes stared after him another two beeps caused Ladybug to turn and look towards a part of the park. “Follow me, there’s a manhole nearby!”

She shot off with the others behind her, even Salicia who looked around for anything that might still be lurking around. After Ladybug had pried open the manhole both Pegasus and Apisera had dropped down, and as Ladybug covered they saw a flash as it was sealed.

“He wanted my partner,” Salicia said as she looked at Miss Hound and Ladybug. Both of them looked at her with a scowl, the very idea of taking a Kwami from one of the other heroes was unthinkable to them!

“So another Hawkmoth then?” Miss Hound asked and Salicia shook her head.

“No, they said my power could defeat them, and how he didn’t want such power outside of his hands……. And what he did at the end and that bolt wasn’t his Miraculous, that what is it?” Salicia said as she looked at the two heroes. “I think they know something my partner doesn’t know, I don’t like this at all.”

Before Ladybug could say anything her yoyo started to beep, removing it she saw Rena Rouge was trying to get in contact with her.

“Ladybug here, sorry we couldn’t make it but we….. wait Volpina’s back!? How?? Wait a briefcase!? And at the courthouse a Sentimonster swarm that can multiply?! Okay, I got it, yes that makes sense. We’ll be there soon!” Ladybug said as Apisera pushed open the manhole and climbed out.

“What’s wrong Ladybug?” Apisera as she reached down and pulled Pegasus up.

“We’ve got problems, two of them. Rena Rouge and another Miraculous user like Salicia have their eyes on Volpina on a Sentimonster with two others as guards under orders from Hawkmoth! She’s carrying a case that might be the Item for the Akuma at the courthouse, and the others are dealing with Sentimonsters that can multiply, while they have to protect police being led by our least favorite Lieutenant.” Ladybug said and they all blanched as they saw the same horror they felt reflected in Ladybug’s eyes.

“I’ll go with you after Volpina Ladybug, my sting would probably do more good there…..” Apisera began but Salicia interrupted her.

“Wait, my partner said I can turn any magic ability backwards. If I can get to one of those Sentimonsters I might be able to make them all be absorbed back into that one,” Salicia said and the others looked at her in shock and Apisera looked down at her top for a second.

“If you can do that, I can get one of the Villains and Carapace could trap the other one! Good idea newbie!” Apisera said as the others nodded

“Then I’ll go with Ladybug, I can track Volpina down if she escapes us!” Miss Hound piped up and then Pegasus shrugged.

“I’ll be able to help them all escape at least if things go bad, so I’ll head to these two,” Pegasus said and Ladybug nodded.

“Then we all know what to do, good luck everyone!” Ladybug said and without another word, they all ran off, each of them going to where they had said, each of them hoping that their actions would lead to victory.

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Dark Owl laughed as he saw the Midnight Crew move to charge at the villains and gangsters that dare stand against the cause of justice. Once he found Marinette and made her THE NEW SPARROW after he talked to her and taught her the right way to behave, then everything would be perfect in his city and they would be ready to defend it from everyone who would dare to harm it!

“Everything is going well Owl! Should we send some of the crew to encircle them?” Lunar Raven asked and Dark Owl smirked as he turned to her. He wondered for a moment if he should say anything but then he looked around and saw that there was no way for anyone to overhear him and he started to laugh. Lunar Raven meanwhile only looked at him and wondered what was wrong with him. “What do you know that I don’t Owl?”

“Oh many things my dear, I made a special plan a few moments ago, I expect to see the results of that very soon!” Dark Owl said with a laugh and Lunar Raven looked at him and was about to speak when she went still. Dark Owl walked forward and then turned to smile at her, not seeing her he turned around and saw her standing completely still.

“Override active,” Lunar Raven said suddenly and she started to spasm as she fell to the ground.

“RAVEN, HELP HER!” Dark Owl ordered. As two of the Midnight Crew came towards her she suddenly slashed out with two blades that formed on her arms. As the Sentimonsters died Dark Owl drew an owl-themed broadsword sword with two wings as a cross guard and looked at Lunar Raven.

“Have you lost your mind Lunar Raven?! What’s gotten into you?!” Dark Owl demanded as Lunar Raven looked at him with a lifeless look on her face.

“Secondary Akumaization has happened, returning to base, hostile Akuma detected, defeating,” Lunar Raven said tonelessly before she attacked him, slashing out with the blades on her arms.

Dark Owl blocked the blows, moving backwards as a Shadowmoth energy mask formed over his face. “Sorry Commissioner, but our Raven seems to have been brainwashed!”

As the two crossed blades, the two Sentimonsters ‘killed’ by Lunar Raven had already spawned two more, but these two each had pink glowing lines on them. As one of the normal Midnight Crew moved closer to the four new ones, before it could touch them suddenly two of the changed attacked the normal one, killing it swiftly.

As the other Midnight Crew Sentimonsters moved backwards the puddle the killed Midnight Crew had become rippled and spawned two more of the Corrupted Crew Sentimonsters. As the six Corrupted Crew looked robotically at the normal Sentimonster blades sprouted from their arms and they attacked the Midnight Crew with a cry.

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Shadowmoth glared as an energy mask over his face let him see what Dark Owl saw. As he tried to send his wraith at Lunar Raven, but shockingly he hit a mental barricade, the ‘impact’ causing him to develop a headache that forced him to his knees. He tried to ‘reach’ for the Corrupted Sentimonsters but he ‘hit’ another wall much softer. As he shook his head he glared into space as he tried to figure this out.

“What, no! I’ve lost control of both her and those Sentimosnter? But How! DARK OWL, SHE’S A SPY FOR THE VILLIANS, TAKE HER DOWN HARD!” Shadowmoth roared as he got back to his feet.

Shadowmoth closed his eyes as he felt the connection he had with Dark Owl lose some of its strength and then he formed another mask.

“Enhancetress, are you well?” Shaowmoth asked and he heard her reply.

“Yes, everything is ready on my end, why?” Enhancetress sent and Shadowmoth sighted.

“One of my champions broke free and is attacking everything, she also took control of some of the Sentimonsters! Watch yourself my dear I fear someone else has been planning something in our city and are only moving now,” Shadowmoth said and he felt Enhancetress’s worry and smiled. She was truly a good friend to be so loyal to him, but then they both cared about Emile.

Shadowmoth walked towards a computer screen and frowned as he called up a program and with but a few buttons pushed a file was brought up, a webbed list with the heroes, the Seven, the Giles figure and himself. He looked at it for a few moments and made another list, with Caline Bustier under an empty blank person with question marks as the name. “So there is another player, but what are they after?”

Shadowmoth stared at the screen as he went over everything they knew, so far he and Nathalie hadn’t been able to figure out where the Guardian could be hiding. And finding that one to talk about what his kind did to the Kwami was near the top of his list, if he had any information about the healing ritual Duusu spoke of then if he had to he would pray it out of the only Order member in Paris, by any way he had to.

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Dark Owl charged in and slashed out with his sword, Lunar Raven moved backwards and dodged the blows, parrying every third strike with her right arm as she led Dark Owl away from the heroes. As the two Akumatized villains fought Lunar Raven's face kept perfectly still, not reacting to anything at all as Dark Owl grew madder with each blow. Lunar Raven parried a blow and sent Dark Owl’s sword to the side and she shot forward, kicking off Dark Owl as she jumped backwards and landed by a building.

Dark Owl looked around and saw that the Midnight Crew and the Corrupted were locked in a stalemate, and he watched as one of the Corrupted slew another and saw the taint spread to the puddle. He looked at Lunar Raven and knew that he had only one choice.

“FIGHT IT LUNAR! YOU’RE STILL IN THERE!” Dark Owl bellowed as he sent a mental command, cursing that he had to use his plan to fight his ally instead of defeating his foes with his strategy. With a roar, Dark Owl jumped upwards and slashed downwards at her right arm, only for Lunar Raven to keep her silence as she lunged to the side and kept moving in what seemed like a random pattern.

Meanwhile, as the Sentimonsters fought themselves the heroes and Police had been able to get across a car bridge. As Carapace and Roi Singe went to the rearguard position, both prepared to hold the line if anything went towards them. Looking back at the carnage, Chat Noir gripped his weapon tighter. I’ve never seen anything like this before, never! The Akumatized follow Hawkmoth’s orders, the few Sentimonsters follow the orders of the Akumatized! They shouldn’t be able to do this! he thought as he looked at the battle between the Akumatized villains and Sentimonsters.

“This is insane, I’ve never even heard of anything like this……” Arashiko said with a shocked look on her face.

Chat Noir nodded and looked at the carnage before them, seeing the strange mutated or corrupted Sentimonsters attack the normal ones. This was completely beyond anything that he had ever seen since he had gained his Miraculous!

So far the battle had stayed away from them, but everyone there felt like this as mad as it was, that it was only the calm before the storm. As they watched there was a cry from the right and suddenly a tide of the normal Midnight Crew Sentimonsters charged over the rooftops and attacked the corrupted.

“Where”d those things come from!?” Carapace demanded and Roi Singe went still and paled. As he watched the carnage, everything crystalized in his mind and he shook his head in shocked horror.

“Dude. We can’t win here, we can only outlast them,” Roi Singe muttered in horror and Carapace turned to him in shock.

“Don’t you all get it!? Those things can damage themselves to multiply! Dark Owl must have sent some of the ones we killed away and ordered them to kill each other until he called them back in!” Roi Singe said the police officers and heroes all paled in fear as they understood the sheer craftiness and strategic mind of Dark Owl.

“Just like the last time,” Chat Noir said as he shook his head, wondering just what caused a school principal to have such a strategic Akumatized form.

“So what do we do? And where’s the Lieutenant?

“HERE!” Lieutenant Eduardo called out from a side alley that he poked his head out of. “There’s an old bunker from the War down this alley! It has an opening to the sewers, we can hold them there as a chock…….. why are they fighting each other?” Lieutenant Eduardo asked as he saw Dark Owl and Lunar Raven fighting as their Sentimonsters all fought each other, but one side seemed to be stronger to his eyes. “What happened?”

“Don’t know, so far they seem to be evenly matched and are after us, probably due to the ‘psych’ of the Akuma,” Chat Noir said as he looked at the ‘battle’ between Sentimonsters. A beeping from his weapon tool caused him to activate with a hopeful smile. “M’Lady?”

“Negative bro, this is Apisera moving towards the Courthouse from the south with the Dolphin and Horse, we’ve got a plan to handle the Sentimonsters, where are you all and what’s the situation?” Apisera's reply caused the heroes to smile as Chat Noir felt a bit of relief hit him.

“To the east sis, bad but weird. The Akuma just started fighting each other and the Sentimonsters are too. We’re on the other side of the Seine at the bridge for vehicles. And the side for Hawkmoth just got a lot of reinforcements too,” Chat Noir said as he saw some of the Midnight Crew start to try and disabled one of the Corrupted only for it to kill two of them, the puddles they formed as they died having the same lines as the corrupted.

“f*ck. Stay safe, we’re coming in and Horse-Boy got that look that he has a way to get you all to safety,” Apisera said and Chat Noir nodded and looked at the battle as the tide started to turn again, this time towards the ‘Corrupted’.

“Hurry, we might have a big problem,” Chat Noir said softly as he looked at the police behind them.

Chapter 29

Chapter Text

As Volpina rode her mount over the rooftops, she laughed out loud! Whenever they empowered her like this, she always felt so alive! Those fools who rejected this power, every one of them deserved nothing but scorn. How could they even thinking of letting it slip through their fingers!And all master Hawk…..Shaowmoth wanted her to do a task that she would gladly do anyway hurt Ladyslu*t!

All he had wanted from her when they began her ‘employment’ was to spy on the peons in her class. Tell him if she ever saw anything that might lead to Ladyslu*t and Stray Noir’s defeat. And for her revenge she would done it anyway! And her plan to use that little bitch Marinette to trigger a mass attack? That was some of her best work ever, and it got her an in with Gabriel Agreste of all people as well!

She still didn’t know why or how the plan failed and what Adrien did after she tried to get him on board……. She needed to find him and have a long talk with him. While she was transformed of course. Maybe if she showered him just what her new claws could do to a steak, maybe then he would get the message. Make him think about what she could do to Mari-trash! Then maybe he would play nice, if not then she could give him Mari-trash’s hand. After she severed it, and in a garbage bag of course.

But then those thoughts died down as she remembered what she had learned. There was her mother to consider and what she had done to Lila, she needed to run. That witch…… Merda, she might be one! I need to find someplace to hide! Wait, he could help me, if she can’t track me or maybe even he could create another Villain to kidnap her! She thought with a grin. With how he’s been doing up until now, Shadowmoth could do with competent help beyond that Mayura witch. And if while she was helping him she learned a few things that let her

But as soon as the thoughts entered her mind one of the Midnight Crew cried out as it was pulled away and down.

Volpina looked at it in shock for but a moment before sending a mental command and her mount to get away from here. But as it jumped over a gap between buildings something shot up. She saw an orange blur barely missed spearing the briefcase by inches!

From bellow the rooftops Rena Rouge shot up with her flute extended to its staff form. At the top of her jump Rena Rouge backflipped and landed on the roof opposite Volpina and glared at her.

“So you’re that faux fox I’ve heard about! I know what you have there so just hand it over before it goes too far!” Rena Rouge growled as Volpina looked at her first in shock then in hunger.

Volpina couldn’t believe how lucky she was. Here she was, wondering how to get away from her mother and this happened?

“So the lesser fox following Ladyslu*t decided to come out and fight a superior specimen? Will tying you to the top of the Eifel Tower naked without your Miraculous cause her to come and try to save you from me? ” Volpina asked with a smug pure to her voice as she glared at Rena Rouge. The captured Midnight Crew was thrown out of the shadows at the other one and both fell to the street below them.

“Just try, you sorry excise for a vixen!” Rena Rouge growled back. Okay, I gotta keep the attention on me. Gotta not strike back and block all the bolts I can, need to wait for the others to strike first. She thought as she growled as she clenched her staff flute.

Volpina just laughed as she gestured at Rena Rouge. With a roar from Dark Kitsune it raised its tails out and started to fire blasts from the orbs.

As Rena Rouge spun her staff, blocking the blasts as she moved backwards. Volpina just laughed as Dark Kitsune stalked forward. As she was forced to move backwards, Rena Rouge just kept blocking the blasts.

Volpina watched and grinned devilishly. All she could think about what she could do once she took the Miraculous of the Fox. How having any power that wasn’t Hawkmoth’s would help her so much. She was waiting for Ladybug to strike. She had to be around, who else had captured the two Midnight Crew Sentimonsters that were her guards. Perhaps she was busy holding them? If so then she had a fox to skin!

As Rena Rouge moved backwards, she kept hope. All she needed to do was keep Volpina's eyes on her. Once the they had a chance, one good strike would end her part of this.

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As Dark Owl slashed out with his sword Lunar Raven kept blocking as she led him around the rooftops. Bellow the Midnight Crew were still mostly fighting themselves.

As Dark Owl took a stance he glared at Lunar Raven. This is insane, how could I have been so fooled by this witch! What was her end game, why did she break cover now of all times!? Dark Owl thought as he looked at Lunar Raven with a scowl.

“Foul temptress! Was anything that you ever showed to believe in true!?” Dark Owl bellowed as Shadowmoth’s energy mask formed over his face. Lunar Raven only looked back at him for a moment before speaking.

“Battle is no longer profitable to us both. I request an end so this unit can leave while still enhanced, and unit DARK OWL, can deal with Miraculous users. Agreement?” Lunar Raven asked stiffly and Dark Owl only scowled at her.

Dark Owl glared at her as Shadowmoth sent him a message. Keep fighting, our primary target isn’t here yet! And don’t give in, we need to capture her so I can find out how she tricked us! Dark Owl nodded and glared at Lunar Raven as she waited for his reply.

Dark Owl heard the commands from the commissioner and agreed, but he knew that he needed to find another way to win. Just fighting alone wasn’t doing anything to defeat this criminal. He looked around and took notice of a few things here and there. If he timed this right, then maybe they might let him win if the she-devil didn’t have more tricks up her sleeve. If he failed……. Then he guesses he’ll be no worse off than he is now.

“Justice never makes deals with evil!” Dark Owl barked as he charged forward and slashed out. She dodged backwards and looked at Dark Owl as her eyes turned red.

“Reply within possible outcomes. Activating full battle mode,” Lunar Raven said as two metal sickle blades formed on the back of her legs. She shot forward, jumping and spinning around with her right leg out. She fell at him, the blade spinning towards Dark Owl.

Dark Owl back flipped away from her attack, throwing two disks at Lunar Raven as he spun in midair. The discs hit Lunar Raven’s sword, deflected to the ground by her feet.

“A failure again, your tactics lack the proper way to defeat me. Letting me leave, allows you to fight against the Miraculous users. This combat is pointless,” Lunar Raven said robotically, staring at Dark Owl as he held his blade.

Dark Owl felt his rage pulse for a second. This witch had taken the place of his loyal follower, and she dares to insult him? This wrench deserves my blades! Time to stop holding back! I can find out what happened to Lunar when she’s under control! He thought as he looked at the False Lunar Raven with a glare. “Then let’s see just what my plans can do villain!”

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Below, the heroes fought on against the Sentimonsters. As they covered the Police as they moved away, the heroes keeping them from being a problem.

Chat Noir looked around at the buildings. He saw that people were watching from the windows waiting for this to end. He was at least they were staying off the streets. At least that program the Mayor set up works. Even fighting themselves these things are still focusing on us!The only chance we have is for Sis and the others to get here. He thought as he looked at the police as some of them looked at the battle.

Carapace gripped his shield harder and tried to keep his eyes locked on the battle from behind the line. No matter how hard he tried, the duel on the rooftops caught his eye. For a second he almost missed the mass attack, wincing as he saw a few of the Corrupted Crew coming towards them at a run. “Incoming!”

“Remember, try to maim, not slay!” Roi Singe called out as he jumped towards them, spinning his staff.

“Carapace, stay back and coordinate with the others! Arashiko, with me!” Chat Noir called out as he dashed forward to meet the charge. Inside he wished their friends could get done sooner, that they could find Lila and get the item.

Carapace stayed back as Arashiko and Chat Noir shot forward, helping out Roi Singe. The three fought as the police moved to cover. Some of them were carrying their sergeant with them over his objections.

Carapace held up his shield, using it to block a ranged weapon from one of the Sentimonsters. He didn’t know how long they could hold, but they had to last longer.

As they fought on, the Corrupted Crew kept trying to die on the heroes' weapons, and in some cases succeeded.

“This is a losing situation!” Arashiko said with a scowl as she deflected a blow and then kicked the Corrupted Crew away.

Roi Singe jumped backwards and landed on his knees to swing his staff out at a Corrupted Crew’s knees and sent it down. He smiled only to scowl as other Corruped killed the first as it landed. As the dead body became two new Corrupted Crew Roi Singe felt that this was going to be hard.

“Yeah, but if they go after civilians……. We gotta hold and hope that the others can pull off a win!” Roi Singe said as he blocked the blow from another of the Corrupted Crew.

Carapace had a snarl on his face as he was forced to watch. He knew his shield wouldn’t do any good in this situation, but man did he want to help them. A beeping caused him to look at his shield and activate the com function. “Tell me that’s you queenie, please!”

“Yeah, we’re inbound and ready to fight!” Apisera said with a savage edge.

“Good……..WAIT! We’re guarding some police, well I am! The others are trying to hold back the Sentimonsters! The Akuma are dueling on the rooftops and….. just hurry!” Carapace exclaimed and he heard swearing from the other end.

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“You heard that?!” Apisera asked as she led the way. Behind her Salacia and Pegasus nodded. This is bad, very bad! How can we handle this now?! We’d need to try and….. that works! She thought as she looked over her shoulder and grinned. “We’re gonna win, remember that! Horse-boy, we’re targeting the Akumas! Swim-girl, handle the Monsters! Snake Boy, you there?”

“Ready, just give me the words and I’ll start the Chance,” Viperion said and Apisera laughed a little. As she jumped over the gap between buildings she heard the sounds of blades.

“READY!” Apisera called out.

“Second Chance!” Viperion called out and activated his powers. Apisera nodded and Pegasus used his weapon tool to take a look.

“Above or behind them?” Pegasus asked and Apisera grinned.

“NO! To the building beyond the fighting! Any other place will cause Apisera to die! Once you’re there, Apisera you have to back up Dark Owl! Pegasus, recharge once you get her through the portal, then go back help Rena Rouge. Salacia get to Carapace, use your ability on the one that gets by the others! Apisera, keep your power ready but wait, don’t charge in! And speak like a comic hero to Dark Owl! I’ll back you up from my side once I’m recharged! And ignore the street no matter what happens! We tried this a hundred times; this is the best way we’ve found! And this is try number one hundred" Viperion said urgently and then they heard him jump away.

Apisera went still and swallowed before looking at the other two. They looked back with horror on their faces.

Aspiera looked at them and took a deep breath. “You heard snakey, so let’s do it. Lives are counting on us, we won’t let them down!”

As the other two nodded, Aspiera…….. no, Chloe, felt a spark of happiness that she was able to help inspire her fellow heroes.

“Portal!” Pegasus called out and a portal just where Viperion had said Aspiera needed to go. “I need to get to Rena Rouge, so move! And good luck, we’ll be back to help you all soon!”

“Go save our fox girl Horse Boy! And thanks!” Aspiera said as she leaped through the portal that closed after her.

Salacia looked at Pegasus and nodded before she dashed away. Pegasus heard the first beep of his Miraculous and turned. Running over Paris, hoping to get as close as possible before he needed to recharge.

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As he fought on, Dark Owl tried to keep calm. So far Lunar Raven’s blades had only sparked against his armor. But she had changed her approach, trying instead to hit his eyes. He didn’t know how long he would be able to keep dodging, and he could figure out the plan she had. He spared a glance and saw his Midnight Crew fighting against the other traitors, his side was losing.

He knew he was fighting a losing battle, but he had to hope that there was a way to win he hadn’t seen yet. As he jumped back something shot out and wrapped around Lunar Raven’s right arm. They looked at it and realized it was Apisera’s top and followed the line to her, standing there with a glare on her face.

“Well, when I talked to Chloe after getting this she told me about her school. Are you the ‘Spineless Teacher’? The owl is her old principal from what the Ladyblog told me,” Apisera asked with a mischief smirk on her face.

“HOOT HOOT! Justice always wins for evil fights itself!” Dark Owl called out as he lunged forward and Lunar Raven moved her arm and his blade hit Apisera’s top!

Apisera was almost pulled forward but she held fast and grinned as she looked at Dark Owl. “Hey, I plan to take down Lunar Raven to find out her origins. Mind if we fight after we deal with her?”

Dark Owl glared before an energy mask formed over his face. Do it! We don’t need her gem to solve this case! When we capture the rest we’ll find out who she is, for now, deal with the traitor! Hawkmoth sent and Dark Owl nodded.

“Very well, for now, but my justice will catch you soon villain!” Dark Owl called out as Apisera recalled her top and grinned.

“You can try hero, you can try!” Apsiera said with a dark-sounding laugh as she jumped behind Lunar Raven. As one she and Dark Owl charged at Lunar Raven from both sides.

While Apsiera acted like she was all level-headed inside her inner nerd was laughing up a storm. Who knew those old acting lessons would be used like this? And she was so happy she watched all of that anime now! To deal with the Owl, just copy lines from generic evil queens!

Lunar Raven dodged a blow from behind her and jumped over Dark Owl as he slashed down where she had been.

As Apsiera grits her teeth, she risks a glance at the street and hopes that the others held the line.

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Chat Noir blocked a blow from one of the Corrupted Crew with his staff-baton and pushed it backwards. He scowled as he saw another one of them kill the one he pushed. “We need to do something!”

“What?” Roi Singe called out as he batted away one of the Midnight Crew. But before he could react one of the Corrupted crew ran under his weapon. “NO!”

“HOLD!” Carapace called out. Moments later Salacia landed and charged forward, right at the charging Sentimonster.

“DISCORD!” Salacia roared before she punched it in its head, sending it flying backwards. The heroes watched as it landed and came apart. The resulting puddle then shot towards the nearest Sentimonster and engulfed it.

“Now what?!” Arashiko demanded and all of the heroes' weapon-tools beeped.

“Now we hold off the giant! It’ll be as big, as in twenty feet tall big! But all we have to do is hold for a few minutes to let the others get the Akuma!” Viperion’s voice said and the others all nodded.

Roi Singe looked at Salacia and felt a spark of affection for a minute before it went away. He shook his head, he already had a girlfriend for crying out loud! Maybe it was from his partner-Kwami? What he couldn’t know was Salacia was having the same thoughts as he was.

Before either of them could think about it, all the Sentimonsters had been eaten by the puddle. In moments the blob started to grow. It changed into a humanoid form, and kept growing until it was over twenty feet high. It condensed into a giant Midnight Crew and roared. The heroes all cried out and ran to meet it.

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As Dark Owl jumped backwards, he saw the giant Midnight Crew Sentimonster. He laughed as he landed. “Justice has a large reach and a larger helper!”

Lunar Raven stayed silent as she charged in, her blades ready to slash at the Akuma and Hero.

As she dodged, Apsiera looked at Lunar Raven and glared. She had never liked her as a teacher, and as an Akuma, she still wasn’t acting right! As she dodged the blows, she looked at the Akuma and wondered just how Hawkmoth had lost control. This whole situation was completely unacceptable! What should have been a nice beat down on this failure of a Teacher instead was she going off script! No other Akuma had ever gotten off Hawkmoth’s control, and this little witch of a teacher had? And what was the deal with her claws?

“Apsiera, dodge to the left now!” Viperion’s voice caused Apsiera to react.

She knew what his powers were. So without a thought, she lunged to the side a moment before Lunar Raven fired one of the claws at where she had been.

Viperion fired bolts from the other side of the street, and one of them hit Lunar Raven’s right hand and tore it off.

Apsiera could only stare in horror as even Dark Owl was shocked. The stump was fully metallic, wires and sparks danced as Lunar Raven looked at them with no emotion on her face. She stayed silent as she aimed the stump at Dark Owl.

“What are you!? Where’s Raven!?” Dark Owl demanded in horror as he looked at what he thought was his partner.

“MOVE! That’s arms a gun now!” Viperion’s voice caused Apsiera to lung and push Dark Owl down as an energy ball formed at the stump. It fired and hit the Giant Midnight Crew, causing it to stumble forward.

As the Giant Midnight Crew started to turn Apsiera gritted her teeth. I knew something was wrong with Miss Lingerie! But she’s a robot?! Okay, Max’s son shows that AI can have emotions, sure! But she’s so old! Who made her!? She thought as she looked at Lunar Ravem as Night Owl charged past her.

“Dropping back, last recharge! Hold on for a minute and I’ll come help you!” Viperion’s voice said over the coms.

Aspirea only nodded as she watched Night Owl catch a blast on his sword swung it down with a roar.

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Volpina laughed as her Kitsune Sentimonster carried her closer to Rena Rouge. So far Ladyslu*t was staying far away, and that just showed what a coward she was!

And once she got the Fox Miraculous, she could use it to bargain with Hawkmoth for his help with her mother. She couldn’t even begin to think of how she was controlling her, and that scared her. She had always been a fighter, but looking back on her life she couldn’t know if her choices were her own or her mother’s. She needed this, she had already played her hand with the woman who spawned her, and she couldn’t fail anymore.

“So where’s Ladyslu*t? Hiding because her pet fox is dying and can’t stand to see it?” Volpina asked and Rena Rouge just grinned at her.

“No, Ladybug isn’t here, that’s just a Mirage,” Rena Rouge said and Volpina went still. That was the power of the Fox, Illusions. If she had been fighting an Illusion, then who had attacked her guards!?

“Wait, if Ladybug isn’t here, who is?!” Volpina asked in shock.

“ME!” A voice called out. Then something hit Volpina’s side, sending her flying off her Sentimonster.

As she flew through the air, Volpina covered the briefcase with her body. She prepared herself to hit the ground but then she heard something that caused her blood to freeze.

“VOYAGE!”

Looking up she saw a portal form before her leading to a grass-covered ground. As she flew through it she started to scream and curse. She hit the ground on her back and made a line in the dirt.

“Well, so that’s Lie-la? After what I saw I expecting. I don't know, maybe someone smarter,” A sensual voice that Volpina had never heard before asked. She looked up and saw a tall seductive-looking female teen in a grey bodysuit with a red spider over her breasts. In her right hand was a black gymnastic ribbon, and she smirked at Volpina with black lips. “I’ve felt more danger from sick-looking dogs!”

“Who the hell are you!?” Volpina demanded and the figure laughed.

“The name’s Arachne. I usually stay out of these kinds of things really. But my partner said I should help out so here I am,” Arachne said nonchalantly.

Volpina just stared at the person before her, realizing that she was a Miraculous wielder. Another bimbo that dared to stand against her! “You shouldn’t get involved with things that don’t concern you!”

“Couldn’t not step in really. They just wouldn’t shut up about it, and this is Paris. I keep my stuff here!” Arachne said stiffly.

“WHO!?” Volpina asked and Arachne only laughed.

“If you don’t know who or what I’m talking about, I won’t tell you. We Miraculous users have to keep some things secret after all!” Arachne said with a grin.

Volpina just glared, a growl coming from her throat.

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“WHAT!?” Shadowmoth exclaimed and Enhancetress looked up.

“Sir, Lila went through a portal, what happened?” She asked and Shadowmoth looked up and scowled.

“Another hero, this one a female Spider. And Lunar Raven, she’s a robot!” Shadowmoth spat and looked up at Enhancetress.

“A what?!” Enhancetress asked, totally shocked. All she could do was think about the times that she had

“Yes! She’s a robot! I Akumatized it before, and I saw nothing! I don’t understand, is she the same being, has it always been there!?” Shadowmoth asked as Enhancetress just stood there.

Enhancetress was having as much mental strain as he was. unlike him, she had been in the same room as Adrien’s teacher. The very idea that she had been near a robot for so long was shocking. It was all Enhancetress could do to keep calm and try to figure out what this meant. She almost missed Shadowmoth’s next words.

“We need to recall your Sentimonster, it’s time to move the plan along to the next step!” Shadowmoth said as he looked back towards the window, taking in his pawn's vision.

“Of course,” Enhancetress said as she put her tablet down.

Shadowmoth recalled the feather, and with a thought sent it to follow Enhancetress. As soon as she touched the item they had brought up here for that exact reason. Within seconds, a new Sentimonster was formed and Shadowmoth grinned. At least this part of their plan was going perfectly, and the perks of this plan might help them with Adrien.

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“Give it Up Lila!” Ladybug’s voice caused Volpina to turn around. There they were, Ladyslu*t and the one in orange.

She just glared at Ladybug as she looked around, trying to figure out how to escape.

“You can’t escape from us, so just give it over!” The orange heroine said with a forceful voice.

Volpina glared at her and snarled, barring her teeth. “And who are you supposed to be?!”

“Miss Hound, remember it!” Miss Hound said with a sneer.

“I will!” Volpina promised as she brought her flute up to her lips. As soon as it touched, she was covered by clouds with lightning going around them.

Within she was in a safe space, and she looked around as copies of her, each with a briefcase appeared. Before she could send commands to them, the energy mask of Shadowmoth appeared over her face.

“Hold Volpina! Leave the briefcase here and create an illusion copy!” Shadowmoth sent and Volpina looked around, trying to understand what he had in mind.

“But I thought I was supposed to watch this!” Volpina said as she put the briefcase down.

“You are, but this is just the first step of the plan to get away! Now Follow my orders!!” Shadowmoth sent and Volpina blinked for a second. She opened her mouth before she closed it and started to grin evilly.

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Outside the smoke, Miss Hound stared at it and frowned. She thought she saw something for a split second, a flash of light or something else. She hadn’t activated her powers, so why? She went still as she thought she heard something, something that sounded familiar. A moment later Volinpa dashed out of the right side, still carrying the briefcase.

“GET HER!” Arachne called out and raised her ribbon. But then five more Volpinas shout out, each going in a different direction.

“MISS HOUND!” Ladybug screamed as she threw her yoyo at one of the Volpinas, only to destroy it as three more shot out of the cloud.

“Got it! Tracker’s Eye!” Miss Hound cried out. As she looked around she saw red lines in the air. All of them were centered on one of the Volpina’s as it ran away into the city. “THAT ONE!”

“GO!” Ladybug roared as they all shot forward.

Miss Hound was just going to follow when the last of the Volpinas came out of the fog and ran into her. Miss Hound cried out in shock and fell backwards. As she tried to keep calm she looked back up and stopped. The fog had blocked her vision but from the ground, she was able to see two red lines from something within the fog. And unlike these lines they led away, towards a place near where the court was.

She was about to call out when she saw the source of the two lines moving away from her. She looked towards the others and saw they were out of sight. She could call but if whoever was controlling it was watching them chase Lila! She shook her head and charged after it alone.

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Pegasus transformed back to Max and his hands shot out and grabbed Kaalkibefore she dropped to the ground. “You okay Kaalki?”

“Just fine Max, just a side effect of cutting through one of Duusu’s creations! It’ll be gone in a minute,” Kaalkisaid as she sat in Max’s hand.

Max looked at Kaalki and saw her start to look better. Still, he felt bad that his plan caused her to feel this in the first place. “I’m giving you an extra salad tonight.”

Kaalki grinned and looked at Max, happy to have such a kind holder. For a moment she thought about the last holder who was kind to her. And she barely kept the pain from what happened to them from activating her geass. She hoped that Fu would destroy the chains on the Kwami, it was the only hope they might have. If she was right, soon the results of people destroying history will appear, and that would be very bad.

“Now, now. You were moving fast all around Paris to get to this place. Some of my former chosen would have used my power instead of your body. Well done my boy!” Kaalki praised and Max laughed a little.

“Well I only have so many sugar cubes,” Max said as he brought out a small bag.

Kaalki grinned and summersaulted as Max handed her one.

A beeping on his phone caused him to grin, pulling it out he saw it was Alya.

“That trick of yours worked perfectly in the game! So you’re going to join some of the gang?” Alya asked and Max grinned.

“Yeah, I thought I’d go help Sabrina with that project, you?” Max asked and Alya laughed.

“Thought I reset and go join up for some hunting, see you………. I’m gonna have to call you back, that field boss has a second stage!” Alya said with a growl.

Max looked at Kaalki who only looked back, a question in her eyes. Max’s mind went over what Alya said before he paled in fear. “Kaalki, full gallop!”

As soon as Max finished transforming into Pegasus, he was moving. He dashed over the roofs of Paris, moving closer to where Alya was, hoping he was wrong.

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A screech came moments before Rena Rouge dodged to the left. A split second later a large black beam of energy hit the wall that had been behind where she had been. As she landed she looked at what had fired at her and scowled. The headless Sentimonster had gotten back up despite not having a head. Its tails had grown longer and its neck had a large eye in the center, and that was where the blast had come from.

As soon as she saw it get back to its feet and attack a building she had transformed and attacked it. So far she had been able to keep its attention and lead it towards the river. She had to hope that Max could come and help her.

She only glared at it as she tried and failed to keep calm. What happened!? I mean one minute I was ready to head out and help the others and then this happens! What the heck! I mean I thought Senti’s were destroyed when they were dealt damage beyond what they could handle…..unless! Rena Rouge thought as she dodged another blast.

“HIIIYAHHH!” Pegasus screamed as he appeared and slashed three of the Sentimonster’s tails off.

Rena grinned only to stare at the tails as they all locked together and a mouth opened on one end. As it reared back and hissed at them, Rena looked at Pegasus as he landed. “Thanks for the help, I just hope we live.”

Pegasus looked at the snake-tail creature and grinned. “The odds are even my friend, so just hope the others can find the Akuma!”

Rena Rogue nodded before she looked around, paling in fear. Around them, civilians were running away from the buildings. She noticed the sign for an Akuma Shelter and cursed herself for not realizing where they were. As a few people behind the Sentimonsters directed the others away, she made a choice. She locked eyes with Pegasus and saw that he had seen the same thing she had.

“Don’t fight to win, fight to keep their focus on us! Once those civilians are clear, we’ll get rid of them through a portal!” Rena said with a snarl.

Pegasus grinned and chuckled. “Think Sentimonsters can float?”

“How about a nice bath in the Arctic Ocean to find out?” Rena asked with a dangerous purr in her voice.

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As Ladybug chased after Volpina, she wondered if she wasn’t being led into a trap. But something within her, Tikki maybe, told her she was making the right choice. I wish you could talk to me like this Tikki, I do. And I can only hope that this is the right choice. She thought as she ran.

Next to her Arachne jumped and spun in the air, a laugh barely kept down. Oh, this is amazing! I should have transformed months ago! Maybe I should have tried to join the battle, or at least tried to help the victims! She thought and felt a spark of laughter from her partner. For months her Kwami had tried to get her to transform more than training, and here they were. As she spun head over feet, she looked for the third heroine but couldn’t see her.

As she landed she moved closer to Ladybug she tried to keep her voice from reaching Volpina. “Hey! Where’s your friend?”

Ladybug looked over her shoulder and paled in shock. Bringing her yoyo to her face, she opened it and spoke into it. “Miss Hound, can you hear me? Where are you? Did Lila trick us?”

“Miss Hound here, yeah,” Miss Hound’s voice caused Ladybug to perk up. “Chasing down the head of the Sentimonster, it’s still alive! It has the Duel Akuma! I’ve retransformed it and am moving to attack it! Keep Volpina off me and I’ll meet you at the Tower!”

Ladybug forced down the sheer terror that she was feeling. This is bad, really bad! This has to be his new trick! I have to tell the others, we need to make plans and we’ll need Sabrina a lot more! I should go and help her, but Volpina? I can’t let her go back and cause chaos with the others, I can’t! I have no choice. She thought as she looked down before looking at Volpina, a hard edge in her eyes. “Miss Hound, you’re on your own. I can’t let Volpina circle around to the others. Keep an eye on the head, once I defeat Volpina grab the chaos and get to the tower!”

“Understood! Good luck!” Miss Hound said with confidence in her voice.

Arachne looked at Ladybug and smirked. “Trusting her?”

“I’ve got no choice. And I do,” Ladybug said.

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Volpina smirked as she ran. So far the boss’s plan was working great. All she had to do was keep ahead for the other Akuma to handle the other heroes then lead Ladyslu*t into a trap! And once she had won this for him, then he could handle her mother. Once he understood just what threat the old witch represented, then he would act. She could spin a lie blaming it on her mother and everything would be perfect! “Oh, I can’t wait until I can hold that bitch’s neck between my hands!”

She almost clapped her hands but stopped herself. It wouldn’t do to give the game away now. As long as Ladybug thought that she was carrying the other Akumatized item, then the plan would work. And without the item, then the others would overpower the other ‘heroes’. And that was all she needed to do, keep one step ahead of Ladybug. And once she had some time, she’d go and pay that little witch Marinette a visit. The things she could do as an Akuma to a human…. Oh, she’s wanted to experiment and now she had a reason to!

As she jumped over another alley she looked over her shoulder. That Ladyslu*t and the Spider-witch just won’t give up! But then that is how I can trick them….. where’s the dog?! That mutt must be trying to get me from below! Volpina thought as she landed. She brought her flute to her lips and within moments a fog was all over the streets below. “Let’s see if that bitch can get by me now!”

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Chat Noir dodged to the left as the Giant Midnight Crew slammed one of its arms down. Without a word, he ran around it, hoping to keep its attention. So far he had to admit that this was one of the most unusual Akuma fights. From the way that an Akuma went rogue to corruption the Sentimonsters to this, nothing was normal. What has my life become that fighting brainwashed superheroes is normal? I thought dealing with a parent without emotions was all I would have to deal with for the next few years. He thought as she yelled and looked up at the Sentimonster.

As Arashiko yelled and slashed at it with her sword, she kept her mind on the battle. She hadn’t used her abilities yet but she didn’t see any way that using them would help. And before, fighting not even to wound had been taxing. But now that the foe was so large, her weapon couldn’t even wound it enough to count. She had wondered how it had felt to fight the ice cream Akuma and now she knew.

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Rena Rouge jumped and dodged the blasts from the kitsune body as she tried to strike it. So far she and Pegasus had been unable to kill the Sentimonster. Every time Pegasus tried to use his power, the tail snake spat a glob of acid at him. And she had to keep moving, always one jump ahead of the blasts from the kitsune body.

As she spun and dodged another fireball, she looked at it and snarled. I so hate Lila! I mean Fu said the person who gets the feather may make the creature. So why did she even know about this thing? I mean why would she even look it up in the first place?! It’s almost like….. no! she wouldn’t, she couldn’t! She couldn’t be that evil! Rena thought as she landed and dashed towards the body. “Pegasus, get up above and get ready to form a portal for me to you!”

“Got it!” Pegasus said and grinned as he realized her plan.

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As Volpina spun around and looked back at Ladybug and Arachne, she grinned as she prepared to fight. But when the only thing she saw was Ladybug charging at her, she blanched. Trying to find any clue where Arachne was, she was unprepared for Arachne’s ribbon to wrap around her right leg.

Before Volpina could react she was pulled down into the alley below her. As she hit the ground the fact that Akuma were stronger than normal humans helped her. Before even a second had passed she was back up and striking at the Spider Heroine.

Arachne dodged and then slashed down. Volpina jumped over her and then Ladybug came down and kicked Volpina into the ground.

“You can’t just let me do what I want, can you insect!?” Volpina growled as she rolled to her feet. She looked around, both Ladybug and Arachne had her between them, and that was a problem. Both of them were mid-range fighters and she was in a kill box. All she could do was hope that she could escape. “No, fight them here! Don’t give them space to move around!” Shadowmoth sent.

Volpina looked around and nodded, bringing her flute to her lips. As the ribbon and yoyo flew towards her, she jumped and created an illusion of the alley being larger. As she shot towards Ladybug, all she could feel was anger and greed. If she could get her hands around Ladybug’s neck then she could kill the little insect.

But when she got closer, Ladybug kicked out and sent her flying. “Her necklace, her necklace is the item!”

“Got it, Tether!” Arachne called out and she cracked her ribbon at Volpina. Unlike last time, this time the ribbon shot out multiple black lines of silk shot towards Volpina. Before Volpina could land, the silk had wrapped around the necklace. Arachne pulled her ribbon and the necklace of flew off Volpina's neck, breaking the chain.

“NO!” Volpina cried as she landed. Her hands went for it but they missed. Her eyes followed it and they found Arachne looking at her with contempt.

Arachne only looked at Volpina as she grabbed the necklace in both hands and cracked it in two. As soon as that happened a dark purple butterfly and blue feather flew upwards. When this happened purple fog rolled over Volpina changing her back into Lila. Al she could do was glare at Ladybug. Ladybug’s yoyo shot out, catching both the butterfly and feather.

Ladybug grinned as she pulled her yoyo back, opening it and releasing a pure white butterfly. Pointing her yoyo upwards, Ladybug grinned. “No more evil-doing for you little butterfly! Miraculous Ladybugs!”

As red ladybugs formed out of her yoyo, they swarmed over Paris. Ladybug watched them go before looking at Lila with a glare. “And now you Lila!”

Lila glared at Ladybug as she leaned against the wall. “You must think you’re the big hero! You wouldn’t know the truth if it bit you! You take care of everything on the surface, never the shadows!”

Ladybug only looked at Lila in concern. What’s she talking about, what does she know? Is it something she learned on her own, or something that Hawkmoth told her? Ladybug thought as she looked at Lila in concern. But her eyes widened at what happened next.

Lila fell backwards, into a golden doorway that appeared in place of the wall she was leaning on. As she fell in Ladybug shot forward and tried to grab her. She missed by a single moment, and the doorway disappeared.

She looked around, trying to find Lila she felt nothing but shame.

“Come on Ladybug, we’ve got to get to the tower! Miss Hound has to be heading there!” Arachne said as she pulled Ladybug away.

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Miss Hound grinned as she saw the Sentimonster Head disappear. The creature had been running, trying to find a way into the sewer. But she had found it before the monster could escape underground. After attacking it, the head fired blasts from its eyes at her. She dodged, but the blast hit some of the trees, setting them on fire. But then the red ladybugs had appeared, and the fires were out. She looked at the case and grinned. “I did it!”

She felt the sheer joy of Victory. But the feeling was nothing compared to the fact that she had done something that she had chosen to do. Chloe was right, I can be a leader! She’s been supporting me for so long, but I did it! She thought as she started to laugh. For a moment all she could see was the victory that she had won, then the reality crashed down onto her head. She had to move, and she had to move now. Without a single wasted moment, she grabbed the briefcases, running towards the Tower.

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As soon as Pegasus formed the portal Rena Rouge had jumped through it. As he closed it and detransformed back into Max. Rena Rouge had created a Mirage of her and Pegasus jumping down to attack the Sentimonsters. But as Max fed Kaalki, red ladybugs swarmed around the Sentimonster, deforming it.

Rena Rouge just blinked and looked at Max before shrugging. “Trixx, let's rest!”

As soon as she detransformed she moved to feed Trixx, an urgency in her actions.

“We need to get to the others! Even if they got her, Lila might have gotten the other item away,” Max said as he looked towards the courthouse.

Moments later they had transformed. As they ran over the rooftops their tools beeped.

“Ladybug, good job!” Rena Rouge said with a grin.

“Negative, they tricked us. Miss Hound caught it and has the item. We’re moving towards the tower, join us there!” Ladybug’s voice came through and the two heroes nodded and changed direction

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Lila blinked as she looked down. All she could see was a blackened floor, so she just stayed there, trying to understand where she was. She couldn’t see anything. For a moment she wondered just where she was and how she got there. But then the lights dawned on her and she smiled. “Master Hawkmoth, sir? Thank you so much for you for saving me! I can’t wait to talk to you sir! There is so much I have to talk to you about! You just can’t believe what I found out sir!”

After a few moments of silence, she tried to stand up. But as she tried to move something hit he was keeping her down. Before she could even turn to look something had hit her and she fell asleep. The last thing she saw were legs in red sandals walking towards her.

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Salacia jumped as the Giant Midnight Crew attacked again. She had expected something from her abilities, but this was more than she feared. If Hawkmoth ever tried something like this again, then she would need to talk to the others. She still had to get the message

Salacia heard a beep and looked at the river between the buildings. There! That’s the way! It’ll take you to the sewer! You can retransform there! Bolla sent to Salacia. For a moment she hesitated until Roi Singe tackled her away.

“What’s wrong with you? Keep your mind on the battle!” Roi Singe said only for another beep to sound. At this he winced and got off her, helping her up. “Your power, your timer! Go girl, go!”

“I’ll be back!” Salacia said as she dove into the water. She swarm towards the greater river, moving twenty feet a second. She saw a large tunnel and dove into it as she heard another beep. As she saw light ahead she swam upwards. She reached for her right glove, pulling out a large plastic bag from her tool’s ‘item space’.

As she landed she took a deep breath and felt the magic reverse and transform her back into Odine.

As Bolla floated she beamed at Odine. “I told you you’d handle this! And that was perfect, that was how to use Discord!”

Odine only looked away as she pulled out a small bag and opened it. Bolla grinned and shot into it, swiftly eating the small snack.

“Eat fast Bolla, we need to get back to it. I have a bad feeling that something is coming. Something that we need to be there for,” Odine said as she looked up at the stone ceiling.

“Good! My wielders are attuned to the harmony of the world! But if you feel something is coming, then we need to move! Say the words girl!” Bolla Said with a grin as she snuck her head out of the bag.

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“There’s got to be something….. CARACE!” Chat Noir cried out as he suddenly got an idea. And it was such an obvious idea that for a moment he wondered how they didn’t even think about it before.

“Yeah, dude?” Carapace called out.

“Think you can make a dome big enough to hold that thing?” Chat Noir asked with a grin.

Carapace looked at the Sentimonster for a moment he felt doubt. Then he felt the feeling of a gentle support and grinned. “Yeah! I’ll handle this you all dogpile the robo teacher!”

Chat Noir only grinned as he looked at the Sentimonster. He hoped that Ladybug would be able to handle Volpina in the window they had. “Roi Singe, you hang back and guard Carapace, have Salica do the same! Arashiko, with me!”

“RIGHT!” The others all called out as Carapace shot forward.

Chat Noir jumped back and once he was behind Carapace the turtle hero called out his power.

“SHELL-TER!” As the green energy dome formed from Carapace’s shield, it grew until it covered the Sentimonster. As the Giant Midnight Crew roared it tried to break free but it failed.

Chat Noir grinned and as Arasihiko followed after him he felt a spike of pride that his idea worked.

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Dark Owl yelled as he jumped at Lunar Raven, his sword back. Lunar Raven moved to the side and Dark Owl missed. As he got up Lunar Raven came around in a circle and charged at him.

But the blow was stopped by the top of Apisera stopped Lunar Raven’s arm blades.

Apisera glared at Lunar Raven, all the anger she was feeling about how Miss. Buistier had been as a teacher boiling over. If it wasn’t the fact that letting the villain win, I’d help her beat up that principle! Still, this is just the kind of therapy I needed after all! She thought as she locked eyes with the rogue Akuma. “So, did you replace this…… gonna say lunch lady? And are you like that AI that became an Akuma?”

Lunar Raven kept quiet and kicked Apisera away with her right leg. As Apisera flew into the air, a bolt from Viperrion flew at Lunar Raven. She blocked the bolt with her right blade, looking towards where Viperion was hiding.

Before she could do anything Dark Owl threw another disc at Lunar Raven who sliced it in two. She looked at the energy dome that covered the Sentimonster. She frowned as she saw Chat Noir and Arashiko ran toward the building.

Before she could do anything Arashiko was suddenly in front of her and slashing out with her blade. As she dodged the blow, Lunar Raven jumped backwards five feet into the air. Chat Noir appeared, swinging his weapon down at her. Lunar Raven kicked off it, rocketing downward and landed in a crouch.

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As Lunar Raven watched she sent a report to her master. Cover identity broken, heroes assisting Akuma. Chances of escape below ten percent. Requesting help.

Command to Lunar Raven, help sent. Hold out until Combat Drones reach area. Directive changed, send signal to drones then attack and claim Miraculous. Their power source will be an invaluable item for research. For a logical world.

Message received and directive acknowledged. For a logical world.

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As Chat Noir landed next to Apisera, he looked at the scene before him and whistled. “Man, this is something else. I never thought we’d fight with the Dark Owl.”

“Not the best choice,” Apisera said softly.

“Only one you could make,” Arashiko said just as softly.

As Dark Owl got back to his feet he stood behind Lunar Raven as the three heroes fanned out. They were all looking at Lunar Raven as she looked around, her head rotating 360 degrees.

“Option offered. Let this unit retreat and these forces allied to this one will not engage. Otherwise, expect battle,” Lunar Raven said as she crossed her blades in an X.

Apissera only looked at her as the other heroes moved in.

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As she climbed into the Helicopter, all that Nadja could feel was anger. The fact that it took her so long to get back to the station was one thing. The other was that it took the fact someone sent in footage of the horde of Sentimonsters to get her boss moving.

“I tell them that another double attack is happening, and they won’t move. But then they see a picture of the Giant Monster and they send us in. I just don’t get them at all,” Nadja said with a snarl on her face. I can’t believe this! I had to wait until someone posted a pic about it! I need to talk about what my results are worth around here. I swear if they weren’t the only game in town that paid well! She thought as she tried to keep calm. It wasn’t fair to get mad at the people around her, they hadn’t done anything to deserve it. But still, she wondered if she had made a mistake all those years ago sometimes.

“It’s the job boss. What else can we do?” Sarah asked softly as she followed Nadja into the helicopter.

Nadja looked at Sarah and tried to keep what she wanted to say down. It wasn’t the girl’s fault. She was just one of the many employees that worked for the station, just above interns. She and her brother were some of the best they ever had, there was even talk about promoting them. Every show wanted them as part of their production teams. There was even talk about offering them to be extras on a few shows to start.

“We have to keep moving forward Miss Nadja, that’s all we can do. if we stop we die. We have to keep hoping for something better ahead. And that our terrible bosses get what’s coming for them,” Sarah said with a grin.

All Nadja could do was chuckle and shake her head. Her problems with the management were long and not something to get into now. All she could do was hope that they were able to get there in time to catch the heroes winning. If she could get a big enough win then she could get the okay to investigate Marinette’s school. If she found something there then she could silence a lot of the bosses. Then she could show the city the truth. There would be accountability and punishment for what the school let happen.

“Welcome aboard ladies! We’re about to take off…. Who?!” The Pilot barked as he looked up.

All Nadja and Sarah could do was look out the window as ten blocky large helicopter drones flew overhead.

“What the hell!?” Nadja cried out in shock as she looked at the drones. Sarah had gotten out of the helicopter and aimed the camera at the drones, zooming in on them as they flew away.

“What were they?” The pilot asked as he got out of the helicopter and moved towards the edge of the landing pad.

“A scoop. Get airborne!” Nadja cried from the helicopter.

As Sarah climbed into the helicopter after the pilot, she looked at the horizon with a strange look. Those things were all pure tech, so they weren’t golems! Brother I hope you don’t get involved, we have to stay under the radar! She thought as she looked down as the helicopter took off.

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As Rena Rouge landed on the Eiffel Tower’s upper ledge and saw Miss Hound holding the Akuamtized case.

Grinning Miss Hound looked right at Rena Rouge and Carapace as they came over to her. “Look who tracked down the item!”

“How? Wait…. The head was alive too?” Pegasus asked in horror.

Miss. Hound only nodded, shuddering as she did so. “And it had these tentacles.”

“Nightmare fuel right there,” Rena Rouge said with a shudder as well as her face paled in horror.

A moment later Ladybug and Arachne landed on the platform and smiled at them.

Without a word, Miss Hound dropped the briefcase. Pegasus stepped forward, his horseshoe axe in his hand.

“Allow me,” Pegasus said. When Ladybug nodded he swung his axe down, splitting the briefcase in two. As the purple slime went over the briefcase, turning into a stack of papers. Moments later a purple butterfly and blue feather flew upwards.

Ladybug grinned as she started to spin her yoyo. Without a single wasted moment, her yoyo caught the butterfly and grabbed her yoyo. As she pulled it back towards her, red butterflies swarmed away from them. They flew away, heading towards the courthouse.

“One Voyage to order!” Pegasus said with a grin.

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Carapace looked up as he heard cries. He saw Commissaire Bertolfo with a small squad coming towards him.

“Commis! The other police are down that alley! I’ve only got a few minutes before I time out! Get them out of here!” Carapace called out.

But before Commissaire Bertolfo could reply a wave of red ladybugs flew over them all. within moments the Sentimonster roared one last time as it faded away. Carapace dropped the shield and grinned before he paled. “Wait! The lady Akuma, help the others! She’s a robot!”

“I’ll go help the others!” Roi Singe called out as he leaped for the roof and the other heroes.

“Wait what?!” Commissaire Bertolfo asked in shock as he looked upwards. With a word he looked at the officers he brought with him. “Two of you, follow me! The rest of you go help our comrades!”

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As Chat Noir looked at Lunar Raven and Dark Owl, purple smoke suddenly surged over them. Without a word, he stuck his staff into the roof and vaulted over Lunar Raven to land in front of Dark Owl. As the smoke faded away, Damocles blinked as he looked around, trying to remember where he was. As Chat Noir landed, he stepped backwards and almost slipped. Arashiko was there in an instant and grabbed him before jumping downward.

As Miss Buistier turned back to normal, only her two blades were still on her arms. She looked around with her eyes hard and spoke again. “Data fully recorded, final offer to allow hostilities to end peacefully……… rescinded.”

A moment later ten black metal flat triangle shaped drones appeared on the side of the building. Each one was three feet wide and had three helicopter blades at each point. Each one carried a black metal box two feet wide and tall

The boxes dropped and landed on the roof, each one unfolding into a robot. They looked like black metal skeletons with large three-fingered clawed hands.

As Chat Noir and Apisera both went back to back, they looked at the robots.

“Offer; surrender now. Your powers will be studied, copied, and used logically. Survival for a time will be promised. Forces arrayed against you number three times your own. Defeat, impossible,” Bustier said as she pointed her blades at the heroes.

“Odds seem to be more even ya know?” Roi Singe called out from the side. As Buistier turned her head, a bolt of energy shot an inch from her face. One of the drones broke off and crashed behind the building.

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As Arashiko hit the ground and dropped Damocles to the ground. As Commissaire Bertolfo Laborous came towards them Arashiko glared at Damocles.

“Commissaire, this man was the ‘loyal’ Akuma. I don’t know what caused this, but he might. I’m needed up there,” Arashiko said, and before she jumped upwards to the roof, Carapace followed behind her.

Bertolfo looked from the heroes moving to the rooftop, wondering what had happened. Then he looked at Damocles who was trying to get away. “And where do you think you’re going?”

“Back to the court, I have sentencing to get back to. I might think they made a mistake but it was lawful,” Damocles said as he tried to smile at Bertolfo.

“You’re not going anywhere until I know just what happened here! You!” Bertolfo snapped as he looked at one of the two officers following him.

Damocles looked at them and smiled shakily. “Oh, are you sure? We don’t need to! I was just a small part of this, and the other one, my employee? She was the one who got all emotional. I was just trying to try and calm her down!”

Bertolfo looked at him and then his scowl grew more fierce. “Yeah, I don’t think so. You sir will stay right here!”

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As Carapace and Arashiko joined the others, Chat Noir looked around at the robots and drones. Bustier just stared at them, she seemed to be waiting for something. These things were unlike anything the heroes had faced before, and part of him was worried. So far this had gone completely beyond what he had been expecting. He thought maybe Dark Owl or Volpina. But to have a double attack, then one of them go rogue and be revealed to be a robot? He couldn’t even say that he had expected that this was how the day would go.

Buistier moved backward and looked at the heroes. “Final offer, surrender now or what will happen is on your heads.”

Chat Noir looked at her and tried to keep calm. Something in the cold way she spoke caused him to feel a spark of fear. There was just something in the way that sentence. How it was spoken that made him feel that they were standing on the edge. That everything would change here and now. That this one choice was the turning point.

He looked at the others and saw the same feelings in their eye. In the eyes of all but one who spoke up.

“What will be on our heads?” Roi Singe asked as he twirled his staff.

“This,” Bustier said simply. Moments later five of the remaining drones shot down towards the street.

Chapter 30

Chapter Text

“Sir please, I don’t think this is done yet. Please let me leave!” Damocles said as he tried to pull himself free.

This made Commissaire Bertolfo look at Damocles as he tried to figure out who he was. He was part of the double Akuma attack, one of them anyway. But who was he? All I got was a copy of one of New York’s heroes was behind all this. still, what was he doing at the court in the first place? He thought as he looked at Damocles with a glare. “I’ll let you leave later. Once we had a nice talk!”

“Sir…..!” Damocles began only for one of the officers to grip his shoulder.

“Let the captain talk sir. We’ll let you go later,” The officer said and Damocles swallowed. The officer looked down at him and grinned. “Unless you have something to hide. Then we can have our talk right now!”

Damocles just blanched and looked away, his mind racing.

‘Of course I’m not good sir! I just thought that I could help by leaving. But if you all want me to stay then so be it,” Damocles said as he looked away. My master will be so enraged about this! thankfully I kept all the material linking me to the others out of my office! But if they find anything that links me to them, then these fools will overreact! I need to escape and put my worst-case plan into action. If I ever get my hands on that half-breed brat! He thought as he looked around. He risked a glance upwards and swiftly hid a smile.

“What are you….. Commissaire!” One of the officers called out and Bertolfo looked at him. Then he looked up and saw the triangle drones swooping down at them.

For a moment all Bertolfo could do was stare. Then his training took over and he drew his gun, firing upwards. “MOVE NOW! GET UNDER COVER! DON’T FIRE UPWARDS!”

Damocles took that moment to break free, running into the building. Another officer followed after him, the others and Bertolfo running to the other one. As he ran he saw the others all

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As he watched, Chat Noir could only stare in horror. As the humanoid robots moved closer, he glared at Bustier. “Call them off! All we want to know is where the woman that you replaced is! Tell us that and we’ll let you go!”

For a few seconds, all the robot Bustier did was look at the heroes, not moving an inch. For a second, Chat Noir thought that maybe the Robot would tell them but then it spoke.

“Unit Caline Bustier is most likely currently in America. This Unit intercepted her employment letter from School; Francis Dunport. She had instead taken employment somewhere in Location, Florida. This unit took over for work at School; Francis Dunport. Will you allow this unit to retreat?” Bustier…. No. The Replacement asked.

All those who had gone to Francis Dunport stared at the robot in horror. For years something none-human with an agenda had taught them. So many things suddenly made sense about the way they had been taught.

Apisera could only glare at the thing before her. She knew that she hadn’t been a good student, but the things that the Robot let her do were beyond the pale! If she had anyone who could tell her that she was wrong,

Chat Noir only looked at the machine in horror. He knew that AIs like Markov were beings with emotions, his Akumazation was proof of that! But there was something about how Buistier talked that set him on edge. There was something wrong here and he didn’t know what the end game was. All he knew was that he had no choice here, they had to stop it.

Viperion could hear everything and felt sick. All the problems his sister had with her teacher finally made sense. he had wanted to punch her. He still did, and now he wanted to send a bolt through the bot’s neck. Pegasus, he’ll be able to get something from this thing. I don’t know why but we need to know where this thing came from! Could this be the power of Intuition? He thought as he looked at the robot, his hands around an energy arrow ready to fire.

Carapace stared at the robot before them with a feeling of betrayal. He had liked Caline Bustier as a person but he had hated her as a teacher. He had always thought that she had listened to Damocles too much. That if she had a bigger backbone she'd have been a better teacher. But to know that she hadn’t even been real, just a shell! It shocked and disgusted him.

Roi Singe looked at the bot before him. In his mind, it had been the worst teacher he had ever had. Now learning the truth, he could understand a lot about why he had hated her. “I don’t think we can let you go botty!”

The other heroes looked at him and then at each other. They all nodded before glaring at Bustier and the other robots that were against them. All in all, Roi Singe had broken through their shock, and they knew he was right. Without a word, the heroes all charged at the bots, and the battle was joined.

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Damocles panted as he looked around the building he had run into, smiling in relief. With a wide grin, he took in the lobby he had burst into, this was perfect for him! The room had tall staircases on the right and left sides and between them at the wall was a closed door. From what he knew about this place, the door had to lead to where he could get to the alley behind this place. Next to him was a large round metal trashcan that looked like it was empty. With luck that would let him go back into the general area of the city, and from there to his dwelling. Perfect! I can get away now! My master will be mad that I had to burn this identity, but needs must. I followed all his orders, he had to understand. He thought as he looked at the door ahead of him.

The banging of the door caused him to whirl around and see one of the police officers had followed him after all. As the man looked out the door, Damocles cursed his luck. The officer looked at Damocles with a confused look in his eyes. He looked out the door and winced. Damocles did as well and forced down a smirk. The other officer who had held him in place was down on the ground, his right leg bleeding.

“Not something old Paris is used to, is it? Don’t you worry, once the Commis gets over here we’ll get ya straightened out! And then we can go and help the heroes up there

Damocles looked at the police officer and cursed. I hoped I would have gotten away clean, but there’s only one. And I don’t need to be discrete anymore! He thought as he looked at the police officer.

As Damocles moved closer, the police officer looked out the door. Damocles slowly moved his hand to his right side pocket and grabbed what was there.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine,” The Officer said as he looked out the door’s window. He kept talking, his back to Damocles. “I just need to keep you safe until I can get you to talk to the……..GGGGLLLLHHH!”

Damocles had jumped onto the officer’s back, and driven the knife he pulled from his pocket into the man’s throat. As the officer tried to grab his arm, Damocles brought the knife around the front of the man’s neck. As the blood sprayed at the walls, the officer drowned in his blood.

Damocles moved away, flicking the knife to remove the blood. He had been able to keep the officer’s blood from getting onto him. With a cold face, Damocles dropped the knife into the trash before he ran towards the alley exit. He never even noticed something had fallen behind him, a small teddy bear with a glass eye.

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Ladybug saw the drones attacking, and for a moment she didn’t understand what she was seeing. Once Hawkmoth created an Akuma, he was done. But with the multiple Akumas today alone, there was a chance that things were changing. Where these drones came from didn’t matter right now, what they were doing did. Without another moment, Ladybug reacted and barked orders. “Rena Rouge, Miss Hound, with me! We’ll help out the others up there! Arachne stay here and protect the police until those things are down! Pegasus help her out! Figure out anything about the drones, I want everything you can see!”

“GOT IT!” The others called out

As she swung her ribbon at one of the drones attacking the police, Arachne just grinned. Oh, this is going to be so much fun! She thought as she looked at the drones. Taking out bots would be a lot easier than fighting against people. This time she didn’t need to watch her blows, this time she could go all out! And her Kwami always talked about how good her former holders felt to let loose when they were training. Now she would finally find out what it felt like to let loose!

Aranche lashed out with her ribbon, and in a moment it lassoed one. With a flick of her waist, the drone flew towards her. Once it reached her she punched it, breaking it apart into its parts. As it rained down she looked around and saw there were only nine of them left. But before she could move her head she saw Commissaire Bertolfo. He was firing at one of the drones from the door, paling in fear for a second.

Pegasus dashed forward and sliced through one of the drones. He locked eyes on one of the other ones and tried to find anything that might tell him what they were. Nothing, no logo, no maker’s marks nothing that could tell me who made these things. None of these things have weapons!? Who makes models with weapon mounts!? He thought as he slashed through the drone he was looking at. With a scowl, he slammed into another Drone and nodded.

Commissaire Bertolfo fired at one of the drones as it flew by the door and snarled as he watched his shot miss. He had experienced large-scale attacks before, but this was something else! It reminded him of his time at the Academy, how the place had been attacked by a Mad Mage and his summoned hordes. He prayed that this time things would happen without the mass loss of life like last time. With the heroes out there fighting, they could maybe survive this! “All officers, listen up! I want no heroics today! I want everyone to get through this alive!”

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Chat Noir slashed down with his staff baton and smirked as he tore off its right arm. With a yell he spun and kicked it away, the body bouncing before it fell to the alley below.

He looked around, taking in the scene. The other heroes had all defeated the robots and were standing there. Bustier was all alone standing at the edge of the rooftop, two of the Flying drones behind her.

“So then, how about you surrender?” Roi Singe asked as he looked at Bustier as Ladybug and Rena Rouge appeared behind them.

Ladybug only looked at Bustier and tried to understand. But from the way the blades on Bustier’s arms showed, there was a lot she didn’t understand. “So, the story here?”

“The teacher lady’s a bot! And she’s been one since well before ‘Caline Bustier’ started working at that school!” Chat Noir said as he looked at Bustier.

Ladybug gazed at Chat Noir and sought out Roi Singe who nodded. She’s what!? I don’t/…… Later. For now, we have to deal with what’s here and now. And that means bringing this thing in! She thought as she started to spin her yoyo.

“Surrender is based on superior firepower. Something your side does not have,” Bustier said and Roi Singe only laughed a little.

“And where’s your firepower?” Roi Singe asked.

Ladybug felt a spark of fear, fear that she couldn’t understand as the bustier bot only looked at them all.

Suddenly the sky darkened. They looked up and saw forty of the drones and robots.

“Here,” Bustier said as the robots dropped from the Drones. And no sooner had that happened than half the drones shot towards the ground.

“Rena, Salacia, go help the others!” Ladybug called out as they

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Lieutenant Monasterio fought back to conscience. He blinked and looked around, trying to remember everything with a scowl he got up and looked around. “SERGENT!”

“Here captain!” A voice called out and a small round figure in a police uniform came over. This was Sergeant Harold Gonzalez. He saluted, his black mustache and blue eyes looking at his commanding office. His small blue hat was aside and his short black hair was wet with what Monasterio hoped was sweat. “Good thing the here, hu sir? And Ladybug already cleaned up everything!”

“Yes. Such a good thing!” Monasterio growled as he glared at his best official subordinate. This whole thing was nothing but a waste of my time! When I get my hands around the neck of that fool! He thought as he tried and failed to control his temper. So far the tip he had received was proving more trouble than it was worth! And with the way the heroes had intervened the local ‘Hero Affairs’ office would come and talk to him.

A crash from the front of the alley they were hiding in caused Monasterio to look up. “What now!?”

But as he poked his head out he stared in horror. Twenty flying drones were attacking the building. Where are the Sentimonsters? He thought completely stunned. He gazed at the heroes, the way they were fighting was completely different than he expected. It was like they were just mowing down NPC’s in a game. “What fresh horror is this!?”

“Lieutenant, look! The Commissaire isn’t firing up!” Sergeant Gonzalez said as he pointed past Monasterio.

“Of course not! Never fire upwards!” Monasterio said with a snarl. But he’s keeping his men there, so the drones are attacking him? But what does that mean? Those things aren’t attacking the heroes, they attacking everything! That means Hawkmoth isn’t behind this! but who else is making trouble in my city? And how can I use this? He wondered with an evil grin. He never noticed that Gonzalez had seen this smirk and that he smiled just as evilly. “Police, prepare to defend yourselves!

Bertolfo looked out as the heroes fought the drones. This is better than the last Mr. Pigeon! And even with the newbies they’re doing great! Still, why are so many of them active now? Did they change tactics because of that one they fought? He thought as he looked out the door.

Seeing Rena Rouge and a new one help the Dog and Dolphin heroine made him realize something. Something that he hoped was wrong but he was sure was right. That revelation made him hope that the Mayor had all the proper insurance ready. Because he knew that this was going to be messy.

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Deloris blinked as she slowly woke up. What happened? Wait, Lila! She knows! She thought as she blinked back to wakefulness. She looked around and saw that she was in a police car, more to the point in the back. She lunged for the door handle and scowled as she found the locked door.

“Awake then?” Rodger’s voice caused her to look up and see him standing outside the front passenger side. Around him were five other police officers, each one looking around for anything. For a moment she didn’t understand what was happening, but then she exploded when she did.

“Unhand me right now! I am a diplomat so help me! I’ll get you all fired!” Deloris snarled and Rodger crossed his arms.

“Unfortunately madam as Hawkmoth is a supervillain with Mind Control abilities those rules…. Well, they don’t work right now. All instances of someone helping him of their own will must be investigated. And as my men and I saw your daughter talk to Hawkmoth, you need to talk to us about it,” Rodger said dryly.

Deloris looked at him and blinked as he glared at her. For a moment she was stunned silent and then Rodger spoke again.

“And as we all saw and heard your alteration with your daughter….. Well, I think we’ll talk about that first. And since you might be a rogue mind controller, there’s that too. All your work will be gone over, and ANYTHING of that nature will be punished. That is the law,” Rodger said as he looked at her.

Deloris blinked, not quite understanding what she had just heard. Then she looked at him in shock and then slowly her expression changed. She looked at Rodger with a cold look and slowly reached for her pocket. “Let me go now and forget about this, and I promise you I won’t kill you!”

“MADAM! Threats against the protectors of Paris are punished most harshly!” Rodger said and the woman only looked at him like he was an idiot.

“We are so far beyond threats you fool!” Deloris snarled as she pulled her hand out of her pocket. She threw three small hexagon gemstones out the window. The gemstones flew out and as they hit the ground there was a cracking sound.

Then was a flash of light and Rodger blinked. He fell backwards and the five men around him all drew their guns. Standing there were three five-foot-tall humanoids made of green crystal. Each one was stocky and had two legs and arms. The arms ended in four long claws, each glinting in the sunlight. The head is a beak with a large white glowing eye above it.

Two of the creatures moved and stood guard, glaring at the police around them. The last one slashed open the door holding Deloris prisoner. As she got out she looked around at the police and stared at Rodger coldly. “I did not want to not do this. I really didn’t. You forced this, and now we have to play this out.”

One of the police drew his gun and shot her. The bullet reflected off her and hit his right arm. She just looked right at Rodger and scowled again. “Leave him alone alive. Kill the others.”

As Rodger drew his gun and fired at the creatures, Deloris turned and walked away. When the screams began behind her, she just kept walking slowly. But she reached into her pockets and felt the gemstones form there. She knew that the way she had lived was over, but she wasn’t worried. In times of old, she had been a destroyer and helped plan many battles against the Kwami chosen. She had laid low the Champions who served the great city and drank the blood of the Fey. She had been a terror, they had said Death walked with her. If she had to step into the light once more, so be it. It had been too long since people were afraid of her, and that time was done.

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Damocles ran through the building, trying not to let the chaos he heard behind him get to him. That was the worst thing he could do, but then he had no choice. If they looked into him, they’d find that his identity was fake, and that would show everything! The best thing now was for them to track him as a captive of a ‘Cop-Killer’, and that would blind them for a while. All he needed was to get away, bug out, and do his escape plan.

He had everything ready to go, and he was sure it would work. The plan was the basic model from the greatest thinkers of the Kingdom. With everything that was happening, the City was going to get worse. And that thing that he had employed, he had never seen anything like it before. Just the knowledge that something else was moving in Paris was priceless to those people. That alone might be enough to migrate his punishment.

As he burst out the door, he blinked as he looked at what was before him. For a moment he only looked at it in awe before he grinned. My time here is done, but I might not be punished so badly. This alone would help me so much. I have to leave and this will let me get so much credit! I did everything right and this might let me get a nice posting after all this! He thought as he reached down and picked up his prize.

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As she punched one of the robot’s heads off, Ladybug looked at what she had thought was Bustier. It had only stared back at them as they fought, and that was worrying. Akuma that could control others were rather…. Loud. But this wasn’t an Akuma, and there seemed to be a large number of Robots and Drones at Bustier’s disposal.

Chat Noir slammed his staff baton into the head of another robot, trying and failing to keep a smile off his face. He had to admit that this was one of his fantasies, fighting evil robots. But he couldn’t understand just what the force had been intending sending in a robot to replace a teacher. But then he thought about the way that Bustier bot had acted, and he wondered if that was the reason. He had to admit, never having been in a school before this year, he couldn’t know what to expect from teachers. But the way Madame Mendeleiev was different from how Bustier-bot taught.

Roi Singe slammed his staff through another of the robots and cursed his mouth. He had to tempt fate like that! He had always hated how Bustier taught, and now he had a reason to talk trash about her, not about it!

Arashiko only sliced through another of the robots, trying and failing to keep calm. The very idea that the terrible teacher that she had heard about was a robot? Her mother’s company made robots, she grew up around them. They were always programmed by something or someone. That meant that the way that Bustier Baka acted was planned. And that meant that there was a reason, something that she couldn’t see. They needed to get Bustier’s hard drive and see if Pegasus and her couldn’t hack into it.

Miss Hound thrust one of her escrima sticks into one of the robots, scowling as she dodged a blow from another one. I can’t believe that Chloe was right about that thing! She thought as she spared a glance at Bustier. Chloe had always said that something was wrong with Bustier, and to see if she was right? It was troubling that Miss Hound had missed it.

Apisera swung her top around another of the robots and pulled. As the robot flew at her, she punched and tore it apart. So far, the team has been handling them, but there was a limit.

Chameleon Unit T1 looked at the battle and saw that the Claw Soldier Units were slowly losing ground. The units were some of the weakest of the Units but they were the only ones around in great numbers. The data gathered by Shadowmoth using his powers on Unit T1 had to be brought back. With the data from its transformation, they had all the pieces. Finally, the mission was done. It had caused T1 to break cover, but that was a worthy sacrifice. All it needed was to wait for a chance.

As the last robot fell, Ladybug looked at Bustier. With a word she took a step towards her, the others falling in behind her. “So, will you surrender?”

The sounds of a helicopter caused everyone to look up. Above them over thirty feet was Nadja leaning out of the window looking down,

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Nadja looked out of the helicopter she tried to think of what to say. “Paris, this is unprecedented! I see our local heroes staring down what looks like Caline Bustier, a teacher at a local school. But I can see something sticking out of her arms! And since the ladybugs already cleansed the Akuma, I don’t know what is happening! Wait, she’s doing someth ….. oh my god!!”

Bustier had removed her head, holding it in her right hand. To Nadja’s horror, Bustier’s neck was a metallic stump! She could only watch as a drone came as a small camera came out of Bustier’s neck. Bustier’s body put the head on the drone. The drone pulled the head into itself and floated there. Because five more drones appeared and started to change, until all the drones looked the same. Before the heroes could do anything the drones shot off and the body of Bustier attacked the heroes.

“She’s some kind of robot! I I can’t explain this! She pulled her head off and her body is fighting the heroes!” Nadja called out in shock.

Ladybug dodged a blow from the headless robot and she glared at the drones. “We need to split up!”

“Dragon girl and I can go! The Might Cat, Bee and Snake can stay and backup the boss!” Roi Singe called out.

“Do it!” Chat Noir cried out before he charged at the headless Bustier.

“He’s right, we’ve got this!” Ladybug called out

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As they jumped after the drones, Roi Singe grinned as he thrust his staff forward and destroyed one of them. “One me Dragon! Keep up!”

Arashiko only grinned and jumped up, pushed off a chimney, and shot at the drones. Her sword slashed through two of them quickly before the others went higher.

“Two to one Monkey! Will you catch me?” Arashiko called back.

Roi Singe looked at her and laughed, moving after the last four drones. Suddenly the drones split up, two of them moving right and down, the others left along the river.

“I’ll get the ones going up! You take down!” Roi Singe called out as he jumped after the ones going along the river.

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Arashiko nodded. Smart, my powers will let me escape from any traps. And I think a Dragon can see farther underground than a mere Monkey! She thought and felt a small spike of pride from something that wasn’t her. She almost fell but she kept moving, following the drones as they flew through a hole they blasted in the street. Thankfully all the cars on the street were driverless, and all the civilians had gone for cover.

As she dropped into the sewers, she realized that to her it was as bright as if they were in the sun. Without a word she moved after the drones, somehow knowing by sound exactly where they went.

After a few moments, she caught up to the drones and saw all the two being met with two rising from the water. They had to have come from the River. They must have planned to all go through the Sewers to escape. Sorry Monkey, but this time I win. She thought. She was about to attack them before spikes flew through the air from a side passage and spear two of the drones.

She watched, shocked at what she was seeing. Two large rats with black fur the size of tigers came out of the tunnel. These creatures had tails three feet long with three spikes pointing up at them. From the side, she saw a space closer to the body on the tail where the spikes had come from. And already another spike was growing into place. She stared as the drones attacked the rats. For a moment she didn’t know what to do, but when one of the rats had been slain and another drone destroyed she knew.

With a yell, she leaped forward and sliced through the last drone, rolling to point her sword at the last rat. She glared at it, and for a moment she thought it would retreat. But then the creature's eyes suddenly erupted in glowing black energy. The energy completely covered the eyes was flowing to the sides like flames. The ray started to change, but she had had enough.

“Lighting Dragon!” She screamed and as soon as she felt her body become lighting, she shot at the creature and engulfed it. It screeched in pain, and she almost stopped but she knew what she was fighting...

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“GAHHH!” Giles cried as he slumped to the ground. As he lay there, he panted and started to laugh.

After a few moments, he pulled himself up, still laughing. “So there are more who will dare to stand in my way? No matter. My Jeanne will be saved from whatever spell those fools have cast on her! Even if the English have conquered my country and changed everything, I will save her!”

He laughed and he was revealed to be in a large chamber over two hundred feet wide and long. He was standing in a section that took up around a third of the space. It was a large wooden house, and around Giles were the remains of a lab. The rest was taken up with stables for his creatures, ten more of the spike-tailed rats were moving. In every fourth stable was a large fleshy egg sack and one burst, revealing another of the rats. Giles looked up as the sound of something stomping came from a large tunnel on the north side

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After the rat stopped moving she flew back to where she had become lightning and turned back to flesh. She looked at the rat and then with one blow sliced its spine in two at the neck. She did the same as the other rat and moved to inspect the drones. After a few minutes, she frowned. The head of Bustier wasn’t here. That meant that this was nothing but killing time or the head was with the ones destroyed.

She looked at the corpses and scowled, hoping that the creator felt her kill them.

Without a word, she ran towards where she had come from. Jumping to street level, she found two police officers looking at the hole.

As they saw her they realized who she was.

“So this was the Akuma? But the ladybugs already swarmed!” One of them exclaimed.

Arashiko looked at them and shook her head. “This wasn’t the work of any Akuma. And there are two corpses down there, mutants.”

“Corpses of human mutants!?” The other officer exclaimed.

Arashiko only shook her head and looked back towards the fighting. “No, animals. The size of a tiger. And the remains of a few drones.”

As she jumped away, she heard the two police cry out in shock.

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As the two police watched her leave, one of them turned to the other. “Well Dan, this is a mess!”

“I hear you, Rob,” Dan said as he took off his hat, letting his short black hair take in the sun. he locked his blue eyes to Rob’s black ones.

Rob brought a hand through his short brunette hair and sighed. “I was hoping not to deal with stuff like this, ya know. Out of all ‘Super Cities’ the heroes here clean up after themselves! At least they used to!”

“Only damage by Akuma, that’s all Ladybug repairs. Guess this isn’t the work of those things. This is not going to go over with the Mayor easily,” Dan said with a chuckle.

“Good! So, you go get the blockers, I’ll call works and some backup, maybe SWAT. If there were two mutants there might be more!” Rob said with a shudder. “I so don’t want to become food!”

“Me either, but we gotta keep them down there if there are any! Just watch the hole from farther back, and we’ll keep the public safe!” Dan said with a grin.

As Rob took a few steps back, he moved his right hand to his pistol as he undid the straps. He had seen the textbook about monster attacks, he didn’t want to become a statistic.

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Roi Singe grinned as he chased after the drones. This is it, I just need to kill those two and I’ll have one over Dragon Girl! And this Monkey is going wild! He thought as he jumped into the air. He pointed his staff at a building behind him and extended it. It hit the building and used it to push him forward and upwards.

At the climax of his ‘vault’, he saw the two drones that Arashiko had chased shoot out of the river.

With a grin, he angled his body and shot towards them, a savage grin on his face. As he passed through them, he spun his staff in a circle. As each drone was hit, one was destroyed and stunned the others.

As he landed he shot towards the closest one, slamming it down. As one of the last two took flight, it shot at him as the other one flew away.

Roi Singe dodged the charging one, extended his staff until it was above the escaper, and slammed it down. As that one was destroyed, he shrank his staff and pulled himself forward, dodging the last drone. He looked over his shoulder and saw it coming after him, and then flipped. Landing, he thrust his staff forward and it extended until it pierced the drone.

He laughed as he landed, moving towards them to find the head. But after a few minutes, he slowly started to lose color in his face. No matter where he looked, the head wasn’t there.

“They tricked us! They had to have planned this! What are those things!?” Roi Singe said with a scowl. He looked towards the battle he had left, a dark thought going through him. “They have to be trying to split us up!”

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As Chat Noir blocked a blow from Bustier’s arm claws, the body kicked at him. He dodged it and scowled as Ladybug and Apisera charged in and an arrow from Viperion was deflected. “How’s she fighting better without seeing……”

Chat Noir went still and looked up, seeing Nadja flying there. “Oh sh*t!”

He looked at the girls as they fought, and he swallowed. “Hold the line, I’ll be right back!”

“Wait, what?!” Apisera asked as she jumped backwards, seeing Chat Noir leap to the helicopter. Her eyes widened and she glared at the robot, paying more attention to the ‘camera’ it had sticking out of its neck. That deceitful monstrosity! That’s the plan then, use the news to fight us?! Brother, get that view down so we can trash this thing! She thought as she landed and charged in.

Suddenly, Rena Rouge, Carapace, and Pegasus jumped back onto the roof. They took a moment to see what was happening before they charged into battle.

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Nadja looked at the battle, shocked at what she was seeing. The Heroes usually handled the Akumas but this thing was giving them a hard time. She didn’t know what to do, or if she should do something. But there was something at the edge of her mind, something that told her that she was at fault.

But then Chat Noir was in the way of the view, and she looked at his grinning face.

“Chat Noir!? What can the news do for one of our heroes?” Nadja said as soon as she got her wits around her.

Chat Noir grinned as he looked over his shoulder. He smirked as he turned back to her. “Sorry about that, but the bot was using your view to fight! We’ll talk later!”

He jumped away, Nadja only looking at the camera in shocked horror. Sarah looked back and Nadja saw fear and shame in her eyes.

“You saw it here folks, the villain used our broadcast! But I’ll stay on station and keep telling you what happens!” Nadja said as she looked down. “It looks like…. Yes! The heroes have destroyed an arm and leg from the robot! It’s down, and the heroes have won!”

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As Chat Noir landed, he saw the Bustier bot had lost an arm and a leg, lying on the rooftop. As Roi Singe and Arashiko joined them, he grinned. “So, where’s the head?”

“They tricked us, they had more waiting out there!” Arashiko said with a snarl as she looked at the robot on the roof.

The heroes all looked at the robot, trying to understand just what it was after. This whole situation was something that whatever was behind it had to plan. It was waiting for Bustier to be Akumatized again, but why? What was their angle here?

“Maybe I’ll be able to find something by hacking into it. It might have something in there. Maybe,” Pegasus said with a slight scowl.

“Negative. Head and main hard drive outside of the range, countdown protocol engaged. Goodbye heroes,” The robot said before a holographic countdown starting at 5 formed above it.

“NO!” Rena Rouge called out.

“SHELTER!” Carapace barked as he shot forward with his shield, and a sphere formed around the robot. As they watched, the countdown hit zero and nothing happened. But a moment later grey dust engulfed the robot. The heroes all watched as the Bustier torso started to disintegrate. They stared in horror as within a minute, even the dust withered away.

For a moment, all they could do was stare at the empty shield in horror.

“Nano-Technology?! At that scale and able to destroy itself?!” Pegasus exclaimed in horror.

That snapped Ladybug back to here and now and looked around. Looking down into the alley, she saw Miss Hound alone, the other two heroes having escaped. As Commissaire Bertolfo and Monasterio both led their forces towards her, Miss Hound jumped up and joined the others.
“Hound, Rena, Apisera, Arashiko? With me. we’ll tell the Commissaire what happened and get away before she lands. And boys you all get out of here together! Pegasus, make a portal to Learning, and face it to the sky. We’ll touch base at the Guardian,” Ladybug said as she looked down at the street below.

“Got it LB!” Chat Noir said with a smirk as Carapace dropped his power.

“Learning?” Pegasus asked as the girls all jumped away.

“One of our code words me and Milady made up during our first month. It’s the school,” Chat Noir said and Pegasus nodded as Viperion joined them.

“Haven’t been back there in a while. But with everything that happened, that might have been good,” Viperion said with a smirk.

“Tell me about!” Roi Singe said with a cackle.

“Voyage! This way Air Pegasus, the pilot is the last to enter!” Pegasus said with a small smirk.

After Pegasus’s portal closed Arashiko grabbed Ladybug’s arm. As Ladybug looked at her Arashiko looked away. “I need to get back to my home. My mother is due soon and I can’t let her know I got out!”

“Go, we’ll handle the police!” Ladybug said with a short nod from the others.

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As Pegasus jumped through the portal last, the male heroes looked around before dropping to the courtyard.

Chat Noir closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Nothing, there’s nobody here!”

“And the power is off,” Pegasus said as he pointed his horseshoe-axe around.

“You can tell?” Roi Singe asked as he looked around.

“I don’t know about Chat, but I augmented my tool last night. It copied some tech I created. And we can trust it,” Pegasus said as he transformed back into Max.

As the others all did the same, Luka looked around and chuckled a bit.

“For me, it was like I could tell if someone was watching me, always have really. It’s just grown more since this all started,” Chat Noir said as he smirked at the others.

Sass meanwhile looked at Chat Noir and seemed to frown, something that Luka caught. I’ll talk to Sass at home. I don’t think Plagg will hurt Adrien, but Sass is pretty calm. It has to be something for him to react. Luka thought as he looked at his partner Kwami.

“So our first big team-up went great!” Kim said with a laugh. As everyone looked at Kim, Xuppu laughed and landed on his head.

“You expected anything else ya big dummy? We don’t choose bad eggs!” Xuppu said with a smirk.

Plagg glared at Xuppu, as did the other Kwami. Don’t give everything away monkey! We still need to keep our secrets until they destroy our bindings! What they know, the others could force out of them! Plagg thought as he glared.

Xuppu looked around, and seeing the way his siblings were looking at him winced.

“You all get back to Master Fu. I’ll need to get back to the bakery. Great battle guys,” Chat Noir said as he jumped away.

The others all nodded, and moved to use the side exits to get back into the rest of Paris.

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As he led the way out of the building, Commissaire Bertolfo could only stare in shocked horror. The broken drone parts were a herald of a new chapter in the Paris Siege. Looking around, he tried to keep calm. Nothing makes sense! What just happened here? He thought as he tried to make sense. “Someone go get that Akuma victim, and find who’s missing!”

It was the Ladybug, Rena Rouge, Miss Hound, and Apisera landing before him that snapped him out of his spiral. It was seeing the heroes victorious that made him feel that things might get a little bit normal. That feeling died when he saw the look on Ladybug’s face.

“Ladybug! What is this!?” He asked as he gestured around him.

“Well sir, it started when an Akuma went rogue,” Apisera said with a grimace.

“That’s possible!?” Bertolfo asked, shocked beyond words. The loyalty of Hawkmoth’s minions was just one of the reasons that he was so feared. To turn anyone into his follower, was one of the reasons the “Mind Control Laws” were enacted. To hear that it was possible to break Hawkmoth’s control, it changed everything!

“It is when the Akuma is originally a robot,” Ladybug said and Bertolfo blinked in shock.

“A what?! Who was a robot?” Bertolfo demanded and looked at the drones with new eyes. These things must have been summoned by that robot! But why? Why did they attack us? They don’t have many weapons, and what was the plan?! He thought as he looked around.

“A teacher at a school. The name it used was Caline Bustier,” Rena Rouge explained and Bertolfo looked shocked.

“Her, a robot was masquerading as her!? Why? When?” Bertolfo demanded and Ladybug shrugged.

“Before she even started to work at that school, the real one is in America of all places!” Ladybug said, shaking her head. Catching the helicopter landing he looked at the girls and nodded.

“Go! I’ll talk to you some other time over the next few days, and that’s a promise!” Bertolfo said. The heroines all jumped away and Bertolfo watched them. But then he stalked towards the helicopter, ready to give the reporter a piece of his mind.

“Commissaire Bertolfo, do you…..” Nadja trailed off as Bertolfo stared at her with hard eyes.

“This is an active crime scene! I want you, and that machine back at your studio or so help me I’ll impound it!” Bertolfo barked as he glared at Nadja.

She glared back and looked at the broken drone parts on the ground before she looked back at Bertolfo. “Sir, this has never happened before! Paris needs to know what has happened to the fight against Hawkmoth!”

Bertolfo only looked at her and scowled. “As of right, now I will say this! This wreckage is not the result of Hawkmoth!”

“But what about the Akuma?! After the court case, are they being held?” Nadja asked and Bertolfo went still as he turned.

“Wait, what court case….. What’s he doing?” Bertolfo asked as he looked down the alley for a second. Turning back to Nadja, he looked at her. “You stay here, and we’ll talk later.”

Before Nadja could say anything, Bertolfo turned and walked away. He saw Monasterio led his men away and scowled. He jogged over to them, stopping them from moving away.

They all saluted, even Monasterio but Bertolfo ignored him. “You men go and make sure that reporter leaves! Sargent, you’re in charge! Get it done!”

“Yes sir!” Sergeant Gonzalez said as he saluted.

“Monasterio, with me!” Bertolfo spat as he turned and walked towards the building he had come from.

Entering it, Monasterio saw they were in a foyer with another door thirty feet away. But Monasterio didn’t have time to see the details when Bertolfo spun around.

“Now Monasterio, let’s talk about you! What in the name of justice were you thinking? And what are you doing here!?” Bertolfo snarled.

Monasterio looked at him and went to attention. “Commissaire Laborous! Sir, I received a tip that something was going on nearby. As I only had a very short timeline, I moved my men to stop it. The tip spoke of murder sir!”

Bertolfo just glared at the man, trying to find anything that might let him punish him. That idiot Mayor had to tell every Station commander that the whole city was their beat! By his laws, I can’t punish him, but I so want to! This filth had to have been looking at an angel, but what? And how could I even prove it? Bertolfo thought as he looked at Monasterio in disgust. The station that this man commanded was one of the dumping grounds of Paris. The ‘officers’ there had more loyalty to their commanding officer than anyone else. The few Akuma that were from their section were always attacked by the police. Bertolfo had issued orders that the Police leave the Akumas alone, Monasterio had an excuse why he did every time.

Bertolfo looked at him and then his radio beeped stopped and then beeped again. Both Bertolfo and Monasterio looked at each other in shocked horror. That was the code for officer’s down, and that hadn’t happened in Paris since before Hawkmoth appeared. And to make matters worse, by the pitch of the beeps this was on the emergence frequency. That meant that all the stations could hear it, and anyone who had hacked into the Police bands!

“This is Bertolfo, come in! Who’s calling on this frequency!?” Bertolfo demanded as he answered it.

“Sir… this is Rodger Raincomprix…. Was leading a force of four other officers…….We’re at…..At the corner of 20th and 15th. Reporting… all other officers down….. owe…. Hurt. Bad, really bad,” Rodger’s voice came over the radio.

Both Bertolfo and Monasterio looked at each other, and both saw the other pale. The term ‘Officer Down’, had few if any meanings, and none of them were good.

“Monasterio, I want you to go! Grab two more of your people and get there now! And take the back roads!” Bertolfo ordered. I don’t want to give this slime any chances to slither away, but needs must after all. He thought as Monasterio saluted him.

“It will be done sir!” Monasterio said before he ran out of the building.

Bertolfo sighed and shook his head, this was the last thing he needed now! After everything that happened, someone had attacked and killed some of his men! And with the way that he thought things were going to go, this would get worse before it ever got better. For now, all he wanted to do was get his hands on his suspect and find out everything he knew about that robot. If two people were Akumatized together, then they had to have an item in common. And that meant they knew each other. “Well, time to get back to work……”

“SIR!” The door flew open and Bertolfo looked up at the horror-struck look on the officer’s face.

“What is it?” Bertolfo demanded as he looked at the officer.

“We found the missing officer, he’s dead! The witness killed him!” The officer said in a rush.

“HOW?!” Bertolfo demanded as he charged out the door, the officer following.

“Knife to the neck! Sir, what do we?” The Officer asked in a rush.

Bertolfo looked at the officer and tried to think. Monasterio was gone and this place needed to be processed. But there was the reporter to talk to as well……. “Come with me, we have to talk to someone….. no. Call the station, and then guard our brother. I’ll talk to the reporter alone.”

A beeping caused Bertolfo to grab his phone and accept the call. “Bertolfo, wait what? Mutants!?”

Gabriel looked at his TV and scowled. He, Duusu, Nathaile, and Nooroo were all in Gabriel’s office.

“A robot?!? Another robot?!” Gabriel demanded as he slammed his fist on his desk.

“This makes sense, after that AI you Akumatized,” Nooroo said dryly.

Nathalie only looked at Gabriel as he looked at the TV, seemingly not hearing what was just said.

“What happened, brother?” Duusu asked and Nooroo only grinned to Nathalie’s shock.

“It took over this place’s defenses. Let’s say that he was hoping the heroes would win. He even told the AI about the wish,” Nooroo said.

Nathalie looked on as Gabriel glared at the Kwami.

“What could this mean, that was Adrien’s teacher!” Nathalie said and Gabriel looked at her before turning away, muttering to himself. He’s always had a one-track mind, that’s his strength. How he can focus on the task before him and finish it. But this time, with those ‘Sins’, that monster maker, and now this, we might be biting off more than we can chew. She thought as she looked at Gabriel.

Gabriel meanwhile glared at the TV. I don’t need this! With Adrien out there, and the Sins offering a way to save her, I can’t have more distractions! But now I have to worry about these things! He thought with a snarl.

“Now what? We won, they don’t know we did it and now we have to move on. But the robot, that’s something to think about. You see the problem?” Nathalie asked as she put her right hand on her waist.

Gabriel looked at Nathalie and nodded as he tried to plan. If anyone could be a robot, then he had two options here. Use an agent to fight against these rogue Akuma, or stop making them. With Nathalie healed and Duusu fixed, they could use Duusu more. Nathalie could control a Sentimonster to counter the Akuma if things happened. The only reason they didn’t do this this time was because of the overall plan. But then why hadn’t Bustier taken control as the ‘Kissing Zombie’?

“We go after no new Akumas. Only one’s we’ve already done before,” Gabriel said and Nathalie looked at him.

“You’re thinking that it was because we used her two times is the reason she was able to gain control?” Nathalie asked as she crossed her arms under her breasts.

“It is logical. We know nothing about this enemy. We have to be smart,” Gabriel said as he looked at Nathalie. “And there are the Sins. With them, we could have it all. She could be back.”

“But if the Sins can give us what we want, why keep after those two Miraculous?” Nathalie asked.

“Because we can’t let them know what we want. As long as they think they can use us, they will. But if they leave we’ll never heal her,” Gabriel said as he scowled. “And if we stop, then they might wonder what we were after. They could figure out who we are. And who knows what they could use that information to do?”

“Then should we keep going after any Akuma we can? It would throw them off the trial?” Nathalie asked.

Gabriel looked at her and started to think. He had to admit that Nathalie made sense. If they changed tactics, that just showed fear. They had to negotiate from a position of strength to get what they wanted from the Sins.

“Yes, and if there are more robots that take control, that might help. We could tell the Sins we were thinking about how to find them. That could explain a…… vacation,” Gabriel said as he nodded.

Nathalie looked at him and took a deep breath. The realities of the the fixed Peaco*ck Miraculous giving her courage. She had been thinking about this for a while, after her healing Champion form failed. She had to bring to light the idea she had for months now.

“There is a third option. Try and see if a Sentimonster can heal her,” Nathalie said.

Gabriel blinked and looked at Nathalie with shock in his eyes.

”That, is that even possible?” Gabriel asked, a note of hope in her voice.

“Yes, that might work. But Ms. Nathalie will only be able to have two more of my feathers bound to her if a healer. That is the most her mana can handle without relapsing!” Duusu said with a hard glare. “And that’s only if she uses them as Golems!”

“Brother…..” Nooroo said with shock,

“I can speak about them? I can speak! I’m free!” Duusu said with glee as he flew around the room, laughing for a bit

“What are you talking about?” Nathalie asked and Duusu sighed and floated over to her.

“Well, my feathers can used three ways. The Golems, the Companions, the Featherborne. Golems are the easiest to handle. They’re what the Order knows about, but they need time to charge up to use their abilities if they have any. But that’s only if they're acting on their own as ordered to. They never change and are non-sentient, and can be put to sleep. If their active for a week, then the feather wilts away. What you get is a Golems that has a control item. Anyone can use it. Anyone, ” Duusu said as he looked at Nathalie.

“Next are the Companions. They are stronger and cause more of a strain on the bounded one. If their organic they can become real in a month. Then if you give them their item they will be free. But if you give them their item if they haven’t been active for at least a day they will be destroyed in a minute. Like the fake Ladybug,” Duusu warned.

“What!? Why have you never told us, my friend!” Nooroo asked,

Duusu looked at Nooroo and sighed. “Because both they and the next were created after we were split apart. Do you think I would tell those Monsters anything about my final ones?! The last are Featherborne like Adrien and the others. It was created to allow people who aren’t able to have children to have children. But you must never create more than two at a time, or my Miraculous will break. I wasn’t able to tell Miss Emile that because of the Order’s spells. I think I will always hate them for that. Another item on my list.”

Gabriel looked at Nathalie and both of them felt a spark of shock.

“Your list?” Nathalie asked with a shocked tone.

“The Guardians discovered the writings of the one who created our Gems. But because they did they felt they alone had the right to decide how we would be used. They killed our Wielders to take and control us,” Duusu said with a growl.

“And if they hadn’t cast those spells, then you would have cautioned my wife not to create so many Featherborne….. wait. How are they different from the Companions?” Gabriel asked and Duusu grinned.

“Because the magic acts as only a help to give them the spark of life. After seven weeks, they can keep themselves alive. After seven months, they can have their own minds like normal babies. Seven years they can be given their items and be free, a normal member of their kind!” Duusu said with a grin.

“And if the item is destroyed before seven years?” Nathalie asked and Duusu sighed.

“Then they will fall into a coma for seven days each year they have left,” Duusu explained

“Then my son is a real human? But I can still control him with his ring!” Gabriel said and Duusu looked at him with a glare.

“If the Featherborne is not given their item, they can be controlled. But the item loses its ability to control them. But that happens after seven years starting a year after the Featherborne’s seventh year. Soon none of the children will be controlled!” Duusu said with a glare and cackle. But I’ll never tell you my final secret. That the Featherborne can ignore orders sooner. That starting at fourteen months before their freedom date their wills mater. But only if they have strong wills. And those kids have the strongest I’ve ever seen! Duusu thought with a glare.

“Adrien’s birthday is in seven months,” Nathalie said dumbly.

“So we have seven months to finish everything. Nathalie contact Tomoe! We need to talk about this!” Gabriel said with a glare.

“After I go talk to Lila. We need to move on that, I don’t think we should wait,” Nathalie said with a glare.

Gabriel nodded as he turned toward the elevator. “Yes, Let’s finish this.”

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Monasterio scowled as he rode his bike towards where Rodger reported his location. Nothing and that idiot dared to bring me to lector me? Me, whose family has been police for generations? Once I become the highest authority in this city I’ll banish him! He thought with a scowl as he drove closer to the scene.

A minute later they reached it. Monnasterio and everyone just stared in horror. The scene was from a horror movie! The other four officers were all thrown about, and from the way their bodies were torn apart, they were all dead. The patrol car Rodger had used was broken, the body was torn apart and the engine had been removed. Rodger himself was lying on the ground, his body in one piece but he was lying face down on the road.

Monasterio could only stare in horror at the wreck. The marks on the car reminding him of something that he had seen only once before. The memories of the pain he had felt back then almost overwhelmed him. He had been so lost trying to find where he had seen this that he missed Gonzalez dashing past him.

“Captain! Lieutenant Rodger is still alive!” Gonzalez called out with joy in his voice.

Monasterio dashed over and dropped down, putting his hand before Rodger’s mouth. He felt Rodger’s breath scowled.

“Gonzalez, call the corner and the hospital. We need to get Rodger some help and our people to their final rest,” Monasterio said softly. As he moved away, Rodger’s hand shot out and grabbed his own. Monasterio looked down and saw Rodger had turned his head to look at him.

“wait….. we captured Deloris Rossi….. she did this…. get her,” Rodger breathed out before he fell backwards.

Monasterio looked at Rodger, shocked beyond words. A lead, I have a lead! After all these years, at long last I have a lead! He thought as a mad smile bloomed on his face. This was it, this was what he needed. And this had to a like Hawkmoth, what had happened proved it! And she had been in the city. No one knew, she had hidden herself that well. And whoever brought her down would be a hero! After this, everything would change! “Sargent! Contact our percent, and tell them to find Deloris Rossi’s home address! Then have SWAT meet us there!”

“Yes sir!” Gonzalez said as he saluted. “But should we call Commissaire Laborous? I just…..”

Monasterio only glared at Gonzalez and grinned evilly. “No, why should he get any of our glory? This is our collar!”

“Yes sir!” Gonzalez said as he grinned. “Should I give the SWAT team any other orders?”

Monasterio looked at Gonzalez for a good long moment before he spoke. “Tell them to call me before they move out once they have Rossi’s location. I’ll have more detailed commands once they’re ready to move.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As Miss Hound turned back into Sabrina she grinned. Looking at Alya, Marinette, and Chloe as they detransformed, she tried to keep from giggling. We did it! I can’t believe it but that whole mess is done! Now Mari will get justice and maybe that school will be investigated. But what was up with the robot that took over for Bustier? She thought with a scowl as she looked around.

Chloe only glared into space, shocked. She had her problems with Robo-Caline, but now she had to think about them. Robots like Markov that had emotions were rare, but no action was without a reason. There had to be something that Robo-Caline gained, but what?

Marinette looked down at the ground, trying to understand what she had learned. She had always thought deep down that Caline Bustier was talking out of her ass, and now she knew the truth! Marinette was looking into every interaction with Robo-Caline and was at a lost. Nothing about her seemed wrong, she couldn’t find a tell that Robo-Caline was a robot.

Alya meanwhile only looked confused as she looked around at the others. “I’m sorry, but that thing was our teacher all this time?! Where the hell did she come from?”

“And if she had intercepted the first Caline Bustier, why her? Why a teacher?” Chloe asked as she scowled. “Why such a terrible teacher at all? Was she trying to get fired for some reason?”

“It wasn’t……” Alya trailed off as Chloe and Sabrina both looked at her with scowls on. “She was that bad?”

“Yeah, let’s just say that she could have done a lot more that other teachers did. Like when Damocles suspended you….. and sorry, I flashed back during that,” Chloe admitted and Alya looked up.

Chloe just looked away and Sabrina sighed, shaking her head.

“Let’s just say that the year before you joined, was bad for the last half. Someone that both Chloe and Marinette cared about got expelled. After that…..” Sabrina said.

Chloe just laughed and shook her head. “After that, I lost her. And then I started to act like my bitch of a mother! It was like something was telling me, this is how you have to be!”

“Chloe…..” Alya said with concern as everyone, human and Kwami looked at her.

“It got easier to ignore it about four months ago. I just, I don’t understand!” Chloe said as she looked away.

Marinette looked up, a strange look going through her as she looked at Chloe. Something about that, something was bothering her.

“But you did Chloe, you did. You knew it would be hard but you’re trying to be better!” Sabrina said as she hugged her friend.

Suddenly her phone beeped. She stepped away and grabbed her phone. Taking it out, she looked at the screen and went still.

“Brina?” Chloe asked as she saw her friend go pale. “What is it?”

“My dad’s at the hospital! I’ve gotta go! Chloe, go with the others. It’s a police hospital, only I can get in remember!” Sabrina said before she ran off.

Marinette looked at Chloe in confusion before Alya spoke up.

“Why would only she get in?” Alya asked and Chloe just sighed.

“Part of the ‘Mind Control’ Laws. Bad story, something I heard about when my dad activated them for the city. Real bad,” Chloe said as she shuddered and looked away. “Let’s just say there are some real freaks out there okay?”

“What do you…. I don’t want to know do I?” Alya asked and shuddered as Chloe nodded.

“No girl, you don’t. I heard and had nightmares for a week!” Chloe said with a bitter grin.

Alya looked at Chloe, trying to think of what she might know.

Marinette only looked at the others and smiled. bringing out her phone, she quickly sent a small text to Adrien and sighed as she looked up at Chloe and Alya. “Let’s head back to the base. We all need to talk.”