Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

All she could hear was her own panting and her feet hitting the pavement as she ran. Her cheeks were wet, her hair had fallen out of the neat pig-tails her butler put it into in the morning. Not that she cared.

That wasn’t important.

What was she even running from? It wouldn’t solve the problem.

But she just kept running, until her feet sank. Sand. 

She slowly walked closer to the edge of the water and collapsed onto the ground. She tried to calm her breathing.

This was all her fault.

“Oh Marinette…” she muttered, pulling her knees in closer, blond locks of hair falling into her face. “Marinette, I’m so…so sorry…”

—

Three weeks ago Four days ago.

That was when all of this started.

“Chloé! Chloé!”

The blond 5-year-old turned around to spot her dark-haired pigtail buddy running toward her, a ball of sand in her hand.

“What’s that?” Chloé asked, tilting her head.

“There’s something shiny in here!” her friend bounced up and down. “Something hard! I can feel it!”

She sat down quickly, criss cross applesauce, and started rubbing away the sand.

“Where did you find that?” Chloé asked, kneeling down next to her.

“It fell from the sky!” she said happily. “What do you think is in it?”

“A coin?” Chloé asked, leaning in closer just as her friend brushed aside the rest of the sand.

“It’s a ring!” her friend said. “A pretty black one! But it’s all covered in sand…”

Chloé laughed.

“Well let’s go clean it off then!” Chloé said. “Come on, Marinette, the hotel is close!”

Marinette laughed and the two friends walked together back into the Grand Paris, the hotel owned by Chloé’s dad.

“Hello Chloé dear, hello Marinette,” the mayor said as the two passed.

“Hi daddy!” Chloé said, and she pulled Marinette into the elevator and the two headed up to Chloé’s room.

Marinette hurried into the bathroom, and started to run the sink.

“Chloé! Come quick!” Marinette said.

Chloé entered her bathroom, and watched as Marinette ran water over the ring.

“Look! Look! It has a paw print!” Marinette said, and she showed Chloé the ring, unintentionally flinging water onto Chloé.

“Mari!” Chloé complained, and she peered at the ring. “It’s pretty.”

“Yeah!” Marinette agreed, and she slipped it around her right middle finger.

The ring suddenly glowed, and a black orb flew out of it, the ring changing into a rosegold band with pawprints around the side.

“What the heck?” Chloé said, and she only momentarily glanced at the ring’s changed appearance before looking at the floating black orb.

The orb faded, and a small creature was in the middle of it. The creature stretched and looked around.

“Two people? Well that’s new,” it (they?) said. “What do you plan to do with-”

“Kitty!” Marinette said. “Flying kitty!”

“Mari!” Chloé scolded. “You’ll scare ‘em!”

The creature just seemed to blink, and Chloé noted its matted fur (was it fur?).

“Do you not know who I am…?” the creature asked.

“...genie in the ring?” Chloé asked.

“No,” the creature huffed. “I’m Plagg! A kwami! The kwami of the black cat!”

“Kwami?” Marinette tilted her head. “Is that a species name?”

“I… guess so,” Plagg said. “We’re the incarnations of different ideas-”

“We’re friends now,” Marinette said.

“But what if Plagg doesn’t want to be friends?” Chloé asked.

“Well I made you my friend,” Marinette said, raising an eyebrow.

“…fair enough,” Chloé said. “So… Plagg, do you need a bath?”

The next hour was spent pampering the little creature (kwami).

Plagg seemed slightly annoyed at the bath they gave him in the sink, but likely because of the whole cat and water thing, but seemed relieved to have clean fur. 

Chloé did spot his thin body, and figured he must not get much to eat, so, after the two learned cheese was his favorite, she ordered a variety of cheesy snacks up to her room.

And then the three spent the rest of the day watching movies.

—

Two weeks ago Next week

“Gah! Sorry!”

Chloé stood dusted herself off and glanced at the old man who was walking away.

She scoffed. “Rude.”

Chloé went to move forward, and her foot hit something.

“Huh?” Chloé looked down an spotted an octagonal box. “Shoot…”

She picked it up, and started in the direction the old man went.

“Hey! Wait! You dropped something!”

He was gone.

“Chloé?”

“Coming daddy!” Chloé said. Tucking the box into her bag and running down to get in the car.

Five minutes later, she was dropped off at Marinette’s.

“Hi!” Chloé said entering the bakery.

“Hey, Chloé,” Sabine said. “Want to take a batch of macarons up? They’re strawberry.”

“Sure!” Chloé said, and she was handed a box.

More careful now that she had sweets on the line, Chloé headed up the stairs and ladder and into Marinette’s room.

“Hey, Mari!” Chloé said, pushing the trapdoor open.

“Chloé!” Marinette ran forward and squeezed her friend. “Oh! Maman gave you macarons!”

“Strawberry,” Chloé said. “And I’m assuming you got the cheese?”

“Yup!” Marinette said.

Chloé climbed in all the way and shut the trapdoor.

“Plagg! Chloé’s here!” Marinette said, and she walked over to her dollhouse.

“Rich girl?” Chloé heard the faint voice of the kwami.

“Yes, Chloé,” Marinette said. Chloé spotted the kwami’s head through the top of the dollhouse.

Like, through the solid material.

Right, he could do that.

“Hi, Plagg,” Chloé said with a wave and a grin.

“Did you bring food?” Plagg asked, floating toward her.

“Uh… you want a macaron?” Chloé asked, holding up the box.

“...are they cheese?”

“No.”

“Then no.”

“We’ve got other cheese foods,” Marinette said, lifting up a tray with an impressive range of cheese based delictibles.

Plagg dug into the cheese, while Chloé headed over to the floor by Marientte’s small TV. She dug through her bag, pulled out a movie, and spotted the box.

“Did you bring it?” Marinette asked plopping down next to Chloé.

“Yeah,” Chloé said, and she showed Marinette the movie.

“Yes!”

It was Star Wars IV, Return of the Jedi.

Marinette hadn’t watched the movies yet, and Chloé considered that utterly unacceptable.

“Also, I bumped into an old man,” Chloé said. “He dropped this.”

Chloé showed Marinette the box. Now that she was looking at it, it had a weird red symbol on the top.

“Huh,” Marinette tilted her head. “Open it!”

Chloé popped open the box, and a bright light shown.

“Wha-?” she heard Marinette mutter.

A red blob flew out and turned into a small creature that was red with a black spot.

Wait-

“A kwami,” Chloé said immediatly.

Said kwami blinked.

“You’re not the guardian,” the kwami said, and they looked around. “Where am I?”

“You’re in my room,” Marinette said.

“How do you know what I am?” the kwami asked, and then their eyes narrowed on the ring Marinette wore. “Wait…”

“You’re like Plagg, aren’t you?” Marinette asked.

Chloé saw the kwami’s eyes go wide. In fear? Surprise? Hard to tell.

“Oh… shoot,” she heard Plagg say.

“Plagg!” the kwami yelled, and they flew toward him. “What’re you doing?!”

“Stop it!” Chloé yelled.

The kwami fell silent.

Chloé looked down at the box.

“Earrings…” Chloé said.

“Earrings?” Marinette asked, and she glanced over. “Ooo! Put them in!”

“They aren’t mine,” Chloé said, but relented. She didn’t have any in at the moment anyway.

“Ooo… yours changes form too!” Marinette said.

Chloé grabbed a mirror out of her bag.

The bright red earrings with the black spots had turned into black diamond earrings.

“Huh,” Chloé muttered, then looked up at the red kwami. “What’s your name?”

The kwami blinked, before responding, “Tikki.”

“Well, Tikki, want to watch a movie with us?” Marinette asked with a grin.

“A… movie?” Tikki asked.

“Oh, you don’t know what it is either,” Marinette said. “C’mon! Now we have to watch it!”

—

Four days ago In three weeks

When it all went wrong.

“Plagg!” Tikki scolded. “You shouldn’t have told them!”

“It’s not like any wish they try will work,” Plagg huffed. “I haven’t explained that little bit yet!”

“Oh, but you were planning to?” Tikki asked.

“Only if I had to!” Plagg complained. “C’mon, Tikki! This is the first decent holder I’ve had… ever!”

“Yeah, because you keep corrupting them!”

The two girls ignored the kwamis bickering. Chloé was twisting the ring on her finger. It had been rose gold on Marinette, but on her hand it was gold, with black diamonds embedded into it.

She was only wearing it because Marinette couldn’t wear the earrings (she didn’t have pierced ears).

“So, what do you want to wish for?” Chloé asked.

At the word wish, she felt the jewelry grow warm for a moment.

“Hm… we could wish for… a puppy! Or a pony! Or… or a trip to New York!” Marinette said.

“Mari, I can already get all those things,” Chloé said with a laugh.

“Hm…” Marinete stuck her tongue out as she thought. “We could wish for a unicorn! Or superpowers!”

Chloé snorted.

“What if I wished you disappeared?” Chloé joked.

Six words.

And it all went wrong.

Both the jewels suddenly switched back to their original forms.

“No! You said it wouldn’t work!” Plagg screamed.

“It shouldn’t!” Tikki yelled.

“What’s happening?” Marinette asked, and she screamed as wind picked up. “Chloé!”

“The wish is activating!” Tikki yelled. “It’s not supposed to work! It-”

“Marinette!” Chloé screamed, and she grabbed her friend. “No! I take it back! I take it back!”

“It’s too late…” Plagg said, his voice dark.

White began to spread, starting from Chloé.

“Why is this happening?” Plagg asked.

“They’re children…” Tikki muttered. “They must’ve-”

Chloé couldn’t tell what Tikki was saying anymore.

“What’re you wearing…?” Marinette asked.

Chloé glanced down, but only spotted some red and black before she felt a tug as Marinette was pulled.

“NO!” Chloé screamed, and she pulled Marinette tighter. “NO! I DIDN’T MEAN FOR THIS! YOU AREN’T DISAPPEARING ON ME!!”

“Chloé!” Marinette cried.

The world went white, and Chloé felt Marinette get tugged from her just as Marinette’s body faded from view.

“ NO! ” Chloé screamed. “ MARINETTE! ”

“ Marinette !” Chloé screamed and she sat up.

Wait… what?

Chloé tried to calm her shaky breathing as she looked around.

She was in her room.

A nightmare?

No…

No, that was too vivid.

Chloé touched her earlobes, but the earrings she’d worn all week were gone.

“Shoot, no… Tikki?” Chloé muttered.

Chloé heard footsteps, and her door slammed open.

“Chloé, are you okay? I heard screaming.”

Her father.

“It- a nightmare…” Chloé muttered, “Where… Marinette disappeared…”

“It was just a dream,” her father said, sitting down on her bed. “You’ll see Marinette today during school.”

Chloé nodded, and leaned against her father, closing her eyes.

Something was wrong.

A couple of hours later, she was realizing what it was.

This wasn’t the outfit she had picked for today.

No, this is what she’d been wearing three weeks ago.

The day after Marinette found Plagg.

Chloé didn’t say anything about the clothes, but asked for the date.

She’d been sent back in time three weeks.

Chloé sat down at her table at school, and watched the door.

Waiting.

Waiting for Marinette to come in, a bounce in her step, ever visible in her pigtails.

But Marinette didn’t come in.

And everyone noticed.

Nino, Marinette’s other best friend.

Kim and Ivan, the two best buds that adored her.

Mylene, Rose, Nathaniel, Max. 

Everyone loved Marinette.

Marinette was supposed to be in class today!

But she never came in.

The overall class mood was down for the day.

Halfway through, when they were coming in from recess, Chloé spotted the teacher on the phone, but didn’t catch anything being said.

—

Marinette didn’t come in the next day.

Or the next.

Or the next.

Chloé sat in class, four days after Marinette had shown her the ring.

And also three weeks after.

The teacher got a phone call as the class headed out to recess, and Chloé stayed behind.

“Hello? Oh, madmoiselle Cheng, do you have any news? …I see… I’ll keep my eye out… yes… alright, I will, bye.”

The teacher hung up and sank into the chair at her desk.

“...where’s Marinette?”

The teacher jumped.

“Chloé, why aren’t you at recess?” the teacher asked.

“Where’s Marinette?” Chloé asked again.

The teacher looked away.

Chloé already knew what answer was coming.

“She’s missing.”

And she knew it was pointless to look.

This was all her fault.

—

Marinette didn’t blame Chloé.

She couldn’t, not really.

She knew Chloé hadn’t meant it, would never mean it.

Why had they thought making a wish was a good idea?

Marinette let out a sigh, and sat curled up on the beach.

She remembered the world going white, and then waking up, but she wasn’t in her bedroom. Marinette recognized the alley well enough, it was close to the bakery, but she couldn’t figure out why she was there of all places.

Seeing as she had woken up outside, Marinette had immediately checked her surroundings.

She seemed safe for the time being. For some reason her ring was back, and Plagg woke up next to her, just as confused. She was wearing a black jumpsuit with pockets on the sides of her legs. The jumpsuit seemed to be one piece, from turtle neck, to long sleeves, to boots.

And there seemed to be no way to take it off.

Marinette had started to walk back to the bakery.

And then she realized how wrong everything was.

1) The bakery was closed.

It wasn’t supposed to be.

2) the date was wrong. This was three weeks ago.

3) No one could see her.

That one hadn’t been that hard to figure out.

People rammed into her and didn’t know what they hit, no one glanced at her, not even her parents, who were desperately looking for something…

Or some one .

And Marinette realized what happened.

“The wish…” Marinette muttered, moving away from the busy street. “Chloé wished for me to disappear…”

“The wish wasn’t supposed to activate…” Plagg muttered.

“Then why did it?” Marinette asked, not questioning the details of how the wish was supposed to activate.

“Tikki guessed it had something to do with you being children…” Plagg said. “Kids, especially your age, are filled to the brim with magical potential. Normal rules stood by, or forced themselves to be active despite you not activating them…”

“But I’m still here…” Marinette muttered. “The wish was for me to disappear, not turn invisible… and why did we go back three weeks?”

“...take off my ring,” Plagg said.

“What, why?” Marinette asked.

“Just do it,” Plagg said. “I want to try something.”

Marinette frowned, but tugged at the rose gold band, the only pop of color.

And she frowned more.

“It’s… it’s not coming off…” Marinette muttered.

Plagg groaned.

“Great…” Plagg muttered. “I curse all my holders.”

“Curse?” Marinette asked.

“Corrupt, however you want to spin that dice,” Plagg said. “Most users wind up… antagonistic. You wound up with a binding curse.”

“Huh?”

“You can’t remove the ring,” Plagg said. “And the ring is keeping you from the visible spectrum.”

“Visible what now?”

“It’s keeping you invisible,” Plagg said. “I can still see you, and the other kwami probably can, but humans can’t.”

“...Oh…” Marinette stared at the ring.

Marinette spent the next couple days trying to figure out how to survive.

She quickly learned that bathroom needs were non-existant. All food and drink were converted directly to energy, just like in the kwamis. Which also meant she could just sleep and regain the exact same energy as eating.

She also learned that she was visible in mirrors, but strangely, only mirrors. Reflective windows didn’t count, nor did any other reflective surface.

Probably for the best, she didn’t want to freak anyone out.

Also, her pockets seemed to be infinite.

Everything that had been in her backpack was now in her pockets, which included her Nintendo DS, an emergency alarm (the kind with the pin), and a couple of notebooks filled with drawings of dresses. Pencils, gum, and other miscellaneous objects were also contained, but those didn’t matter as much.

Marinette had gone to the beach to see if she could play in the water normally.

She could, but it would probably freak others out, and she didn’t have a towel, so she had only gotten her feet wet.

The towel thing didn’t seem to matter much, the sand didn’t even stick to her feet.

Marinette curled up tighter and tried to hold back the hot tears threatening to spill at any moment.

She heard some movement behind her, and looked over her shoulder.

Chloé was crying, and sat down on the beach a few feet away from her. Chloé’s pigtails, normally perfect, had mostly fallen out and were in her face, and Chloé didn’t seem to care about the sand getting all over her.

“Oh Marinette…” she heard Chloé mutter. “Marinette, I’m so… so sorry…”

Marinette’s jaw tightened as tears spilled.

Her friend… broken.

“We should go…” she heard Plagg whisper. “People will probably come looking for her.”
Marinette nodded, and turned away.

—

“Plagg… isn’t there anything I can do?” Marinette asked her kwami. “I want to talk to people… to talk to them without freaking them out… and I miss eating…”

She couldn’t find food worth eating, so she’d been sleeping.

And sleeping in alleys just hurt.

Plagg sighed.

“Do you remember what Chloé looked like just before you woke up?” Plagg asked.

Marinette nodded.

Chloé had been surrounded by light, and then was wearing a superhero-esc outfit. Red with black spots, a black mask, and her hair up in two pointy buns like cat ears.

“Well, most of the time to make a wish… you need to be transformed,” Plagg said. “Kwamis can inhabit their miraculous, and grant the wielders super human abilities.”

“Transform… like into a superhero?” Marinette asked.

“Sorta, yeah,” Plagg said. “I think if you transform, you might be able to be seen. Marinette is who doesn’t exist, but whatever identity you take on with the miraculous does, and so they’re visible, got it?”

“I think so…” Marinette muttered. “What should I know about this transformation?”

“There’s an activation and deactivation phrase,” Plagg said. “For me, you say claws out to transform, and claws in to detransform. You also get a weapon! My cats get batons that can change in size, although I’ve seen other miraculous weilders change the form of their weapons under extreme circumstances.”

“What’s a baton?” Marinette asked.

“It’s like a staff,” Plagg said. “It’s very versatile. You can use it as an offensive weapon, a defensive one, and as a transportation method.”

“Offensive… defensive…?” Marinette looked at the kwami confused.

“Uh…” Plagg looked down. “Offensive is like… striking your opponent, and defensive is protecting yourself.”

“Oh!” Marinette grinned. “Okay! So, can I transform?”

Plagg blinked.

“Sure..?”

Marinette clapped.

“Plagg, claws out!” Marinette said.

She saw Plagg get pulled into her ring, and a dark blue light surrounded her. Marientte shut her eyes, then blinked them open.

“Plagg?” she looked around. “I guess I can’t talk to you…”

She exited the alleyway, and walked past a closed store. She paused.

“My reflection…” she muttered.

She could see it.

And she could see what she was wearing.

She was in varying shades of black to dark gray. Her chinese inspired top with the high collar that folded partially over was black (and didn’t seem to be connected to the sleeves), her gloves were black (she had claws!) and leggings were black. Somehow, her boots (they had little cat toes on the front!) were a bit darker, and the form fitting material around her arms was more of a dark gray (a blue gray). She had a belt wrapped around her waist that seemed to twitch like it was a real tail. The tail belt was also black. She spotted her silver baton on her back.

Her head was what drew her attention.

Her black hair was pulled back in a braid, and her hair was very fluffy. She had on a black mask that went to the tip of her nose, and her eyes were solid blue. Like, what was normally white was a light blue, her iris a darker shade of blue (and she had cat pupils!). When she smiled, she spotted fangs.

But what really drew her attention were her ears.

Her normally human ears had turned into cat ears.

There were cat ears on the side of her head.

And they were reacting to her emotions just like her tail belt was.

“This is so cool…” she muttered.

She tested out her baton a few times, before using it to launch herself to the rooftops.

From there, running came naturally.

She laughed.

This was so fun!

She ran around for probably an hour, just burning energy. She practiced more and more with her staff, getting used to how it felt, and how to extend it.

Then she heard the scream.

Her ears pricked, and she turned.

It sounded like a kid.

Probably around her age.

Without hesitation, she ran across the rooftops, occasionally using her staff for the longer jumps.

She came to a rest above an alleyway.

There at the bottom was a small kid, female. Brown hair with pink hair chalk in it. From the way she moved, she was likely on some kind of roller shoes.

And the men coming near the kid did not seem friendly.

She dropped silently into the alleyway, hidden in the shadows.

“Leave her alone,” she said.

The men glanced back.

“What are you? Some kind of catgirl?” one of the men asked. He was taller, thinner, but obviously the leader.

“I said leave her alone,” she repeated.

“Oh yeah? What’re you gonna do about it?” the shorter man asked. He had more muscle on him. 

But also a knife.

“Just leave her alone!” she repeated, stomping her foot.

“Show ‘er a lesson,” the tall man said.

The shorter man walked toward her.

She quickly pressed the button on her staff and extended it, knocking him backward.

“HOLY [redacted]!” the short man said. “What the [redacted]?!”

“Stay out of this, punk,” the tall man said, grabbing the knife.

She shortened the baton, then lengthened it next to him and pushed him away.

Hard.

He fell to the ground.

“[redacted]!” the tall man barked. “Let’s just go. No kid’s worth this trouble.”

The two men left.

“...that was so cool! ” the girl said, rushing forward. “How does your stick do that? How long can it extend?”

She blinked.

“Uh, there’s a button…” she muttered. “I… don’t know how long it can extend.”

“Woah…” the girl said. “I’m Alix. What’s your name?”

“I’m-” she tried to say her name, but nothing came out, and she coughed.

“Wait, you have to be a superhero,” Alix said. “You can’t tell me your real name! What’s your superhero name?”

She blinked.

Black cat.

Cat.

Māo.

Motif.

“Maotif,” she said.

“Maotif?” Alix asked.

“It’s a bit of a pun,” Maotif said.

“Cool!” Alix said. “I like your black cat theme, how’d you do the ears?”

Maotif shrugged.

“I didn’t,” she admitted. “What are you doing out so late?”

“I got new roller skates for my birthday,” Alix said. “I think I got lost. I just moved here, my dad’s working at the Louvre. Lost track of time…”

“I know where the Louvre is,” Maotif said. “I can take you if you want.”

“Sweet!” Alix said.

“I’ll have to hold onto you…”

“That’s fine,” Alix said.

Maotif grabbed Alix with one hand, and used the other on her baton, extending it, sending the two across Paris.

Finally, the Louvre came into view, and Maotif descended.

“That was so cool!” Alix said once they landed.

“Alix!”

An older man ran forward and hugged her. 

“Oh thank goodness… your brother and I were just about to go looking for you.”

“I’m fine, dad,” Alix said. “I got a bit lost, new city and all, and got cornered in an alley, but Maotif helped me out!”

“Mao…tif?”

Her dad turned around, and Maotif waved when he spotted her.

“Hi!” Maotif said.

“...thank you for finding my daughter, young lady,” Alix’s dad said. “Aren’t you a little young…?”

“It was no problamo!” Maotif said. “Just don’t tell anyone ‘bout me, okay? Okay. Anyway, this cat’s gotta pounce. I need a cat nap. Bye!”

“Bye!” Alix said as Maotif vaulted away.

-

Chapter Text

Marinette yawned and stretched as she sat up on the roof. She found that most of the time, roofs were far more comfortable than alley ways for sleeping, and she was less likely to be disturbed by anything other than birds.

“Morning, Plagg,” Marinette said, sliding down to sit on the edge of the roof.

“Are you doing patrol first or school first?” Plagg asked.

“Patrol, today,” Marinette said.

“I still can’t believe that you have all this freedom, and you choose to go sit in a school half the time,” Plagg said.

“Well, I need an education somehow ,” Marinette said. “Besides, I like to check up on Chloé.”

Plagg sighed.

“While you’re out on patrol, can you get me some cheese?” Plagg asked.

“Yep!” Marinette said. “Plagg, claws out!”

Plagg flew into the ring and the blue light of her transformation washed over her.

Maotif jumped across the roofs, trying to stick to the shadows, keeping an ear out for signs of danger.

She’d head to school after lunch.

As she ran, she ran over her mental checklist.

Patrol Paris in the shadows, find cheese for Plagg, go to school, find food for herself.

Well, half of those problems could be solved with Alix’s family, so…

Maotif’s route (she didn’t have a real route planned out) started to head toward the Louvre.

Of course, there were several miles between the random roof, and the Louvre, so she made sure to look for places to help.

A mugging here, an attempted kidnapping there, all were easily thwarted. Most weapons couldn’t even pierce her suit, and her baton was a very versatile weapon, allowing her to stop most forms of crime. She helped lost kids find their parents, elderly cross the roads, and got another cat out of a tree.

Three hours later, Maotif found herself at the museum.

“Claws in,” she whispered.

Plagg flew out of her ring and she went invisible.

“The museum?” Plagg asked.

“Where else would I get cheese?” Marinette asked. “Alix’s dad keeps some around since I keep asking.”

Marinette walked threw the museum, trying to locate Alix’s dad, or his office.

“This was a bad idea,” Marinette muttered. “It takes days to visit the whole museum…”

“We could just go to her house and nab some cheese,” Plagg said.

Marinette rolled her eyes.

“Maybe, if I don’t find him in like an hour,” Marinette said.

An alarm blared, causing Marinette and Plagg to jump.

“What’s happening?!” Plagg asked. “What’s that noise?!”

“The alarm,” Marinette said. “Someone must’ve triggered it… someone’s trying to rob the museum! Claws out!”

Blue light washed over Marinette as she ran through the museum, jumping over people and artwork.

“Maotif!”

She stopped.

“Mr. Kubdel!” Maotif said. “What’s happening?”

“Some men grabbed some artifacts from the Egyptian exhibit,” Alix’s dad said. “We’ve already contacted the police, how did you get here?”

“I was in the museum already, looking for cheese,” Maotif admitted. “Where are the men now?”

“Maotif, you don’t need to deal with this, the police will be here soon,” Alix’s dad said. “Shouldn’t you be in school?”

“Just tell me where the men are,” Maotif said. “I’ll stay hidden, but I wanna keep an eye on them until the police get here.”

Alix’s dad sighed.

“They’re headed to the entrance,” Alix’s dad said. “Stay out of sight.”
Maotif nodded, and ran off to the entrance.

“Claws in,” she muttered, and started walking before the light disappeared.

“What’s happening?” Plagg asked.

“Robbers,” Marinette said. “It’s easiest to stay hidden like this.”
“Did you get cheese?” Plagg asked.

Marinette shook her head and Plagg groaned.

“I’ll need food soon to transform you, pigtails,” Plagg said.

Marinette nodded, and fingered her pigtails.

She’d kept the hairstyle. Her fancy outfit came with the hairties that held back her hair, and she only had to fix her hair every once in a while. Pigtails were easy.

“So where are you heading?” Plagg asked.

“Well, Alix’s dad said they were heading toward the entrance from the Egyptian exhibit,” Marinette said. “I’m hoping to run into them.”

Plagg grumbled, and landed on her head. Marinette giggled, and headed to the exhibit.

Ten minutes later, she found them.

Her blood ran cold.

“Pigtails?” Plagg whispered.

Marinette gulped.

“They’ve got guns…” Marinette muttered. “They’re holding Alix’s dad and brother hostage…”

“Is that dangerous?” Plagg asked.

“The police can’t come in or the men will shoot them…” Marinette muttered. “And I think it’s lunch break… Alix will be coming here. I promised her dad I wouldn’t engage…”

“But their lives are at risk,” Plagg said.

Marinette nodded.

“Right,” she muttered. “Claws out.”

The light was hidden by a column, and she kept the the shadows, and looked over the scene.

There were five men. Two of them had guns out and were pointing them at the Kubdels, who were bound with zipties. The museum security guard was also bound and thrown to the side. He was missing his radio, one of the men had it and was speaking into it. Talking to the police. The two other men were holding various items that she recognized from the Egyptian exhibit.

Okay, she could work with this.

First things first, the guns.

The guys holding the guns were in the back, and no one was looking, so it was easy to tread lightly, not make a sound, sneak behind them.

Quickly, Maotif pulled the guns from the men’s hands. The two men blinked in confusion, and were about to turn around when she hit them in the heads with her baton, extending it between them. Both men fell to the ground. She slipped into the shadows just as the men hit the ground and the others turned around.

“What the [redacted]?” the man holding the radio said.

Maotif snuck behind him, and nailed him in the head with her baton, and grabbed the radio as it dropped.

Which left the two men holding the artifacts.

She slipped into the shadows again.

The Kubdels seemed to already know what was happening, but the other men didn’t, and look around anxiously.

“What’s happening?” the shorter of the two said.

Maotif stared at them from the shadows. She spotted a cat statue among the stolen items, and grinned.

“You shouldn’t have stolen my statue…” she trailed.

The two men shrieked, and looked around. They spotted her, her eyes were gleaming.

“Be good little thieves and put my stuff down…” she said, keeping her voice as creepy as possible.

The two men obliged, and once everything was safely on the ground, she grinneed.

“Purr…fect,” she purred.

She extended her baton, nailing the first guy in the head, and then quickly slammed the other guy, knocking them both out.

Maotif hurried out of the shadows.

“Oh thank goodness…” she muttered. She extended her claws and carefully cut off the zipties from the Kubdel’s wrists. They removed gags from their mouths.

“Thank you…” Alix’s brother stared at her.

“I did tell you to stay out of this but… I’m glad you didn’t,” Alix’s dad said.

Maotif grinned.

“Cat-ching baddies is my job!” Maotif said.

Maotif made herself scarce as the police entered. Alix’s dad and brother didn’t say anything about her, saying the men had just passed out, and they freed themselves with the sharp edge of a stolen artifact. 

Amidst the chaos of the police entering, Maotif spotted Alix.

“Hey!” Maotif said next to Alix.

Alix shrieked. “M! When did you get here?”

Maotif grinned.

“I helped stop the robbery,” Maotif said.

Alix hugged her.

“Thank you…” Alix said. “The police said dad and Jalil were stuck inside and I was worried sick…”

“I made sure they were safe,” Maotif said. “That’s my job. Anyway, do you have any cheese?”

Alix sighed and chuckled a little.

“Yeah.”

—

The woman glanced at the clock on the wall. 10 pm. Gabriel should be asleep.

She reached into her desk drawer and pulled out a blue broach, and pinned it to her shift. A blue orb flew out of it and solidified into the form of the peacock shaped kwami.

“Miss Emilie!” the kwami said. “Are we going out tonight?”

Emilie smiled.

“Yes Duusu, we are,” Emilie said, and she approached the window. “I’ve seen another miraculous user a few times for a couple of weeks now, they might know how to fix the miraculous.”

“Which miraculous?” Duusu asked.

Emilie took a breath.

“I think it’s the black cat.”

“The black cat?!” Duusu said, floating higher. “But that miraculous-”

“I’m aware of the stories,” Emilie said. “You and Nooroo have told Gabriel and me many times. But I think it’s different this time. I’ve only ever seen the user help people, and they seem really young… probably around Adrien’s age.”

“If you’re sure…” Duusu said.

“Duusu, spread my feathers,” Emilie said.

A teal light washed over her. She couldn’t see her reflection, but she knew what she looked like.

Blond hair pulled into a high braid, tied with ribbons that had feathers on the end. A teal green mask lay across her face, dipping down on her nose and going darker on her nose giving the impression of a beak. A teal shawl across her shoulders that leaned toward green, pinned in place by the her broach. A dark blue turtleneck, dark blue fingerless gloves, and a dark blue almost leotard across her torso. Most of her body was covered in skin tight sky blue fabric. The leotard led into a mini skirt similar to that of a dancer’s leotard, and she had what appeared to be knee high boots, with a peacock feather wrapped around her legs, teal green, muted pink, and muted purple. The boots themselves were similar to dancer’s shoes. Her fan was attached to her waist (don’t ask her how, she didn’t know).

She slipped out the window, and hurried to get to the roofs of Paris.

“Alright, time to find a little kitten…” she muttered, then she blinked. “A black cat… at night…”

She face palmed.

“I did not think this through…” she muttered.

“Think what through?”

She tried not to jump, and turned around, spotting the blue eyes of the black cat.

The black cat had fluffy black hair, blue irises and sclera, and literal cat ears. Her outfit was difficult to make out in the dark, but it seemed to have chinese element. There was a belt around her waist that twitched.

“Actually, I was looking for you,” she admitted. “Then realized looking for a black cat in the dark of night was not the best idea.”

The girl’s ears pinned back.

“...you were looking for me?” she asked, a quiver in her voice.

“I’ve seen you around, and thought you could maybe help me,” she said, and the black cat’s posture relaxed.

“Ah, okay,” the black cat said. “What do you need help with?

—

When Maotif had first spotted the figure in blue leaping across rooftops, she didn’t know what to think. So she had followed the figure. An older woman, around her maman’s age, in a dancer’s outfit with a peacock theme. Another miraculous?

Then the figure said she was looking for her.

Maotif worried that someone had spilled the beans about her, but it didn’t seem like that was the case.

“What do you need help with?” she asked.

The woman hesitated.

“It might be easier if I just show you,” she said. “Meet me back here in about ten minutes?”

“Sure…?” Maotif muttered. “Sure.”

The woman smiled, and hurried off.

“Claws in,” Maotif muttered, and she plopped to the ground.

“Your patrol’s done already?” Plagg asked.

“No…” Marinette reached into her pocket and pulled out two cheese sticks. She handed one to Plagg. “I met a woman. She’ll be back soon, but she wanted my help. She was dressed like a peacock.”

“Did she have a peacock broach?” Plagg asked.

Marinette frowned.

“I… yeah, I think so,” Marinette said. “Why?”

Plagg swallowed down his cheese.

“That was another miraculous holder,” Plagg said. “Holder of the peacock.”

“Why would she need my help?” Marinette asked.

“Beats me, I haven’t spoken to any other miraculous holders in like a century,” Plagg said. 

“Hm…” Marinette ate her cheese stick slowly. “Well, maybe she can teach me the ways of being a hero!”

“You’re already doing pretty good,” Plagg said.

“I mean like the cool hero stuff,” Marinette said. “You know, the flips and stuff. She looked like a dancer.”

Marinette ate the rest of her cheese stick, than pulled out a banana and an apple.

“Are you really eating right now?” Plagg asked.

“She asked for help,” Marinette said. “Who knows how long that will take. I’ve been transformed for several hours, I need more energy.”

Her ring had been flashing at her and she’d been more tired.

Plagg sighed.

She ate the banana (Plagg threw away the peel for her) and had started the apple when she heard a small noise. Soft thuds. Someone leaping across the roofs.

“She’s back,” Marinette said. “Claws out.”

Her body was surrounded by the blue light, and a minute later the peacock hero landed on the roof next to her.

“Did you detransform to feed your kwami?” the woman asked.

“Yeah, I’ve been transformed for like five hours,” Maotif said and she took another bite of her apple. “What do you need help with?”

The peacock hero pulled a thick book out.

“What’s that?” Maotif asked, tilting her head.

“It’s a grimoire,” the peacock said. “It holds information on all the miraculous.”

“How many are there?” Maotif asked. 

“Many,” the hero said. “It’s supposedly holds information on all the different power ups and powers available.”

“Powers?” Maotif asked.

“...you know, the powers that each miraculous have,” the peacock said. 

“They come with powers?!” Maotif asked, eyes filled with stars.

“Yes, they… is your tail real?” the peacock asked.

“Huh?” 

Maotif looked at her tail.

It moved.

She followed it in a circle, trying to grab it.

The peacock laughed.

“You’re so cute,” she said.

Maotif furrowed her brow as a blush crept to her cheeks, partially hidden below her mask.

“What did you say your name was?” Maotif asked, trying to change the subject. 

“I didn’t, but it’s Bella Blue,” the peacock said. “That’s my hero name at least. What’s yours?”

“Maotif!” Maotif said.

Bella Blue blinked a couple of times.

“Mao… motif?” Bella Blue asked.

Maotif’s eyes lit up.

“Yeah!” she said. “It’s a pun!”

“Do you speak Chinese?” Bella asked.

“My maman spoke it,” Maotif said. “She would switch between French and Chinese, so I know a decent amount, but haven’t had a chance to practice in a while…”

“What happened to your maman?” Bella asked.

“...nothing,” Maotif said. “Something happened to me.”

Bella stared at her for a moment.

“I know a bit of Chinese,” Bella said. “I can help you continue to practice, and you can help me improve.”

Maotif grinned.

“Okay!” Maotif said. “Now what’s is it you need my help with exactly?”

“The grimoire isn’t in French,” Bella said. “Or Chinese. I need help translating it.”

“Why do you need the translations so desperatly?” Maotif asked.

Bella hesitated.

“My… my miraculous is broken,” she admitted. “Using it for extended periods of time is causing me to get sick.”

“Then why are you still using it?” Maotif asked. 

“It’s the only way I could contact you,” Bella said. “As long as I don’t use my power, I should be fine.”

Bella flipped open the grimoire.

“Hm…” Maotif looked at the page. “I don’t know what it says…”

Bella almost seeme to deflate.

“But… I did see these symbols in an old man’s shop!” Maotif said. “The exact same symbols! I went inside because I was interested, and found a notebook with translations! Translations into Chinese, but still.”

“...you know, as the adult here, I really shouldn’t be authorizing you to break into an old man’s shop and steal his stuff, but we might need to do that,” Bella said.

“...if I had a notebook I could just copy down the translations…” Maotif muttered. “But I don’t have a notebook… or a pen…”

Bella laughed.

“You can borrow a euro to get a notebook,” Bella said. “And luckily for you, I have a pen on me!”

Bella reached into her fan and pulled out a single euro and a ballpoint pen.

“Your fan has storage?” Maotif asked, looking at her confused.

Bella shrugged.

“I don’t know the logistics,” Bella said. “My fan is also connected to my phone, but the miraculous were created millenia ago.”

“I don’t have a phone…” Maotif said. “Anyway, it might take a while to get everything copied, so I’ll meet you here… tomorrow night?”

“I’ll be on this roof tomorrow,” Bella agreed. “Make sure to get some sleep tonight, okay? And be careful not to be spotted by the old man.”

“He won’t see me,” Maotif said with a shrug. “But I’ll get some sleep. Bye!”

“Bye,” Bella said, before heading back the direction she came.

Maotif hopped across the roofs of Paris, looking for a spot to sleep comfortably. She found a flat roof, and sat down.

“Claws in,” she muttered.

The blue light surrounded her, and she vanished from sight. Plagg flew out of her ring.

“So how did things go?” Plagg asked.

“Her name is Bella Blue!” Marinette said. “And she wants help translating a… grim… something? A big book. The language in it is similar to that one massage shop we saw a few months ago.”

“That one dude with the old gramophone?” Plagg asked.

“...the music player?” Marinette questioned.

“Yes,” Plagg said, and he layed down on her head. “Do you have cheese?”

Marinette reached into her pocket and pulled out a thing of babybel cheese.

“Really, only that kind?” Plagg asked.

“Babybel is one of the best cheeses!” Marinette said, gasping like she was offended. “And it’s the only kind the Kubdel’s had with something covering it. I’m not sure what the inside of my pockets looks like, and I don’t want to contaminate the cheese.”

“Any more cheesesticks?” Plagg asked.

“I’m out,” Marinette said. “I really just need a more consistent source of cheese.”

“Yes, you do,” Plagg said. “But go to sleep! You’ve been transformed too long today!”

Marinette rolled her eyes, and glanced up at the sky.

“I don’t think it’s gonna rain tonight,” Marinette said. “No clouds.”

“Good, I don’t want to get wet,” Plagg said. “Now pigtails, sleep!”

—

Marinette woke at the crack of dawn. That was becoming more of a habit, seeing as she slept on the roof most of the time.

Also, she wasn’t completely drained of energy when she went to sleep, so she didn’t need as much sleep in the first place.

“So are you going to go on patrol first, or look for the shop,” Plagg asked when she woke up.

“I don’t remember where it is…” Marinette admitted. “I’ll go on patrol and see if I spot it. Once I do, I’ll detransform and sneak in.”

“Do you at least have cheese?” Plagg asked.

“Sorry Plagg,” Marinette said. “I’m out. You can rob the old guy of a bit of cheese if you need to. I’ll probably be there a while.”

“Fine…” Plagg said.

“Claws out!”

The blue light covered her, and Maotif jumped from the roof. She followed a route she had that led her near a store. Still needed to get a notebook.

Half an hour later she entered a store, and located the notebooks. They were pretty cheap all things considered. Four cost a single euro. Unsure how much she would need to write, Maotif grabbed four notebooks. Red, yellow, black, and blue. She headed to the checkout counter.

“Nice cosplay,” the cashier said. Probably a teen, maybe 16? “How’d you get the ears to look so realistic?”

Maotif smirked.

“Secret,” she said. 

“Want the receipt?” the cashier asked.

“No thanks,” Maotif said. “Thank you!”

She hurried out of the store and slipped the notebooks into her baton.

Maotif jumped back onto the roofs. She couldn’t be that far from shop.

Turns out she wasn’t. In fact, she was about twenty minutes away.

“Claws in,” Maotif whispered, hiding in a nearby alley way. Blue light surrounded her.

“You found it?” Plagg asked.

“Yep!” Marinette walked out. Not that many people out, so it was easy to avoid touching anyone. Unfortunately, she had to wait for someone to enter the shop, because it had a bell.

Five minutes later, someone came in, and she snuck behind them.

The old man was preoccupied, so she went searching for the notebook. It wasn’t hard to find, and she pulled it down. Marinette pulled out her blue notebook as Plagg flew off, probably to raid the fridge.

Marinette flipped the notebooks open to their first page, and began to copy the information from one notebook to the other, paying attention to when the old man was busy. Around noon, she had to slip the old man’s notebook back into it’s normal spot because he came in for lunch.

“Pigtails, you gotta hide,” she heard Plagg whisper into her ear.

Marinette frowned, but slipped into another room, keeping an eye on the door.

“Why?” Marinette asked.

“Turns out, this guy is the ‘guardian of the miraculous,’” Plagg said.

“The what?” Marinette tilted her head.

“He has a box with a bunch of other kwamis in it,” Plagg said. “He’s also currently wearing a miraculous, and so his kwami is out. They don’t know I’m here, but I think the other kwamis can see you.”

“Oh…” Marinette nodded. “Okay.”

She had to wait about 45 minutes for the old man to eat, and then she snuck back out to finish copying the notebook.

All in all, it took about 5 hours, and 6 different customers.

Now she was just waiting for another customer so she could get out. The longer she stayed, the more likely she would get caught.

Finally, another person came in. Marinette slipped past them, and slid into a nearby alley.

“Finally! The longer I was there, the more sure I was of getting caught,” Marinette said. She slipped an apple out of her pocket. “Also, I missed lunch.”

“I got some cheese!” Plagg said.

“You didn’t take too much, right?” Marinette asked.

“Not enough that he would notice,” Plagg said with a scoff. 

Marinette plopped onto the ground and bit into her apple.

“I should probably keep an eye on him,” Marinette said. “The guardian would have Tikki, right?”

“Depends on the box he’s guarding, but I saw Wayzz, so probably,” Plagg said. 

“Wayzz…?” Marinette raised a brow.

“Turtle miraculous,” Plagg explained. 

“Ah,” Marinette took another bite of her apple as she thought. “Do you think if we made the wish again, we could fix this?”

Plagg sighed.

“I don’t know, pigtails,” he said. “I don’t think we can make the wish anyway. You can’t take the ring off…”

“Right…” Marinette stared at the ring. It had the same design as it had when she was a kid. Rosegold band with pawprints circling it. All in all, a pretty good disguise.

A pointless one, but still.

She couldn’t wear the earrings, and no one else could wear the ring.

“Well, at least no evil physco’s trying to undo death can use the wish, right?” Marinette said with a laugh.

Plagg chuckled, and layed down on her head again.

In a few minutes she finished her apple. Marinette dropped the core in the dumpster.

“Alright!” Marinette said. “Plagg, claws out!”

She was covered in blue light, and she lept out of the alleyway.

—

Bella Blue sat on the designated rooftop. Where was Maotif? It was five after.

“Hey, Bella!”

Bella did her best not to jump, and looked over. Maotif had snuck up on her. Not hard, the girl was dressed in solid black.

“Sorry I’m late… lost track of time…” Maotif admitted, her ears drooped a bit.

“Hello kitten,” Bella said. “Did you find the translations?”

“Yep!” Maotif said with a smile, her tail swishing back and forth. “Also, I got four notebooks for one euro!”

“Notebooks are pretty cheap,” Bella said.

“So how long do you think translating will take?” Maotif asked. “How long will it take to find a way to fix your miraculous?”

“I’m not sure…” Bella muttered. “All I can go off of are pictures. And then there’s the problem of my husband…”

“What about him?”

“Well, he’ll notice eventually that I’m taking the book,” Bella said. “And you would need a way to translate when I can’t come out…”

“So we need to make a copy of the book?” Maotif asked. “That would take a lot of ink…”

“...or we could do it another way…” Bella muttered. She smiled. “Come with me, I have an idea.”

Bella led Maotif to a print shop.

“You’re going to make a copy here?” Maotif asked. “But it’s closed… and it would take a lot of ink to make a copy…”

“I’ve got a better idea,” Bella said. She pulled a key out of her fan and unlocked the door. Maotif frowned. “I know the owner and have a spare key.”

“You do?” Maotif followed her inside. “Are they gonna be happy with how much material you’ll use?”

“We won’t need any,” Bella said. She located an ink cartridge, and pulled a feather out of her fan. She imbued it with power, and let it fall onto the cartridge in her hand. The cartridge darkened in color, and teal green bubbles appeared in front of her, spreading apart to show a green lizard like creature.

“Yoshi?!” Maotif’s ears perked up.

“Hm… that’s copyrighted,” Bella said. “We’ll call him Copshi.”

“How did you make him?” Maotif asked.

“My miraculous allowed me to create senti-monsters,” Bella said. “A creature that follows my orders and emotions.”

Bella held out the book, and Copshi ate it.

“...he’s not gonna poop it out, right?” Maotif asked.

Bella blinked.

“I… don’t know,” she said.

Maotif stared at Copshi for a bit.

“If that’s your power, what’s mine?” Maotif asked.

“It’s some kind of destruction power, but I don’t know the activation phrase,” Bella said. “You should probably ask your kwami. I think you can message them through the communicator on your baton.”

“I don’t have a phone though,” Maotif said.

“You don’t need to,” Bella said.

Maotif pulled out her baton, and half of it extended forward, revealing a screen. There was a small button with her miraculous symbol on it. Maotif tapped it, and a message screen showed up. She blinked, then typed out a short message.

Plagg, what’s my power?

Little bubbles popped up almost immediately, bouncing as the kwami replied.

Cataclysm.

“Cata-?”

“Don’t say it yet!” Bella said, and Maotif covered her mouth. “Sorry. Um… you still have that pen I gave you, right?”

Maotif nodded, and pulled it out of her baton.

“Your power will probably activate around your ring,” Bella advised. “So hold it in that hand.”

Maotif nodded, and put the pen in her right hand.

“Cataclysm,” she said.

A black energy appeared in her hand, before absorbing into the pen, which darkened and crumbled to dust.

“Woah!” Maotif said.

“We’ll have to look into the range that you can do that,” Bella said.

Bella heard the familiar beep of a miraculous. It came much faster than it had ever come for her. Maotif seemed surprised.

“What…?” Maotif looked at her ring. One of the paws on the pawprint of her miraculous was flashing quickly.

“After you use your power, it drains your energy, causing the amount of time you can remain transformed to decrease,” Bella explained. 

“I’ve had my ring flash at me when I’ve been transformed for hours on end, but never beep…” Maotif muttered.

“Might have to do with you using your power this time,” Bella said. “Has your miraculous ever timed out before?”

“No, I just detransformed when I saw it flashing,” Maotif said, still looking at her ring. The second dot was flashing. “Most of the time I’d been transformed for several hours in a row. I have noticed that the amount of time has lengthed…”

“As you use your miraculous more, you can lengthen how long you can stay transformed, and how often you can use your powers, by building your metabolism,” Bella said. “Personally, I can use my power 10 times without detransforming, but I’ve used mine for several years. I’m also older, so I’ve got a higher metabolism in general.”

“How long do I have?” Maotif asked.

“How long have you used your miraculous?” Bella asked.

Maotif frowned.

“What the date?” she asked.

Bella blinked, “Uh, November 28th? 2017?”

“...five years now…” Maotif muttered. “I’m ten…”

Bella looked over the girl. Five years? Maotif would have been five the first time she transformed.

That was probably why her kwami didn’t tell her the power.

“I’d say you probably have about 2 and half minutes total,” Bella said. “You’re down to less than a minute.”

There were two dots left on Maotif’s ring, but one was flashing.

“Does it force you to detransform?” Maotif asked.

“Yes,” Bella said. “But it doesn’t hurt. After using your power and detransforming you have to feed your kwami so they can transform you again.”

“They run out of energy?” Maotif asked.

“Yes, that sounds about right,” Bella said. “Often your kwami will want their favorite kind of food.”

“...shoot,” Maotif muttered.

“What’s wrong?” Bella asked.

“I’m out of cheese…” Maotif muttered.

The last dot on her ring flashed, before the entire ring went dark.

But Maotif still stood there.

Bella blinked. What?

Maotif’s ears pinned back and her tail fluffed up, like a panicked cat.

“Kitten…” Bella asked.

“I-I can’t…” Maotif looked around, eyes not locking on anything. “ I can’t see! Plagg, claws in, claws in! ”

Maotif fell to the ground as she was covered in blue light.

And then she was gone.

Bella dropped the cartridge. The sound of it clattering on the ground echoed in the space.

“Kitten? Maotif!” Bella said.

Sudden pressure around her surprised her.

“I’m still here…” she heard the cat said. “Without my transformation, I don’t exist…”

“Kitten…” Bella dropped to the floor, returning the hug the girl was given. “That’s why you aren’t with your parents, isn’t it.”

“Mhm…” she heard the girl hum.

“What about your kwami?” Bella asked. “Plagg?”

“Yeah…” Maotif muttered. “Plagg…?”

A small amount of blue light, and a black kwami appeared. He was near impossible to see in the dark space.

“Hey, peafowl,” Plagg said with a grin.

Bella snorted.

“Don’t call her fowl…” Maotif complained, a whiny tone.

“Peafowl is the female name for a peacock,” Bella explained. “It’s nice to meet you Plagg. My kwami has said some things about you.”

“Probably not good…” Plagg muttered. “Do you have cheese? Pigtails is out.”

Pigtails?

“No, I’m sorry,” Bella said. “Duusu prefers nuts and seeds.”

“Pigtails, do you have anything else?” Plagg turned to probably face Maotif (he probably could see her).

“No, I’m out of food,” she muttered.

“How often are you eating?” Bella asked.

“Um…” the girl let go of her. “I have a friend who gives me food from time to time…”

“Kitten, that isn’t healthy,” Bella said. 

“My body works weird because of this,” Maotif said. “I don’t need to eat if I sleep, so I tend to prioritize Plagg’s food over my own…”

“So you regain energy from sleep and food?” Bella asked.

“Mhm…” Maotif sighed. “I’m cursed…”

“And it’s probably my fault,” Plagg said.

“How?” Bella asked.

“I’m the kwami of bad luck, destruction, and curses,” Plagg said. “My bad luck affects everyone, and I’m pretty sure my miraculous is cursed.”

“I can’t take the ring off,” Maotif muttered. Plagg seemed to lay down on something, probably the girl’s head. “But it keeps me invisible…”

“Oh kitten…” Bella pulled the girl into a hug again. “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask me. I’d take you home if I could, but my husband is obsessed with getting the ladybug and black cat miraculous…”

“He doesn’t sound very nice…” Maotif muttered.

“He’s… he was fine,” Bella said. “Plagg, you can have some of Duusu’s nuts.”

“Ugh, fine… ”

Bella pulled a small handful of almonds out of her fan, and while Plagg ate, she picked up the ink cartridge. The copshi started working again.

“What happened to it?” Maotif asked.

“When no one is holding the amok of a sentimonster, they stop moving,” Bella explained. “Because sentimonsters aren’t real living creatures. And it’s only that thought that keeps me from feeling bad destroying them.” 

The copshi finished it’s job just as Maotif transformed again. The sentimonster spit out (from the mouth, luckily) three grimoires.

“Why three?” Maotif asked.

“I don’t want my husband to realize I’m trying to translate it, but I can’t keep stealing the book,” Bella said. “Can you hold on to both? It’ll be easier to translate if we both have a copy.”

“I have infinite pockets, so yes!” Maotif said, bouncing forward.

“Infinite pockets?” Bella raised a brow, then snapped her fingers and the sentimonster disappeared.

“When I’m invisible, I’m in some kind of jumpsuit, with pockets that can hold anything!” Maotif said. “They connect to my baton!”

“That’s so cool,” Bella said. 

“Can we translate now?” Maotif asked, bouncing.

“Let’s head back to the roofs, but yes,” Bella said.

The two left the shop, and returned to their original rooftop.

Maotif spread the stuff out, two of the grimoires open, the notebooks ready.

“So where do we start?” Maotif asked.

“I’m not sure…” Bella said as she flipped through a grimoire. 

“Then can we start with our miraculous?” Maotif asked. “Maybe we’ll find some cool second powers!”

“Sure,” Bella said. “We have to start some-”

Bella burst into a coughing fit, wheezing, gasping for air.

“Bella!”

Bella grabbed at her miraculous.

“F-fall my feathers…” she managed, and the teal green light surrounded her, and her costume vanished.

“Are we done al-” Duusu cut off. “Miss *blurp*! Are you okay?”

The coughing subsided, and Emelie sat up.

“I’m fine Duusu…” she muttered.

“Bella, what… was that because of your miraculous?” Maotif asked.

Emilie took a deep breath before nodding, and she reached into her purse to pull out some almonds for Duusu.

“I can’t transform for now,” Emilie said. “But we can still read through the grimoire.”

“...okay…” Maotif asked, unsure. Her ears were drooping.

“Hey, cheer up little kitten,” Emilie said. “We’ll find a way to help me.”

“Okay…” Maotif still seemed unsure. “Um… let’s start with the page about your miraculous.”

“I’m not supposed to know what’s in there!” Duusu said, sitting on Emilie’s shoulder.

“You can cover your ears,” Emilie said. “That should be a good place to start, kitten.”

They spent the next two hours looking between the translation guide and the grimoire, translating word by word from the weird language, to Chinese, to French, and then fixing the wording so it made sense. After two hours of painstaking work, trying to figure out the new language (and trying to remember Chinese), they managed to translate three pages.

Miraculous of the peacock

Miraculous of emotions

Kwami: Duusu

Jewel: Broach

From the Chinese Miracle Box

Main Power:   Creation of sentimonsters

• A sentimonster is a creature created from the emotions of the holder of the amok. The form of the amok is up to the holder of the peacock miraculous, it can take any form

Additional Powers:

• Sensing the emotions of others

• Manipulating the emotions of others

• Projecting their own emotions

The miraculous of the peacock uses passive powers

Qualities for a good holder:

• Empathetic

• Nurturing

• Emotional resilience

Additional information:

• The miraculous of the peacock is often paired with the miraculous of the butterfly as they have similar powers

• The amok must be embedded in an object, and if the amokitized object is destroyed, the sentimonster will disappear

• If a sentimonster is cataclysmed, destroy it immediately. Cataclysmed sentimonsters go berserk and can not be controlled by the amok

Miraculous of the Black Cat

Miraculous of Destruction

Kwami: Plagg

Jewel: Ring

No Miracle Box, but was supposed to be placed in the Chinese Miracle Box

Main Power: Cataclysm

• A dark energy that destroys whatever it touches

Additional Powers:

• POSSIBLE: Black holes

• POSSIBLE: Corruption

• Other abilities unknown

The miraculous of the black cat uses active powers

Qualities for a good holder:

• UNKOWN

Additional information:

• The miraculous of the black cat has been missing since the founding of the order, only briefly appearing throughout time

• Has caused the extinction of dinosaurs, the disappearance of Atlantis, and the extinction of dragons

• This miraculous has likely gone evil, or been corrupted

• If encountered, do not approach without the ladybug miraculous

The Chinese Miracle Box

Considered the most powerful of all the miracle boxes, it contains not only the Chinese Zodiac, but also five additional powerful miraculous (the fox, the bee, the butterfly, the peacock, and the turtle) as well as the miraculous of the ladybug. The Chinese miraculous would also be where the miraculous of the black cat would reside if it hadn’t been stolen. The Chinese Miracle box is always guarded by the head guardian.

-

Chapter Text

“Oof!”
Moatif rubbed her bum.
“Be careful, kitten,” Bella said, reaching a hand out to help her up.
“You make the flips look so easy…” Maotif grumbled.
“I’ve also trained in gymnastics and ballet,” Bella said, chuckling as Maotif’s tail flicked back and forth. “You’re doing really good, just don’t take it too fast.”
“Can you show me that flip again?” Maotif asked.
“Sure,” Bella said.

—

“Bella! Guess what! Guess what!” Maotif jumped up and down. “I got a place to live!”
“You did?”
“Mhm!” Maotif bounced on the balls of her feet. “My friend Alix and her dad offered to let me stay in their attic. They’ve been the ones feeding me for a while, and they found out I’m homeless. Alix’s dad is really nice!”
“That’s wonderful!” Bella said. “Oh, now I have no excuse to not get you all sorts of things now that you have a safe place to put them.”
“Bella…” Maotif muttered, her cheeks flushing red.

—

“I… I don’t get it…” Maotif muttered. “I think I’m getting the answer wrong…”
Bella leaned over her worksheet.
“Y over X,” Bella corrected. “And when you go down, make the Y negative, alright?”
“Oh…” Maotif corrected her mistake. “Thank you!”

—

“Nice work!” Bella said as Maotif bowed.
“You taught me everything I know,” Maotif said. “Can we move onto the grimoire now? I think I have the translations almost completely memorized!”
“Wow, impressive,” Bella said, and she coughed. “We probably should move on. Duusu, fall my feathers.”
A teal green light surrounded her, and Bella detransformed.
“I really hope we can find a way to help you…” Maotif muttered. “This book doesn’t explain things very well…”
“Yes, that’s rather unfortunate,” Bella muttered.
“We’ve been at this for almost five years, and we still can’t find it,” Maotif complained. “Why did this old ‘order of the guardians’ have to not organise their stupid notes!”
“Well, we have found many ways to upgrade your powers,” Bella said. “You’re already stronger than most people using a miraculous.”
Maotif flushed, her tail flicking back and forth.
“We’re almost through the whole grimoire,” Bella said.
“But your condition is getting worse!” Maotif said.
Bella grimaced.
“How about this,” Bella said. “We’ll work through what we can tonight, and then you can work on it solo until we meet up again next week.”
Maotif nodded.
“Okay…”

—

“...I don’t like this…” Maotif muttered.
She stood on her normal rooftop at the normal meeting time. She’d finally found something that could work.
But Bella was nowhere to be found.
Nor was she there the next week.
Or the next.
Or the next.

—

Marinette groaned and shut off her alarm. Why did she decide to wake up at 8 during the summer?
Right, patrol.
“Plagg, time to get up…” Marinette muttered, pulling off her blankets.
The kwami didn’t respond, and Marinette paid no attention to it. Plagg would wake up once she got him cheese.
Marinette sat in front of her mirror, and pulled her hair out of its twin braids. She needed to brush and rebraid it anyway.
“M! You up?!”
Marinette braided her hair quicker.
“Yeah!” Marinette shouted down. “One sec!”
Marinette dropped her braids behind her back.
“Plagg, if you want cheese get up,” Marinette said, pulling out a piece of cheese bread.
“Cheese!”
Plagg downed the piece of cheese bread in once bite.
“Gonna try and find Bella during patrol again?” Plagg asked.
“Of course,” Marinette said. “I need to let her know what I found. But I’m worried… she was already sick, and it’s been so long…”
Marinette shook her head.
“I’m headed down, you done?” Marinette asked.
“Yeah…” Plagg almost seemed sad that he didn’t have anymore cheese.
Marinette chuckled. “Claws out.”
Blue light surrounded her, and Maotif glanced around her room.
The Kubdels had supplied her with some of the stuff. Her bed, the beanbag, the gaming system (though, that was mostly just moved up here, they’d already had it). The Kubdels had turned this place into a hangout spot, where Maotif and Alix spent half the summer. The other half they spent doing more active things.
But some of her more expensive items were gifts from Bella. The 3d printer, her phone, her laptop, all her sewing stuff. Bella had given her so much, even her education.
So where did she go?
Maotif slipped through the trapdoor, and located the kitchen, where she spotted Alix chomping down on a breakfast of oatmeal.
“Hey, Alix,” Maotif said. “Rollar derby?”
“Yeah,” Alix said. “I’m so lucky that I’ve got a later practise. I hate mornings.”
“You seem pretty alert,” Maotif said.
“Well, I’ve been antsy all night,” Alix said. “So what are your patrol plans today?”
“Same as always,” Maotif said, grabbing and apple from the fridge and biting into it.
“Can I race you after roller derby?” Alix asked.
“Won’t you be exhausted by that point?” Maotif asked with a grin.
“I’ve always got time for a race,” Alix said grinning.
“Deal,” Maotif smirked.
Maotif leaned on the wall.
“Why are you even eating? You just slept,” Alix pointed out.
“Late night,” Maotif said. “It’ll help take away some of the blearyness.”
“Ah, so you were up late last night doing science experiments,” Alix said.
“Potions, yes,” Maotif said. “I finally got stuff for the potions and couldn’t stop myself from working on them.”
“You tell me way too much,” Alix said, leaning back with a grin.
“But of course,” Maotif said, dialing up the dramatics. “You are my one and only friend!”
The two burst out laughing.
“See you after roller derby,” Alix said.
Maotif grinned as she tossed the core of her apple in the trash.
“See you then.”
Maotif headed up to the attic and slipped out the window.

—

“Manon! Oh, thank you! Thank you!”
“No problem Miss Chamack,” Maotif said. “Just, maybe keep me out of the headlines?”
“Of course, if that’s what you want,” Nadja said.
“Well, I gotta whisker away!” Maotif said.
Manon giggled.
“Bye kitty girl!” Manon said.
“Bye purr-ty girl!” Maotif slipped away, and walked in the shadows of an alley.
No sign of Bella.
She approached an intersection, spotting an old man there.
“Hello,” Maotif said. “Beautiful day, huh?”
The old man seemed to do a double take, and Maotif suddenly recognized him.
Shoot…
She backed up, into the alleyway, fully intending to make a getaway.
“Wayzz, shell on!”
Scratch that idea.
The old man guardian threw his shield Captain America style and she ducked, then ran off, but he gave chase.
In just a couple of minutes, she slipped into the sewer system.
Less witnesses.
Wait, no, that sounds wrong.
She ducked again as the shield flew over her head.
“What the heck is your problem?!” Maotif asked.
“Return the miraculous of the black cat and we won’t have any problems,” the guardian said, attaching his shield onto his head. Wait, was it a hat?
“Not an option,” Maotif said.
The old guardian rushed her, but then held the shield up.
“Shelter!”
A green dome surrounded them.
“No where to run,” he said.
Maotif looked around, unworried.
“So you are using the turtle miraculous,” she muttered.
Miraculous of protection. Kwami: Wayzz. Main power: Shelter (force fields.) Defensive powers. Additional powers: detecting weak points of the opponent, taking on the injuries of your allies, protection from mental attacks. Good qualities: Steadfastness, protective nature, caring about others. Other info: can be good when paired with the fox, butterfly, or peacock miraculous. Shields can only be destroyed by…
“Cataclysm,” Maotif muttered with a smirk.
Black energy surrounded her ring, and the old guardian paled. He must be just realizing she knew her power. He clutched something in a pocket.
Something orange.
Maotif didn’t show her notice, but grinned.
“You should have thought out your plan more,” Maotif said.
Then she ran past him, stretching her hand out.
She simultaneously slipped the orange thing out of his pocket and touched the forcefield with her cataclysm. Maotif spun on her heel, her tail helping to balance her, and she looked back at the old guardian.
“Maybe you were unaware, but you have five minutes until you transform back,” the old guardian said smugely.
“You think it’ll take that long for me to escape?” Maotif asked with a grin, and she sprinted down the hallway.
If there was one thing the black cat had on the turtle, it was speed.
It had lots of things on it, but that was the important one.
Maotif slipped out of the sewers.
“Claws in,” she whispered.
As soon as the light surrounded her, she slipped the orange thing into her pocket, and shushed Plagg.
The old guardian followed her a minute later.
“Where did she go!” he complained. “Wayzz, shell off.”
Marinette slid behind a dumpster, keeping an eye on the old guardian.
The green kwami appeared.
“Master, why did you transform?” the kwami asked.
“I saw a black cat,” the old man said.
“What?!”
“This is a problem.”
“Why did you attack, master?”
“They were going to attack me, it was an adrenaline rush.”
Marinette rolled her eyes.
The old guardian and his kwami continued to talk. Something about sending someone to counter her? Marinette didn’t pay much attention, and instead pulled out a gatorade and cheese bread. She drank the gatorade while Plagg ate his cheese bread.
When the old man and the kwami left, she followed them through the shadows. They were close to the old man’s shop, which he entered.
She pulled out her phone and started to record while he approached the gramophone. She’d meant to capture his face when he realized he didn’t have the necklace (she kept her phone invisible). Instead she caught him type a password and spotted the Chinese miracle box.
…whooops.
She did get the priceless expression on his face on camera.
But she slipped away.
“So…” Marinette muttered as she headed toward Alix’s roller derby.
“You can steal all the miraculous if you want,” Plagg said.
“Think it’s a miraculous I grabbed off him?” Marinette asked.
“If he had it while transformed? Definitely,” Plagg said.
Marinette smirked, then spotted Alix waiting.
She tip-toed behind the girl.
“Boo!”
“Gah!” Alix spun around. “M! Not fair!”
Marinette cackled.
“Claws out!”
Blue light turned her visible.
“You ready?” Maotif asked.
“You bet!” Alix said. “3, 2, 1, go!”
The two took off. Alix in her skates, Maotif running (they’d long since agreed that using her staff was cheating). They took the back route home, going through alleys and avoiding the main roads. Not only was it faster, but also kept Maotif out of sight.
Maotif won the race by ten seconds.
“You are really good at this,” Maotif said. “You’re faster than the old turtle dude.”
“Turtle?” Alix raised a brow as she took off her skates.
“Eh… an old man I’ve run into a few times,” Maotif said. “He attacked me today. I’ll probably patrol a little less, but he shouldn’t be a threat.”
“Yeesh,” Alix set her skates by the door. “I’ma hop in the shower, then we can play UMS, sound good?”
“Yeah,” Maotif grinned. “I’ve gotta check something anyway.”
The two parted ways, and Maotif entered her attic bedroom.
“Claws in.”
Blue light and Plagg zipped out of the ring.
“Pigtails, feed me!” Plagg said dramatically.
Marinette rolled her eyes, and pulled out some cheese bread.
“I didn’t even use my power this time,” Marinette said.
She reached back into her pocket, and pulled out the orange thing she’d stolen.
It was a pendant, in the shape of a hook.
“The fox miraculous,” Marinette said.
The miraculous glowed orange, and a ball of light flew out.
“...your not the guardian,” the kwami that came out said. Orange fur, purple eyes, tall ears and a bushy tail. “Who are you?”
Marinette opened her mouth, but couldn’t speak her name. “...you can call me M,” Marinette said. “You’re Trixx, right? Kwami of deception?”
She ran through what she knew in her head. Main power of illusions (ranging from easy: sight and sound, to hard: touch), sub powers of a silence barrier, shape-shifting, and intangibility. Common traits: stubborn and/or mischievous holders. A miraculous of choice for journalists, tricksters, and thieves.
“...did the guardian give out my miraculous?” Trixx asked.
“No. He didn’t.”
Trixx froze, and the blood seemed to drain from his face.
“Plagg!” he growled.
“Great to see you too, foxy,” Plagg said, floating out from behind Marinette.
“If you’re here… then that means that she’s a new black cat!” Trixx shrieked.
“Calm down!” Marinette said. “Trixx, I don’t mean you any harm.”
“When has a black cat ever not meant harm?!” Trixx asked.
“Hey, the old guy attacked me,” Marinette said. “I only said it was a lovely day.”
“Everyone knows the stories of the black cats, who kill hundreds, if not thousands!” Trixx said. “I need to go tell the guardian-”
“You can’t leave,” Marinette said quickly.
Trixx growled.
“Oh right, you have to follow orders…” Marinette muttered, facepalming. “Look, I don’t want to get in the guardian’s way. I just want to help people, okay?”
“You could easily do that without the miraculous,” Trixx muttered.
Marinette sighed.
“No… I can’t actually…” she muttered.
“What do you mean?”
“The ring is cursed,” Plagg said.
“Duh! That much was obvious!” Trixx said.
Plagg rolled his eyes.
“All my holders being evil doesn’t have anything to do with a curse,” Plagg said. “At least, as far as I’m aware. Were you aware that a wish was made 9 years ago?”
“Tikki abruptly showed up in the pocket dimension and was in hysterics because she saw you, and a five-year-old was killed,” Trixx said. He blinked, then glanced over at Marinette.
“Welcome to the results,” Marinette said. “Invisible except in mirrors, food and sleep equal energy, no friends without transforming. I can’t even say my own name.”
“Wait… you’re the kid that was killed?” Trixx asked. “Tikki said they were killed though… and probably thinks you pulled the ring off a corpse…”
“Actually, the wish was so I would disappear,” Marinette said. “And somehow it cursed the ring. I can’t take the ring off, the ring keeps me invisible. The whole thing was an accident.”
“How do you accidentally make a wish?” Trixx asked like he couldn’t believe it.
“Tikki assumed it had to do with the wish being made by a five-year-old,” Plagg said. “Stupidly, she said ‘what if I wished’ and she hadn’t even transformed.”
“Oh…”
Trixx floated there, trying to process that.
“So, Trixx, what do you like to eat?” Marinette asked, switching the subject. Trixx blinked.
“What do you mean?”
“If I’m going to host you, I’ll need something to feed you,” Marinette said.
“...you… aren’t putting me back in my miraculous?” Trixx asked.
“No… why would I?” Marinette asked. “You’re a living being, and deserve to travel around as you please.”
“The guardians always put us in our miraculous, or in the miracle boxes when not in use,” Trixx said.
“And what were those boxes like?” Marinette asked.
“...white empty space,” Trixx said. “We brought stuff in over time though!”
“Okay, that’s just cruel,” Marinette said. “The guardians attach you to jewelry so you can interact with the mortal plane, and then don’t let you come out.”
“But when we do come out, we get to talk to humans, and it’s all worth it!” Trixx said, probably trying to convince himself. “Even if it’s sometimes centuries between uses…”
“The more I hear about these guardians, the less I like them…” Marinette muttered. “You know what? I’ll make my own order. I’ll find more miraculous, and make a better environment for you overall.”
“You’ll… what?” Trixx said.
“Anyway, back to my original question, what do you like?” Marinette asked.
Trixx blinked a few times and shook his head.
“I like grapes,” Trixx said. “Are those still a thing? It’s been like a century or two…”
“Yeah, grapes are a thing,” Marinette said. “Do you like video games? Wait, stupid question, I’ll show you when Alix is done.”
“Alix?” Trixx frowned at the new name.
“Oh, my friend,” Marinette said. “Met her 9 years ago, we became close, I live in her attic, and she found out I’m invisible. A whole big shebang. Anyway, I’ll grab some grapes, Alix should be up soon, and I can show you the wonderful world of video games.”

-

Chapter Text

“Master! Master!”

Fu cringed as his customer glanced around.

“Thank you for coming by, see you next week!” Fu said, politely kicking the customer out of the store. Fu turned to face Wayzz.

“Master, I felt Nooroo’s aura!” Wayzz said.

“You did?”

“Yes. But Master… it’s a negative aura,” Wayzz hung his head. “I fear he may have gotten into the wrong hands…”

“First the black cat appears and now this?” Fu murmured. “We’re out of time for picking heroes. I’ll need to drop off the miraculous today!”

“Which ones are you using?” Wayzz asked, following Fu as he headed over to the gramophone.

“If we’re facing against the black cat and a corrupted butterfly, we’ll need Tikki,” Fu said. “The horse can provide a good backup, and the speed can out match the cat’s.”

Wayzz nodded.

“I hope you chose well…” Wayzz muttered.

—

“M! C’mon!” Alix complained.

“Watching a class and not interacting is boring,” Moatif said. “I did it for five years Alix.”

Alix pouted.

“It’s so not fair that I still have to go to school while you’ve got free time 24/7,” Alix muttered.

“You haven’t complained in the past,” Maotif said.

“Yeah, because you had an adult tutoring you!” Alix said. “But… but she’s missing.”

Maotif grimaced.

“I’m still looking…” Maotif muttered.

“Please! Just come with me! Just for today!” Alix said.

Maotif sighed.

“ Fine… ” Maotif said. “Just for today.”

“Yes! Thank you!” Alix said, tightly hugging her.

Maotif laughed.

—

Alix skated to the school, keeping an eye out for traffic. 

An old man had fallen near the school, and couldn’t reach his cane.

“Oh shoot…” Alix muttered, and she sped up, hoping to help the old man.

A blond kid she vaguely recognized and tecno geek with glasses (Max?) beat her there, helping the old guys up.

Alix sighed. At least someone helped him up.

She continued toward the school, and out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the old guy put his cane on his shoulder. Wait… if he could do that the whole time, why’d he need help getting up?

Alix shook her head as she approached the school. He might just have problems standing up and not walking. She sat on the foot of the steps, and was vaguely aware of the presence behind her. Good, M was still here. Alix hit a button on the side of her roller blades, and the wheels retracted in to form a pair of platform sneakers, which she loosened a touch. M made these for her, and they were awesome . The teachers couldn’t complain about her roller blading anymore.

Alix hurried up the stairs and to the second floor, and located her classroom. Mme Bustier was her teacher. She didn’t recognize the name, new teacher maybe? On the list of kids in the class was Chloé, and a couple of new kids.

She entered the classroom, and spotted one of the new kids immediately. It was kinda obvious, they were in the wrong seat, and she didn’t recognize them.

Alix walked over the the girl.

“Hey, you’ll want to move,” Alix said, trying to be as polite as possible.

“Why?” the new girl asked. 

“The Queen Bee of the school has a tendency to blow up when kids sit in that seat,” Alix explained. “You might be let off the hook for being new but…”

“I can handle a queen bee,” new girl said.

“I’m sure you can, but Chloé will use her wealth, and status as the mayor’s daughter to get what she wants,” Alix said. “She’s nice most of the time, if not a bit snarky, but she declared that seat off limits for as long as she’s in class.”

“Why?” the new girl asked, standing up.

The door slammed open (when did it close?)

“I sensed someone sitting in the wrong seat! ” Chloé said, glaring.

There were only a couple of kids in the classroom, and they all shrank. Kids hated when Chloé got like this.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize it was claimed,” new girl said. Probably a bit to much sass.

Chloé scanned her up and down, and sighed.

“I’ll let you off the hook this time,” Chloé said, anger already diminishing. “But only because you’re new. For future reference, that seat is off limits, to anyone .”

The new girl didn’t shrink, stood head strong, but could read the mood of the room. 

Alix sat down in the second row, across from the banned seat, and new girl sat next to her.

“What’s the deal with that seat?” new girl whispered.

“Chloé’s friend from before primaire always sat there,” Alix explained.

“And she’s not over a friend moving away?” new girl asked.

“She didn’t move,” Alix said. “You saw the bakery across the street, right? Tom and Sabines?” new girl nodded. “It’s owned by the friend’s parents. She went missing almost 10 years ago, just before I moved here. Apparently, Chloé hasn’t been the same since. She’s nice for the most part, really smart, but doesn’t let people in, and can… blow up when angry.”

“What was the girl’s name?” new girl asked.

“...I think it’s Marinette,” Alix said. “Anyway, I’m Alix. What’s your name?”

“Alya,” new girl said.

“Are you new to the city, the district, or…?” Alix trailed off.

“I just moved her from America,” Alya said. “My mom got a job working as a chef in le grand paris, so the whole family moved.”

“Nice!” Alix said. “My dad runs the Louvre. What are you into?”

Alya’s eyes shimmered.

“I love superheroes!” Alya said. “The nice thing about living in America was that I got to see them every once in a while! I never got close, but I loved to take pictures. I’m planning to become a journalist! I’ve even collected most of the DC and Marvel comics. The older ones are harder to find, but…”

“That’s awesome!” Alix said. “I love heroes too! I’m also on the roller derby team.”

“That’s cool! You’re pretty sporty then, huh,” Alya said.

“Yeah. I’m faster than Kim,” Alix glanced back at the tall jock, who glared at her, but went back to something he was writing. Weird.

“I hope Paris has some heroes…” Alya said. “If not, I’ll run a blog on something else.”

“If you could film heroes, would you run into the thick of the action?” Alix asked.

“I’d want to,” Alya said. “But my parents would also kill me, so there’s only so many times I could get away with it…”

“Maybe you need a drone,” Alix said. “You could get better angles with a drone too.”

“Oh, that’s smart!” Alya said.

“Adrikins!”

The two glanced up, and saw Chloé hugging the blondie who helped the old guy.

“Hey, Chloé,” he said.

“I’m so glad you’re here!” Chloé said. “You needed to get out of that stuffy house.”

“Thanks for getting me signed up for school,” Adrien said. “We’ll see how long I can stay out of the house…”

“You snuck out?” Chloé asked with a raised brow.

“Who’s that?” Alya muttered.

Alix shrugged.

“I saw him earlier,” Alix said. “I think he’s the other new kid. Name starts with an A I think.”

“Understandable, Chloé called him ‘Adrikins,’” Alya said. “Where would we know him from?”

“If he’s friends with Chloé, and was homeschooled, probably a rich kid,” Alix said.

Alya searched ‘rich kids of paris’.

“Adrien Agreste,” Alya said. “Son of fashion designer Gabriel Agreste. His mom disappeared recently.”

“Yikes…” Alix muttered. “From the sound of it, he and Chloé have been friends for a while. And he had to sneak out of the house?”

“Do you want me to sit next to you?” Adrien asked, as Chloé sat down.

“NO!”

The class went silent again.

Chloé blinked a few times and took some uneven breaths.

“I-I mean…” Chloé shook her head. “You can sit by DJ boy. You’ll still be in front of me.”

“O…kay?” Adrien sat down next to Nino, who introduced himself.

“Ah… now I see why you wanted me to move,” Alya said.

“Chloé’s nice, really, she is,” Alix said. “But she took the disappearance of Marinette the hardest. So, yeah. It’s in everyone’s best interests that seat remains empty.”

Alya nodded.

The class started within a few minutes, seat drama over. 

Mme Bustier introduced herself. She was a young teacher, with red hair and blue eyes.

Class ran by fairly normal (was M even still here?)

At least, for the most part.

“KIM!”

Everyone spun around and saw Ivan raising a fist, pulling Kim forward.

“C’mon Ivan! It was a joke!” Kim said.

“Ivan! To the principals office!” Mme Bustier said, pointing at the door.

Ivan glared at Kim, before letting go and storming out.

“That was kinda harsh…” Alya muttered.

“He was about to punch Kim,” Alix whispered back. “Which I would have paid money to see.”

“But why didn’t she send Kim too?” Alya asked. “Get both sides of the story? Ivan was upset at Kim for some reason…”

Alix shrugged.

Within a few minutes, the class was divided into two groups. Half the class headed to the stadium for gym, the other half to the library for a study period.

“You know, I’m fine with a free period, but why give us one the first day?” Alix asked.

“It is a study period,” Alya said.

“Yeah, and we’ve got no homework,” Alix said. “So, what are your opinions on our teacher?”

“I mean, she’s good at teaching,” Alya said. “But honestly, I think she has an overly optimistic view on the world. A soft teacher if you will, like soft parents. Let’s kids get away with anything because they don’t want to scold them.”

“...that’s honestly a great way to put it,” Alix said.

A few minutes into the class (which they spent just chatting because there was nothing else to do), the ground rumbled, knocking everyone to the ground.

“What the…?”

“The cameras,” Alix heard M whisper.

Alix glanced over.

“Outside!” Alix shouted.

Everyone looked around, some glancing at the cameras, some at the windows, just as a rocky hand broke through the wall.

“ KIM!! ”

The class ducked, and watched a giant eye peer through the hole.

“What the [redacted] was that?” Alix asked.

“A supervillain!” Alya squealed, stars in her eyes. “Which means a superhero can’t be far behind! I’ve gotta film this!”

Alya ran out, and Alix followed her, a touch slower.

“M?” Alix whispered. “You gonna fight this?”

“Of course,” came the response.

With a grin, Alix slid down the stairs.

“Alya! Wait up!” Alix shouted.

—

Marinette trailed out of the school.

“That… creature had Ivan’s voice,” Marinette said. 

“The butterfly miraculous was recently activated…” Trixx muttered. “But it had a negative aura…”

“The butterfly is Nooroo, right?” Plagg asked.

“Yeah, why would you not know that?” Trixx asked.

“Cause the butterfly and peacock are usually pupetting things from behind! I’ve hardly interacted with them!” Plagg said. 

“The butterfly miraculous is supposed to create heroes with a power to suit their needs…” Marinette muttered.

“But because it’s in the wrong hands, it’s creating villains,” Trixx said. “The power comes from an object holding the butterfly, the tenshi.”

“But that object’s probably corrupted, so it’s an akuma,” Plagg corrected. “The ladybug miraculous could do this easier, but you can absorb the corruption, but you’ll have to dispel it as soon as you can. Pouring it into a destructive wave to fix things should work.”

“You realize the oxymoron in that sentence, right?” Trixx asked. “How can you fix anything?”

“We do form a yin yang,” Plagg said. “Don’t ask me, it’s how things are!”

Marinette sighed.

“How do I unleash that wave?” she asked.

“Catastrophe,” Plagg said. 

“Transform now!” Trixx said. 

Marinette tucked Trixx’s miraculous into her pocket for safe keeping, then muttered, “Claws out.”

—

Alya couldn’t believe her luck.

Only a week in Paris, and a supervillain attacks!

Was that a good thing or a bad thing?

Depends on if a hero shows up.

“Alya! Wait up!” she heard Alix shout.

Alya stopped and the shorter girl reached her.

“You coming with?” Alya asked.

“Yeah, one sec,” Alix crouched down and hit buttons on the side of her shoes. Suddenly, wheels came out of the four inch platforms, forming a pair of roller blades.

“Man, now I’m jealous!” Alya said. “I won’t be able to keep up.”

“Hang on,” Alix reached into her backpack and pulled out… a skateboard? It was folded up. “Ever gone wake boarding?”

“Yes, actually,” Alya said.

“Great,” Alix grabbed a rope from her bag, and tossed one side of it that had a handle to Alya, before attaching the rope to a harness she pulled out of her bag.

“Why do you have all this?” Alya asked.

“Not the first time I’ve given someone a ride,” Alix said. “As long as you can keep your arms through the handle, you should still be able to record.”

“Okay, thanks,” Alya said. She pulled up a news app. “Looks like rocky is headed to the stadium.”

“He’s after Kim,” Alix muttered. “You ready?”

Alya nodded.

“Alright, let’s go!”

—

Maotif ran across the rooftops of Paris, occasionally using her baton to vault over them (something she had never dared do in broad daylight, but there was a supervillain running around). She could see rock dude in the distance, getting slightly bigger.

She arrived, and spotted the police with guns out. Every time a bullet landed, stonehenge got even bigger.

Alright, brute force was out. Didn’t even seem to faze him.

She snuck around, hiding in the shadows was second nature to her. Where was the object? Rocky was made out of solid rocks…

His fist stayed closed the whole time. It must be in there. 

She spotted Alix skate in, Alya on a skateboard behind her, filming.

Well, no time like the present to become well known across Paris.

“KIIIMMM!!” Iron Golem shouted.

Maotif took a breath and stepped out of the shadows of the roofs.

“BEENNNN!” she yelled.

All attention immediately snapped to her.

“Oh, are we not just shouting random names?” Maotif asked with a smirk. “How un-furr-tunate.”

Maotif lept to the ground, landing next to Alix. Alya was silently freaking out.

“Do you have a plan?” Alix asked.

“Duh,” Maotif said. “Well, like, half of one, but still.”

Okay… she broke Alya. Poor girl was freaking out about her new bestie being besties with the superhero.

“You okay being a part of it?” Maotif asked. “It may involve getting grabbed.”

“I’m fine with anything as long as I don’t get seriously injured,” Alix said.

“Stay close,” Maotif said. “HEY! ROCKY! COME GET ME!”

“Ah…” she heard Alix mutter.

Maotif drew Stonehenge’s attention away from the police and onto her.

“So like, are you supposed to be a fur-midable opponent?” Maotif asked. “Be-claws, un-fur-tuna-tly fur you, you’re nowhere near fur-midable.”

“ GAH! ”

“Oh goodness gracious,” Alix muttered. 

Iron Golem reached out to grab her, and Maotif dodged, and he grabbed Alix instead.

“Missed me missed me!” Maotif said. “Ah, jeez leweez, are you kitten me? You’re so in-fur-ior to me! It’s hiss-taricle!”

Iron Golem screamed again and reached to grab her. Out of his hand dropped a purple rock.

There.

Maotif dodged and scooped up the purple rock.

“Aww… is this purr-ple thing yours?” Maotif asked, right before crushing it in her hand. A black and purple butterfly flew out. “Cataclysm!”

The destructive energy from her ring hit the butterfly, and she felt a pang of heat go up her arm, like getting hit with a hot cattle prod.

“Aaaaa!”

“Alix!” Maotif let go of the butterfly and raced over, using her baton to catch her falling friend.

Alix caught her breath.

“You okay?” Maotif asked.

Alix took a moment to respond. 

“Never use that many puns in a row again,” Alix said.

Maotif snorted, and set her down, before glancing over her shoulder. A single white butterfly sat ontop of a piece of paper. She walked over and picked up the paper, the butterfly flying off (gosh her arm hurt).

She briefly scanned over the paper, and frowned, before walking over to Ivan.

“Ivan, was it?” she asked.

“...how do you know my name?” he asked.

“I heard some of your classmates earlier,” Maotif said (technically true). “Don’t listen to Kim. I’m sure you can ask out this girl.”

“It’s Mylene, right?” Alix asked.

Ivan flushed.

“Dude, just ask her!” Alix said. “She’ll say yes!”

“But… how?” Ivan asked. “I don’t even know…”

“Does she like music?” Alya asked, her phone no longer in sight. Ivan nodded. “There’s nothing more romantic than writing a song!”

“And just go for it,” Maotif said. She tried to smile, but the pain in her arm was becoming unbearable.

“M, you okay?” Alix asked, glancing over.

“I’m…” Maotif grimaced, and glanced at her arm.

Ah.

The pitch black spreading from her ring was probably bad.

Use catastrophe. A voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like Plagg said.

“I gotta pounce,” Maotif said with a grin, pain flaring up her arm.

“You sure you’re okay?” Alix asked, taking a hesitant toward her.

“Yep! Just peachy!” Maotif said, her voice straining. 

Use catastrophe.

Maotif let out a breath then acted on instinct.

“Catastrophe!”

She punched her hand into the ground, and black energy spread across Paris. Things that had been broken were fixed, though it didn’t seem like they were where they used to be (was that a car on the top of the stadium?)

“Woah…” Alix muttered. “That’s new…”

“Cat-ch ya later!” Maotif said with a grin. Good, the pain was gone. “See ya!”

Using her baton, she pole vaulted away.

—

“Alright,” Adrien snapped his fingers, making sure he got everything. “You can give me superpowers, and I need to use them to capture something called an… akuma? And then fix the city. Oh, and I’ll get some partner.”

Tikki nodded.

“You’re the only ones who can stop the monster!” Tikki explained, desperation in her voice.

“Paris has been saved!” came the reporter on TV.

“What?!” Tikki and Adrien turned to the TV at once, and Adrien turned up the volume.

“Some kind of cat girl dressed in all black appeared out of nowhere and stopped the stone monster, who people are claiming called himself Stoneheart,” the reporter said, some girl who Adrien was pretty sure was called something like Natalia or Naddie or something. It started with an N. “Footage has been cut, but it seems that the monster is a local teen boy.”

They saw a ring of black fly through the city, and Tikki shivered.

“What was that?” Adrien asked. 

“What was that?” The reporter said, then held a hand to her ear. “I’m getting reports that this black energy has fixed all damage done to the city by the monster!”

Camera feed from near the stadium appeared on screen. The catgirl seemed to have left, along with the teen boy, but Adrien did spot something perplexing.

“Is that a car on the stadium?” Adrien asked.

“This is bad…” Tikki muttered.

“Why?” Adrien asked. “Wasn’t that my partner?”

“No! That’s an enemy!” Tikki said. “The black cat is your enemy! This one must’ve stolen the ring from…” Tikki shook her head. “You’ll have to take her miraculous. Her ring.”

“I’ll have to fight her?” Adrien asked.

“Yes but…” Tikki sighed. “Paris seems to be on her side. Don’t throw the first punch, or whatever. Paris might hate you for that.”

“Alright,” Adrien said, glancing uneasly at the TV.

-

Chapter Text

The next day of school, Alya pretty much tackled Alix.

“Wha-?”

“Tell. Me. Everything. ”

Alix blinked a few times.

“What?”

Alya shook Alix and said, “About that superhero! How do you know her? How long have you been friends? When did you meet?”

“ Oh… ” Alix laughed. “Maotif saved me from some muggers nine years ago, and has saved me and my family several times since then. We’ve been pretty good friends since the beginning.”

Alya grinned, stars in her eyes, then whipped out her phone.

“She’s been a hero for nine years?” Alya bounced as she typed on her phone. “Oh, this so needs its own section for run ins!”

“Section?” Alix raised a brow and peeked at Alya’s phone.

“I’m making a blog!” Alya said. “Catablog! It sorta sounds like that power she used, and I want to give people all the deets on the coolest cat in town!”

“Making a blog on your phone?” Alix asked with a raised brow.

“ No, I’m taking notes on my phone,” Alya said. “I’m making the blog on my computer at home. Although, it’s pretty boring, not set up well.”

“You could talk to Nathaniel, he loves drawing,” Alix said. “Although, he’s pretty shy.”

“That sounds awesome, I’ll have to bring it up,” Alya said. 

As they entered the school, they spotted a crowd of kids. They were all around Ivan, who looked anxious, and like he did not want to be the center of attention.

“Seriously, you were out to get Kim!” Nino said.

“I still don’t get why you were made of rocks,” Kim scoffed.

“It was wicked cool,” they heard Juleka mutter.

“Ivan does not look happy to have the attention on him,” Alya whispered.

“Wanna do something ‘bout it?” Alix asked, to which Alya grinned.

“Hey, Ivan, can you come here real quick?” Alya called out. The crowd of students looked back at her, but Ivan looked relieved to not have a bunch of attention on him anymore. He immediately stood up and walked over. 

As Alya and Ivan walked off, Alix flipped the crowd off, then skated after them.

“You ready?” Alya asked once they were out of earshot.

“I-I have words done, but I don’t know the tune…” Ivan muttered.

“The words should be enough,” Alya said. “You two can make a tune together.”

“Mylene’s here,” Alix said, glancing at the entrance.

Alya grinned.

“Go get her!” she said, giving Ivan a gentle shove.

Ivan glanced back, gave them a half-smile, then walked over to Mylene. Alya and Alix couldn’t hear what the Ivan said, but they saw Mylene go a touch red, and the two walk off somewhere.

“She’s totally saying yes,” Alya said.

“Obvi,” Alix said. She turned her skates into sneakers. “We should head to class. Don’t want to be late.”

“Fair enough,” Alya said.

—

Chloé tapped her fingers against the desk, glancing at the door every minute or two, then at her phone. Where was Adrien? Class started in a couple of minutes…

Oh dear… he must’ve been running away from home to head to school… that was a… slight problem. If he got caught yesterday, security might’ve gotten even tighter…

Her phone buzzed, and she glanced down.

Adrikins: Sorry, had a little trouble sneaking out, should be there soon!

Chloé let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness. 

She really needed to talk to his dad about letting him go to school with her.

Chlo: Alright, I’ll see you here!

Sabrina walked over, and leaned against her desk.

“Do you wanna run through the homework while we wait for class to start?” Sabrina asked.

Chloé blinked.

“In the mess of yesterday they assigned homework? ” Chloé asked. “And on the first day of school?”

“They sent an email out,” Sabrina said. “Don’t know why they assigned homework on the literal first day of school, but oh well.”

Chloé groaned.

“I don’t check emails from the school,” Chloé said. “Normally if they’re important my dad will let me know. What was the homework?”

“Not much, just a couple of math problem,” Sabrina said.

“Math? Psh,” Chloé chuckled, and she pulled out her math notebook. “Shoot me the problems and I’ll have them done.”

Sabrina gave Chloé the problems and, sure enough, she had them done pretty quick.

“This is like, the easiest thing ever,” Chloé said. “I always forget how easy the math classes are.”

“You’re just really good at math,” Sabrina said. 

“I’m good at everything, ” Chloé said. “I just don’t wear a nerd badge like you do.”

Sabrina gasped with fake offense, and Chloé laughed.

“Anything else?” Chloé asked.

“No, there wasn’t more homework,” Sabrina said. “We literally just got through first period, and then there was study hall or gym, and then school got cancelled for the rest of the day.”

Chloé sighed.

“Phew, don’t know if I could wizz out other homework,” Chloé said.

Mme Bustier entered the classroom and spread her stuff out on her desk, getting ready for the start of class. Chloé happened to glance over at the desk across from hers, and raised a brow at the gawking new girl sitting there. 

“What?” Chloé asked.

“...I’ve never seen a popular rich girl that was good at school, that’s all,” she said.

“What, you trying to stereotype me?” Chloé asked.

“No, no!” the girl insisted. “I just thought… uh… nevermind.”

Chloé rolled her eyes.

“You should probably sit down Sabrina,” Chloé said. “Class is about to start.”

Sabrina nodded, and went to her seat.

Just as the bell rang, Adrien Agreste dashed into the classroom, sweaty, and out of breath.

“Adrien! Uh…” Mme Bustier glanced around. “I guess technically, your not late…”

“S-sorry!” Adrien said. “I had to sneak out of my house and then run here-”

“It’s fine, just take your seat,” Mme Bustier said.

Adrien nodded, a look of relief, and slipped into his seat next to DJ boy. Nino?

Mme Bustier began to take attendance. Adrien is the first student called, with his name being first alphabetacally. Then was Chloé, who pulled out her compact after, then Ivan, and so forth. 

Chloé touched up her lipstick (why was it smeared?), and suddenly noticed a dark splotch. Frowning, she glanced to her right, then turned her body slightly.

There was a girl sitting next to her. Chloé could only see her through the mirror. The girl was asian, with light skin, blue eyes, and dark hair in braided pigtails. She wore a solid black jumpsuit, and the only spots of color on her outfit was the rose gold ring she wore, and the rosegold fox shaped pendant around her neck.

Narrowing her eyes, Chloé tried to place why this girl was so familiar. 

The girl happened to glance her way, and her eyes went wide as she froze like a deer in headlights. She then lifted a finger to her lips, as if to shush Chloé, and Chloé got a better look at the ring on her hands.

A rosegold band with engraved pawprints.

Chloé’s eyes went wide.

It couldn’t be…

A small black creature flew out, and Chloé recognized him instantly.

“Marinette?” she mouthed.

The girl nodded, a sad smile on her face.

Chloé looked down, putting her compact away.

How…?

“I’m so sorry…” Chloé mouthed.

She didn’t know if Marinette had seen, or could tell what she said.

How was Marinette here?

—

“You know, I’ve decided that Bustier really shouldn’t have become a teacher,” Alya said as they walked to Mendeliev’s. “You and Kim got into a fight right at the start of class, and she didn’t do anything. Your fight lasted ten minutes!”

“Seriously. The second half of the fight me and Kim were both just seeing how much we could get away with,” Alix said.

“And didn’t handle the Kim Ivan situation yesterday,” Alya said. “Also, I think Rose may have fainted when Ivan and Mylene walked in together hand in hand.”

“She totally did, or was at least this close,” Alix said, holding fingers a hair apart.

Alix felt a light tap on her shoulder, and she glanced over it and saw no one.

“Ah, crap, I think something’s wrong with my shoe,” Alix said, leaning down. “You go ahead, I’ll catch up,”

“Alright,” Alya said. “I’ll save your seat.”

Alya walked away, and Alix stood up.

“Hm?” Alix looked around.

“You were right,” M said.

Alix grinned. “About going to school?”

“Eh, I can learn stuff,” M said. “Although, I’m not sure how I’ll be able to see what I know if I can’t do worksheets and tests…”

“Just turn it in with ‘M’ written at the top, Bustier won’t notice,” Alix said. “Or at least, we’ll see how long it takes her to notice.”

She heard a soft chuckle.

“How will you explain that to Alya?” M asked.

“I’ll just say we’re pulling an elaborate prank,” Alix said.

“Alright,” M said. “Now let’s go to class! 

—

“Your headed out on patrol?” Trixx asked. “But why? It’s the middle of the school day.”

“They’ve got study hall and then lunch,” Marinette said. “Just because I’m sitting in on classes doesn’t mean I need to be there the whole time when I’m not actually a student. Besides, I should keep up my patrols.”

“Me and the kit have been doing this a while,” Plagg said. “Besides, Nooroo’s active and someone’s sending out akumas .”

Trixx let out a shaky sigh.

“Fair enough,” Trixx said. 

“I have a patrol route I follow that should get me back to school once history class starts up,” Marinette mused. “Plagg, claws out.

—

Alix and Alya sat at a restaurant during the lunch break. There was a TV that was playing the News Channel, although the audio was off. Captioning was on though, so there was that.

“So, you want to do what?” Alya asked Alix.

“Play an elaborate prank on Mme Bustier,” Alix said. “We turn in worksheets and tests that aren’t from a student, and see how long it takes for her to notice!”

Alya laughed.

“But how would we have the time to fill them out?” Alya asked. “And wouldn’t she notice to tests with the same handwriting?”

“You underestimate my power,” Alix quoted. “It’ll work, trust me.”

“Alright,” Alya grinned. She suddenly frowned. Then yelled, “Turn the volume up!”

“Wha…?” Alix turned and looked at the TV to see what Alya spotted.

“ What the [redacted]?! Wait crap I’m live… security! ”

Nadja Chamack was pushed out of the way, and a guy with purple skin, white hair, and a dark purple tuxedo with green lines (it looked horrible) entered the frame.

“ Stay out of the way Nadja. This is my show now. ”

He grinned at the camera.

“Villain!” Alya squealed, and she stood up.

“Maybe we shouldn’t…? Go after villains?” Alix said, just as her friend dashed out. “Nevermind then.” Alix switched her shoes to roller blades and hurried after her friend.

—

Maotif vaulted over roofs. She’d caught a glimpse of the news. Hopefully she wasn’t too late.

She arrived at the TV station and slid through the door.

“Hello?” she called. 

“Cat girl!” she heard someone whisper shout. Maotif glanced over, and saw Nadja gesturing for her behind a desk.

“It’s Maotif,” Maotif said. “What happened? Why’d that man get akumatized?”

“He was an intern,” Nadja said. “He just got fired because he was really bad at the job, and also really rude and bossy, no one liked him. Guess he got mad at us.” Nadja let out a sigh. “But he took over the studio.”

“Alright, leave this mouse to me!” Maotif said.

Nadja smiled a little.

“Thank you,” she said.

—

“Adrien, we gotta go!” Tikki said.

“I know,” Adrien said, standing up.

He’d been caught by Nathalie when school went on lunch break, so he was back in his room. He’d pulled up the news cause he was bored.

Now there was an akuma.

“Remember everything I said?” Tikki asked.

“Most of it,” Adrien said. “Akumatized object, purify the butterfly, five minutes after my lucky charm.”

“Right!”

“Alright, Tikki, spots on!”

Pink light flashed around him, and Adrien looked himself over in the mirror. What he wore was mostly red body armor with black spots, with black over the more flexible parts. He wore a red with black spots mask, and his hair was messier than normal. There was a yo-yo around his waist.

“Uh… Misterbug,” he said. “Yeah, that’s good! Paris, you will love Misterbug!”

With that, he threw his yo-yo out the window and swung out of the house.

He ran across rooftops, and used his yo-yo to get across larger gaps.

Eventually, he spotted someone running as well, and they were in dark colors. For a split second he thought it was the cat, but then realized that a) this person was in brown, b) this person was black, and c) this person was male.

Or at least male presenting?

“Hey, you must be my partner,” Misterbug said landing next to them.

His partner was panting. Not used to physical activity maybe? But they were fast.

“Y-yeah. I’m Pegasus,” they said.

“Nice to meet you, Misterbug,” Misterbug said. “We should probably hurry to the TV station and try to beat the black cat.”

“She does have a headstart on us…” Pegasus said. “I’ll use my power to speed us along. Voyage!”

A blue ring was briefly around Pegasus’ wrist, but it shot forward to create a blue disk. A portal.

“Cool!” Misterbug said, and the two walked through. They were in a hallway, hopefully it was in the TV station.

A blue dot on Pegasus’ glasses began to flash.

“Ah, that must be the time limit my kwami mentioned,” he said. “I should recharge. You go ahead.”

Misterbug nodded, and ran through the studio.

It took a while, but he finally found the correct studio.

“Good, I beat her,” he muttered, catching his breath.

“Beat who?”

Misterbug jerked his head up and looked around. He spotted a shape in the shadows, that stepper forward.

Ah… fiddlesticks.

The black cat.

This was the first time he was seeing her upclose. She had fluffy black hair that was pulled back into a braid that reached her waist, a chinese fighting inspired outfit, a belt for a tail, blue eyes, and… were those real cat ears?

She raised a brow.

“You a hero?” she asked, and he slowly nodded. She shrugged. “Alright, fine with me bug boy.”

She pushed the door open, and walked through.

‘She’s not… acting aggressive…’ Misterbug thought to himself. 

He followed her in.

Lights flashed on.

“ Weeelcoomeee! I am your host tonight. The one, the only, News Host!” the akuma declared almost as soon as they entered.

The black cat burst out laughing.

“S-sorry…” she choked. “But… News Host? What kind of dumb name is that? Also, it’s noon. ”

She kept snorting, and the akuma looked unimpressed.

“Well, miss Black Cat, what’s your name?” News Host asked.

“I’m Maotif, as some of you may know,” the black cat said. “Paris’ show-stopping hero!”

“ I’m the show stopper,” News Host grumbled.

“It was a pun,” Maotif deadpanned.

“Ah, apologies!” News Host said. He blinked. “Oh, and we have a surprise guest. What is your name salamander boy?”

“Sala…?” Misterbug blinked. “I’m Misterbug!”

News Host and Maotif stared at him.

“What kind of frickity frack fudge nuggets name is that?” Maotif asked. “That’s even worse . Do you want any fluffing person to take you fudging serious?”

“I… have to agree with the cat. That is one shnookerdookies bad name,” News Host agreed.

Misterbug went almost as red as his suit.

“ Aanywaaay! ” News Host continued. “We’ve got a call in, and it’s our sponsor for today!”

News Host dramatically clicked a remote with a single button, and the screens the in the back changed to show what seemed a man, shrouded in darkness.

“Misterbug, Maotif…” the figure started with a stereotypical ‘badguy’ voice. “I am Hawkmoth. Hand over your miraculous, and the city will come to no harm.”

The figure took a step forward, and light filtered in, so they could make out his features.

Maotif burst out laughing.

“ I’m sorry! I’m sorry! ” She wheezed. “But… Hawkmoth? That’s the worst one yet! Your costume is ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous some might say. Are you wearing a swimming cap? And your name? I was wondering why the akuma had such a bad name. Guess that’s your fault. Also, newsflash! Hawkmoths are red and yellow, not purple! And you’re using the butterfly miraculous, not the moth miraculous! What kind of banana shenanigans plot are you trying to come up with, cause for kittens sake, whatever it is will fail! You’ll never get my miraculous! There’s a zero fricking percent chance of it.” Maotif stood up straight, and glanced back at Misterbug. “Uh… I guess you can… try ? To get his miraculous? But without mine it’s useless, and poison dart frog over there is probably not going to make it easy for you.”

“Hey!” Misterbug complained. “It’s a ladybug! ”

“Right, right, ladybird, whatever,” Maotif said with a grin. “Anyway, listen here moth boy. Whatever you plan to do with our miraculous, it won’t succeed. As long as I’m here, you will never get my miraculous. And I doubt bugaboy there will make it easy for you to get his, so just give up. If you don’t, I’ll be right here. Ready to stop you. And you’ll be caught up in my net sooner or later.”

Maotif extended her baton (wait, she had a pole?) and it shattered the screens.

“Hey!” News Host complained. “Do you know how much those will cost to fix?”

“Oh right, you’re still here.” Maotif said, staring at News Host for a moment. Then she shrugged. “Eh, leave it to scarlet ibis over there.”

Misterbug blinked. How did she know he could fix things?

“Hey, buggy, can you use your power?” Maotif asked. 

Misterbug shrugged.

“Lucky charm!” he cried, throwing his yo-yo into the air.

A long extension cord fell into his hands.

“What…?” he looked around.

“Purr-fect!” Maotif said, stealing it. She ran at the akuma, dodged a poor attempt at a punch, and tied up the akuma. “Where’s your akuma?”

News Host grumbled. “It’s in my microphone,” he said.

Maotif pulled off the mike that he’d been wearing the whole time and snapped it in half with her bare hands. Misterbug threw his yo-yo and caught the akuma. 

“Purification time, little butterfly!” he cried out, and tapped the yo-yo open. A white butterfly flew out.

Maotif raised a brow.

“That doesn’t hurt, does it?” she asked.

Misterbug blinked.

“Uh, no?”

“Cool,” she said.

Purple-black goo surrounded the akuma victim, and a regular looking boy appeared. Maotif turned around to try and undo the knot she had tied.

A horseshoe nailed her in the back.

“What the f…fudge knuckles?!” she cried out, and she spun around. Misterbug glanced over his shoulder, and spotted Pegasus holding the horseshoe like he’d just caught it.

Right, he’d forgotten about his partner.

—

Maotif should have expected this.

Misterbug took a step back to join his partner.

Her heart sank.

“Don’t you dare harm the akuma victim,” Pegasus said.

She knew she probably couldn’t trust him, but seriously?

Maotif stared at him dead in the eyes, and held her hand around the lucky charm.

“Cataclysm,” she deadpanned.

She should’ve expected the ladybug to not be alone.

The lucky charm crumbled to dust, and Misterbug’s face fell.

“How do I fix things now?” he asked no one.

“Use the yo-yo, it’s not that hard,” Maotif said.

The room stood silent for a moment.

Suddenly the door burst open, and an out of breath Alya Cesaire stood there, Alix behind her. Alya and Alix were livid.

They were too angry to talk.

Chaos broke out.

Pegasus, then Misterbug attacked Maotif in a 2v1 that she probably wouldn’t have won if she were literally anyone else.

But, as it was, she had nine years of experience behind her belt, and this was their first time.

The hardest part of the fight was that she was trying to get out the door, but they were in her way! She didn’t want to hurt them, even if she got stabbed in the back! 

“Seriously, salamander, pony, cut me some slack!” she complained.

“I’m a ladybug! ” Misterbug complained.

“Sure, sure, you sure don’t look very lady-like,” Maotif said, ducking under their weapons.

That was when Alix joined the fight.

While on skates.

Honestly, credit where credit is due!

Alya stood silently recording the whole thing.

“Pegasus! I have a minute left!” Misterbug hissed.

Oh right, time limits.

“What, you got a little five minute limit, newt?” Maotif asked.

“As do you, ” Pegasus said.

Maotif grinned.

“Looks like you’ve got to cat-ch me, then,” she said, and she ran right at them, throwing them completely off their rhythm. She slid under them, then jumped over the railing of the stair case, pulling out her baton and catching herself at the bottom. She vaguely hear Alix cheering as she ran out the door, and to the left.

“Claws in!” she hissed, and the light just barely faded when the boys ran out the door (did they teleport? That was the horse’s power, right?).

“What the…? Where’d she go?” my little pony said.

“Ugh… why’d you attack?” beetle asked.

“She was going to harm the victim!”

“She was trying to let him go! Paris already loves her, now we’ve got a target on our backs!”

“I-I’m sorry. I misread the situation.”

“...we’ll have to get this whole thing cleared up. Miraculous Misterbug!”

A loveliness of ladybugs swarmed the city that she knew were repairing the damage. Then the two left, and Marinette let out a sigh of relief.

“Good riddance,” she muttered.

—

“That was… a disaster,” Adrien muttered as he sat in the back of his car on his way back to school. School! Nathalie convinced father to let him go!

“That was a train wreck and then some,” Tikki agreed.

“Yeah. A trainwreck… and then an explosion… and then a nuke…” Adrien muttered.

He got out of the car and headed into his class, where he could hear an argument.

“I don’t see what the problem is,” the tall sporty boy said. K… something? Kim!

“Those two… those two [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] just attacked her! Out of the blue!” the fiery pink head yelled.

“It was just an out of context scene,” Kim said.

“Kim, Maotif saved you just yesterday and your turning your back on her?!” the glasses girl who was friends with the pink head said.

“I’m mostly just arguing with Alix for the fun of it,” Kim admitted.

“...what’s happening?” Adrien asked.

“Some new… heroes ,” Alya’s words were laced with malice, “Attacked Maotif! Like, what the [redacted] dudes?!”

Adrien blinked.

“She’s a villain…” he muttered.

Apparently the pink head heard him.

She had to be restrained by her friend.

“YOU TAKE THAT BACK YOU BLONDE MOTHER[redacted]!!! YOU BLOND PIECE OF [redacted]!!! TAKE IT BACK YOU [redacted] [redacted] PIECE OF [redacted]!!! MAOTIF IS A [redacted] ANGEL WHO DESERVES ALL THE [redacted] ADMIRATION IN THE [redacted] WORLD AND THOSE TWO PIECES OF [redacted] BETTER SHUT THE [redacted] UP AND APOLOGIZE OR I SWEAR-!!!” The pink haired girl continued to scream at him, using curse words he had never heard, and frankly didn’t even know what they meant, but he got the general gist. He was positive that if this was a TV show this whole thing would’ve just been one long BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

“You’re already swearing, Alix,” the boy who sat next to him said. Nino.

Alix glared at Nino and flipped him off.

“...I’m sorry…” Adrien muttered, and he sat down silently.

Chloé walked in, took one look at the current mood in the room, and walked right back out.

“The malice levels are way to high for me,” he heard her say.

“Why do people trust Maotif far more than they trust Misterbug or Pegasus?” the smart glasses boy asked. “They showed up at roughly the same time.”

Alix scoffed.

“Shut the [redacted] up Max,” Alix said. “You don’t know what you’re [redacted] talking about. Maotif has been a hero for years . Way before those two dirtbags became heroes. She’s saved my family, she’s saved me, she’s helped countless people. Why do you think people trust her over those two pieces of [redacted]? But then they waltz in and decide they own the place, and attack her!”

Adrien slumped forward on his desk.

This was not the best way to start a new school year.

-

Chapter Text

Marinette hummed as she edited the 3d model she had downloaded. She wasn’t skilled enough at 3d modeling to create the whole thing from scratch, but she could modify it now that she had it.

“What’re you doing?” Trixx asked, glancing up at her screen from the DS.

“3d modeling,” Plagg said, sprawled out on Marinette’s head.

“But why?” Trixx asked.

“Well, I’ll need somewhere to keep other miraculous some place,” Marinette said. “And no one would steal a large model of a death star. Even if they wanted to, it’s too big. But also, it can’t raise that much suspicions with the Kubdels.”

“The death star?!” Trixx said, looking at the model horrified.

“It’s from a movie kit showed me,” Plagg said. “Star Wars.”

“ Star wars?!” Trixx asked.

“The death star is a large, moon sized gun basically,” Marinette said. “It’s capable of destroying planets.”

“There’s just something that big in space?!” Trixx asked, floating up.

“No, it got destroyed,” Marinette said. “Twice, actually. And it’s not real, it’s from a movie.”

“What’s a movie?” Trixx asked, floating back down to the desk.

“Oh… boy. I’ve got to watch the movies with you,” Marinette said, and she pushed herself away from the computer. “Basically, it’s a story, like a book, only visual.”

“Like these… video games?” Trixx asked.

“Sorta,” Marinette said, “Only you can just sit and watch it.”

“Oh, like a play,” Trixx said.

“Yes, but not live. It’s all prerecorded,” Marinette said. “We’ll have to have a movie night.”

“...I’m not gonna question your terms anymore,” Trixx said, looking back down at his game.

Marinette chuckled. She went back to her model. She had gotten most of it done, she just needed to add in the different places for jewelry. She knew roughly how many miraculous there were (thank you grimoire), so she planned accordingly. On the top half, and bunch of hooks for necklaces and bracelets. On the bottom, and bunch of removable shelves for things like watches and glasses. She’d make comfier places for them to sit, and to hold earrings, with some fabric and stuffing.

Finally, she finished. The model would be pretty big, but it would work.

Marinette got her dark gray filament set up while she exported the largest of the files onto the chip (there were so many separate parts so this would work).

She exported the other files, and then pulled the chip out of her computer and put it in her 3d printer. She picked the biggest file again, preheated the 3d printer, then started to print it.

“Alright, that should go while I’m at school,” Marinette said. She stretched with a yawn. “What time is it?”

“M! M!”

The trap door banged open, and Alix peaked her head in.

“M, it’s time for school.”

“...[redacted].”

Alix sighed.

“You stayed up all night again, didn’t you,” Alix said. “Potions?”

“No, actually,” Marinette said, and she fixed her hair. “Something else.”

“I’ll get you something to eat,” Alix said, slipping back down stairs, but leaving the trapdoor open.

“Again, pigtails?” Plagg asked.

“You know, it’s really easy to be up all night when you don’t technically need sleep,” Marinette said. “Anyway, what was the box the order of the guardians gave you like? Likes, dislikes, so I know what to do exactly for my box.”

“Um…” Trixx fiddled with the DS. “Well, it was mostly a large, empty, white space… We collected some things over time to entertain ourselves but… well, we couldn’t leave unless someone was using out miraculous…”

“That’s horrible ,” Marinette said. “You got lots of users, right?”

Trixx didn’t respond.

“You know what, the more I hear about these guardians, the more I hate them,” Marinette said. “I’ve got a couple of ideas for a much better box, or sphere I guess, that I hope you and the other kwamis will like.”

Marinette finished with her hair, and slipped downstairs.

—

Nathaniel flinched as someone slammed hands down on his desk.

“Gah, sorry!”

He looked up. It was the new girl. Alyssa… Allie… Alya? 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” she said. “Uh, Alix said you draw?”

Nathaniel slowly nodded his head.

“Cool! I’m making a blog about Maotif, and would love to commission some art from you.”

Nathaniel’s eyes went wide.

“C-commission me?” he asked.

“I’m willing to pay,” Alya said. “You don’t have to do it if-”

“No, no, I’ll do it!” Nathaniel stammered. “Uh, what do you need?”

Alya pulled out her laptop.

“I was thinking some artwork for headers, and then some help with the formatting for my website,” Alya said. “I’ll give you full credit and everything, and you can even help me manage to website if you really want. How much should I pay you?”

“Uh… it depends on the size of the artwork,” Nathaniel muttered. “Uhm… starting price for… uh… flat color I guess, cause you probably don’t want just a sketch, is about 40 euros for a full body. Fully rendered is 50, and additional people would be another 30… um… and adding a fancy background is another 20…”

“Alright, pricy, but I can handle it,” Alya said.

“Um, because your my classmate I can give you a discount…?” Nathaniel asked. “And uh… you can pay over time if your pressed for money?”

“I really don’t think I should make you lose money just for me,” Alya said. “I’ll talk to my parents and see if I can borrow money and lose my allowance for a bit.”

Nathaniel nodded, “Alright.”

Alya glanced to the front.

“Class is about to start, but I’ll talk to you during study hall, okay?” Alya asked. Nathaniel nodded. “Alright, see you then.”

Alya headed down to her seat, and sat down next to Alix, who she started talking to immediately.

—

“ Young lady, we aren’t going to lend you 500 euros to buy some artwork, ” Alya’s dad said over the phone.

“Dad, please! I’m trying to commission a classmate for my blog! I swear, you can drop my allowance until it’s enough to pay you back, but please!” Alya argued.

The phone was muted on the other side as, presumably, her parents argued.

Eventually it unmuted.

“ We’ll lend you the money, but your out of an allowance for the next five months, ” her mom said.

“Thank you! Thank you!” Alya said. “Bye mom! Bye dad!”

Alya hung up, and walked back to Nathaniel.

“Alright, I’ve got the money,” Alya said sitting down next to him. Alix sat on her phone a couple of chairs away. So what were you thinking?”

“Well, I-I like the sections you have,” Nathaniel said. “Fight videos, stories of encounters, fanart, fanfiction, a bio page for Maotif, then a section for villains… um…” Nathaniel fidgeted with his pencil, “I don’t think Misterbug and Pegsus should be counted under villains. I think there should be a section for them, and just them…”

“Why?” Alya asked. “They attacked Maotif.”

“Yes, and that’s why they shouldn’t be counted as just… heroes…” Nathaniel fidgeted with his pencil, “But I don’t think they’re villains either… they’re not on either side… they’re against Maotif, and Hawkmoth…”

“Fair enough,” Alya said. “I was thinking of adding a section for interviews, but I don’t have any yet.”

“It could just be a coming soon page,” Nathaniel said.

“You should add a section about the miraculous,” Alix said, looking up from her phone. “Doesn’t need to have everything, you know, so Hawkmoth doesn’t find out, but what the public knows about them.”

“What do we know about them?” Alya asked.

“I… will get back to you on that,” Alix said. “M knows more than I do.”

“Oh… Maotif is your friend M,” Nathaniel said. “You’ve mentioned her a lot. Why do you call her M?”

“Cause Maotif starts with an M?” Alix said. “But I didn’t want to call her Maotif all the time ‘cause she used to just stick to the shadows. So nickname it is!”

“I still can’t believe the jackpot I hit,” Alya said. “Uh, Alix, anymore sections you think we should add?”

“Maybe an akuma alert?” Alix said. “You know, so people know when ones out? Also maybe known information?”

“That’s brilliant ,” Alya said. “Should we have a page of known past akumas too? And what to do if they show up again?”

“That’s pretty smart, actually,” Alix said. 

“Um… so… how rendered do you want these?” Nathaniel asked.

“Uh… I’d say up to flat colors is fine,” Alya said. “Actually, could you do the logo too? I’m pretty bad at that kind of thing…”

“Yep! Logos are easy enough,” Nathaniel said. 

“Anymore pages you should have?” Alix asked.

“Hm, let’s see…” Alya started counting on her fingers. “The main page AKA the akuma alert page, videos of fight page, a page for fanfiction, fanart, a bio page for Maotif, a page for Misterbug and Pegsus, a page for Hawkmoth, a page for past akumas, and a page on the miraculous, and encounters with Maotif. Anymore?”

“The interview page?” Alix offered. “There wouldn’t be anything yet, but…”

“Oh, right!” Alya said. “So in total that is… 11 pages? Plus the logo, can you do that Nathaniel?”

Nathaniel nodded.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’ll get started on sketches, and I can show them to you. After you approve I’ll finish the drawings up.”

“Great!” Alya fist pumped. “This will be awesome! ”

—

Marinette slid into her desk chair, glancing briefly at the 3d printer. It wasn’t even half done, but that was to be expected.

“I’ll need to order more filament…” Marinette muttered, pulling up Amazon on her computer.

“Filament?” Trixx asked. 

“Mhm,” Marinette said, locating her typical source. “The stuff that’s making the 3d print. I’ll have enough for the rest of this print, but I’m not sure I will for the rest. Plagg, what’s the ID number on the current thing of filament?”

Plagg groaned, and flew over to the spool. He read off the number, and Marinette double checked the number on what she was currently on.

“Alright, I’ve got the right one!” Marinette said happily, and she grabbed three of the product, borrowed some of the Kubdel’s money (she was told it was fine to buy new filament when she needed it, along with other sewing stuff), and placed the order.

“What’s taking it so long?” Trixx asked, looking at the print.

“It’s really big,” Marinette said. “So it’ll take a while to make. Like any other project. Luckily, this doesn’t need all my attention.”

“So what are you doing now? It’s still the school day,” Trixx tilted his head.

“I’m going on patrol in like, ten minutes, I just wanted to check in on the print,” Marinette said. “Also, Alix’s class will be in gym soon, and I’d much rather get in a workout from patrol.”

“Fair enough,” Trixx said. “Um… that girl from yesterday… who was she?”

“Huh?” Marinette glanced at Trixx.

“The blond girl with the mirror,” Trixx said. “You said no one could see you but she could…”

“Oh…” Marinette let out a sigh. “That’s Chloé. My best friend… or at least we were friends, before I vanished. She found Tikki in the past timeline, she…”

Trixx blinked.

“She’s the one that made the wish,” Trixx realized. Marinette nodded, letting out a shaky sigh.

“I’m visible in mirrors when not transformed, but that’s it,” Marinette said, fingering the fox miraculous around her neck. “I don’t know why…”

“Why didn’t you talk to her?” Trixx asked.

“Or have her tell people your alive , pigtails,” Plagg said, finally joining the conversation.

Marinette stared at the floor.

“She… I…” she sighed. “I’m not sure I’m ready for that… No one can see me, I can’t even say my own name, and it’s been nine years. What would even happen if I went back to normal? And Chloé’s already beating herself up about what happened… I just… I need more time to think…”

The two kwamis stared at her, before floating forward, and giving Marientte a hug. Marinette chuckled softly, returning it.

—

“I… hate … gym…” Nathaniel wheezed, sitting down next to Alya and Alix.

“Understandable,” Alya muttered.

“I love sports, but gym sucks,” Alix said, cracking her back. “Glad we only have morning classes today… Honestly, M has it so nice, she’s out on patrol right now.”

“Lucky,” Alya said. “Wait, how do you know that?”

“...promise not to tell anyone?” Alix asked. Nathaniel and Alya nodded. “I have her phone number.”

“You do?!” Alya whisper shouted.

“We’ve been friends for almost ten years, it would be weird if I didn’t ,” Alix said as the three started to head back to class.

“I can’t believe my luck,” Alya said. “I’ve been here for like, a week, and there’s already a supervillain, a superhero, and I’m friends with the superhero’s friend!”

Alya giggled to herself as they walked back to their classroom.

“Oh, hey, Alix!” A girl with blond pigtails waved at the group.

“Hey Aurore,” Alix said as they approached.

“You’ll vote for me tomorrow, right?” the blond girl asked.

“Vote for what?” Alya asked.

“Oh, you’re new, right?” Aurore asked. Alya nodded. “I’m Aurore, from Mendeliev’s class. I’m going to be Paris’ next weathergirl! I’m in the final round, and I need to get all the votes I can!”

“Who’s your opponent?” Alix asked.

Aurore faulted.

“Um… Mirelle…” she said. “I’m not sure how, she’s so shy, but…”

“Isn’t Mirelle in your class?” Alix asked.

Aurore nodded.

“Last year when I signed up, she didn’t seem to even want to do it,” Aurore said. “Anyway, you’ll vote for me, right?”

“Yep!” Alix said. Alya and Nathaniel nodded.

“Thank you! Every vote counts!” Aurore said. “You should get to class.”

“Don’t you need to go?” Alya asked.

“I’ve got study hall,” Aurore said. “Now shoo!”

The three kids headed up the stairs.

“Aurore’s really nice, but she’s a bit stressed with the competition,” Alix said. “I think she only barely passed the last round or something.”

“Ah, yikes,” Alya said. 

“But she’ll win, right?” Nathaniel asked. “She seems to really want to win…”

“Probably,” Alix said. “Aurore’s good at making people like her.”

“...I think if she loses we might have another Akuma,” Alya said.

“Definetly,” Alix agreed.

Chapter Text

Adrien sighed while the photographer fiddled with camera settings. 

On the bright side, he was now allowed to go to school.

On the other hand, he still had to do all his extracurriculars.

Which included modeling.

Gosh, he hates modeling. Maybe he liked it once upon a time, but now it’s just a chore. Different poses and for what? He’s modeling the same three outfits all the time.

Tikki poked her head out of his jacket pocket.

“Do you want another snack?” Adrien asked with a chuckle.

Tikki seemed to flush.

“Well, that would be nice, but that’s not what…” Tikki shook her head. “Do you have a plan to take down the black cat?”

“Paris seems to be squarely behind her, and hate me and Pegasus,” Adrien muttered. “And she’s got years of experience behind her that me and Pegasus can’t match. I don’t know how we could beat her… Why are you so against her anyway? She seemed nice enough facing off against News Host.”

“That’s how they all started off…” Tikki muttered. “Every user of the black cat miraculous has gone evil. Every. Single. One. Some of them started off heroic, but they were corrupted by the ring. Plagg’s ring has become cursed… and this latest user… I’m not sure where she got the ring… but the previous user was… nevermind.”

“What about the previous user?” Adrien asked.

“It… it doesn’t matter…” Tikki muttered. “She’s… not around anymore.”

“Finally!” the photographer yelled. 

Tikki peeped, and hid just before the photographer looked over.

“Alright, let’s a get started!” Vincent said.

—

“ Vote 1 for Aurore and 2 for Mirelle! ”

Maotif tilted her head.

“Are you voting?” she asked Alix.

“Yep!” Alix said. “Aurore asked me, Alya, and Nath to yesterday!”

“Nice,” Maotif said. “Why is Mirelle participating? This doesn’t seem like her thing…”

“Beats me,” Alix said. “Are you gonna vote? It’s anonymous.”

“Fair enough,” Maotif said, pulling out her baton. She found the website, and voted 1. “I’m worried that one of the girl’s will become an Akuma though…”

“If there’s an Akuma the news will go off,” Alix said. “Don’t you have, like, a side project you’re working on?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m 3d printing the death star,” Maotif said.

“The Death Star? Wicked!” Alix said. “We should watch all those movies at some point, like, a movie marathon!”

“Sounds great!” Maotif said. “So do you have a plan for today?”

“Well, Alya and I are gonna head to KIDZ+ studio for when Aurore walks out after winning,” Alix said. “After that we’ll meet Nath at the museum.”

“Sweet! I’ll tag along,” Maotif said. “Incognito…”

Alix snorted.

“You sure? You might get bumped,” Alix said.

“I’ll be fine, I’ll just be at the back of the crowd,” Maotif said, waving her hand. “I need to get out of the house anyway, hard to stay sane in an empty house.”

“No kidding,” Alix said.

—

Alya bounced on her heels while she waited on Alix. Where was she…?

“I’m here!” Alix called.

Alya spun around, and spotted Alix skating toward her. Must’ve been a pair of actual skates, they weren’t her platforms from school.

“Great!” Alya deleted the text she had started to write. “When’s the announcement?”

“Should be soon,” Alix said, pulling out her own phone. She pulls up the broadcast, and it shortly changes to the competition.

“This is the moment we've been waiting for!” Alec, the TV host started. “The viewers at home have made their decision, and the new KIDZ+ weather girl is…” 

Two umbrellas showed up next to the two contestants. Aurore looked confident, Mirelle, nervous.

But the umbrella on Mirelle’s side went up higher.

“ Mirelle! ” Alec cheered.

The crowd on the other side cheered, but Alix and Alya looked at each other horrified. 

“This… might cause problems…” Alix muttered. “C’mon…”

The two started to leave the crowd.

“Wait, where are we going?” Alya asked.

“M!” Alix called out.

Both girls got a tap on the shoulder, and spun around.

Alya gasped, and almost screamed.

Maotif was right. There.

“Hey,” Maotif said. “Good thing I came along, huh,”

“Think she’s gonna get akumatized?” Alix asked. Alya stammered.

“Aurore? Definitely,” Maotif said. “I’m pretty sure Mirelle joined last minute because her moms insisted it would be a good way to get out of her comfort zone. Last year she didn’t seem to care about it at all.”

“So your saying, she wouldn’t really care if she lost?” Alya managed to get out.

“Mhm,” Maotif said. “She and Aurore are usually pretty close, too.”

“So… now we’re just waiting for an akuma?” Alix asked.

“Most likely,” Maotif said.

It only took about five minutes, by which point, people were wondering why the contestants weren’t leaving the building.

Then, a girl with a cool skin tone, purple and white hair, and a plastic looking dress came out.

“Where’s Mirelle?” Someone asked.

“Yeah, where is she?!” someone else yelled.

“Ugh... For all of you who voted for Mireille, I'd advise you to move indoors,” the girl (Aurore?) said. “It's going to get very blustery! Oh wait... too late.”

She flung her umbrella one way, and the people on the otherside, those that voted for Mirelle, were blown away.

“And there it is,” Maotif said.

“Aurore went into the building with a parasol,” Alya recalled. “That’s probably where the akuma is!”

“Thanks!” Maotif said.

She pulled out her baton and vaulted after the quick moving akuma.

—

The photoshoot was very dull.

“No, no, no! The boy has eaten too much spaghetti! Ugh, we need more energy! More romance! We need...a girl!” Vincent the photographer looked around. “Ah, yes, Mme Bourgeois, come here!”

“Wait, what-” Chloé got dragged over to Adrien. “Hey, I’m only here for moral support!”

“You’re rich and beautiful and will help with the posing,” Vincent explained. “Don’t tell me how to do my job.”

“And who are you to think adding in another person will help rather than giving Adrien a break?” Chloé snapped. “He’s looking bored because he is. Just give him a break already, you’ve been at this for hours!”

Vincent muttered some choice words under his breath, but walked away.

Adrien let out a breath.

“Thanks Chloé, you're a lifesaver,” Adrien said.

“I can’t believe your father is forcing you to do all this whilst you’re attending school,” Chloé said. “Honestly, I worry about his sanity sometimes.”

“My dad just took the loss of my mom hard…” Adrien muttered.

“Mhm… so hard that he started mourning her the second she went missing, and didn’t file a missing persons report until she’d been gone for almost a week,” Chloé said, checking her nails. 

“...what are you implying?” Adrien asked.

Chloé hummed.

“Well, if you don’t know, I won’t tell you,” Chloé said. 

Adrien sighed, and sat down on the ground.

“You’ll get grass stains if you do that,” Chloé said.

“What would you care?” Adrien asked.

“I don’t, but your dad will kill you if you have grass stains in any of the photos,” Chloé said. “Come on, I brought a blanket. We can have a picnic.”

Adrien followed Chloé to a more secluded part of the park underneath a tree. Chloé had set up a quilt on the ground, and there was a basket. Sabrina was there reading a book.

“Oh, hey Sabrina,” Adrien said. “I didn’t know you were here.”

“Chloé insisted I go outside today, and I offered to protect the blanket and stuff while she kept an eye on you,” Sabrina said.

“Yeah, you don’t get nearly enough sun, Sabrina,” Chloé said, sitting down next to the girl. “Honestly. I don’t know why you spend so much time locked up in your house just doing homework, your future step-mom is a nightmare. At least go to the library. Or come to the hotel.”

Screams distract the three kids, and they look over.

“... why is the merry-go-round covered in ice?” Sabrina asked, sitting up and closing her book.

“It must be another akuma,” Chloé said, worry in her voice. “Are you kidding me, world! I just got Adrien a break!”

“Uh… I’ll go find a place to hide?” Adrien offered, starting to stand up.

“No, stay here, they haven’t seen us yet,” Chloé said, watching the akuma.

The akuma turned around, and spotted them.

“Nevermind…” Chloé muttered.

“Scatter!” Sabrina yelled, leaving her book behind. Adrien bolted a different direction, looking for a place to hide, while Chloé just looked at both of her friends, disappointed.

—

“Max! Max!”

Max blinked, and looked up from his project.

“What?” Max asked.

“There’s an akuma!” Kaalki said, nervously gesturing to the news Max’s mom had left on.

“Already?” Max stood up. “Well, I suppose I should finally participate in a fight. Where is the akuma right now?”

“The park near your school,” Kaalki said. “Misterbug isn’t there yet, but the black cat is.”

“Does she not have a life?” Max wondered. “Kaalki, full gallop!”

—

Adrien finally found an alleyway, ducked inside, and managed to transform.

Misterbug hurried back to the park. There was ice everywhere.

And Maotif was already fighting Stormy Weather.

He was at the park, how did she beat him?!

“Hey poison dart frog!” Maotif said. “Is my little pony joining you today?”

“My little…?” Misterbug frowned. “You mean Pegasus? Probably.”

“Better not attack me again,” Maotif said. “We’ve got an akuma to deal with.”

“Ugh!” the akuma stomped her feet midair. “This is so not worth my time!”

She flies off down the road.

“Where is she going?” Misterbug asked.

“What, do you think I can read minds?” Maotif asked, before vaulting after the Akuma

“Great…” Misterbug muttered.

A gust of air blew past him, and Misterbug looked over and saw Pegasus.

“My kwami said the akuma was here…” Pegasus muttered.

“You just missed her,” Misterbug said. “Maotif is going after her now.”

“Hmph…” Pegasus stared at the road. “Well we should probably follow then.”

“You’re right we should,” Misterbug said.

The two gave chase, and shortly caught up to the akuma and Maotif, just as storm clouds and lightning appeared.

“Ugh! Are you kidding me! Now they’re here?!” the akuma complained. A purple outline of a butterfly appeared around her face. “...I know you asked me to get the miraculous, but those two are just annoying! Maotif’s at least cool!”

Maotif snorted, and the akuma glared at her.

“Sorry, just, cool ,” Maotif said. “Thanks for the compliment, and the accidental pun.”

The akuma giggled.

“Anyway, I’ve got places to be.” the akuma said. “Black ice!”

The street was coated in invisible ice, and then a wind blast flew from her umbrella. Misterbug, acting on adrenaline, grabbed his yo-yo, got it around a street light, and grabbed Pegasus.

Maotif, however, wasn’t so lucky, and she shrieked as about five cars and a bus flew and landed on her.

“Oo…” Misterbug winced.

“Should we… get her miraculous?” Pegasus asked.

Misterbug glanced back at the pile up, then at Stormy Weather.

“Another time,” Misterbug said. “Akuma first.”

Pegasus nodded, and the two followed after the akuma.

—

Maotif winced, her ring flashing fast at her. She was laying in the sewers.

“C-claws in…” she muttered.

Plagg was expelled from her ring.

“...where are we?” Plagg asked.

Marinette grimaced.

“In the sewers under five cars and a bus,” she said through a smile.

“Kitten! You okay?!” Plagg asked.

“...I’ve been better,” Marinette said.

“How did she use her power five times in a row?” Trixx asked.

“I’ve been working on increasing that?” Marinette said with a yawn. “I realized getting under all of them might be safer. Let’s see…”

She dug through her pockets, and pulled out an apple.

“Okay… I did not pack that much food…” she muttered. “Plagg, are you able to transform me?”

Plagg shook his head.

“Not without more food,” he said. “But pigtails, you shouldn’t transform right now!”

“But if I don’t, that would mean leaving Aurore to Misterbug and Pegasus,” Marinette muttered, and she took a bite of her apple. “...Trixx, remind me of your transformation phrase?”

Trixx blinked.

“Oh, it’s let’s pounce!” Trixx said. “But you should refuel first.”

Marinette nodded, and she headed down the sewer, looking for an exit.

“Hm… hey, Trixx?” Marinette said. “Am I limited to just orange?”

Trixx frowned.

“Why?” Trixx asked.

Marinette grinned.

“Well, I have an idea,” Marinette said. She whispered into Trixx’s ear, and his eyes lit up.

“None of my other users have been that creative!” Trixx said. “And, it still follows the rules of a transformation!”

“What did she say?” Plagg asked Trixx, but Trixx just laughed.

“I’m not telling you!” Trixx said, sticking out his tongue.

Marinette finished her apple, chucked it into the sewer, and started to head up a ladder. She paused halfway up.

“Seeing a sewer open would probably freak someone out… and it might be iced over…” Marinette muttered. “Trixx, let’s pounce!”

—

Misterbug and Pegasus wound up losing track of the akuma. Luckily, she made an announcement.

“ Hello, viewers! Here's the latest forecast for the first day of summer. Looks like Mother Nature had a change of plans. Summer vacation is officially over!” she said from a cracked screen.

“It’s not even summer vacation,” Pegasus shook his head slowly. “But that’s from the KIDZ+ TV studio.”

“She must’ve gone there,” Misterbug said, and the two ran down the street. Well, after figuring out where the studio was. 

“Wonder why she got akumatized in the first place,” Misterbug said. 

“Considering she has weather powers, probably something to do with that,” Pegasus said as they entered the building.

“What, she not like the sun?” Misterbug asked.

“She lost the KIDZ+ weather girl competition,” a new voice said from behind them.

The two boys spun around, weapons drawn, but it was just Maotif. 

Wait, no it wasn’t.

The girl looked very similar. Black hair with orange streaks pulled up into a ponytail as opposed to a braid. Dark orange ears on the side of her head. A black mask covering the top half of her face. Purple irises. Her top was black, and almost seemed to be a trench coat, with an orange turtleneck underneath. At her waist, a black band snatched in the looser top, which created a black with an orange tipped tail looking thing. Underneath she had on tight orange pants, and tall black boots. She also wore orange fingerless gloves, had an orange hook shaped pendant on, and there were orange detailings on the trechcoat top.

“...who…?” Misterbug shook his head. “Maotif? Is that you?”

The girl smirked.

“You guys had like a ten minute headstart on me,” she said. “Boy, you are slow in a lot of things. Also, call me Vixen.”

“You have another miraculous?” Pegasus asked.

“Swipped it from a reckless and oblivious old man,” Vixen said. “It’s in better hands now.”

“So you stole it,” Misterbug said.

Vixen just grinned.

“So why did she go to the park anyway?” Vixen asked, walking past them. “She came from here in the first place.”

“You know who the akuma is?” Misterbug asked, baffled.

Vixen stared at them blankly, then gestured over to a cardboard cut out of a girl with blond pigtails holding a parasol.

“Aurore, the akuma’s in her umbrella, and you don’t need to know more than that,” Vixen said. “Come on!”

Vixen bolted through the building, and the two boys groaned.

“Why does she have a second miraculous?” Misterbug asked. “What even is that miraculous?”

“Vixen is a word for fox,” Pegasus said.

“...if she’s a fox then why isn’t she orange?” Misterbug asked, then he shook his head. “She’s got a headstart on us, we should go.”

The boys ran the direction that Vixen went.

They eventually came to a studio.

“She’s in there!” Misterbug said, and he broke the door down, Pegasus following shortly behind him.

“ In Stormy Weather's world, it's Winter Wonderland FOREVER! ” came the akuma’s voice from a screen.

“It’s… a trap,” Pegasus said.

A laugh, a bolt of electricity, and the power went out.

“Take you that long?”

Vixen hadn’t even entered the room, and she immediately gave chase after the akuma.

The boys couldn’t see in the dark, and attempting to leave the room led to them tripping four separate times and walking into the doorframe.

“Pegasus, I think it’s time to use your power,” Misterbug said, rubbing his head. 

“Voyage!”

A ring of blue light, that flung forward. On the otherside was the roof of the building, and they watched as Vixen burst through the doors.

“Did you give up?” Vixen asked, spotting them.

“We don’t have nightvision,” Misterbug said, rubbing his head and stepping through.

“You fell right into my trap!” Stormy Weather taunted above them, and she spun her umbrella, which formed a whirlwind.

“Why did you go to the park if you were just going to come back here?” Vixen called out, and Stormy Weather frowned. Why did she? The only thing at the park was balloons…

Vixen’s eyes darted around, and they narrowed on Misterbug.

“Call your lucky charm,” she said.

“I don’t take orders from you,” Misterbug said.

“You got a better idea?” Vixen asked.

Misterbug frowned. Dang it, she was right.

“Lucky charm!” Misterbug called.

A towel fell into his hand.

“What the…?” Misterbug stared at it, baffled.

“Perfect! Just what I wanted!” Vixen said, and she stole both the towel and the yo-yo. That was also right when Alya and Alix ran in through the still open portal.

Vixen pulled out a… was that a flute?! She pulled a flute off her back, and brought it to her lips, playing a short melody.

“What’s that supposed to do?” Stormy Weather cackled.

Vixen grinned as she pulled away the flute.

“Mirage!”

She slammed the flute on the ground, and in a poof of orange smoke, she vanished.

“Wha-?” Stormy Weather spun around, and screamed when the billboard behind her started to fall. She darted toward it, and blasted it, which caused a hole to form through it, which she started to fly through-

Until suddenly she was jerked down. Her umbrella hit the bill board, and the falling billboard disappeared into a poof of smoke, returning back to where it had been.

Also appearing a poof of smoke: Vixen, floating upwards with the towel, and Misterbug’s yo-yo, which was wrapped around Stormy Weather’s wrist.

Stormy Weather lost her grip on her umbrella, and it flew out of her hand. Vixen grinned, and let go of the towel. As she dropped, she grabbed the umbrella, and snapped it in half over her knee, before letting go and landing in a roll, absorbing the blow onto her shoulder.

“Oof…” Vixen rubbed her shoulder. “You should really catch the akuma…”

“ Someone has my yo-yo,” Misterbug said, glaring at her.

Vixen rolled her eyes and tossed it to him. Misterbug quickly purified the akuma.

“Miraculous Misterbug!” he called, and the magical ladybugs flew through the city.

Aurore sat up, dazed.

“Wha- where…? How did I get up here?” Aurore asked.

“Are you okay?” Vixen asked.

“Who-who are you?” Aurore asked, glancing at Vixen.

“I’m Maotif, but as a fox! Call me Vixen,” Vixen said. “Are you okay?”

“I… I think so,” Aurore said. “I… oh no, what did I do?!”

“Well you froze Mirelle into an elevator,” Alya said, her and Alix heading over. “And froze Alec in a block of ice.”

Aurore glared.

“Alec… ugh, he’s so annoying!” Aurore yelled. “I lost and then he rubbed it in my face!”

Pegasus turned to Misterbug.

“I really need to get going,” he said. “I’ve got a minute left.”

Misterbug nodded.

“Bye!” Misterbug said, and he and Pegasus lept off the roof.

—

Since when could M be a fox hero? 

Alix skated over to Aurore, and helped her up.

“Alec really likes to make fun of people, doesn’t he,” Maotif Vixen decided. “Let’s head back down, okay?”

Aurore nodded, and took a deep breath.

“It was just frustrating… I tried so hard and I failed …” Aurore muttered. 

Vixen nodded, and patted the girl on the back.

Alix led the way down, even though she was in roller skates. Stairs were fun to go down in roller skates, sue her.

They made it back down to the studio where the competition had been held, and Aurore stopped at Mirelle’s dressing room.

—

Aurore took a deep breath, gripped her parasol tightly, and knocked on the door.

“Um… Mirelle? It’s Aurore…” she muttered.

The door started to open.

“Mirelle, I’m really really really sorry for attacking you, you won! I was a brat! I’m really-!”

“Aurore!” Mirelle grabbed her hands despertly. “Please be the weather girl!”

Aurore blinked a few time.

“I-what?” Aurore blinked.

“The only reason I agreed to the competition when my moms signed me up is because it was an opportunity to work on my social skills,” Mirelle said. “I never wanted to win, you deserved to win! And I’m not the only one to think so, the phone’s been ringing off the hook since the announcement with angry fans- your fans!” Mirelle took a breath, and Aurore spotted a frazzled Alec with two phones in his hands. “ Especially because I tweeted that the results were rigged! Alec stuffed the ballots because he thought it would be funny if me, the camera shy girl, was put on camera every day!”

Aurore’s eye twitched, and she glared back at Alec, who seemed to be able to tell the look he was getting.

“...they were rigged…?” Aurore asked, voice unnaturally low.

Mirelle nodded.

“Alec,” Aurore said, her voice commanding power. “You sick [redacted].”

Alec flinched. 

Aurore didn’t even raise her voice.

“Um… I have a suggestion,” a new voice said.

Aurore looked over her shoulder, and Mirelle peeked out, and they spotted Vixen, Alya, and Alix.

“Is… is that Maotif?” Mirelle asked, a bit confused.

“Vixen right now, but yes,” Vixen said. 

Mirelle’s eyes lit up.

“You guys can have a selfie if you want,” Vixen said.

Mirelle squealed, grabbed Aurore’s hand, and ran back to Vixen. The fox hero grinned as the two pulled out their phones and took pictures.

“Alright, but do you want to hear my suggestion?” Vixen asked.

“Oh yeah, what is it?” Aurore asked. Mirelle nodded.

“Co-host,” Vixen said. “Aurore’s more confident in front of the camera, that’s true. But if you want to build confidence Mirelle, you can learn from Aurore. Your still building confidence, but the attention isn’t all on you. How’s that sound?”

Mirelle and Aurore glanced at each other. Then nodded.

“That sounds great!” the two said in sync, and they hugged Vixen.

—

“You left the victim alone with the black cat?!” Tikki shrieked.

“Alix and Alya were there,” Adrien said. “I was about to transform back, I had to go! And Pegasus had less time than me.”

Tikki sat down on Adrien’s desk while he scrolled through some news videos. Alya’s video was posted to her Twitter.

“Wait, stop!” Tikki said, and Adrien paused the video. “Is that the black cat?”

“Yeah, she said she was going by… Vixen?” Adrien said. “Pegasus said that’s a kind of fox, and that’s what she told Aurore…”

“...but foxes are always orange…” Tikki muttered. “Can you zoom in?”

Adrien frowned, and hit a few buttons on his keyboard, which made the whole video get bigger.

“There!” Tikki said, and she pointed. Adrien squinted.

“The… pendant?” Adrien asked. 

Tikki nodded, “That’s the fox miraculous! It was stolen a few weeks ago from…” Tikki shook her head. “But why is she black? Did she unify the miraculous? Is it corrupted? If she unified them that’s not good… but if she corrupted it… the fox miraculous is very easy to corrupt…”

“Slow down,” Adrien said. “What should I know about the fox miraculous?”

“It grants the power of illusion,” Tikki said.

“That explains the smoke and the sign…” Adrien muttered, skipping the video a bit forward so Tikki could see.

“That blast should’ve broken the illusion… the black cat has very good control over the miraculous… this isn’t good, she might figure out…” Tikki shook her head. “You need to stop her!”

“We had a chance earlier, but we didn’t take it because of the akuma…” Adrien said.

Tikki sighed, and thought it over.

“You can prioritize akumas for now,” Tikki said. “Hawkmoth is the one that’s actively attacking Paris. It might make the fall out worse, but the black cat is at least attacking the akumas as well…”

Adrien nodded.

“Alright,” he said.

—

“So Maotif has two powers now!” Alya said, bouncing on her heels as she and Alix headed to the museum. “Oh this is so cool! This is so getting added to her slide!”

“So what other miraculous do you think there could be?” Alix asked.

“M has a book somewhere, but I’ve never seen it,” Alix said. “I didn’t even realize she had this miraculous.”

“What do you think the miraculous are ?” Alya asked.

“Oh, that’s easy,” Alix said. “Jewelry. M has a ring on. Didn’t you notice buggy’s earrings flashing and beeping?”

“What about Rainbow Dash?” Alya asked.

“Probably his glasses?” Alix wondered. “I think the blue lights on the bottom were flashing.”

“So do you think the necklace Vixen was wearing was her second miraculous?” Alya asked.

“Yeah, that tracks,” Alix said. “It’s vaguely fox tail shaped.”

The two arrived at the museum, and Alix texted Nathaniel. 

“He’s just past the entrance,” Alix said, rolling forward.

“Look out!” Alya pulled Alix away from slamming into the wall.

“Oh, whoops,” Alix chuckled. “Thanks. Let’s go meet Nath!”

Alix and Alya headed down the stairs, and once they reached the entrance, they spotted Nathaniel. He was sketching, as always, and hidden in a corner.

“Nath!” Alix called, skating toward him.

Nathaniel flinched and looked up.

“Hey…” he muttered, closing his sketchbook.

“Do you wanna go somewhere more private?” Alya asked, glancing over her shoulder. Nathaniel nodded. “Alix, where should we go?”

“There’s a closed exhibit I can get us into,” Alix said, pulling out a ring of keys.

“...how…?” Alya asked.

“My dad’s the curator,” Alix said, skating down a hallway. “I’m here almost every day. I told you this.”

“He is?” Alya chuckled. “Guess I’ll have to come here more often then.”

“I come here a lot,” Nathaniel said. “I get a lot of inspiration from the other art. Um, anyway, I got some of the sketches done for your blog…”

“Oh, cool, can I see?” Alya asked, sitting down on a bench after Alix let them into a hall of art.

Nathaniel nodded, and sat down next to her.

“I’ve got 10 done,” Nathaniel said, opening his sketchbook. “Um, the blog logo, the page for videos of fights, the main page, Maotif’s bio page, Misterbug’s bio page, Pegasus’ bio page, the akuma page, a fan fiction page, fanart page, and the encounters page…”

The blog logo was just the word ‘Catablog’ but with fancy lettering, with pawprints in the holes of the letters, to the right was a larger version of the pawprint design. For the fights page, there was a sketch of Maotif doing a kick that seemed to be inspired by a Mulan picture, for the main page it was Maotif leaning on her baton with a butterfly on her finger (a note read ‘make white’). For her bio page, there was a drawing of Maotif stretching with a note about her being in a beam of light. For Misterbug’s bio page, there was a drawing of him spinning his yo-yo whilst looking the other direction with a bored expression, and for Pegasus’ bio page there was a drawing of Pegasus sitting, with his horseshoe in his hand, and what was supposed to be a portal behind him. The akuma page simple had a butterfly (a note said ‘should be akuma’) flying across symbolized by dash lines. The fanfiction page had Maotif on a phone with a pawprint with a hand in front of her mouth like she was surprised, and the fanart page had a drawing of Maotif drawing. Finally, the encounter’s page had a picture of Maotif croaching down next to a little child, who didn’t have any features.

“These look great!” Alya said.

“I’ve only got a vague idea for the interview page…” Nathaniel said. “Sometimes it takes a while to come up with ideas…”

“That’s okay,” Alya said. “Can you get started on finishing these ones up?”

Nathaniel nodded.

“But first, uh, what am I supposed to be drawing for the miraculous page?” Nathaniel asked. “I don’t know what a miraculous is.”

“It’s a piece of jewelry,” Alya said.

“Yeah, M has a ring, and apparently a necklace now too,” Alix was skating down the hallway. “Bug boy has earrings, and Apple Jack has a pair of glasses.”

“Apple Jack… oh you mean Pegasus,” Nathaniel said. “Glasses aren’t jewelry though.”

“Meh, apparently they count or something,” Alix said, stopping and facing them.

“Hm…” Nathaniel looked down at his sketchbook, and did a quick sketch of a ring, a necklace, and a pair of earrings, lying on a flat surface. There was a block that the earrings sat on, and the top of the necklace’s chain appeared. 

“Do you know what exactly the jewelry looks like?” Nathaniel asked.

“M’s ring is black, it has a thick band, the top is circular, and there’s a blue pawprint on it,” Alix said. 

“And then her necklace is like… hook shaped, or fox tail shaped, it’s got gold bands separating it into five sections, and it’s orange, but the tip is white,” Alya said. “And I think Misterbug’s earrings are red with five black spots…”

“Thank you,” Nathaniel said, quickly sketching in the details. “Does this look right?”

Alix skated over, and Alya peared down.

“Yup,” Alix said. 

“Mhm,” Alya agreed.

“Alright…” Nathaniel smiled. “I should get started on finishing my sketches…”

-

Chapter Text

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Chloé slammed the button on her alarm clock with a groan.

But she sat up anyway, pulling off her eye mask. She got out of bed, slipping on slippers, and headed into her bathroom to wake herself up. Chloé splashes water on her face, and stares in the mirror. After a minute, she sighs, and quickly applies some makeup, and pulls her hair back into a braid.

Chloé re-enters her bedroom, and pulls on a white collared shirt and a yellow skort. She grabs some knee length socks, and sets them and a pair of yellow flats on her bed, before heading down the hallway, and entering a room.

As she expected, the blinds are still shut, and the girl sleeping in there is curled up in bed.

Chloé shakes her head with a chuckle, then pulls back the curtains and opens the blinds.

The girl in the bed groans, and covers her face with a pillow.

Chloé rolled her eyes.

“Sabrina, it’s time to get up,” Chloé said.

“...five more minutes…” Sabrina grumbled.

Chloé pulled the pillow away, and Sabrina groaned.

“‘Brina, do you know what today is?” Chloé asked.

“...Monday…?” Sabrina grumbled.

Chloé rolled her eyes with a grin.

“It’s September 13th ,” Chloé stressed.

Sabrina sat up, rubbing her eyes, the cogs of her brain slowly turning.

She then blinked.

“Oh! Adrien’s birthday!” Sabrina said. “Why didn’t you just say that?”

“You needed to wake up one way or another,” Chloé said.

Sabrina sighed and laid back down.

“Sabrina,” Chloé tilted her head.

“Five more minutes…” Sabrina grumbled.

“I’ll hold you to that,” Chloé said, starting a timer on her Sabrina’s phone (and her own).

Chloé walked out of Sabrina’s room, and pulled on her socks and shoes. When the five minute timer went off, she went back to Sabrina’s room.

The girl still lay tangled up in the blankets.

Chloé shook her head with a sigh, and pulled away the covers.

“H-hey! Chloé!” Sabrina complained, sitting up.

“It’s been five minutes,” Chloé said. “You’d better start to get ready.”

Sabrina pouted, but got out of bed anyway, heading over to her closet.

“Also, dress a little nicer than usual,” Chloé said as she started to walk out. “There should hopefully be some kind of party for Adrien today.”

Sabrina nodded, and pulled out a collared shirt, skirt, and headband.

Chloé walked back out, and phoned her butler.

“Armand, did my package arrive?” Chloé asked.

“ Yes, mme Chloé, ” Armand said over the phone.

“Alright, thank you! I’ll grab it when I head down,” Chloé said. “Bye!”

Chloé hung up as Sabrina stepped out of her room.

“Not gonna do any makeup?” Chloé asked.

Sabrina nodded.

“You know how bad I am at it…” she muttered.

“It’s fine,” Chloé said. “If there’s a party, I can help you with makeup, okay?”

Sabrina nodded with a smile.

The two headed downstairs, and grabbed some breakfast. Bagels with cream cheese, avocado, and egg. Armand approached them, and handed Chloé a package.

“What did you get Adrien for his birthday?” Sabrina asked.

Chloé grinned, and put a finger to her lips.

“You got him a gift too, right?” Chloé asked.

Sabrina nodded, pulling a small wrapped present out of her bag.

“Good,” Chloé said. “Are you gonna stay another night, or head back to your house?”

Sabrina paused.

“...I don’t know…” Sabrina muttered. 

Chloé pulled the smaller girl into a hug.

“It’s fine, you can figure it out later,” Chloé said. “You’ll always be welcome here, okay?”

“Okay…” Sabrina muttered.

The two headed downstairs, where they found a car waiting to take them to school. As well as Chloé’s dad.

“Morning, darling,” Andre said. “Did you sleep well?”

“Mhm,” Chloé said. “What’s up? You don’t normally seek me out in the morning.”

“Ah, yes, well, this is the thing,” Andre put his hands together. “Your… your mother is coming back!”

Chloé stared at him.

“She’s what? ”

Andre paused a moment before responding, “She’s coming back. From New York. She also mentioned something about bringing a guest…?”

“When?” Chloé managed to get out.

“In about a month,” Andre said. “She’ll be coming out for a fashion show Gabriel is putting on. She’s agreed to stay a bit longer, hopefully forever.”

Chloé put on a strained smile.

“Great…” she held the word out for too long, but her father didn’t seem to notice. “Um, we’re gonna head to school, bye.”

Chloé grabbed Sabrina’s hand and walked out of the hotel. The to got into the car, and Armand started it and they left.

“So… your mom, huh?” Sabrina said.

Chloé sighed, and collapsed against her seat.

“She left ten years ago,” Chloé muttered. “I’d hoped she’d never come back…”

“Who do you think her mystery guest is?” Sabrina asked.

“Either a personal stylist, a new boyfriend, or a child,” Chloé said. “And seeing as Audrey prefers to style herself most of the time, and it would be dumb to bring a new boyfriend, I’m leaning toward child. Which may or may not mean she and my dad finally get a divorce.”

“They’ve barely talked in the last nine years,” Sabrina muttered. “I don’t understand why they’re still together…”

“Beats me,” Chloé said.

—

Adrien stared down at his breakfast.

“Adrien, it’s time for school,” Nathalie said.

Adrien blinked.

“Uh, did father say anything about having a party?” Adrien asked, looking up a bit desperate.

Nathalie grimaced.

“He doesn’t think it’s a good idea,” Nathalie said.

“But, why?” Adrien asked. 

“He didn’t tell me,” Nathalie said. “But isn’t mme Bourgeious coming over later? Surely-”

“I’ve got more friends than just her,” Adrien said. “I… I want to have a party with my friends. ”

Nathalie sighed.

“Well, I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do,” Nathalie said. “Now c’mon Adrien, it’s time for school.”

—

“Happy birthday, dude!” 

Alix glanced up and spotted Nino giving Adrien a hug.

“Thanks!” Adrien said, a lopsided grin on his face. 

“What did your dad say about a party?” Nino asked.

Adrien grimaced.

“About that…” Adrien muttered.

“Morning Adrikins!” Chloé threw her arms around Adrien. “Happy birthday!”

“Happy birthday,” Sabrina said, a little behind Chloé.

“Morning Chloé. Morning Sabrina,” Adrien said.

“It’s model boy’s birthday?” M asked.

“Apparently,” Alix said. “Why don’t you know him? I’ve seen you looking at his billboards a few times on patrol.”

“...I’m looking at the clothing,” M said.

“How’s your day been?” Chloé asked, looking Adrien over.

“My dad hasn’t spoken to me,” Adrien said. “And said I can’t have a party…”

“Ugh, seriously?” Chloé shook her head. “Gabriel’s the worst… Anyway, I got you a gift!”

Chloé pulled out a medium sized box from her bag.

“Let’s head inside and you can open it,” Chloé said.

“Okay!” Adrien said.

“I got you something too…” Sabrina muttered.

“And I’ve got something for you, but it’s at home cause I couldn’t reasonabily bring it to school,” Nino said.

As the group moved inside, Alya approached.

“Nice outfit,” Alix said.

Alya had on a nice pair of jeans and an orange cardigan over a black shirt.

“Thanks,” Alya said. “Nino texted me to wear a nicer outfit. How come?”

“Nino likes to throw big birthday parties, and apparently it’s model boy’s birthday,” Alix said. 

“Oh, I didn’t get him a present…” Alya muttered.

“Well, considering you weren’t aware it was his birthday, it’s not expected of you,” Alix said. “And you can pick something up later, any party will be after school.”

“Okay, good,” Alya said.

“Also, we aren’t, like, close with model boy,” Alix said.

“Fair enough,” Alya said.

—

“What did you get him?” Nino asked as he and Adrien sat down.

Chloé put the box down. It was wrapped in a mushroom wrapping paper.

“Open it,” Chloé said.

Adrien unwrapped it, and inside was a phone box. He frowned as he opened it, and found a brand new phone.

“You know I have a phone, right?” Adrien asked.

Chloé rolled her eyes.

“One that your dad can track and checks all the time,” Chloé said. “With this you can text your friends and your dad won’t find out.”

Adrien blinked, then threw his arms around Chloé.

“Thank you,” Adrien said.

“Your dad tracks your phone? That’s messed up…” Nino shook his head.

“Sabrina, what did you get me?” Adrien asked.

Sabrina pulled out a small package. It was about the size of a ring box, and wrapped in the same wrapping paper Chloé had used.

Adrien unwrapped it, and opened the box.

Inside, was a key chain. There was a dog charm, and a sheet of metal with Adrien’s name engraved on it.

“I… didn’t know what to get you…” Sabrina muttered.

“Sabrina, I love it, thank you,” Adrien said.

Sabrina smiled, and covered her face.

More of their classmates walked in, a few telling Adrien happy birthday.

Soon enough, class started, and the students paid attention to their teacher.

—

Nino nervously tapped his fingers against his leg as he waited for M. Agreste to show up. Eventually, the recluse fashion designer appeared at the top of the stairs.

“Adrien isn’t home yet,” Gabriel said.

“I know,” Nino said. “Actually, I came to talk to you du-sir!”

“Me?” Gabriel rasied an eyebrow.

“Yeah, that right,” Nino said, fidgeting with his hands. “Look, I know you don't want Adrien to have a party, but it's his birthday, dude-I mean, sir. It's all he wants-”

“ No , that’s final,” Gabriel said.

“That's messed up!” Nino said. “He never screws up in class, he always does whatever you tell him: photoshoots, fencing, Chinese, piano-”

“Nino?”

Nino spun around.

“Hey, man,” Nino said. “Trying to convince your old man to let you have a-”

“No party,” Gabriel said. “Get out of my house.”

Nino’s shoulder tensed, and he looked down.

“Thanks for trying,” Adrien said.

“Anything for you, dude,” Nino said, walking out of the house.

Adrien watched him go, then glared at his dad.

“I’m dying my hair green,” Adrien said, walking away before his dad could respond.

—

Marinette cracked her back, and pushed away from her desk.

“It’s done,” she said. 

“It looks cool,” Trixx said, staring over the new miracle box. Or sphere. Whatever.

“Head inside,” Marinette said. “I think you’ll find it cool.”

Trixx tilted his head, then looked around.

“Where?” Trixx asked.

“Ah, right, you haven’t seen the movie yet,” Marinette said. “Here.”

She pointed to a section of the deathstar.

“In the movie they launched a missile into here to destroy the death star,” Marinette said. “I thought it was a fun easter egg.”

Trixx flew through the hole, and was shocked by his surroundings.

It was the game he’d been playing, the Zelda one.

“What…?” Trixx flew out. “That is so cool!”

Marinette smiled.

“Thank you,” she said. “Plagg!”

“Hm?” Plagg poked out from a plate of cheese.

“It’s time for patrol,” Marinette said. “Trixx, you wanna come?”

Trixx nodded.

“Your patrol always is fun!” Trixx said.

Marinette grinned.

“Plagg, claws out!”

With a flash of blue, Maotif lept out her window, and onto the streets of Paris.

She patrolled for maybe 10 minutes when she spotted a blond girl on a balcony.

Chloé.

Without thinking, Maotif silently landed behind her.

“Hey.”

“Gah!”

Chloé shrieked and stumbled, before spinning around.

“Maotif?!” Chloé shook her head. “What are you doing here?”

“You looked lonely,” Maotif said. “What’s up?”

Chloé sighed.

“Nothing much, just needed some fresh air,” Chloé said.

Chloé stared at the ground.

“...no, something’s bothering you,” Maotif said.

Chloé chuckled.

“That obvious, huh?” Chloé turned to her. Maotif shrugged.

Chloe’s eyes caught on the ring on the middle finger of Maotif’s right hand. It was black, with a blue pawprint on it.

And it was a ring that Chloé had not seen in nearly ten years.

Her eyes went wide.

“...Marinette…?” she muttered.

Maotif tensed, but then nodded.

“...so I was just seeing things…” Chloé muttered. “H-how? What? But you…” Chloé shook her head. “How? That night…” Chloé had to stop, her voice shaking too much to speak. “You disappeared, you went missing , no one’s seen you in nine years! A-almost ten! How…?”

Maotif stared at the ground.

“Claws in,” she muttered.

A flash of blue light surrounded her, and Maotif disappeared from view.

“M-Mari?” Chloé said, her eyes going wide. She thought back to when she had last seen Marinette. Ten days ago.

In her mirror.

Chloé pulled out her mirror, and positioned it over her shoulder, turning around a bit.

Marinette was visible, with twin braids, a fox pendant, and a ring. There were two kwami by her. Plagg, and an orange fox one.

Marinette waved.

“Hey,” Marinette said.

“...so by disappear you went invisible?” Chloé asked, voice trembling. “I-I thought that I… I thought I killed you…”

Marinette sighed.

“The wording was disappeared…” Marinette muttered. “So my… my civilian identity is gone. I’m invisible. I can’t say my own name. But when I transform, I’m no longer… well, I’m not exactly the same person. And suddenly, the identity rules exist again! I can be seen, I can say a name that I can give myself. It’s… a bit hard to explain. But I’ve got a place to stay, and a friend who at least knows I’m invisible…”

“It’s Alix, isn’t it,” Chloé said.

Marinette chuckled.

“I will neither confirm nor deny,” Marinette said. “Anyway, enough about me. Why did you come out here earlier?”

Chloé stared out at Paris.

“My ma… Audrey is coming back to Paris next month,” Chloé glared at the ground. “She’s been gone for ten years- longer than you’ve been missing… and apparently she’s bringing a ‘mystery guest’ and-”

A sob caught in her throat, and her words cut out.

“Why is she coming back?” Marinette asked.

“ Gabriel is having a fashion show…” Chloé muttered.

“Great…” Marinette sighed.

“I’ll cataclysm her for you,” Plagg said, suddenly turning visible.

“Or I’ll make her look horrible next time she’s here,” the orange kwami said, also going visible.

Chloé chuckled.

“Oh, right, you haven’t met Trixx,” Marinette said. 

“Hi! I’m Trixx! She stole my miraculous,” Trixx said.

“Oh, that’s what the pendant is,” Chloé said. “I-”

“ Chloé!! ”

The two kwamis vanished from sight as Chloé spins around, to see Sabrina and Mylene rushing to her.

“What? What happened?” Chloé asked.

“The adults- all the adults, they-!” Sabrina panted, out of breath.

“They all got caught in bubbles and-” Mylene was cut off by a bubble appearing with an ugly blue man with a tall head.

“Today is your lucky day, little dudes. The adults have taken the day off, so make the most of it. No chores, no homework, no more nagging, just fun, fun, fun, fun. This is The Bubbler's gift to you,” the blue guy said.

“Akuma…” Chloé muttered.

“And, a special gift for Dupont students!” the Bubbler said. “A party at Adrien’s! Be there or float up in space!”

“Adrien!” Chloé clutched the railing tightly. “Was that Nino? Oh he must’ve tried to talk to Gabriel about a party… oh my goodness…”

“Bubbler’s got all the adults!” Mylene fidgeted with a stress necklace.

“Gah!” 

Without a warning, the three girls were suddenly in bubbles, that started floating off.

“Where are we-?!” Sabrina shook her head. “We must be getting brought to the party!”

“This… isn’t good…” Chloé muttered, glancing back at where Marinette stood.

Marinette stared out at the bubbles.

“O… kay… ” she muttered, and she started pacing. “This… might be a slight problem…”

“What’s wrong?” Trixx asked.

“I don’t know where Adrien’s house is!” Marinette stressed.

“Can’t you follow the bubbles?” Plagg asked.

“...good point,” Marinette muttered. “Plagg, claws out!”

—

“Wow. A birthday lunch to remember…” Adrien closed the door behind him.

“Happy Birthday!”

“Huh?” Adrien looked out over his courtyard, where he saw all his classmates.

“Hey hey hey! A special party just for you! While the cat’s away the mice will play!” a guy with blue skin who was standing on a bubble said.

Adrien blinked a couple of times.

“ Nino? ” Adrien asked.

“The Bubbler's brought all yo homies together for one single-sole purpose, to ce-le-brate!” The Bubbler (as he was apparently called) jumped off his bubble. 

“Yeah!” the teenagers said (something was off).

Adrien blinked, then held up a finger.

“One moment,” he said, and he ducked back into his house.

“Adrien, you need to stop the Bubbler!” Tikki said.

“But I’ve never had a party before!” Adrien said. “But if I don’t that would mean leaving the akuma to Maotif and Pegasus…”

“Just go fight the Bubbler!” Tikki said.

“But… party…” Adrien looked at Tikki with pleading eyes, and she fumbled.

She knew that he should be fighting the akuma. That was what he was supposed to do.

But…

“...fine…” Tikki muttered. “It doesn’t look like he’s doing to much harm… Just for like, an hour, max, okay?”

“Thank you!” Adrien gave Tikki a quick hug, and bolted back outside.

—

Max scanned the crowd. He had to get away somehow, he had to transform and fight the Bubbler. But he couldn’t leave .

And that was a problem.

“Hey, Max.”

Alix stood next to him, wearing the platform’s she had that were also skates.

“Hey, Alix,” Max said. “Do you think our parents are okay?”

Alix shrugged.

“I mean… Bubbler can’t expect to keep them away forever, right?” Alix squeezed her arms together. “Maotif will be here soon, she was on patrol when this happened… the only problem would be finding us but that shouldn’t be to hard…”

Max looked up, trying to spot his mom.

“We can’t see them from here,” Alix said. “I tried. They’re too high up.”

“Oh…” Max looked down, and scanned the crowd again, trying to find a way to get away and transform.

But there wasn’t anything he could do.

Max let out a slow breath.

Maotif had been on Patrol. She didn’t know where Adrien lived, but there was a 98.3% chance that she saw the announcement. There was a 56.4% chance that she was across the city when the announcement went off, and only a 13.4% chance that she was in his class. Based on these numbers, Maotif was 86.9% likely to show up in the next five minutes.

—

Adrien was trying to enjoy the party.

Really, he was.

But the longer he was there, the more he could tell there was something very wrong with everyone. He tried to make friendly small talk, but everyone seemed so… down…

“Adrien!” 

Adrien glanced over, and saw Chloé running toward him, her neat braid falling loose.

“Thank goodness…” Chloé looked him up and down. “Okay, you aren’t hurt, right?”

“I’m fine, what’s… wrong?” Adrien asked. “Everyone seems really… off. ”

Chloé grimaced.

“The Bubbler sent all the adults into the sky,” Chloé said, fideling with a strand of her hair. “All the workers, all the parents… ugh, if Nino wanted to throw you a party there were better ways that trying to talk to your dad!”

“Hang on, back up,” Adrien said. “Nino took all the adults?”

Chloé nodded, just as Sabrina found her.

“Chloé!” Sabrina grabbed Chloé’s hand. “You found Adrien!”

Chloé nodded.

“Am I in danger?” Adrien asked.

“If you do something to upset the Bubbler, yes,” Chloé said.

Just then, the music cut out.

“Sorry Bubbler, the party’s over.”

“Seriously?!” the Bubbler looked up.

Standing on the fence was Maotif, her staff extended. She must’ve knocked out the speaker system.

The akuma mask flashed over Bubbler’s face.

“Fine! Fine I’ll get your dumb ring you stupid bug!” Bubbler shook his head, and removed his bubble wand from his back. “Why you gotta ruin the fun?”

“Are you talking to me or moth boy?” Maotif asked.

“You. Duh,” Bubbler said. “No glowing mask.”

“Okay,” Maotif slipped to the ground. “I’m disrupting the party because you got rid of all the adults!”

“Party pooper,” Bubbler said. “Just like the adults…”

“Kid’s need adults!” Maotif said.

“No! Kids need freedom, fun, let loose and live it up. Adults are controlling and bossy!” Bubbler removed his bubble wand.

“No, that’s just Gabriel,” Maotif said. “Let me ask you this- can a baby take care of itself? Can a child cook?”

Bubbler’s expression flickered, and the akuma mask appeared.

“Ugh, leave me alone moth man!” Bubbler yelled.

Adrien attempted to slip away, but Chloé grabbed his arm.

“Where are you going?” Chloé asked.

“To… my room,” Adrien said, thinking up a lie quickly. “I’ll probably be safer there.”

Chloé raised a brow, but Adrien pulled his hand out of her grip and managed to disappear from her sight. Adrien slipped back into his house.

“I should’ve listened to you,” Adrien muttered.

“Let’s just deal with the akuma,” Tikki said.

Adrien nodded.

“Tikki, spots on!”

He was surrounded by a pink light, and his Misterbug costume appeared on his body.

Adrien slipped outside, and scanned the scene.

—

Maotif huffed, having dodged another burst of bubbles. Apparently they could be used as weapons and not just a way to capture people!

Also, he sent the kids into the sky!

She heard a whizz, and ducked in time to see the string of Misterbug’s yo-yo.

“Don’t mind me, just dropping in!” Misterbug said. He landed next to her, then glanced at her and took a step away.

“Seriously?” Maotif rolled her eyes. “Call your lucky charm already.”

“Once again I don’t take orders from you!” Misterbug said.

“Gah!” the Bubbler screamed, and they caught a glimpse of a horseshoe before it returned to Pegasus’ hand.

“Apologies for being late,” Pegasus said. “Had some trouble getting away.”

“Same,” Misterbug said.

“For goodness sake, we have an akuma to stop!” Maotif yelled.

The Bubbler used his bubble stick again, and the three heroes dodged. Misterbug and Pegasus by crouching and rolling away, Maotif dropped into the splits. She extended her baton, and it knocked the Bubbler back.

“My baton isn’t heavy enough…” she muttered, looking around. A couple different plans of attack formed. She could use a vent to keep away bubbles, she could always destroy the fence… or she could go the easy route… hm, but the lucky charm would come in handy.

“Poison dart frog!” Maotif screamed, and she rolled backward onto her feet.

“Fine!” Misterbug yelled, “Lucky Charm!”

A large wrench dropped into his hands.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” Misterbug asked out loud.

Pegasus looked down at it, and she could almost hear the gears in his brain turning. Maotif ran next to them.

“Fast way or guarenteed way?” she asked.

“...fast…?” Misterbug looked up at her.

Maotif nodded.

She yanked the wrench from his hands, and chucked it as hard as she could at the Bubbler, who screamed, but couldn’t do anything to stop the giant piece of red metal that nailed him square in the head.

The Bubbler dropped like a sack of flour.

“...May I ask what the other method was?” Pegasus asked.

“Use the wrench on the HVAC pipe, use the airflow to get rid of a burst of bubbles, and steal the wand then,” Maotif said, and she walked to the Bubbler and grabbed his bubble wand. “Cataclysm.”

The wand blackened, then turned to dust, and a black and purple butterfly flew out. Misterbug’s yo-yo snagged it.

“Purification time!” he said, and he tapped the yo-yo open. “Bye butterfly. Miraculous Misterbug!”

“Do you have to be so dramatic?” Maotif asked.

Misterbug stuck his tongue out at her as the loveliness of ladybugs swarmed the city, returning all those trapped in bubbles safely to the ground.

“What the…?”

Nino sat up, rubbing his head.

“Are you alright?” Maotif asked, hurrying over to him.

“Uh… a slight headache, but I’ll be fine,” Nino said.

“Phew. Was a bit worried me throwing a giant wrench at you would have worse repercussions,” Maotif said, helping him to his feet. 

“...you what?” Nino asked. “Oh, wait, you meant akuma me! No sweat dudette- I mean Maotif! Sorry, one of my friends is obsessed with you- and here she comes now…”

Alya appeared next to Maotif.

“Knowing you, that was probably epic!” Alya said.

“Well, I did throw a giant wrench at his head and knocked him out cold,” Maotif said. “But, you know, this kitty learned how to fight on the streets, so she fights dirty!”

“Understandable for someone using an evil miraculous,” Misterbug muttered.

Alya glared over at him.

“No one wants you here, just go away,” Alya said, shooing them away with her hand.

Misterbug stared at her flabbergasted, and Maotif let a smug grin flash on her face for a moment, just before Misterbug stormed off with a huff. Pegasus left with far less of a fuss, possibly using his power to get to where he was earlier.

“I was wondering if I could get some kind of interview with you,” Alya said. “I actually just launched my blog-”

“Ooo! Can I see?” Maotif asked.

Alya blinked.

“Uh- yes! Yes, of course!” Alya said, opening it up. “It’s got it’s own app and everything, Nathaniel helped with the artwork and the logo design, I made the app icon, um, Alix is helping me update the blog, like when you fought that magician dude who messed up the Eiffle Tower last week, um, I’ve already got a couple of stories with you shared…”

“This is awesome!” Maotif said. “Ooo! An Akuma alert! That’ll be so useful! Oh, and a page for the past akumas, that’s great! Oh, I never answered your question earlier. Yes, I’ll do an interview with you! Let’s see um… you shouldn’t have a ton of school on Wednesday’s right? Or maybe no school? Hm… how does the 22nd sound?”

“That-that sounds great!” Alya said.

“Great! I will definitely see you then, and probably before that too,” Maotif said. “Anyway, I gotta go, bye!”

—

Chloé tapped her foot, looking around for Lahiffe and Adrien.

Lahiffe did not deserve first name privileges right now.

“There you are,” Chloé grabbed Lahiffe’s arm, and he shrieked. “Oh be quiet.”

Chloé pulled Nino with her to the edge of the courtyard.

“Alright, listen,” Chloé said. “I understand you wanted to throw Adrien a party, okay?”

Nino nodded.

“Yeah, he’s my best bud-”

“I’ve known him since we were in diapers, I get it,” Chloé said. “But why would you go to his dad? If you wanted to throw a party why didn’t you come to me?”

Nino blinked.

“Y-you?”

“Yeah,” Chloé let go of him. “Look, I know it sounds a bit arrogant, but Adrien’s dad would at least somewhat listen to me. I want him to have a party too. I can convince Gabriel to let Adrien come to my place, I don’t have to tell him what exactly’s going on. You can still throw a birthday party, okay? But next time you want to do something for Adrien, don’t go to his dad. Honestly, I think his dad killed his mom, but that’s another story.”

“Wait, what?” Nino asked, but Chloé was already walking away.

—

“So your name is Marinette?” Trixx asked as Marinette sat in her room later that night.

“What?” Marinette blinked. “Oh! Right, yeah. I, um… I can’t couldn’t tell you because of the curse…”

“I understand,” Trixx said. 

“That was the first time Pigtails has spoken to Chloé since before the wish,” Plagg said.

“Plagg!” Marinette threw a pillow at him.

“You haven’t tried to reach out to her?” Trixx asked.

“I… I didn’t know how ,” Marinette said. “It doesn’t matter now anyway. Let’s head to bed, sleep sounds like a good idea.”

“Mmm… yeah…” Trixx curled up in a little den made up of excess fabric Marinette had that she put together.

Marinette giggled, and tucked herself into bed, Plagg nestled in her hair.

—

Elsewhere, across the city, in the hotel, a party being held for Adrien was coming to an end. The guests began to leave, except for Sabrina, Chloé, and Adrien. The three were having a sleepover (the only reason Adrien was allowed out of the house).

“Nice hat, Adrien,” Sabrina said. “Where’d you get it?”

“Oh, uh, Nathalie gave it to me for my birthday,” Adrien said, pulling off the dark red knitted beanie as he dug through his bag for pajamas. “She said she made it herself.”

“What did your dad get you?” Chloé asked.

Adrien let out a slow, frustrated, breath.

“A used pen.”

There was silence, and the girls reached over and comforted you.

“That… [redacted]...” Chloé muttered. “He definitely forgot…”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he sprung it on Nathalie last second and she grabbed it off her desk,” Sabrina said.

“...that’s likely,” Adrien muttered. “Mom always got me great gifts…”

“Yeah, she did,” Chloé said. “She got me my favorite sweater.”

“And got me a limited edition version of my favorite book,” Sabrina said. “That I keep here so my dad’s fiance doesn’t ruin…”

“And for your last birthday, she made you that blanket,” Chloé said.

They all knew the blanket she meant.

It was a beautiful shade of green, and it had been knit from the softest material known to mankind, had gold detailing, and was the size of Adrien’s massive bed. When Gabriel had started to throw out (or, put away) the things that had been made by Emilie, Adrien had immediately brought the blanket to Chloé’s, and it had been kept safe at the hotel ever since.

“Can I… have it tonight, actually?” Adrien asked.

“Of course! It’s yours afterall,” Chloé said, and she went over to her closet, and pulled down the blanket. “Oof! Forgot how heavy it was!”

Chloé carried it over, being careful to not let it drag on the floor.

“Thank you…” Adrien muttered. “For doing this…”

“Any time,” Chloé said. “We should get to bed though, it’s late.”

“Yeah,” Sabrina said. “Also, Adrien, the green looks nice in your hair, even if it’s temporary.”

“Oh, uh, thanks,” Adrien said, pulling on a green strand of hair. “I told my dad I was dying it, and Nino helped me with it at the party…”

“Maybe that’s how you can start to get away,” Chloé said. “Threaten your dad with hairdye.”

“Maybe…” Adrien muttered. “Goodnight, Chloé. Night, Sabrina.”

“Good night!”

“Good night…”

-

Chapter Text

Alya tapped her foot while she waited for the sculptor dude to come back. Nora was behind her, acting as a form of security, and Alix was next to her, another form of security, and also as back up filming if Alya wanted to get on camera herself.

“Thank you for waiting,” the sculptor came back into the room. “Can we get started?”

“Mhm,” Alya started to record a video, and Alix held it in front of her face for her. “Hey guys! Today we’ve got a statue of Maotif, sculpted by a… Theo… Robot?”

“Theo Barbot…” the sculptor complained. “But, yes!” The camera turned to him. “I was inspired by Maotif, and felt the urge to sculpt her!”

Alix loooked over at Alya and pretended to gag whilst handing Alya her phone back.

“So…. can we see it?” Alya asked.

Theo nodded, and pulled down on the tarp covering the statue.

“Ta-da!”

Alya and Alix stared at it, and Alya stopped recording.

“The [redacted] is that?” Alix asked.

Theo blinked.

“I-I’m sorry?”

“It doesn’t look like Maotif,” Alya said.

“I… I sculpted her from memory,” Theo said.

“Dude, you gave her a v-neck that could rival de-cowing,” Alix said. “And there’s not even a V-neck on her costume!”

“Also, you increased her butt and boob size like, ten fold,” Alya said. “At that size it would hurt to run around.”

“L-like I saw, I sculpted her from memory!” Theo said.

“Then what kind of memory do you have?” Alix asked. “You gave her like, Ilulu type boobs! Also, her outfit has shorts! Not whatever bathing suit bottom you put her in!”

“And she has leggings,” Alya said. “Which you seem to have completely gotten rid of! I don’t know what fantasy your living in, but I can tell you one thing! This is not going anywhere near my blog! We’re leaving!”

Alya went to storm off.

“Wait!” Theo called, but he whimpered when Nora and Alix glared at him with the rage of a thousand suns.

Nora and Alix followed after Alya.

“Can you believe him?!” Alya asked, deleting the video, than permanently deleting it. “I can’t believe I even agreed to this!”

“I can’t believe he based something like that after a minor,” Nora said. “I’m gonna talk to Claire about this… you haven’t come across the porn websites with fake pictures of her and the bug and horse kid, right?”

“By accident,” Alya shivered. “I reported it right away and deleted my browser histroy.”

“I’m not on a computer that long,” Alix said. “Luckily.”

“Wait, who’s Claire?” Alya asked.

“My lawyer friend,” Nora said.

“Isn’t that Kim’s older sister?” Alix muttered. “I can’t believe that guy thought we would actually post his bad sculpture…”

“I bet the only reason she isn’t strip dancing on her baton is because it wouldn’t stand,” Alya said.

Alix shivered.

“Alright, here’s what we’ll do,” Alix said. “We’ll go someplace, maybe the library, and watch little kid cartoons until our eyes bleed.”

“Sounds good to me,” Alya said.

—

Theo pushed a bunch of stuff off his table, being careful to not hit his precious statue, and screamed in frustration.

“Why don’t they see how beautiful it is?!” he screamed, and he pulled a picture out of his pocket. “How beautiful… she is… wasted on that disgrace of a hero Misterbug!”

Theo sat down aggressively at his table, and grabbed his clay cutter wire just as a black and purple butterfly akuma flew into it.

“ Bug Imitator, I am Hawkmoth. No one understands your love for the black cat… but I can. If you get rid of Misterbug and the Catabogger, then no one can stop you from getting the girl you deserve. ”

A grin grew across Theo’s face.

“That sounds like a perfect plan to me…” he said, as a transformation began.

“ All I ask for in return are the miraculous of Misterbug and Maotif, ” Hawkmoth said.

“You can count on me,” Theo said, looking identical to Misterbug.

—

Alya and Alix sat in the library. They’d done all their homework, and were now watching an Australian kids show about dogs just being good families (it was actually really good).

Then Alix’s phone started to ring, and she frowned.

“It’s Nath,” Alix said. “Why’s he calling?”

Alya shrugged, and paused their show.

Alix answered on speakerphone, turning down her volume.

“Yeah?”

“ Hey, um, Alix? Misterbug’s at the museum for… some reason, ” Nathaniel said. “ And he’s acting… uh… weird… ”

“What?” Alix frowned, and glanced at Alya, who shrugged.

“ Wait, crap! He just stole the Mona Lisa! ” Nathaniel said. “ Wait, he see’s me. I gotta go, bye! ”

Nathaniel hung up, and Alix and Alya stared at Alix’s phone.

“Okay, no matter how evil Misterbug is, he’s not about to steal something, especially not in broad daylight,” Alya said.

“Ah, Akuma,” Alix said, and she packed her things up. “Let’s try and find it.”

“Yep,” Alya said. “How do I flag Maotif about what the akuma is…?”

“I’ve got it handled,” Alix said as they walked out. Alix grabbed her phone, and pressed one of the contacts. “Hey, M? There’s a situation at the museum. No, I’m not in danger, at least not now, but that’s where I’m headed. It’s an akuma that’s copying bug boy. Alright, I’ll see you there!”

Alix hung up, and Alya stared at her, flabbergasted.

“You have Maotif on… speed dial? ” Alya whispered.

“I’ve known her for years,” Alix said. “Once we both had phones it was the first thing we did.”

Alya stared at her.

“I still can not believe my luck,” Alya said.

—

Maotif sat in the shadows near the Louvre, her tail twitching every so often. 

“See anything?” Trixx asked.

“Hm… no…” Maotif pulled out her baton. “But the police are still there, so either he’s really good at sneaking away, or he’s still inside…”

“So are you going to head down?” Trixx asked.

“Hm…” Maotif used the camera feature to zoom in. “Yeah, I think so.”

Maotif slipped down and approached the police.

“Gah!” one officer went when she appeared.

“Maotif,” Officer Roger said. “Stay out of this, this is police-”

“And that’s an akuma,” Maotif said. “So it’s my business.”

“You have no way of knowing that,” Roger said.

“Hm… so someone who’s attempting to be a hero steals the Mona Lisa in the middle of the day in front of hundreds of witnesses,” Maotif said, putting her hand to her chin. “Makes perfect sense.”

Roger just glared at her.

Only a minute after, Misterbug himself showed up, and the police lifted their rifles.

“Don’t shoot! I’m the real Misterbug!” Misterbug held his hand above his head. “I just want to check out the scene of the crime! I’m pretty good at finding clues.”

“Since when?” Maotif asked, rolling her eyes. Her baton vibrated and she frowned, opening a text from Alix.

“Well I’m good at Among Us,” Misterbug said.

“...are you kitten me?” Maotif muttered, and she looked over the text.

“Hey!” Misterbug complained. “Can I please just check out the scene?” 

“You do that,” Maotif said, starting to walk away. “I doubt anything’s there though.”

“Misterbug, just come with me,” Roger said.

Maotif frowned, and glanced back. Was Roger really changing his mind, or just going to attempt to arrest Misterbug?

Eh, not her problem.

As she started to walk away, one officer called after her, “Where are you going?”

Maotif snorted.

“To follow the evidence,” she said. “Which also means going to where the kidnapped kid is.”

“Oh, I forgot about the kid…” an officer rubbed his head.

“I didn’t know about him in the first place…” Maotif muttered, before vaulting away.

“Someone was kidnapped?” Trixx asked.

“Nathaniel, the one who did the art for the Catablog,” Maotif said, and she landed on a roof, pulling up the text from Alix.

It was a screenshot of a text from Nathaniel. There was a picture of Nath, and he had cuffs on, with the text reading ‘So the Misterbug lookalike nagged me, but didn’t take away my phone.’ Then there was another photo, of a sexy looking version of Maotif. ‘There’s this weird statue here.’

“Ew, what is that?” Trixx asked.

“The art of a pedophile,” Maotif said. “Alix said that she and Alya will meet me at the address she sent me. They’re probably the reason he got akumatized in the first place, because they were asked to show off his statue and didn’t because of what it looked like. The guy’s name is Theo.”

“Why would he even make that? It barely looks like you,” Trixx said.

“Because some people are creepy,” Maotif said. “Let’s go.”

—

Misterbug grumbled as he stared at the bars of the museum. Should’ve known Sabrina’s dad was just going to trap him. How would he get out?

“Lucky Charm!” he yelled. 

Maybe he’d get a chainsaw or something.

A single key fell into his hand.

“...maybe it unlocks the security system?” Misterbug wondered, and he looked around. “...nope, no idea.”

His yo-yo began to vibrate, and Misterbug frowned, and grabbed it. It split in half, and a screen appeared, with a caller ID for Pegasus.

Misterbug hit accept.

“These have cell phones?” was the first thing out of his mouth.

“ It appears so, yes, ” Pegasus said. “ You definetly didn’t steal from the museum, so I was wondering where you are. ”

“Stuck in the museum,” Misterbug said. “Same hall where the Mona Lisa was stolen. Can you portal me out?”

“ Certainly, ” Pegasus said.

The call ended, and a moment later a portal appeared at the other end of the hall. Misterbug ran toward it.

“I need to recharge,” Misterbug said. “Do you know where the akuma went?”

“No, I have not even seen it,” Pegasus said. “But the black cat likely knows where it went.”

“She did start to walk away when I entered the museum…” Misterbug muttered. “I’ll call you later, but I’m gonna go recharge.”

“I shall do the same,” Pegasus said. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Bye!” Misterbug jumped off the building.

“Spots off,” he said as soon as he was confident no one else was in the alley way. 

Tikki flew out of his earrings, and he pulled out a cookie he had in the container in his pocket. 

“Have you found the akuma yet?” Tikki asked. 

“No…” Adrien pulled out his new phone, the one from Chloé, and pulled up Twitter. If anyone had seen the black cat…

“There!” Adrien found a post from Alix from two minutes ago. The caption read: ‘When the akuma is so bad at kidnapping that he doesn’t even take the kidnappee’s phone.’

The caption was to a screenshot from presumably Nathaniel, who had been nabbed earlier (for some reason), and he was posting from some place. 

“What the fiddlesticks is that?!” Adrien said upon seeing a statue of Maotif. 

“Ew…” Tikki said. “Do you know where this is?”

“No…” Adrien stared at the photos a minute longer. “Wait, these texts were from 20 minutes ago, and that was shortly after Maotif left the museum…”

“Do you think Maotif saw them?” Tikki asked. 

“But the Twitter post was from a couple of minutes ago…” Adrien muttered. “She can’t know where this is…”

Adrien stared longer. 

“Okay, I think I might have an idea, actually,” Adrien said. “Alya and Alix mentioned something about seeing a statue of Maotif yesterday at school, and I think I know roughly where they were headed, so that’s a good start.”

Tikki nodded as she finished her cookie. 

“Alright, then let’s go!” Tikki said. 

“Tikki, spots on!”

—

Max frowned as Kaalki ate some the sugar cube. 

“How does that provide you with enough energy to transform me again?” Max asked. “There’s almost no nutritional value.”

“I’m a magical god,” Kaalki said. “I’m not a carbon based creature like everything else on this planet. Therefore, I don’t follow the same principals. If these sugar cube are my favorite food then they provide me with enough energy to help you transform again.”

Max nodded. That made sense enough.

“So what you’re really saying is, your magic,” Max said.

“Yes.”

—

Misterbug stared down at the warehouse. It definitely looked like the correct location.

“So this is the imposter’s hide-out…” he muttered. “Actually, why is he copying me?” Misterbug shook his head. “Doesn’t matter, I gotta get Nathaniel out.”

—

Maotif stopped Alix and Alya with her hand.

“What?” Alix asked.

Maotif’s ears twitched, and she turned her head.

“Misterbug’s here…” she muttered. “He and Pegasus must’ve figured out the phone feature on their weapons…”

“...what led to that conclusion?” Alya asked.

“Misterbug likely got caught in the museum, he’s not smart enough to figure out a way out, Pegasus likely called him, then teleported them both out, both had to recharge, and Misterbug found your twitter post,” Maotif said. “...actually, I wanna see him against the imposter bug.”

“Should we get Nath?” Alix asked.

Maotif nodded, ears twitching.

“I’ll grab him, you two stay hidden, and record it,” Maotif said.

Alya grinned.

“Alright.”

—

Misterbug frowned as he entered the warehouse. Something was off.

“Where’s Nathaniel?” he asked, looking around. In the picture, Nathaniel had been right against the wall, but he wasn’t there anymore. Was he moved?

When Misterbug reached the center of the room, and frowned at the ladybug plush that sat on a box.

“...what’s that?” Misterbug muttered, and picked up a note. “Bug’s in the bag? That’s not even how the saying goes. Wait-”

Suddenly some chains came bursting out, and Misterbug reacted too slowly to avoid them, and wound up getting stuck in them.

“Ugh! Great!” Misterbug struggled in the chains.

“Ha!” the Misterbug copy walked out. “What could she ever see in you, you fell so easily into my trap!”

“She? She who?” Misterbug asked.

The copy stared at him.

“Maotif!” he said, and pulled a tarp away from a lifesized statue of the black cat.

Misterbug shuddered, before responding, “There’s nothing between us, I hate her!”

“Sure you do,” the copy said. “But she will love me! Theo Barbot! Bug Imitator!”

“...what is that name?” Misterbug muttered. Just then, his yo-yo began to vibrate. Theo smirked, and grabbed it, opening the phone feature.

“ Misterbug, have you found the akuma’s hideout? ” he heard Pegasus say.

“Yes, I’m at Theo Barbot’s workshop,” Theo said. “I’ve got the imposter pinned down but can’t find his object.”

“ ...The name Theo means nothing to me, but there appears to be tracking software, so I will go there. ”

“Don’t! It’s a trap!” Misterbug yelled, just as Theo hung up.

“Lucky charm!” Theo said, and padlock and key appeared. Theo smirked, and put the padlock on the chains, and the key on a loop of wire around his waist.

A few moments after, Pegasus ran in, then stopped, and looked around with a frown.

“Nathaniel’s gone, did you get him out?” Pegasus asked Theo.

Misterbug saw Theo’s eyes flick anxiously over to where Nathaniel must’ve been earlier, like he hadn’t realized Nathaniel was gone, but a grin stretched across his face.

“Yep!” Theo said. “Nathaniel headed home, and I got the imposter!”

Pegasus’ eyes narrowed, and he looked between the two Misterbugs.

“Pegasus, he’s lying, I’m the real one!” Misterbug said.

Pegasus frowned.

“What’s your kwami’s favorite food?” Pegasus asked.

Panic flashed across Theo’s face.

“Uh…” Theo tapped his fingers on his legs.

“Idiot,” Misterbug said. “Cookies and macarons, but she likes sweets in general.”

“Th-that was my answer!” Theo said.

“Considering it took you 10.47 seconds to come up with an answer, I’d say no, it wasn’t,” Pegasus said.

Theo stomped his foot.

“Fine! You got me!” he said, pulling out both yo-yo’s. “But I’m far better than him!”

Pegasus dodged under the two yo-yo’s coming to strike him, and hit his horseshoe hard against the chains, weakening a link of them, before dodging again.

Misterbug managed to break the weak link of the chain, and get out of the chains, slipping the lock around the wire at his waist. 

“What is your guess for his object?” Pegasus asked, dodging the yo-yo again.

“Well, Bubbler’s was his weapon,” Misterbug said. “But I don’t know which one is mine and which is his, and we can’t fix anything if we break mine.”

Pegasus frowned.

“How do you plan to break the yo-yo?” Pegasus asked. “According to Kaalki the miraculous weapons are indestructible.”

“And he’s copying me…” Misterbug face palmed. “That is a good question. Um… yeah, I’ve got no idea.”

Unfortunately, the two were so distracted that they got wrapped in the wire of one of the yo-yo’s.

“...dang it…” Misterbug muttered.

“Ha! I’m a far better hero than you!” Theo said.

Just then, one of the yo-yo’s began to ring. The one in Theo’s hand. He frowned, and opened it.

“Wait, how can Pegasus be calling me, he’s-” Theo got nailed in the side of a head with a horseshoe.

Pegasus’ horseshoe.

Pegasus’ eyes went wide, and he looked over his shoulder, but his horseshoe was gone.

“ I’m better than all of you !” a new voice cheered.

Maotif landed in between Pegasus, Misterbug, and Theo.

“What the- when did you get here?” Theo asked.

“About ten minutes before bug boy,” Maotif said, tilting her head with a grin. “Where did you think Nathaniel went?”

That was when three regular teenagers came out of hiding. 

Alya, who had her phone out and was recording.

Alix, who had two school bags on her.

And Nathaniel, with a sketchbook in hand, who mostly looked excited to be there.

“Gosh dang it…” Misterbug muttered.

Theo’s eyes flicked to the yo-yo keeping Misterbug and Pegasus trapped, then pulled them further away, before rushing at Maotif.

Maotif grinned, and quickly pulled out her baton, blocking blows from the yo-yo as she was backed into a wall.

“You say you’re better, but I’m winning,” Theo said.

Maotif just grinned.

Theo flung the yo-yo at her again, but this time, Maotif caught it as she ran up the wall, then flipped over Theo, landing silently on the other side of him.

“Are you?” she asked, a playful smirk on her face.

She casually walked over to Misterbug and Pegasus, and placed her right hand on the yo-yo holding them.

“Cataclysm,” she said, and the yo-yo crumbled to dust. An akuma flew out of it, and Misterbug stole his yo-yo back, then captured and purified the akuma.

“Bye little Tenshi,” Maotif said, smiling at the purified butterfly.

“M-Maotif!” Theo ran over to her, and Misterbug saw her cringe before turning around.

“...yes…?” her voice was strained.

“I-I’m sorry I got akumatized, but some kids were jerks-”

“We’re right here!” Alya shouted.

Theo frowned, then continued, “ Anyway , I just wanted to show you the statue I made of you! And… and ask you out.”

Theo showed her the statue, and Maotif looked very uncomfortable.

“...how old are you?” Maotif asked.

Theo paused.

“25, why?” he asked.

Maotif walked away, visibly uncomfortable. 

“Yeah, no, I’m 14,” she said.

“So? It’s only 11 years,” Theo said. 

Misterbug saw a flash of anger that quickly disappeared, but her eye was ticking.

“There’s a reason Alya and Alix walked out,” Maotif said, her voice eerily flat. “Alya got that on video. I am a minor , you are a grown adult, and this kind of behavior is illegal. Now shut the [redacted] up.”

With that, Maotif left.

“Pedofile,” Alya hissed, as she, Alix, and Nathaniel walked out.

Misterbug and Pegasus exchanged a glance, Misterbug noting that Pegasus had one dot left, and one dot flashing, before the two also left.

Leaving Theo alone in the workshop.

—

Ladybugs were flying around the city as Maotif walked on a roof, kicking some rocks in frustration.

Her baton began to vibrate, and she glanced at the caller ID, before picking up.

“Hey, Alix,” Maotif muttered.

“ You okay? ” Alix asked.

Maotif sighed, and glanced over the roof, where she could see Alix, Alya, and Nathaniel.

“I’ve been a hero for nine years, almost ten now, I’ve seen all sorts of pedophiles, rape victims, and kidnapping attempts. But never with me ,” Maotif muttered. “He… he didn’t care that I’m barely a teenager…”

Maotif sighed, sitting down.

“I’ll be okay. You have fun with Alya and Nathaniel, okay? Bye…”

With that, she hung up, and lept to a different roof. She had a destination in mind.

One she hadn’t been to much in the last nine years.

She stopped outside her parent’s bakery, and took a deep breath, before pushing the door open.

It wasn’t crowded, so her maman spotted her immediately.

“Maotif! Welcome!” Sabine said. “What would you like?”

“I… I don’t have any money,” she muttered. Why was it so hard to see her parents again?

Sabine beckoned her forward.

“I saw the livestream on the Catablog,” Sabine said in a hushed voice. “Don’t worry, it’s on the house. If you want to eat sweets to get rid of your troubles, that’s fine. It’s normal.” Sabine leaned back. “So what can I get you?”

“Um… okay. A dozen strawberry macarons, some chocolate bread, a half dozen cheese danishes, a clafoutis, and two eclairs, please?” Maotif asked.

Sabine nodded, and pulled the sweets out, bagging them up for her.

“Have a great day, sweetheart,” Sabine said. 

“Thank you,” Maotif said, and she walked out of the shop. She used her baton to get onto a roof, and glanced over at her old balcony. It looked almost exactly as she left it. 

She put the bag down next to her, and pulled out the box of macarons, and bit into one. 

They tasted exactly like she remembered.

“Claws in,” she muttered.

Plagg flew out of the ring, and saw the spread of food.

“You went to your parent’s?” Plagg asked.

“Wait, the nice baker lady is your mom?” Trixx asked.

“Mhm…” Marinette mutttered. “I got some danishes for you, Plagg. And you can have some of the clafoutis, Trixx.”

The two kwami’s eyes lit up at the glorious food.

“It smells great!” Trixx said, grabbing some of the clafoutis.

“Pigtails’ parents run a bakery, of course it tastes good,” Plagg said, eating entire danishes in one bite.

Marinette chuckled, and took a bite out of one of the eclairs.

—

“Spots off,” Misterbug muttered, landing in his room.

Tikki flew out of the earrings, and he handed her a macaron.

“You okay?” Tikki asked.

“The akuma was some 25-year-old skulptor who wanted to date Maotif… and she’s 14,” Adrien muttered. “And he didn’t care…”

Tikki frowned.

“I get the feeling that that’s wrong in some way, but I’m not entirely sure how…” Tikki muttered. “It’s been a while since I was active… I know one of my past holders was a lady-in-waiting for a princess who was also 14 and married someone 11 years older than her, but that was almost 500 years ago…”

“Well, now it’s illegal for a full grown adult to date a minor, anyone younger than 18,” Adrien said.

“Ah, that’s it,” Tikki shivered. “Why would he…? Humans disturb me sometimes.”

“That makes two of us,” Adrien said. “I felt really bad for her…”

Tikki looked out the window.

“Yeah…” she muttered.

—

“He was even creepier when I was chained up,” Nathaniel said. “He didn’t realize I had my phone, but some of the things I heard him say….” Nathaniel shivered. “I recorded it, but…”

“Wait, that’s good,” Alya said. “I’ve got the livestream, which saw the statue a few times, and what he said at the end, after Maotif said her age… Kim has a sister-”

“Who’s a lawyer! I forgot about that!” Nathaniel said. “We can get the sculptor arrested!”

“And get rid of those creepy websites,” Alix said with a shiver.

“Hey, you’ve known her for a long time, did you know how old Maotif was?” Alya asked.

“Eh…” Alix made a so-so motion with her hand. “I knew she was roughly my age, and she heads to class with me-”

“Wait, what?” Alya asked. “She’s in class with us?”

“Oh, yeah, sorta?” Alix looked up. “Remember how I saw we should play a prank on Mme. Bustier?”

“Oh, that’s how they’ve been getting filled out,” Alya said. “But how is she attending class if she’s not in the class?”

“...that’s her secret to tell,” Alix said. “All that you need to know is that she’s in class most days, or she’s out on patrol.”

“Hm...” Alya texted Nora, asking her to come by for the videoes she had to get Theo arrested (hopefully). “Do you know her patrol schedule?”

“Sorta,” Alix said.  “She doesn’t exactly have a patrol schedule? It’s more like… she'll patrol when she can, or when she’s bored. But I shouldn’t get into too many details.”

“Fair enough,” Alya said. Nora responded. “Nora’s gonna meet us at the library, and hopefully Claire will be there.”

“Good. The sooner we can wrap this up the better,” Alix said, and Nathaniel nodded in agreement.

—

“Are you gonna head in?” Trixx asked.

Marinette stared at her old balcony, then turned around.

“No…” she muttered. “I… I’m not ready for that.”

With that, she transformed into Maotif, and slipped away.

Chapter Text

“So why are we headed to the school?” Alya asked as she put in a pair of earrings. Small silver loops.

“ Gaming tournament, ” Alix answered over the phone. “ Max is expected to win, but we’re gonna go support, and give him some practice. Also, top two students in the school will go to the Ultimate Mecha Strike III Tournament in a few months. That ones a co-op competition between the various schools. But there’s a smaller singles tournament today. ”

“Cool,” Alya said, grabbing her bag, and tucking a box that had arrived in the mail into it. “Alright, I’ll see you there! Bye!”

“ Bye! ”

Alya slipped her phone into her bag, and left her room.

“Where’re you headed?” Nora asked.

“The school,” Alya said, grabbing a croissant and filling it with some meat. “There’s a gaming tournament today, and we’re gonna support a classmate.”

“Do I know this classmate?” Nora asked.

“I’m not particularly close with him, so no,” Alya said, and she took a bite out of her breakfast. “I’ll be back later.”

“You’re bring the thing, right?” Nora asked. “I spent a decent amount of money on that, just to help keep you safe.”

“Yes, I’ve got it,” Alya said, tapping her bag. “I’ve gotta go. Bye Nora!”

“Bye, little sister.”

—

Alix pulled on her skates at the door.

“You sure you don’t want to come?” Alix asked Maotif.

“I’m fine,” Maotif said. “I wouldn’t be able to do anything there anyway, and I want to play the game myself.”

“Alright,” Alix popped her back. “I’ll see you later!”

“Bye!”

Alix jumped down the steps, and skated off to the school.

—

“Chloé, do you wanna play?” Kim asked.

Chloé shook her head.

“I’m fine,” Chloé said. “I’m not very good at the game. Sabrina?”

Sabrina’s eyes went wide.

“Uh-uh, sure,” Sabrina said, and she took the controller Kim was holding. Sabrina slid to the floor next to Max.

So far, no one had even gotten close to beating Max. 

But Chloé knew the leaderboard for this game. Max was at the top, but Sabrina and Adrien were both in the top five. 

A few minutes later, Sabrina had been defeated, but not by nearly as much as anyone else had, only losing by a couple of points.

“Adrien, you’re up,” Chloé said. Adrien cracked a smile, and took the controller from Sabrina.

Adrien also lost to Max, by a couple more points than Sabrina, and he sighed.

“Well, as of right now, it appears that Max and Sabrina will be going to the larger tournament in January,” Kim said.

The door to the library opened, and Alya and Alix entered.

“Do you want to play?” Max asked.

“Oh, [redacted] yeah!” Alix said. “This game is so much fun! I’ll lose but still!”

Alya had her phone out already, and was recording, likely for the school blog because she was on that team.

Chloé watched Alix play. The match lasted a while, and even though Alix lost, it looked like she had a blast.

“It’s starting!” Kim said. He had the UMS 3’s social media opened.

Max got matched up with a random player, and he defeated them in all of 10 seconds.

Sabrina and Adrien also got to play as the game continued. Eventually, they both lost to Max. Alix also played, and lost. Most of the class had played at the bottom, even Nino (who had admitted to having never played before today. It’s a miracle he lasted more than 20 seconds). But one by one they were eliminated.

Until the final match up.

“ MAX versus… MDC! ”

And most of the class frowned. They’d expected whoever Max would fight against last to be someone from the top five leader board. Max was in first, followed by some random person, then Sabrina, Adrien, and another random. Alix was at spot six.

So who was MDC?

Chloé frowned. That username was familiar though...

“ Ready? Fight! ”

Button mashing began, and Max seemed to actually be somewhat stressed. Everyone knew he’d expected to just fly through the rounds, but this last opponent was good.

Max’s anxiety seemed to be rising, as the match went on for longer and longer. Whoever this was was going to get the second place spot on the leaderboard.

At least.

Chloé frowned again. Something about the other players fight style was familiar…

She glanced over at Alix, and froze.

When Alix had played, she had been playing in a very similar style, if not a bit less experienced.

So whoever this was, likely knew Alix very well-

“ MDC… wins! ”

And the library went silent.

Kim gulped, “M-Max…?”

Max gently set the controller on the ground, and slowly stood up, and walked away.

“Max!” Kim started to go after him, but Chloé stopped him.

“Kim, let me,” Chloé said, and she followed after Max.

“Max, you okay?” she asked.

Max blinked a couple of times.

“I… lost,” he said, his voice unnaturally even.

Chloé swallowed hard.

“Max, you were really good,” Chloé said. “And you’ll probably beat them next time- this tournament’s not good for anyone’s nerves…”

But Max was shaky. Tears at the corner of his eyes.

And then Chloé saw it.

A purple butterfly.

“M-Max, calm down!” Chloé said. “It’s not the end of the world-”

“Calm. Down? Calm. Down? ” Max looked over at her. “ Don’t you dare tell me to CALM DOWN! ”

The akuma landed in his glasses, and Chloé took a step back.

Max’s eyes went wide with shock, and he grabbed the sides of his head, then pulled his glasses off. He was fighting the akumitization.

Max threw his glasses to the ground, but they didn’t break.

Then his face went eerily calm. He slowly picked the glasses back up.

“Yes, Hawkmoth,” he said. And as purple bubbles started to cover him, he added, “Kaalki, full gallop.”

Chloé went pale, and bolted down the hallway, and into the library.

“Everyone run! Now!” she screamed, grabbing Sabrina and Adrien’s hands.

“Why? What happened?” Kim asked.

“What do you think happened, Max is akumatized!” Chloé said. “Oh, and he’s also probably Pegasus. So run!”

—

Alix pulled Alya away from the action.

“Max probably isn’t mad at us , but it doesn’t hurt to be safe,” Alix said.

Alya sighed, then her eyes lit up.

“Oh, I almost forgot!’ Alya said. “Nora was worried about me always running into danger, so…” Alya slid her bag to the ground, and pulled out the box for her new drone. She opened it, and quickly got the drone hooked up to her phone, and got the camera ready.

“Nice!” Alix said.

Alya pulled out the remote, and started to pilot the drone, looking through the camera.

“I found something,” Alya said, and she switched the camera to recording, and livestreamed it to the Catablog, and also used a microphone.

“Hey ya’ll!” Alya said. “Different set up! My family saw it as reckless to run into akumas, so now I’ve got a drone! Let’s see what we can find!”

Alix went to the Catablog, and saw that someone, likely Nathaniel, had already activated the akuma alert.

She switched to her messaging app, and texted M.

Pink_Demon: Max is akumatized

Pink_Demon: Looks like he’s a giant mec suit from UMS

Kitty Cat: Oh crap

Kitty Cat: I’m on my way

Kitty Cat: Just one minute

Alix sighed, and put her phone away.

“He just leveled up!” Alya said, microphone on. “Alright, stay out of the way! Looks like the akuma is only a few kilometers from Francious Dupont College! And now he’s got legs, he’s no longer floating!”

Suddenly, a large blue portal appeared, and Alya and Alix gasped.

“It.. we’ve got confirmation. The akuma victim is Pegasus,” Alya said, steering the drone through the portal shortly after the giant mec. “Um… looks like he’s now near the Louvre. Stay off the streets. People in the Louvre will likely be safe due to size… but uh… yeah, just stay safe folks!”

Alya turned off her microphone, and sunk down.

“Chloé was right,” Alix said. 

—

“ It… we’ve got confirmation. The akuma victim is Pegasus. Um… looks like he’s now near the Louvre. Stay off the streets. People in the Louvre will likely be safe due to size… but uh… yeah, just stay safe folks! ”

Marinette bit her lip as she looked amongst her stuff.

“Max is probably inside the giant mec, how do I fight it…?” Marinette shook her head, and grabbed a purple potion.

“Ugh, do I have to?” Plagg asked. “The few times my holders got their hands on the potions they sucked!”

“Well cataclysm will likely be more useful,” Marinette said. “But I’ll keep Trixx and some spare potions on me. I’m working on the taste and getting them into something else, I promise.”

“Well, maybe you could’ve had that done if you hadn’t wasted the morning gaming,” Plagg grumbled.

“It was the UMS 3 tournament! I couldn’t just miss it!” Marinette defended, then she shook her head. “You know what, nevermind. Plagg.”

Plagg groaned, but downed the potion. He gagged.

“Plagg, power up,” Marinette said.

Light shone around Plagg, and his arms had flattened into being vaguely wing shaped.

“...Astro Plagg…” he muttered.

Marinette patted him on the head.

“Astro Plagg, claws out!”

The blue light surrounded her, and she found her costume had slightly changed.

She had on something akin to Catra’s space suit, only in shades of navy blue and black. There were some more bright blue pops of color, and she could tell that she had some form of anti-gravity boots. They activated with a single thought, and it took her a moment to get used to them.

“O…kay… this is weird…” Maotif said. “I guess this is the space power up. But let’s go!”

—

Adrien muttered fake curse words under his breath as he watched Chloé fret around him and Sabrina. Max… Pegasus was out there akumatized, and he couldn’t help!

“Adrien, you have to-” he cut Tikki off.

“I know that!” he whisper shouted. “But Chloé’s being a nightmare. ”

“She’s just being protective,” Tikki said. 

“Yeah, but it also makes sneaking away really hard,” Adrien whispered.

“Adrien, you okay?” Chloé asked, glancing up at him.

“I- yeah…” Adrien muttered. “Can… can I go? The akuma is at the Louvre anyway…”

Chloé frowned, her brow furrowed. 

“I… I suppose, but the akuma can go almost anywhere,” Chloé said. “If you get absorbed you’re dad will kill someone. Or I will.”

“I’ll be fine,” Adrien said.

Chloé frowned.

“Is there a reason you need to go?” Chloé asked. “Cause I’d feel much better if you stayed here…”

“I… my dad probably wants me home…” Adrien muttered.

Chloé raised a brow, like she didn’t believe him.

“I… guess you can go,” Chloé said.

“Thank you!” Adrien bolted up, grabbed his stuff, and left.

“I don’t think Chloé believed you,” Tikki said.

“She’s always been great at seeing through me,” Adrien muttered. “But I can’t deal with that right now. Pegasus got akumatized. Pegasus is Max.”

Tikki was silent.

Adrien sighed once he was out of the building and hidden.

“Tikki, spots on.”

He was surrounded by pink light, and his Misterbug costume appeared around his body. He opened his yo-yo, and checked the Catablog. Somehow Alya was flying above the akuma (wait, did she have a drone?), but the akuma was still at the Louvre.

Probably.

He threw his yo-yo, and used it to bring himself to the roof tops.

—

Sabrina was sitting on Chloé’s bed. The two were watching the Catablog on Chloé’s TV.

“ The akuma has left the Louvre. I repeat, the akuma has left the Louvre. Clear the streets as best you can, folks, ” they heard Alya say.

“Will Maotif show up soon?” Sabrina muttered.

“Probably,” Chloé said. “She’s usually there pretty quick. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s following, trying to find the best angle of attack.”

Sabrina laughed. Then she sat up straight.

“My dad, he’s down there,” Sabrina said, panicking. “What is he-?”

The police force could be seen near the robot akuma. Were they shooting at it? The akuma fired a green laser, and the whole police force turned into… were those XP points?
“Dad!” Sabrina gasped. “What did Max do to them?”

“I…” Chloé swallowed. “It looks like he’s turning them into XP to level up.”

“Level…?” Sabrina turned back to the screen. “Oh no… he’s on level two already… if he get’s to level three he’ll be able to unlock the special moves, and level four…”

“Level four is the highest, right?” Chloé asked, and Sabrina nodded. “So that’s his final form then…”

“If he get’s that, the heroes are doomed…” Sabrina muttered.

—

Misterbug panted as he watched the akuma go past. It had left the Louvre apparently, but kept blasting civillians. It was a level two mech, but how long did he have until it would be level three?

Or four?

And how would he beat it? Max was better than him at this game by a lot. Where was the object?

Misterbug shook his head.

This wasn’t just Max.

This was Pegasus.

His teammate.

Misterbug took a deep breath.

“Max!” he yelled, and the mech stopped, and seemed to face him.

“Actually, it’s Gamer, ” Max said. 

Misterbug shook his head. “Whatever. Just please, stop this!”

“You don’t have to tell me what to do! We aren’t teammates, not now!”

Adrien took a shaky breath.

“I don’t want to fight you!” Misterbug said. “Can’t we just… talk about this?”

“No, talking won’t fix anything. I want to fight,” Gamer said. “And…” he blasted another laser, and absorbed a bus full of people.

And leveled up.

“I just leveled up.”

Misterbug took a shaky breath.

“If we’re going to fight, can you stop with the civilian casualties then?” Misterbug asked.

“Hm… fine,” Gamer said. “But let’s go somewhere else. Voyage!”

A large portal opened in front of Gamer, and he took a step through.

“Are you coming?”

Against his better judgement, Misterbug jumped through the portal.

He emerged in Parc des Princes. The stadium.

Well, it was a pretty good spot to fight.

“I feel like this isn’t a fair fight…” Misterbug muttered.

“Cataclysm!”

Misterbug looked up, but couldn’t see the black cat. But the mech crumbled to dust, and the actual Gamer fell (was he okay?). Also, there was a giant orb here now?

With the mech gone, Misterbug spotted the… what he could only assume was the black cat.

She had on a black helmet with cat ears. The top part of her top, her gloves, and her boots were black, along with her belt tail, while the other parts of her costume were a navy blue in a couple different shades. Her upper arms had two glowing blue stripes each.

Oh, yeah, and she was also hovering.

“Dangnabit…” Gamer muttered.

The black cat flew over and hovered about a foot above the ground right next to Misterbug.

—

“ HOLY [redacted]!” Alya said, and she switched on her microphone again. “Maotif has a new appearence! Is this another miraculous?”

Once she turned off the microphone, she spun around.

“How fast can you get me to parc des princes?” Alya asked.

“2 minutes,” Alix said. “Minimum. Probably faster.”

Alya fist pumped.

“Yes!”

—

“...How long have you been here?” Misterbug asked.

“Since before you,” Maotif said, her tail flicking back and forth. “It’s easy to hide on a black mech when you’re outfit is also black.”

“Why didn’t you do anything?” Misterbug asked.

“Well, I was trying to see if he was the mech, or was in the mech, and where the akumatized object was,” Maotif explained slowly. “Also, I figured cataclysming him on a street full of civillians was a bad idea.”

She grinned as Misterbug rolled his eyes.

“What’s this?” Misterbug asked, probably trying to move on.

“Some sort of reward, I guess?”

Gamer started to laugh, and the two looked over at him.

“Did you think I didn’t save my last level?” Gamer asked, and pressed some button on his glasses, and his mech reformed at it’s level 3 appearence.

“[redacted] knew it…” Maotif muttered. “The spawnpoint glitch, really? Well, at least I know the akuma’s in his glasses.”

“Well, that’s a slight problem,” Misterbug said. “That’s his miraculous, and you already used cataclysm.”

Maotif rolled her eyes. Not a problem.

“It’ll be fine,” she said, and she put a hand on the orb. It glowed, and then a giant mech stood in it’s place (why were they standing on it?) The mech seemed to be a mix of one the ladybug themed one from the game, and the cat themed one.

“Um… I’ll man it, you shoot?” Misterbug offered.

“Nah, I’ll fly,” Maotif said, and she began to hover again. She saw Misterbug roll his eyes, before getting into the cockpit.

Maotif’s ears twitched, and she glanced at the entrance to the stadium, and saw Alya and Alix hurry in.

She frowned, and flew over to them.

“Didn’t you get a drone so you didn’t have to come running to akumas?” Maotif asked Alya.

“Uh… yeah, but this is so cool to watch in person!” Alya said.

“M, where’d you get the upgrade?” Alix asked.

Maotif grinned.

“This doesn’t go on the blog,” she started with, and Alya nodded. “You know those potions I’ve been working on? Well, one of them’s a space potion!”

“So you get anti-gravity boots! That’s so cool!” Alix said.

“Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask,” Maotif started, and she flinched when there was a loud CLANG behind her. “...gotta make it quick. Why’d Max get akumatized?”

“He wanted to win the UMS 3 tournament, but he lost and got second place,” Alix said. “He was really close too.”

“The UMS…” Maotif face palmed. “Ah [redacted]... this is my fault. Thanks!”

She flew off, and scanned the battle field.

“...hm…” she flew over to near-ish to Gamer, and saw it. He was looking out a glass to fight. No screen. “Heh… sucker.”

She flew back over to Misterbug.

“Yo!” she called down, tapping the cockpit. When Misterbug didn’t respond, she rolled her eyes, and slipped inside anyway. “Yo.”

“Gah!” Misterbug barely kept a hand on the controls (impressive, considering he was stretched out. They were probably both supposed to control this (for some reason) but oh well). “What do you want?”

“Use your dumb power already,” she said, scanning the screens in front of him. “Oh, also here.”

She tapped a button, and the display switched up to have a game controller and a side screen, just like the actual game.

“Oh… thanks,” Misterbug said.

Maotif slipped behind the controls.

“Just use your dumb power,” she said.

“Lucky charm,” Misterbug said without any enthusiasm.

A bottle of red spray paint appeared.

“What the…?” Misterbug looked around.

“Perfect!” Maotif snatched it. “You can take back the controls for your robot!”

She flew out of the cockpit, but did hear Misterbug shout, “Hey!” as she left.

She flew back over to Gamer’s side, staying out of view, then went over the top of his head. Upside down now, she shook the can, and then started to spray, covering up the glass of the side window.

Gamer popped his head out the window, and taking the opportunity, she snatched the glasses.

“Did you seriously just fall for that?” Maotif asked with a laugh.

Gamer grumbled, and slumped back into his cockpit.

Maotif snorted, and floated more toward the ground.

“Cataclysm,” she whispered.

The glasses cracked, and broke into a couple of pieces, and an akuma flew out.

“...sorry Kaalki…” she muttered. She looked up to the akuma, and then to Misterbug. Well, he wasn’t here.

She quickly snatched the akuma into her hand.

“Cataclysm,” she whispered again, and opened her hand back up to find a pure white tenshi in place of the akuma (also, her arm was stinging with pain, yikes).

Maotif landed on the ground, and punched down.

“Catastrophe!” she shouted.

The pain vanished, and a destructive healing wave (she will never understand how that works) flew across Paris, and civillians reappeared. Both of the mechs vanished, and those that were in them were on the ground.

“What…?” Max looked around, then touched his face, and his eyes went wide in a panic. “Where’re my-!” he looked up, and could probably tell who he was looking at (she was a black blob). “Maotif? Give me back my glasses!”

“Give them back,” Misterbug said, approaching her.

“Give him back his mirculous? ” Maotif asked.

Max muttered a swear word.

“Please!” Max said.

“Cat, you can’t keep it from him,” Misterbug said.

“I very much can,” Maotif said, pulling out her baton and stuffing the glasses into it. “Look, Max, Hawkmoth knows who you are now.”

“So? Let me have my miraculous!” Max said.

“Max, you don’t realize what this means, do you,” Maotif said. “Max, if you kept it, Hawkmoth could target your mom, he could target your friends, just to try to get to you. We can’t let him get any more miraculous.”

“We?” Misterbug asked.

“What, you want him to have more powers?” Maotif asked. Misterbug didn’t respond. “Exactly. Max, it’s just too risky. I’m sorry.”

“...why do you get to make that choice?” Max asked.

“Well, for one, I don’t trust the order of guardians,” Maotif said under her breath.

“Huh?” Misterbug glanced over at her.

“But mostly because I have way more experience as a hero than you do,” Maotif said.

“Would you give up your miraculous if your identity was revealed?” Max asked.

“If that was a possibility, yes,” Maotif said. “But like I said during News Host, there’s no chance of Hawkmoth getting my miraculous, or of him figuring out my identity. Besides I… can’t get rid of my miraculous.”

“What do you mean?” Misterbug said.

“Does that matter?” Maotif asked. 

Max sighed.

“I understand,” Max said. “I suppose, as Hawkmoth does know my identity… there’s a 63.4% chance he’ll target the people I care about. That’s over 50%.”

“Can I at least have his miraculous?” Misterbug asked.

“No,” Maotif said.

“Why not?” Misterbug asked.

“For one, using multiple miraculous is dangerous , and you’ve only been a holder for a couple of weeks. Two, I don’t trust you, and three … well, I got it first. So no, you don’t get it.”

And with that, she left.

—

Adrien stayed, detransformed, at parc des princes until Max was picked up. As he watched Max leave, he frowned.

“Something was… off…” he muttered.

“What?” Tikki asked, chewing on a macaron.

Adrien pulled out his phone, and pulled up the Catablog. The video was saved under the ‘fights’ section of the blog, but it was easy to get to. He skimmed forward, until he got to the spot where Maotif destroyed the mech with a cataclysm. He looked at the time stamp, and frowned. He sped through more of the video, until he got to the end. Alya had stoped recording about a minute into the conversation with Max, and Maotif was still transformed.

Seven minutes after using her power.

“...does she not have a time limit?” Adrien asked.

“Maotif?” Tikki asked looking up at him, and Adrien nodded. “She does, all heroes do…” Tikki frowned. “Sometimes those timelimits are longer though… like Hawkmoth’s an adult, and most adults can stay transformed for a long time, not to mention he’s using passive powers…”

“But what about Maotif? She’s 14, almost my age,” Adrien said.

“Well, she’s been a hero for years,” Tikki said. “I’m not surprised her limits gone up.”

“So can my limit go up too?” Adrien asked.

“Probably,” Tikki said. “I’ve never gotten a holder as young as you before, but some other Kwamis have. I don’t know what powering up entails though… Wait…” Tikki frowned, squinting at the video. “Was the black cats outfit different this time?”

“Oh, yeah,” Adrien said. “It sorta looked like Catra’s space suit… she could fly too.”

Tikki seemed to pale.

“Oh this is bad…” she muttered.

“Why?” Adrien stared at his kwami, who seemed to be panicking.

“She-she-she has access to the potions… she knows how to use the potions… what else does she know? Does she know who the guardian- eep!” Tikki covered her mouth.

“Sorry, potions? Guardian? ” Adrien asked, but Tikki just shook her head. “C’mon, Tikki, tell me!”

“Power up potions!” Tikki squeaked, and she covered her mouth again, shaking her head. “P-please don’t ask more… I’m not supposed to tell you… I can’t tell you some things… so please don’t ask…”

Adrien stared a moment longer, than sighed.

“Alright,” he said. 

—

“Ah… [redacted]... can I make it back before…?” Maotif stared at her ring.

“What’s the problem if you detransform?” Trixx asked, floating out. “You’re invisible anyway.”

“It doesn’t detransform me,” Maotif said, launching onto a roof. “I lose my vision. Which is a slight problem…”

“Why would it do that?” Trixx asked.

“Does it look like I speak magic?” Maotif said, then she shook her head. “Nevermind, I use my powers all the time. Does it look like I know how curses work?”

“Fair enough,” Trixx said. “Is that it?”

Maotif looked up, and spotted Alix’s house. She sighed, and glanced down at her ring. 3 dots left. Three minutes.

A warning.

Glancing around, she slipped silently into the house.

“Claws in,” she muttered, and her costume vanished in a light.

“Whew…” Plagg sighed. “Cutting it close? You haven’t had to deal with that in a while.”

“Besides Stormy Weather,” Marinette said.

“Yeah, but you used your power five times in quick succession,” Plagg said. “Most users would be kicked out fairly quickly.”

“Well that’s a fun way to refer to getting detransformed,” Marinette said. “I’ll use that every time Misterbug uses his power.”

Marinette stretched and yawned.

“Man, I’m tired,” she muttered. Marinette reached into her pocket, and pulled out the horse miraculous. She stared at the glasses for a bit, with a slight frown. “Shouldn’t Kaalki be flying out…? Unless getting separated…?”

“She’ll be fine after she rests,” Trixx said. “It’ll probably be better if you put her in the sphere.”

“Good point.” Marinette walked over to the Death Star, and pressed some hidden buttons, causing it to open with a twist. She gently set the glasses down on one of the padded compartments. She then paused. “Trixx, it might be best if you’re in there while Kaalki recovers, so she has a familiar face.”

“Good point,” Trixx said.

Marinette removed the necklace, and hung it on a hook at the top of the Death Star, then shut the death star.

Trixx flew into the Death Star from the weakspot, and Marinette yawned, stretching out.

“Wonder if there’s a sunbeam…” she muttered. She looked over at the window. There was a hammock set near the window, and if she pushed the supports, she could get into the sun.

“You are such a cat,” Plagg said with a smirk.

“Shut up…” Marinette lightly complained, but she was too tired to care. She got into the hammock, and tried to go to sleep.

—

He’d… lost it. He’d lost his miraculous. Not only that, but his identity was public. People already didn’t like Pegasus after he’d attacked Maotif by mistake a little over two weeks ago. His life was over. Now they could go after his civilian life, and it was his own fault—

“Max? Are you okay?”

Max blinked, and set down his tools, staring at his project with a frown.

“I’m… I’ll be fine, mom,” Max said. “That’s a… a 75.3% guarantee.”

His mom walked into the room, and turned his chair around, bending down on one knee.

“Max, honey, don’t lie,” his mom said.

“But I’m not,” Max said. “I will be fine… eventually…”

His mom just stared at him, then pulled Max into a hug. Max blinked a few times, before melting into the hug.

Maybe he was lying to himself. He felt like things would never be okay again.

But change was a good thing, wasn’t it?

Even if that change came in the form of getting your identity trashed on by all of Paris, and revealed on live TV.

Life without his miraculous wouldn’t be that different from before, right? He didn’t have the responsibility of Paris on his back. He’d lived without a miraculous before. 

“How about we watch something,” Max’s mom asked, pulling away. “I’ll make some popcorn, and we can watch Star Trek.”

“Alright,” Max said, smiling a bit.

There were definitely people who hated him. He’d have to deal with scornful looks at some point. Society tended to be judgemental.

He knew he’d made a bad impression, and ruined his and Misterbug’s reputations. He wished he could go back in time and explain to his past self that Maotif was helping the Akuma victim. That he would never trash his reputation.

He hated Maotif. Kaalki said she had killed someone… he couldn’t be sure. If he hadn’t attacked her, when she took his miraculous, maybe some public outrage would be on her.

But people trusted her more.

It was his own fault. 

And he understood why she took his miraculous. He didn’t want anything to happen to his mom.

“You coming Max?” 

“Yes, mom,” Max said, standing up. He glanced back at his project.

He’d lost Kaalki. It was his own fault.

But…

Life could go on.

Chapter Text

“ GAH!! ”

Marinette’s smile strained, and she turned around.

Looks like Kaalki was finally awake.

And she found Plagg.

“Kaalki! Calm down!” Trixx said, flying after her.

“But-but-but- it’s Plagg! ” Kaalki said. “He’s dangerous! ”

“Maybe,” Trixx said. “But he’s not evil!”

“So it’s true! You’ve been corrupted!” Kaalki said dramatically.

“How would someone corrupt a kwami?” Marinette asked, entering the conversation.

“Who are you?” Kaalki asked.

“Call me M,” Marinette said. “But you’ll probably know me better as Maotif. Or Vixen. Whichever.”

“By John, so you’re the black cat,” Kaalki said. “Why am I with you?”

“Max got akumatized,” Marinette said.

Kaalki froze.

“You know who my owner is?”

“ Former… owner,” Marinette said slowly. “His, um, identity was revealed when he was akumatized. The akuma went into your miraculous… I had to break the glasses…”

Kaalki stared in horror.

“How long have I been out?” Kaalki asked.

Marinette cringed, “Four… days…”

Kaalki stared off, Trixx rubbing her back.

“Uh… I order you to not go flying off to the guardian? Sorry. Um, so what do you like to do?” Marinette asked.

“Um… well, I enjoyed reading with Max,” Kaalki said after a moment. She looked down. “I was actually read a book where the main character just got confessed to, but she doesn’t really like the man because he broke up her sister and her sister’s lover. The language is familiar from the last time I was out. I don’t know the title, but the main character is called Elizabeth Bennett, and the man is Mr. Darcy.”

“Oh! Pride and Prejudice,” Marinette said. “I haven’t read it personally, but I know Mr. Darcy is a character in it.”

“That sounds correct,” Kaalki said.

“Wait up here a minute, I’ll go steal the copy from downstairs,” Marinette said, and she slipped out of the attic. She found the book on a shelf in Alix’s dad’s office, and from the looks of it, it had been read many times, and was old. Like, it had probably been owned by Mr. Kubdel’s parents. 

Marinette brought the book back upstairs, and Kaalki thanked her, before flying off to her own corner to read the book. 

“I should probably get going…” Marinette said, glancing at the time. 

“Oh, yeah, that interview with reporter girl is today,” Plagg said. 

“Yep!” Marinette popped her back. “Plagg, claws out.”

—

Alya nervously paced back and forth on the top of the Grand Paris. 

She didn’t know why Chloé was so invested, but she’d let them use the location. 

“Als, chill,” Alix said, not looking up from her phone. 

“What if she doesn’t show up?” Alya asked. 

“She’s here,” Alix said. 

She didn’t specify how she knew. 

“Where is she then?” Alya asked. 

“Finding this spot,” Alix said. “You can start the interview soon.”

Alya nodded a bit absentmindedly, and ran through everything in her head real quick. 

Alix was sitting behind Alya’s actual camera, ready to adjust the camera need be, and had a screen so Alya could read off questions (Chloé had lent them a TV from somewhere that was on wheels). Nathaniel had the important job of filtering the questions that could be submitted. 

Alya double checked all her equipment, and then sighed. 

“Hey.”

“ GAH! ” Alya nearly jumped out of her skin, and spun around to find Maotif standing behind her, arms crossed. 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” Maotif said. 

“I… you’re fine,” Alya said. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. “Sorry, um, let’s sit down.”

“Alright!” Maotif said with a grin. 

The two sat down, and Alya fidgeted as Alix got the camera fully set up. 

“Um… you want any snacks?” Alya asked. “Chloé grabbed them from Tom and Sabine’s earlier…”

“Oh, nice!” Maotif grabbed a macaron, and took a bite. 

“Alright, we’re ready,” Alix said. “I’ll let people know we’ll be starting soon.”

“Before we start, anything like, off the table?” Alya asked. “Like, you won’t answer whatsoever?”

“What the other miraculous are,” Maotif said. “Or other power ups. I’m… I can’t think of anything else on the spot.”

“Nothing identifying related?” Alya asked. 

“Couldn’t answer it if I wanted to,” Maotif said. “So I guess it’s out.”

“Alright,” Alya muttered, and she glanced at Alix, and nodded.

“And we’re live in 3…2…1,” The light indicating that it was recording flicked on, and Alya took a breath.

“Hey viewers!” Alya said. “I’m here today in a secret location with the one, the only, Maotif! Paris’ very own superheroine.”

“Hey! I’m glad to be here!” Maotif said.

“You can submit your own questions for her to answer!” Alya said, “There’s a form you can fill out as many times as you want linked below!”

After a beat of silence, Alya continued.

“So, Maotif, before we get started with the viewer questions, I’ve got a few general questions that have been asked many times on the blog,” Alya said. “The really big one is, do you know who Hawkmoth is?”

“Unfortunetly, no, I don’t,” Maotif said. “I don’t know much more than you do about him to be honest.”

“Ah, that’s unfortunate,” Alya said. “Another big one I saw popping up how long have you been a hero? People seem to disagree on the exact amount.”

“Well, you know the first person I saved,” Maotif said, slightly nodding over toward the camera. “The day I saved ‘em is what I consider my first day as a hero. So, by that count, nine years, almost ten now.”

“Wow, that’s a while,” Alya said. She glanced over at Nathaniel, and tilted her head a bit. Nath nodded, and Alya grined. “Well, let’s turn the questions over to the viewers!”

The first question appeared on the TV, and Alya read it off with a slight laugh.

“So, Maotif, what is your favorite food?” Alya asked.

“Hm… that’s a tough one I guess,” Maotif said. “I can’t think of any one food I like best, but I prefer food from Tom and Sabine’s bakery.”

“Oh, then it’s a good thing that that’s where we got our sweets for today,” Alya said with a grin. “Alright, next question!”

—

Chloe’s phone buzzed, and she glanced at the caller ID for all of a second and a half, before accepting, and holding her phone to her ear.

“Sabrina?” she asked.

“ Hey, can-can I come over to your place? ” Sabrina asked. It sounded like she’d been crying. “ My dad’s fiance is screaming at me, a-and dad isn’t doing anything about it- ”

“‘Brina, of course you can come over,” Chloe said. “Take a deep breath, okay? In… two… three four… hold… two… three… four… out… two… three… four…”

She could hear Sabrina taking deep breaths on the other end of the phone.

“Alright, how far are you? Do you want me to pick you up?” Chloe asked.

“ No I’m… I’m not far… ” Sabrina said. “ I… I should be there in a couple of minutes. ”

“Ah, alright,” Chloe took a deep breath, “Okay, I’ll be waiting for you at the entrance, okay?”

“ Okay… ”

—

“ Was that you that stopped Stormy Weather? ” the Catablogger asked.

“Why are  you watching this interview?” Tikki asked.

“ Yes! Another form of mine, foxy mode, Vixen! ”

“Maybe she’ll reveal something,” Adrien said. “Doesn’t hurt.”

“ Someone is wondering why the sculptor looked like Misterbug, ” Alya said. 

“ Oh, him , ugh… ” Maotif groaned. “ I think from listening to him he for some reason thought that salamander boy and I were a thing? I dunno, but he’s a creepy jerk who deserves to be locked up. ”

“Oh, that’s what he meant,” Adrien muttered.

“ Yeah, my sister is working with a lawyer to get him dealt with, ” Alya said. “ Anyway, next up! How were you flying a few days ago against Gamer? ”

Adrien saw Tikki squirm.

“ I don’t want to reveal too much, in case Hawkmoth or poison dart frog are listening, ” Maotif said, “ But basically, I was able to upgrade my powers! That was my space upgrade, so I could fly, and I could breathe in space if I needed to go there for any reason! ”

“ That is so cool! ” Alya said. “ I wish I could fly, that would be awesome. ”

“ Yeah, it was pretty fun, ” Maotif agreed. “ So what’s next? ”

“ ...oh… this one’s kinda… ” Alya shook her head, “ Someone is wondering how, if you’re currently 14, how you started being a hero at age 4? ”

Adrien froze.

Wait… that was right.

What?

—

Maotif’s grip on her seat tightened.

“Um, yes, that’s correct,” Maotif said. “Well, sorta. I was five when I became a hero… it started off with mostly small stuff, and I didn’t even discover my powers for a few more years. But it’s not really your business as to why I started being a hero, that’s my own business.”

Nathaniel nodded behind the camera, and must’ve been removing a question or two, before the question changed again.

“Um, moving on from that heavy topic,” Alya said, using her preppy voice again, “Someone is wondering, what is your favorite flavor of ice cream?”

“Hm… that’s a toughy,” Maotif said. “Especially cause I haven’t had much ice cream for a while… hm… definitely between strawberry and chocolate. What’s next?”

“Someone would like to know what your favorite movie is,” Alya said, glancing at the screen.

“Ugh, do I have to pick one ?” Maotif grumbled. “I like Star Wars. Can’t pick a favorite movie though.”

“Oh, Star Wars is fun,” Alya said. “On a similar note, what’s your favorite TV show?”

“Um… Probably She-Ra…” Maotif said, a tad embarrassed. “My favorite character’s Catra for… obvious reasons.”

Alya laughed.

“I did notice your space look was pretty similar,” Alya said.

Maotif flushed, covering her face with her hands.

—

“Hah! Her favorite is Catra, the villain!” Adrien said, then he paused, “Wait, no, I haven’t gotten past season one, but I think she got redeemed…”

“ Woah, this one’s a long one! Alright, speed run time I guess. Maotif, what is your favorite color, favorite flower, favorite season, are you a morning bird or a night owl, what language would you want to learn, and what is the craziest thing you have ever done? ”

“ Gosh, that’s long, ” Maotif laughed. “ Hm… my favorite color is pink, but I also like blue, my favorite flower is either roses or marigolds, my favorite season is spring or summer, I’m a night owl, I already know French, Mandarin, and some English, but I think it would be fun to know Japanese or German. The craziest thing I’ve ever done? Um… I mean, there was the time I stopped some robbers at the Lourve when I was ten. Or the time I stopped some muggers at five… or the time I did a back flip off the Lourve Pyramid at 12. ”

“ Wow! I guess the life of a superhero would mean you do a lot of extreme stunts! ” Alya said.

“ Yep, pretty much! ” Maotif said.

Adrien groaned.

“I can’t get anything on her!” he complained, slumping forward.

“You could submit a question yourself, couldn’t you?” Tikki asked.

“I mean, I guess…” Adrien said, “But I don’t even know what I’d ask.”

“Hm…” Tikki frowned, “You could ask about the stunt she pulled after gamer? When she was transformed for a long time?”

“Good idea,” Adrien said, and he pulled up the form to submit questions.

—

Sabrina leaned against Chloe on Chloe’s bed, doing her best to take even breaths, whilst Chloe rubbed her back.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Chloe asked, looking at Sabrina.

“I…” Sabrina could find the words. Her mind kept flashing back to what that woman had said about her. Pathetic, nerd, weak. “No…”

“Okay, well, I’m here if you want to, okay?” Chloe promised, and Sabrina nodded.

The two sat there in silence for several minutes, before Sabrina finally broke it.

“Any news on your mom?” she asked.

Chloe made a face, and Sabrina snorted.

“She is refusing to answer any texts,” Chloe said. “I get that she’s busy, and she never really talked to me before, but even my dad can’t get through. She just announced that she’s coming, and then completely dipped. Won’t answer any questions me and dad have. Who is she bringing with her!” Chloe paused to take a slow breath, which slowly hissed out. “Honestly, I wish she’d remain in New York. Out of my life.”

“I barely remember your maman,” Sabrina said. “I think I saw her maybe… once?”

“...I barely remember her too,” Chloe said. “I was five when she left. Five! What kind of parent leave’s they’re child when they’re five, and doesn’t come back until ten years later!”

“I don’t know…” Sabrina muttered. “I don’t remember my maman at all… I was only two when she died.”

“From what I’ve heard, she was a great woman,” Chloe said. “Aunty Emilie always spoke highly of her!”

“Yeah, she did…” Sabrina said, a smile spreading across her face. “She loved recalling their teenage years together, when they were both still in ballet, before Aunty Emilie got into acting. Back when your dad wanted to be a film producer.”

“I forgot that was my dad’s old hobby,” Chloe said, making a face. “How long ago was that?”

Sabrina shrugged. Before either of them had been born.

“I miss Aunty Emilie,” Sabrina said. “She was a better mom than my dad’s fiance will ever be.”

Chloe nodded.

“Adrien seems to be handling the loss well,” Chloe muttered. “Granted, it has been six months… but his dad went straight to the mourning phase. He was always a recluse, but as soon as Aunty Emilie disappeared, he just straight up vanished. Who mourns a missing person?”

“...You think he had something to do with her disappearance, don’t you,” Sabrina said, sitting up.

Chloe’s silence spoke volumes.

—

“So besides cats, what’s your favorite animal?” Alya asked.

The interview was going great! There were mostly a lot of simple questions, like those stereotypical get to know you questions, but they made sense, because not a lot was known about Maotif!

“Hm… hamsters,” Maotif said with little thought. “They’re so cute! Just little balls of fluff with enough energy to power a rocket!”

“Oh, hamsters are pretty cute!” Alya said. “Next up, have you seen DC or Marvel stuff, and if so, who’s your favorite hero and/or villain from each?”

“I’ve definitely seen some of the stuff,” Maotif said, “I don’t own any of the comics personally but I’ve read some, and I’ve seen the shows and movies. For my favorite DC hero and villain I’d say… Black Bat for hero, and the Riddler for villain, but I also really like Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and Catwoman, but where they stand changes by which continuation your going with. For Marvel… I really like Ms. Marvel as a hero, but also Black Widow from the movies, and then for villain… hm… I think Thanos was pretty cool. The MCU version of Loki is one of my favorite’s too though, and I like Gwenpool from the comics.”

“Who’s Gwenpool?” Alya couldn’t stop herself from asking.

“Currently she’s a comics only character, but she was initially a version of Gwen Stacy dressed as Deadpool that fans loved so much that she got her own comic run,” Maotif said. “Basically, she’s from the real world, she ended up in the comic world, and is aware she’s in a comic, and can change what happens in the comic. Honestly she’s pretty interesting.”

“That sounds so cool,” Alya said. “Alright what’s next? Hm… someone’s wondering how you stayed transformed for so long after using cataclysm during Gamer. Huh?”

“Oh!” Maotif laughed. “Someone watched the Catablog video very carefully. Yes, I stayed transformed over five minutes after using my power. It’s not like it’s that hard, Hawkmoth can do it, I’ve been doing it since I was 12. Misterbug and Pegasus being stuck on a five minute timer is because they’re noobs and can’t handle too much magic. I can stay transformed way longer than they can. They’ll detransform after four hours, regardless of whether or not they’ve used their power, but I have no such problems! That’s what happens when you’ve got experience using your miraculous. Honestly, them receiving their miraculous wasn’t the smartest move, those miraculous should’ve gone to adults. Magic is more potent in children, yes, but children also tire out after using it far faster. The first time I used my power at age ten I timed out after 2 and a half minutes. With practice, and a bit of training, I was able to lengthen that time a lot!”

“Woah,” Alya stared at Maotif impressed. “So you’re just more powerful than Misterbug in general.”

“Yeah,” Maotif said with a casual shrug. “If he ever does try to fight me I’d kick his butt.”

“I believe it,” Alya said. “You’ve got experience on your side. Anyway, up next-”

—

“I’m so doomed…” Adrien slumped forward. “She doesn’t have to worry about a timer? Ugh…”

“If you can find a way to sneak up on her, you can over power her,” Tikki said, “And you do fencing, so you could face off her without using your power.”

“Yeah, I guess…” Adrien muttered. “Wait, hang on, did she say training? Who was training her?”

“Wait, your right…” Tikki muttered.

—

“What’s your opinion on dogs?” Alya asked.

“Hm… I honestly haven’t interacted with them that much since I was a little kid,” Maotif said. “Some are cute, but they’re really hyper! Cat’s tend to be more chill. But dogs are still adorable, and they can be really sweet.”

“Yeah, dogs can be pretty hyper,” Alya said, “When my cousins got a dog it was jumping up ontop of absolutely everything , and there was no peace in their house for like, four months.”

“Yep, sounds about right,” Maotif said. “What’s next?”

“Hm…” Alya glanced at the screen, “Someone is wondering if you workout, and if so, what your workout routine is.”

“Hah!” Maotif laughed, “My workout is running around Paris and pole vaulting from rooftop to rooftop. Like, yes my strength is increased when I’m transformed, doesn’t change the fact that you build a lot of muscle parkouring across a city for nearly ten years. I’ve never actually been to a gym.”

“I guess I didn’t think of that,” Alya said, “You do sorta run across roofs all day. That’s definitely building muscle.”

“Yep!” Maotif said.

“Alright, next up…” Alya glanced at the screen, frowned, and tapped Maotif’s leg.

The question read: What did you mean when you said you were trained?

Maotif also frowned, and signalled Nathaniel to skip the question.

“What is your favorite book?” Alya asked.

“Hm… that’s a toughy,” Maotif said, adjusting her posture. “I like Harry Potter, Percy Jackson… hm… Oh, I also like Land of Stories and Lord of the Rings!”

When Alya looked up next, she saw Alix holding up five fingers. Five minutes left. Luckily, the next question should be short.

“Okay, last question, what’s your favorite kind of candy,” Alya asked.

“Hm…” Maotif pursed her lips, “Probably kit-kats. Chocolate is good in general though. Starbursts are also good.”

“Good choice!” Alya said. “Alright people, that’s all the time we have, we’ve been at this for nearly an hour! So once again, thank you Maotif, for giving me this opportunity and dropping by today!”

“No problem, Alya,” Maotif said. “It’s great to interact with my fans, and let you know a bit about me!”

“Alright folks, it’s been awesome today, but we’ve gotta go, so Alya, out!” Alya said.

Alix gave her a thumbs up a few moments later, meaning the livestream was over.

“Oh… my gosh, my butt feels like it’s gonna fall off…” Nathaniel muttered standing up, “I’ve been sitting still for an hour! At least you guys got the comfy chairs!”

“Nath, you chose to sit on the ground,” Alix said. “We warned you.”

“...fair point…” Nathaniel said. He cracked his back, which sounded like firecrackers going off. “Honestly, I kinda wish I’d had Alix’s job. Some of the questions…” Nathaniel shivered.

“...yeah, maybe I should’ve had your job,” Alix said, thinking about it for a moment. “Next time.”

“Once again, thank you so much for coming,” Alya said.

“It’s not a problem!” Maotif said, “It was fun! And I got free treats!”

Alix snorted.

“I’m pretty sure if you go into Tom and Sabine’s they’ll give you free sweets regardless,” Alix said.

“...maybe,” Maotif said.

—

Adrien slumped across his desk.

“Either they didn’t get to my question, or they skipped it,” Adrien muttered.

“It was never a guarantee, they probably had someone filtering the questions,” Tikki said. “I wonder where they were filming?”

“Probably Chloé’s…” Adrien muttered. “It looked like the top of her hotel. To be honest, they probably only kept the location a secret so people wouldn’t swarm it. Happens a lot to be honest.”

Tikki frowned. Adrien knew where she was the whole time, but didn’t go fight her. Then again, that would ruin his reputation more. Ugh, why did this have to be so hard? She just wanted to get Plagg’s miraculous back. It kept cursing people!

Maybe Plagg wasn’t doing it himself. She could tell from the couple of weeks they had spent with Chloe and Marinette. But it wasn’t a coincidence! It couldn’t be!

Tikki took a breath, and ate a cookie. She had to calm down. She shouldn’t stress Adrien out more. He was just a teenager, and had recently lost his partner in this fight. Would the guardian give out another miraculous? Or would he dare not risk it? She didn’t know! Why must things be so hard?

Chapter Text

“You ready to go, Sabrina?”

Sabrina paused for half a second, slipping her textbook into her bag.

“Uh, almost, dad!” she said, glancing over her shoulder. 

Sabrina grabbed a book to read, added it to her bag, and closed it. She walked out of her room, grabbing a granola bar from the kitchen.

“Bye, bookworm,” her dad’s fiance said, not looking up from her magazine. 

Sabrina joined her father in his car, and immediately pulled out her book. It was about a ten minute drive to her school.

Her phone buzzed before she could even open the book, and Sabrina glanced at the caller ID briefly, before accepting.

“Hey, Chloé,” Sabrina said, cheering up a bit already.

“ Hey! ” Chloé responded. “ Is your dad coming for Parent Career day? ”

Sabrina cringed.

“I…” she started, glancing up at her dad, who kept looking over at her, probably trying to figure out what she was talking about.

“ Didn’t tell him, huh, ” Chloé said. “ Wish I’d had the foresight to do that. Now my dad’s making me bring this tacky bracelet he bought me. 450€! I genuinely don’t like it, but haven’t had a chance to sell it yet. ”

“You’ll have to show me at school,” Sabrina said, shutting her book.

The two talked on the phone the entire car ride, up until Sabrina’s dad pulled up to the building.

“Oh! I just arrived,” Sabrina said, “See you in class!”

“ Bye! ”

Sabrina hung up, and slipped out of the car, but her dad had noticed something.

“‘Brina, why are all your classmates parents heading into school?” Roger asked, frowning.

Sabrina cringed.

“It’s… parent… career day…” she muttered.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Roger asked.

“I must’ve forgotten…” Sabrina lied.

In all honesty, she didn’t really want him coming. Every year he talked about how everyone was “innocent until proven guilty”, which was fine and all, but he also started to brag about how great of a cop he was, when he wasn’t really. Part of why he’d made it this far into his career was from Chloé’s dad bribing the police station to promote him. 

“Well, I’ll call the station, and tell them I’ll be late today,” her dad said, pulling out his phone, “I can’t miss this. It’s once a year.”

“Once a year every year…” Sabrina mumbled under her breath.

“What was that sweety?”

“Nothing.”

—

Maotif stared at the school, ears twitching at the slightest sound.

“...what’s going on?” Kaalki asked. “Why are all those adults entering the school? They weren’t there this last week, nor when I was with Max.”

“It must be career day…” Maotif muttered. “Hm… might be a touch difficult to sneak in, but I’ll be fine.”

“What’s career day?” Kaalki asked.

“Parent’s career day, kids bring their parents to school to talk about their job,” Maotif explained, scanning the crowd. “You’ll see. Should be cool.”

She squinted, then jumped down.

“Claws in,” Maotif muttered.

Plagg was expelled from her ring, and Marinette adjusted Kaalki’s miraculous on her face. The odd sunglasses looked (why were they so ugly?) like a simple pair of round rose gold glasses.

“Plagg…” Kaalki rolled her eyes, disdain clear in her voice.

“Oh, hush,” Marinette said. “Can’t you two just get along?”

Kaalki glared away.

Marinette sighed, and looked out at the crowd.

“Alright, looks like it’s dying down, I shouldn’t be bumped,” Marinette muttered. “You guys ready?”

Plagg nodded, and Kaalki huffed, before nodding as well.

“Alright…” Marinette took a breath, before walking over to the school.

—

“He found out, didn’t he,” Chloé said upon seeing Sabrina slump into class.

“Who found out?” Mylene asked.

“Guess who didn’t tell her dad about parent career day?” Chloé asked, gesturing over to Sabrina.

“Oh…” Mylene said. “I got it.”

“Whatever…” Sabrina muttered, “It was a foolish dream, really. Chloé, what was that bracelet you mentioned?”

Chloé groaned, and held up her wrist, where a gold bracelet with sapphire embeds sat.

“I genuinely can’t wait until I can take this off,” Chloé said. “I hate it. It doesn’t even match anything I own.”

“Because you only own shades of white and yellow,” Mylene joked. “Where more rainbow, like me!”

“I own more than white and yellow!” Chloé complained. “Yellow just happens to be my favorite color is all.”

“ Right… ” Mylene said.

Sabrina snorted.

“So, Sabrina, you finished your last book, right?” Mylene asked, and Sabrina nodded. “So what’re you reading now?”

“Re-reading Harry Potter,” Sabrina admitted. “It’s my favorite.”

“Nice,” Mylene said. “Let me guess, you stayed up half the night reading through the first two books, and you brought books three and four with you today?”

“Guilty…” Sabrina admitted.

—

“So you brought your mom?” Alix asked, propping her legs up on the desk.

“Yeah, my dad couldn’t get time off,” Alya said as she sat down. “Also, he generally doesn’t like large groups of teenagers. Finds them annoying.”

“...I mean, he’s right… but rude ,” Alix complained. She scanned the adults and turned around. “Nath, not bringing your grandma?”

“Ha ha,” Nathaniel said, “The point of parent career day is to show what potential careers there are for kids. Grandma was a barista in 1970, and hasn’t had a job since. You know that. We’ve been friends since you moved here.”

Alix grinned, and slid back into her seat, just as Mml Bustier clapped her hands to get the kids attention.

“Alright, everyone to your seats, let’s get started,” Mml Bustier said.

Most of the kids were in their seats, although Chloé was standing over by Sabrina and Mylene, and Adrien was by the door on his phone.

“Uh, Mml Bustier, can I go in the hall?” Adrien asked as everyone sat down. “I- I’m trying to get ahold of my father…”

“Of course, Adrien,” Mml Bustier said.

Adrien nodded in thanks, and stepped out of the classroom.

“Alright, it seems we don’t have that many parents here today-” Mml Bustier started.

“My parents didn’t want to come,” Kim interrupted.

“Ah, well…” Mml Bustier collected herself, “Let’s see… um… well, Alya, let’s start with your mom? Mml Cesaire, who works as a chef at the Grand Paris!”

Alya slipped out of her seat, and walked down, to stand next to her mom as she spoke to her classmates.

—

Adrien pulled his phone out of his pocket, and clicked his dad’s contact, dialing his father’s number.

RING…

RING…

RING…

RING…

“ You've reached the voicemail of Gabriel Agreste's office. Please leave a message. ”

Adrien frowned, and hung up, then redialed the number.

RING…

RING…

RING…

RING…

“ You've reached the voicemail of Gabriel Agreste's office. Please leave a message. ”

Adrien’s jaw clenched, and hung up again.

RING…

RING…

RING…

RING…

“ You've reached the voicemail of Gabriel Agreste's office. Please leave a message. ”

Adrien held back a sob, and tried to pull himself together.

BEEP…

“Hey, Père… it’s me, Adrien. You… you said you’d stop by for parent career day, and, it’s today. Call me back, okay?” Adrien’s voice cracked at the end, and he ended the voicemail, his jaw tightening. He slid to the floor, leaning on the wall.

“Adrien?” Tikki asked, flying out.

“...he’ll stop by, right?” Adrien muttered. “Right?”

Tikki looked away.

“I… I don’t know…” Tikki muttered. “I’ve only known you and him for about a month… I’ve rarely seen him to be honest, so I couldn’t tell you.”

Adrien took a deep breath, and stood up, heading back into the classroom.

He slid into his seat next to Nino, a seat by the wall. Alix’s dad was now the one talking.

“Dude, you okay?” Nino whispered, seeing Adrien’s posture.

“...just Père flaking on me again…” Adrien muttered. “Don’t worry about it.”

Nino frowned.

—

“Plagg, can you stop your constant eating?” Kaalki asked, looking up from her book, frustrated.

“I don’t have much else to do,” Plagg said, sticking his tongue out.

“Well find something,” Kaalki said, shoving Plagg.

Plagg rolled his eyes, but floated up from the floor, looking around the classroom.

He spotted Chloé above him, pull a circular container from her bag, do something with it up on the desk, then slip the container back into her bag.

Plagg frowned. The circular container reminded him of camembert containers. He’d only had it a couple of times before, but it was his favorite.

Grinning, Plagg flew into Chloé’s bag and pulled the container open.

“Aw, man…” Plagg muttered, upon discovering it was just a bracelet. 

Plagg started to play with the bracelet, trying to figure out what else to do. Did he even have any hobbies? He liked to eat, playing with shiny things was fun too…

He didn’t get that many opportunities to do stuff he wanted to do with any of his past holders, what with them often figuring out how to silence him early on, then barely feeding him, leaving him to sleep often to preserve any energy whatsoever.

With pigtails, he often enjoyed following her with whatever she had to do, even if he griped about it. He got to eat, and she played with him in her downtime. But he was still often just eating and sleeping.

What did he like?

—

Chloé sighed as Alix’s dad finished up with what he was saying. To be honest, she zoned out a minute in. She’s been in classes with her in past years, and most of the parents gave pretty much the same speech every year, with some minor differences.

“Alright, next up, we’ve got Sabrina’s dad, Officer Roger Raincomprinx, who works as a police officer!” Mml Bustier said with a smile.

Chloé groaned, and kicked under her desk as Roger and Sabrina went to the front, hitting her bag by mistake. Sabrina’s dad sucked, and always went on and on about justice being fair, and always doing your best to help others above yourself, and yada yada yada. Chloé was positive that, if she wasn’t Sabrina’s friend, Sabrina would likely have become a pushover.

When her bag fell, Chloé groaned, and bent down to pick it up.

“I've been a police officer for 15 years, and I firmly believe that every citizen is innocent until proven guilty,” was how Sabrina’s dad started his speech. 

Chloé gathered her belongings, stuffing stuff back into the pocket of her bag. The case for her bracelet was the last thing she grabbed, and she frowned. It was lighter than it should be.

“Being a police officer is hard work, but I do my best to help everyone that I can,” Roger continued.

“Where’d my bracelet go?” Chloé muttered, and she reached into her bag, checking to see if it fell into a side pocket.

“You lost your bracelet?!” her father said, rushing over to her. “Chloé, I told you to be careful with it! It was so expensive!”

“Then why’d you make me bring it?” Chloé mumbled. “Dad, I kicked my bag over, it probably just-”

“Roger, search every child’s bag in this room,” her dad said. “Someone must’ve stolen my poor daughter’s bracelet!”

“Uh, sir-” Roger was cut off.

“Now!” Chloé’s dad barked.

“Dad!” Chloé complained. “I haven’t even had a chance to-”

“Sweetheart, I understand, leave this to daddy,” the mayor said. “Roger.”

“Sir, didn’t you hear me just say that everyone is innocent until proven guilty?” Roger asked.

“Do you want to be fired, Roger?” Chloé’s dad said.

Officer Raincomprinx rolled his eyes, but walked over to Nino, who complained when he demanded Nino hand over his bag.

“Seriously, dad?” Chloé muttered, starting to dig through her bag. She glanced up, and spotted Sabrina burying her face in her hands.

“You can’t do this!” Nino yelled. “You don’t have a warrant! Why would I want an expensive bracelet anyway?!”

“This is so messed up,” Alya complained.

“I’m sorry, I’m just following orders,” Roger said.

“Well stop it!” Nino yelled.

—

Marinette grimaced, watching the argument go down.

Something bumped her ankle, she glanced down, and sighed, picking up Plagg, who had gotten his head stuck in Chloé’s bracelet somehow.

Marinette tapped Chloé’s shoulder, who glanced over. Chloé pulled out her mirror, and looked through it. Marinette showed her Plagg, and Chloé pinched the bridge of her nose, then motioned for Marinette to go.

Marinette slipped out of the classroom, carefully going around Roger, then went down the the locker room, where there were no other students.

“Plagg, explain,” she said.

“Kaalki started it,” Plagg said immediately.

“What did I do?” Kaalki asked, offended.

“I wouldn’t have gone into her bag if it weren’t for you!” Plagg said. “I was perfectly content eating my cheese, but no , you had to go complain!”

“You were making far too much noise, I couldn’t focus on my book!” Kaalki complained.

Marinette pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Plagg, what does this have to do with getting Chloé’s bracelet stuck on your neck?” Marinette asked.

“Kaalki shooed me off, I thought the container might be camembert, and since it’s my favorite, I went to check it out,” Plagg said.

“Why would Chloé have camembert?” Marinette asked.

“It’s an expensive rich person cheese, duh,” Plagg said. “And she had it when you were kids.”

“It was at the hotel, yes,” Marinette said, and she sighed. “Plagg, why can’t you just phase the bracelet off?”

“Obviously because it’s magic,” Kaalki said.

“What?” Plagg and Marinette asked.

“You heard me, magic,” Kaalki said. “It might even be the same one Pollen got stuck in two or so centuries ago…”

“So it can’t be phased off…” Marinette muttered. “How do I get it off?”

Kaalki shrugged.

“We spent six months looking for a witch to remove it last time, but they don’t seem to be as common as they were then,” Kaalki said. “Even back then, they weren’t common.”

“Great…” Marinette muttered. “Kaalki, if an akuma shows up, can I use your power? I don’t have Trixx on me today.”

“I’m aware of that,” Kaalki said. “Perhaps.”

“Ugh…” Marinette pinched the bridge of her nose.

—

“Look, dude, if you want to see if anything was stolen, I was recording the whole time, but no one in this class would’ve stolen anything,” Nino said. “Chloé, have you even looked in your bag yet?”

“I-”

“Of course she has! Why else would she be panicking!” Mayor Bourgeois said, interrupting Chloé, who glared, and muttered curse words under her breath. “Now young man, let’s see that recording.”

Sabrina grimaced, and walked over to Chloé whilst the mayor and her dad huddled around Adrien’s phone.

“ Did you check your bag?” Sabrina asked.

“I hadn’t yet when my dad blew up,” Chloé grumbled. “It’s so dumb. I know where the bracelet is, but dad won’t give me the chance to speak!”

“You found it already?” Alya asked, leaning forward from her desk.

“Sorta,” Chloé said. “I don’t have it on me, but I know where it is. Dad’s the one blowing this out of proportion.”

“Young man, I’ll take this to be examined by professionals,” Chloé’s dad said, reaching for Nino’s phone.

“No way dude! You’re lucky I even let you watch it!” Nino said, pulling his phone back.

“Dad, it’s fine!” Chloé said. “I-”

“Chloé, don’t pretend to be okay,” the mayor said. “Let the adults handle this.”

Sabrina’s dad reached for Nino’s phone, who shouted again.

“ This is the behavior of our police force and our mayor?” Alya’s mom muttered, “Remind me not to vote for him next voting season… In fact, I’m telling Otis about this.”

“Sir, are we going too far?” Roger asked.

“ Yes! ” Nino yelled, and he ducked under them, heading up towards Alya and Alix. “Jeez, what’s their problem? ”

“Dad, stop it-” Chloé tried.

“Chloé, I’m only doing this for your own good,” Andre said. “I’m going to talk to the principal, see if I can pull any footage.”

“U-uh, mayor-” the mayor walked out before Mml Bustier could finish, “There’s… no… cameras in here…”

Roger pinched the bridge of his nose, and walked to the desk across from Nino and Adrien’s, which was Max and Kim’s desk.

“Officer, I can assure you, neither of us took the bracelet,” Max said.

“Then you won’t mind me going through your bags then, would you?” Roger asked, grabbing Max’s bag.

“Sir!”

“Dad, stop it!”

Sabrina surprised herself by shouting.

“Sabrina?” her dad asked.

Sabrina clenched trembling fists.

“Dad, stop,” she said. “This isn’t how a police officer acts! You aren’t being a police officer, you’re being a minion for the mayor! Your just taking advantage of your position! You- you…”

Sabrina’s courage wore out, and she squeaked, and hid behind Chloé.

Her father, on the other hand, was red in the face with anger.

“Sabrina Adeline Raincomprinx,” her father started, “How dare you insinuate that I’m taking advantage of my position! I have worked hard for this job, and as this is an expensive bracelet, there will be charges pressed against whoever stole it!”

“Sir, this is very inappropriate behavior!” Alya’s mom said, stepping in front of him, Alix’s dad next to her, nodding in agreement.

The adults continued to bicker for several minutes, until Sabrina noticed a dark shape float in.

“Wait, is that-” Sabrina was cut off.

“Look out!” Chloé shouted.

Most of the adults quickly back up, trying to cool their tempers, but Sabrina’s dad wasn’t so lucky, and an akuma flew into his whistle.

—

“Ugh! [redacted]!” Marinette slammed a hand against a locker.

“Madam!” Kaalki gasped, horrified at her language.

“Sorry! Sorry,” Marinette groaned. “Plagg, babybel only for like, three months once I get this off.”

“C’mon!”

“Nope, this is your own fault,” Marinette said.

She suddenly heard screams from upstairs, and she rushed to the door of the locker room.

A giant cyborg was in Mml Bustier’s classroom.

“...[redacted],” Marinette said. “Kaalki, can I please use your power?”

“Ugh, alright,” Kaalki said.

“Kaalki, full gallop,” Marinette said, and she rushed out of the locker room.

“Hey!” she heard Plagg say as she left.

The door of the classroom was open, and kids were trying to get out, but she couldn’t quite see what was happening, except through a window, where she could see Chloé trying to guard Sabrina. Chloé then yelped as something red and blue appeared on her wrists.

Sprinting up the stairs, and past the students, she jumped up and tackled the cyborg (akuma?), causing him to jolt forward, and allowing Sabrina and Chloé to flee the room.

“You are interfering with justice,” the cyborg said with a robotic voice, and he threw her off his back. She screamed, and barely caught onto the railing, wincing as she felt her shoulder pop out of the joint.

“Ow…” she muttered. She tried to pull herself up, but that just caused more pain. Wincing, she tried to get a feel for what was going on.

Below her, Sabrina and Chloé were running out of the building. Above her, their classmates were trying to distract the akuma (a task they were failing miserably). One by one, they also got the odd red and blue cuffs on their hands, and they were suddenly jerked back when the cyborg blew his whistle.

The cyborg walked down the stairs and after Chloé and Sabrina, but blew his whistle one last time before leaving the building, and the students dropped to the floor.

Alix immediately skated over to her.

“M, that you?” Alix asked, then shook her head, “Silly question, never mind. Current alias?”

“Um… Epona,” she said. “Help me up? Don’t think a fall would be the best idea right now…”

Alix nodded, and tried to pull her up, but was tall enough.

“Ugh… Ivan?” Alix called back.

Ivan came over, and helped pull Epona over the railing.

Epona leaned back, and groaned, rubbing her shoulder.

“Any idea how to fix a dislocated shoulder?” she asked the class, who shook their heads. “Aw, man…” 

She scanned the students, checking to make sure everyone was there, then frowned, upon realizing that Adrien had disappeared. Max also seemed down, looking away from her.

Ah. Using his former miraculous in front of him was probably not so nice…

“What’s going on? What’s happening?” Ms. Mendelieve rushed out of her classroom, her students not far behind.

“Akuma attack,” Mml Bustier said. “Officer Raincomprinx.”

“Where’s the akuma?” Epona asked, stepping forward.

“It landed in the whistle,” Alya said, pulling out her drone from her bag. “He got upset after Sabrina yelled at him.”

“Woah, Sabrina? Yelled at someone?” Aurore asked, stepping forward from behind her teacher. “Never thought I’d see the day.”

“Neither did I…” Epona muttered. “Chloé and Sabrina ran out. Cyborg was controlling you through those handcuff thingies… oh dang it, Chloé has some. Alya, do you think you can spot them?”

“Do I?!” Alya squealed, and she flew her drone higher, through the hole in the center of the school.

“There!” Alix said. “Is that a flying- Nevermind, they’re headed northwest!”

“Great, thank you!” Epona said.

She sprinted down the stairs, and out the door.

—

Adrien was panting, hiding in an empty classroom nearby.

“It is so mean for her to use Max’s miraculous right in front of him!” Adrien complained, and Tikki nodded in agreement.

“You should try and beat her to the akuma,” Tikki said.

Adrien nodded.

“Tikki, spots on!” Adrien said, and he was covered in pink light.

Misterbug slipped out the window, and threw his yo-yo.

He couldn’t see the akuma, but he spotted Alya’s drone, and figured it was probably best to follow it.

After less than a minute, he saw what the drone was following.

A flying car, chasing after Sabrina and Chloé, who kept running through alleys trying to avoid the car.

The black cat wasn’t that far behind, sprinting far faster than Max had ever gone with the miraculous. She was somehow able to keep up with the car…

Misterbug looked over her new outfit and overall appearance.

Her black hair had gone a dark brown, fading to a white at the end, and was in a high ponytail. She actually had human ears for once too, and no mask, but the shape of the glasses was a bit more circular than when Pegasus had used them. She had on what appeared to be a white horseback riding vest, but it was cut off at her waist where brown was visible, looking almost like shorts, although they were the same fabric as the white leggings she had on. There was brown underneath the rest of the vest, stretching to her fingertips, and up into a turtleneck. She had white elbow-length fingerless gloves on on top of the brown. There was an upside horseshoe visible on the zipper of her vest, dark grey, the same color as a ring, visible on the middle finger of her right hand. She had on brown, knee-high horseback riding boots, the top of which was curved. Her horseshoe (the weapon version) was on her back, just like it had been on Pegasus.

She glanced up, and seemed to roll her eyes. Misterbug dropped down beside her.

“Hey, poison dart frog,” she said.

“Hello,” Misterbug said. “What do you want to be called with your stolen miraculous?”

She got a good chuckle out of that.

“It’s Epona,” she said. “And I don’t actually need your help.”

“As the true hero of Paris, it’s my job to help its citizens,” Misterbug said, glaring at her.

“Who calls you the true hero?” Epona asked. “You? The old man? Max?”

“Old man?”

“No one really considers you a hero,” Epona said. “Your just an annoyance who can occasionally do something good.”

“Why won’t they give me a chance?” Misterbug asked.

“Well, they did,” Epona said. “Maybe you shouldn’t have wasted it. Anyway, I’ve got an akuma to fight, so toodles!”

Epona sprinted off, and Misterbug stomped his foot in frustration.

—

The class had moved into the library, and the video feed being played on Alya’s phone was projected onto one of the screens in the library, and was also being live-streamed on the Catablog.

“Looks like buggy showed up,” Alix said.

Alya paused the drone briefly, before continuing to follow the flying car, Chloé, and Sabrina. 

“What do you think Epona’s planning?” Nino asked. Nino had chosen to sit to Alya’s right, Alix was to her left.

“She probably chose to use the horse miraculous for a reason,” Alix said.

“What, to mock me?” Max muttered.

“Dude, I doubt it,” Alix said, looking back at him. “In case you haven’t noticed, this is the first time she’s used it, and she’s had it for a whole week. I bet she would’ve waited longer, but for some reason, she had to use this miraculous.

Max looked down, and pulled out his phone.

“Um… that doesn’t look too good,” Rose said.

Chloé had gotten jerked to the side suddenly, and Sabrina was trembling.

And now Chloé was getting pulled towards Sabrina.

Oh… boy…

—

Epona frowned as Chloé was pulled towards Sabrina by her wrists.

“What the [redacted]?!” Chloé was screaming, and Sabrina was trembling on the verge of tears.

Epona ran to Sabrina, and grabbed her.

“You ready?” Epona asked.

“Wait, for wha- aaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!! ” Sabrina screamed as Epona pulled her away from Chloé, then ran up the side of a building, and deposited Sabrina there.

“I’m sorry,” Epona said, rubbing her shoulder. Grabbing Sabrina had upset her dislocated shoulder.

Sabrina panted, staring off.

“It…it’s okay…” Sabrina muttered distantly.

Epona frowned.

“I’ll come get you if you can’t get down, okay?” Epona asked, and Sabrina nodded, but she seemed rather rattled.

Unfortunately, putting her on top of a tall building meant that the akuma was now coming straight for her.

Oh, and now Chloé was getting flown up by the handcuffs.

Okay, this was horrible.

Epona ran a little ways away, and jumped up on top of a nearby building.

The akuma’s flying car was coming in towards Sabrina pretty fast, and Epona took a quick breath.

“Sorry Mr. Raincomprinx…” she muttered. “Voyage!”

She through the portal forward, once again jerking her shoulder, and she winced, falling to the ground.

But the portal luckily ended up in the right spot, and the car flew through it before the akuma had the chance to even think about slowing down.

On the street below, a horrible crunching noise could be heard, and Epona winced.

—

“Um… what did she just do?” Kim asked.

The library was dead silent.

The recording didn’t have the best sound quality (Alya was working on that), but they could hear the horrible crunching sound.

“...that is a good question…” Alya said. She piloted the drone around, and eventually found the location of the horrible sound.

“Oh my… oh my…” Mml Bustier seemed to be with tears. “This is horrible!”

Alya quickly turned the camera away from the wreckage of what was once a flying car, and in fact shut off the camera, and ended her livestream.

“Did… did she just…?” Alix couldn’t even ask the question.

Alya was frozen to her seat.

“Alya?” Nino asked, putting his hand on her shoulder.

“I… I knew that heroes sometimes had to do… well… but seeing… I…” Alya’s voice broke.

“Hey, hey, it’ll be okay,” Nino said. “Everything will be fixed, okay? Just take a deep breath, okay?”

Alya nodded, and slowly inhaled, then slowly exhaled.

—

Epona was in a bit of a pickle.

See, she had managed to get Sabrina up to the roof through pure adrenaline of not wanting Sabrina to get caught.

But now she couldn’t get Sabrina off the roof because her shoulder was in far too much pain.

Now, she could just use voyage again, and save both of them some time, but she didn’t exactly want to reveal that she was able to do that just yet. She still wanted to element of surprise, and she’d already been cutting it close when she fought Gamer.

Just as she almost considered doing it to help Sabrina, Misterbug dropped by.

“I see you’re in a bit a situation,” Misterbug said.

“ Very funny,” Epona said, crossing her arms. Then immediately uncrossing them, and rubbing her shoulder.

Misterbug frowned.

“You okay?” he asked.

“What do you know, catching your entire body weight with one hand after getting thrown tends to pull your shoulder out of its socket,” Epona said, glaring at him. “Only now I can’t get down. ”

“And since you aren’t using the black cat, you can’t bring back the cop,” Misterbug said. “Since I’m so nice, I’ll help you.”

“Wow, saving a civilian and an injured person, how thoughtful,” Epona said deadpan.

Misterbug rolled his eyes, but grabbed Epona and Sabrina, then hooked his yo-yo onto something on the roof, and lowered them down.

For the first time, Epona could see the damage that had come from crashing the akuma’s car.

The entire car had crumpled, it was barely recognizable at this point. There was shattered glass around the car from all the windows, and a small river of blood heading to a gutter.

“Oh my gosh…” Sabrina muttered, and she squeezed her eyes shut. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh… Did you…? Did you kill my dad?”

Epona couldn’t respond.

She didn’t know.

“So,” Misterbug turned to face her. “Your plan to defeat the akuma was to… kill him?”

“Killing him wasn’t the plan,” Epona said. “Crashing the car was.”

“Right,” Misterbug said. “Something that kills millions of people every year. And people say that I’m the evil one.”

“Well, since apparently, you’re so nice, strawberry, why don’t you go break his whistle and get the akuma?” Epona asked, leaning forward with a smirk.

“Straw-? That’s not even an animal!” Misterbug complained.

“Can you two stop arguing!” Chloé screamed.

Somehow, she was still getting pulled toward Sabrina.

Misterbug rushed over to the wreckage and located the whistle. It was already cracked, but he crushed the rest under his shoe, and an akuma flew out.

Misterbug quickly captured it with his yo-yo, then frowned.

“How do I fix this?” Misterbug asked, “I didn’t use my lucky charm.”

Epona facepalmed.

“You are so [redacted] stupid… like I said a month ago, use the [redacted] yo-yo!” Epona said.

Misterbug went red as his suit but threw his yo-yo into the air.

“Miraculous Misterbug!”

A loveliness of ladybugs spread from the yo-yo, fixing the damage.

The car disappeared, probably going back to wherever it was parked before, but Roger was still there.

Sabrina shrank behind Epona.

Epona was grateful to feel her shoulder fix itself, and she stretched to make sure it was in the proper place.

Chloé returned to the ground, and threw her arms around Sabrina.

“I can take them back to the school,” Misterbug said.

“No thank you, bug boy,” Chloé said, and Sabrina nodded in agreement.

Misterbug turned around, but when he saw Roger just glare at him, he seemed to get the memo, and swung away alone.

“I’ll get you two back,” Epona said. “Officer Roger, unfortunately, I do not believe I will be able to carry you back. I can portal you back later, but I can’t get you back as of right now.”

Roger rolled his eyes.

“Don’t bother, I can walk,” he said.

“Okay…” Epona said. 

She scooped Sabrina up bridal style, then had Chloé climb onto her back, and ran back to the school. With two additional people on her person, she was slower, but she was also fairly strong, so she made it back without too much struggle.

“Thank you,” Chloé said, and Sabrina nodded in agreement.

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Epona said. “Honestly, props to you two for making it so far in the first place.”

“Well, the fear of my father attacking me as an akuma gave a great adrenaline rush…” Sabrina muttered, staring down.

“Hey, Sabrina, if you want to stay over tonight, that would be fine,” Chloé said.

“Y-yeah, sure…” Sabrina said.

“You two should probably re-join your class,” Epona said. “Um, first, quick hypothetical. Say a small… cat got his head stuck in something round. How would you get it off?”

Sabrina seemed confused, but Chloé understood what she was getting at.

“You could try pepper,” Chloé offered. “C’mon Sabrina, let’s go.”

The two walked away, and Epona sighed.

She hid, before muttering, “Kaalki, dismount.”

A brown light slid down her body, and Kaalki flew out of her glasses. 

“Here,” Marinette pulled a back of sugar cubes from her pocket.

“Thank you,” Kaalki said.

Marinette took a breath, and scanned the school courtyard, before heading to the kitchen.

“What are you doing?” Kaalki asked.

“Trying to find a way to get that bracelet off Plagg’s head,” Marinette said. “I’m gonna try pepper.”

Marinette slipped into the kitchen, and had to sneak around kitchen staff who were preparing for lunch. She eventually found a small thing of pepper, and grinned. She slipped out with a kitchen staff, and headed back to the locker room.

“Plagg?” Marinette whispered.

“About time…”

Plagg was sitting on a bench not far from where she had left him.

“Sorry, there was an akuma,” Marinette said. “Hey, remember what I said about punishment? That doesn’t start quite yet.”

She pulled a slice of cheddar cheese from her pocket, and sprinkled it with pepper.

“Really?!” Plagg asked, hopefully.

“Here,” Marinette said, giving him the cheese.

“Oh, boy!” Plagg went to eat it, but before he could… “Ah! Ah! Achoo!”

Plagg flew back out of the bracelet, and hit the wall, and he groaned.

“Wait, you got it off!” Plagg said, and he flew over.

“I wasn’t kidding about that punishment,” Marinette said, and she pulled a babybel from her pocket.

“Ah, man!” Plagg complained. “Can’t I at least have the cheddar?”

“It’s got pepper on it,” Marinette said.

“That’s okay!”

“...alright fine,” Marinette said, and she handed the cheese to him.

Plagg downed it in one bite whilst Marinette bent down, and grabbed the bracelet.

She frowned, comparing it to Plagg’s head size.

“How did this get stuck?” she wondered, “It’s bigger than his head by a fair margin.”

“It must’ve shrunk so he’d get stuck,” Kaalki said.

“...huh…” Marinette muttered. She pocketed the bracelet. “Alright, let’s go.”

—

Chloé and Sabrina eventually located their class in the library.

“Sabrina! Chloé!” Adrien rushed over and hugged the two of them.

“Hey, Adrien,” Chloé said.

“Adrien?” Nino frowned. “Where’d you come from?”

“I’ve been here,” Adrien said.

Chloé frowned.

Adrien was lying.

Why was Adrien lying?

“Sabrina, is your dad okay?” Rose asked, grabbing Sabrina’s hand.

“He-he’s fine,” Sabrina said. “Um, the ladybugs brought him back to… um…”

The class collectively seemed to let out a sigh of relief.

“Where’s my dad?” Chloé asked.

“I believe he’s still in the principal's office,” Mml Bustier said. “He seemed really desperate to find your bracelet.”

Chloé rolled her eyes.

“I know where the bracelet is,” Chloé said.

The class stared at her in shock.

“You do?” Mylene asked.

Chloé nodded.

“Where is it?” Ivan asked.

Chloé paused a moment, but then felt the coolness of the metal of her bracelet as it was slipped into her hand.

“It’s in my bag, back in the classroom,” Chloé said. “I’ll show you.”

The class followed her out, and as Chloé walked, she glanced to confirm it was in fact her bracelet she was holding.

It was.

When Chloé found her bag, she slipped her arm in, and pretend to sift around for a bit, before pulling her arm out, revealing the bracelet.

“It fell into a side pocket,” Chloé lied. “But dad didn’t even give me a chance to look .” Chloé groaned.

“I’ll go inform your father it was located,” Mml Bustier said. “As for the rest of you, please take your seats. We’ll begin class again momentarily.”

Of course, as soon as she was out of the room, no one was in their seats.

Chloé and Sabrina went over to talk to Mylene, Alix sat down on Nathaniel’s desk, and Kim was attempting to do a handstand on his and Max’s desk.

The few parents in the room didn’t do anything to stop the chaos.

Chloé was able to tell when she entered the library that everyone had seen the wreckage.

The parents likely thought that the kids could use a mental break.

To be honest, Chloé agreed.

So, instead of talking about anything dull or depressing with Mylene and Sabrina, she instead got them talking about Jagged Stone.

“Actually, Jagged Stone’s coming to Paris soon,” Chloé revealed. “He’ll be at the hotel.”

“Do you think we could get concert tickets?” Mylene asked.

“I could probably get some,” Chloé said.

Eventually, Mml Bustier and Chloé’s dad entered the room.

The kids had heard them coming, and everyone was sat down proper before they entered the room.

Chloé’s dad walked up to her.

“I’d like to apolog-”

“Don’t,” Chloé said, holding her hand up. “I don’t want to hear it. Just go.”

Her father seemed… almost surprised.

“Chloé-” he started.

“Leave,” Chloé said, glaring at him. “This whole thing was your fault, so I think it’s best you be gone.”

The mayor seemed almost… shocked that she was talking back to him.

Chloé didn’t understand why he would be.

But eventually, he left the room, and Chloé sighed.

Hopefully, she and Sabrina could have a nice girls night later.

“Um… alright,” Mml Bustier took a breath before continuing. “Um… well… we seem to be out of parents, so… I believe it’s time for our lesson…”

“Do we… go?” Alix’s dad asked.

Valid question.

“Um… I think I have an activity with you in a little bit, so stay here until then…” Mml Bustier said.

Chloé sighed.

Some dull lesson about how to be like your parents, once again.

Why did they have this every year? 

-

Chapter Text

Sabrina was quiet the whole drive home. She buried herself in her book, hoping to ignore the glares she was getting from the rearview mirror.

As soon as the car was parked, Sabrina bolted from the car, and into the house, attempting to speed past her dad’s drunk girlfriend.

“Whatch runnin’ from, yah lil brat?” Carla asked, raising a brow, grabbing Sabrina’s wrist tightly, leaving a bruise.

“Sabrina, why don’t you tell your mother what you did today?” Roger asked, walking in the door.

“She’s not my mom…” Sabrina mumbled, quiet enough no one heard her.

“Ah, what’d she do now?” Carla asked, walking over to Roger, and leaning in to give him a kiss.

“Dad, I’m sorry!” Sabrina said, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. “I’m sorry I got you akumatized!”

“You embarrassed me infront of your entire class, and their parents!” Roger said.

“She did WHAT now?!” Carla asked, and she stormed over to Sabrina. “Why you little-!”

“Steph, that’s enough,” Sabrina’s dad said, just as his girlfriend raised her palm. “Sabrina, you’re grounded.”

“What?!” Sabrina looked at him, flabbergasted.

“You heard me, you’re grounded!” Roger said. “Phone, now.”

Sabrina blinked fast, heart rate rising, the world quickly getting louder.

“C-can I at least text Chloé quick-?” Sabrina asked, pulling her phone out, just for Carla to snatch it from her hand.

“No phone means no phone!” Carla said. “To your room!”

Sabrina crossed her arms, digging nails into skin, but left for her room anyway, just as instructed.

As soon as she entered her room, she slipped to the floor.

This wasn’t fair.

—

Chloé was tapping her fingers on her desk, glancing over at the door every ten or fifteen seconds.

“What do you think Chloé’s so stressed about?” Alix whispered.

“Sabrina hasn’t shown up yet,” Alya pointed out.

“I can hear you, you know,” Chloé said below them, and the two girls flushed.

“Sorry,” Alya said. “Worried about Sabrina?”

Chloé sighed. “We were supposed to hang out yesterday after school, but she never showed up… she also wasn’t answering her phone. She likely got grounded, but it’s unlike her to miss, or even be late to school…”

“Yeah, she doesn’t even like taking a day off when she’s sick,” Alix said. “And then she ends up having a cold for three weeks…”

“Unless I force her to stay home.” Chloé sighed, slumping forward. “Mylene, you heard anything?”

Mylene looked over and shook her head, nibbling at a fingernail. She glanced at the empty seat next to her, before fidgeting with a necklace.

—

Maotif sighed, and slipped into an alley way.

“Claws in,” she muttered.

Plagg flew out of her ring, and she immediately dug through her pockets, and pulled out some babybel.

“Blegh,” Plagg muttered, but he took it, and glanced up. He frowned, seeing the level of light in the sky. “Kit, did you patrol all night? ”

“She did,” Trixx said, popping over Marinette’s shoulder. “I told her to stop.”

“Pigtails, why’d you do that?” Plagg asked, pulling open the babybel cheese. 

“Something felt… off…” Marinette muttered. “I was probably being paranoid, but…” She shook her head with a sigh, “I should go.”

Marinette walked across the street, and entered the school, slipping into her seat next to Chloé. 

Chloé was looking more down than usual, and Marinette frowned, and looked around the classroom.

Most everyone was there, but Sabrina was noticeably absent. Mylene was fidgeting with a necklace and talking to Ivan, occasionally glancing at Sabrina’s seat, Chloé was staring at the door, and Adrien was talking with Nino, but glanced back at one point. 

Mml Bustier walked in, and shortly after, the bell rang, and Sabrina was still gone. She began to take attendance, and frowned when Sabrina didn’t answer.

“Where’s Sabrina?” Mml Bustier asked.

“We don’t know,” Chloé said. “She never misses school.”

Mml Bustier frowned, but continued on with attendance.

A figure entering the classroom, unnoticed by the others, caught Marinette attention.

An almost gem-like body, that shimmered like holographic fabric, with floating fingers, and a large viser. The figure had no feet, instead, the legs ended in points. There was a prominent flower on the front of the body, that almost seemed to be a broach of some sort.

Marinette starred confuzzled at the figure, who was sneaking toward Mml Bustier while she took attendance.

The figure happened to glance over, and then did a double take, seeming to stare at Marinette.

This, of course, startled Marinette, and she froze. No one had been able to see her in close to ten years. Who was this?

The figure also seemed to freeze, like they were surprised someone could see them, and slowly, they backed out of the room.

Marinette barely wasted a second, before slipping out of her seat, and after the figure.

“Kit, where’re you going?” Trixx asked.

“I think an akuma just entered the classroom, and they saw me,” Marinette said, following the akuma at a distance.

“What akuma?” Plagg asked, looking forward.

Marinette blinked.

“You don’t… you don’t see the akuma?” Marinette asked, looking over at the akuma, who was pacing in the courtyard.

“No…?” Plagg said.

“I don’t either,” Trixx said.

“They’re right down there,” Marinette said.

Plagg and Trixx shook they’re heads.

Marinette frowned, and looked over the edge.

“I can’t be going crazy, can I?” she muttered.

Marinette headed down to the courtyard, and tapped the akuma’s shoulder, who flinched, and spun around.

“Okay, so I’m not going crazy…” Marinette muttered. “...I think.”

“Who are you? What were you doing in my classroom?!” the akuma said. “You aren’t one of my classmates! I’ve never seen you before.”

“...Sabrina?” Marinette asked.

“... how do you know my name?” the akuma said, then shook her head. “And it’s Vanisher now.”

“Better question, how can you see me?” Marinette asked.

“How can you see me? ” Vanisher asked. “One of my powers is going to the vanished realm and literally being invisible!”

“...ah. That explains it,” Marinette said. “Are you linked to Hawkmoth right now?”

“He’s not transformed, if that’s what you’re wondering,” Vanisher said, crossing her arms. “And what do you me ‘that explains it?!’ I’m invisible! How can you see me?!”

“Take a guess,” Marinette said. “What are you doing, anyway?”

“Revenge,” Vanisher said. “My father, the mayor, mml Bustier, all the people that made me feel well… invisible.”

“So what are you doing to them, then?” Marinette asked.

“I’m ‘vanishing’ them,” Vanisher said. “Sending them to the vanished realm I guess. They can’t be seen, heard, nor can they interact with the real world. But I can interact with the real world from within the vanished realm.”

“Huh. How long have you been akumatized?” Marientte asked.

“Since I got grounded last night,” Vanisher said, and she sat down on the ground. “My dad took away my phone, I couldn’t even tell Chloé I couldn’t go to her place! Chloé’s been great lately, albeit a bit stressed because her mom’s coming back in a couple of weeks. Mylene’s been going on dates a lot with Ivan, so we haven’t hung out much this year, and Adrien- honestly, I don’t even know.” Vanisher sighed. “Me, Adrien, and Chloé used to have a lot of fun hanging out together, even if Adrien couldn’t go to school. But then Adrien’s mom went missing, and it became harder to hang out, and now, it’s like we can never hang out, even though Chloé knows when Adrien has piano, and his photoshoots, and his fencing practices, we can never hang out! Nathalie doesn’t know where he goes, and I guess she doesn’t tell his dad that he’s missing, but Adrien… I sorta feel like he’s avoiding us I guess…”

Marinette sat down next to Vanisher, and looked down at the floor.

“From what I’ve seen, Adrien’s a nice boy, and enjoys hanging out with his friends,” Marinette said. “His father’s definitely overworking him though, and maybe sometimes he’s just feeling burnt out and wants time to himself. Maybe he’s starting to sneak out of the house to hang out with Nino, they’re close from what I’ve seen. Maybe you should bring this up to your friends though, let them know how you’ve been feeling.”

“You think so?” Sabrina said.

“Definetly,” Marinette said, gently punching her in the shoulder. “And hey, if you still want to go mess with your dad and the mayor, feel free to do that. Maybe leave the teacher out of it though, so she can teach her class?”

“Fair enough,” Sabrina said. “She wasn’t that bad yesterday anyway.”

“Can you just do me a favor?” Marinette asked, and Vanisher tilted her head. “Once Hawkmoth retransforms, could you please not tell him about me?”

“Uh, sure,” Vanisher said, and she stood up. “I can do that. I don’t think Hawkmoth can actually read my mind, so it should be simple enough.”

Marinette smiled. “I appreciate it,” she said, and she stood up. “Have fun.”

“Thank you,” Vanisher said, and she waved goodbye. “For the talk. And I will!”

Vanisher jogged out of the building, and Marinette stretched.

“Guess my instincts were right last night,” Marinette said.

“You know, that whole conversation was really weird,” Trixx said.

“What, could you only hear half of it?” Marinette asked.

“No, we could hear the whole thing, but we couldn’t see her,” Plagg said.

“Are you really gonna just let her go?” Trixx asked. “Will you follow her transformed?”

“Nah, I think I’ll let her chill for a few hours, let off some steam,” Marinette said. “She’s earned that much. I can deal with any consequences later.”

“Misterbug might find out though,” Plagg pointed out.

“Ah, [redacted], your right,” Marinette said, and she sighed. “Well, as soon as I hear about him being out I’ll go transform. Let’s get back to class though for now.”

—

Adrien, Mylene, and Chloé entered the restaurant section of the hotel, to find many of the workers rushing around in a complete panic.

“What’s going on?” Chloé asked, and she approached Alya’s mom in the kitchen. “Madame Cesaire, what’s going on?”

“Chloé,” Alya’s mom said, turning around, “When did you last see your father?”

“Last night I think,” Chloé said, “Why?”

“Well, no one’s seen him all day,” Madame Cesaire said, pulling on her apron. “And now we’re having problems with a lot of his things getting destroyed.”

“What?” Chloé muttered.

“Uh, behind you!” Madame Cesaire said, pointing.

Chloé, Adrien, and Mylene all spun around, to spot a pair of floating scissors start cutting to shreds several of the sashes that Chloé’s father always wore.

Adrien frowned, glancing down into his bag, where Tikki nodded.

This had to be an akuma.

“So no one has seen my father all day?” Chloé asked.

Madame Cesaire nodded, relaxing a bit as the scissors went back to resting on the counter top, the sashes falling into the garbage can.

Whoever this ghost akuma was, they were at least being considerate to the hotel staff.

“Several of the younger employees keep screaming about ghosts,” Madame Cesaire said, picking up the scissors and putting them away. “But most of us are assuming it’s some kind of invisible akuma. So far, the only things that are damaged are things that would be a mild inconvenience to your father, if perhaps a bit embarrassing. I believe one of the maids found all of his suit jackets covered in pink paint on a tarp on his bed, and a janitor found all his ties in a bucket of sewage water.”

“Ew, gross…” Mylene said, shuddering.

Adrien backed out of the kitchen, and slipped down a hallway.

“Definetly an akuma,” he said once he was out of earshot of anyone.

“But who would be akumatized just to pull petty pranks on the mayor?” Tikki asked. 

“We need more information,” Adrien said. “Tikki, spots on.”

—

“This is Sabrina’s house?” Alya asked, glancing over at Alix.

“Yep,” Alix said, skating up to the door.

“And why aren’t we waiting till the end of the day to drop off notes?” Alya asked.

“Oh, fair point,” Alix said, pausing for a moment. “Ah well, too late now.”

Alix rang the doorbell, and Alya rolled her eyes, before walking up to join Alix on the front step.

The door was answered soon after by a lady in her early 20’s, with bleach blond hair, a spray tan, and a lot of makeup, wearing skimpy clothing. She was holding a glass of wine in one hand, and a remote in the other.

“Yes?” the lady said.

“Hello, Carla,” Alix said. “Is Sabrina home? We’re some of her classmates, we’ve got some of her assignments from school?.”

“Sabrina?” Carla asked, and she took a sip of her wine. “Uh…”

“You know, Sabrina, your stepdaughter?” Alix asked.

“Hm…” Carla seemed to have to think really hard about it, “Oh, the little nuisance. No, she’s not. Must’a snuck out las’ night er something. Haven’t seen ‘er all day. Haven’t seen my beloved all day either to be honest, although I did find all ‘is nice pants cut to pieces strewn across our room.”

“She’s not here?” Alya asked, a bit surprised, and she and Alix exchanged a glance. 

“No, and good riddance.” Carla took another sip of her wine, and frowned upon emptying the glass. “She’s gonna be in for a world of hurt when she get’s back though. She is grounded! Now have a day girls.”

Carla slammed the door on them.

“I think she forgot the word ‘nice’ in there,” Alya said.

Alix was frowning, a puzzled look on her face.

“What?”

“If Sabrina had run away, she would’ve gone to Chloé, or at least to school,” Alix said.

“Hawkmoth?” Alya asked.

“Likely,” Alix said, and she pulled out her phone. “I’ll let M know.”

Alya nodded, pulling out her own phone to check the news, though she found nothing. Alix’s phone soon dinged.

“M already knew Sabrina was akumatized,” Alix said.

“She did?” Alya said. “Why hasn’t she done anything then?”

Alix shrugged.

—

Sk8r: Letting you know, Sabrina’s been akumatized

M: I know

Marinette slipped her phone into her pocket and let out a sigh.

“If Alix has found out, strawberry likely will soon,” Marinette said.

She stood up from her desk and stretched.

“So you’re finally going to go deal with the akuma?” Trixx asked.

“I still can’t believe she let it go in the first place,” Kaalki said, crossing her arms.

“I’ll keep Misterbug off Sabrina’s [redacted],” Marinette said. “Sabrina deserves to go [redacted] with her dad and the mayor.”

Marinette slipped off Trixx’s necklace, and went to open the death star.

“Why’re you leaving me behind?” Trixx asked.

Marinette yawned as she hung the necklace up.

“I do not have enough energy keep two miraculouses on while transformed right now,” Marinette said. “Sorry Trixx,”

Trixx shrugged, and grabbed the Ninetendo DS, before sitting down on Marinette’s desk next to Kaalki, who was reading an old book.

“Plagg, claws out,” Marinette said, and she leapt out the window as soon as the transformation was over.

She ran across several rooftops, before pulling out her baton, and pulling up the news, scanning for any sightings of Misterbug.

Unfortunately, she can’t find anything.

“Alright, if I was Sabrina, where would I go…?” Maotif muttered. “Hm… If Alix figured out she was akumatized, she was likely at Sabrina’s house. Would Sabrina do anything at the police station? Hm… Let’s just head to the hotel.”

—

“Chloé, where’s Adrien?” Mylene asked. “I thought when he vanished from the kitchen he was just using the bathroom but… well, it’s been like twenty minutes.”

Chloé sighed, pushing around leaves of lettuce on her plate.

“He’s been running off a lot, lately,” Chloé said. “I’m not sure what’s going on to be honest. He’s been a bit distant since school started up.”

“Was he ever like that before?” Mylene asked, “I didn’t meet him until school started up and you introduced me.”

“Not really,” Chloé said. “It could be because of Auntie Emilie’s disappearance, but that was six months ago. We’ve hung out since then and he wasn’t acting like this… I really just don’t know what’s going on…”

“Could it have to do with Hawkmoth?” Mylene asked, “Maybe he’s been tense about that, and wants to hide any time there’s an akuma.”

“Maybe,” Chloé said. “But when Max was akumatized, he seemed desperate to get home, despite the akuma currently running around!” Chloé let out a breath, “Sorry, sorry… How have things with Ivan been going?”

Mylene flushed.

“Um, he’s been really sweet!” Mylene said. “We’ve gone on several dates, to the movies, to a restaurant, even to get ice cream this one time at a cryptic ice cream vendor, and it’s been amazing! And Ivan’s such a gentleman!”

Mylene was grinning, thinking of time spent with Ivan, and Chloé smiled. Good for Mylene. Mylene’s had a crush on him since the start of College, and couldn’t quite build up the courage to tell him.

A few moments later, Misterbug of all people comes in.

“Uh, um, hello, ladies,” he says in a voice obviously deeper than his real voice. “I heard there was an akuma about, and was wondering what you knew about it?”

“...even if we knew anything, we wouldn’t tell you,” Chloé said, “And how did you find out? As far as I know there’s been nothing on the news.”

Misterbug freezes up, and seems to struggle to come up with something.

Interesting.

“I… uh… heard a rumor,” Misterbug said.

Hm…

Odd.

“We don’t have anything to tell you, can you just let us eat our lunch in peace?” Mylene asked, voice quivering a little.

“Uh, yes! Yes, sorry,” Misterbug said, holding his hands up and backing away.

As soon as he was out of sight, Chloé turned to Mylene.

“Good job defending yourself,” Chloé said, grinning at Mylene.

“Oh, thank you!” Mylene said, fidgetting with one of her necklaces.

—

Maotif stared into the windows of the hotel, scanning for any sign of the akuma. She heard a soft thump near her, and turned around.

“Hey,” she said.

Misterbug screamed, and jumped a foot in the air.

“Where did you come from?!” he asked.

Maotif raised a brow, and pointed down.

“I’m a black cat. Hiding is one of my best abilities,” she said. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to locate the akuma,” Misterbug said. “It’s some kind of ghost, and it’s been tormenting the poor mayor.”

“Probably cause he deserved it,” Maotif muttered. “So, what, you were in the hotel earlier?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Misterbug said. “Anyway, I beat you to the akuma this time! Guess you aren’t as good as you thought you were.”

“What if I told you I know who the akuma is, how long they’ve been akumatized, what exactly their powers are, and I learned about them this morning?” Maotif asked, slipping her legs over the side of the roof.

“I’d say you’re lying,” Misterbug said. “No way you know all that.”

Maotif just smiled, and dropped down from the roof.

“No way,” Misterbug said, following after her. “How could you possibly know that?”

“A magician never reveals her secrets,” Maotif said, and she walked up to the hotel door. The door man nodded, letting her through, but blocked Misterbug.

“Hey!” Misterbug complained. “Let me in!”

“Not just anyone is allowed into our hotel, monsieur,” the doorman said.

“Ooo, burn, ” Maotif said to Misterbug. “Don’t let the regret hit you on the way out!”

Maotif walked to elevator, and waved at the receptionist as she passed, before heading up to the restaurant level.

Chloé probably knew something.

A few minutes later, Maotif was approaching Chloé and Mylene, who were just finishing up their lunch.

“Hey,” Maotif said.

“Maotif?” Chloé asked.

“Maotif!” Mylene exclaimed, dropping her fork in surprise.

“Maotif!” Maotif said, doing the Spongebob “imagination” gesture.

“What’re you doing here?” Chloé asked, putting her fork down.

“Wondering if you’ve seen the akuma recently,” Maotif said, “Or, well, not see , but you know, seen her shenanigans?”

“She?” Chloé asked, then shook her head, “Last we saw the akuma cut up my dad’s sashes in the kitchen, but that was about twenty minutes ago.”

“Okay, so she is here,” Maotif said.

“Do you know who’s akumatized?” Chloé asked.

“Yep!” Maotif said. “Your best friend.”

“Sabrina?” Chloé said. “...you know I’m not actually that surprised. That would certainly explain why she wasn’t in class.”

“Oh no, poor Sabrina…” Mylene muttered.

“Actually, I was just letting Sabrina torture her dad and the mayor for a bit,” Maotif said, “Mostly I need to know where she is so bug boy doesn’t bother her.”

“So you’re… not gonna deakumatize her?” Chloé asked.

“She can let off steam for a bit,” Maotif said with a shrug. “Although, she might wanna talk to you guys… hm… Wanna follow me?”

“Sure,” Chloé said.

“Uh-okay!” Mylene said. “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh…”

“Mylene, breathe in, and out,” Chloé reminded, leading Mylene through a few calming breaths. “Alright, ready?” Mylene nodded.

“Then let’s go!” Maotif said.

—

“ Vanisher, you’ve had your fun, where are the miraculouses? ” Hawkmoth asked.

“Well, I need the heroes for those,” Vanisher said, pausing her vandalizing for a moment. “And seeing as I haven’t seen any superheroes yet, shove off.”

“ They’re bound to show up any minute now, pay attention! ” Hawkmoth said.

“Maybe,” Vanisher said, “Or maybe they’re enjoying lunch right about now.”

Vanisher continued to doodle on a photo of the mayor with a sharpie, giving him cartoonish glasses, a thin mustache, and a large bowtie.

She set down the sharpie, then slipped out into the hallway and down to the restaurant, where she spotted Maotif, Chloé, and Mylene leaving for the elevator, with Andre following behind them, crying for Chloé.

“She can’t hear you!” Vanisher said, skipping toward the mayor. “And you can’t interact with the physical world at all!”

“Please! I’ll do anything! Just stop this!” the mayor sobbed, looking like a five-year-old crying, with snot running down his face.

Vanisher snapped a photo, grinning.

“Why would I stop this?” Vanisher said. “This is hilarious!”

Vanisher laughed at the mayor, then skipped after Chloé, following them into the elevator.

The three girls (plus Vanisher) exited the elevator in the main lobby, where Vanisher saw Misterbug arguing with the door guy. Maotif shook her head, while Chloé and Mylene laughed.

Misterbug stormed off, presumably to find another way into the hotel.

“He was there when I came in,” Maotif said, still laughing. 

“Oh my gosh, when I banned him from the hotel, I didn’t expect that!” Chloé said. 

“If he’s banned, how did he come talk to us earlier?” Mylene asked.

“I mean, he has his yo-yo, he can get in through like, a window,” Maotif said. “Or he could detransform and sneak in as a civilian. It’s not foolproof, but he can’t come in the front door.”

Vanisher walked over the reception desk, and accessed the computer, where she pulled up the mayor’s email, and she broke into his email account (the password was his birthday. Amateur. His birthday was on the calander). She changed his name on his email to patheticsnotman (all caps, no space), and changed the photo to the one she had taken, before sending an email to anyone she possibly could.

—

Chloé and Mylene’s phone dinged, and they pulled them out in an instant.

“Who’s that?” Maotif asked.

Chloé and Mylene stared at their phones for a second, before both burst out laughing, unable to respond, and Chloé handed her phone to Maotif. There was an email pulled up, and Maotif snorted.

patheticsnotman

To: Adrien, Chloé, & 68 more

Hello, people of Paris. I, your mayor, have decided that today shall be declared make fun of the mayor day. What you do on this day is simple, mock the mayor in any way shape or form. Whether this be by posting on your social media about how bad the mayor is, or by vandalizing anything with the mayor’s face on it. And as the mayor, I give you full reign to do this without any legal consequences.

Ta ta~

MAYOR BOURGEOUJIS

The girls laughed for a good couple of minutes.

“This is so obviously not my dad, but do you think anyone will do anything about it?” Chloé asked. 

Mylene was already pulling up her Instagram.

“Several of our classmates have,” Mylene said, “After the incident yesterday, we don’t care too much for your father.”

Maotif glanced at Twitter on her baton.

“There are some adults,” she said. “Making posts talking about how crap of a mayor her is. People have got to know it’s fake, right?”

“Obviously,” Chloé said, also now on her phone. “There’s definitely people calling it out as fake, some doubting it’s his real email.”

“Is it?” Mylene asked.

“Yep,” Chloé said. “His email is just his name at gmail dot com, nothing fancy really. It’s just the print name that got changed.”

“And you guys aren’t questioning where the email came from?” asked a new voice behind them.

“Nope,” Maotif said as the other two girls shrieked. “So, bug boy, how long did you argue with the bouncer to the club?”

“This isn’t a bar,” Misterbug said. “And only a couple of minutes. I came in through a window.”

“That’s called breaking and entering, it’s illegal,” Mylene said.

“I’m a superhero, and there’s an akuma about,” Misterbug said, “I had to get in.”

“Not really,” Maotif said, and she looked over to the empty receptionist desk.

Or supposedly empty, as the monitor was on, and the mouse was sliding around. Maotif’s eyes narrowed for a brief second, before she turned her attention back to Misterbug.

“My main priority right now is to stop akumas,” Misterbug said.

“ Right, then it’s try to take my miraculous, then defeat Hawkmoth,” Maotif said. “Guess Hawkmoth’s never getting defeated then.”

“Hey!” Misterbug said, “If it came down to it I’d fight Hawkmoth. I bet I could beat him is we came face to face! I’m just dealing with the biggest threat right now. That’s the akumas!”

“Yep, right,” Maotif said, and she glanced back at the desk, where the chair was getting pushed back. “Your other main goal is trying to take me out though. Good luck with that. If you ever got my ring, what would you do with it then?”

“What?” Misterbug blinked, and glanced down.

“Haven’t thought that far ahead yet then, I guess,” Maotif said. “Would you just hand it over to the old guy, or would you want to make a wish first?’

“What old guy- a wish?” Misterbug asked.

“Hm, guess you don’t know,” Maotif said. “Well, it doesn’t matter anyway.”

Maotif started to walk away, being able to hear the softest tap of footsteps heading to the elevator.

“Hey, what do you mean?!” Misterbug asked.

“Just that you should probably buy a brain from Wish,” Maotif said. “Even one from there would be a better replacement than the one you currently have. Although, if you want one better, maybe go to Amazon, but really, the best brains are the ones made by small businesses who focus on quality, even through it does mark up the price a decent bit.”

“I am plenty smart, mind you!” Misterbug said, storming over.

Misterbug suddenly hit something, and he blinked a couple time in confusion, before reacting, attempting to grab the akuma.

Vanisher shrieked as she went visible, trying to wrangle out of Misterbug’s grasp. 

“Let go of me!” Vanisher screamed.

Maotif shoved Misterbug off Vanisher.

“Leave her alone,” Maotif said.

“Wha… aha!” Misterbug pointed at Maotif. “So you are on Hawkmoth’s side!”

“Ew, no,” Maotif said. 

Vanisher glared at Misterbug, before sliding into the vanished realm again.

“Great,” Misterbug said. “I had her, but you made me lose her! And now we can’t find her!”

“I am honestly way too tired to care about that,” Maotif said, glaring at Misterbug. “We don’t even need to fight her.”

“Of course we have to fight her!” Misterbug said. “She’s an akuma!”

Maotif yawned. “Look, if that was the goal, she would have been defeated at 8:30 this morning. But this problem can be resolved without fighting.”

“She’s been akumatized since this morning?!” Misterbug asked.

“Last night actually, but why is that what you took from what I said?” Maotif asked. Gosh, her eyes were heavy, exhaustion was just randomly hitting her like a truck. Actually, more like half the planet, but-

“ Last night?! ”

“Ugh…” Maotif face palmed.

Misterbug ran to the center of the room, and started to ramble, though Maotif couldn’t quite make out what he was saying, beyond him somewhat trying to think of a plan.

“Frog, lesson number one of making a plan,” Maotif said, walking toward him, “Don’t make it right where your enemy can hear you.”

Misterbug glared at her.

“Well then, be helpful for once!” Misterbug said.

“For once? ” Maotif asked. “I don’t believe I’ve needed you for a single fight mister! I’m the one who defeated Ivan alone, remember?”

“That shouldn’t count!” Misterbug said. “You wouldn’t have defeated Bubbler is it weren’t for my lucky charm! Or Stormy Weather! Or any akuma after Ivan! You wouldn’t have a plan at all without my lucky charm!”

“I come up with plans before you cast lucky charm…” Maotif mumbled, face palming again. “Buggy, just shut up.”

“Uh…”

“Mm… what?” Maotif asked, looking up at Misterbug.

“What is your ring flashing?” Misterbug asked. “You haven’t used your cataclysm, have you?”

Maotif immediately glanced at her ring, where she saw a single spot, with the a second flashing at her.

“[redacted] [redacted] [redacted]...” Maotif mumbled. “How could I not have noticed…? Ugh, this is why you sleep!” 

Maotif dug into her baton, but couldn’t find any food quickly, and mutter more curse words under her breath. The last spot on her ring was flashing at her.

Maotif took a breath, walked over to Misterbug, then started dragging him out of the hotel by the ear.

“Ow ow ow ow ow!” Misterbug screeched, pulling himself out once they were outside. “What was that for?!”

“So you don’t bother us,” Maotif said, and she headed back inside. 

“What, are you not gonna bother hiding!?” Misterbug asked, calling after her, but Maotif ignored him, instead looking to spot where Vanisher was.

“Maotif, you okay?” Chloé asked, rushing over.

“I’ll be fine,” Maotif muttered. “Just… don’t want to deal with bug. Vanisher?! Sabrina?!”

She didn’t get a response, but she didn’t expect one.

Maotif sighed.

“Chloé, Mylene, can you two just talk to her?” Maotif asked. “I’m pretty sure that if you guys just talk, you should be get her deakumatized.”

“Uh, sure?” Chloé said.

Maotif didn’t see the last dot vanish, but when her vision went black, she knew it was gone.

“Great,” Maotif said. “Well, I have to go, because I am just about out of time…”

Maotif was turning around to head to the elevator, when she spotted two people.

First, the mayor, who was crying (although she couldn’t hear him) by the reception desk whilst in his pajamas (blue and stripped, and the shirt was too short). Second, Vanisher, who was right behind her, and looked completely panicked. 

Maotif frowned, but continued over to the elevator, slightly bumping Vanisher, who shrieked.

“What the [redacted]?!” Vanisher screeched. “Where did-?!”

Maotif managed to make it to the elevator, and hit the button to open it (although she had to guess where it was). Luckily, there was a ding when the elevator opened, and she stumbled in.

When the door shut, and reached her arms out, and determined there were no people there.

Maotif slid to the floor.

“Plagg, claws in,” she mumbled, curling up and resting her headed on her knees.

Her vision returned, and she spotted Plagg floating besides her.

“You ran out of time?” Plagg asked. “Been a while since that has happened.”

Marinette nodded with a sigh, and curled inward. 

“I think I’m gonna head back to Alix’s, and just sleep for the rest of the day…” Marinette mumbled. 

“Probably for the best,” Plagg said. “Got any food to get you there?”

“Maybe…” Marinette muttered.

—

“Sabrina?” Chloé called out.

“Sabrina, if you want to talk, we’re here,” Mylene said.

Vanisher faded into view in front of them.

Chloé walked over to her, and pulled her into a hug, that Mylene joined in on. Vanisher Sabrina broke into tears, and hugged her friends tighter. 

“You wanna talk?” Chloé asked.

Sabrina sniffed, and slipped to the floor, curled up. Chloé and Mylene sat down beside her.

“What’s been going on?” Mylene asked. “Did we do something? I’m sorry if we did something.”

“No…” Sabrina muttered. “I guess I’ve just been… I dunno, lonely or something. I know you guys weren’t trying to be mean or anything…”

“What happened?” Chloé asked.

“...my dad got mad at me last night,” Sabrina muttered, “He grounded me cause he got akumatized…”

“Oh, that mother[redacted],” Chloé muttered.

Sabrina sighed, and leaned her head on Chloé.

“I guess I got overwhelmed,” Sabrina said. “You’ve been great, but I can tell your mom coming back is weighing heavily on you. And Mylene and Adrien have been busy a lot lately.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Mylene said. “I didn’t mean to-”

“Mylene, it’s fine,” Sabrina said, “I know going out with Ivan has been fun for you, I just got lonely I guess… But it’s fine.”

“Sabrina, it’s not fine,” Chloé said. “You should be feeling alone.”

“If you want to spend more time with us, that’s fine,” Mylene said, “I can always make more time to spend with you.”

“And you know you can come to the hotel any time,” Chloé said.

Sabrina smiled softly.

“Thank you,” she said.

“How, have things been going at home?” Mylene asked. “With your stepmom that is…?”

Sabrina groaned.

“She got really upset at me last night, and I-” Sabrina’s voice broke. “I don’t want to go back…”

“Sabrina, you can stay here,” Chloé said. “We could always have someone get your things from your house, and you already have a room here.”

Sabrina smiled. “Thank you.”

Hawkmoth’s mask flickered into view on Sabrina’s face, and she sat up.

“No, shut up!” Vanisher shouted. She snapped her fingers, and Chloé’s dad appeared by the reciption desk. “I’m not getting them for you Hawkmoth! Actually, take back these powers! I don’t need them!”

At that, the mask broke, and an akuma flew out of the rose shape on Vanisher’s chest, purifying midair, and Vanisher deakumatized.

Sabrina was still in her outfit from the previous day, the red striped overall skirt and the white blouse, with a broach from Chloé visible on her chest.

“You wanna get some lunch?” Chloé asked.

Sabrina nodded, and the three girls stood up, and headed to the elevator.

—

Alix and Alya knocked on the door of Sabrina’s house, and it was soon answered by Sabrina’s father, who was in his pajamas.

“What?” he asked.

“Can we come in?” Alix asked.

“We need to grab some things,” Alya said.

Roger stared at them for a moment, then glared.

“You’re from Sabrina’s class, aren’t you,” Roger said. “Next time you see her, tell her she’s grounded until college for what she pulled! I was humiliated! When I finally went visible again, I was in the middle of the street in my pajamas!”

“We know,” Alix said. “Can we come in? We gotta grab some of Sabrina’s stuff for class.”

“Why isn’t she getting it herself?” Roger asked, glaring at them.

“She’s getting lunch,” Alya dismissed, “On account of the whole, getting akumatized thing, she hasn’t had time to eat yet.”

“Fine,” Roger said, “But as soon as she comes home…”

Sabrina’s dad didn’t finish his sentence, leaving whatever threat he had come up with unsaid. He walked from the door, and Alix and Alya entered the house.

They immediately spotted Sabrina’s stepmom on the couch, watching some show on the TV, with a glass of wine in her hand. She paid no attention to them.

“Where’s Sabrina’s room?” Alix asked.

“Down the hall to your left,” Roger said. “Make it quick.”

Alya and Alix nodded, and headed down, and entered Sabrina’s room. While Alya grabbed Sabrina’s school bag (never unpacked from yesterday), Alix slid open the window, and was handed a dufflebag by Mylene, who had been waiting outside.

“You guys only have a couple of minutes,” Mylene reminded them. “You’re only supposed to be grabbing-”

“We know,” Alya said, sliding Sabrina’s school bag onto her side. “I’ll grab her books, Alix, grab some clothes.”

The two girls split up, Alya pulling books off the shelf, and stacking them neatly in the bottom of the bag, while Alix pulled open the closet, and started grabbing whatever clothes she could find quickly, and put them in a pile behind her.

“Hurry up!” Mylene said.

“Hang on,” Alya said, putting in the last few books. “Alright, Alix, you shove clothes in, I’ll double check her room.”

“There should be a picture of her mom in there,” Mylene said. “She’ll probably want that…”

Alya grabbed a framed photo off Sabrina’s nightstand, and an empty glasses case she spotted, and shoved them in the bag, before helping Alix stuff what she could into the bag.

“Girls?!” Roger called, and they could hear his footsteps.

Alya and Alix zipped the dufflebag shut, and dropped it out the window, before slamming the window shut, and running to the door.

“We got it!” Alya said, pretending to not be out of breath. “We couldn’t find her math book is all. We’ll be going now.”

“Bye Mister Raincomprinx!” Alix said, sliding out of the room.

The two girls shut the door to Sabrina’s room behind them, and walked to the door.

“Bye,” Roger said. “Don’t forget to tell Sabrina-”

“She’s grounded, we know!” Alix said. “Bye!”

The two rushed out the door, and ran around the back of the house to where Mylene was waiting, struggling to hold up the dufflebag.

“How many books does Sabrina own?” Mylene asked, then she shook her head. “Dumb question, nevermind.”

“Here,” Alix took the bag from Mylene, who sighed with relief having the weight out of her hands. 

“Did he suspect anything?” Mylene asked.

“...I’d rather not stick around to find out,” Alix said. “You call Chloé and tell her we’re on our way.”

“No need,” Mylene said, and she pointed down the block. “Chloé sent a car ahead to pick us up.”

“Why’d she ask us?” Alya asked. “We aren’t that close to you guys.”

“Um… something about you being a friend of a friend?” Mylene said. “I dunno. Actually, maybe it’s cause you guys were taking stuff to Sabrina for class and she knew you were in the area. Um…”

“It doesn’t really matter,” Alix said. “We’ve known each other for a while.”

“You have,” Alya said. “I’ve only been a student here for a month.”

“Meh. You’re my best friend, I wasn’t gonna just leave you out,” Alix said. “We were having lunch together anyway.”

Alya shrugged.

The three girls soon approached the car, and got in, Alix shrugging off the dufflebag, and immediately stretching.

“Yikes,” Alix said. “Alya, how many books did you put in there?”

“All of the ones I could find,” Alya said. “She had a big bookshelf…”

“Ah, that explains why this is like, 90 kilograms,” Alix said. 

“You’ll help carry that into the hotel, right?” Mylene asked. “I don’t think I can get it inside… Chloé can probably have you dropped off at the school with us-”

“Yeah, duh,” Alix said. “We’ll help bring it in. [redacted], we’ll help put stuff away if you want.”

“Yeah, we’re always happy to help,” Alya said.

“Okay, thank you,” Mylene said.

“Yeah, and if Sabrina’s dad becomes a problem in the future…” Alix punched her fist into her palm, grin on her face.

“That probably won’t be necessary,” Mylene said.

“Maybe not, but it would be satisfying,” Alix said.

Chapter Text

“Now, students, you will have ten hours to complete your design,” Principal Damocles said to all the students in the courtyard. “The judge of this years contest will be none other than the great fashion designer Gabriel Agreste, father of our very own student Adrien Agreste.”

Nino reached over and punched Adrien in the shoulder, who just chuckled, likely a bit embarrassed.

“In fact, Adrien will be modeling your design at Gabriel’s next fashion show, in just under two weeks!” Principal Damocles continued. “And now, to announce this year’s theme for the competition, derby hats!”

Marinette’s eyes went wide.

“Students who want to enter the competition can sign up on the sign up sheet outside my office,” Principal Damocles said, “And everyone has the rest of the day off to create their hats, or to do with as they please. Dismissed!”

Students filed out, many racing to the sign up sheet, causing a line to form, going all the way down the stairs to the second floor.

Marinette pinched the bridge of her nose, walking away from the back of the crowd so as not to get bumped by a stray student.

“Do you want to join that competition?” Plagg asked. “You love to design.”

“Yeah, it’s what you do in a lot of your freetime,” Trixx said, popping out of her braid.

“Yes, I want to compete, but a derby? ” Marinette asked. “Those are so lame… Not to mention the whole, ‘I’m not actually a student and I’m also invisible, so I can’t actually compete!’ thing…”

Marinette sighed.

“Couldn’t you ask Alix to sign up for you?” Plagg asked.

“Anyone who know’s Alix knows for a fact that she would absolutely never participate in this kind of competition,” Marinette said. “Sports? In a heartbeat, less than even. But a fashion design competition? No way in a million years.”

—

“So, every year they hold some kind of design competition and just… cancel school? For the entire day?” Alya asked Alix as the two left the school building.

“Pretty much,” Alix said. “Some kids don’t even show up if they know it’s the day, and the teacher don’t take attendance anyway, so it’s not like they get marked absent or anything.”

“...why…?” Alya asked.

“[redacted] if I know,” Alix said. “I just take it as a day off school. Of course, I always forget which day it is, so I end up here anyway. Although, wait a minute…”

Alix pulled out her phone, and pulled up a contact.

“Who are you talking to?” Alya asked.

“A friend who might want to join but is— can’t…” Alix muttered.

Alya blinked, “I thought I met all your friends.”

“You have,” Alix said.

“Nathaniel, Kim, maybe, uh… Aurore, kinda, Rose…?” Alya frowned. “Any of them?”

“Nope,” Alix said. “Nath and Kim wouldn’t join, Aurore might, but she’s too busy, and Rose is joining with Juleka.”

“Then who is it?” Alya asked.

Alix held a finger up as her phone began to ring.

“Hey,” Alix said. “...mhm. Where? The bathrooms? Why…? Oh. Uh, I’m with Alya right now- oh, sweet, really? Alright, be right there. Bye!”

Alix hung up.

“C’mon, we gotta go talk to her,” Alix said.

“Talk to who?” Alya asked.

“The friend that is but isn’t a classmate,” Alix said.

Alya frowned as she followed Alix back into the building.

“Wait, do you mean…?” Alya frowned. “No way…”

—

Chloé stared at Marinette’s reflection in the mirror. Marinette waved back, a touch embarrassed.

Chloé sighed.

“Considering you show up in mirrors, why would you enter the bathroom?” Chloé asked. “Doesn’t seem like the smartest decision ever.”

Marinette bit her lip, and fidgeted with the rosegold pendant around her neck.

“Actually, I was going to talk to someone…” Marinette admitted.

“...Alix?” Chloé guessed. “You don’t need to do that in front of a large mirror, right?”

“Um…”

The door burst open, and in walked Alix and Alya.

The two girls stared at Chloé for a second, who stared back at them.

Then Alya jumped and screamed.

“ WHAT THE [redacted] ?! ” Alya screeched. “ THE MIRROR?!!! ”

Chloé and Alix groaned, then glanced at each other in confusion.

“...Chloé, why aren’t you freaking out?” Alix asked.

Marinette winced.

“Yeah, she kinda… sorta… already completely knew?” Marinette said. “Alya, I am very sorry, I did not mean to scare you.”

“You know?!” Alix said. “M, how much does she know?!”

“Wait, that’s…” Alya stared over at the reflection in confusion, then to where Marinette should be standing.

“Claws out,” Marinette said.

Blue light flashed over her, and Maotif appeared out of thin air.

“Holy… [redacted]...” Alya muttered. “...wait, did she just reveal her secret identity? To me?! Holy [redacted]...”

“...it’s not that simple,” Maotif said. “Maybe you should sit down…?”

Alya shook her head.

“This is crazy,” Alya said. “Alix, that’s what you meant! Maotif, how do you turn invisible? Why can you do this? Why do you trust us with your secret identity?”

“Slow down,” Chloé said, “One question at a time.”

“M, why does Chloé know?” Alix asked. “You wouldn’t have just let her walk in here, right?”

Maotif blinked, then looked away.

“Seriously?” Alix asked.

“To be fair, I knew before this,” Chloé said.

“Why?” Alix asked.

“The whole, mirror thing,” Maotif said. “I came here so you could see me without me having to transform, but that wasn’t the best idea, it would freak both of you out.”

“Seeing a reflection without a source tends to do that to you,” Alix said.

“Yeah, there’s a reason I usually transform when I’m near mirrors at your place,” Maotif said. “But that’s not why I need you.”

“The competition,” Alix said.

“The design competition?” Alya asked.

“Yes, the design competition,” Maotif said. “I wanna be a fashion designer if I can ever fix a problem. And I wanna join the competition, except for a small problem.”

“You can’t sign up, can you?” Chloé asked. 

“Correct,” Maotif said.

“Couldn’t you just enter anonymously?” Alya asked. “Why do you need us?”

“...well, for one, I can’t just go to the sign up sheet,” Maotif said. “And two, I have no way to actually, you know, bring the hat to the competition.”

“We’ll enter you anonymously,” Chloé said.

“Yeah, we’ll sign you up and bring the hat in,” Alix said. Then she blinked. “Wait, we?”

“She’s my friend too,” Chloé said.

“I’ve known her longer!” Alix said.

“Nope,” Chloé said with a smirk.

“Liar,” Alix said. “You don’t know how long I’ve known her!”

“But I know when you moved in,” Chloé said.

“Wha- ten years ago?” Alix asked. “No way.”

Chloé stuck her tongue out.

“Please stop,” Maotif said.

Chloé rolled her eyes.

“Can one of you please just go sign me up?” Maotif asked. 

“What should we put you down as?” Alya asked.

“MDC,” Maotif answered immediately. 

Chloé snapped her fingers.

“ That’s why that acronym was familiar,” Chloé said. “You’re the one that beat Max! I knew I recognized those letters. Also, seriously? MDC?”

“What, I can’t use my name,” Maotif said. “That was as close as I could get!”

“Wait, MDC is like, what, your initials?” Alya asked.

“Wait, that’s why you chose those letters when setting up your Ultimate Mecha Strike account?” Alix asked. 

Maotif just grinned in response

“Oh come one! Are you saying Chloé knows your name?” Alix asked. “You literally live with- seriously?!”

“Live with…?” Alya muttered. “Hm…”

Alya pulled out her phone and typed something down.

“Alix, I promise, I just literally can not tell you my name,” Maotif said.

Alix groaned.

“Not even a hint? I’ve been wondering for nearly ten years!” Alix complained.

Maotif put a finger to her lips.

“I’ll tell you this,” Maotif said, “You and Alya have already heard my name, you just haven’t connected it to me.”

Alix blinked in confusion.

“Now will one of you sign me up for the contest?” Maotif asked.

—

Chloé hummed as she jotted down ‘MDC’ on the sign up sheet outside Damocles’ office.

“Chloé? You’re signing up?” someone said, coming up behind her. 

“Nope,” Chloé said, “Signing a friend up.”

“A friend?” 

“Yep.”

Chloé turned around to face Adrien, who was just staring in confusion. He looked behind Chloé to read the sheet.

“MDC?” Adrien asked. “I swear I’ve seen those letters before… Why are you signing up for a friend?”

“Wanted to remain anonymous,” Chloé said nonchalantly. “Hey, me, Sabrina, and Mylene were gonna head to the mall to buy new clothes for Sabrina. Wanta come?”

“Oh, no, I already made plans with Nino,” Adrien said. “Sorry…”

“It’s fine,” Chloé said. “But you have to come over to the hotel soon, I feel like we barely see you anymore.”

“Oh! Um… yeah, sure,” Adrien said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Bye…”

“Bye,” Chloé said. She walked down the stairs, and out the front door of the school, where Sabrina and Mylene were waiting for her.

“Hey, Chloé,” Mylene said. “Were you signing up for the design contest? I thought you didn’t want to do it.”

“I don’t,” Chloé said. “Favor for a friend.”

“Who?” Sabrina asked.

“Uh, one you don’t know,” Chloé said. “And I don’t know when you’ll meet… she wanted to remain anonymous for the competition.”

“I thought I knew all your friends…?” Sabrina asked.

“...most of them, yeah…” Chloé said. “She doesn’t normally talk to many people, so…”

“Oh, um… okay?” Sabrina glanced at Mylene, who shrugged.

“You guys ready to go?” Chloé asked.

“Yep,” Mylene said. “I brought my wallet too, gonna see if I can get a new dress..”

“Oh, nice, I’ll help you pick something out,” Chloé said.

“Thanks!”

—

Marinette sat on the roof of one of the building’s surrounding the Trocadéro, swinging her legs as she stared out, trying to come up with ideas.

“Ugh, why’d it have to be a bowler?” Marinette asked.”

“What’s wrong with a bowler hat?” Trixx asked. “They’re kinda cool.”

“Maybe,” Marinette said, “They’re just kinda… basic? I’ve worked on way more complicated hats and outfits. But I guess, not everyone has, so they needed to make it simple enough for everyone to participate…”

Marinette sighed, and she stared out across the Trocadéro, where she spotted an odd man, who was dancing around as he fed the pigeons.

“...aw man..” Marinette muttered, noticing Officer Roger approaching the man. “Dang it, someone’s getting akumatized.”

Despite being a ways away, Marinette was able to hear some of what happened (darn cat ears).

“Scram! Dirty winged rats! … NO! FEEDING! THE PIGEONS! If everyone did they’d leave their poop everywhere! … You’re banned from every park in Paris! Now scram!”

The poor guy getting yelled at ran off in tears, and Officer Roger angrily kicked the ground before walking away.

“....looks like he’s taking Sabrina leaving well…” Marinette said. “Hm… actually, bird guy gave me an idea.”

“He did?” Plagg asked. “Just seemed like a weirdo to me. And I’ve met a lot of weirdos before.”

“Well, I came here to get inspiration, and I got some,” Marinette said. “A feather themed derby hat… ooo, and maybe a feather jacket to match!”

Marinette got to sketching, her kwamis watching on with interest. She scrossed out a couple variations, muttering about them being “too bland” or “too much,” before finally setteling on a version she like. She then did a quick doodle of a feather jacket, then snapped her sketchbook shut, and tucked it into her pockets.

“I haven’t seen you make any of your designs before,” Trixx said, “I’ve seen you doodling plenty of times, but never make something.”

“Hawkmoth seemed to have… I guess, sucked all my creativity dry with his awful akuma designs. Also, I’ve been a bit busy, and it’s sometimes hard to get fabric when you’re… you know, invisible.”

“I guess that’s true,” Trixx said.

—

Adrien grinned as he fought against Nino. This game (smash… something?) was pretty fun. It was sorta similar to UMS, but also very different.

“We haven’t hung out nearly as much as we should’ve,” Nino said.

“Yeah,” Adrien said. “I wish I had more free time than I do.”

“What does clog up all your free time?” Nino asked, risking a glance over at Adrien.

Adrien paused a moment, thinking about all the times he had to run off to fight an akuma (the attacks were about every other day, although most weren’t memorable).

“Uh… photoshoots, Chinese lessons, fencing,” Adrien admitted. “I’ve had a hard time hanging out with Chloé too.”

“Man, that sucks,” Nino said. “You’re old man sucks. Dang it!”

Adrien won the match.

“I introduced you to smash bros today, how are you already so good at it?” Nino asked as Adrien fist pumped.

“I’ve played a lot of one on one games,” Adrien said. “You know, cause I used to be stuck in my room all day.”

“Right,” Nino face palmed. “Your old man sucks.”

“My… what?” 

“Your old man, your dad,” Nino clarified. “Alright, let’s play a two on one. Us against a CPU, see how good you are against a bot.”

“Alright,” Adrien said.

Nino switched the settings, and they selected their characters. Nino picked Mewtoo, and Adrien decided on Link.

“What’s the third chip?” Adrien asked.

“That’s the CPU,” Nino said. “It’s set on random. So it could be any of the characters, except the ones we chose.”

“Got it,” Adrien said. 

“Alright, let’s go!”

—

Marinette frowned, staring at all the items she had gathered so she could create her derby hat. 

“You know, I’m starting to think they really should’ve given us more time,” Marinette said. 

“What do you mean?” Trixx asked. 

“I’ve got like… 7 hours now? To create this thing, and they gave us like, maybe nine hours total. And coming up with a design in a time crunch is actually quite hard, especially when some people don’t normally design things. Rose and Juleka are competing, but they’re both more into fashion in general than designing. Then there’s the whole making stage, and we’re making hats! I think they should’ve given us a week. Not a week off school or anything, but I think that would be better. Especially if there ends up being an akuma attack….” Marinette sighed, and slumped across her desk.  

“I… didn’t quite catch all that, but okay,” Trixx said. 

Marinette chuckled, glancing up at the kwamis. 

“It’s fine,” Marinette said. “I just think they should have given us more time, especially because most people don’t know how to make a hat, and it can be a confusing process.”

“Pigtails, I think they expected most people to just modify a hat they buy.”

Marinette blinked. 

“…you are probably correct,” she said. “Well, I already committed to making a hat from scratch, oh well.”

Trixx laughed. 

“Anyway, I gotta get to work, time’s ticking away,” Marinette said. 

Marinette cleared the papers on her desk from studying the grimoire, organizing them into her binder that she used for the other pages she had translated, then slipped the binder back into hiding with the two grimoires, and the original few notebooks (having long since been filled, and then everything in them re-written. Five year olds don’t have the best handwriting).

Everything was hidden under a floorboard (you know, like in the movies).

Marinette cracked her back, then gathered her sewing supplies onto her desk. Sewing machine, sewing kit, fabric, the cardboard needed to make the hat. She pulled out her sketchbook to look at the design, then made a couple other designs with the same concept, before deciding on one she liked, one that fit with what Gabriel Agreste liked (sometimes a bit simple, a bit more streamlined). Although she like her more extravagant ideas, some weren’t so much derby-like anymore, and others would not be Gabriel’s style. But they were still definitely her style. 

Once she was done, she started measuring out, making the pattern she needed, and started cutting cardboard and fabric.

—

“Sabrina, this is cute.”

Chloé held up a short blue plaid dress, with a white collar.

“That’s rather short…” Sabrina said, “But it is really cute…”

“You can wear it with leggings,” Chloé said.

“Chloé, look what I found,” Mylene said. She held up a white t-shirt, with a picture of a cartoonish bee, with text reading ‘Buzz off.’

Chloé and Sabrina laughed.

“Why do I kinda want that?” Chloé asked aloud. “Anyway, Sabrina, find anything else you like? Or should we buy these and head to the next store?”

“Um…” Sabrina pulled a shirt out of the cleareance rack. It was a white t-shirt, with a cartoon dog on it. “I think… yep, this is my size.”

“Oh, that’s nice!” Mylene said.

Sabrina pulled the shirt on over top her current shirt, and it fit nicely, not too tight, not like a potato sack. She smiled, and pulled it off, adding it to the pile in the bottom of the cart.

“Alright,” Chloé dropped the bee shirt on the top of the pile, “Let’s head to check out.”

The three girls walked over to the counter. As the cashier scanned all their items, Chloé grabbed her credit card from her wallet. Soon they were checked out, and left the store, with more bags.

The girls had already gone to two other stores, finding lots of new clothes for Sabrina, and a few things for Chloé and Mylene when something stuck out to them.

“Where else can we go?” Mylene asked. 

“Hm…” Chloé looked around the mall. “Wanna grab some lunch, then head to a second hand shop?”

“Sure!” Sabrina said. 

“I’m down,” Mylene said.

They were on the second floor, which was where the food court was, so they headed to a nearby fast food stall.

Approximately 30 minutes later, the three girls left the mall, walking out to the bus. Emmaus, the store they were headed to, was fourty minutes away walking, but half that taking the bus.

The girls got on, Chloé paying for tickets, then headed to some empty seats, chatting away about various topics.

Eventually, they realized that the bus hadn’t moved in a while. Longer than you would expect when stopping for a red light.

Chloé looked up and frowned, noticing they weren’t even stopped at a light.

“I’m gonna go talk to the driver,” Chloé said.

“Alright,” Mylene said, Sabrina nodding next to her.

Chloé walked to the front of the bus.

“What’s going on?” Chloé asked.

“Can’t move the bus,” the driver said. “There are birds blocking the road.”

Chloé glanced out the bus door, and saw dozens, maybe hundreds of pigeons, all across the road, pecking at the ground.

“...the [redacted]?” Chloé muttered.

The driver shook his head.

“I should probably just open the door, let everyone walk,” the driver said.

“Yeah, good idea,” Chloé said, and she walked back to Sabrina and Mylene.

“So?” Sabrina asked.

“Pigeons,” Chloé said. “The road is being blocked by [redacted] pigeons!”

“...akuma?” Mylene asked.

“Most likely,” Sabrina answered.

The bus doors opened, and the girls gathered their bags, and headed to the doors like everyone else.

“How do we get there from here?” Sabrina asked.

“You want to keep going shopping during an akuma attack?” Mylene asked.

Sabrina shrugged.

“Seems pretty harmless,” Sabrina said. 

Behind her, a bunch of pigeons dropped like a bomb, then shortly after left, a police officer contained within them.

“...you don’t say…” Mylene said.

Chloé pulled up the Catablog, to see if there was any info. There was a notice about a current attack, but it didn’t seem like there was anything that bad going on.

“Doesn’t seem that bad,” Chloé said. “Maybe the akuma has it out for cops. Doesn’t bother us really.”

“...okay,” Mylene said.

Mylene fidgeted with one of her necklaces, a nervous habit.

“Hey, it’ll be fine,” Chloé reassured her, “If anything happens, Maotif will show up. Take names, kick [redacted]!”

Mylene laughed.

“Okay,” Mylene said. “Let’s go!”

—

Alya stared out the window, trying to see anything else. Alix was controlling the drone, using it to circle the skies, trying to pinpoint the akuma.

“Did you find the akuma yet?” Ella and Etta asked in unison.

“Not yet,” Alix said.

“Honestly, the only reason we even know there’s an akuma is cause this isn’t normal pigeon behavior,” Alya said. She pushed her rolling chair back to her computer, and glanced at her blog.

Akuma name: UNKNOWN

Powers: Controlling pigeons?

Location: UNKNOWN

Safety plan: N/A

Maotif: MIA

Misterbug: MIA

Alya groaned.

“Alix, should you call Maotif?” she asked.

“She’s busy,” Alix said, “And there’s nothing she can really do until we know where the akuma is.”

“Fair enough,” Alya said.

“Alix can call Maotif?” Ella asked.

“I wanna talk to her!” Etta said, the twins were both jumping up and down.

“Not right now,” Alya said. “I’m gonna call… Nino.”

“Why?” Alix asked.

“I’m… curious how he’s doing,” Alya said.

“Is Nino that boy who-?”

Alya covered her sisters’ mouths, a slightly panicked look on her face.

“Huh?” Alix glanced over at her.

“Uh, nothing. Ignore them,” Alya said, her cheeks flushed.

She hit Nino’s number, and her phone started to ring.

Nino soon picked up.

The first thing she heard was sneezing.

“ Hey, Alya! ” Nino said, his voice cheerful.

“H-hey, Nino!” Alya said. “Find out about the akuma attack?”

Nino groaned.

“ Yes, ” Nino said. “ Adrien has been sneezing for like, ten minutes! Apparently he’s allergic to feathers. He’d go home, but it’s worse outside. ”

“Yikes,” Alya said. “Alix is currently piloting my drone, we’re trying to find the akuma.”

“ Any luck? ”

“No. We don’t even know what we’re looking for,” Alya said.

“Hang out, I spotted something!” Alix said.

“...or maybe we found it.”

Alya hurried over to Alix, and peered at her screen.

“...what am I looking at?” Alya asked.

“A bunch of pigeons dive bombed a police officer, and are carrying him across Paris,” Alix said. “We can probably find Mr. Pigeon this way.”

“Oh, sweet,” Alya said.

“ So did you find the akuma? ” Nino asked.

“No, but we think we will soon,” Alya said.

Alix followed the pigeons, until they flew through a skylight in the Grand Palais. Hovering above the roof, they could see the police officer get deposited in a cage. They could also see the akuma.

The akuma was a man with a long pointy nose, and one of the ugliest akuma suits they had ever seen. So ugly, he didn’t warrant a description, beyond being in pink and gray, and wearing a bald cap.

The only thing that truly stuck out was the long whistle on his neck. He blew it, and the pigeons flew out the skylight (almost hitting the drone).

“Looks like we found the akuma,” Alya said. 

“I’ll call M,” Alix said. “Uh, but you’ll have to take over flying the drone.”

“Alright,” Alya said.

“ Wait, where’s the akuma? ” Nino asked.

“The Grand Palais,” Alya said. “I gotta go. Bye, Nino!”

—

“Bye, Alya!” Nino said.

His phone beeped as she hung up.

“Alix and Alya found the akuma,” Nino said to Adrien.

“ Ha-choo! ” Adrien rubbed his nose. “Great… where are they?”

“Grand Palais,” Nino said. “Hope Maotif can deal with this soon.”

“Yeah…” Adrien muttered absent mindedly. He needed to go out and fight the akuma, but why did there have to be so many birds, and feathers?

Adrien glanced out the window.

“I think the pigeons are leaving,” Adrien said. “Nino, I’m gonna go. I’ve got allergy medicine at home…?”

“Oh, okay,” Nino said, sitting up a bit. “Bye, mec!”

“Bye!” Adrien said.

He quickly pulled on shoes, and ran out the door.

“Are you gonna actually get the medicine, or are you gonna go fight the akuma?” Tikki asked.

Adrien sneezed twice in a row.

“...I’ll grab my pills, then fight the akuma,” Adrien said. “ Achoo! Tikki, spots on.”

Misterbug grabbed his yo-yo, and used it to quickly pull himself across Paris, speeding up his trip to his house.

“ Ha-choo! ”

As Misterbug landed near Agreste manor, he rubbed his nose.

“Ugh… spots off,” Misterbug said.

Adrien entered his house, and sneezed several more times.

“Nathalie?” he called.

Nathalie walked out of his father’s office, holding the bottle of allergy medicine.

“There you are, I’ve been worried sick,” Nathalie said. “Why did it have to be birds?”

“Thanks,” Adrien said. He sneezed twice. “I’m gonna take these.”

Nathalie nodded. 

“Good,” she said. 

—

Marinette stared out the window.

“...what’s going on?” Kaalki asked.

“...akuma,” Marinette said. “Also, I realized that my design needs a feather, and I don’t have one. The akuma seems to be controlling pigeons, so it’s probably that guy from Trocadéro.”

“Are you gonna go fight the akuma?” Trixx asked.

“I don’t know where the akuma is ,” Marinette said.

Her phone on her desk began to buzz, playing a familiar song. There were only so many numbers an invisible girl could have, so she knew exactly who was calling her.

Marinette grabbed her phone, and clicked accept without glancing at the ID.

“Hey, Alix,” Marinette said.

“ There’s an akuma, he controls pigeons, and he’s at the Grand Palais, ” Alix said immediately.

Marinette blinked.

“...Alrighty then,” Marinette said. “Thanks.”

“ No problem! ” Alix said. “ Alya was losing her mind. We’ve got a great view of the Grand Palais from this skylight we’re at. Anyway, go kick akuma [redacted] ! ”

Marinette laughed.

“I will,” she said. “Bye!”

Marinette hung up, and slid her phone into her pocket.

“Alright, Plagg, claws out,” Marinette said.

Maotif jumped out the window.

It took her maybe ten minutes to get there, but by the time she was at the Grand Palais, she could see Misterbug approaching.

“Hey, ibis,” Maotif said.

Misterbug managed to only slightly flinch, but it was enough for him to hit his face on the wall.

“Hey…” he muttered.

“So you know about the akuma?”

“Everyone knows about the akuma, it covered the streets of Paris,” Misterbug said. “Did you not see the birds?”

“I saw them,” Maotif said.

She pranced up to the skylight, and spotted Alya’s drone. She quickly waved at it, then stared down into the Grand Palais.

Behind her, Misterbug sneezed.

Maotif blinked, and glanced behind her.

“Sorry, allergic to feathers,” Misterbug said. “Wait, why am I apologizing to you?” He walked over, and stared through the skylight.

Maotif glanced down. She hadn’t really paid attention to the feathers before, but now that she was noticing them…

Maotif picked up a feather. Misterbug frowned and turned to face her. 

“What’s that for?” He asked, then covered his nose to stiffle another sneeze. 

Maotif stared at him blankly. 

Then, animatedly, “It’s a surprise tool that’ll help us later!” she said, bringing her arms up. 

“…Really-?”

“No.”

Misterbug rolled his eyes.

Maotif tucked the feather into her pocket dimension.

“Alright, so, we could drop in, take him by surprise, I destroy the bars…” Maotif muttered, staring at the akuma, who was standing on a walkway above the cage. She noted the whistle (...bird call?) around his neck. “Geez, why’d Hawkmoth have to make him look like that? He’s so ugly…”

“Yeah,” Misterbug agreed. He sneezed again, although he covered his mouth with his hand.

“You gonna be okay?” Maotif asked. “If you’re allergic…”

“I already took medicine, I’ll be fine,” Misterbug said.

“Hmm…” Maotif ran through a few possible scenarios, before shaking her head. “Let’s just wing it. Heh.”

Misterbug snorted. 

“Seriously? Wing it?” he asked.

“What, something wrong?” Maotif asked.

Misterbug just rolled his eyes and shook his head.

The two dropped through the sky light, the noise of which caused the akuma to scream in surprise, although he quickly composed himself.

“Deedly-dee dee, come closer, I have a bone to peck with you!” the akuma said.

“Sorry, what was your name?” Maotif asked.

“Mr. Pigeon.”

“Jeez, Hawkmoth has no creativity,” Maotif said.

She and Misterbug were swarmed by pigeons, which caused Misterbug to sneeze several times.

“...seriously?” Maotif asked.

She split her baton into two and spun the two halves, creating an almost v-like shape around herself, allowing herself to sprint through the swarm of pigeons.

“Get us out of here, Maotif!” she heard Roger yell from below her.

“...you know what, maybe I won’t,” she said. 

She made it through the end of the pigeons, who were still swarming Misterbug, and she stopped spinning her baton. She stared down Mr Pigeon.

“Let me guess, you got yelled at for feeding pigeons,” she said.

Mr. Pigeon blinked.

“Yes, actually,” he said, “How’d you know?”

“Lucky guess,” Maotif said. 

She dove toward him, and he dodged. Maotif slammed his ribs with her baton, and he grunted in pain. She grabbed the bird call around his neck, and yanked it away, snapping the string, but not letting the akuma go.

“Cataclysm,” she said, and the bird call dissolved in her hand. She grinned as the akuma flew out. “Early bird catches the worm. Or frees it. Or does it- it’s just a saying, shut up. Bug boy!”

Without Mr Pigeon controlling them, the pigeons flew away.

Misterbug didn’t look too good, but he spotted the akuma, and nabbed it with his yo-yo.

“Miraculous Misterbug!” he yelled, throwing his yo-yo into the air.

Ladybugs flew around the Grand Palais, and out the sky light (probably to clean up bird poop), and Mr Pigeon was deakumatized.

As suspected, he was the odd man from the park.

“Are you alright?” Maotif asked, crouching down to help him stand up.

“I… yes, thank you,” he said. “I was akumatized, wasn’t I?”

Maotif nodded.

“What happened?” Misterbug asked, hooking his yo-yo around his waist.

“Oh, hello Misterbug,” the man said, “I was feeding my pigeons at the Trocadéro, and then a cop came and I got kicked out! Just for feeding my pigeons? And he was really mean about it too! Why did he have to be so mean?”

“Probably upset his daughter ran away…” Maotif mumbled.

“What was that?” Misterbug asked.

“Nothing.”

The pigeon loving man sighs.

“I don’t understand why I can’t feed my lovely pigeons,” the man said. “Everyone poops, right?”

Maotif tapped her fingers against her leg, debating staying and talking, or heading out.

“What’s your name?” Maotif asked.

“Oh, I’m Xavier Ramier,” the man said.

“Okay. Mr. Ramier, I believe feeding the pigeons isn’t allowed because people are worried about them pooping all over the place and scaring away tourists,” Maotif said, “I’m sorry. Maybe if you could find some place where they would be out of the way…? I’m sorry, I don’t really know what to do.”

“Oh…” Mr. Ramier looks down, “...thank you, Maotif. For deakumatizing me.”

“No problem,” Maotif said. “Anyway, bug, can you take him home? I’ve got a thing I’m doing, and I’m on a time limit, so I gotta scram.”

“You’re asking the guy with the feather allergy to bring home the guy with the bird obsession?” Misterbug asked. 

“Did I stutter?” Maotif asked. “Mr. Ramier isn’t a pigeon himself, you’ll be fine. Bye, Mr. Ramier!”

Mr. Ramier waved as Maotif pulled out her baton, and hopped out the skylight of the Grand Palais.

Maotif raced back to Alix’s place, and flew through the window.

“Claws in,” she said.

She was surrounded by a blue light, but before it even fully retreated, she was reaching into her pocket to pull out the feather she had grabbed earlier.

“That was quick,” Trixx said.

“Yeah, well, I only have so much time, and I’m only half done,” Marinette said, setting the feather down gently at the back of her desk, then picking up her hat. “Go play your video games, I’ve got to work.”

—

“Mylene! Take a look at this!”

Chloé was holding up a dress in Mylene’s size, with a repeated leaf pattern. The dress would go down to just past her knees.

“Oh, my, gosh, that’s perfect!” Mylene said, taking it from Chloé and looking it over. She held it up, then checked the price tag. “And only 7.40€!”

Mylene squealed, then folded the dress over her arm, and she and Chloé went to go find Sabrina, who was off at a different part of the store.

They found her looking over the books.

Of course.

“Find anything interesting?” Chloé asked.

Sabrina shrugged.

“Nothing really catching my eye,” she admitted. “But look what I did find.”

Sabrina held up leather shoulder bag.

“Nice,” Chloé said.

“It’s like… 4€,” Sabrina said, “And it’s really cute.”

“You should get it,” Chloé said. “Anything else? Have you checked out the movies yet?”

“I found the bee movie,” Sabrina said.

Chloé and Mylene laughed.

“Please don’t bring up that abomination,” Chloé said with a snort, “It’s so bad it’s funny, but I would never dare watch it again.”

“Even if Adrien wanted to watch it?” Sabrina asked with a teasing tone.

“ Especially then,” Chloé said, “He’d be cracking so many puns-”

Chloé stopped, and she frowned.

“Actually… Sabrina, do you remember the last time Adrien told a pun?” Chloé asked.

Sabrina frowned, and shook her head.

“I haven’t heard him say any since he joined the school,” Mylene said.

“...I don’t remember him saying any since his mom disappeared,” Chloé said, “And he used to use them at least once every three sentences.”

Sabrina nodded.

Chloé sighed.

“It’s… it’s probably just because Aunt Emilie went missing,” Chloé said, “He’s been too down to think of any. Or something like that…”

Chloé shook her head.

“Anything else?” she asked, “Cause I was thinking we could check out the design competition, see what people made.”

“Oh, that’s sounds fun,” Mylene said, Sabrina nodded in agreement.

“Let’s see…” Chloé pulled out her phone and checked the time, “The judging part starts in roughly an hour, and we’re about forty minutes away by bus…”

“We should probably only plan on about ten more minutes of shopping, to account for any possible lag time,” Sabrina said, “In case checkout takes a while, or the bus gets delayed.”

“Yeah, that’s sounds reasonable,” Mylene said.

“Alright then,” Chloé said, “Once again, Sabrina has made the most logical decision, and once again, she should run for class president.”

“And once again, ” Sabrina said, “I’m telling you, I don’t think I should. You’ve been a great class president. No need to change it up our last year of college.”

“Hey, I’m mostly class president cause out classmates know I’ll be able to get them great field trips,” Chloé said, “And you’ve planned every fundraiser I’ve been in charge of.”

“Can we please not have this argument again?” Sabrina asked.

Chloé shrugged, and instead looked around the isle.

—

“So, if her initials are MDC, and we’ve have heard her name before, how do we figure out what her real name is?” Alya asked.

“I dunno!” Alix said. “Until today I didn’t even know those were her initials!”

“Well what did you think they were?” Alya asked.

“I…” Alix frowned, “Honestly, I’ve got no idea.”

Alya sighed, and rolled her eyes.

“Anywho,” Alya said, “When’s the contest?”

Alix checked her phone.

“Uh… an hour,” Alix said. “Hopefully M’s almost done.”

“Do you wanna call her to see…” Alya trailed off, and frowned, “Actually, scratch that, don’t call her. I don’t think interrupting her would be a good idea.”

“Definetly not,” Alix said. “So, any new leads on Hawkmoth?”

“Hm…” Alya pulled up a document on her computer. “Well, he’s been sending akumas out at all times of the day, although he hasn’t sent out any akumas at night yet… uh, I’m assuming he doesn’t have a job. Or he can afford to not do his job for odd ours. Or he just works really weird hours.”

“So… poor people, rich people, and people always working the graveyard shift?” Alix said.

“Basically,” Alya said. “Although, I don’t think there are any akumas who’ve been focused on money, so we can probably rule out poor people.”

“True,” Alix said. “The closest we’ve gotten is the Mona Lisa getting stolen, and that was only cause he was trying to get bug in trouble.”

“Yeah.”

Alya sorted through her list of potential candidates.

“I found a list of all the rich people in Paris,” Alya said. “Can’t do much about people who work night shifts though… but we’ll see.”

“Gonna try and eliminate them?” Alix asked.

“Yep,” Alya said. “I’ve eliminated at least half of them due to paparazzi catching them out and about whilst someone gets akumatized.”

Alix leaned down to look at the list.

“Huh, guys and girls?”

“Well, I highly doubt Maotif actually has cat ears,” Alya said, then she blinked, “Actually, I know that, jeez.”

“Surprised you got to actually see her in civilian?” Alix asked.

“...yeah,” Alya said. “Uh, anyway, the point I was trying to make is, the miraculous can drastically change someone’s appearance, giving Maotif cat ears, so who’s to say who could actually be under Hawkmoth’s mask?”

“Fair enough,” Alix said. She then waited, “Hang on, if we aren’t gonna assume Hawkmoth’s a dude… I mean, Hawkmoth never told us his pronouns. She/They ‘em?”

Alya paused for a moment, mouth open and hinting to a smile. She laughed. “Oh my gosh, he’d hate that!”

“ She ,” Alix said.

Alya burst out laughing.

“We could just rotate through pronouns, like it’s a roulette table,” Alya said.

“Yes. Yes.” Alix nodded her head in agreement.

“Who’s pronouns are you rotating through?” Nora asked, entering the room.

“Nora! You’re back!” Alya said, standing up. “How was your match?”

“Total knockout!” Nora said, punching her fist. “And it’s Anatsi. ”

“Alix already knows your name,” Alya said. She paused a moment. “ Anansi. ”

Nora grinned. 

“Anyway, who were you talking about?”

“Hawk[redacted],” Alix said.

“Language,” Alya said.

Alix raised a brow.

“Apologies,” Alix said, voice dramatic. “I meant to say we were talking about the human who has chosen the [redacted] name Hawk[redacted].”

Alya snorted.

“Ah, old Hawky,” Nora said. “What about him? And pronouns?”

“I was thinking, they ,” Alya emphasized, “Could be anyone, even someone of the opposite gender, and Alix remembered that Hawkmoth never told anyone his pronouns. So, to annoy them…”

Nora stared at Alix in awe.

“Alix, you [redacted] genius,” she said.

Alix grinned.

—

“Done!” Marinette said, and she pushed away from her desk.

The completed hat sat on her desk.

“It looks great!” Trixx said.

Kaalki looked up from her book, and examined the finished hat.

“Truly, it does. Excellent craftsmenship,” Kaalki said. “You sha’ll win first prize guaranteed.”

“Aw, thanks Kaalki,” Marinette said. “Plagg?”

Plagg lazily looked up from his catnap.

“It looks great, pigtails,” Plagg said.

Trixx tilted his head.

“I’ve been wondering, why does Plagg call you that?” Trixx asked.

“Huh?” Marinette looked over at the fox kwami.

“You’re hair isn’t in pigtails, it’s in twin braids,” Trixx said. “I mean, you could technically call them pigtails, but…”

“She had pigtails when we first met,” Plagg said, before flying over to a sunbeam.

Marinette nodded.

“Yeah, I did,” she said. “I’d keep it in pigtails, but my hair’s gotten too long, so it’s impractical, so I’ve just done the next best thing.”

“Why keep it in twintails?” Kaalki asked, “Isn’t that a rather childish hairstyle?”

“Maybe…” Marinette muttered, “But… well, I always had my hair in pigtails before the… the wish. I just… it’s… hard to explain.” Marinette shook her head. “Anyway, I’ve got to deliver this hat to one of the girls. Let’s head out on patrol and see who’s closest. Hm…”

Marinette looked between the kwamis. 

“Uh… Kaalki, you wanna go?” Marinette asked.

“Me?” Kaalki asked.

“I mean, I haven’t used you much, and Plagg’s trying to sleep, so…” Marinette held up her hands in a pleading motion.

Kaalki sighed, and rolled her eyes with a smile.

“Fine,” she said, “Just let me mark my book.”

Kaalki located her bookmark, then flew over to Marinette.

“Alright, Kaalki, full gallop!” Marinette said.

She was surrounded by light, and appeared in her Epona costume.

Epona put the hat into a hat box, then pulled out her horseshoe, tapped a button on the side, a vortex appeared.

She set the hat box on top of the vortex (even though the hatbox was larger than the vortex), and the hat box warped into it.

“Wait… how does that work?” Trixx asked as Epona put her horseshoe back on her back.

Epona stared at the kwami.

“Magic,” she said doing jazz hands.

Epona picked up her sleeping kwami, much to his grumbling, then tucked him away into the base of her ponytail, hoping with all her might that he wouldn’t fall out.

She then leapt out the window, and began her patrol.

Epona was very fast. She was already faster than normal as Maotif, but the horse was on a different level. She had sort of been able to tell during Rogercop, but she was in the middle of an akuma fight, and didn’t have the freedom to just run freely and explore what she could do with the horse miraculous.

It took her two hours to find one of the girls, during which, she made a few discoveries.

1) Although the horse miraculous was fast and could jump well like the cat, it didn’t quite have the same agility, being better suited for jumping over gaps in the rooves than to jump up from one roof to another. 2) The horse miraculous seemed to be a miraculous that would be good as a brute force, as the enhanced muscles were more so than in the other two miraculous she had, which were far better suited for surprise attacks and sneaking around. (Epona wondered if the kicks using this miraculous would be superior to other attacks). 3) Her memory whilst using this miraculous was far better than normal. She’d never done much research on horses, maybe they did have good memories, but she figured it was there to better remember locations for portals.

Anyway, she had found one of the girls.

Unfortunately, Chloé was with Mylene and Sabrina.

Now, normally this would be fine, but she didn’t really want them to know it was her Chloé was helping out in the competition.

Epona sat down on a building, and frowned trying to think of how to get Chloé’s attention, without alerting the other two girls.

—

Marinette was sitting on a roof nearby.

Well, technically it was Epona.

Details.

Chloé glanced up at her, and tried to think of an excuse so she could go meet up with her.

Chloé barely stopped herself from snapping her fingers when the idea came.

“Wait here, I’ll be right back,” Chloé said.

“Huh?” Mylene said as she and Sabrina turned around. “Where’re you going?”

“My friend just messaged me, I need to go pick up her hat,” Chloé said. “I’ll be right back!”

“O…kay?” Sabrina said, glancing at Mylene, who shrugged.

Chloé set her bags down, and walked over to an alley near where Epona was sitting. Epona sat straight up, and walked along the side of the building, though not the edge like she usually did, before sliding down a rain gutter, and landing on the ground.

“Not planning on jumping down with this miraculous,” she muttered. “Not the cat, not built for that.”

“Are you done with the hat?” Chloé asked.

Epona nodded, and she pulled her horseshoe off her back, and hit a button.

A vortex opened up.

Chloé’s eyes went wide.

Epona reached in, and pulled out a hat box larger than the vortex.

“...how…?” Chloé asked.

“Magic,” Epona said deadpan. She handed the box to Chloé, who took it, and put it under her arm.

“You’ll be there, right?” Chloé asked, “To watch yourself win?”

“Yep!” Epona said. “I’ll see you there!”

“Even if I won’t see you,” Chloé muttered.

Epona snorted.

“That’s just how I roll, sorry,” Epona said. “Bye! Thanks!”

Epona video-game jumped up between the walls, and on to the roof, before vanishing from sighed.

Chloé laughed, and exited the alley.

“Woah, so you weren’t off to just go see a drug dealer,” Mylene said when she and Sabrina saw Chloé coming back.

“Why would I go see a drug dealer?” Chloé said. “I mean, for one, I’d never do drugs, but for two, I’m rich.”

Mylene just shrugged.

“I’m just saying,” she said.

“Sorry to ditch you girls briefly,” Chloé said. “Anyway, the contest at the school is soon, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is,” Sabrina said. “It starts in about… forty minutes? And we’re about twenty minutes away from the school. If we stop by the hotel to drop of our bags, we’ll get there in about thirty minutes, but it shouldn’t take too long to set up, so we’ll be fine.”

“Alright, we’ll head to the hotel, then the school,” Chloé said. “Let’s go!”

—

Max frowned as he looked out his window.

Maotif was running around the city using his miraculous.

He knew why she took it. He was already dealing with the consequences of his carelesness. It would’ve been stolen if she hadn’t taken it first.

Max had already had to delete all his social medias (which wasn’t much in the first place, but still), could no longer walk to school, and even in school, he just stuck close to Kim, so as to not deal with the mocking words of his peers.

His address had gotten leaked, so had his phone number. He couldn’t even open his windows, cause the apartment kept getting vandalized. He’d gotten so many messages and phone calls that his mom had to change his phone number.

It hurt.

Before, he’d been known by his classmates as the smart geeky guy, who enjoyed video games.

Now he was known by Paris as the guy who attacked a superhero for no reason.

Max shut his eyes when another egg hit his window. He closed the blinds, and went back to his project.

—

Alix glanced at the rooftops as she and Alya headed to the school building, but couldn’t see Maotif. Or Vixen, or Epona.

“See her, yet?” Alya asked.

“No,” Alix said. “But if she’s on patrol she won’t be checking her phone…”

Alix’s phone buzzed, and she checked the notification.

One new message from: queen bee

“Queen bee?” Alya asked.

“Chloé,” Alix said. She checked the message.

queen bee: I’ve got the hat

queen bee: See you at the school

“Oh, M already gave it to Chloé,” Alix said. “Chloé’ll be at the school.”

“Hm…” Alya pulled up a map, “The competition is in 10 minutes, and we’re five minutes from the school.”

“Oh, sweet, let’s go,” Alix said. 

Alix popped the wheels out of the bottom of her shoes, and zoomed off, followed by Alya, who was riding a bike.

They got to the school soon enough, Alya leaving her bike outside, and Alix hiding the wheels in her shoes again.

They entered the courtyard, and saw about a dozen hats, and even more students. The two instantly spotted Juleka and Rose, who had a steampunk inspired hat. 

The two also saw at least five hats inspired by black cats (actually, more likely Maotif), one that seamed to be covered in fruit, two covered in glitter, one in pom-poms, one that looked like a minion, and even one that looked like a cupcake.

The two spotted Chloé, Mylene, and Sabrina at the far end of the courtyard. The three were chatting, and there was a hatbox on the pedestal behind Chloé.

“Hey, Chloé,” Alya said as she and Alix approached.

“Hello,” Chloé said.

“...why are they…?” Sabrina muttered.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you, the friend I’m helping is also friends with these two,” Chloé said. 

“Oh, the… friend we don’t know,” Mylene said.

“They really don’t want people to know who they are,” Alix stressed. “So what’s the hat look like?”

Chloé shrugged.

“I was waiting till you got here to look,” Chloé said.

“Oh, that’s why it was still closed…” Mylene muttered.

Chloé pulled the top of the hatbox off, to reveal a dark grey hat, with feather like shapes on the main part of the hat, a single feather out of the band around the hat, attached with a dull gold button on a bow. Gold stitching swirled around the band, forming flower and leaf shapes.

“Woah…” Alya said.

Alix tilted her head.

“It’s a bit simple for her,” Alix said.

“Her?” Mylene asked.

“Oh, whoops,” Alix said, and she shrugged. “Whatever, I doubt she cares if people know her gender.”

“True,” Chloé said. “And I see what you mean. I haven’t seen her designs in a while, but the ones I remember had more. But Gabriel himself has more basic designs, so she probably modified whatever her original ideas were to give herself a better chance.”

“...huh?” Alya said.

“Uh…” Chloé pursed her lips, “Art is subjective, so to win a contest like this, you want to show both creativity, but also be appealing to the judge. If the contest was with my mom as the judge instead of Gabriel those designs with glitter would have a higher chance of winning. According to her, what’s “in” this year is glitter.”

“And you know this… how?” Alix asked.

“My father talks about my mother constantly ,” Chloé said, rolling her eyes. “Even if I avoid all her magazines, I know much of what’s in them.”

“So, you think she has a good chance to win then?” Alix asked.

“Obviously,” Chloé said. “To try an be polite, I won’t say who I know is going to get eliminated immediately, but… well, not the best crowd.”

The courtyard grew quiet as Adrien entered, escorted by a large man who seemed to be the strong silent type, and a woman with dark hair in a tight bun.

The ever elusive Gabriel Agreste was nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s Gabriel?” Alya asked.

“He doesn’t leave his house,” Chloé said. “His secretary Nathalie, the woman with the bun, brings around a tablet, and he does things over a video call.”

“Why doesn’t he leave his house?” Alix asked.

“Ehh… something something mourning the loss of his wife, bla bla bla…” Chloé said. “He’s always been a bit of a recluse, but never this bad. But, ah well.”

They watched as the secretary, Adrien, and what they assumed to be Adrien’s bodyguard walked around, Adrien trying on hats. Several students ran off crying, probably having gotten scolded. When they approached Rose and Juleka, Rose was in front explaining, whilst Juleka was sort of hiding behind her.

In the end, it seemed that they must have passed the initial impression, but hadn’t won. Rose was comforting Juleka, who seemed close to a panic attack.

And then they started to approach them.

—

Marinette would be lying she said she wasn’t nervous.

Gabriel wasn’t as harsh a critic as Audrey, but if things didn’t appeal to him, if he found things too over the top, he could be rather rude.

She pulled on loose strands of hair as Adrien and his entourage approached.

“ Who was the designer of this hat? ” Gabriel asked. “ Was it you, Madmoiselle Bougeious? ”

“No,” Chloé said, “The designer… uh, she wanted to stay anonymous.”

“Yeah, so we brought it in for her,” Alya said.

“She’s going by MDC,” Alix added.

Marinette crossed her fingers.

“ Hm… interesting, ” Gabriel said. “ Well, let me see it. ”

She sighed as Alix picked up the hat, and held it in front of the tablet, rotating it slowly so Gabriel could see the different angles.

“ Excellent craftsmanship, and exquisite design, ” Gabriel said. “ I believe that MDC deserves to be the winner. Adrien will model this hat in two weeks time. ”