Chapter Text
Luka looked up from his guitar as his phone buzzed with a song from his early days of Kitty Section. Juleka’s face lit up the front screen.
He frowned in concern. Juleka usually didn’t call if she needed something; she usually sent a quick text.
“Hey, Jules,” he greeted, “Everything okay?”
“Luka, turn on the T.V. Channel 278 . Now.”
Juleka’s tone alone had Luka scrambling to the living room. Tikki looked up in alarm as well, quick to abandon her cookie she had been nibbling to follow her holder.
The remote lay haphazardly on the small sofa, and Luka scooped it up and turned the small television on, still on the phone with Juleka.
On the television, it was a national meeting being broadcast from one of the French Embassies. Looking at the captions, he saw that the meeting was going over the Sokovia Accords. In particular, the United States Secretary of States, Thaddeus Ross, was currently speaking. Luka never really liked the man. Something about him seemed off. Not Hawk Moth and Mayura off, but the feeling was unsettling enough not to trust him.
“You seeing this?” Juleka exclaimed on the other end.
“Yeah, I see it all right…” he said with a frown. Ever since talk of the Accords started popping up, he had thought about what could potentially happen should France agree to sign them.
While he could understand the need for measures like this to be taken, he honestly didn’t believe the Accords were the answer.
If he understood what the Accords were asking of superheroes (or enhanced individuals as they were officially labeled as), signing them would require him and the rest of his team to register with the United Nations. They’d also have to provide personal information about their identities, including their full legal names, DNA samples, and what kind of power they had. Should they sign, the person would be restricted from taking action outside of their own country without permission, but if they didn’t sign at all, they would be forbidden from fighting in any form whatsoever.
If he chose to sign, not only would this restrict his activity as Anatis, as well as the rest of Team Miraculous, who were active, but it could potentially put the Miraculous in danger of misuse again. He knew the Accords applied to people who were using technology to enhance themselves, but he didn’t think the Miraculous fell into that category… right?
“So… you heard what he said about you?” Juleka asked.
Luka blinked. "What did he say?" Were they talking about Anatis?
Juleka groaned in frustration, “That Ross guy is saying that one of the specific terms for France signing the Accords is that you, Anatis, and the other Parisian heroes are required to hand over the Miraculous to the UN for ‘proper future distribution.’”
“What?!” Luka shouted, leaping to his feet, genuinely believing that he had heard his sister wrong.
“I called you the second I heard him say that!” Juleka added, “Lu… What do we do? This obviously can’t happen! We can’t have another Hawk Moth or Mayura!”
Luka took a deep breath. He glanced at Tikki, hovering anxiously close to him. It was clear from the look on her face that she had heard what Juleka said too. Now twenty, it had taken a good three-four years to finally take down Hawk Moth, Mayura, and Lila Rossi, who had stolen the Butterfly Miraculous for a short amount of time before they eventually recovered Nooroo and his Miraculous four months ago.
Now they were dealing with another potential threat. And this time, there was no Master Fū to turn to for another input.
The Miracle Box, now in the form of an epic looking black and red guitar case, was currently in Luka’s possession. Wang Fū had relinquished his title as Guardian at long last after Lila was arrested. The previous four months had been mostly peaceful for Paris, but now that the internal threat of Hawk Moth and Mayura was finally gone, France had now turned its attention to external conflicts.
For example, Vienna.
Luka had been horrified to learn what had happened barely a couple of days ago. While he was grateful that the Avengers managed to quell the situation, many people still died, including the King of Wakanda. Despite Lady Noire, Culpeo, and the other heroes repeatedly telling him that this wasn’t his fault, the lingering guilt he felt for not coming to help was still there.
And now this…
“Luka…?” Juleka asked, after not hearing her brother answer for a few moments.
“...Have Mom take the boat out, I’m calling a team meeting,” he finally said calmly.
“Got it! See you in a bit!”
“See you!”
Luka pressed the end button before sighing heavily, hands running down his face.
“This is a nightmare…” he groaned.
“We’ll figure something out, Luka!” Tikki said reassuringly, “They’ll surely see that this isn’t fair to you!”
“I doubt these people care about fairness, Tikki,” Luka said. No, this was never about fairness. This was just a way for the governments to exert more control of people and things they didn’t understand and were therefore scared of. “We do need to discuss what we’re going to do now, though.”
Before he could call on his transformation words, his phone buzzed again, this time with a ring that he had custom just for this contact.
MDC: Did you see the news?
LC: I did. I’m calling a team meeting at the Liberty. We need to discuss this immediately!
MDC: I agree. I’ll see you there. Be careful!
LC: You too. I love you.
MDC: <3
“Well, let’s not keep them waiting anymore. Tikki, Spots On!” in a flash of pink light, gone was the upcoming, aspiring musician Luka Couffaine, and in his place stood Anatis, holder of the Ladybug Miraculous and Guardian of Miracle Box.
After checking his bedroom one more time to ensure that the guitar case was still secured under his bed, he opened his window and, with a swish of his yo-yo, swung out into the cool Parisian evening.
He ignored any people down below, possibly cheering or waving up at him, utterly oblivious to the talk about the Sokovia Accords.
Catapulting up to the Eiffel Tower and landing atop the highest level, Anatis stared down at the beautiful city in front of him, the Seine gleaming serenely in the twilight. A city that he had served alongside others faithfully for years. And now there was a danger of it all being ripped away.
Opening up his yo-yo with a swipe, an action he hadn’t performed since the final akuma’s defeat months prior, Anatis threw the weapon into the air, bright fuchsia light illuminating the structure like the top of a birthday candle.
Only a select few in all of Paris knew the meaning of the light’s appearance.
Noticing a lithe black figure swiftly leaping in his direction, Anatis shut off the beacon (he was sure everyone had seen it by now) and swung down after her.
Her long plait lashed confidently behind Lady Noire as she watched her spotted partner (and civilian boyfriend) flip down before her.
“Calling the calvary I see,” she said with a smile, but Anatis could see that it was slightly forced.
“I had to,” he answered grimly, “if what’s being said at that conference is true, we’re all in trouble… again.”
“You’re not going to hand over the Miraculous, right?” she had to ask.
“No,” Anatis shook his head, “of course not! But we do need a plan.”
“Yeah, we do...” she nodded before she felt Anatis squeeze her head.
“It’ll all work out, kitten,” he said reassuringly, “Come on, we shouldn’t keep everyone waiting.”
“Right!” she nodded, more confidently this time before springing after the Ladybug hero towards the Seine.
Upon reaching the bank, the Liberty was already out down the river.
With a grin, Anatis held his hand out to his feline partner. With a giggle, Lady Noire took his hand, and he pulled her close. Like a lasso, Anatis threw his yoyo towards the boat, and with a tug, he and Lady Noire flew across the Seine and onto the deck.
“Ahoy, sailors!” Anarka greeted them from the upper deck.
Now on the safety of the ship, Anatis let go of Lady Noire and went to embrace his mother. It wasn’t that he didn’t visit the Liberty often, but ever since he had revealed his identity as Anatis to his mother and sister, he always felt a sense of safety and warmth from the Captain.
Like any mother, Anarka had been shocked and even horrified to learn that it had been her son, only sixteen at the time, who had been picked to fight a magical terrorist. That kids, in general, had been chosen to do something so dangerous. After taking some time to cool down and accept the reality, she showed full support to both of her children.
At the very least, the Liberty became a place the Kwami could roam freely and not need to worry about being seen, and the unofficial headquarters for Team Miraculous (as the public had started calling them).
“Everyone here?” he asked when he pulled away.
“Almost,” Anarka answered, “Aspik and Ryūko arrived just a couple moments ago. I think there are just a couple more stragglers.” The captain looked up, “Ah, speak of the devil, here they come!”
Anatis turned just in time to see a flash of dusty purple and blue land on the deck.
“S-Sorry, we’re not late, are we?” the dusty purple superhero asked.
“Nope, we just got here ourselves,” Lady Noire reassured the newest member of the team.
“Oh, good,” he sighed in relief.
“I keep telling you, you don’t have to act so professionally around these guys, Ly,” the one in blue said, folding his arms.
“Well, yeah, but…”
Anatis and Lady Noire laughed at how shy the butterfly hero was being. He had only been on the team for a few months, but from what they’d heard, Nooroo had settled in nicely and was slowly beginning to heal from the trauma that Gabriel and later Lila put him through.
Duusu had also taken a liking to her new wielder too. It turned out that the Peacock Kwami, having been active with the Agrestes longer, had been conditioned for years under the care of Emilie and Gabriel, so much so that her perception of right and wrong had been distorted. When she finally realized that her powers were being used for evil, she had been devastated and cried waterfalls of tears for hours. But Paon Bleu’s patience and gentle demeanor eventually helped Duusu over her rut, and she was soon back to her overdramatic self.
“Anyway, let’s get below,” Anatis finally said, “We have a lot to discuss…”
With murmurs of agreement, the four heroes briskly headed towards the stairs leading to the lower level.
With one final glance at his mom, who nodded before heading back to the wheel, Anatis finally ducked down after Lady Noire.
Just as Anarka had said, all of the other heroes were already there. Culpeo and Abeille were whispering urgently to each other on one side of a couch, same with Leatherback and Anonymouse on the other side. Ringtail and Sabertooth were sitting next to each other on the floor. Friesia was sitting stiffly on a separate chair, her fingers drumming against her arm, and the Rabbit heroine, Bunnyx (the younger one), was lying upside down in another. Aspik and Ryuko were standing against the wall, looking down in thought.
“Good, everyone’s here,” Anatis addressed before taking a seat himself.
“So, what’s with the sudden meeting?” Bunnyx asked, blunt as she always was.
“Yeah, the last time we did this was when… Lila was...” Anonymouse didn’t finish her sentence.
Anatis sighed, assuming that some of them didn’t see the broadcast.
He ended up not needing to ask, as Friesia beat him to the punch.
“Obviously, we’re here to talk about what was on the news! Don’t tell you haven’t heard all the talk about those ridiculous Sokovia Accords!”
“Um, we’ve been hearing about them,” Leatherback admitted, “But why? Did France sign them?”
“Not yet, from the looks of it,” Anatis said in relief, “but…”
Ringtail sighed, “I guess I’ll say it. If France signs the Accords, they’re going to force us to give our Miraculous to the UN, along with the ones that aren’t currently active!”
This brought out a plethora of reactions. Most of it involved yelling.
“What?!” Bunnyx shouted in outrage.
“They can’t do that! That’s not fair!” Abeille exclaimed, tears building in her eyes.
“We can’t let them do this!” Aspik shouted, leaping up from his seat.
“We have to make a statement!” Sabertooth exclaimed, “Tell everyone that we’re not okay with this!”
“We’re the ones that know how to use the Miraculous properly, and Anatis was trained as a Guardian, so he’s the one who knows how to distribute them correctly,” Ryūko said calmly, but everyone could see a storm of anger brewing behind her eyes.
“I don’t think that matters,” Paon Bleu murmured, “We’re all legally adults, but according to the big wigs, we’re still young and still superheroes. In their eyes we’re inexperienced and need to be guided.”
“Oh, so they’re blaming the heroes for things that the villains did?! That’s bull!” Bunnyx raged.
“How that makes sense to their big airheads is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!!” Friesia agreed.
“So… if France does sign, what do we do?” Leatherback asked, holding a crying Anonymouse close.
“We’re not going to hand our Miraculous over… right?” Culpeo asked, looking anxiously over at her brother.
“No, we’re definitely not going to do that,” Anatis answered immediately, hands pressed under his chin, “We do need a plan though. Putting our names on those Accords would be the biggest mistake we could make.”
“We’d basically become mercenaries if that happens,” Lysander said, “Called upon when we’re needed, required to complete the mission assigned. Even if we disagree with it.”
“I doubt that they’ll call on us at all,” Lady Noire spoke up, “that broadcast said to surrender the Miraculous. I doubt they’ll let us have them again if we’re ever needed. This is just a way for them to have something powerful on hand that they can easily use!”
“No question there,” Ringtail scowled.
“This is definitely a pickle…” Anatis sighed, “We can’t allow the UN, or whoever is in charge of this stuff, to get the Miraculous. Even if they claim that this is for the best, the Miraculous aren’t meant to be used like that. And let’s not get started when they find out about the Wish.”
At the mention of the Wish, time seemed to freeze. When it came to ultimate power like that, some people didn’t care about prices or risks. Hawk Moth was one of these people. And who knew how many people like him mingled among the members of the government. Aspik, in particular, looked sick, a haunted look in his eyes.
“...So, what do we do?” Abeille asked.
Anatis didn’t answer, racking his brain trying to come up with an answer.
“Hey, if we need to disappear, I can totally make that happen. I’m sure Tsurugi and Kubdel over there have connections too,” Friesia said, “we’re all over eighteen now, no one would bat an eye if we just up and left someplace.”
“That may work for you, Chloe,” Aspik argued, “but not all of our folks are in on this, for one reason or another. Sure, your dad and mom know so that it wouldn’t be a huge deal to them, but some of us have lives and plans already! I literally just applied for university in Lyon!”
“So, go to Lyon then!” Friesia argued, “It’s better than here, at least!”
“It wouldn’t matter where we’d go,” Ryūko said, “The second the UN realizes that we aren’t handing the Miraculous over, we’ll be wanted in every country until we do so.”
“Only our hero forms would be, right?” Lysander asked, “We technically could continue living wherever as civilians. The Miraculous help hide our identities after all.”
“I don’t think they’re going to let glamor magic stop them, Ly,” Paon admitted, “Even if our faces can’t be identified by cameras or tech, that doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways. Just ask Ringtail.”
The Monkey Heroine blushed, “Yeah. Remember the day before Pharaoh attacked, and Lady Noire dropped her history textbook on accident? While I couldn’t prove it at the time, and I’m glad I didn’t, my theory about Lady Noire being at Collége Françoise Dupont wasn’t wrong either. Stuff like that could still be used to find us. People could constantly be watching us, waiting for us to transform to prove their theory.”
“And they’ll likely have pictures of what our Miraculous look like. Even if they can be camouflaged, they could catch on at some point too,” Anonymouse added.
“You don’t think they’ll storm that temple in Tibet, do you? Where the other Miraculous are?” Culpeo suddenly said, alarmed.
Anatis felt his blood run cold. If Tibet was one of the nations signing the Accords…
“That would be bad,” Paon whispered.
“Well… well, they have no way to get to the temple, right?” Sabertooth said a little frantically, “And even if they did, they don’t know that that’s where the Miraculous are, right?!”
“May-maybe we can go there!” Lady Noire exclaimed desperately, “That would technically be a safe haven or something, right?”
Before any more questions or panicked suggestions could be thrown out, a loud bang echoed above them. They heard Anarka’s furious, pirate voice shouting as well.
“Mom?!” Anatis gasped, leaping to his feet, and practically flying up the steps, yoyo snapped into his hand. The other heroes rushed up behind him, weapons already drawn.
Practically breaking the porthole door open, Anatis flipped into the air, twirling his yoyo at the ready.
In front of him, he spotted a muscular, dark-skinned man, facing away from him. He had a contraption of some sort on his back and had his hands raised in calm surrender. Anatis spotted his mom wielding her pirate sword Piecemaker, and pointing it at the man like one would hold a rifle.
“Who are you?!” Anatis demanded, yo-yo still twirling as Lady Noire and the other heroes joined him, weapons drawn.
The man turned around slowly, hands still raised, “Anatis, I assume?”
Anatis narrowed his eyes, “Depends on who’s asking.”
The man smirked, “Well, if you know any other yo-yo swinging, red-suited heroes from Paris, France around here, let me know.”
“Answer his question,” Lady Noire demanded, “who are you, and what do you want?”
“Sam Wilson at your service,” the man introduced himself, hands still raised.
Sam Wilson... Anatis could have sworn he’d heard that name somewhere.
When the man, now identified as Sam, saw that the heroes were still tense, he spoke calmly again, “Look, I’m not looking for trouble. Just want to talk. Or… more specifically, my buddy Steve Rogers wants to talk to you. All of you.”
Steve Rogers. That name Anatis did know.
“Captain America?” Paon gasped behind him, “What does he want with us?”
“Like I said, we just want to talk,” Sam said simply, “Maybe even help you. Please, just hear us out.”
Anatis’ eyes shifted to look at Lady Noire, her cat eyes meeting his. He looked back at his mom; her sword was still brandished at the stranger. Without even looking behind him, he knew that the rest of the team was still tense behind him, eyes on him, waiting for the signal to charge and attack if they had to.
Seeing they still weren’t entirely convinced, Sam tried one more tactic, “Look, if we were here for your Miraculous, or whatever you call them, you’d likely have lost them by now. We don’t support the Accords. And from the looks of you and your friends, you don’t either.”
That was true. Even if he and his team had an advantage in numbers, Captain America was a trained soldier who had taken down people more dangerous than they were. And from the looks of Sam’s muscles, he wouldn’t be a pushover either.
His eyes wandered one more time to Lady Noire, begging her for input.
It’s your call. Her eyes said.
Anatis took a breath and put his yo-yo away.