Work Text:
Kagami always followed the rules. She had been raised in a family of commanders, her mother one of the best of her generation, and intended to prevail on her family’s legacy.
She was still a little bitter that Adrien had been chosen the commander before her. Adrien followed his heart too much and while it was what she loved about him, it could be problematic when it came to orders.
It didn’t help that their general was his father.
Anyway, a tiny part of Kagami, the prideful and profoundly engrained to win part of her was still mad that she had been placed as the executive officer.
“Aren’t you happy we are together?” Adrien had said, fully smiling, his green eyes twinkling and just like that she had been able to squash the pity part of her.
“I can’t believe we’re going to met Ladybug! For real!” Adrien exclaimed next to her. Kagami almost felt bad for zoning out of the conversation. Though she also admired the vigilante called Ladybug, Adrien’s rant on the now infamous vigilante could last for hours. Ever since Adrien had been saved by Ladybug, he had been mesmerized by her.
Just in front of them, a long sound was heard. They quickly found a blushing Marinette who was scrambling to clean the mess.
“I’m sorry,” she said, cleaning the floor.
They both helped as Adrien asked: “What are you working on?”
Marinette avoided their eyes. “A new recipe. I just couldn’t calm down so I’m working on something to add more… flavour for when in missions.”
“I do miss real food a lot…” Adrien sighed, taking the last bowl that had tumbled further away.
Marinette paused as she took the bowl from Adrien. She took her time to look at Kagami then back at Adrien. Kagami was about to ask what it was about when she asked: “You were talking about Ladybug?”
“Yeah! We’re leaving tomorrow to find her!”
“Is she getting arrested?”
“Oh no! The union wants to reward her for the excellent work she had been doing the past few months.”
“Oh,” Marinette pursed her lips.
“Why did you think she was getting arrested?” Kagami asked.
Once more, Marinette took the time to look at Adrien, then Kagami. “It doesn’t matter.”
“It does if you are making this face,” Kagami calmly replied, reaching for the other girl’s shoulder. “Your opinion matters to me.”
“To me too!” Adrien piped in.
Once more, she took the time to look at both of them, then she looked down. “I heard rumours…”
“What kind?” Kagami pressed, her hand never moving for Marinette’s shoulder.
“That the union took a shot at her when she was caught delivering the latest criminal…”
“What?” Adrien exclaimed, “But that makes no sense!”
“I know, I was silly…”
“No,” Kagami interrupted. “You have the right to be worried if you heard such rumours.”
“Yeah and I’m not saying that you make no sense,” Adrien added, “it just, why would they want to reward her after shooting at her? Why the union would shoot at her in the first place?”
“Maybe she discovered something she shouldn’t have…” Marinette mumbled, eyes far away. “Anyway, it’s only rumoured. It’s not like I was there!”
“Right,” Adrien replied with a smile, “thanks for telling us, Marinette! You are sure you don’t want to embark with us?”
Marinette smiled back as she shook her head. “Nah. I’d only slow you guys down.”
Kagami was about to refute but Marinette was already going toward the kitchen, waving goodbye.
“I don’t understand… she was always one of the best while we were cadets, why she decided to stay on the mothership?”
Adrien shrugged. “I wish she’d go on more missions. It’s always better when Marinette’s around.”
Kagami could only nod as Marinette disappeared from the corridor.
-
It turned out, tracking Ladybug was harder than anticipated.
The union had given the vigilante a rendezvous point via the intergalactic message boards but she had never shown up.
A few days later, a message from her there, stating that she wasn’t doing her work for a reward.
Even if they had tracked the signal from where the message had been sent, they had only discovered a small village of natives there.
They had been saved by Ladybug from trafficking pirates and she had asked in return to send the message.
For a few months, in between missions, Adrien and Kagami were commanded to find Ladybug at all costs.
“I can’t help but remembering what Marinette said,” Adrien said as they were flying towards the last planet where Ladybug had been seen.
“About the rumours?” Kagami replied.
“What rumours?” Longg, the co-pilot for the mission asked. Kagami could see from the corner of her eyes that even if Plagg, the pilot, was feigning to sleep, he had slightly moved towards the conversation.
“There were rumours that somebody wearing the union’s colours shoot at Ladybug,” Kagami answered.
“But soon after we were asked to bring her for a reward so it makes no sense.”
“It could make sense.”
Three heads turned to Plagg who lazily opened an eye and shut it immediately.
“They might want her dead but don’t want the public to know so. What better ways than to bring her peacefully into their grasps and make an incident happen?”
“Plagg! Those kinds of talks…”
“Yeah, yeah, those kinds of talks could be seen as treason of the union, yadda yadda yadda,” he replied, interrupting Kagami. “I’m just saying that if the rumours are true, that could very well be one of the reasons.”
They didn’t have the time to reply that the emergency alert was heard. “Unknown vessels approaching,” the alert repeated.
Plagg's eyes shot open as he deactivated autopilot. Kagami didn’t need to ask for more as she went to control the ship’s firearms.
“Permission to shoot,” she asked.
“Wait!” He answered.
They barely had the time to move then the unknown ship exploded, only having a tiny ship attached to a safety container.
Kagami heard Adrien gasped but she couldn’t remove her eyes from the red with white polka dot ship.
“Ladybug…” Kagami whispered.
“She sure is flashy,” Plagg snorted.
“This is Commander Adrien Agreste for Galactic Union's Space Force, permission to open communication.”
They stayed a moment in silence before they heard a screeching noise then: “This is Ladybug. Do you want the prisoners from the safety container?”
He almost shook as he opened the video chat. “Why don’t you come with us to the mothership?”
The video glitched for a second before it opened. Kagami could only stare as piercing blue eyes were on screen.
She was wearing a mask that was surrounding her eyes. Her hair and the bottom of her face were hidden with a red shawl.
Just like in the descriptions… Kagami thought before scowling at herself for being such in awe.
“I’d prefer you’d take them now or I can always drop them to the nearest intergalactic station,” she said.
“We only want to know more about you,” Adrien replied.
She stayed a moment silent and Kagami wished she could see her face and her full expression. “Maybe you and your crew want that… but people in the Union want me dead.”
“Who?” Adrien asked, passion clear in his voice. “You’ve only been good to the people. Someone wanting you dead is not respecting the values we swore for the peace of the galaxy.”
Her eyes seemed to soften. “You are kind, commander. If only there were more like you in the Union.”
“There are more of him!” Kagami said before she could stop herself. Adrien looked at her, surprised as she entered the sphere the camera was shooting. “If someone is betraying the values and honour’s of Galactic Union, it is our duty to stop them.”
“Even if that person is your superior?”
Kagami faltered for a moment before she said: “if they are betraying the Galactic Union, they are no superior of mine.”
Kagami could almost feel like she was smiling. “Commander Adrien Agreste, Executive Officer Kagami Tsurugi, remember your words. I’ll be contacting you soon.”
The screen turned black and the tiny ladybug ship let for of the container. They managed to catch it but by that time, Ladybug was long gone.
Plagg turned to them. “Those kinds of talks…”
"Those kinds of talks could be seen as treason of the union, yadda yadda yadda,” Kagami replied with a slight smirk. Plagg smirked back.
“But if she is right, if the union is hiding something, we should know,” Adrien continued.
“How did you know that she is right?” Longg said.
“It was always weird that she captured way more criminals than all of our floats combined,” Adrien replied.
“Are you thinking…?” Kagami started.
“Yeah, someone is probably making sure those criminals stay on the loose, for whatever reason.”
“And they want to get rid of Ladybug because she’s undermining their plans.”
They looked at each other, a new mission forming in their heads.
They had a lot of work to do.
-
It was weeks later that Marinette came to them, a smile on her face.
“From Ladybug,” she whispered as she gave them a paper. “Welcome to the Revolution.”
Before they could ask, she had walked on the opposite side, getting lost in the sea of soldiers.
Kagami suddenly couldn’t forget the blue of her eyes and how it had been so similar to Ladybug’s.
She couldn’t… could she?
Before she could dwell on the thought, Adrien shouldered her. “A list of money laundering made by 3 other commanders…”
They looked at each other.
Indeed, they had a lot of work to do.