Chapter Text
New York was… fine. Just fine, thought Chloe.
Except the bit where her mother barely had time to notice her. And the fact that American men were clearly pigs who howled at every pretty girl on the street. And that their English was incomprehensible. And the restaurant servers were weird and rude, with their creepy smiles and constant interruptions. And the pollution. And the fact that superheroes were apparently a dime a dozen there, and not one was impressed with her. What else…?
Oh yes, the fact that she had a half-sister she didn’t even know about until she ran into her in her mother’s house.
But other than that, New York was fine. She certainly got a lot of shopping done. All on her mother’s card, of course.
New York was fine.
But Paris was always better.
The first thing Chloe had done when she returned home was take a long, hot bath, nearly scrubbing her skin off. Then she actually took the time to find her father and hug him, but only for a moment. And then she called Adrien and prepared herself for a few quality hours of talking.
Nobody could accuse Chloe of not having clear priorities.
“Adrikins!” Chloe crowed in delight, “Guess who’s back in the most wonderful city in the world! That’s right, moi! ”
“Hi, Chloe,” Adrien greeted with much less enthusiasm than Chloe had hoped. She squashed down the feeling of insecurity that spiked at that.
“So! What happened while I was gone?” she fell back on her bed, getting in a comfortable gossip position, “Were there a lot of Akumas? I hope Queen Bee wasn’t needed.”
“Ah, just the usual,” Adrien said, “Mr. Pigeon, of course. Twice even. -”
“Ugh, somebody needs to get that man off the streets and into therapy.”
“Maybe,” she got the feeling he shrugged on the other end of the line, so that meant he was sick to death of that man as well. “I would certainly use up a lot less allergy medication. But other than that, I’ve been invited to the Ladybug and Chat Noir movie premiere.”
Chloe rolled her eyes. She’s seen the trailer going around and wasn’t really impressed. Ladybug, afraid of cats? Puh-lease. And neither Ladybug nor Chat Noir were as old as they were drawn, she knew that for a fact. And all that was besides the point that Queen Bee wasn’t even in the trailer!
“And you’re excited for it?” she asked instead.
“Well it certainly sounded interesting when I was recording it,” he said, and he sounded genuine. “And my father invited Kagami and her mother to watch with me and the director, so-”
“Wait, Kagami?” Chloe shot up, “ She’s the one going with you?! Why did you tell me this now , I wasn’t going to go at all! I won’t be able to get a seat in the front row this late! How am I supposed to protect you from the dragon lady wannabe?!
“I don’t need protection from Kagami, Chloe. Besides, I can take care of myself.” Oh yeah, she could definitely hear him rolling his eyes, the idiot. And he obviously couldn’t, or he wouldn’t let so many drooling fangirls like Marinette and Kagami hang off him. He would have been kidnapped and tied up in the basement by now if it wasn’t for Chloe!
“Keep telling yourself that. What else happened while I was away?”
“Uhhh…”
“Adrien?” her voice grew sharper, “What else?”
“Lila Rossi,” he said the name with obvious disgust, “She’s back and got Akumatized. She got mad at me for accusing her of lying, then-”
“That bitch is back?!” Chloe shot up in pure rage, “Why is she back?! I thought she ran off to India or something!” And if she’d had half a brain she would have damn well stayed there!
“Well, she is back,” Adrien sounded exhausted just saying that, “And she’s- Uh…”
“Wrapping everyone around her little finger and throwing Akumatized tantrums when she doesn’t get her way?” Chloe positively growled, “That’s it! Adrien, I tried to be nice. I even tried to make friends. I tried ignoring her. But if she’s back and ridiculous tricks, she’s going down!”
“Chloe, wait-”
“No!” Chloe hit the pillow with her fist, “I am the Queen Bee! If she thinks she can usurp my place, that little bitch has another thing coming! Trying to cozy up to Ladybug and then betraying her, then doing the same thing to you?! She’s worse than Marinette! At least she isn’t this obnoxious on purpose!”
“Chloe, don’t-”
“See you tomorrow, Adrien. I’ll get rid of that ridiculous harpy once and for all, don’t worry!”
She hung up before Adrien could splutter out any more predictable protests. Ugh, she loved Adrien with all her heart, but really, he acted like any kind of confrontation with anyone was the same thing as throwing a tantrum in front of his father. Which was a mistake even Chloe only made once, and Adrien probably never dared to even think about it, but still. It drove Chloe downright batty!
Chloe sighed, resting her forehead on the back of her hand. There were overprotective tiger parents, and then there was Gabriel Agreste, leaving them all in the dust. He’d certainly done Adrien no favors, and had obviously repeated ‘just smile and agree’ one too many times in Adrien’s formative years. Chloe had shed the ‘perfect little darling’ persona when she was nine, how was Adrien still maintaining it without going stark raving feral, she had no idea.
Well, nothing she could do about it right now. She and Adrien’s stupid little band of friends had made some progress in the last year, which was the only reason she tolerated them as much as she did, but all that progress had obviously gone up in smoke! And she was only gone for a week!
Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous!
But first things first: destroying that harpy who thought she could take Chloe’s place as the Queen Bee and trap Adrien. She was pretty sure that counted as saving civilians. Ladybug would probably be proud of her.
Maybe.
Chloe took a deep breath and called Sabrina. Time to hatch some plans. And plans going smoothly was just what she needed after New York.
It was good to be home.
Marinette was late. Again.
That was nowhere near unusual. It was a bit unusual that, even though Marinette was late, and perfectly aware of it, she couldn’t find the motivation to make herself walk faster to the dreaded first class.
Wonderful. One threat from Lila and one Akuma scare, and Marinette was now a delinquent. Just wonderful.
“Marinette,” Tikki poked her hip though her purse, “You need to pick up the pace, you have less than two minutes before the bell.”
“I know, Tikki,” Marinette just sighed. She was at the gates anyway, and Miss Bustier had long since given up on marking her tardy if she showed up before the actual lecture began. Miss Bustier was understanding like that.
Perhaps a bit too understanding, she thought uncharitably, recalling how easily her teacher bought Lila’s claims of tinnitus.
Can’t have it both ways, she supposed. The world didn’t work that way, not even for Ladybug. She couldn’t Lucky Charm her way out of this one, and while Cataclysm might have helped, Marinette couldn’t justify making a murderer out of Chat Noir just to get rid of Lila.
And yet it was, and would remain, a fantasy Marinette kept carefully hidden and only brought out to play with when Lila was being worse than usual.
“Chloe, that’s enough! You’ve gone too far!”
Like today, apparently.
A little startled by the unexpected shouting, Marinette cautiously peered into the classroom, only to find it in complete disarray. Everyone was standing at their desks, looking more furious than she’d ever seen them. Nino was actually physically holding Alya back. Adrien, holding Chloe back in much the same manner, looked so pale he was almost literally white. Someone in the crowd was crying.
Marinette sighed once more and decided that, somehow, this was all Lila’s fault.
Less than a minute later, she was proven entirely correct.
“You actually believe her!?” Chloe shrieked, “I was literally in New York two days ago! Visiting New York in a weekend?! It’s an eleven hour flight! I know you are all idiots but I thought even you knew basic math!”
“New York is a big place, Chloe,” Nino pointed out, with remarkable calm, “And I’m pretty sure you didn’t visit it to attend charity functions like Lila.”
“Attending a charity ball and saving Carrolina Herrera’s purse? Have you nitwits forgotten my mother works with her?! As if that would ever happen! She would never attend a ball for something as stupid as charity!”
“Yes, you’ve made that clear,” Alya growled.
“Pinkie’s involved with every damn charity she can get her hands on, can she really not check?”
Rose flinched back when she was put on the spot like that. And while Juleka might have been self conscious and somewhat insecure, if anybody touched her girlfriend, she descended on them like a rabid tiger.
“Rose is doing everything she can, but she doesn’t have a private jet like you,” she positively roared, “And Lila has been helping her and getting her in contact with charities all over the world, and would gladly give you the list. If she wasn’t smart enough to know the only thing you would do was sabotage them!”
“It… Might be a good idea, if she wants to-” Lila spoke up timidly, but Ivan cut her off with a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“Jul’s right, Chloe’s trying to sabotage you because she’s jealous,” he told her, voice full of quiet rage, “She’s done it to Marinette for years, and nobody could stop her because of her father’s influence.”
Marinette might have imagined it, but she thought she saw Miss Bustier flinch slightly and look away in shame.
“But now that someone’s finally standing up to her, she can’t handle it!” Alya joined in, “Face it Chloe, your reign of terror is over! You are not a hero, you are not a queen, and you’re not even a proper bully anymore! You’ve been defanged, and revealed, and nobody is going to put up with you anymore! You have nothing left!”
There was a chorus of agreeing voices, malicious in their glee like they were the uprising proletariat and a tyrant queen had just been dragged in front of the guillotine.
And Marinette finally realised what was going on.
Lila was making good on her threats. Just not against her.
Chloe must have realised what was going on and tried to do the exact same thing Marinette had tried to do. Except that, this time, Lila had already set her traps and primed their class for the downfall of her enemy.
Chloe, unaware, had walked into a trap set for Marinette.
“Fine! If you all want to believe her lies so badly, be my guests!” Chloe roared over the din, “I’ve had enough! Sabrina! We’re going!”
The class abruptly fell silent, almost expectant. They were all looking at Sabrina, fidgeting in the center of attention. And then… Lila gently set her hand on Sabrina’s shoulder and whispered something in her ear.
Sabrina straightened her spine.
“No, Chloe. I won’t.”
“What?!” Chloe shrieked.
“I’ve stuck by you for so long because you convinced me you were my only friend! That being ordered around and derided and sent on errands was friendship,” her lower lip trembled a little, “But I’ve had enough! I’m not going to be your minion anymore, Chloe! I am going to make actual, proper friends now! We are done!”
Another, even louder cheer went up. Rose hugged Sabrina, Alya pumped her fists in the air and Kim whistled in encouragement. The entire class was going practically mad with gaiety.
And in the middle of it, Lila was looking as smug as a fox in a chicken coop.
Marinette changed her angle and took a look at Chloe. And then immediately wished she hadn’t.
She hadn’t seen such anguish on Chloe’s face when Audrey Bourgeoise had invited Marinette to New York. Not even when Ladybug had scolded her for being reckless with her Miraculous. Not when Scarlet Moth akumatized her parents and butler. Never.
It made Marinette’s fingers numb and useless, seeing her like that. And for a moment, she hated herself for thinking Thank Tikki that wasn’t me .
Adrien, who had been looking like a deer in headlights the entire time, finally chose the ‘flight’ option rather than ‘fight’. He wrapped his arms around Chloe’s waist, picked her up , and ran out the classroom with her over his shoulder, yelling something about an Akuma.
Marinette had to literally jump out of the way not to be hit with the classroom door. Adrien didn’t even notice her, making a beeline for a secluded corner under the courtyard stairs. For a moment, Marinette sat there, trying to catch her breath, the thought of going to class not even crossing her mind.
This was what Lila had meant by her threats. This was what had almost happened to her. This was how deep Lila had sunk her claws. And this was how she dealt with people who didn’t play by her rules.
Adrien was right.
And to think, she had, for the first time since the umbrella incident, been actually mad at him. For rolling over like that and showing his belly to the predator. She had justified it to herself by saying that he didn’t know the extent of Lila’s lies, or the threats she made. But it still galled, leaving Lila roaming free to drip her poison into unsuspecting ears. Marinette had bitten her tongue for the last week every time Lila opened her mouth, kept her head down, and reminded herself that she was doing it for Adrien.
But as it turned out, Adrien had saved her from Chloe’s fate.
Had… Had he known? Had Lila threatened him as well? Had he known what fighting Lila would result in?
Had he known what he was saving her from?
“Marinette!” Tikki’s voice snapped her out of her shock, just in time to look up and see a purple butterfly coming her way.
She scrambled to her hands and knees, trying to keep quiet as she crawled away. She couldn’t transform here, but she couldn’t let herself be possessed, what was she-
But the Akuma fluttered away, barely paying her any mind.
It took Tikki actually biting her to get over her shock and realise what was going on.
The Akuma was going for Chloe.
“Chloe!” she yelled, already running towards the courtyard stairs, “Akuma!”
She hit the railing waist first, nearly knocking the breath out of herself. Chloe was on the bench under the stairs, Adrien kneeling in front of her and holding her hands, no doubt trying desperately to calm her down before the butterfly found her. And now Marinette, like an idiot, called their attention to herself so she couldn’t transform!
Adrien, of course, immediately put himself in the path of an Akuma with spread arms and a determined expression on his face. Had she not already been in her Ladybug mindset, Marinette was sure she would have swooned.
But there was no time for that.
Thinking quickly, she took her purse and carelessly dumped everything in it on the floor, ignoring Tikki’s squeak of surprise. Taking a running leap down the first half a flight, her purse open and held by the strap, she twirled it like her yoyo and prayed it would work.
The butterfly was clearly avoiding Adrien, trying to get past him to Chloe. Adrien batted at it until it gave up and tried going above him, just as Marinette had predicted.
She swung her purse down below like it was a butterfly net, caught the butterfly inside, snapped it closed in the same motion and then threw it as far away from herself as she could.
Both Adrien and Chloe gaped at her in astonishment, and then snapped their eyes to the small pink purse, hoping with baited breath that it would remain pink.
Something fluttered inside it hard enough to make it bounce on the floor, like it was trying to get out. But the purse remained closed and, thankfully, remained pink.
“One of you alert the Ladyblog,” Marinette commanded, as quietly as she could, as she came down the remaining stairs, “I’m- I’m going to-”
She spotted a janitor’s broom tucked away by the cubby hole shelves. She snatched it and cautiously approached her still struggling purse.
“Marinette, wait-” Adrien protested, but she ignored him and hooked the tip of the broom to her purse strap and lifted it up in the air. The butterfly inside was still struggling, but it still hadn’t managed to actually possess it.
She breathed a sigh of relief.
“I’m going to take this to the rooftop,” she said, voice a lot steadier now, “Hopefully Ladybug isn’t too far away. Did you post the alert?”
“Already done,” Adrien assured her, “Marinette, that- That was amazing!”
“Congratulate me once the danger passes,” she retorted, far too shaken to swoon at Adrien’s praise, “Keep an eye on Chloe, try to calm her down. If I don’t come back- Well.”
“Maybe I should come with you?” Adrien offered.
“No, it went right past me and went for Chloe,” she told him, not missing how Chloe paled even further at that. “I’ll be safe as long as I don’t touch it. Just… Help her calm down.”
Not looking back to see their reactions, Marinette gripped the broom with both hands and slowly made her way to the rooftop. Once the door was closed behind her, Tikki phased through her purse, looking as stunned as Marinette felt.
“Tikki, spots-”
“No need,” Tikki waved a hand and then hiccuped, “Already cleansed.”
Blinking in surprise, but trusting her Kwami, Marinette took her purse and slowly opened it. And, true to Tikki’s word, a bright white butterfly fluttered out and flew away towards the horizon.
“You can cleanse the Akuma on your own?” Marinette asked, aware it was a rather stupid question, “But- How?”
Tikki hiccuped again and swayed in the air, and Marinette suddenly didn’t want to know.
“It’s- Not exactly a good idea to do it myself, without my power being filtered through my wielder,” Tikki shrugged, “But I can do it in a pinch, and it was in the purse with me, so yeah.”
“Oh,” Marinette cupped her hands so Tikki could land on them, “What do you mean it’s not a good idea?”
“Too much of my power bleeds through,” Tikki sighed, slumping down and closing her eyes, “And it doesn’t dissipate quickly. If Hawkmoth reuses his butterflies we may have a problem on our hands.”
“Wait,” Marinette squeaked, “Are you telling me if Hawkmoth corrupts the butterfly we just released, it could create a super-strong Akuma?!”
“Mm. Maybe,” Tikki shrugged, “Under normal circumstances, I can give Nooroo’s champions a boost if they need it, but I don’t know what Hawkmoth is using to corrupt the butterflies, so I don’t know how it will react with my power.”
Marinette stood there frozen, trying to remember if the butterfly they just released had seemed bigger, or brighter somehow. She couldn’t tell, but maybe Hawkmoth could, and little gods only knew what Hawkmoth could do with some of Tikki’s power. Could he track her with it? Use it to specifically Akumatize her? This was a disaster! Should she transform and go after it? Tikki didn’t look so good but under the circumstances-
“Ladybug!” the doors to the rooftop slammed open, releasing hurricane Alya and all of her cameraphone-brandishing glory, “Is she here already? Have you seen her?”
Hello to you too Alya, yes I’m fine, the Akuma didn’t get me, thank you for asking, Marinette thought sullenly as she lowered Tikki into her purse away from Alya’s eyes.
“Sorry, Alya, you just missed her,” Marinette said, “She just told me to release the Akuma, purified it and ran off. She didn’t have time to chat, apparently.”
“Oh, damn,” Alya lowered her phone with a despondent sigh, “Can’t believe I was too slow.”
“Maybe next time,” Marinette said absently and picked up the broom, intending to put it back, when Alya turned that phone on her.
“Well, we’re just gonna have to settle for the next best thing!” she said with a wide grin, “So tell me girl, you’re probably the first person in all of Paris to have an Akuma go after you and not get possessed! How’d you do it?”
“Can’t this wait, Alya?” Marinette pleaded. This day had already gone straight to hell and it wasn’t even nine in the morning! “I’m late for class and I’m still kinda shaking, and I need to pick up everything I dumped from my purse. Can we table this for after class?”
Alya looked torn over that, but Marinette was in no mood to humor her superhero obsession. She took the heroic broom and set it back in its place, noting that Chloe and Adrien were gone. As she sincerely doubted Chloe wanted to be anywhere near their class right now, she hoped they’d gone to see Nurse Sissy. She kept Valerian tea for exactly this purpose, and students who had been Akumatized were excused from classes for the day.
Marinette, on the other hand, had no such excuse. So she trudged towards the classroom, intending to pick up everything she dumped in the hall and-
There was nothing there.
Marinette froze, causing Alya to nearly bump into her.
“Where’s my stuff?!” she squealed, “I emptied my purse right here! My sewing kit was in there!”
“Somebody probably picked it up for you,” Alya shrugged, “Don’t worry, if nothing else it’ll turn up in Lost and Found. Your schoolbag’s right there, though.”
Her white rucksack was indeed where she’d dropped it when she spotted the Akuma, thankfully undisturbed. She was pretty sure she had some backup cookies in the side pocket, even if they’d probably gone a bit stale by now. They’d have to do until she got home.
Of course, then the doors opened and the Devil wearing orange Prada appeared.
“Oh, Marinette!” Lila simpered, “I just received a text from Ladybug, saying to tell you thanks on her behalf. She was sorry she couldn’t stay, but she had to talk to Chat Noir about this immediately! I’m sure you understand.”
Marinette blinked. How did Lila know that she said Ladybug hadn’t stayed to talk to her? Was Alya streaming? Ugh, but she did have to talk to Chat Noir about it, and she had to figure out how to tell him that they might have a superpowered butterfly on the loose without revealing herself as Marinette. This day just kept getting better and better.
Alya nudged her in the back, reminding Marinette that she still hadn’t said anything. She grit her teeth, but with the scene from this morning in her mind, she decided to play it safe.
“Of course I understand,” she grimaced and tried to pass it off as a smile, “I know how important their duty is.”
Lila positively beamed. “Wonderful! Now come on in, the class has already started. Let me take your bag for you, you still look shaken.”
At those words Marinette had thrown herself at her bag and snatched it up close to her chest before Lila could make so much as a step towards it. Extremely conscious of Alya’s stunned expression, she widened her grin/grimace.
“Oh, no need, uh, wouldn’t want to make your sprained wrist worse, I hear those take a long time to get better,” she babbled, hoping beyond hope Lila wouldn’t figure out why was Marinette suddenly playing along.
Judging by the knowing smirk that was quickly replaced by another simpering smile, she wasn’t that lucky.
“Aw, Marinette, it’s so nice of you to worry,” she cooed, and damn if her sugar-sweet voice didn’t make Marinette want to run home and scrub herself clean, “And my doctor said I managed not to make it any worse catching that napkin, so you don’t have to feel guilty about it anymore.”
“Glad to hear it,” Marinette squeezed through her teeth, hoping that wasn’t Lila’s idea of an olive branch, because the very idea made her long for another shower, “Well, we shouldn’t keep Miss Bustier waiting!”
She practically ran through the door and to her seat. Sure enough, neither Chloe nor Adrien were in class, even though the lecture had just started. Miss Bustier gave her a smile and a nod, marking Marinette present without stopping her speech. She must have heard that Marinette was out chasing an Akuma and took pity on her, even though there were maybe ten minutes of class left.
Alya and Lila came in a minute later, which Marinette chose not to panic about. Whatever Lila said about her couldn’t have been too damning in such a short amount of time. Instead of looking at Alya, she focused on marking everything she missed. She’d have to learn from the textbook for this one, but there didn’t seem to be many pages to cover this class.
Wonder why, Marinette thought sarcastically.
Alya’s elbow bumped hers and she discreetly handed her a pice of paper under the table. Dreading what she was going to find in there but not wanting to appear suspicious, she opened it up beside her tablet and pretended to make some notes on it.
Girl, you were late and I forgot to tell you when the Akuma alert went off. You’ll never guess what Chloe did this morning!
Marinette worked very hard to keep her expression mildly confused. She had no doubt both Alya and Lila were watching her, but she didn’t want either of them to see that Lila had actually managed to get to her. So she scribbled a bit of truth and handed it back to Alya.
I saw her in the courtyard when the Akuma came, what happened?
Justice happened. I’ll tell you about it after this class.
Marinette kept her breathing calm with sheer force of will. Justice happened? Was that what Lila convinced them that awful charade of banishment was? What in the world had she told them, to turn her class of generally good and kind people into bloodthirsty bullies? That it was righteous to make someone suffer like that because they spoke up against their leader?
The numb feeling in her fingers was back, along with that horrible, persistent thought.
It could have been me. In another day, it would have been me.
“Girl, you okay?” Alya whispered, “You’re white as a sheet, do you need to go to the nurse’s office?”
Chloe was probably in the nurse’s office. Marinette nodded shakily.
“Miss Bustier!” Alya’s hand shot up, “Marinette is still not feeling well, she needs to see the nurse!”
Miss Bustier took one look at Marinette, and she must have looked truly awful because she was excused immediately, with only a remark to get her notes from Alya. She picked up her bag and ran from there, not turning around to look at Lila’s face.
“Marinette!” Tikki flew out of her purse the moment they were in the hall, “Are you okay, what happened?”
“It could have been me,” she whispered, “That- What she did to Chloe- She was going to do that to me, Chloe walked into a trap meant for me-”
“Marinette!” Tikki flew up to her face, “What happened this morning was not your fault!”
“But-!”
“It was too specific,” Tikki continued, “She must have been planning it especially for Chloe, not you. It’s not your fault, there is nothing you could have done for her, only gone down with her.”
“I still might,” she said faintly, “I- I can’t just leave her like that.”
“I know, Marinette,” Tikki soothed, rubbing her cheek against her chosen’s hair, “Why don’t you go see her?”
Marinette did. Chloe was indeed in the nurse’s office, seated on the blue chaise with Adrien, both of them holding warm, sugary Valerian tea. Any other day, Marinette might have been jealous of the way Chloe rested her head on Adrien’s shoulder, and Adrien’s cheek was pressed to her hair. But they both bore empty, tired expressions and blank eyes, and Marinette felt doubly awful just seeing them.
“Hey,” she called softly, “How, uh, how are you feeling?”
Chloe’s eyes darted to hers and she had to look away. She didn’t know if she could keep the guilt from her expression. She didn’t know if she wanted to.
Chloe just sighed. “How much of that did you see?”
Marinette winced. “Only the tail end. Adrien nearly ran me over when he came out.”
“Oh,” the boy in question grimaced, “Sorry, I didn’t see you. I just- I just knew I had to get Chloe out of there immediately, I wasn’t really looking.”
“It’s okay, you did the right thing,” Marinette assured him. “Chloe, I’m so sorry, I-”
“Don’t,” Chloe growled, “Don’t you dare pity me. And if you can’t help yourself, then get out.”
“Chloe,” Adrien admonished softly, but Marinette cut him off.
“It’s not pity,” she told her firmly, then took a deep breath, “It’s guilt. I- I think you fell into a trap meant for me.”
At Chloe and Adrien’s blank stares, she cautiously started explaining that, on the day Lila had been Akumatized into Chameleon, she had threatened to turn everyone against Marinette, leaving her hated and alone. And that was exactly what she’s done to Chloe.
Adrien had turned green at that point.
“God,” he ran a hand through his hair, “I’m so sorry Marinette. I was hoping that if we left her alone she would ease off or at least stop getting Akumatized, but-”
“You did the right thing,” Marinette cut him off, feeling a little lightheaded that Adrien hadn’t even known what he was warning her away from, “I was angry at you, at first, but you were right. If I’d gone against Lila like I wanted to I would have been in the same situation as Chloe. Lila wouldn’t have baited me like that if she didn’t already have something in place, just waiting for me to step a toe out of line. If anything, you saved me.”
“Would have been nice to get the same warning,” Chloe glared at Adrien behind her cup.
“I’m sorry,” he still looked faintly green around the gills, “I- I really thought she wouldn’t go that far. I thought she was lying in order to be liked, not- Not to do this. ”
“You didn’t know,” Marinette sighed. She could have used some of that Valerian tea, but Nurse Sissy had gone somewhere else. Probably to flirt with Mr. Monlataing. “But now that we do, we have to prepare for the worst. Lila knows we’re not willing to play along with her games, and she’s proven that she has no problem cutting us down if we speak up.”
“I hate to say this, but you are going to have to play along, at least for a while,” Chloe said, “Unless and until we have actual, irrefutable proof that Lila is scamming everyone, she has the advantage over us. She as good as said she has a smear campaign prepared for Dupain-Cheng. We have nothing, and no idea what else she has planned, I have just lost every shred of respect and credibility in one fell swoop, and if we form a public alliance, you’ll go down with me. You two need to play along until we have some actual strategy, or at least a campaign of our own. And we have to do it under the opponent’s nose while shaking hands with her in public.”
Marinette and Adrien stared at her incredulously. Chloe rolled her eyes.
“How you people manage to constantly forget I’m a politician’s daughter is beyond me. It’s not like I keep quiet about it!”
“So… You’re okay now?” Marinette asked cautiously.
“I’ve heard worse from my mother over the years,” she answered in a deadpan voice, and Marinette honestly couldn’t tell if she was being sarcastic, “And losing in the primaries doesn’t mean you won’t win the race. I am going to take that bitch down, if it’s the last thing I do in this school . ”
“Uh, aren’t we getting ahead of ourselves?” Adrien looked panicked now, “We don’t even have- Well, anything.”
“Chloe’s right, we need proof,” Marinette started pacing, relieved to finally be presented with something she could do, “There has to be something we can get, to prove Lila’s lying. Between the three of us, we know a lot of famous people Lila has claimed to know. We can just call them. And all these trips have to be logged somewhere as well, and the internships and charities have to come with documents as well. Lila can’t fake everything. ”
“Ugh, I can’t believe I’ve sunk so low as to work with Marinette Dupain-Cheng of all people,” Chloe moaned, “How the mighty have fallen.”
“Do you want my help or not?” Marinette glared.
“You go to war with the army you have, not the one you want,” Chloe said, pouting, “Doesn’t mean I have to like it. But in the interest of strengthening our alliance…”
Chloe dug around her own purse and pulled out Marinette’s phone, keys, sewing kit and Tikki’s macaroons, along with a few buttons that had been on the bottom of her own purse for almost as long as she had it.
“My stuff!” Marinette squealed, jumping to check that none of it had been broken or tempered with, “How did you-?”
“I ran back to get it while you were on the roof,” Adrien said, smiling kindly, “It’s the least I could do, but my pockets aren’t big enough for everything, so Chloe kept it safe.”
“Before you ask, I neither looked nor took anything,” Chloe butted in, “You don’t even have anything I would want.”
“Thank you,” Marinette said, a little more flatly than it would have been before Chloe’s remark.
She was just about to put Tikki’s macaroons in the purse, but the little Kwami pushed the box back and meaningfully looked in the direction of the two blonds. Marinette raised a sceptical eyebrow, but they were Tikki’s macaroons. If she was willing to share them, Marinette wasn’t going to be selfish one.
She unwrapped the wax paper holding the three pink macaroons fresh and offered them. “For helping me. And for building an army we can go to war with.”
Adrien smiled thankfully and took one. Chloe pouted a bit, but she took one as well, then held it up like it was a toast.
“To building an army we can take the bitch down with,” she announced. Adrien looked ready to choke on his macaroon but he did raise the remaining half to Chloe’s and repeated her toast in more polite words.
Trying very hard no to think about her macaroon touching Adrien’s macaroon that had already touched his lips , Marinette did the same, toasting Lila’s eventual downfall.
“Lets meet up in the library for lunch,” Marinette suggested, “We can assign everyone research areas then.”
“Ugh, that will be a pain without Sabrina,” Chloe mumbled around her macaroon, “I guess Jean-Jean will have to do.”
“Chloe, the point of taking revenge is taking it yourself. Not exactly satisfying if you don’t do it yourself. You can’t make others take your vengeance for you. That renders it pretty pointless.”
Adrien gave Marinette an odd look for that.
Chloe, at least, looked thoughtful. “You may be right for once in your life, Dupain-Cheng. You know, when Adrien told me that Lila was back and up to her usual tricks, I thought taking that liar down would count as rescuing civilians. That maybe Ladybug would approve, given what Lila said about her.”
Marinette’s breath stuttered a bit. “I have a feeling she would.”
“Probably, yeah,” Adrien agreed, “Ladybug said herself that she hates liars.”
“Mmm,” Chloe nodded and finished her macaroon, “Time to face the music, I guess. I’ll see you at lunch.”
And just like that, Chloe picked herself up, dusted herself off, and walked out of the Nurse’s Office with her head held high. Looking for all the world like nothing had the power to touch her.
If nothing else, Marinette thought, they might be more prepared for this war than she had dared to hope.
“Thank you so much Marinette,” Adrien got up and smiled that thousand watt smile at her, “For everything you’ve done. You’re truly amazing.”
And just like that, Marinette’s composure and dignity escaped out the window, eloping into the night.
Hawkmoth was furious.
“How?!” he roared, “She was perfect! She was ready to become a masterpiece! How did that little chit trap my Akuma so fast? How did she do it at all?!”
He was still growling to himself when the cleansed butterfly returned and joined its brethren. By the time he had collected himself and calmed down from the failure, Natalie had evidently lost her patience and came to find him.
“Sir,” she addressed him in a tone that displayed perfect respect, yet somehow still conveyed her impatience with him, “The investors from the Chinese branch are growing impatient. There is only so much I can do to stall them.”
Gabriel sighed and dropped the transformation. “No need. That damned pretender hero trapped my Akuma before it even got to Miss Bourgeois. Now I don’t even have an excuse for being late.”
Natalie’s eyebrows rose marginally, which meant she was deeply surprised. “So the theory that Ladybug goes to Adrien’s school is correct?”
“It looks more and more likely,” Gabriel nodded, “I trust you still have the files of all students at Françoise Dupont?”
“Of course.”
“Sort the girls from most to least likely,” Gabriel fixed his tie and smoothed out his jacket, “I’ll handle the investors from here.”
So Natalie was left alone in the lair, taking a quiet moment to finalize some things on her spreadsheet. That done, she was just about to leave when something strange caught her eye.
One of the butterflies seemed… Brighter, somehow. Maybe bigger? And all of the other butterflies were almost orbiting it…
Then she blinked and they all seemed the same again. She shook her head and made a mental note to get herself a fresh cup of coffee. Her eyes playing tricks on her would not be tolerated in her line of work.