Chapter Text
Staring down at the chat, Chloe watched with a twitching eye as one by one, the other members in the chat signed off.
Till Adrien was left by himself, and he soon signed off as well.
‘That useless actor’ she huffed, dropping the phone into a lockbox that a college intern took away to place with the others.
If Jun messaged Adrien, he messaged him, but if he didn’t, Chloe was not going to force the ‘world renowned’ teen actor/musician.
Even if she did think he was being a coward.
“Miss Bourgeious? We’re ready,” letting out a sigh, she picked up the gloves from the luggage, snapping them on and reaching for the next accessory.
Hopefully, this demonstration goes better than the last one.
Sabrina’s eyes flicked across the room, spotting a familiar redhead sleeping in the back, arms crossed over a tablet that was lit blue.
Writing him off as a lost cause, and thankful that they gave him a reinforced one, the teen checked the messages for any updates and her brow creased when an alert from Adrien’s phone told her he was back in his house.
Instead of at the school like they planned.
Oh well, there was always tomorrow.
Now she needed to make sure that the new seating arrangement was followed.
“Kim? You're in the front row with Max,” ignoring the jock’s protest, she saw Marinette Dupain-Cheng about to take her usual spot, and feeling a little guilty, went up to her.
“Marinette, you’ll be sitting next to the new girl, Cesaire,” the fashion designer gaped at her, eyes wide.
“B-but, I always sit here!” “Yes you do, but this year you’ll be in the other row. These two rows will be Nino,” the DJ, already sitting in his new seat, barely raised his head at his name, though one of his fingers twitched. “Another new student will be sitting next to him and I’ll be behind them,” and they both knew that Marinette would not want to sit next to her.
She didn’t say anything about Chloe sitting next to her, because that would cause a ruckus that she did not want at the moment.
With a frown, the fourteen-year-old grabbed her container of macaroons and her pink purse, marching past Sabrina with a huff, sitting next to the new girl who was glaring at Sabrina.
Honestly, was the girl that mad about being moved back a row? For everyone’s sanity, Kim had to be in the front, and Max was one of the only ones able to manage him.
And there was no way Chloe was letting him sit near Adrien and have the chance to buddy up to him.
Lahiffe barely passed whatever qualifications Chloe had for being her childhood friend’s seatmate, and any other girl was not allowed within a foot of him without his say-so.
Ms. Bustier chose that moment to come back inside and withholding her grimace, she went to check in with the woman.
Not for the last time did she wish she was in Mendeleiv’s class.
Alya glared at the orange-haired girl, feeling a bit annoyed at how she seemed to boss everyone around like she was the teacher.
“Who gave her that kind of authority?” she huffed, not even the student president at her previous school acted like this.
Luckily her seatmate agrees with her.
“If you think she’s bossy, her ‘boss’ is much worse,” Alya raised an eyebrow at the phrasing.
“Boss?” she accepted a macaroon with a muttered thanks, still eyeing the teen on the other side of the room who was now on her tablet.
Wait, what was with that? She got after Alya for having her phone out, but she’s on her device?
Marinette followed her gaze and frowned,
“Yeah, Chloe Bourgeois, the Mayor’s daughter and a ghost student who is here one day, then gone the next, off in a different country for days at a time. Sabrina and Nathaniel, the redhead in the back, are both her lackeys and are always doing some sort of work for her, at least, they claim it’s work,” ugh, Alya did not like the sound of this girl.
A squeal from behind them interrupted the teacher’s attendance and she gave a small frown to a petite blonde in the back who turned red before putting her phone away, muttering an apology.
“It’s just, V.E. is climbing Kilimanjaro, and they’re testing all their new merch for the climb,” the gothic girl next to her patted her on the shoulder.
“V.E. huh?” Alya frowned, eyes narrowing, she knew the famous club had a branch here, in fact, it was the founding location.
It was one of the reasons she agreed to attend this school in the first place when they had to move.
A quiet groan had her glancing down at the bluenette next to her who was resolutely not looking in the blonde’s direction.
“You don’t like the club?” blue eyes gave her an incredulous look.
“They meet at 6 a.m. willingly and have rules that get to the point of restricting their diet, plus Chloe’s a member,” huh, she was beginning to like this girl.
Nathaniel grunted at the nudge, burying his head in his arms and wishing that he’d brought his neck pillow.
Tablets did not make a good resting spot.
An annoyed sigh was his only warning before a hand gripped the back of his shirt and pulled him out of his seat. He could’ve resisted, but this was his favorite shirt, so he let himself be manhandled into a standing position before a very annoyed Raincompreix.
“How is it you can sleep through a monster appearing in Paris and causing a panic, but wake up at the sound of an audio drama,” he gave her a look.
“I’m allergic to bad writing,” he explained, as if it was obvious, she rolled her eyes, then what she said registered.
“Wait, when you say monster,” she turned her tablet towards him, showing him an image of a rock monster rampaging. Reaching up to his eyes, he rubbed them, sure he was seeing things, before glancing at the image again.
It didn’t change.
“Uh, is that one of ours? Because I’m pretty sure the Louvre hasn’t had any strange shipments this week,” not to mention dealing with monsters in daylight wasn’t their style.
“I-i don’t think it is, but at le-” a beeping caught their attention, making him groan, and Sabrina sigh.
Instead of standing around, they ran outside, avoiding panicking people and making their way to a car at the corner, its engine already running.
Nathaniel slid into the back while Sabrina went to the passenger seat, earpiece on and talking to someone on the other end while keeping her tablet on to the news.
A few minutes later, Sabrina let out a sigh of relief,
“We don’t have to deal with the rock monster anymore, apparently Paris has superheroes,” yeah, Nathaniel was not going to touch that minefield at all.
Especially when Sabrina showed him an image of the heroes fixing the situation, and he caught sight of the being responsible for the monster.
A butterfly.
Well shit, Chloe was not going to be pissed.
“Not it,” he immediately said in tandem with the driver, earning the both of them an unamused look.
The car screeched to a halt before she could say anything, and the pair hopped out, running into the metro passed crowds of people trying to board the train.
Going past them, they came to a cordoned-off area, yellow tape, and barriers telling people it wasn’t a good idea to go in.
They went in.
No police came to stop them and any bystanders that looked in their direction, slid across the section as if it did not exist.
Nathaniel took a key from his neck, stopping before a certain section of wall with a small hole in it.
The sound of chains behind him told him that Sabrina was ready and he inserted the key turning it and there was a click as the section of the wall hissed before sliding to the left, and a wave of dark green energy slammed into them.
Nathaniel gritted his teeth, standing his ground as a dark figure approached them, growling and emitting a rotten smell that made his stomach curl.
“Right, look, we both know how this is going to end, so I’m not going to say this again,” chains shot past him at the monster.
Sometimes Sabrina could be impatient.
He reached into his pocket and withdrew some talismans, glowering at the monster.
“ Get back in your tomb!”
No matter how many times he rewatched the video, Andre still couldn’t bring up the courage to pick up the satellite phone and press the needed number.
Chloe was busy after all, and Paris now has two heroes that appeared to deal with it.
So it was fine, no need to bother his hard-working daughter.
Especially with the fact this villain used butterflies as a weapon.
Yes, no need to bother her quite yet.
He could deal with it.
Paris wasn’t going to collapse now after all.
The rocky outcropping collapsed underneath her feet and she lunged for the nearest hold, grabbing onto it with a tight hold and glad for the goggles on her face.
After six hours of climbing, she was ready to rest, and she knew that the rest of the crew was as well.
With one final heave, she was on the first summit and ready to eat and drink.
Several people scurried towards her as she unlatched the helmet and unhooked her gloves.
“Miss, I must insist on a safety harness if you wish to continue climbing this way, or at least consider taking one of the walking paths,” Chloe understood their concern, but she wasn’t here to play it safe.
“The helmet could use a few tweaks in keeping the climber at a consistent temperature, and the gloves do have a good grip, but, my hands started sweating at the four-hour mark,” she tossed them in a bin and bent over to undo the laces on her boots, “These are somewhat comfortable, but not to the point I’d recommend it to experts, however, for our line it would work for those who do not have a big budget and are only hobbyists,” she outlined the ups and downs of each piece of clothing, the woman in front of her giving affirming noises as she wrote it down while Chloe changed into the next test set and sat down at a fire where one of the cameramen was stirring a pot of stew.
“Any news from Paris?” her question got a grimace and a phone screen showing her the lack of bars, “Any calls on the satellite phone?” at the head shake she clicked her tongue, accepting a water bottle and taking slow sips.
Thoughts of Adrien’s possible first day reached her mind and she sighed, feeling a bit anxious.
Their last boarding school had been before Emilie Agreste’s disappearance, and she knew that Adrien still felt torn up about it.
And that Jun was growing stir crazy not being able to support him.
Sometimes her boys were idiots, but they were her idiots.
Once she finished her food and water rations, she stretched and glanced up the rock wall.
Right, time to continue climbing, and hopefully, not end up missing something she shouldn’t.
She gave her dad a satellite phone for a reason.
Marinette clicked off the news, feeling ecstatic as she rolled away from her desk and plopped down on her bed, smiling at Tikki when the Kwami flew over her.
“You were right Tikki, I was able to do it,” her first day as a superhero, and nothing went wrong!
Tikki giggled, smiling at her excitement.
“You were great Marinette, you and Chat Noir did well together,” oh, right, Marinette knew she was forgetting something.
“Speaking of Chat Noir, you saw his outfit right?” the ladybug kwami tilted her head.
“Yes?” “W-well, compared to my outfit, his looks more detailed and cooler, how do I change mine to match his?” the Kwami blanched.
“You c-can’t change your outfit,” she waved her paws, “You have to stick with your first one,” Marinette gaped at her.
“But Chat Noir said he changed his outfit because he didn’t like it,” the Kwami looked horrified, worrying her.
“What is Plagg thinking?! Chat Noir could be in danger!” and that was how Marinette was treated to a two-hour lecture about why changing their outfits wasn’t as simple as she thought.
And now she was going to have nightmares about her hero partner collapsing and coughing up blood.
So much for the end to her first day as a hero.