EDITOR'S NOTE:

This was inspired by Thebirdfromthemoon-art. She created an amazing anti hero AU concept and I couldn't help but write for it. Check her out on Tumblr, her art is absolutely amazing and creative.

MIRACULOUS: BLACKGUARD

CHAPTER 1: THIEVES AMONG THE MASSES

"Marinette,"Sabine called from the kitchen downstairs, "your alarm has been going off for fifteen minutes, you're going to be late for your first day back at school."

The young black hair girl crawled out from under her covers and lazily turned off her alarm, "got it mom." She crawled down off her bed and made her way down to the kitchen, letting out a yawn, kissing her mother on the cheek, then taking a seat at the table to begin to make her breakfast, "I bet you anything that Chloe will be in my class again."

"Four years in a row," Sabine said with a mild tone of shock, "is that even possible?"

"Definitely," Marinette said as she poured a bit of chocolate mix into her bowl, "lucky me."

"Don't say that," Sabine said as she stirred the contents of a pot, "it's the start of a new year. I'm sure everything will be just fine."

Marinette let out a mile and nodded in agreement before setting the chocolate mix down, causing an orange to fall out of the fruit bowl and roll around the table to knock everything over. Marinette let out a disheartened sigh and an upset face as she cleaned up the chocolate mix. Sabine helped pick up the milk, then gently rubbed Marinette's cheek in a comforting manner, which lifted Marinette's heart a bit.

Marinette quickly cleaned up, ate breakfast, than changed into her everyday clothes before walking down to the bakery to see her parents had already begun their day for work. Her father hummed out La Marseillaise, and spun around to reveal a small box of macarons (actually, it only seemed small in his hands, it was actually a decent size.)

"Dad these are so awesome," Marinette said as she looked at the beautifully crafted macarons, each one bearing the bakery's logo on them.

"Glad you like them," Tom said as he closed the box and handed it to Marinette.

Marinette took the box with glee, "thank you dad, my class will love them. You're the best.

Tom gently ruffled Marinette's hair, "we're the best, thanks to your amazing designs." He held up the small sketch book showing Marinette's design for the logo.

Marinette let out a delighted little hum and threw her arms around her father, causing her to accidentally drop the box of macarons. Tom stuck out his foot and caught the macarons on top of his shoe and tossed them back into his hands. He gave the box back to Marinette as Sabine handed her her backpack.

"Thanks," Marinette said, giving both of her parents on the cheek. "I'll see you tonight," she ran out to the bakery and towards the school, but her path was cut off when the light changed and the cars in front of her took off. Marinette quickly came to a stop, nearly falling into the street as she came to a stop. She let out a sigh of relief as she regained her footing, but then a scream of horror when she saw what was in the street.

An old man with a walking stick was in the middle of the street, despite the fact that the signal said don't walk. Marinette heard a car honking and quickly turned to see a car zooming down the street. She acted quickly, running into the street and pulling the man back onto the sidewalk before the car could hit him. However, she did trip over herself once she was back on the sidewalk and fell onto her face.

"Thank you miss,"The old man said as Marinette pushed herself up. He then caught eye of the box of macarons which had fallen over with Marinette and scattered all over the sidewalk, "oh, what a disaster."

Marinette freaked out a bit when a stranger who wasn't paying attention stepped on one of the macarons. "Don't worry," Marinette said as she picked up the box and gathered the macarons that weren't crushed, "I'm no stranger to disasters. Besides, there are still a few left."

The old man took one of the remaining macarons and took a bite, letting out a delighted hum at how good it tasted, "delicious."

Marinette gave a delighted smile, but jumped when she heard the school bell ring, "Oh no, I'm gonna be late!" She gave the man a respectful bow, "have a nice day sir." She then took off running towards the school, hoping she would make it to class on time.

The old man let out a small laugh as he watched Marinette run away, "thank you very much young lady."

o0o

Marinette burst into the classroom just before class was ready to begin.

"Nino," Ms. Bustier said, paying no mind to Marinette as she entered class, "why don't you sit at the front of the class this year."

The boy in the back of the class groaned. He slowly dragged his stuff out of his seat and trudged his way to the front of the class. Nino sat in the front row as Marinette took her spot in the second row.

Marinette was sitting peacefully until someone slammed their well manicured hand onto her desk. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng," Chloe said in her normal pretentious manner.

Marinette let out a disheartened sigh, "here we go again."

"That's my seat," Chloe said as she straightened out.

"But Chloe," Marinette said in a low, upset tone, "this has always been my seat."

"Not anymore," Someone said from behind her. Marinette turned around to see that Sabrina had slid into the seat next to her while she wasn't looking. "New school, new year, new seats."

"So why don't you just go and sit beside that new girl over there," Chloe said as she pointed to a seat next to a girl in the front row.

Marinette thought for a second, "but..."

"Listen," Chloe cut off, "Adrien's arriving today..." She pointed to the seat in front of her, "and since that's going to be his seat..." she slammed her hand down on Marinette's desk again, "this is going to be my seat." She slammed both her hands on the desk this time, "get it?"

Marinette had to think again, "uh... who's Adrien?"

Sabrina and Chloe just laughed. "Can you believe she doesn't know who Adrien is," Chloe chuckled, "what rock have you been living under."

"He's only a famous model," Sabrina added in.

"And I am his best friend," Chloe continued, "he adores me." She gestured back to the open seat, "now go on, move."

"Hey," Someone said behind Chloe. Chloe turned around to see the new girl standing right in front of her. "Who elected you queen of seats."

"Ooh," Chloe hummed with delight, "look Sabrina, we've got a little do gooder in our class this year. What are you gonna do super newbie? Shoot beams at me with your glasses?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," the new girl said in an almost menacing tone. She reached around grabbed Marinette by the arm, "come on." Marinette quickly gathered her stuff as the girl pulled her by the arm down to the front row, but Marinette tripped on the last step and ended up dropping the last of the macarons.

"Sorry, sorry," Marinette said as she cleaned up the small mess she made.

Marinette looked at the box that was once full of delicious looking macarons, now it only had one. Marinette let out a depressed sigh as she contemplated how badly her day was going so far.

"Chillax girl," the new girl said, "it's no biggie."

"I so wish I could handle Chloe the way you," Marinette said.

"You mean the way Majestia does it," the girl said as she pulled out her phone. On the screen was the picture of a superheroine with the word "Majestia" in gold lettering above her. "She says that all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing." She pointed at Chloe, "well that girl over there is evil, and we are the good people, we can't let her get away with it."

"Well that's easier said than done," Marinette said, "She loves to make my life miserable."

"That's cause you let her girl," the new girl said, "you just need more confidence."

Marinette let out a small smile. She reached into the box and pulled out the last macaron, snapping it in half so they could share. "Marinette," she introduced herself as she gave her new friend part of the pastry.

"Alya," the other girl replied as she took it. They both took their halves of the macaron and ate them happily. Marinette was delighted that she had made a new friend, and been more delighted that she found someone who can stick up to Chloe.

"For those of you who don't know me by now," Ms. Bustier said as she wrote her name on the board, "my name is..."

As Ms. Bustier introduced herself and started her lesson, Chloe looked down at the seat in front of her where Adrien was supposed to be sitting this year. "Uhg," Chloe groaned, "he should be here by now."

o0o

Adrein ran down the sidewalk, looking at the school that was just a little bit further in front of him. As he ran, a car came to a screeching halt in front of the school and the familiar red haired secretary and gorilla man stepped out.

"Adrien," Natalie said as she stepped out of the car, "please reconsider. You know what your father wants."

"But this is what I want to do," Adrien said. He turned to run up the stairs, but stopped when he heard what sounded like a man in pain. He spun around to see an old man on the ground, struggling to reach for his cane. Adrien quickly ran over to help the man up and give him his cane.

"Thank you young man," the old man said as he got back up onto his feet.

Adrien let out a satisfied smile before turning around to go back to the school, but he was surprised to find that his path was blocked by Natalie and the Gorilla. He walked up to them, "I just want to go to school like everybody else, what's so wrong with that? Please don't tell my father about all this." The two adults silently guided Adrien back into the car.

The old man watched as Adrien was driven away, spinning around, throwing his cane over his shoulder, and whistling as he walked away.

o0o

The first half of Marinette's day was uneventful. Class, class, Chloe, and more class. She was fairly happy when she was finally able to go home for lunch break. She said goodbye to Alya and returned back to the bakery. She entered through the side entrance, the bakery was probably busy for lunch so she didn't want to bug the customers. She went upstairs to find that the house was empty. She figured it would be, her parents were likely dealing with customers.

She grabbed something small from the fridge (she knocked a couple things down out as she did so and she had to clean those up) then made her way up to her room. She was debating between working on designs or just playing some video games by herself. There was also the option that she could start early on her homework, or maybe...

She stopped as she got to her desk and saw a black box on her desk. It was a large octagonal box that with red... Marinette wanted to say Chinese designs. It had a series of golden studs along the side, each one with a different marking on it. She tried to pick it up, it had a bit of weight to it. "Maman," Marinette called down from her room. There was no answer from her mother. This seemed like the kind of thing that her mother would do, gifting Marinette something like this.

Marinette had to admit, the box looked really nice. She couldn't help but wonder what was inside. Marinette took the box and sat down on her chaise with it, examining it a bit closer. She slowly opened the box, desperately curious about what was inside. She wondered if it was something that her mother thought she would like or would look cute on her or...

Absolutely nothing. The box had five small sections around it, each one a different color and with a different design in the center. In the center of the box was a yin-yang design. One side of the yin-yang had a green cat paw in it, the other had a red circle with black spots on it. Although, she was wrong, the box wasn't completely empty. On the red side of the yin-yang was a pair of earrings with the same design as the red circle on the yin-yang. She didn't notice them at first because they blended in.

She picked up the earrings and examined the box a bit closer, curious if there was more to it. There had to be more to it than a giant box just for earrings. She pushed down on the center, causing a bunch of drawers to pop out where the small gold studs were. Fascinated, Marinette examined the small drawers individually, but quickly found that the drawers were similar to the main hub of the box. Empty.

What was the point of this? The box was empty, save for the earrings, which meant someone got this giant box just to give her these earrings. It seemed wasteful to her. Or maybe she was just upset that this giant box had so little in it, she felt led on.

She slowly turned the box and found a small slip of paper hidden in one of the drawers. Curious, she took it out and unfolded it. It had light elegant writing on it that read as such:

Marinette Dupain-Cheng,

These earrings and the power they bestow are a gift to you. I will soon need the help of you and your soon to be partner. Please get acquainted with these earrings and their Kwami, I will be needing your help soon.

Marinette read the note several times. One thing was certain, this certtainly wasn't from her mother. She didn't exactly understand it, not fully. Kwami? Powers? Partner? None of it really seemed to apply to Marinette, she'd guss that the note was for someone else if it wasn't for her name written at the top of it. Why would someone want her help? She was a klutz. Who was this partner that was mentioned? She didn't have a partner. And what was a Kwami?

Maybe this was given to the wrong person. Maybe they just wrote the wrong name on the note and delivered it to the wrong person. It was what seemed most likely to her. That was the kind of luck she tended to have. Maybe she could ask her parents who delivered it, then she could return it, or at least ask some questions.

Marinette closed the box and slid it under her chaise. She thought about going back to her desk and trying to sketch some new designs, it would be a welcome distraction to get her mind away from Chloe. She got up to walk to her desk, but stopped herself when she heard some metal fall to the floor. She spun around to see that she had knocked the earrings onto the floor.

She bent over and picked them up, spinning them in her hand. The partner thing was weird, but there was one thing weirder about that note she had gotten. Powers. What did that mean? These things certainly didn't look powerful, they looked... well, they looked like earrings. What could be so powerful about earrings?

As if to answer her question, the earrings lit up with a bright pink light.

o0o

"I am very disappointed in you Adrien," Gabriel said, staring at the picture on his wall, not turning to face his son.

"I know father," Adrien said, staring depressingly at his shoes, "I just... I just wanted to go to school... I wanted to be like a normal kid for once. Go to school, make friends, maybe..."

"That's enough Adrien," Gabriel said without turning around, "I have expressed my feelings towards you attending school several times, I am very displeased that you are making me repeat myself again."

Adrien continued to gaze at his shoes, "I'm sorry father."

Gabriel finally turned to face his son, "I want you to return to your room and think about what you have done. You and Natalie will work on your lessons later."

Adrien sighed, "yes sir." Gabriel turned back around to look at his painting once again. Adrien knew that this was his father's way of saying the conversation was over.

Adrien quickly glanced up at the painting, staring at the beautiful portrait of his mother. He quickly glanced back down at his shoes, feeling a bit disheartened just looking at the picture. Just looking at the picture caused tears to well up in his eyes, he quickly left the study before they actually started to fall out of his eyes.

He quickly returned to his, quote on quote, room. He had grown to hate this waste of space that he was forced to live in. To most people, it looked like a teenagers dream. There was rock climbing, video games, a computer with more monitors than necessary, a large window with a view that reminded Adrien that there was a giant city out there that he was never going to see, movies that showed more of the world than he could ever see, and a half pipe that was useless since Adrien didn't own a skateboard (his father had said it was too dangerous). Yes, while many people saw it as a paradise among teenagers rooms, Adrien saw it as his prison.

He hated it. He hated every bit of this room. No matter how much he changed it, no matter what he added, what he got rid of, this place still felt like a prison. And like anyone in prison, all Adrien wanted was to get out. And it frustrated him to no end.

He slumped down onto his couch, upset at his fathers choice. He never liked the restrictions his father had made. He had been like this ever since Adrien's mother... his mother... he didn't feel like thinking about it, he was already upset. His father was right about one thing, he needed to stop to think.

Maybe he should just watch some TV, or play some video games, anything to get his mind away from his father and school. He reached over to grab his TV remote, but stopped when he noticed a little black box on his table.

Adrien picked up the small box and looked at it. It was really small, it. Adrien didn't really notice anything else that was special about the box. It was rather weird. Why was this here? Who put it here? Maybe a gift from his father? No, scratch that, his father doesn't give gifts, and he wouldn't give anything in a box like this. Which brought him back to who put it here?

Maybe Natalie? She had been known to feel bad for Adrien whenever he got lectured by his father, plus, her and the gorilla are the only ones who had access to his room. He felt a certain warmth at the thought of her feeling bad for him, and rushed to see what it was.

As he opened the box, he was greeted with a small note at the top. Adrien picked it up and slowly opened it:

Adrien Agreste,

This ring and the power it bestows is a gift to you. I will soon need the help of you and your soon to be partner. Please get acquainted with this ring and it's Kwami, I will be needing your help soon.

Definitely not from Natalie. Not only was the handwriting wrong (Adrien had seen her handwriting so often during lessons that he had memorized the style), but the note made no sense in the context that it was from Natalie. So who was it from? Maybe it was a practical joke from his father. Wait, no, not possible. His father had no humor.

The more Adrien thought about it, the weirder it got. For starters, what was this mention of powers? Adrien may jump at the idea of having powers, all those years of reading comics and watching anime made him want some, but there was no such thing. Next, what about the mention of a partner? Judging by the context of the note, Adrien hasn't met him or her yet. If it was to be believed, then he would likely meet them in the near future. Finally, what was a Kwami? The note said that he needed to get acquainted with it, but when he looked in the box, there was nothing that could be described as a Kwami. All that was in the box was a small black ring with a green cat paw on it.

Maybe there was more to the box. He picked up the ring and set it on the table, examining the box closer. It didn't have any secret compartments, no extra buttons, you couldn't even take out the padding on the bottom of the box. There was absolutely nowhere that this "kwami" could hide. Adrien closed the box and set it to the side. Clearly it was just that, a box. Nothing more, nothing less.

Adrien decided to move on and picked up the ring. Just like the box, the ring wasn't anything special. All the years that Adrien had spent modeling his father's jewelry collection had made him pretty adept at recognizing rare gems and metals, this ring contained neither of those. The metal seemed cheap, although Adrien couldn't identify the metal. It was one he had never seen before. The jewels that made the cat paw were the same. All of the materials were completely alien to him. They could be dirt cheep, they could be expensive, Adrien couldn't tell. There was only one thing he knew for certain, there was nothing special about this ring.

He was proven wrong when the ring filled the room with a bright green light.

o0o

As quickly as the light had appeared, it vanished again. Marinette was once again alone in her room, blinking to try and focus her eyes again. The light was so bright it had nearly blinded her, it had caught her off guard so she couldn't shield her eyes. What even was it? All of a sudden the room was brighter than the sun. What had even caused it?

Did a light bulb freak out? Or maybe her monitor glitched? It was so weird and unexplainable to her. She couldn't find anything that could've made anything close to how bright that light was in her room.

At least, not until her eyes focused and rested on a small, floating, red and black creature.

"AH," Marinette screamed as she flew to her feet, trying to hide behind one of the support beams in her room, "HELP! IT'S A GIANT BUG! UH... A MOUSE? UH... A BUG-MOUSE!"

"Everything's okay," the small creature said with a bright smile, "don't be scared. It's..."

"AH," Marinette screamed again, "BUG-MOUSE TALKS!" She quickly grabbed whatever object she could get her hand on and threw it at the small creature.

"Listen Marinette," the small creature said as it flew around to dodge the random objects Marinette threw, "I know everything seems strange to you, but..." She was cut off by Marinette taking a glass and slamming it to the ground, trapping the small creature inside. The small creature looked confused for a second, but quickly got it's smile back, "okay, if that makes you feel safer."

Marinette examined the small creature in the glass, "what are you? and how do you know my name?"

"I'm a kwami," the small creature said, "and my name is Tikki. Just let me explain."

"This is too weird," Marinette said. She had to tell her parents, maybe they'd know what to do. She reached for the trap door with one hand, using the other to keep the glass in place so that the creature, Tikki if Marinette had heard right, didn't escape. "MOM," Marinette shouted down, slowly opening the trap door, "DAD!"

"Nonononono," Tikki said. She quickly flew through the side of the glass and hovered above Marinette's other hand that was resting on the trap door, "I'm your friend Marinette. You must trust me. You're the only one who can retrieve the miraculous."

Marinette looked at Tikki. The kwami's cheery smile had faded, now she looked extremely concerned. She was looking at Marinette with those giant blue puppy dog eyes, and Marinette could never resist puppy dog eyes.

She sighed, then slowly closed the trap door, "alright, I'll trust you."

Tikki quickly lit up with excitement and spun around in the air, "thank you. I'll explain quickly."

o0o

Adrien had to have been sprinting around his room for at least 2 minutes now. He barely had 5 seconds to process the light before a small creature that called itself Plagg came into existence and started zooming around Adrien's room, trying to eat everything in sight. First his Foosball table, then his arcade machine, his DVDs and CDs, and finally his trophies. Plagg was chewing on Adrien's TV remote while Adrien climbed his rock wall. Adrien calculated in his head his trajectory before jumping towards his couch, landing on top of the small creature and catching him in his hands.

"What are you," Adrien said as he griped down on the small creature so it couldn't escape his grasp, this was the first time that Adrien had gotten a good look at Plagg. The small creature looked like a really small cat.

"Listen kid," Plagg said, looking little bit bored, "I'm a kwami, I grant powers. Yours is the power of destruction. Got it?"

Adrien honestly didn't understand and shook his head in response.

"Good," Plagg said, clearly ignoring Adrien, "now you got anything to eat? I'm starving."

"This is a joke right," Adrien said as he stood up, still gripping down on Plagg, "Natalie felt bad and decided to play a small prank to try and cheer me up." He started walking to the door, "haha, very funny."

"Woah," Plagg said, zipping out from between Adrien's fingers, "you can't tell anyone. Got it? TELL! NO! ONE!"

Plagg seemed very adamant about this, he almost looked angry at Adrien for merely suggesting the concept. "Alright," Adrien said, "I won't tell anyone."

"Good," Plagg said, "now, about that food."

o0o

"Explain this to me one more time," Marinette said as she put the earrings on. As she looked at her reflection, she could see that the earrings had lost their red and had become completely black.

"The Ladybug earrings grant you powers," Tikki said, "they grant you enhanced agility, strength, and improves your instincts."

"Alright," Marinette said, "and what about this 'charm' thing you mentioned."

"The lucky charm," Tikki said, "it's your secret super power."

Marinette sighed, "Tikki, I think that this is a mistake. The only super power I could have is super clumsiness or awkwardness." Marinette suddenly lit up with an idea, "I know, you could ask Alya. She's my friend. She should know, at least I think she would. She loves super heroes and stuff like this, I'm sure she would be better at this than..."

"Marinette," Tikki said, "you were the one chosen to bear these earrings, you are the new Ladybug."

"But why was I chosen," Marinette said, "Paris is peaceful, it doesn't need a superhero. Why'd you come to me?"

Tikki went silent for a while. The Kwami seemed to have to ponder the question.

"Tikki?"

"I can only tell you what I have been told," Tikki said, "and that is not much."

Marinette nodded. Tikki thought a bit before speaking again, "the earrings that you are currently wearing are called a miraculous. There are many of them, each with a different power. Creation, destruction, illusion, and many more."

"Okay," Marinette said, "so these things are powerful, but this doesn't explain why you need my help?"

"They are all missing," Tikki said, "either stolen or lost to time."

"Is that what you meant when you said I was the only one who can retrieve them?"

Tikki nodded, "recently one has resurfaced, the butterfly. It was one that was stolen, which may mean that the user will use it to try and find more. It is one of the most powerful with the ability to give others powers. If someone were to use it, they could create villains and monsters to attack Paris."

"and how am I supposed to stop it?"

"You will need to find their akumatized object, smash it, and purify it."

"Not about that," Marinette corrected, "what am I supposed to do about this butterfly miraculous thing?"

"You will need to retrieve it," Tikki said, "you were chosen to do so."

"But I'm not sure about this," Marinette said, "don't you think you could've found someone more qualified?"

"Marinette," Tikki said, "you were chosen, and I trust you. You have the creativity, and now you'll have the power, all you have to do is say 'Spots On'."

"Spots On?" Marinette said. Before Marinette could ask anymore questions, Tikki soared into the earrings. Another bright flash lit up the room and faded in an instant. Once Marinette could see again, she quickly noticed Tikki was gone.

"Tikki?" Marinette said, looking around for the small kwami, "Tikki? Where'd you go?" She kept spinning around, searching every inch of her room for Tikki. She continued to search, up until she spun and caught her reflection in the mirror. Her outfit had completely changed.

For starters, her earrings had changed back to their original colors. She was wearing a black leather jacket over a black and red suit. She had a bright red scarf around her neck that went over her shoulder and down to her waist. The leggings were red with black spots that were torn above the knees and black boots. A small red string formed a belt around her waste with a small disc with the same pattern as her earrings hanging off the side. She was wearing a red mask with black spots in a symmetrical pattern and her hair had been pulled back into a ponytail.

"AH," Marinette screamed as she looked in the mirror, trying to come to terms that the reflection was her own. She looked like a completely different person now. "Tikki," Marinette said, "alright, I'm done now, I'd like my old clothes back."

The kwami didn't respond. There was complete silence. "Tikki," Marinette said, sounding a little more concerned, "this isn't funny. Please change me back now." Still no response.

Marinette had officially gone to freak out mode. She was now in a ridiculous outfit with no idea how to get out of it. She should've had Tikki write down the instructions to how these work, now she was stuck like this until she figured out how to change back. At the very least, no one was around to see her.

"Marinette," Sabine called from downstairs, "is that you?"

Just her luck. Marinette couldn't let her mom see her like this, she didn't want anyone to see her like this, but particularly not her mom. Since she came in through the back, her parents didn't know she was home, so she could probably slip up to her balcony undetected, which was what she did. Marinette jumped up to her bed, not bothering to use her ladder, and jumping up to the balcony, not bothering to using the ladder there either. She was in such a hurry to get out of her room to avoid her mother, she didn't even notice the inhuman jumps that she was making.

Once she was up on her balcony, she closed the door behind her and looked down as her mom entered the room below. She noticed her mother looking around the room below. Marinette thought that she was in the clear, upi until she saw her mom start to climb the ladder to her bed. Marinette freaked out again, it was clear that her mother was coming up to see if Marinette was on her balcony.

Marinette could barely keep her head straight. She needed to find a place where no one could see her, where she could hide out until she figured out how to get her normal clothes back. But first, she needed to get away from her mother, she would be the worst person to see her in some sort of weird super suit. She needed to think fast and figure out how to get away. Marinette looked up to the area above her balcony where the cell reception tower was. Marinette quickly leaped up the wall and ran up it until she was on top of the building. She ran past the tower and hid behind it so that she was out of sight when her mother came up. She waited patiently as she heard her mom open the door, call Marinette's name a few times, then went back down into the room.

Marinette let out a sigh of relief as she slid down on the reception tower and sat on the floor. She ran through everything that just happened, it all went by so fast that she didn't have time to process it as she went along. She got into some weird suit, then ran to escae her mother, and finally jumped on top of her roof. It was when she thought about it that she finally realized that she had jumped up impossible heights with minimal efforts.

Marinette looked down at her hands, looked down at her body. After realizing what she had just done, it made her own body seem foreign to her. The idea that she had jumped that high without trying it was... it was... a bit exhilarating! It got the blood pumping through Marinette's veins. She was hesitant about the suit and the powers, but now she wanted to try them out a bit more.

Tikki said that I had enhanced agility, Marinette thought to herself as she stood back up, I guess now's as good a time as ever to test that. She backed up against the reception tower until her back was pressed against it. She looked at the long stretch of roof in front of her, then ran off as fast as she could muster.

She reached the end and jumped down to the building below, running along it and jumping up to another building. She kept doing this, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, having fun as she ran.

Eventually, she came across a large street that separated her and her path. While most people would be deterred, Marinette sped up. She ran as fast as she could towards the edge. When she finally reached the edge, she kicked off as hard as she could to jump to the other building across the street.

Five seconds. Five seconds was how long Marinette was in the air. Five seconds with her feet off the ground, five seconds of the wind blowing through her hair, five seconds where Marinette felt more alive than she ever had in her entire life. At the end of those five seconds, Marinette landed hard on the other rooftop, instinctively going into a roll to cushion her fall.

"Woah," Marinette said as she rolled onto her feet. She quickly spun around stared at the distance she had just jumped.

Marinette walked to the edge of the roof and looked over to see how high she was. She looked across the way and saw how far she had jumped. She couldn't believe any of it. The thought that she had jumped that far, jumped that high, it was baffling. She could barely believe it.

"Nice jump," someone said behind her. Marinette quickly spun around, coming face to face with a tall boy blonde boy in a black hoodie leaning onto a silver stick.

"Gotta admit," he said, "that was pretty amazing. Even I needed to vault in order to jump over the street like that"

Marinette jumped back in surprise, turning away so that this guy couldn't see her in this ridiculous suit. "W-who are you," Marinette stuttered out, "How'd you get up here?"

"I guess it would be rude not to introduce myself," he said, walking around so he was in front of Marinette, "seeing as how we're going to be working together and all." He put a hand on his chin and hummed in thought, "the name's...umm... Chat Noir, yeah that sounds good." He did a slight bow, "the name's Chat Noir, and it looks like we're partners from here on out."

o0o

"So run this by me one more time," Adrien said, watching the small black cat munch down on the disgusting smelling cheese, "and this time, without a full mouth."

Plagg swallowed a huge bit of cheese then spoke slowly, "that ring you got, it's called a miraculous. There are a lot of them, and now they're all missing. So now, you and someone else have to get them back. Got it?"

Before Adrien could answer, Plagg zipped off into the bathroom, likely to cause more chaos. "Alright," Adrien said, "let's say I do agree, what now? I mean I can't go out. I'm stuck here. What good is a superhero who can't even leave his own room."

"No good," Plagg said as he rolled back in to the room on a roll of toilet paper, unraveling it as he went, "but that's all going to change soon. If you're willing to change, that is."

Adrien opened his hand and looked at the ring. He would have like he always dreamed, he would have a partner that he could spark a friendship with, and he could have freedom away from his father. He had to admit, the last one rang out the most in his mind.

"Alright," Adrien said. He slipped the silver ring onto his finger, turning his hand so he could see how it looked.

"Claws out," Plagg said as he poked his head out in of a toilet paper tube, "say that to transform."

"Alright," Adrien said, sticking out his fist, "Plagg, Claws Out!"

"WAIT," Plagg yelled as he was sucked into the ring, "I WASN'T DONE EXPLAINING!"

Plagg was sucked into the ring, creating another bright flash in the room. In an instant, Adrien's normal clothes had disappeared changing into an awesome suit. He had a black hoodie with stylized green lines all over it and two belts hanging off from the side, linking in the back to make a long leather tail. He had a long silver stick, almost like a combination of a staff and a bat. He had black jeans torn around the knees. Black sneakers with green laces with metallic plates over the toes. He had cat ears on top of the hood and a bandanna covering his mouth. A small black mask with a small bit of face paint at the bottom of it. Although, the coolest part about his new get up was the fact that his eyes were completely different, looking like cat's eyes.

Adrien couldn't help but admire how awesome he looked. He didn't look like one of those standard superheroes, the ones in the cheap spandex suits. No, he looked like one of those self made heroes, the kind that make their own suit. And he looked good in it.

"Awesome," Adrien said once he was done admiring his new look, "alright Plagg, how do these powers work?" There was no answer. "Plagg?" Still nothing. Adrien quickly came to the conclusion that Plagg couldn't hear him, or at the very least, Adrien couldn't hear Plagg.

"Alright," Adrien said, "I guess I'll figure it out on my own." Adrien walked up to his window and hopped up to the higher up ones without an issue. "Super jump, check." He pushed his window open and jumped out, landing on top of the wall that bordered his house.

"Sayonara prison," Adrien said towards his house. He turned around and looked at Paris, "hello world." He leaped off the wall with extreme force, flying over the street and taking off in a full sprint. He just wanted to test these powers out now, push himself to the limits. If it was a dream, he didn't want to wake up. He wanted to explore every part of it. He leaped from rooftop to rooftop, never missing a beat. He only finally stopped when he came to a large street, he was pretty sure he couldn't make that jump even with his powers.

He was a bit disappointed, he didn't like finding some type of limit to his powers so soon. He grunted and sat down, letting out a huff. As he sat down, he heard a small clank behind him. He turned around and saw that the stick on his back had hit the ground. He took it off his back and examined it. If Adrien had to guess, it was some type of weapon. It didn't seem that special, just a silver stick with a green cat paw and green lines circling the edges. It was just a stick

Adrien kept messing with the stick until his thumb brushed over the cat paw. Once he hit the cat paw, the stick extended to almost double it's length. Adrien freaked out as he did so, dropping the stick. He stared at it in shock for a second before picking it up again. He pressed the cat paw again, making it shrink down to the size of a remote.

"My own Power Pole," Adrien said, "awesome." He extended the staff back to it's original size and put it back on his back. He stood up and stared at his current obstacle. He was a bit upset that he had to turn around so soon... or did he?

Adrien stared down his obstacle, spinning his stick at his side. He backed up to the other end of the roof. "Always wanted to try pole vault," Adrien said to himself, "dad always said it was too dangerous." He planted his foot on the edge of the roof opposite of the street, "but today isn't about listening to him."

Adrien took off towards the street, stick in hand. Once he finally reached the edge, he planted his stick into the lip of the roof and extended it. He rose into the air and gently landed on top of the building on the other side of the street. He shortened his staff back to it's original size and spun it in his hand again.

"Okay," Adrien said as he put his stick back on his back, "this is probably the best weapon ever." He was ready to take off again but caught sight of something that demanded his immediate attention.

A girl was running full sprint to the edge of a rooftop. "NO," Adrien yelled, going into a full sprint and pulling his staff off his back. He was meant to be a big hero, right? Well if he was, he couldn't let some girl jump off the roof into the street. He figured he could jump after her, catch her, and then quickly use his staff to ascend back to the rooftops before they hit the ground. He was about to launch himself off the roof, but stopped himself when the girl did the same.

She soared through the air for a couple seconds before landing on the other side of the street and tucking into a roll. "Woah," Adrien said under his breath. He was a bit awestruck by how the girl flew through the air like that. He quickly came to the most obvious conclusion that he could think of. If this girl could jump like this, then she must be the partner that he had been told about. He quickly ran up to where the girl was, going unnoticed because the girl was looking over the edge. He also was pretty sure that he had some sort of cat like stealth given to him by Plagg.

He placed his stick on the roof and gently leaned on it, trying to look cool for her first impression of him. "Nice jump," Adrien said.

The girl quickly jumped in surprise and turned to face Adrien. "Gotta admit,"he continued, "that was pretty amazing. Even I had to vault in order to jump across the street like that."

She quickly turned around to face the other way. Was she shunning him? Did he somehow make a bad first impression? What was bad about it? He had just met his partner and he's already screwing it up.

"W-who are you," She said, crossing her arms over her chest, "how'd you get up here?"

Oh. OOOOOOOOH. That's what the problem was. Some random stranger just came up to them and starting talking to each other like they've been friends for ages. It probably didn't help that they were on top of a roof that isn't normally open to the public, of course she was caught off guard that someone else was up here.

Adrien decided that it would be best if he tried to backpedal a bit. "I guess it would be rude not to introduce myself seeing as how we're going to be working together and all," Adrien said, stepping in front of her so he could speak to her face, not wanting to introduce himself to someone's back, "the name's... um..."

It was at that moment Adrien realized something. He didn't have a cool super hero name. While he was going to be working with this girl, it was possible that he didn't want her to know his name. He is well known, it could affect their relationship and how they work together before they even start working together. He needed a moniker to go by, at least for now. He also needed it to be cool. but also fitting of his new persona. Something simple, something fitting, something like...

"Chat Noir," Adrien said, "yeah, that's pretty good." Adrien did a bow simply in an attempt to be a gentleman, "the name's Chat Noir, and it looks like we're partners from here on out."

Marinette looked at the boy with curiosity. She had forgotten about how the note mentioned a partner. He looked a bit like a criminal with the hoodie and bandanna. Then again, Marinette had to admit she looked a bit like a punk herself at the moment.

"What about you," Chat said, standing up straight.

Marinette tilted her head, "what do you mean?"

"Your name," Chat said, puling the bandanna off his face so Marinette could see him a bit better, "I told you mine, it's only right that I know yours."

"Right," Marinette said, "I'm Mari...Umm..." She nearly gave away her real name. That might not be the best idea, especially since her new partner didn't trust her with his real name. It might be better to come up with a fake the way he did. What was it Tikki had said earlier, that Marinette was the next...

"Ladybug," she quickly blurted out. Not the best name she could've come up with, but better than nothing.

"Alright Ladybug," Chat said, extending out his hand, "nice to meet you."

Ladybug gave him a bright smile and took his hand, "nice to meet you too Chat Noir." Ladybug had to admit, he at least seemed nice. Maybe working with him could be fun.

"I assume you were testing out your powers the same way I was," Chat said, "testing your limits, seeing how high you can jump, how fast you can run, what your weapon can do."

"Weapon," Ladybug said, tilting her head in confusion, "what weapon?"

"Your weapon," Chat said as he took the stick he was leaning on and spinning it in his hand, "like this."

"I don't think I got one of those," Ladybug said as she checked her person, "maybe you're the only one with a weapon?"

"Or maybe it's on your belt," Chat said, pointing to the small disc that was on her belt.

Ladybug hadn't thought about the small disc. When she saw it, she honestly thought it was decorative. Ladybug grabbed the disc and, sure enough, it clicked off her belt. She held the small disc in her hand examining it. As she looked at it, she found a small ring with a string attached to it. It was then that she realized what the disc was.

She slipped her ring finger into the ring and dropped the small disc, letting it spin on the string at her side. "A yo-yo," Ladybug said, "yep, this is a real threatening weapon."

"On the outside," Chat said, "probably not." He then brushed his finger over the cat paw on his staff, causing it to extend upwards, "but magic makes everything a bit unordinary."

"Woah," Ladybug said, "that's cool." Ladybug looked at her yo-yo, curiosity peaking. Now she had to test this thing out. She looked up at the top of the stick high up in the air and threw her yo-yo at it. It flew through the air, the string extending way longer than should be capable and wrapped around the top of the staff.

"Yours is cool too," Chat said as he looked up at the yo-yo in the air. He shrunk his staff as Ladybug pulled her yo-yo back to her.

"So what now," Chat said, "we're supposed to be heroes, right? Well what do we do if no one needs saving?"

"We're supposed to look for the other miraculous," Ladybug said, "that's what I was told."

"Alright," Chat said, punching his hand into his palm, "then let's get looking."

"Actually," Ladybug said, "I... I'm not sure..."

"I'm not sure we'll find them either," Chat cut off, "but we were trusted to find them. I'm sure if we work together, we'll eventually find one."

"No," Ladybug said, "it's not that. It's... I'm..."

Before she could say anything, the ears on Chat's hoodie twitched. Ladybug noticed the small motion and couldn't help but focus on the ears. Were they part of his head?

"Something's up," Chat said, moving his ears around trying to locate the sound, "it sounds like... some kind of trouble."

Ladybug tensed up again, "what... what kind of trouble?"

"Not sure," Chat said, "all I hear is some kind of alarms. Robbery if I had to guess."

Ladybug tensed up a little more, "w-what are we gonna do?"

"We have to help," Chat said, "if there's some kind of robbery. Then we have to stop it... right?"

"Why are you asking me," Ladybug said, "I'm as new to this hero thing as you are."

"Well we should help," Chat said, "that's what heroes do... right?"

"Stop asking me!"

"Yeah," Chat said confidently, "that is what heroes do, which means that's what we do."

"Wait," Ladybug said, but Chat ran off before she could stop him. She didn't follow for a second, not quite sure about following him, but determined that he might need her help. She couldn't let him run into danger alone, he could get hurt or worse.

Ladybug took off after Chat Noir, running as fast as she could to catch up with him. After a short burst, Ladybug was running right alongside her partner.

"What took you so long," Chat said with a smirk.

"I was debating running after you," Ladybug said, "I was debating whether you could handle it on your own or not."

"Well, at least you decided to help," Chat said, "who knows, without you I could've lost one of my nine lives."

"Then it's a good thing I showed up," Ladybug said, giving her own smile. They both ran alongside each other, coming to a halt in front of the Louvre. They showed up just in time to see a large black blob in the shape of a woman throw around a couple of men dressed in black.

"HOW DARE YOU TAINT THIS ART BY EVEN THINKING IT IS YOURS," the blob yelled, "I, INKESS, WILL SHOW YOU DIFFERENT!"

Ladybug shivered a bit, "what is that thing?"

"If I had to guess," Chat said as he pulled his bandanna bake over his face, "i'd say it's our first super villain." He pulled his stick off his back and spun it at his side, "which means we're gonna have to take it down." He jumped up into the air air with staff in hand, ready to strike the giant blob.

"CHAT WAIT," Ladybug yelled, sticking her arm out as if to grab her ally even though he was already to far away.

Chat fell down on top of the creature hitting it hard in the head with his stick, but the stick just sank through the creature's head and into it's body. Chat tried to pull his stick out, but it was stuck inside the monster's body.

"What the..." Chat said as he struggled to pull the stick out. As he did so, the monster's head spun around to look at Chat.

"You dare to strike the Inkess," she said, staring at chat with cold white eyes.

"Uh... yeah," Chat said, "although I thought I'd actually be able to hit you."

In an instant, a hand jutted out from the monsters back and wrapped around Chat's body. It slid over to the side until the hand was at the end of the creature's arm. She spun her head around again until she was staring at Chat again.

"Judging by your... horrible attire, I assume you are with these swines," the creature, Inkess, said, "one who lacks culture and has no care for art."

"No," Chat said, "but I don't like some monster wrecking my city."

"Wrecking," She said, "I am doing this city a favor."

"Yeah right," Chat said, "and I'm King Louis."

"You're annoying," Inkess said. She threw Chat against the large pyramid, causing several of the glass panels to break.

Ladybug couldn't help but watch as her partner crashed through the glass. She didn't know what to do, she had never been in a situation like this. She was nervous, scared. She knew that she could screw this up the way she screwed so many things up. She couldn't help. She couldn't help Chat. She couldn't help the people that the women was attacking. She couldn't help Alya... ALYA!?

Ladybug caught eye of the red headed girl behind Inkess. She had her phone out, filming the whole fight. Why was she here? How'd she get here? Most importantly, why was she not running away? Marinette's newest friend had made her way to the Louvre and she was staring at the face of danger through a phone camera lens.

"HEY PARTNER," Chat yelled. Marinette's attention was drawn back to her partner. He was being held by Inkess tightly, she could see the ink slowly crawling over and covering his body. "I COULD USE A LITTLE HEL..." he was cut off by the ink slowly crawling over his mouth, muffling his voice. She could see bubbles of air pop out from where the ink covered his mouth.

Ladybug watched the scene in terror. Strangers were under attack by a monster, her partner was being choked by said monster, and her friend, her ONLY friend was watching, refusing to run away and get to safety. It was only a matter of time before the monster turned against her too. Ladybug should do something, she needed to do something, she WAS going to do something.

The look of fear and terror in her eyes was gone, replaced with one of determination and readiness. She quickly unclipped her yo-yo and jumped at Inkess, throwing her weapon as hard as she could. The yo-yo spun around her hand and sunk deep into the ink until it was wrapped around something solid. She slid past the monster and pulled hard, forcing Chat Noir through the ink and out of the monster's hand.

Chat let out a cough, pulling his bandanna off to breath, "thanks. What took you so long?"

"I barely know you," Ladybug said, "I had to debate if I should risk my life to save one of your nine."

"Glad you decided I'm worth the effort," Chat said as he pulled his bandanna back over his face, "so you got any plans?"

"No," Ladybug said, "but if I had to guess, I'd say that monster was created by another miraculous user. My kwami told me about how there's one that can be used to give others powers."

"So how do we stop it?"

"It has an object, something we need to destroy in order to turn them back to normal."

"Destroy, huh," Chat said, looking at his hand, "I think I can handle that." He barred his claws and shouted out, "CATACLYSM!" Ladybug watched in awe as a small black ball formed in her partner's hand and he crushed it to engulf his hand in a dark aura.

"Pretty cool right," Chat said as he rolled his fingers, "my kwami said I have the power to destroy anything I touch."

He rushed to press his hand against the nearest thing he could find. "WAIT," Ladybug yelled, but it was too late. Chat brushed his fingers against the closest thing to him, causing it to crumble to dust.

"Awesome," Chat said, looking at his own hand in awe, "now for this Inkess." He charged at the monster full force. He ran up to her and shoved his hand against the inky figure, surprised when he saw it had no effect. "Oh," Chat said with a nervous laugh, "I guess I only get one shot."

Inkess looked at him, if her face had more than eyes, Chat was sure that her expression would be unamused. She lazily backhanded him, sending him flying through the air past Ladybug.

"Why would you waste your power like that," Ladybug said, "didn't your kwami explain anything to you?"

"Um... I may have gotten a bit ahead of myself," Chat said, "I didn't exactly give him a chance to explain everything."

"Well, now you only have five minutes before you change back," Ladybug said. Thinking about it, she kinda wished that she had thought about that when she wanted to transform back, but now wasn't the time for that.

"Great," Chat said, "anything else I should know?"

"Besides the fact that you destroyed several pieces of priceless art," Ladybug said, gesturing to the pile of rubble that had formed by Chat's cataclysm.

"Oh," Chat said, "Oops."

"HOW DARE YOU," Inkess shouted, "THOSE PIECES WERE PRICELESS, FORGED BY THE GREAT MASTERS THEMSELVES!"

"I feel like now's a bad time to tell her art isn't forged," Chat said.

"Well, it can be," Ladybug said, "but it makes it less priceless and more worthless."

"SHUT UP," Inkess shouted, "YOU FOOLS SHALL SUFFER FOR YOUR INSO..."

A purple mark appeared right in front of her face, one in the shape of a butterfly. She immediately went silent and turned back towards the scrap Chat had made. "As you command,"she said as she stared at the pile of scrap. Ladybug and Chat Noir looked at each other, confused by the scenario. Both of them looked at the small pile of ash with curiosity. Chat didn't notice what was special, but Ladybug certainly did. At the top of the ash was two small black pieces of jewelry, barely noticeable as they blended with the black ash that was the remnants of the paintings destroyed by Chat's cataclysm. They were a strange design, looking almost like goat horns.

Ladybug knew that was what Inkess was interested in, it was the only thing remaining among the pile of ash, but she had no idea why. They didn't look that interesting, but they certainly were interesting to the ink monster.

"You are lucky children," Inkess hissed, not taking her eyes off the jewels, "my master would prefer to avoid a fight, so I'll take those jewels and leave." She extended her inky hand out to retrieve the jewels, but as her hand drew closer, she was surprised when a red figure swooped by and snatched the two jewels away.

"Sorry," Ladybug said, putting the two jewels in her jacket pocket, "finders keepers." She didn't know who this master was, but he or she was clearly evil. She didn't know what these jewels were, but she knew that if Inkess wanted them, then Ladybug couldn't let her have them.

"GIVE THOSE HERE CHILD," Inkess yelled, "THOSE ARE NOT YOURS!"

"I don't think their yours either," Ladybug yelled, making sure the jewels were secure before taking her hand out of her pocket.

Inkess made her hand grow to a massive size before slamming it down where Ladybug was, but the red and black hero moved out of the way.

"Nice going bug," Chat said as he ran beside her, "she was going to leave us alone and you decided to not let her."

"Our job is to fix her," Ladybug said, "not let her get away. I don't know what these jewels are, but if she wants them, then we can't let her have them."

"Fair enough," Chat said, taking his stick and holding it like a bat, "so you got a plan?"

"One," Ladybug said, tossing her yo-yo a bit, "remember, you're not the only one with a special power, remember." She threw her yo-yo in the air with a shout of her own, "LUCKY CHARM!"

Her yo-yo opened up and released a flurry of ladybugs which came together to form a large red bowl with black spots. Ladybug caught the object and looked at it, completely confused.

"I was expecting some cool weapon or something," Chat said, "what exactly are we supposed to do with that."

"I was told I'd need to figure it out," Ladybug said, "figure out how to use it in a way that can stop the monster."

"Alright," Chat said, grabbing his partner and tackling her out of the way so that she didn't get hit by Inkess, "you might want to figure it out fast."

Ladybug nodded. She quickly scanned her surroundings to try and come up with something. There was the pyramid, the buildings around them, the fountains that were... THE FOUNTAINS. Ladybug had a major moment of realization. Inkess was made of ink, and ink could be washed away.

"Chat, I need you to find the water main to the fountains and turn it up all the way," Ladybug said.

"What," Chat said tilting his head, "how will that help?"

"Trust me," Ladybug said. As she did so, a small beep came from both their miraculous'. The first spot disappeared on Ladybug's earrings, the second paw pad on Chat's ring. "Do it and do it quick," Ladybug said, "I'll kept inky busy."

Chat was a bit confused, but could tell she had a plan. "Alright," Chat said, "consider it done."

He quickly took off and began his search for the water main.

"Your partner ran off," Inkess said as she got closer to Ladybug, "you're all alone with no chance. And I don't think you'll beat me with just a bowl. Give up now and give me what I want."

"No thanks," Ladybug said, "kitty's just doing what I told him to."

"Very well," Inkess said, "but know that you asked for this." She stretched out her arm to try and grab her opponent, but Ladybug jumped out of the way.

Just keep her busy, Ladybug thought to herself, just keep her busy. Just buy Chat enough time. She leaped back and landed in one of the large, triangular fountains around the pyramid. She watched as Inkess inched closer, but came to a halt at the edge of the fountain. Ladybug let out a small smirk, knowing her suspicion was confirmed.

"What's the matter," Ladybug said, mockingly kicking the water, "worried you'll ruin your hair?"

Inkess let out a sound that was a mixture of a hiss and a growl, "I don't need to get close to destroy you." She extended her arms out to their full length, causing an uncountable number of small arms to form out of her chest, each ending with a fist aimed at Ladybug.

The hero's eyes widened with surprise before her instincts took over. She jumped and dodged, trying not to be hit by any of them. She moved quickly, jumping over the arms one after another to avoid getting hit. They came one after another, coming at her almost endlessly. She could barely keep up. In fact, she couldn't keep up at all. She just kept moving in order to avoid as many blows as she could, kept dodging until...

The inky fist hit her right in the gut, sending her reeling through the air. She hit the ground hard, landing in the center with a large splash in the water. She tried to push herself back up, but was smacked down when all the hands form her chest formed together into one giant hand and smacked Ladybug into the ground.

"I didn't want a fight," Inkess said, "know that now you've lost. You're only weapon is a bowl, your partner left, and you have no chance. I recommend giving up."

Ladybug tried to push herself up again, but was smacked down once again. She wasn't gonna be able to get anywhere with Inkess repeatedly smacking her like this. Ladybug had no chance like this, no possibility of victory unless Chat...

Then she heard it. Small and quiet, but audible enough to hear it. In her ears she heard it loud and clear. She heard her chance.

She grabbed the bowl and rolled on the ground until she was right over the nozzle of the fountain. "You're wrong," Ladybug said, putting the bowl over the nozzle, "my partner came through, this bowl is your downfall, and the only one without a chance is you." As soon as her sentence finished, the nozzle burst to life. A flood of water burst out, going into the bowl and ricocheted towards the black ink monster

Inkess could barely move before she was hit with a giant gush of water with full force, washing away her body. Ladybug would adjust the angle of the bowl to move the water stream around and make sure her opponent was completely washed away. Finally, the giant spurt ended, and all that was left was a giant puddle of ink, occasionally shifting but unable to reform.

"That was amazing," someone called from nearby. Ladybug turned to see Chat Noir standing not far away. "I got back just in time, that was brilliant."

"Yeah," Ladybug said as she walked over to the black puddle that marked what remained of Inkess, "it was just some quick thinking." She scanned over it really quick, finding what she was looking for. sticking out among the puddle was a small paint brush. Ladybug walked over to it and stomped down on it to smash it with all her force. Once it was smashed, a small black butterfly with purple markings appeared from the splinters.

"Bye bye little butterfly," Ladybug said as the small butterfly took off into the air. As soon as the butterfly was out of sight, a bunch of bubbly black smoke appeared. Once it cleared, the black ink had disappeared, leaving only a young woman in an artist's smock on the ground.

"Where... where am I," the young girl said.

"Good job kitty," Ladybug said, sticking out her fist. She closed her eyes and let out a bright smile

Chat Noir almost couldn't take it. The way she knew exactly what to do, the adorable smile, the way she called him 'kitty'. This girl was amazing and he knew one thing for certain, this kitten was smitten. He was so happy that he had the bandanna, otherwise she might be able to see the blush he so obviously had right now. "Y-yeah," he said, stuttering over his words since now he was a bit nervous, "you too."

He put his fist against hers. "Pound it," they said simultaneously. As they did so, both their miraculous beeped. Chat was down to his last paw pad, Ladybug had two spots left.

"We better get going," Ladybug said, "I like you, but I'm not sure if I trust you with who I am."

"Yeah," Chat said, "besides, I don't think you could resis..."

"YOU TWO," someone yelled. Both turned to see Alya running up to them. Alya looked at them, still filming. "Who are you," she said, "why did you fight that heroic monster? Are you working with those criminals that were trying to rob the museum?"

"Rob?" Chat said.

"Criminals?" Ladybug said, "no, we're not criminals, we're..."

"We don't have time," Chat cut off with a whisper, "we have to get out of here before our time runs out."

"But... we can't let people think..."

"We don't have a choice," Chat whispered, "if they think we're criminals, imagine how bad it'll be if they find out who we are."

Ladybug hated to admit it, "alright." Both of them took off full speed, using their weapons to get up to the rooftops.

"WAIT," Alya yelled as the heroes ran off. She tried to run after them, but stopped herself in her tracks. There was no way that she could catch up to those two, they clearly had some sort of super powers.

She trudged her feet on the ground, feeling defeated about losing her big scoop. As she trudged, she accidentally kicked something She looked down and noticed some small black pieces of jewelry, strange ones shaped like ram horns. Wasn't this what that girl in red had stolen? It must have fallen out of her pocket when she was fighting.

"I guess I better return these," Alya said, picking up the small pieces of jewelry. She took them in her hand and slowly walked over to the museum.

o0o

Marinette didn't hear the story until later. Apparently, those men in black were thieves, trying to rob the museum in broad daylight. The monster that her and Chat Noir stopped was actually trying to stop the criminals. Because they stopped the hero of the situation, and because Chat accidentally destroyed a bunch of the paintings that were being stolen, they were branded as the villains in that scenario.

Marinette banged her head against the table as the news report replayed the footage of her and Chat fighting Inkess again (they seemed to focus a lot on Chat destroying the paintings.

"It's okay Marinette," Tikki said, gently rubbing her tiny paw against Marinette's cheek in a comforting manner, "it was your first run. While it wasn't perfect, you still did amazing."

"It was far from perfect," Marinette said, "I got branded as a villain, I destroyed a bunch of paintings..."

"Technically Chat Noir did that," Tikki cut in

"That doesn't make it any better," Marinette said, "we just tried to help, now we're the ones deemed the bad guys."

"It'll be okay Marinette," Tikki said, "it'll be fine. You are still new to this, but I'm sure you'll get..." Tikki froze up as she stared at the screen.

Marinette lifted her head and stared at the screen. They had moved on from the fight and on towards what was found afterwards. The small black goat horn pieces were shown. "I saw those earlier," Marinette said, "they were strange, I could... kinda sense something weird about them. I got a strange feeling the second I saw them above the ash of the paintings that Chat destroyed. Is that weird?"

"Not at all," Tikki said, "it's logical that those would have a strange aura to them, and it makes sense that they weren't destroyed since they're indestructible."

"What do you mean," Marinette said, "what are they?"

"They are the goat miraculous," Tikki said, "lost in Italy during the renaissance period. It appears an artist hid them away inside a painting."

"That's a miraculous," Marinette said, pointing at the goat horn jewelry on the screen, "that's what I'm supposed to be looking for?" Tikki nodded. Marinette leaned back in her chair, put her hands over her face, and let out a loud groan, "the one thing I was meant to look for and I couldn't even get it. I'm such a screw up."

"You're not a screw up Marinette," Tikki said, "you didn't know. You still defeated Inkess and purified her akuma. You saved..."

"Wait, akuma?" Marinette said, "what's an akuma?"

"The small black butterfly that appeared when you crushed her object," Tikki said, "you did purify it, didn't you?" Marinette shook her head. Tikki's eyes went wide, "Marinette, you need to retrieve the goat miraculous now, at whatever cost."

"What, why?"

"Because if you don't retrieve it and hide it, then Inkess could easily get her hands on it, and then it would belong to whoever holds the butterfly miraculous."

o0o

"So there are more miraculous in Paris," the figure said from the shadows, "not only the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous', but also the goat. And to my benefit, Paris believes that they are the villains. I figured that if I created akumas, then it would draw out the heroes, but I never figured it could work out in my favor like this Perhaps I could use this." He held out his cane, the small black butterfly landing on the end and being absorbed into the small glass dome on the top, "you did well my akuma, and soon, I will need you again."

"Paris has deemed you as it's new villains Ladybug and Chat Noir," the shadow said, "and soon it will deem me their hero. They will fear you, demanding your head on a platter, but soon they will cheer for your defeat at the hands of Hawkmoth."

CHAPTER 1 END