What if Dark Owl didn't fall for the fakes? Spoilers for Season 2. One-shot.
Dark Owl Is Not Deceived
Marinette blindly slipped the fake Miraculouses into the slot of the shipping container death trap. She hoped that they would be good enough. Dark Owl seemed to have gained the cunning and intelligence of his comic book counterpart, Knight Owl.
Marinette had put a lot of effort into the fakes, staying up all night to shape them and paint them. The idea had been that Mr. Damocles would open the box, see the fake Miraculouses, and hand them back in triumph to Ladybug and Chat Noir. Then they would have taken "Cardboard Girl" into custody and, out of sight, "freed her from the akuma" by removing the cardboard costume.
"Miraculouses delivered, Sir," said a computerized voice.
What was that voice? She wished she had a comic book to consult. Some superheroes have secret lairs with computers. Maybe that was where his akumatized object was.
"Now I am the only superhero in Paris! And a superhero keeps his word. Albert."
"Owl Whipped Cream deactivated, Sir."
The drain at the bottom of the trap opened and the whipped cream was quickly suctioned out.
Good. Marinette could hear the kwamis nibbling, fueling up with the macaroon she had gotten out of her purse for them. Soon they would be able to put the rest of her plan into action.
"Albert, prepare the transfer drone," said Dark Owl. "Just a moment, these aren't real Miraculouses! They're made of salt dough. Dark Owl is not deceived."
Marinette's heart sank. She had failed! Now he would demand the real ones, and they would have no choice but to give them up.
"The Dark Owl also keeps his word with his threats - there are no second chances. You tried to trick me, so now you are going to drown. I'll take the Miraculouses from your bodies. Albert, refill the trap."
More melted whipped cream started flowing through the outlet in the floor.
"I'm sorry, Chat Noir. My plan failed," said Marinette.
She opened her eyes. There was no point in keeping them closed anymore. They were so doomed.
In front of her was Adrien Agreste! Adrien was Chat Noir.
She was going to die with her crush. It would almost be romantic, except the thought of drowning in whipped cream made her nauseous. There had to be another way. Somewhere she had read that the prospect of being hung concentrates the mind wonderfully. It was the same with being drowned. Suddenly, she had an idea.
"May I open my eyes now m'Lady?" asked Adrien. "I'd like to see who I'm dying with."
Marinette put her hand over his mouth. She whispered. "Yes, but don't say anything. We may still get out of this alive."
Adrien's eyes widened when he saw her, but he kept silent. She took her hand away.
"I have another plan," she whispered. "Give me your ring and let me climb up on your shoulders."
"I'm chivalrous enough to give you a few more seconds of life," Adrien said. "But I don't see how it helps."
"You'll see," said Marinette. "I would rather be on the bottom and let you do it, but you're taller."
Adrien gave Marinette the ring, which she put on. She wasn't as agile in this form, and the slippery cream coating her legs didn't help, but Marinette managed to climb up with Adrien's assistance. She straddled his shoulders.
The kwamis were eating as fast as they could. The whipped cream was up to Adrien's neck. There was no time left. He couldn't hold her up when he started to drown.
Marinette took off her earrings and held them in her left hand.
"Plagg, I need to transform now," Marinette whispered.
"I'm ready. Say: 'Plagg, claws out'.'"
"Plagg, claws out!"
She felt the urge to dance ritual moves of transformation. This time, of course, she didn't. She was now Chaton Noir (Black Kitten).
Chaton Noir grabbed her baton and extended it across the top of the container like a chinning bar. Holding onto it with her right hand, she moved her legs into a scissor grip on Adrien's upper body, and lifted him out of the goo. He was coughing and spluttering on the whipped cream that had entered his mouth. With her left hand (still holding the earrings as well) she lifted him and draped him over the top of the bar, and held him there until he got his own grip. For the moment they were above the rising flood.
"I'm going to break us out in a second, but put these earrings on first. You have to transform to Ladybug to hide your identity and to be ready to fight," said Chaton Noir.
"Manbug," said Adrien.
"If you insist."
She put the earrings on for him, not trusting he could manage them with goop-covered hands and still hold onto the bar. Fortunately, they attached by magic and did not require piercings.
"Say, 'Tikki, spots on'."
"Tikki, spots on!"
Chaton remembered the perfect control Chat Noir had over his destructive power, like the way he had made the beams from the Eiffel Tower fall perfectly to cage Volpina. She visualized exactly what she wanted to happen.
"Cataclysm!"
The side of the container where she expected Dark Owl to be exploded out first, followed by a cannon blast of melted whipped cream, knocking Dark Owl down. The top lid shot upward and landed on top of him as he started to get up.
"That won't stop him long," said Chaton Noir. "Let's get some distance and do a Lucky Charm to find out how to beat him."
They vaulted and swung up to the edge of the stadium.
"Could you snag that drone first?" asked Chaton. "I have an idea. I want to look at it while you do the Lucky Charm."
Manbug lassoed it for her and Chaton looked it over carefully.
Manbug sent the yo-yo into the air. "Lucky Charm!"
A spotted-wrapped Knight Owl comic book came down. Manbug flipped through it eagerly.
Chaton finished memorizing something from the drone, then smashed it.
"The Knight Owl has a partner, her butler Alphonse," said Manbug.
"So does Dark Owl. He was calling someone Albert," said Chaton Noir.
"That must be in his lair, his office at the school," said Manbug.
"I'll hold off Dark Owl, and you go for the school," said Chaton Noir.
"Shouldn't I stay and you go?" asked Manbug.
"No. You can purity akumas," said Chaton.
Dark Owl was up now. Chaton leaped down to fight him. It was difficult - her body had the skills, but Chaton herself had less experience with hand-to-hand combat. Dark Owl was a master of it. He knocked her down and started flying after Manbug.
She followed using leaps and vaults with the extended baton. This was also new to her and she couldn't keep up.
By the time she reached the Principal's office it was nearly too late. Dark Owl had grabbed one of the earrings and was holding Adrien face-down on the floor as he went for the other one.
Chaton saw the face on the computer screen as she vaulted toward the window. She shrunk her baton, then aimed it though the window and extended it right through the akumatized screen.
"Noo!" shouted Dark Owl, diving to protect the screen, but too late.
They collected the earrings and Manbug got the akuma purified, followed by a "Miraculous Ladybug" with the comic book to clean up the mess at the stadium.
"Pound it!" they said.
Their Miraculouses began to beep.
"Let's get somewhere out of sight from Damocles, detransform, and exchange Miraculouses," said Manbug. "We can do that easily now since we know who we are."
They detransformed in an empty classroom.
"I still can hardly believe it's you," said Adrien. "Right behind me in class, all along."
"And you," said Marinette. "I was pushing you off as Chat all the time I was secretly dreaming of you as Adrien."
"All that stammering meant you liked me?"
"Yes. And all that flirting as Chat was real?"
"Yes. I think we should spend a lot more time together and get to know each other," said Adrien.
"Speaking of getting to know things, did Damocles get a good look at you when he took your Miraculous?" asked Marinette. "He won't remember, but Hawk Moth could see through his eyes."
"Only from the back, I think," said Adrien.
"Hawk Moth may know who you are now," said Marinette. "But I may have a clue who he is."
Marinette took out a piece of paper and a pencil from her purse and jotted down some numbers.
"What are those?" asked Adrien.
"Coordinates from the drone, the place where it was going to take our Miraculouses," said Marinette.
"The location of Hawk Moth's lair!" said Adrien.
"We hope," said Marinette.
They entered the coordinates on a mapping app that Adrien had on his phone, and zoomed in on an aerial photo of the location.
"That's my house! Agreste Mansion," said Adrien. "My father... is Hawk Moth."
"But what about the Collector? He couldn't akumatize himself," said Marinette.
"He could if he had a trusted accomplice," said Adrien. "Nathalie or the Gorilla, my bodyguard, could have temporarily taken over the Miraculous and done it."
"You suspect them?" asked Marinette.
"I didn't until now. The Gorilla said he saw Nathalie captured by the Collector's book, and then he was collected himself," said Adrien.
"If they were both in on it, they could be lying. Nobody saw what was on all the pages of that book," said Marinette.
"What are we going to do? My father... all those people he tried to kill, including us tonight."
"We can call the police," said Marinette. "I'll go help them as Ladybug. You should stay out of it."
"I'd rather deal with him as Chat Noir."
"You could be there as yourself, as a witness."
"I may be arrested myself. They'll think I was in on his schemes."
"No, we'll deal with him as Ladybug and Chat Noir, with the police as backup. Then you can stay at my place for a while until things cool down."
"Your place? Our relationship isn't quite that far along," said Adrien with a teasing expression.
"You can sleep on my chaise lounge."
"That will do... for now."
"Oh, you!"
The End