"Nino, Adrien, I'd like for you to meet Louise Fabron." Marinette gave a small bow towards the redhead next to her in order to direct their attention to her. Louise was about a year younger than them, but had met Marinette and Alya through student council.
The dark skinned boy Marinette introduced as Nino stood a bit slack jawed as he stared at a near-perfect doppelgänger of Chloé. Louise had the outfit down perfectly, from the white shirt with black stripes around her waist, and matching white skinny-jean capris and slip-on dress shoes, to the thick, black belt with diamond-shaped studs worn as an accent, and the crop leather-like yellow jacket worn as a cover shirt. She even had a small golden pendent on a delicate gold chain necklace, and wore her hair exactly the same way. It was a full-bodied, high ponytail fastened with a glitter hair tie that almost perfectly matched her hair. Her chin-length bangs were parted in the center and tucked behind each ear, but a small curled tuft of hair hung down in front of each ear to frame her face.
"Dude, like, you look just like her!" Nino circled Louise like a shark, his eyes scanning for any flaw outside her hair color not matching Chloé's light honey blonde.
"Thank you," she giggled back.
"No, I mean, but why?"
"Oh! Well, because Chloé is amazing, isn't she?"
Marinette, Alya, and the two boys all exchanged a weird look, but they all remained silent. Louise had expected Marinette and Alya to disagree with her; they expressed their dislike of Chloé frequently. They just didn't understand the mayor's daughter like Louise did. The surprise, however, was that Adrien had the same odd look on his face as his three friends. He was Chloé's oldest friend; they used to hang out all the time when they were little. Surely he knew what Louise was talking about. Why wasn't he chiming in?
"Come on," Louise continued after a long thirty-seconds, "she's confident and beautiful. She knows who she is and won't compromise that for anyone. She's crafty, assertive, and resourceful. She aims to always get what she wants. She also has the most devoted and loyal friends. Who wouldn't want to be like that?"
Marinette's face went sour and Alya's scrunched up. Nino cocked his head to the side like a confused dog. Meanwhile, Adrien had a strangely guilty look on his face. He looked slightly away from Louise and the rest of his group as his face softly fell. Louise couldn't understand any of the looks or what brought them on. She also grew a bit irritated that once again Adrien didn't openly agree with her.
Finally, Alya straightened out her face and gestured to Louise's outfit.
"I see you went full-Bourgeois," Alya shook her head. "What compelled you to start dressing like her?"
Louise was taken back by the question, and more importantly, the tone. Trying not to get offended, she plastered a fake smile on. I don't need to defend myself or Chloé to you, she thought, but she did like Marinette and Alya, so she tried to hide her disgust.
"I've always wanted to look just like her. This was just the first time I had the full outfit just right. Well, almost." Louise turned back to the clerk at the sunglass hut she was talking to when Marinette had bounded up to her. Handing the man her payment, she took the white framed, oval-rimmed sunglasses and placed them on the top of her head like a tiara. "Voila!"
The glasses were perfect. She couldn't believe she was able to find such affordable knock-offs. They looked exactly like Chloé's, right down to the black stripe that snaked around the thin edges of the sunglasses' arms. She knew that everything was in place once those glasses hit her head. It would take some time before she would have the money to bleach her hair, but in the meantime the outfit was now complete.
"Louise," Marinette placed a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder, and spoke with a soft but concerned tone. "Remember that Louise Fabron is pretty cool too. You can be all the things you see in Chloé, but still be you. Don't lose yourself. I like Louise. I can't exactly say the same about Chloé."
"Yeah, well, Louise isn't popular, but she will be once she's more like Chloé." Louise pulled away from Marinette, and ran from her and her three friends.
"Louise, wait!" Marinette called after her, but didn't take chase. Good, Louise thought, I don't need her patronizing.
Once Louise felt she was far enough from the older girls, she slowed down to a somber walk. As she made her way through the mall she caught her reflection in a mirrored pillar between two storefronts. Staring at herself, she inspected her new look.
That Nino kid was right, aside from a paler complexion and her red hair, Louise was the spitting image of Chloé. She knew that everything would go her way now. It had to. Everything went the way Chloé wanted. She was popular, beautiful, and people listened to her. Louise knew if she was more like Chloé, she'd have the same influence over people, and she'd finally be loved and respected.
Louise used the reflective surface to practice some of Chloé's mannerisms to really solidify the look. She started off easy, cocking a hip while crossing her arms across her chest. She then squinted dismissively at her own reflection, as if she knew she was superior. She then popped the other hip as she fluffed the end of her high ponytail. She let out a throaty giggle and covered her mouth with the back of her loose fist. Finally, she thought about the blonde boy Marinette introduce her to.
Adrien Agreste. The famous teenage supermodel and son of the even more famous fashion designer Gabriel Agreste. Chloé's childhood friend and long-time crush. Louise completely understood why so many fawned over him, and why Chloé was determined to make him her boyfriend. He was gorgeous and, even though he didn't say even two words to her, he had a sweetness to his face. At least he didn't criticize her like the other three did.
Imagining seeing Adrien again, Louise practiced Chloé's favored "oh, Adrikins" pose: hands folded together and brought to the side of her chin while popping one foot up and balancing on the tip-toes of the other. She looked like a love-sick anime character. It was perfect.
She was happy. Her self-esteem was higher. She had confidence. All of this was from being Chloé for just five minutes. How could Marinette want to take this away from her? Didn't she ever idolize anyone? Why wasn't she allowed to dress like Chloé, but Chloé could cosplay as her own idol Ladybug? Marinette didn't know what she was talking about.
Now imbued with Chloé's confidence, Louise strutted down the next portion of the mall. She wasn't sure where her destination was, but she wanted to try out her Chloé outfit. She ignored the other patrons aside from shooting a few of them condescending glances or flirtatious winks. She was just as oblivious to the stores she passed, she didn't care to shop from any of them anyway. She was there to walk and see if the outfit would make her more Chloé-like.
About ten minutes into her strutting, Louise caught something in her peripheral that called for her to take notice. Shifting her focus onto the jewelry store, she instantly knew what called out to her. Standing at the counter and jabbing the display case with her index finger was Chloé, yelling threats at the salesman.
"You know my father the mayor won't be happy to find out that I have to wait yet another day for that new brooch. I already gave you three days. How many more could you possibly need?" Chloé stopped jabbing the display case and instead waved her phone at the salesman and hovered her finger over the 'call' button.
"I am so sorry, miss, but there really isn't anything more I could do," the salesman tried to explain, "it takes time to create a custom order, and it's not done on-site. I have to wait for delivery, and that's on the postal service now. I really have no pull to expedite the delivery process."
"We'll see about that, shall we?" Chloé was about to push 'call' when her best friend Sabrina tapped her shoulder.
"Uh, Chloé?" The meek ginger-haired girl tugged a bit on Chloé's arm and pointed towards Louise. "You might want to look at this."
Chloé sighed and grumbled an agitated "what" before focusing on where Sabrina was pointing. Shocked that she was noticed so easily, Louise walked up to the duo.
"Hello, Chloé. I'm Louise, and-" Louise leaned in to hug Chloé and kiss each cheek, but the greeting was far too informal for the blonde.
"What on earth are you, some obsessed fangirl or something?" Chloé took a few steps back and pulled Sabrina in front of her as a human blockade between her and Louise.
"Well, uh," Louise sort of was an obsessed fangirl, but she certainly wasn't dangerous, like Chloé was implying.
"She looks exactly like you," Sabrina chirped over her shoulder at Chloé. At least she seemed impressed by Louise's attention to detail.
"She looks nothing like me," Chloé scoffed. "I don't wear such tacky department store knock-offs. I-" Chloé's face grew dark and she stomped around Sabrina until she was right in Louise's face.
"I don't buy cheap junk and try to call it high-end fashion." Scowling, Chloé snatched the sunglasses off of Louise's head and pressed hard on the bridge until the glasses snapped in half. She dropped them to the floor and stepped on them to crunch the lenses.
"W-why did you do that?" Louise blinked tears out of her eyes as she stared at her freshly purchased sunglasses now in pieces under her idol's foot.
"Because I needed to teach you a lesson, poser. Don't try to imitate me. Don't try to become me."
"You dress up as Ladybug, how is this any different? I just wanted to show you how much I look up to you. I just wanted to be more like you." Louise sniffed back her whimpering and choked down her sobs.
"I'm telling you to give it up. My style is unique and I won't tolerate anyone trying to steal it. Chloé Bourgeois is one of a kind. Got it?" She cruelly laughed and used her shoulder to push Louise out of the way before calling for Sabrina to follow.
Sabrina stood in shock for a moment. She opened her mouth to say something to Louise, but clenched her lips together without verbalizing anything. When Chloé growled her name a second time, Sabrina gave Louise a sympathetic look and scooted around the girl before jogging to catch up with Chloé.
Louise stared at the broken sunglasses. Stooping down, she gingerly scooped the pieces up. The salesman Chloé was intimidating before ran around the counter and offered to help Louise clean everything up, but she simply shook her head at his offer. Cradling her broken purchase, she traipsed through the mall before finding a vacant side-hall. She tucked herself inside it and collapsed to the floor.
Finally allowing herself to sob, she clutched the broken glasses to her chest. She was lost, and had no clue which way was north anymore.
She didn't hear the faint fluttering of tiny wings, nor did she hear the soft jingle as the akuma phased into the shattered sunglasses nestled in her arms. She did, however, perfectly hear Hawk Moth's voice in her head.
"Mimicker, I am Hawk Moth. I'm giving you the ability to show Miss Bourgeois that she's not as unique as she thinks. In return, you must bring me Ladybug's and Chat Noir's Miraculous."
As the purple outline of a butterfly glowed around Louise's eyes, she understood that she was making a contract with the villain. She knew that she would become a supervillain if she agreed. After all the times she'd seen Ladybug and Chat Noir defeat akumatized villains on the news, she thought she'd be terrified of becoming one. Instead, the bargin was as tempting as being offered a large fortune. Realizing she'd have the power to enact revenge on Chloé and take the girl down a peg or two was as sweet as refined honey. With a wicked smirk, Louise verbally agreed to accept this gift from the greatest villain in Paris.
As soon as she spoke the words to seal their contract, black energy bubbled out of the sunglasses where the akuma was hiding. In seconds, the bubbles spilled over onto Louise's chest and spread to engulf her whole body. Power filled her as she changed within her bubbling energy cocoon.
As the energy faded from her, she stood renewed in her new body. She now wore a black bodysuit with white accents and white mid-shin boots. Draped over her shoulders and arms was a yellow shrug-coat that copied the basic style of Chloé's. The broken sunglasses were repaired and covered Louise's eyes like visors. Her pale complexion was now the faint green tint of a chameleon. The only part of the original Louise that remained was the high ponytail of apple-red hair.
Draped around her waist was the same thick black belt she wore before, except the diamond-shaped studs condensed into two parallel rows of orbs the size of large marbles. Each orb was white, but had a dull yellow glow emanating from the center, and the rows wrapped the full length of the belt. Louise didn't need to be told what to do with the orbs, or what the glow meant. She sensed it. She knew just as instinctively as she knew how to breathe or eat. For she was no longer Louise Fabron. She was the Mimicker.
**A/N: A second teaser for my upcoming Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction "Peeping Tomcat." It kept me roughly three months of working and reworking, but I think I'm finally happy with an akuma design. This is completely different than the akumatized version of Louise that I wrote during NaNoWriMo, so we'll see how the chapter turns out.
In the meantime, I think I finally have a villain that feels right for the Ladybug universe.
Also, I can't recall where I found the fantheory that Chloe's signature sunglasses are hand-me-downs/a gift from her mother, but until it's refuted in the show itself, this is my headcannon, which is why Chloe was so pissed to see Louise with knock-off versions of them.
"Peeping Tomcat" is scheduled to start posting weekly by the beginning of April. Stay tuned for more details. And if you liked this, check out the original teaser preview I posted back in September.**