Chapter 2: Burning Hot

Smirking, Queen Bee got ready to finish what Madame Romani had started, when she decided to play hide and seek with her and Louve Grise. She knew that that plan of hers could backfire on them, but she was feeling confident on her powers and her ability to control them. Having her best friend by her side, also gave her an extra boost in her confidence. Grabbing her trompo and placing it on her left hand, she focused on it and ordered it to start spinning. Once this gained enough speed, she threw it into the ground, and ordered it to spin even faster, generating a gust of wind, which began evolving into a small tornado, making things fly. The chandelier that seemed like it could fall at any given moment, started to rock and ended up detaching itself from the ceiling, breaking itself into hundreds of pieces, which flew through the air. Chairs and tables were also taken from where they were by the wind, which as the seconds passed, began to blow with further strength.

Feeling a little afraid that Bee would not be able to control it, Louve placed her arms around her friend's waist, holding her as hard as she could. Her heart raced, as she saw the furniture being turned into rubble by the tornado Queen Bee was creating inside the ballroom. As it picked up strength, the debris carried by the spinning wind knocked down all of Madame Romani's doubles she had created, making them disappear. One by one, they evaporated into thin air, until there was only one left, the real Madame Romani, who tried not to get hit by the debris. Once she saw her moving around the ballroom, Queen Bee ordered the tornado to spin even faster, but only fast enough to suck the villainess into its core, where she and Louve Grise were waiting for her.

"Get ready! She's about to come through there!" -Queen Bee told Louve Grise, pointing out to the place in the tornado she was going to sprung from.

"Okay!" -Louve waved her head in acknowledgement.

She tried to run from it, but there was no way she was going to escape the inevitable. The centrifugal force was so powerful, that Romani had to hold onto one of the room's marble columns, just so she would not be pulled into the tornado's core right then. Using every bit of strength, she had, she dug her fingers into the ice-covered marble, hoping that would be enough to get sucked.

"You've got to slow down the tornado! If you make it go faster, you're going to destroy the whole ballroom!" -Louve warned her, as she heard the windows breaking, and more and more debris slamming against the walls of that room. She feared that without wanting to, Queen Bee would lose control of the tornado, and ended up destroying the whole hotel in the process.

"Just a little more, so she gets sucked into here. I've got this under control!" -Queen Bee told the redhead. –"As soon as she gets sucked in, I'll disperse it." -she declared.

And a few seconds later, Madame Romani lost her grip and was sucked into the tornado, bringing with her a small chunk of marble with her. Like she said, as soon as Romani was inside the tornado's core, Queen Been ordered the trompo to stop spinning, dispersing the tornado. Hitting the ground pretty hard, she nearly lost consciousness. Having used most of her strength just to not get sucked by the wind, Madame Romani was right then, as docile as a kitten. If Queen Bee and Louve Grise wanted to teach her lesson the hard way, they could do it, without having to worry about

"Looks like we got you, right where we wanted you." -Queen Bee smirked at the villainess, who remained on the floor.

"It's game over for you, you witch!" -Louve Grise told her, as she kneeled to Romani's left. –"What are we going to do with you, huh?"

"I vote that we freeze her." -Queen Bee said. –"I mean, she did bring an akuma who turned this place into an iceberg and froze most of our friends, turning them into ice statues. It's only fair that she ends up the same way."

"I agree." -Louve declared.

"Y-You won't get away w-with this… Blizzard will take care of y-you, and then… my master will use your skulls to drink your blood!" -Madame Romani yelled at them. She just wanted to get up on her feet and purge their minds with illusions of their worst nightmares, but without a shred of strength in her body, that was not going to happen, no matter how much she wished for it.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…. We know just how bad and evil your boss is, yakkety yak." -Queen Bee mocked her. –"Let me ask you something. If your boss is so evil and powerful, then, why doesn't he show up and take care of us himself? Afraid of dirtying his precious gloves that he needs to rely on idiots like you to do his dirty work for him?" -she went on, insulting Hawk Moth in front of Romani's face. She could see the hate in the woman's eyes, burning like wildfire.

"D-Don't you dare talk like that about my master, little girl! He'll peel the skin out of your muscles for those insults!"

"I'll talk about that psychopath you call master, anyway I want to, you hear me?" -Queen Bee told her in a cold tone. She was not going to let her scare her with those vain menaces. –"And you know what? I'm tired of hearing your voice… Louve, please, freeze her." -she asked her friend.

"With pleasure." -Louve Grise said, as she used her ice breath to freeze her. At first, Madame Romani still tried to move, in a futile attempt to avoid being frozen, but it was a waste of her time. Louve's ice breath was so powerful that in a matter of seconds, Madame Romani looked like a fly inside an ice cube. –"There, she won't bother us again."

"Good… I was starting to get tired of hearing her say nothing but crazy stuff." -Queen Bee told her. Romani was just like every bully out there, all bark and no bite. Somehow, it reminded her of just how she herself used to

"So, what do we do now?" -Louve Grise asked her.

"That Blizzard is still down there, I'm sure of it. And I don't know if Ladybug has showed up or not, so, we might be the only the ones who can stop it, if there is no one else." -Queen Bee answered her. –"Come on!"

Downstairs, Blizzard had destroyed the barrier separating them from Ladybug, Rena Rouge and Panda Rouge, and was now getting ready to freeze them, as he hears Hawk Moth's voice in his head once more, berating orders and menaces.

"Madame Romani has failed me! You better not fail me… you managed to take down most of those infernal kids. Now, take down the rest and bring me their heads, after you destroy their miraculouses, of course!" -Hawk Moth told him.

"Yes, Hawk Moth. I won't fail you." -he said, as he restarted his attack on the young heroes.

Things looked like they were looking bad for heroes, but the truth was, they had a plan and Blizzard was going down.

"Come on, over here!" -Ladybug waved at him. –"Come on, ice breath! Give me your best shot!"

Hearing her say that, Blizzard focused his whole energy in a single shot. Firing it, he ended up creating a long, sharp stalagmite in mid-air, which he used to try and impale Ladybug with. Dodging it, she kept mocking him, doing her best to make him follow her. He was so focused on getting Ladybug, that he failed to realize that she was alone If he had noticed it, he would have asked himself is he was being led into a trap.

Not far from there, Rena Rouge and Panda Rouge were getting ready for the next part of the plan. Unlike what most people thought, Queen Bee was not the only one in Miss Bustier's class who knew Le Grand Paris like the back of her hand. Rena also knew her way around the hotel, thanks to her mother, Marlena Césaire, who worked as a chef at the restaurant of the Le Grand Paris. Having visited her at her work, more times than she could remember, she knew exactly how to get to the hotel's kitchen, which was where the last part of her plan would take place.

The kitchen itself was absolutely frozen, from top to bottom. If one was to describe how it looked, it would probably compare it to the inside of a freezer. The place was deserted. The staff must have heard the commotion of when Blizzard entered the hotel and began to freeze it, and decided to see what was going on, ending up turned into human popsicles. Rena Rouge thanked the fact that on that day, her mother was back home, enjoying her day-off. She could only imagine how awful it would have been, if she was working. Still, she tried not to think about it, and concentrated on the task at hand.

"Okay, we got here. So, what exactly you want me to do?" -Panda asked her. Rena Rouge had only told him and Ladybug half of her plan, which was Ladybug distracting Blizzard, so the two of them could get to the kitchen.

"Alright, let me just check one thing here." -she said, as she approached the large ovens that were to her left. Her mother told her that when she was hired by André Bourgeois, the first thing she told him was that if he wanted the restaurant of the Le Grand Paris to be among the top 5 restaurants in Paris, he would have to make a few changes in the kitchen, starting with the appliances. She made him buy state-of-the-art ovens, fridges, among other things, stating that in order to be the best, they would need the best. And those ovens were the best money could buy. She said that they could roast a goose or a turkey in a matter of minutes with them. –"Yes, these here are just what we need."

"I still don't understand where you're going with this."

"You see these ovens here?" -Rena pointed to the ovens, which were now covered in ice. –"These ovens are incredibly powerful… I want you to draw one, exactly like this one, but bigger."

"Bigger? How big are we talking about?" -Panda asked her.

"Big enough to fit a full-grown man inside." -she told him. –"And make it even more powerful than these are."

"I still don't get it where you're going with this. What are you going to do with a huge oven? Cook a meal for Blizzard and hope he stops?"

"No! We're going put him inside and make him sweat, like he was in a sauna." -Rena Rouge explained him.

"A sauna?"

"Yes. You see, he has ice powers that allow him to freeze whatever he wants to. But, what happens when you put an ice cube inside an oven? It melts…" -Rena Rouge said.

"So, you want to melt him?" -Panda asked her, puzzled.

"No, I want to make him use his powers until he drops from exhaustion. He may be an akuma, but part of him is still human, and that's the part I want to hit as hard as we can. If he drops from exhaustion, we'll just have to pick the akuma butterfly from inside of him, and its game, set and match, for us." -she explained her plan.

"I see." -Panda understood. –"But, how are you going to make him enter the oven? It's not like he's just going to go in on his own."

"Just leave that to me. While you do this, I'll go help Ladybug out entertain him a bit longer, while setting up a couple of illusions to bring him here, without him realizing what we have planned for him." -Rena told him. –"And one more thing, be ready for when he enters the kitchen. You might have to shove him inside the oven."

"Alright, understood. I'll start drawing, right away." -Panda Rouge said, as he looked at the ovens and saw how he was going to draw a bigger version of one of them for their plan.

When they reached the foyer, Queen Bee and Louve Grise did not see anyone, and wondered if while they were dealing with Madame Romani, Blizzard had managed to freeze the rest of the team. When they went after Romani, Rena Rouge, Panda Rouge, Grizzly Bear and Corbeau Noire were fighting against him, but now, they did not see any sign of them. Looking around, they quickly saw Grizzly and Corbeau frozen solid against one of the walls, and feared the worst.

"Do you think we're the only ones left?" -Louve asked Queen Bee, when they heard a loud sound coming nearby.

"I think that answers your question." -Queen Bee answered her. –"It came from over there. Come on."

Turning left and entering one of the hotel's event rooms, they saw Ladybug fighting against Blizzard on her own, in a room which could be considered a winter wonderland, due to the amount of snow and ice that was on the ceiling and floor. The only things that were missing was a few trees and a couple of frozen snowmen to make the room feel like something taken of out of a children's fantasy book or a Disney attraction. Seeing their leader was having a little difficulty keeping up with the bad guy's attacks, Bee and Louve decided to give her hand.

"Is this a private party, or can anyone join in?" -Queen Bee said, as she attacked Blizzard from behind, kicking him on the back. This attack made him fall on his face, giving Ladybug a chance to get out of the corner he had cornered her in.

"Where have you girls' been?"

"Taking care of a certain witch." -Queen Bee answered her. –"And you, what took you so long to get here? I thought that being the leader, meant that you would set an example and arrive before everyone else:" -she joked.

"Well, I may be the leader but that doesn't… watch out!" -Ladybug said as she pushed her out of the way of an ice beam. –"Like I was saying, that doesn't I'm perfect or anything." -she smiled.

"So, what's the plan?" -Louve Grise asked her. –"You must have a plan to take care of this guy, whose powers are a sad pitiful version of my own."

"Pitiful version?!" -Blizzard yelled at Louve Grise. –"I'll show you who has the pitiful powers here, girly!" -he exclaimed, as he created spiked ice balls and began throwing them at the wolf heroine, who used her fan to shatter them.

"So, what about the plan?" -Queen Bee asked her.

"Plan's not mine, it's Rena's… and speaking of the devil, she has arrived." -Ladybug exclaimed, as she saw her friend entering the room. Using her powers, she had come up with some pretty impressive illusions that would give them the upper hand in that last round, and now, she had come to get Ladybug, being surprised by seeing Louve Grise and Queen Bee as well.

"Hey, you! You know what you are? You're a big bully, picking on only one of us at the time!" -Rena Rouge yelled at Blizzard. She had noticed that he had a short temper, and was going to use that to their advantage.

"You think I can't handle all of you at the same time?!" -Blizzard shouted at her, focusing his attention on Volpina, and allowing Louve to get away from him.

"Then, come and get us!" -the fox heroine dared him, as the other three headed to the door and out of the room.

She had not finished that sentence, when Blizzard shot an ice beam at her, missing her by just a couple of inches. Furious with himself for having failed, he rushed to grab them and freeze them. Then, only Panda Rouge would remain. Firing everything he had against them, he was confident that he would be able to get them in a matter of minutes. Still, though they were fleeing from him, the four heroines were by no means afraid of him. And they displayed their courage, by throwing all kinds of attacks against him.

As they turned right, Blizzard felt that something was not right. He did not know what it was, but something was not right. The corridor they were in, it felt out of place. When he froze that place, he did not remember of freezing a long corridor such as that one. Still, as concentrated as he was in his mission to destroy the Miraculous Team, he probably did not notice it. Ignoring those thoughts, he kept attacking Ladybug and the others, who kept mocking him.

"Come on! Even a tortoise is faster than you!" -Queen Bee exclaimed.

"My grandma had better aim than you do!" -Louve Grise mocked him

"Over here!" -Ladybug waved at Blizzard.

"Don't tell me you're already getting tired?" -Rena Rouge snickered at him.

"Stop mocking me!" -Blizzard berated at them. –"You think you can defeat me, but you can't! Not if you keep running from me!" -he exclaimed, as he fired another ice beam at them.

"You got that right!" -Rena smirked, as she made use of her powers, by creating an illusion that was sure to complicate things for Blizzard… fog. She created a fog so thick, it looked like pea soup. –"Then, let's stop running. Come and get us! We're right here!" -she said, as she signalled her friends to go to the sides.

"I'm so going to enjoy this…" -he told himself.

The long corridor was in fact an illusion. There was indeed a corridor, but it was not that long, and it led directly into kitchen's entrance, where a super-sized oven, drawn by Panda Rouge, awaited Blizzard. Charging through the fog, Blizzard was expecting to see them standing right after the fog, but once he was out of it, he saw no one. They were hiding on the sides, and thanks to Volpina's powers, they were virtually invisible. They could see him, but Blizzard himself could not see them. Enraged, he practically roared, shouting menaces at the heroes.

"You bloody lying twerps! You said you would be here to face me! When I get my hands on you, I'm going to rip open your beating hearts, and feel them freeze in my hands!"

Having heard enough of that guy, Rena Rouge decided it was time to end that. Focusing, she created another illusion to attract him to the kitchen. This time, she created a double of each one of them at the end of the corridor, mocking him. Seeing them, Blizzard changed at them, his eyes filled with anger. He had not given more than five steps, when his face hit something. It was like e had hit an invisible wall… but it was not an invisible wall, it was the kitchen's door. Howling in pain, he tumbled into the kitchen, where Panda Rouge was waiting for him. Taking advantage of him being distracted, Panda turned his pencil into a spear, and with it, he wacked him into the oven, before closing the door.

"What the…?" -Blizzard roared. –"What's the meaning of this? Where am I?" -he kept roaring, demanding an answer.

Blizzard did not know how he ended up inside of whatever that was, but he knew that if no one let him out, he was going to get out of there by force. As Volpina and the others joined Panda Rouge, Blizzard started to bang his fists against the door's glass, demanding to be released.

"Let me out of here! Let me out, I say!"

"You're not going anywhere, buster." -Louve Grise told him.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Turn up the heat." -Rena joked.

"I'll leave that honour to the one who came up with this brilliant plan." -Panda Rouge told her with a courteous British accent. –"As I see it, it's only fair."

"And I accept that honour with pleasure." -Rena Rouge smiled, as she turned the thermostat on.

As soon as she did it, the inside of the oven began to heat up. Seeing himself trapped in that place, Blizzard used his powers to get out. Firing ice beams, he tried to freeze the scalding walls, believing they would break, but the only thing he managed to do, was create an enormous amount of steam, which filled the oven, and caused him to start coughing and grasping for air. Just like they had predicted it, it did not take long for Blizzard to lose consciousness and drop on the ground, like a sack of potatoes. After hearing the thump caused by him falling on the ground, the heroes quickly opened the lid, letting out the steam created by Blizzard. Once this vanished, and they saw the villain unconscious, Panda Rouge made the oven disappear.

"Well, that's that. Who wants to do the honours?" -Ladybug asked them.

"I'll do it." -Rena Rouge said, as she pointed her flute staff -"No more evil-doings for you, you stupid Akuma butterfly!" -she exclaimed. –"Time to relinquish you from evil!"

With those words, she magically inserted the tip of her flute staff into Blizzard's body and pulled the dark butterfly, destroying it right after, turning the villain back into his human form. Just like all other akumas, Blizzard's true form was that of an ordinary man. With that done, there was only one more thing left to do, and that was to turn everything back to normal. Making the Ampulla amulet appear, Ladybug used its power to turn the whole hotel and everything else Blizzard had frozen back to normal. As its magic undid it all, everyone that had been frozen returned to normal. Most people felt like they had woken up from a bad dream, and the same could be said by the man who had been Blizzard until a few moments ago.

"W-What happened?" -the man asked, still trying to understand what happened.

"Here, let me help you get up." -Panda Rouge said, as he helped the man getting up on his feet. –"It's okay, it's over."

"Are you okay? What's your name?" -Ladybug asked him.

"Louis, but everyone calls me Louie… what happened? Is this a kitchen?" -the man asked the heroes, feeling utterly confused by what was going on, not remembering anything.

"You were akumatized by Hawk Moth and you tried to freeze everything in your path." -Louve Grise told him with a sweet voice, trying to not make him feel guilty of what happened.

"But it's all over. Nobody got hurt, and you're going to be fine." -Ladybug assured him.

"Gee… if anyone had told me that my day would be like this, I guess I would say they were crazy." -Louie told her. –"Are you sure I didn't hurt anyone?"

"Absolutely." –Ladybug assured him.

"I just hope I don't get in trouble with the police or anything. Believe me, the last thing I wanted to do was cause any problems today… I was already having a pretty bad day today, I got fired. I don't know about you, but getting in trouble with the police over this would totally be the cherry on top of the cake for me, in the worst kind of way." -Louie told them.

Feeling sorry for him even more than before, Rena Rouge decided to tell him how he could get out of there unnoticed.

"You can get out through there. That corridor will take you to the backdoor of the hotel, and from there, you can slip by, without anyone even knowing you were here." -she told them.

"Really? Thanks…" -Louie thanked Volpina. –"Believe me, if one day I'm able to repay you all what you did today, trust me when I tell you that I will repay you."

"Being careful and getting a new job will be thanks enough, believe me." -Rena told him.

"Okay, thanks again!" -Louie said, as he walked out of the kitchen, heading through the hallway the fox heroine had told him to.

As he disappeared, no one uttered a single word. There was no need for it. The fox heroine had done a good deed, and they knew it. Just like it happened with Haute Couture, Blizzard was just someone who was having a really bad day and Hawk Moth took advantage of it. If not for that fact, they would have probably never been akumatized in the first place.

A few seconds later, Chat Noir and the rest of the team, who had been frozen earlier, showed up. They were still chattering their teeth, trying to get warm, after being turned into human popsicles. Even their powers would not protect them for extreme temperatures. As they entered the kitchen, they felt awkward for their friends to be there, just

"What did we miss?" -Arachnid asked them.

"Nothing… except us five taking down the akuma, of course." -Ladybug joked.

"Then, where is he?" -Flamingo asked her.

"We let him escape through the backdoor. The poor guy was having a really bad day, so I told him the quickest exit out of here, so he wouldn't have to deal with the police and spend the rest of the afternoon answering questions regarding what Hawk Moth did to him." -Rena Rouge told them.

"You did the right thing." -Carapace told his girlfriend.

"What we all didn't do right was fighting inside closed spaces." -Corbeau Noire said.

"I'm afraid you're right. I think that we're going to have to make a couple of changes in our training sessions." -Ladybug said. –"It's clear that fighting in closed spaces, isn't the same thing as fighting out in the open."

"Dully noted." -Dragonfly said. –"But, now, we should probably get out of here… on our way here, we passed by the entrance and we saw a ton of people outside the hotel, mostly civilians, but there were also some members of the press, and you know what that means." -she noted.

Like always, one of their battles had drawn in the crowd, as well as the media, who were always seeking an interview with the heroes.

"I agree with you. I for one I'm not in the mood for the spotlight today." -Queen Bee declared. It felt unusual for her to say that, given that until a few months prior, she would do anything to be in the spotlight. –"Plus, my dad will be sure to check on me to see if I'm alright, and I'm not where I'm supposed to be." -she stated.

"And I should be at home. If my dad finds out I gave the slip to the whole house staff, I'll be grounded until the end of the year." -Chat Noir declared.

"Don't even talk about being grounded. That's what'll happen to me, if I'm late to meet up my brother and my dad at the Louvre." -Dragonfly told them.

"And I have to go home to babysit Manon." -Ladybug sighed.

"We all have things to do, and very little time." -Antelope said. –"Good thing I'm the fastest one in this team." -he bragged about it.

"Keep dreaming, little boy!" -Dragonfly mocked him. –"You may be fast, but I'm supersonic!"

"Come on, guys, let's not start an argument here, okay?" -Forest Doe begged them.

"Fine. I'll stop." -Dragonfly said.

"Well, we're going to avoid the media again, and there's only one way for us to do this. We'll use the kitchen's backdoor." -Rena Rouge said.

Doing the same thing the akumatized victim did, the whole team slipped through the backdoor, so as to avoid the media. They loved the attention, but on that day, they did not have the time to be interviewed. Once outside, they each went different ways. The only ones who did not go far were Volpina, Louve Grise and Queen Bee, who went back to the later suite. They had just gone back to normal, when they heard someone knocking at the door. It was Chloé's dad.

"Honey, are you alright?" -André Bourgeois asked. He was worried sick about his daughter, and would not rest until finding out if she was alright, or not.

Trying to act casually, Chloé signalled both Sabrina and Alya to do the same, as she went to get the door. Their kwamis hid underneath a pillow, as the blonde opened the door.

"I'm fine, daddy." -Chloé told him, as he hugged her. Never in his life he feared that something bad could have happened to his little girl –"But what happened? One moment the whole place turns into a freezer, and then the next, everything is back to normal."

"There was one of those monsters created by that awful Hawk Moth terrorist downstairs, but he's gone now. The Miraculous Team showed up and must have defeated him." -André told his daughter. –"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Dad, I'm fine, don't worry. And so are Sabrina and Alya." -Chloé said, as the two girls waved at the mayor.

"Thank God, if anything had happened to you, I… I don't know what I would do."

"It's okay, dad. There's no point thinking about those things. What's important is that we're all okay." -Chloé smiled at him.

"You're right, there's no point on thinking about it." -André admitted. –"Well, if you say you're alright, then, I hate to say this, but I have to go downstairs and talk to the press. Turns out our heroes have also disappeared, without a trace." -he told her.

"They probably had somewhere else to be." -Sabrina said, playfully.

"Well, they could have at least said "hi" to the cameras before leaving." -Mayor André said. –"Anyways, duty calls. I'll see you at dinner, sweetheart." -he declared, as he kissed Chloé on her forehead.

"See you later, daddy." -Chloé said, as he closed the door behind him.

"I better go to. I already have what I came for. Plus, I still need to go to Nino's place, before heading home." -Alya said, as she grabbed her things, approaching the pillow where Trixx and the other kwamis were hiding, to let him slip into her bag.

"Too bad you already have to go." -Sabrina told her. She really liked to have Alya around to talk to. She loved to talk with Chloé, but it was nice to talk to someone else as well.

"Are you sure we can't convince you to stay a little longer?"

"Thanks, but I really have to go." -Alya answered Chloé. –"Still, thanks for asking. See you girls at school, tomorrow." -she smiled, as exited Chloé's suite.

With Alya gone, Chloé's suite felt a lot emptier than before. The blonde did not know how to explain it, but, having the brunette around, it gave the place an energy different form the one that Sabrina or herself gave when inside, not that it was worst or better than Alya's, it was simply different. Truth be told, Chloé was still getting used to having friends besides Adrien and Sabrina, and the more she thought about it, the more she wondered why she acted the way she did all those years in a row, instead of treating them the way she wanted to be treated, and invite them to that big suite, where they could do whatever they wanted.

"Guess it's just the two of us again, Sabrina." -Chloé told the redhead.

"Hey, and what about us?! What are we, chopped liver?!" –Mika exclaimed, as he and Pollen got out from beneath the pillow they were hiding under.

"Sorry… guess I struck a nerve there." -Chloé said, giggling.

"I thought Flint was the one who had a sense of humour, not you, Mika." -Sabrina said, as Mika flew towards her.

"I may not be that flamingo kwami, but that doesn't mean I can't crack a sarcastic joke when I want to." -Mika told her.

"Either way, I think I speak for the two of us when I say that you girls are getting better at this, every day it goes by." -Pollen declared, as she approached Chloé, landing on her left shoulder.

"Thanks, but I bet you're also saying that so I give you a little treat, isn't that right, you gluttonous kwami you?" -the blonde playfully asked Pollen.

"Maybe…" -Pollen answered with a naughty voice.

"I know you too well." -Chloé smiled, petting Pollen on the head. –"One baklava with extra honey, coming up." -she said, as she grabbed the phone to call room service. –"Let's hope the staff has gone back to the kitchen already. Do you or Mika want something, Sabrina?"

"No, we're good, Chloé." -Sabrina told her.

"Yeah… but you know, I think you girls forgot something…" -Mika pointed out.

"Like what?" -Sabrina asked him

"I don't know, but I feel like you forgot something." -Mika said.

And then, it hit both Sabrina and Chloé at the same time. They really had forgotten something, or better yet, someone.

"Oh, my gosh! We forgot about Madame Romani!" -Chloé and Sabrina exclaimed in chorus.

"How could we have forgotten about her?!" -Sabrina said. –"We were the ones who caught her. Naturally, we should have remembered we left her in the ballroom."

"At this hour, she must have already escaped…" -Chloé sighed.

"Only one way to find out." -Sabrina said, as she stood up. –"Let's check the ballroom!" -she said.

Going down to the ballroom, both Chloé and Sabrina were not expecting to see Madame Romani still lying around, frozen solid. When Ladybug used the Ampulla Amulet, everything had returned to normal, and that most likely included Romani being unfrozen in the process, allowing her to escape. But, they had to be sure. If by chance she was still there, they could not risk her hurting or akumatizing someone else. One akuma was enough for that day.

As they approached the ballroom, they saw that there were some people at its door. Wondering what was going on, the girls slowed their pacing, taking their time to get to the door, hoping to hear something that might indicate trouble. Turns out, the people were part of the hotel's staff, who immediately recognized the heiress.

"Oh, miss Bourgeois, is there something I can help you with?"

"Uh, no, my friend and I, we were just checking to see if any of the Miraculous heroes were still around." -she came up with an excuse for being there, cursing herself for not having thought of a better one.

"Sorry, nobody here."

"Thanks, anyway. Come on, Sabrina, let's go check downstairs." -Chloé told the redhead, signalling her to walk faster. When they cut the corner, the blonde said. –"Rats, she's gone."

"We did the same mistake as we did with Reptile the other day…" -Sabrina declared.

"Indeed… at this hour, she's probably miles away from here." -Chloé sighed.

Though she thought that, the truth was that Madame Romani was nearer than Chloé or Sabrina could ever think. Beaten, bruised and almost with t any strength left, she had difficulty in using her illusionary powers to make herself invisible to everyone's eyes, so she could get out of there. It took her longer than she wanted, but eventually, she got out of the hotel. Once outside, she quickly looked for a place to hide. She would need to rest before returning to the lair. Finding it, she turned visible again, while thinking of her humiliating defeat at the ends of Queen Bee and Louve Grise.

"Curse those infernal kids… especially that Bee girl and the wolf girl… the next time I find them, I'll skin them alive, as well as the rest of that infernal team!" -Romani grumbled to herself.

"Madame Romani…" -she heard a voice in her head. It was Hawk Moth's voice, and he seemed rather displeased with her.

"M-Master Hawk Moth…" -Romani said, after hearing her master's voice.

"When you arrive, make sure you come to my chambers… we have much to discuss." -Hawk Moth told her in a rather cold and distant tone. Hearing those words, she swallowed hard, imagining what kind of punishment the villain would have for her.

Marinette kept looking at the time on her cell phone, wishing this one would stop. After leaving the hotel and changing back into her civilian clothing, the blue-haired girl rushed to catch the bus back home. Unfortunately, she missed it by a couple of seconds.

"I knew I shouldn't have changed back right after getting out of there. I should have stayed transformed and used my powers to get home faster… where did I have my head?!" -she thought to herself, as she looked at the buses' schedules, and saw that the next one would not come for another 15 minutes. –"I can't wait that long… I'll try and take the subway, instead."

As she made her way to the nearest subway station, she really wished she could transform into Ladybug once more, but she could not do something like that to Tikki. The kwami was exhausted, and Marinette did not have any more cookies for her, and she did not want her kwami to get sick. She had already pushed herself too much on that day, by granting the power for Marinette to cross half of the city at an incredible speed and then fighting off an akuma. The girl would just have to get home without making use of her powers, even if that meant arriving late.

Already aboard the subway, she took a seat, while keeping an eye on the time. She was really hoping that she would make it on time. Her mom should have arrived home by then, and would be helping her husband in the bakery. But most importantly, Nadja Charnack would already be on her way to drop off her daughter, Manon, for Marinette to babysit her for a few hours. If they arrived before Marinette did, her mom would have to keep an eye on Manon until she arrived, and that would mean that she would later hear a sermon about responsibility and all that, and that was the last thing she wanted right then.

Seeing her so stressed about running late, Tikki began to talk to her, to take her mind off her problems, asking her what did she thought about that day's akuma. Marinette felt like talking, but so people would not think she was talking to herself, she grabbed her phone and pretended to be talking on it. As the distance until her exit shortened, their conversation went on.

"So, what are you going to do with Manon today?" -Tikki asked her.

"I don't know yet, Tikki. I guess, I'll probably put on a movie for her to watch, or I'll let her play with some puppets I've got in my room." -Marinette told her, as she kept pretending to be talking on the phone.

"I'm sure whatever you do, she's going to love it. You have so much patience with her." -Tikki stated.

"Well, Manon can be a little spoiled sometimes, but she's a great kid and I like babysitting her." -Marinette admitted.

"The way you say it, it's almost like she's like your little sister." -the kwami giggled.

"And I think that in a way, she is." -Marinette declared. In many ways, Manon was the closest thing she had to a little sister. Being an only child, Marinette never had anyone to play with her, except for her friends, who she treated as if they were family.

When she heard the name of the station where she had to get out, she got up and waited for the doors to open to exit the train carriage. Already outside, she enjoyed the fresh wind in her face. From there, it was just a matter of minutes to her place. But then, she looked to her left and saw that last thing she wanted to see. Nadja Charnack's car. Even if that was an identical car to hers, the license plate was exactly hers.

"Crud! That was Manon's mom car!" -Marinette exclaimed. They would be at her doorstep in about 2 minutes, 3 if they caught a red-light on the way. She was going to be late, and there was really nothing she could do about it. But then, it hit her. There could be a way for her to arrive home before they did, but to do it, she had to be sure of something. Something that only Tikki could answer about. –"Tikki, I've got a question for you and I really need you to answer it truthfully."

"Sure, ask away." -the little kwami said.

"My question is, even when I'm not transformed, I still retain a little bit of my superhero abilities, right?"

"Yes, but it's like one tenth of your real abilities. Why are you asking me that?"

"Because I'm going to do something really dumb or really smart right now, and I needed to be sure I could do it." -Marinette told her, as she

Running like crazy, she made her way through the backstreets, where she knew were mostly deserted. Only tourists ventured in them when lost, because the locals tended to keep to the main streets, if given the choice. Marinette knew her neighbourhood like the back of her hand. Once could say that she could find her way through there blindfolded. Turning left, she jumped over a fence using a trash can, just so she did not have to go around. Right then, she could feel her heart pounding inside her chest, like it was about to blow up an artery, but even that did not stop her from running even faster. She knew that Nadja's car was merely seconds away from her place, and if she wanted to get there first, she would have to run even faster. Jumping over several other trash cans, she nearly fell off one, but her quick reflexes prevented her from ending up with her face on the floor. Somersaulting over a car that was blocking her way, all she wanted was to get home in time. Huffing and puffing, she saw herself just a couple of meters from her parent's bakery, and there was still no sign of Nadja's car. One last effort, and she would be home. Dashing for it, she crossed the busy street. A car that was coming was forced to break just not to run her over. Still, Marinette was paying attention to it, and ended up sliding across the car's hood. Ignoring the driver's insult towards her, she kept running until she was in front of the bakery's door. Entering it, she tried to slow down her breathing, but no matter how much she tried, her heart beat would not slow down, and neither did her lungs, that kept begging for air after that extra physical effort.

"Mari, honey? Is everything alright?" -Tom asked his daughter, seeing her entering like that in the shop, that was empty at the time.

"I… I'm o-okay, dad." –Marinette said, as she took deep breaths. –"I'm just… really… really tired."

"Your mom called and told me she was going to arrive a little later and that you went to help Alya with a project. Did you finish it?" -Tom asked Marinette.

"W-What? Oh, yes, the project! -Marinette exclaimed, remembering about what she had told her mom. –"Yes, t-turns out, she just needed my help to look… over for a book. She said she could finish… the r-rest of it herself." -she said, as she kept gasping for air. –"Has Manon arrived yet?"

"Uh, no, her mother hasn't arrived with her yet." -Tom told her, when Nadja's car stopped in front of the bakery. –"Well, what do you know? They've arrived. A few seconds more, and the two of you would have arrived at the same time." -he joked about it.

This one took longer than I expected to write, but it was worth it, because it came out even better than I expected. While writing it, I also had the chance to check out the first sneak peak of season 2, which has revealed us a couple of things, including a fact that makes this series of mine, and the AU that I created for it, way closer to canon than I ever expected it to be, you know? I won't say what it is, because I don't want to spoil you guys. That said, I hoped you liked this chapter.