Chapter 2: No Exit

Ladybug touched her right arm. It was solid again.

"At least my arm problem's fixed," said Ladybug.

"What arm problem?" Théo asked.

"My right arm got digitized by Pixelator and I couldn't use it. Now that I'm completely digitized I'm whole again," said Ladybug "Did you see it when I looked into your picture? My arm was all fuzzy like computer pixels."

"Is that where we are?" asked Mireille. "In a picture?"

"Yes, there are pictures hung up in a photographer's room. Each has a pocket dimension with people in it."

"How do we get out?" asked Théo.

"Don't worry, I'll think of something," said Ladybug, trying to sound confident.

In fact, Ladybug was extremely worried. One way out was if Pixelator released them, as she had almost persuaded him to do for half the prisoners. That would only happen now under Hawk Moth's direction, after his complete victory.

If Chat Noir got captured, too...

Ladybug imagined Pixelator coming to his room and demanding that each of them give up their Miraculous in exchange for the freedom of everyone else. They would have no choice but to surrender. Hawk Moth might feel vindictive enough to leave them both trapped, each in their own private dimension, to go mad from boredom. Digitized people probably didn't drink, eat, or sleep... or age. They would be trapped forever.

"What about your Miraculous Ladybug charm?" asked Mireille. "That fixes everything, right?"

"It can't be used without certain preconditions," said Ladybug. "The link between the akuma butterfly and the villain has to be severed. Usually that happens when the akumatized object is broken and the butterfly is released. It would probably also work if Pixelator was trapped in one of his pictures and his camera was left in the real world."

"Maybe Chat Noir has broken the camera by now," said Théo. "You could try it. If it doesn't work, keep trying until it does."

"The magic ladybugs have to be able to touch things to fix them. If I released them here, they would just fly around and find nothing to fix. Besides, I'd have to summon a good-luck object. Once I do that, I'm on a five-minute time limit to transform back to my civilian identity."

"We're really stuck," said Théo. "You can't fix anything without getting out, and there's no way out."

"I'm still thinking," said Ladybug. "There has to be a way."

Mireille snuggled closer to Théo. "If we have to be trapped forever, I'm glad we're together."

Ladybug looked at them with disapproval. "Are you two dating?"

Théo and Mireille spoke simultaneously.

"Yes! We're in love," said Mireille.

"It's platonic," said Théo.

"It's not platonic," said Mireille. "Remember when we..."

"Ladybug doesn't need to know," interrupted Théo. "Remember, she's unofficially law enforcement."

"Mireille, you're in high school," said Ladybug. "Théo is in his twenties."

"I'm only 22," said Théo. "And Mireille is mature for her age."

"I have my own weather show on KIDZ+ TV," said Mireille.

"You're making a mistake, Mireille," said Ladybug.

"Don't get all preachy with us, Ladybug," said Théo. "You're in a relationship yourself."

Ladybug asked, "Who told you that?"

"Chat Noir himself. He said you two were 'a thing', and 'like this'."

Théo crossed his fingers to show what he meant.

Ladybug was incensed. The nerve of that sleazy cat, lying and bragging on her, hurting her reputation with a civilian!

"I'll have words with Chat Noir about this later, when we get out," said Ladybug. "Théo, when you were akumatized into Copycat, you were hoping you could replace Chat Noir as my lover."

"I... I don't remember," said Théo, looking nervously at Mireille. "I was akumatized. That makes you do crazy things you wouldn't normally do."

Mireille pulled away from Théo. "You didn't tell me you were in love with Ladybug. I think I'm just your rebound. She and I look a lot alike."

"Mireille baby, please!" said Théo. "It's not like that."

"I'm breaking up with you," said Mireille.

Théo groaned. "This is just like that Sartre play, with three people locked up together forever, tormenting each other. No Exit."

"Maybe there is an exit," said Ladybug. "I'm going to try something. When I spin my yo-yo fast, I can cut through almost anything. Once I cut through the side of a bus that was falling on me."

Mireille asked, "What are you going to cut through?"

"The only solid surface here – the floor we're standing on," said Ladybug.

"It could be dangerous," said Théo.

"What do we have to lose?" asked Mireille. "I want out of here."

Ladybug spun her yo-yo fast, carving into the floor. She rotated around in place, digging a circle around herself. When she felt the floor giving way she leaped to safety.

They all looked into the hole.

"It's dark down there. I can't see a bottom," said Théo.

"Hold my yo-yo line," said Ladybug to Théo. "I'll reel myself down and check it out. Then I'll reel back up and tell you what I found."


Ladybug went down a long way into the darkness. There seemed to be nothing around her, a black counterpart to the room above.

Then the line went slack, and Ladybug was falling! Had Théo lost his grip? Or did he drop her deliberately? There were enough issues between them that she could believe the latter.

Ladybug spun the yo-yo helicopter-style, slowing her fall. She landed on a dark, flat surface. She decided to try cutting through it again.

When Ladybug peeked into the new hole, she saw another white room. Adrien and Chloé were standing in the distance. Jagged Stone's crocodile, Fang, was also there, lolling on his back several meters away from them.

"Of course!" Labybug thought. "Their picture hangs below the one Théo and Mireille are in. I've gone from one prison dimension into another."

Ladybug helicoptered down to greet the second set of prisoners.