Marinette had navigated to the park in a state of blankness. Actually, she had been navigated there by Alya, who insisted on her being present for two important events: an ex-villains meeting, and Adrien's photo shoot of the day.
Now, in other circumstances, those events would have been met with Ladybug's vivid interest and Marinette's fawning. Not after "Tikki"'s visit, however. There was no doubt now the Kwami's disappearance was the work of enemies, and that they were using her as bait. They knew Marinette was one of the students of her college. That was why the invisible woman had been wandering around without attacking anyone. That was why another villain was walking through the school at night. They were looking for clues. She had no doubt they had made a list of suspects, and were now going after the most likely candidates with trap like that illusion.
She hoped her lies to "Tikki" had been enough for Hawk Moth to cross her name off the list. Faking ignorance had been the hardest thing she had done in her entire life.
"So!", Alya told her, guiding her across the park. "The idea between the meetings was to discuss the problems that came up after us turning into crazy supervillains. You know, with our families, the press, the 'not feeling too good about sending every adult into the stratosphere' things."
"That… Sounds like a good idea", Marinette replied.
Ladybug always fixed the damage, and the akumaized people forgot what they had done, but the rest of the world didn't, did it?
"Now, of course, it has turned into a 'let's discuss Alya being able to pause things with her phone' thing", the blogger added. "I thought it was important to warn the others it could happen to them."
They arrived near a group of three students sitting in the grass - Alix, Nino, and Aurore Borell - who waved to them.
"You already know everyone except Aurore", Alya said. "Aurore, this is Marinette."
"I'm so pleased to meet you!" the blonde said, with the warmest voice and smile.
"Me too!" Marinette replied.
Nino patted the grass to invite them to sit. As he was mostly looking at Alya, her friend promptly dropped next to Alix, so the only space left in the circle would be next to Nino. The blogger didn't notice the blatant trick, but the boy did, and flushed a little.
Aurore still looked sweet and nice, but had turned away from them. From where they were, you could see Adrien's photo shoot.
"He's so cute!" she blurted out.
Everyone turned to her.
She cleared her throat.
"What? It's true! He's so talented, and so nice!" she added.
Marinette was exhausted, but still shot slow-moving, stingless daggers at her.
"Did I tell you it was my great hope to model with him later this month?" Aurore continued. "My agent is in contact with his father's company."
"That's, uh, very nice", Nino replied.
He was the only one to bother answering. Marinette didn't have anything nice to say, Alya didn't dare to speak, and Alix was stifling a laugh.
"But the big fish here is Gabriel Agreste", the blond added, still sugary-sweet, but a lot more scary all of a sudden. "If I manage to impress him, my future is set. One of his favorite models would have no problem getting into the TV business. I could become the next Claire Chazal!"
Well, that was unexpected. Then again, she had flipped over losing that "weather girl" contest.
"Why is being a news anchor your life goal?" Alya exclaimed. "You don't know the first thing about journalism!"
Aurore blinked.
"Why would I have to?"
"It's a JOURNALISM JOB", Alix, Alya and Nino shouted in unison.
Something tugged on Marinette's vest. The teenager looked down and found Plagg pulling on the fabric. He burrowed under her vest and started poking her with sharp, tiny claws. She squealed.
Everyone turned to her.
"I just remembered I have to call my mom!" she announced. "I'll be right back."
"Can I have my phone back first?" Alya asked.
Marinette frowned and handed the device to Nino.
"I'll take care of it", he reverently promised.
"You know you'll have to give it back at some point, right?" their friend commented.
Nino gave her a pointed you.
"Yes. Right after we fix the 'getting sucked into the screen' problem."
That got Alix and Aurore to gasp. Marinette slipped away. She found a quiet corner and hid behind a tree, then got her own phone and faked a call.
"I'm glad we can talk", she told Plagg.
The Kwami floated up, landing on her shoulder.
"What is that I hear about that girl being swallowed by her phone?"
"Alya has powers", Marinette explained. "Or rather, they came back. I don't know why, I don't know how. I wanted to tell Chat Noir but I couldn't just send an email about that, what if anyone managed to see it? So I tried to get him to the school, but he was too busy stopping robberies."
"That wasn't him", the Kwami replied, shrugging. "He was grounded."
"What?"
"Grounded. He was caught sneaking out."
Marinette winced. Then she looked around.
"Where is he now? Is he somewhere close?"
"He won't be able to come for a while, so I figured I'd come and check on you. Chat Noir got that message about the rabbit Akuma and he is very worried."
"I know he is. And I told him about that illusion of Tikki too." - She paused, and took a deep breath. "What could be wrong with Alya?"
Plagg yawned.
"I always wondered where those butterflies went after you cleaned them", he muttered. "Now, we know."
"That's it? That's all you have to say? How dangerous could it be? How do we help her? What if she gets sucked into the internet or a phone satellite or something like that?"
"Just keep her away from shiny electric thingies."
"That's NOT an option!"
"Gloves?"
"Whenever I'm about to tell Chat Noir he doesn't take the job seriously enough, from now on, I'll think about this conversation and reconsider."
"When you'll be as old as I am, you will understand there is very little to worry ab-"
He froze. His ears turned towards the center of the park, and he jumped from Marinette's shoulder to fly in that direction.
"Akuma", he said.
The teenager followed him.
"Where?"
"In… Oh no, no, no", the Kwami moaned, staring at a pitch black silhouette near the fountain.
Magic was bubbling around the Akuma's victim, and it cleared away slowly, revealing parts of a white costume.
"Remember that discussion about keeping your identity a secret for your own safety?" he said, his voice weak. "This is why. This is exactly why."
###
"YOU ARE NOT GETTING THAT PHONE BACK", Alix, Aurore and Nino snapped after Alya's fifth very thorough argument of why she was entitled to get the device back.
She was going to have to resort to either blackmail, or lengthy powerpoint presentations.
"Then who is taking dictation for my next blog update?" she asked.
Her friends cringed.
"My webmaster can do it!" Aurore replied, more pragmatic.
"You mean you don't update it yourself?" Alya exclaimed, disappointed.
The blond batted her delicate eyelashes in a practiced display of joyful innocence.
"Why would I need too?"
"It's a-"
There was a blinding white flash. They all jumped, dazzled, and looked around. Even with the spots in their vision and the confusion that went with it, it was plain to everyone that something was very wrong. The park had been crowded, and a good part of that crowd was now frozen. Not frozen "iced", but frozen "paused", in strange positions. A pair of girl was hugging and making duck faces at… Nothing. A father was playing "plane" with his toddler son. He had thrown the little boy in the air, where he was now suspended. A teenage boy was posing like a bodybuilder to show his muscles off. A dozen of others were paralyzed.
So was Alix.
She was now standing - but she had never moved to stand - and giving them a snarky grim, a hand on her hip, her posture confident.
"Alix?" Nino called, getting to his feet to shake her shoulder.
It was like attempting to shake a statue. The girl didn't move an inch. Alya tried too, with just as little results. Both of them were so focused on their classmate that they forgot about the rest of the crowd. They both jumped when Aurore spoke.
"Is that Adrien?" she asked.
She was pointing at a boy in a tight white suit, with blond hair and a golden butterfly mark around the eyes. He was holding a camera. It was Adrien, and yet it wasn't. His hair was slicked back like his father. He looked mean. Akumaized people always did.
They gaped. Well, Nino and Aurore did. Alya snatched her phone from the boy's hands.
Villain-Adrien moved to the pair of girls.
"You really shouldn't do this, you know?", he told one of them. "You don't need to."
He poked her forehead, and she immediately started crying, her face unfrozen.
"Who are you? Why are you doing this?" she squeaked. "Let us go!"
Adrien bowed low, grinning.
"You can call me Picture Perfect. And you'll have to free yourself. It's not hard, really. You just need to tell the truth."
The girl stared at him, confused.
"What?"
He took a step back and gestured at the two friends.
"Is that what you want for yourself, forever?" he asked. "Why are you doing this to yourself? You don't need to. Nothing will happen if you stop being what she wants you to be."
"We have to stop this", Alya whispered.
"How?" Aurore snapped back. "He froze half the park!"
"I'm posting this to my blog. Maybe Chat Noir will see it."
Nino took a slow step forward, pushing Alya to the side to take a closer look at his best friend.
"We have to stop this", he murmured. "We can't let him do that."
The girl Adrien was talking to steeled herself. Her anger grew. It was not directed at Adrien, but at her friend: you could see it in the way she was looking to the side and tried to turn her head. And then, in a blink, she was free. She whirled to her friend and stomped.
"I only pretend to like you because I don't want you to humiliate me like you do everyone else!" she shouted. "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!"
And, after that outburst, she ran away. Adrien smiled and patted the paralyzed friend on the shoulder. She stumbled, unfrozen herself, and sank to her knees. He left her there and walked to the posing teenage boy. He touched his forehead.
"I don't want to do sports, I want to be an astronomer!" the boy blurted out. "I don't want to hurt my dad but I don't want to follow in his footsteps."
Adrien smiled again, freed him, and sent him on his way.
Alya knew Ladybug would not be coming, but she hoped Chat Noir would get there soon. She wanted everyone freed. She wanted her friend freed. Akumas always went after the people she knew. She looked down at her phone and swiped the play button that had replaced the normal interface.
A pink disk flew to one of the paralyzed, hit him in the face, and sent him reeling. But he could move. He had not expected to be freed, so he had not been prepared to keep himself upright, hence the near fall.
Aurore stared at her, shaking her head.
"Are you crazy?" she whispered. "Don't do that!"
"Do something", Alya hissed back.
"Oooh no", Nino moaned.
They turned.
Adrien was joining his father, who was paralyzed, just like the others. He was standing like a statue, his face stiff, arms crossed.
His son gave him a cold smile.
"Hi", he said. "What about we dispel a few rumors about you not being an horrible person?"
Nino started running, jumped on his possessed friend, and rolled on the ground with him.
"Sorry, dude", he said, struggling to keep the blond immobilized. "Trust me, you'd really regret doing what you were about to do."
Adrien sent him flying and grabbed his camera, snapping a picture of the other boy. Nino froze, on his knees in the dirt, while trying to stand up. His akumaized friend bounced to his feet and turned to Mister Agreste again.
"So. Where were we?"
Alya breathed in, shaking with rage.
"We are doing something", she said, faintly aware of a pinkish glow crawling up her arms and legs. "Now."
She looked down. She was in costume, wearing violet gloves and a white body suit, with a glowing pink wifi icon on her chest.
"I said I wanted to be a superstar, not a superhero!" Aurore whined.
"Well, look on the bright side", Lady… Miss Wifi replied, patting the blonde's shoulder. "Super-something is like halfway there!"
And she shoved Aurore forward.
###