Towards the end of the week, things had gone from bad to worse. How exactly did this happen? Well, it started when everyone heard of the extremely terrible blackmail. Rose was supposed to be taking notes in Ms. Mendeleiev's class, but she was watching a live news report.

"Rose, put away your phone. You're going to be caught." Juleka whispered.

Rose was at a loss for words.

"Rose, do I need to lecture you on this matter again?" the teacher asked. "What could be so important that you..." She gasped and dropped the phone. Had it not been for the protective case around it, it would have broke.

"Ms. M? What's wrong?" Mylene asked.

She unplugged the headphones from Rose's phone and played the video. Marinette, Adrien and numerous others saw Mrs. Chamack with an image of the Eiffel Tower behind her.

"It appears that Hawkmoth has taken captive three different 'royals'" she spoke. A picture of the captives, tied to wooden posts at the top of the tower, was shown. "Mayor Andre Bourgeois, King of Rock-and-Roll Jagged Stone, and Prince Ali of Achu. Hawkmoth's servant, Queen Bee, has given these blackmailing words to our heroes.

A video clip showed Queen Bee flying close to where the captives were.

"Ladybug and Cat Noir. I know you're hiding somewhere, so listen up! If you don't surrender your Miraculouses to us by high noon, these three royals will be taken down the same way Antoinette was; beheaded! And Ling Xi, we know that you're a Miraculous holder. We know you're hiding along with Ladybug and Cat Noir. If you don't surrender your Miraculous to us, these captives will remain our prisoners forever! So face us and prove you're not a coward, Ling!" she commanded.

"And there you have it. The police are too scared to face Queen Bee, leaving our heroes in a bind. Where are they when we need them the most?" Nadja Chamack asked.

"Help us! Please!" Prince Ali exclaimed.

"What would these supervillains even want with us?" Jagged Stone asked.

"Ladybug, Cat Noir, Ling Xi, come out of the shadows and face us!" Queen Bee exclaimed!

"No wonder Rose is upset. Her friend Prince Ali is about to be killed."

"Name-dropper." Alix coughed.

"No, it's true. I know him. The first day he arrived here, I joined him at the children's hospital that he volunteered at. Aside from Juleka, he's my best friend!" Rose gasped. She started sobbing.

"This... this has to be a trick. Another illusion." Marinette said.

Adrien looked at her sadly. "This isn't a trick, Marinette."

"How can you tell?"

"Several reasons. For starters, Lila, who we all is Volpina, is right over there." He pointed to Lila, who waved her hand. "And more importantly, there's a way to tell apart one of her illusions. Volpina's illusions never speak."

Chloe quietly gasped. Marinette looked at him curiously. "How do you know that?"

"When Lila was akumatized for the first time, she appeared to me in my room and tried to convince me that Ladybug was wrong about her not being a superhero. Shortly after Ladybug arrived, I hid myself under the desk. Ladybug didn't see that and fell for Volpina's trick. She believed the faux fox had kidnapped me. Cat Noir had known the truth and tried to explain, but she didn't listen. Watching them afar, Volpina threatened to destroy "me", convincing Ladybug to nearly give up her Miraculous. But the fake me never said a word. Thank goodness Cat Noir saw through her ruse, otherwise our heroes would have been defeated by now."

Marinette's eyes widened in surprise. "You're... you're right. It seems as if our heroes are about to walk into a trap."

"Unfortunately, they don't have a choice."

"No, they don't. And that's what scares me. Ms. Mendeleiev, do you remember when you called me paranoid? Well, now I have the right to be concerned."

They looked down in despair. If only they knew that the other superhero was in the room with them. In the most deserted corners of the school, Marinette and Adrien spoke to their kwamis.

Tikki flew out of Marinette's purse. "I'm surprised you're not transforming immediately."

"Me, Cat and Master Fu are about to walk into a trap. Queen Bee said we have til high noon. Maybe I can think of a strategy." she explained.

"That would be hard to do while taking down notes in history class."

"If we don't think of something, these three captives are goners!"

"You notice how Chloe's father didn't say anything, or how Lila hasn't said a word?"

Marinette shrugged. "No, what of it?"

"What if the Lila in class is an illusion?" Tikki asked.

Marinette looked at Tikki skeptically. "But if that was the case, how would I expose the illusion as a fake?"

Meanwhile, Adrien was worried about the situation.

"I wonder why Miss Vixen isn't with the queen." Plagg said.

"I don't know. Something seems amiss." Adrien said. "I got a bad feeling about this."

Plagg noticed Adrien's worried expression. "What's wrong?"

Adrien's stomach churned. "I'm not sure."

During their next class, after they had finished their notes, they were working on their homework assignments. The teacher was out of the room copying pages of an upcoming test.

"Lila's been awfully quiet." Alix said.

Without saying a word, she stomped over to Lila and slapped her in the face. Normally, this would have gotten her into a lot of trouble, but Lila was an illusion. The students gasped as "Lila" dissolved into orange smoke and faded.

"She's an illusion." Sabrina said.

"So my instincts were right. Lila is not here. She's been akumatized yet again.

Nino scratched his head. "But if the illusion was here, where's Lila or Volpina, now?"

"I don't know... Probably with Queen Bee." Alya answered.

After gym class, it was 11:45. Fifteen minutes til the ultimatum expired.

"Still nothing. This a really tangled web of lies."

"We don't have time. We must transform!

"You're right. Tikki, spots on!"

"Plagg, claws out!"

Meanwhile in the massage parlor, Wayzz was extremely worried.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Wayzz asked.

"We don't have a choice, Wayzz. If we can't appear, those captives will never see liberty again. I won't have it." He stood up and breathed in and out. "Wayzz, scales on!"

He felt back-breaking pain through his spine. A green mask formed around his eyes. Green energy swarmed around his arms, forming a green jumpsuit with a dark green robe over it. Attached to the back of that robe was a green umbrella, which he used to fight with several decades ago. For the first time in years (maybe even decades), Master Fu had transformed into Jade Sensei.