"Oh, great," Chat groaned softly, leaning towards Marinette. "Chloe may not be all that into fighting, but she is a colossal b-"

"Ready the cameras!" Chloe shouted, her voice shrill. Several cameras and other video equipment buzzed into the room from the hole that Chloe had made in the wall, seemingly on their own. Another small robot, considerably less flashy than Chloe, also buzzed into the room, going straight for Marinette.

She jumped back, pulling Chat with her. The robot seemed undeterred, going for her again and raising what Marinette saw were just makeup brushes and powders only after Chat slammed his baton into it and it was on the ground beside Chloe.

"Chat Noir!" she gasped in horror. "How dare you ruin the makeup machine!" Chat rolled his eyes, twirling his baton and tucking it in the small sling he had at the small of his back.

Chloe sauntered up to Marinette, her metallic heels clicking on the tile floor. Her cold and artificial hands grabbed Marinette's chin before anyone could even think of swatting her away, and she roughly moved Marinette's face side to side, seeming to examine her. Marinette didn't think she should attempt to talk with her face squished as it was.

"Could you back off?" Chat said, providing Marinette with much appreciated back up. Chloe eyed him coldly, and they seemed to have a glare-off before Chloe's grip on Marinette's face loosened and she practically shoved Marinette away.

"Relax, kitty-kins," she lilted, stepping away from the two of them and checking one of the other cameras. "Since somebody destroyed my makeup machine, I had to check that the human's face was worthy of my cameras. It'll probably be fine, though I can't say for sure my cameras won't break." The look she gave Marinette was so absolutely icy that it put Stormy to shame. Marinette rubbed her jaw, where she could still feel Chloe's cold grip, feeling more than a little offended.

Sabrina slowly went to stand by Chloe, her eyes fixed to the floor and multiple limbs starting to turn invisible. Chat glared at her.

"If we're not going to fight, then we're leaving," Marinette said, glaring at Chloe and starting to walk away, motioning for Chat to follow her.

A thick wall of electricity blocked Marinette's path, making her stop abruptly to avoid getting shocked into the next century. Marinette whipped her head back to Chloe, who smiled sweetly at her. "That's against the rules."

"Rules?"

"Action!" Chloe shouted, and the lights went out, plunging the room in darkness until a spotlight burst to life on Chloe, making her metal gleam and blinding Marinette. "Good evening monsters and my ladies," she said, flashing a bright smile at one of the hovering cameras. "Tonight's broadcast comes with a surprise guest! It is my pleasure to introduce-"

A spotlight flew around the room until settling on Marinette, whose eyes were feeling very abused at this point. She blinked rapidly, rubbing her eyes and watching her vision clear to see a camera right in her face. She yelped, surprised by the camera and by the cold metallic arm that was now wrapped around her shoulders.

"The human!" Chloe near screeched, her voice pounding on Marinette's eardrums now that she was so unbearably close. "Tell me, human, what is your name?" she asked, looking to Marinette and holding up her hand – which was now a microphone – to Marinette's face.

"My name is M-"

"What an interesting name!" Chloe exclaimed, throwing the microphone out of camera shot and whirling away from Marinette to stand in front of her again. "Now that all of the guests have been introduced-"

"Sabrina and I are here, too," Chat said loudly from the darkness beside Marinette.

"No one cares!" Chloe said brightly. Spotlights fell on them anyway. Chat looked like he'd rather be anywhere else, and Sabrina was almost entirely invisible. "Now then, let us begin with a game show" – she paused, leaning into the camera nearest to her – "of death!"

"Great," Marinette grumbled.

"If it's regular trivia, I can help out," Chat whispered, taking Marinette's hand and squeezing lightly.

"Helping the human is against the rules!" Chloe said, pointing her long metallic finger to Chat and sending several robots to him. They grabbed him and pulled him away from Marinette. He kicked and hit at them, but they were metal so all that did was hurt him.

"Chloe," he growled, his lip curling up threateningly. Marinette shivered, but all Chloe did was look away, gesturing to the robots. They plastered what looked like duck tape over Chat's mouth, and he shouted against it, struggling against the robots holding him back. But he couldn't get free.

Marinette started to run to him, but Chloe extended her arm and caught her, pulling her close to her side. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," she said lowly, the same horrible smile on her metal lips as a cage of electricity erupted around Chat and the robots restraining him.

"Let him go," Marinette demanded, shoving herself away from Chloe, who let her go easily as Marinette stumbled away.

"If you win the game," Chloe said, and Marinette really felt like slapping that smile off her face. She looked over at Sabrina, but she was just a pair of glasses floating in mid air.

"Fine," Marinette relented, and her SOUL emerged from her chest. She looked over at Chat, whose body had gone rigid. His eyes were trained on Marinette, and she nodded to him. He closed his eyes, letting his head sag for a moment before he seemed to resolve himself and look up again.

"First question!" Chloe exclaimed, either not noticing the heavy feeling in the room or just not bothering to care. "What is your prize for answering a question right?"

Four answer choices appeared in the air in front of Marinette, as well as a small timer that was ticking away the seconds. Suspenseful game show music had started to play.

The answer choices read:

A – Survival

B – Chat Noir being let go

C – More questions

D – Puppies!

Marinette eyed the choices, noticing that the timer was starting to get under fifteen seconds. She looked up at Chloe in defiance and slammed her hand into answer choice B.

There was a beat of silence in which Chloe smiled wickedly. And then – "I'm sorry, but that is incorrect."

The next few seconds were filled with agony as it felt like all of Marinette's cells in her body were jolted awake and burned multiple times over originating from her chest, where her SOUL normally came out of. She heard an almost animal-like screech, and when she fell to the floor, her body throbbing and her throat dry, she realized it had been her.

"Screaming is against the rules," she heard someone say, and tears rolled down her cheeks as she tried to unscramble her brain. "Crying is, too." The voice sounded very far away, completely drowned out by the sound of her own heartbeat in her ears.

It seemed like a long time before Marinette finally stood up on shaking feet, colors and sounds finally seeming to make sense to her. Her SOUL was shivering in front of her, and it looked very fragile. She looked over at Sabrina, blinking until her eyes focused, and she saw that it seemed like Sabrina had been shocked into turning visible again. Funny. Shocked.

She looked over at Chat, squinting through the bright electricity cage. He was struggling against the robots again, his limbs thrashing. She could hear his muffled attempts at screaming from underneath the tape. For a terrifying moment, she was afraid that Chat had gotten shocked too, but when he looked over at Marinette, his eyes were clear and in pain. But not the kind from being shocked with electricity.

"I'm okay," she said weakly, and Chloe laughed.

"No, you're not." Marinette looked over at her, her movements feeling slow. "That shock was set to bring someone halfway to dying." The words were delivered with the bright tone of a game show host, and Marinette closed her eyes, wondering how she was going to get through this. "Next question!"

Marinette opened her eyes again, straightening her spine and clenching her fists. No way was she letting herself look weak in front of Chloe ever again.

"What is the king's full name?"

The answer choices and timer appeared in front of Marinette again.

A – Cool-king Plagg

B – Monsieur Fluffy Buns

C – Plagg

D – Plagg Dreemurr

Marinette looked over at Chat, but of course he couldn't do anything to help. The robots were even covering his hands.

She didn't want to get the answer wrong and experience such a strong shock and potentially die, but she didn't know the answer. She couldn't even rule any of the answers out because the rules here in the Underground were always strange and sometimes people had strange names. In a last resort gesture, she looked hopelessly at Sabrina.

For a moment, nothing. The timer ticked each second away. And then Sabrina's eyes shot between Marinette and Chloe, her hands, which had been folded neatly in front of her, forming a very clear letter C.

Setting her eyes on Chloe once more, Marinette prayed to whatever higher being was out there that Sabrina could be trusted, and she pressed her hand to answer choice C. An agonizing silence ensued where it seemed like the only things comfortable were Chloe and the other robots.

"Correct!" Chloe said, still bright, but mostly disappointed. Marinette breathed out a sigh of relief. "Our king has only one name, but that doesn't mean we don't give him loving nicknames!" She winked at the camera.

"How many questions are there?" Marinette asked. Chloe's robotic head whipped around to look at her, fixing her with that same shallow smile.

"How ever many it takes before you drop dead," she said, her voice coated in poison and sugar. "Next question!"

Marinette looked at Sabrina, praying that her helping wasn't just a one-time thing. Sabrina gave her a slight nod, her facial expression carefully blank.

"What shade of CB brand lipstick is my favorite?"

"That question isn't fair," Marinette protested, and Sabrina shook her head slightly, giving her a worried look.

"I decide what's fair here. It's a question, therefore it's fair. Now what is my favorite shade of my brand of lipstick?"

As the answer choices materialized in front of Marinette, she considered Chloe's words. CB brand. Chloe Bourgeois brand. She rolled her eyes, looking down at the answer choices and tucking a strand of glittery hair behind her ear.

A – Frozen Blossom

B – Pink Lady Luster

C – Sugar Coated

D – Dark Ballet

The answer choices didn't come with swatches of the color, which Marinette found very unfair, but she restrained herself from saying so, instead looking up at Sabrina. She was forming the letter A which her hands, keeping them still low in front of her. Marinette chose the answer choice, and she was glad to feel no electricity in her.

"Correct!" Chloe exclaimed, sounding a little disappointed again. "Frozen Blossom is really and truly my favorite – I'm wearing it right now, in fact!" She made kissy lips at the nearest camera. "My brand has wonderful shades so it's easy to pick a favorite, and I have multiple formulas available that suit scales, metal, skin – you name it!"

Marinette tuned out the rest of her shameless advertising, looking over to Chat, who seemed to still be struggling against the robots just in an effort to be free. She almost ran to him again, but the cage of electricity kept her away. She breathed out a sigh, trying to convince herself that she'd get through the deadly trivia game.

Once Chloe seemed to be done with her self-promotion, she turned back to Marinette, or rather, the cameras. "Next question! Who is the most beautiful in the Underground?"

A – Rose

B – Chloe

C – Ali

D – Chat Noir

Staring at the answer choices, she was in a clear bind. All of the people in the answer choices were beautiful to Marinette, even Chloe, though her appearance seemed a bit marred by her horrible personality. The timer ticked. Marinette looked up to see Sabrina was forming a B with a bit of difficulty.

Marinette looked at her SOUL. It seemed to look back at her. She pulled out her yo-yo, watching the timer in front of her as she pulled out her last unicicle and nearly inhaled it. She watched as her SOUL seemed to glow brighter, and something told Marinette that she was near full health now. She whispered a quick apology to it.

Carefully positioning her hand and one of her arms, she looked Chloe dead in the eye as she slammed her hand and arm over every single answer choice except for answer choice B. Chloe didn't even bother saying it was incorrect.

The bright beam of electricity hit Marinette's SOUL dead on, shocking Marinette's very core. The pain that overcame her was just as intense as before, if not more. She felt herself throw her head back almost involuntarily and scream, the sound rough and animalistic. It tore her throat apart, and it felt like her body was being drenched in acid but it was so unbelievably worth it.

When she came back to her senses, she was on her knees again and tears were streaming down her face and it hurt to move, but she raised her head to look at Chloe, feeling her lips pull into a twisted smile. Something that felt far worse than anything Chloe could ever pull off.

"I'm not fuel for your ego," she said, the words coming out as growl. Her eyes flicked over to Sabrina, who was standing completely still, her eyes wide and her mouth open.

There was a small sound from beside her, and Marinette looked over at Chat, whose face was turned toward the ceiling, almost like he was praying. When he opened his eyes, they met hers, and she could see how wet they were and how much he was begging her to never get an answer wrong again. For her sake and his.

Marinette's heart felt like it had just been put through a wringer.

"Next question," Marinette said, getting to her feet and leveling Chloe's hard stare with one of her own.

After that, Marinette lost count of how many stupid and unfair questions Chloe shot at her. Each time, she was able to answer correctly because of Sabrina's hand motions.

It was when Marinette was presented with a large jar of glitter and asked how many pieces of glitter were in there that their trick was found out. Sabrina was taking a while, and Marinette was staring at her hands the whole time.

"Oh!" Sabrina exclaimed at last, and she quickly formed the letter. Marinette breathed a sigh of relief, and reached for the answer choice, but before she could, the choices disappeared.

"Huh?" Marinette looked up to see Chloe glaring at Sabrina, who nervously looked over at Chloe, her teeth worrying her lip. "Oh, no."

"My dear Sabrina," Chloe started, her lips pulling into a pinched smile, "have you been helping the human?" Sabrina shook her head back and forth, her hands and arms starting to turn invisible. "You know that's against the rules."

"I wasn't helping," Sabrina said, but the blush creeping across her cheeks told the exact opposite.

"In that case," Chloe said, completely ignoring Sabrina, "I'll ask a question you'll be sure to know the answer to!" There was a dramatic pause, and the suspenseful game show music swelled. Marinette looked over at her SOUL, who looked just about as done as she felt. "Who does Sabrina have a crush on?"

A – The Human

B – Chloe

C – Alya

D – Don't know

Marinette looked at Sabrina, but all she did was shake her hands back and forth.

There was no timer for this one, and Marinette took advantage of that, taking her time in considering each question. She wasn't sure how the question was structured, so she couldn't possibly feel comfortable picking option D if Chloe didn't think that was the right answer.

She didn't feel like it was herself – it seemed like Sabrina had been aware of Marinette's feelings towards Chat, and that would certainly be the answer to piss Chloe off the most.

Since they had arrived at the lab, Sabrina had made no mention of Alya at all, and, to be quite honest, Marinette had a hard time imagining Sabrina liking her in that way.

That left the last option – Chloe herself. It would certainly be the option that would please Chloe the most, but Marinette still thought about it. Sabrina had defended Chloe vehemently when Chat had gone on his rampage, and she had gone along with Chloe almost immediately after she had showed up. Not only was the answer choice the safest, it was the one that made the most sense. So Marinette chose it.

Almost immediately, Sabrina turned completely invisible, and that was enough proof for Marinette to know she was right.

"Wow, Sabrina," Chloe said, her expression uncharacteristically soft and genuine. "I always thought you were loyal to me, but this just proves it." There was a moment in which Chloe just smiled to herself, and Marinette thought that was far more beautiful than anything she had seen Chloe direct to towards the cameras.

But then her soft smile dropped and was replaced with a cold one. "As much as I appreciate your loyalty, Sabrina, we all know it's the human. It's just too obvious." Marinette frowned, and she saw Sabrina slowly start to turn visible again, a look of confusion across her features.

"What makes you say that?" Marinette asked, just as confused as Sabrina.

Chloe waved her hand, visibly trying to make it look like the matter meant very little to her. "She has that viewing screen up, and she's always talking about you. I'd call her obsessed."

It was at this moment that Marinette understood that Chloe's hatred towards her was for a reason and that Chloe was also very, very oblivious.

"Anyway, now that it's clear that Sabrina's been helping, there's no edge to the game anymore, so we might as well stop," Chloe said, turning to the camera nearest to her and plastering on her game show host smile. "But our mission to kill the human is not over, monsters and my ladies! Tune in next time for more drama" – the cameras panned to Sabrina – "more romance" – the cameras zoomed over to Chat and Marinette – "and more bloodshed!" The cameras went back to Chloe, whose smile had not left her face even the slightest. "Until next time!" she said, saluting charmingly at the camera.

There was a blackout, and immediately after, the regular lighting of the lab returned. Marinette's SOUL slipped back into her chest. Chloe's game show smile dropped almost comically from her face, replaced with a cold scowl that Marinette figured was her natural facial expression.

"Release him," Chloe ordered, and the robots holding back Chat let him go, letting him fall freely to the floor. He landed harshly on his hands and knees, his body shaking.

Marinette ran to him, this time unhindered, and she dropped to her knees beside him, touching him lightly with her fingertip only to get a small electric shock. She pulled away, glaring over at Chloe, who was examining her perfectly polished pink nails. "What did you do to him?"

"The robots are programmed to deliver a minute electric shock any time he struggled. It was really his own fault."

It was like the world went red for a moment, and suddenly Marinette had Chloe pushed up against the wall, her hands gripping the metal lapels of Chloe's yellow blazer so tightly that it hurt. She couldn't even form words to express the anger inside her, so she just glared, hoping that everything was communicating through her face.

Chloe's perfect pink lips pulled down in a scowl of distaste as she stared at Marinette, and there was a moment in which all they did was stare at each other in mutual hatred. And then Chloe lifted her metal hand and pushed Marinette away.

"Relax human, he should recover easily in the next few minutes." She turned away from Marinette, stepping back through the hole she'd made in the wall when she first arrived. "We'll be seeing each other soon." And she left, her cameras following after her.

Marinette stared at the spot for a moment longer, her fists unclenching and clenching, trying to get herself under control. There was a muffled moan behind her, and she was quite suddenly reminded of the fact that Chat was on the floor and in pain.

She hurried back to him, dropping to her knees again. He had fell from his hands and knees and now was laying face down on the tile. Marinette carefully flipped him over, touching her hands to his face and wincing at the shock it gave her, but pushing through it.

Chat's eyes were glassy, and he looked really out of it, but he seemed to focus on Marinette. "Hey," Marinette whispered, tracing her thumb on his cheekbone. He breathed out a harsh sigh through his nose, his eyes closing. "I'm going to take this off, okay?" she asked, tapping the tape on his mouth.

He raised his arm with great difficulty, his hand shaking, and he opened his eyes long enough to find Marinette's other hand. She took his hand, and he gave her a little squeeze, nodding his head.

And then she ripped off the tape.

"Mother f-" Chat sat straight up, almost knocking his head with Marinette's, but she managed to move out of the way just in time. He relaxed, rubbing his mouth. "Ow." He looked over at Marinette, his lips pulling up weakly into a grin. "That was quite a shock."

Marinette breathed out a sigh of relief, practically tackling Chat with the force of her hug. "You're okay," she sighed into his neck, pulling him as close to her as physically possible.

She felt his body relax into her grip, and he wrapped his arms around her and rubbed his hands over her back soothingly. "You scared me, too, bug."

"I know," she whispered, and she pulled away and gave him a soft smile. "But I'm okay. You're okay."

"Can't deny that," Chat said, and he pulled her close, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "But I really hope you never do something dangerous just to prove a point ever again."

"No promises," Marinette said, her smile growing as he pulled away and laughed softly, shaking his head.

They helped each other stand, and when they were both on their feet, Chat leaned a little on Marinette. She let him, wrapping a hand around his waist to help keep him steady.

She looked over at Sabrina, who was blushing up to her ears and staring with a deep expression of longing. Marinette felt her cheeks grow hot, and when Sabrina noticed that Marinette was looking, Sabrina blushed even harder. "I'm very sorry," Sabrina said, tucking her hair behind a very red ear, " it's just that you two are very- ah, I mean, I want- er, it's very-" With each word she spoke, another part of her body turned invisible and her blush deepened even more.

"I get it," Marinette said, sparing Sabrina of another moment of agony. She understood that whatever Sabrina saw with her and Chat, she really wanted to feel between her and Chloe.

"I don't," Chat said, and Marinette shot a glare at him. "What?" he asked, looking between her and Sabrina. "I really don't get it." Marinette rolled her eyes.

Sabrina was entirely invisible at this point, just a pair of red glasses and a stylishly smart outfit. "Well," she said, clearing her throat. Marinette imagined that she just tucked her hair behind her ear. "That was certainly something."

Marinette sighed, feeling an ache set into her bones from the shock of electricity she'd felt before. She was suddenly very tired.

"Understatement of the century."