It's the Final Countdown!

*gratuitous air guitar*

Marisol's eyes scanned the rooftops, her shoulders straightening and her head swiveling as fast as she could manage without making herself sick. If one of them was here, the other couldn't be far behind. The cat was usually the distraction, after all.

She hated the fact that Will had been right.

She hated the fact that he knew he was right even more. If they managed to get out of here, she just knew he would never let her live it down.

Her fists clenched as she spun around on her heel, shifting her focus as quickly as her eyes could make out against the darkness.

She hated the fact that her worry for him let her grow distracted. He had been little else but kind to her and her abuela and was taking such an incredible risk for them both.

Her jaw set. There was no way she was willing to leave him behind, no matter what crazy risk was considering.

She just needed a plan.

"Well, well. What do we have here?"

Chat pounced closer and then hesitated. He had been so focused on getting here that he hadn't quite thought so far ahead about how to handle the rogue pair.

"A Copy Chat…" Smile wavering, Chat Noir stood at full height, advancing slowly as he spun his baton.

The Copy Chat gripped his own baton more tightly. His leather costume well assembled but not a perfect copy as he stood at least a few inches taller. Shock clearly warred with determination in his blue eyes.

These two were not an Akuma for certain, every finely honed instinct confirming the as fact at such close range. The man's vision was slow, not able to follow the speed changes in the baton spin.

Chat Noir extended his baton just to the side of the man's ear, watching for the delay in the flinch and in the inevitable half step back.

Chat's lips closed into a tight grimace; even his reflexes were much slower. He wasn't sure just how much of his own strength he could safely use. He wanted this man caught for sure, to clear their names. But hurting another human, especially when he wasn't sure if Ladybug's Lucky Charm would even work since the Akuma were not in play...well that made things substantially more difficult.

All of his powers were just a little too destructive in this case, even if this guy was just the littlest bit taller than him.

Chat Noir's eyes narrowed on the copycat baton. He had spotted the pair coming down on it which meant it had to be pretty solid to support them both. If he could get this guy to drop it, before Ladybug arrived, it would be easy enough for her to take it from there.

His eyes flickered, as he tested the other side hoping for some sort of reaction, some way to read how the man would telegraph his moves.

He hadn't expected his copycat's baton to lift slightly.

But that was little in comparison to his shock as his own baton shorted out when the two baton's connected, sparking an arc of blue light.

"Huh." Green eyes widened, his mouth gaping as the failed green lights. "Well, that's a neat trick."

Delight danced in blue eyes, as he pushed Chat Noir backwards.

Ladybug spotted the girl on the ground, watching the interaction between Chat Noir and his copy and ducked down below the roofline before she could be spotted in turn.

Her red was only half a shade or so off, but it was fairly well put together. It was clear enough to see why a fuzzy picture might have gotten it all wrong.

As she was more than passingly curious as to how someone had managed to pull off that stitching to allow for that much movement but to fit so well.

Chat was always an effective distraction, but she saw with relief that he had noticed the same thing she had and was pulling his punches accordingly, even if he was still irritated with the pair of them.

This was, after all, more of a mess for the police to clean up. They just had a vested interest in seeing justice carried out to clear their own names. Hawkmoth never remained inactive for too long, and their "time off" would certainly be over soon. For so many reasons, they needed Paris to trust them again.

With a frown, she saw that her double was on the move, sneaking around the edge of the van, looking to even the odds for her own partner. Ladybug couldn't tell what was in her hands - or in her mind - but either way, she didn't like it.

Chat Noir must not have noticed her approach. It looked like he was a little preoccupied, his staff not reacting to his commands for some reason.

Her jaw set, her alert eyes so trained by the miraculous powers that her mind connecting the mental dots even without her Lucky Charm activated.

Flinging out her yo-yo, she waited for the last moment to shout. "Chat Noir! Duck!"

The string shot out, looping around their doppelganger's legs, Ladybug dove down, swinging in just the right place to dangle the two by their legs atop the lightpost.

"Idiot." Marisol grimaced struggling against the string, physically pushing him as far as the string would allow. "Why didn't you get away? You could have gotten away scot free."

Will scoffed, blue eyes wide and angry. "M-If you didn't get back to her, this whole exercise is pointless. Why do you think I told you to leave?"

She huffed, as he grabbed his free arm to help stabilize them both against the nauseating swing back and forth. "Do you think I would have just left you here? After all you've done for her and for me?"

His lips parted in a sigh. "You really should have."

Marisol shook her head, adamant, although she instantly regretted the motion. "No way. Wasn't going to happen."

"Look." His eyes locked with hers, those sea blue eyes softening. "You and your Grandmother were more of a family than my own relatives. Grandfather understood that. It's why he brought me all those years ago. Why he left me his home."

She swallowed audibly, her mouth opening in silent question that remained unasked.

His thumb dragged along her arm, his tongue darting out nervously to drag along his bottom lip. "If I left something happen to either of you, when I could have done something, I would never have been able to forgive myself."

"Oh." Her pulse was racing, although she couldn't be sure that wasn't just from the blood rushing down into her face. Well that did answer one question, but it left her with one other.

He cleared his throat, awkwardly. "So there is that…"

She darted a curious look over to their young captors, who were watching with poorly veiled interest but seemed happy enough to let them chatter.

"You're right." She smiled, leaning in closer. "Of course, that is a lot to take in."

He blinked back at her, his skin flushing brightly as he nodded. "Right."

"Lucky for you, I've always been a quick learner." Her lips curved upwards as she wove her fingers into his hair and bridged the gap between their lips.

Chat Noir turned on his heel at her side. "Well, that just got awkward."

Ladybug still held fast to the string, but was blushingly giving them a moment's privacy. Clearly there was a little bit more to the story.

"Unless you'd also fancy a kiss, my Lady." Chat Noir's eyebrows waggled ridiculously beneath the mask.

She rolled her eyes, readjusting her grip on the yo-yo string before pushing back on his nose. "No need to confuse the police any more than they already are, Chaton."

A groan came from behind them at the mention of the police. "Well, that one way to kill the mood."

Ladybug's copy cat shook her head fondly. "Well, the girl is right. That's not a cat, that's a kitten."

Chat Noir sputtered, crossing his arms over his chest. "Rude."

Ladybug snorted, struggling to keep her hold, as she doubled over in a fit of giggles.

"I'm pretty sure they both are kids."

"Guess we had that part wrong, after all."

Chat was still shaking his head, as Ladybug's laughter had finally subsided. "Think we should let them down? I mean, that can't be good for them."

Ladybug smiled. "You seem to tolerate it well enough from time to time."

"Yeah," he shifted uncomfortably, "but to be fair I also have super powers. Besides, if they tried to escape again, you could catch them again just as quickly."

Ladybug nodded, glad enough to give her arms a bit of a rest.

While they waited, the copycats had humored their curiosity.

Ladybug pored over their outfits in careful detail, filing away details for her own personal use later. Who knows when a spare Ladybug costume might actually come in handy? Or a set of one for each day of the week…

Chat tinkered with Will's gadgets. It's super fun, he totally wants one.

He tried not to focus on the pair of them cuddled up together in outfits that all too closely resembled them.

They had heard the short tale of how this was all being done to help the lady's grandmother. Both Ladybug and Chat Noir felt sorry for the pair, but it was clear that someone needed to reassure the police that Ladybug and Chat Noir were innocent of the thefts. Too many people's safety relied upon them.

Part out of curiosity and part out of desire to do the right thing, Ladybug tried to set off a Lucky Charm, which did seem to clean up this crime scene.

Office Raincomprix had arrived with another two patrol cars, watching Ladybug swinging out of sight to re-charge. "Ah. Now, which is the real Chat Noir?"

"Sadly," Chat Noir sighed, gesturing back to where the doppelgangers were cuddled up to one another, sharing a kiss. "Us the real heroes never get to have that much fun.

The Copy Chat chuckled as they both stood up. He ruffled Chat Noir's hair, winking before he let the police cart them both over to the van, masking still in place. "Patience, kid. She might just surprise you."

"Of course, Ladybug and Chat Noir were proven to be innocent of all wrong-doing." Alya triumphantly read the story in class the next day.

Marinette grinned. "Like we knew they both would be."

Alya fist bumped her. "You know it, girl!"

Chloe rolled her eyes but otherwise was pleasantly silent.

Marinette smirked, blushing slightly when she noticed Adrien smiling up at their antics.

Clearing her throat, Alya continued on. "But it sounds like the actual criminals managed to get away."

"What?" Marinette leaned over to read with her own eyes.

"On the way to processing, the pair of criminals, who were photographed in a nearly perfect pair of Ladybug and Chat Noir costumes at the scene of the second (attempted) robbery, escaped out of the back of the van, leaving a case of gear and their costumes."

Marinette gaped. "Unbelievable."

"Think they'll be back?" Nino asked.

Surprisingly, it was Adrien who spoke up. "They left their tools and their costumes, right? Something tells me they got what they came here for."

Author's Notes:

And that's a wrap! Hope you all enjoyed the ride. Thank you all so much for your support, especially SeasonoftheGeek!

I'll continue with the remaining prompts Day 28-31 for Lady Noir July, but they probably will be fewer and farther between.