''Alright team, let's get to work'' Said Ladybug before leaping to the next building towards Lila's new address. The other heroes followed her, Viperion carrying Chloe, who brought a camera and pepper spray just in case, but promised she would not do something too stupid as she did not have powers. The heroine knew it was pointless trying to convince her of not participating when she couldn't fight, so she gave up under the conditions that she would stay out of it and just record.
Chat Noir kept up with her pace, not showing at all that he had been so terribly hurt just two days ago. Marinette ended up staying that whole time with him until only the most superficial cuts and bruises remained.
''That way'' He pointed the right direction for them to follow. Ladybug was feeling good, they were finally progressing, taking matters in their own hands. Even seeing parts of the fight Chat Noir and Pavona's sentimonster had on the news earlier that day (Kindly recorded by some bystanders cellphone) was not souring her mood.
But if she was being honest, her ego was what was the most content right now. After Tikki reminded her over and over to not heal Adrien too much too quickly or she would be extremely exhausted and not being able to participate in this, when the girl proved the kwami wrong she was so proud of herself. After her little loss of confidence for not having any new development on her abilities compared to her partner, this was exactly what she needed. The only thing she didn't like was the little fact that it had to be Adrien who had been hurt for her to make the discovery of her new powers.
At one point Chat Noir signaled the rest to stop and stand still. They all did their best to be as sneaky as possible, but no one could match the cat on that. Ladybug noticed he was especially cautious, which made sense considering what he told her about the fight. Lila had somehow detected his presence and they still didn't know how she did that.
The black clad hero did a tiny gesture with his hands and Viperion let go of Chloe, who took the camera Alya lended her and positioned herself to get a good view of the street, where they planned to bait Pavona to fight at. The snake hero used his powers, and Ladybug was ready to launch the mission..
''Stop'' Said viperion, before any of the heroes moved. They all looked confused for a second, but Ladybug caught on what was happening, frown on her face.
''Did we lose?'' She asked looking at the snake, and he nodded sadly, then the others understood too, except maybe Chloe, who just watched everyone waiting for an explanation.
''Too many times'' He said, sounding exhausted though nothing had happened yet. At least not for her, she reminded herself. ''Let's go back and I'll explain'' Said Viperion sounding completely defeated, a bit unlike himself, before he grabbed Chloe and leaped back to the mansion.
Once they detransformed in the safety of what was rapidly becoming their headquarters (That private living room where they held their meeting two days ago), the heroes could not contain their curiosity and worry.
''Dude what happened?'' Asked Nino as his girlfriend asked the same thing at the same time, but with different phrasing.
''Why didn't we go?'' Asked Chloe, still confused. Adrien and Marinette just quietly stared at the new guardian, who slumped on one of the couches and pinched the bridge of his nose.
''We did go, Chloe'' The guitarist started explaining, eyes closed and still holding his nose with his fingers. That must be one killer headache he had. ''We went around fifteen thousand times, in fact'' As he said that, all of them gaped in surprise.
''And we didn't win in any of them? how is that possible, it's just one enemy and her sentimonster'' Asked Marinette, concerned. That golem couldn't possibly that powerful to defeat all of them with all the time in the world, would it?
''We could have… on some of them, but the price was too high'' He said darkly, and there was a long, tense silence after. Marinette wasn't sure if she wanted to know the details, but they still needed to know why was fighting five versus two so impossible for them. She voiced that as her next question, interrupting the quietness of the room. Luka then finally opened his eyes, seemingly getting over the after effect of using his power so many times enough to go back to business.
''She recruited two people, adults, to use the Dragon and Butterfly miraculous'' He said, looking pretty tired of delivering bad news. Marinette knew she was tired of hearing them.
''Why would anyone work for her?'' Asked Nino showing all his disgust at whoever was that decided to join forces with that little tyrant.
''I don't know their motives, but since they were grown ups, they could use their powers more than once without detransforming. And that golem… Adrien I don't know how you survived fighting that thing on your own. Since when are sentimonsters so powerful?'' Luka was showing now all the despair the rest of them were probably feeling. The designer did not like that one bit, he was usually so calm and positive.
''I think it's my fault that Lila managed to make such a monster… She's terrified of me because of what I almost did to her two weeks ago… '' Said the blond boy, guilt coming back to his face in full force. Marinette was so frustrated, why was it that the one time they make a mistake, it had to be in front of Lila Rossi? Were they not allowed to fail sometimes? Specially her Kitty! he was going through so much which is why this all happened in the first place, and instead of things getting better he kept getting punished for something he didn't even finish to do! She pressed her hands against her body, knuckles almost white because of the force on her fists.
''Wait hold on, so you DID actually attack Lila's house? I thought she was bluffing!'' Exclaimed Chloe, and Marinette was losing even more patience, but before she could start throwing insults at her, Luka started speaking.
''I also know who those two helping Lila are'' Said the guitarist, completely ignoring Chloe's useless comments. The blonde girl looked actually hurt at that, but Marinette was too focused on her own problems to care.
''It's the two agents that talked to you'' He said, looking at Marinette and Adrien. ''The officers on Master Fu's house''
''What a surprise'' She said rolling her eyes. At this point it was even convenient that all their enemies were working together now. They would take them all down at once, or so she tried to convince herself. A tiny voice on her head screamed at the fact that those men now had powers of their own.
''And…'' Said Luka, frowning not looking at anyone now ''Lila is sicker than we thought she would be'' He commented, obviously not expecting anyone to care about the girl, but Marinette knew that any information they had was useful at this point.
''What do you mean?'' Asked Alya, more curious than worried. But they all knew how using the peacock miraculous ended for people, except Marinette couldn't bring herself to care anymore. Maybe their problems would solve themselves, she thought darkly.
''At some iterations of the fight, we managed to make her detransform. She looked terrible and sometimes she wasn't even moving after. I don't think she has many more encounters in her'' Said the snake hero, unable to mask his empathy for the liar. The others looked uncertain, a mix of emotions at all the new information. Marinette noticed that Luka was having a real hard time, maybe remembering all those different fights was easier said than done. She knew she wouldn't be able to recall every detail she learned, specially not after fifteen thousand times.
''So she's killing herself, hurray'' Said Chloe with low energy, probably still salty at Luka for ignoring her,. For once Marinette was grateful for not having to be the one to voice that thought, though.''She's a criminal! she should pay for her crimes'' finished saying the blond, crossing her arms.
''Exactly, Chloe. She's a criminal, and where do criminals go? To jail, not to the grave. Or at least, it's not us who decide that'' Said Adrien, frowning and raising his voice for the first time in days.
''She's doing this to herself, though. And stopping her has proven to be harder than we thought'' Commented Alya as impartial as she could.
''But we are heroes, we are supposed to save people, even from themselves'' Adrien seemed to be done with the topic after saying that, and he looked directly at Marinette with his determined and worried green eyes. Was he concerned for her? He was the one whose reputation and life had been in danger because of Lila!
''Anyways… we still have our plan for the gala, but for it to work we need to prepare for our new enemies. I'll send each of you notes about the fights we had today so you guys know what to expect, once I get my thoughts in order...'' Luka said, still sounding defeated and tired. ''We need to adjust a bit if those two come to play at the event… but we have enough days'' Marinette scoffed. Right, he was the one with all the time on the world. She had a dress to design on top of everything else. The designer shook her head, feeling a bit ashamed at being so… salty, today. Maybe it was because she was so happy and hopeful not even an hour ago, and the contrast with the present was painful.
Luka was the first one to leave, probably to sleep the rest of the day, if his demeanor was any clue. Chloe followed him and she looked ready to bombard him with questions, frown plastered on her forehead. Marinette decided to quietly text Chloe that she should let the older boy rest, and hoped that the blonde listened for once.
The rest of them decided to spend some time together, not really to try to forget their problems but to support each other. After some reassuring and casual talk, her and Adrien were feeling a lot better. She was still proud of her new powers, she reminded herself.
Following a whim, she touched her boyfriends cheek. Adrien smiled, and he got a little shy, probably thinking that she was about to kiss him in front of the rest. Marinette smirked, and pink light came out of the contact between her hand and his face, making the last remaining cuts disappear. She didn't even feel that tired after doing so, she realized.
Adrien noticed what she was doing, and though he looked a bit disappointed at it not being a kiss, he kept his smile.
''Thank you, my lady'' He said warmly, making her heart flutter.
Marinette started feeling victorious again, even though they hadn't defeated Lila yet. She won the heart of the boy she loved, and this little remainder of that was all she really needed.
She just had to make sure her enemies didn't get the chance to take this from her ever again.
''So you are going to the event as Ladybug and Chat Noir?'' His father asked as he worked on his tablet. Adrien gulped, getting a little flashback of all the times his father used that tone before, the disappointment and the doubt on his choices clear. He had to remind himself sometimes that while this man was still his father, he also was their enemy not so long ago.
''Yes, we need to make a speech to the people of Paris and we will use the venue to do it. It's part of our plan'' Said Marinette, firm on her stance. That earned a glance from the man, who stopped drawing and looked at the girl, raising his eyebrows.
''Very well, I will have to make up an excuse for Adrien then, I have some guests that I wanted you both to meet, but we could do that another time'' Both of them? Wondered Adrien, suddenly curious at what his father's intentions really were. Marinette was equally or maybe even more interested, because she opened her eyes as she realized what the man meant.
''Me too? Why?'' She asked.
''You are an aspiring designer, aren't you, Miss Dupain-Cheng?'' Marinette nodded, still not believing what Gabriel was implying ''It would be good for your career to meet these people early on. But, like I said, it can be done on another event'' He said, then went back to drawing, though Adrien didn't feel like he was signaling for them to leave the room.
Marinette was gaping, but then controlled herself and asked the real question here: ''Why would you want to help me? I'm Ladybug, you hate me'' She said bluntly. Adrien cringed a bit at the amount of honesty his girlfriend was employing while talking to his father and the fact that she wasn't shying away from stating that they were once enemies. One thing was for him to do it, it was his father after all, but Marinette had no protection from the man's wrath other than taking away his freedom, and the model really doubted she would take her boyfriends father from his life just to protect herself and her career. At least, it was something he wouldn't do if the roles were reversed.
To the young couple's surprise, however, the man let out a rare chuckle before answering her question. ''I don't hate you, Miss Dupain-Cheng. The opposite, actually. You saved me from doing something I'm now sure I would have regretted deeply, and then you allowed me to fix my own mistakes by letting me stay with my son. That alone makes you deserving of my admiration, but you also have saved my son's life and healed could have spent these last two days designing your attire for the gala to impress important people and secure your future in the industry, but you chose to stay with Adrien and help him instead. I assure you that not a lot of people would have done that, not even for their loved ones. I don't think I would have, at your age at least.'' He paused a bit, then looked at Marinette straight in the eyes ''I'll do anything in my power to repay you, and that includes making sure your future doesn't suffer because of your duty as Ladybug''
Adrien was too surprised by that little speech to say anything yet, but Marinette reacted by smiling brightly. ''Thank you, Mr. Agreste'' She merely said, and then Gabriel left his spot next to his working station and walked towards the door.
''Nathalie? Could you bring the fabrics please?'' He asked outside the door of the studio. A few seconds later Nathalie came in followed by the Gorilla, who carried a pile composed of rolls of different fabrics. Now it was Adrien's turn to smile as Marinette finally freaked out.
The girl squaked in excitement as she approached the tiny mountain of all kinds of fabrics that the bodyguard placed on an empty table. She then looked at his father, who nodded, and proceeded to touch them one by one as she commented on how she liked each of them.
''What are them for, other than making Marinette cry of happiness?'' Adrien asked, looking at his father still not quite believing how nice he was being.
''We need to make Ladybug and Chat Noir their suits, and we don't have much time left. I'd like to work with Miss Dupain-Cheng to get the best result possible'' He said calmly. Adrien had his suspicions before, but now he was sure that his dad just wanted to get in Marinette's good side. He looked at the girl, who was now talking to Tikki about the red satin she was rubbing with her fingers adoringly. Well, Adrien thought smiling, his father sure knew how to buy people.
''Don't think I'm not worried about your future too, Adrien'' Commented the man next to him as they both watched Marinette's antics ''But we can talk about that later'' It didn't sound like a warning or a threat, so Adrien happily nodded and went to sit on one of the couches. He knew it would be a while here if they started talking designer stuff.
''Miss Dupain-Cheng, Adrien told me you already have a design in mind for your gown?'' He heard Gabriel to Marinette.
''Just Marinette'' She said, and there was a little pause before she clarified ''Just call me Marinette, please'' Adrien wasn't watching any longer, but he guessed his father probably nodded.
''Alright, Marinette. I'd like to see your design so we can start working on it and Chat Noir's''
Adrien was slowly falling asleep as he heard his father and his girlfriend quietly chat about their ideas and the materials they would use. He loved how comfortable Marinette got once the topic was art and fashion design, and how confident she was on her opinions, even in front of such an important figure as his father was. He also discovered that his father was a very just and kind mentor, or at least he was trying to be while reviewing Marinette's drafts and ideas.
He fell asleep with a smile on his face, knowing full well they would wake him up soon enough to test the fabrics on his skin.