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"Adrien Agreste, pick an ally you can trust to fight alongside you." Master Fu opens the lid of the Miracle Box and pushes it towards a kneeling Adrien as all the compartments slide open. "Choose wisely; you and Ladybug will be responsible for your choice, to train them and hold them accountable. If your ally proves to be untrustworthy or otherwise unfit, you must retrieve the Miraculous from them."
"Of course, Master," Adrien says immediately. "But, um…we, uh…Ladybug and I need a shield. We need the Turtle."
Master Fu's smile freezes in place. Adrien swallows and looks down at his hands. Great. Ladybug's trusting him with this, and he's already screwed it up, and what if Master Fu decides that he's asking too much, that he's too impertinent, that he can't be trusted, even Plagg's weight on his shoulder can't drag him back from this –
"Adrien," Master Fu says. Adrien's head whips up. The old man is…smiling warmly now? "I'm not disappointed or upset with you. Merely surprised. I just…didn't think Wayzz would be needed so soon."
"You've always known that the time would come, Master," Wayzz says. "You're much too old to be Jade Turtle anymore, and you have the other kwamis to advise you in my stead."
"Jade Turtle?" Adrien's tongue darts out to moisten his lips, although it does nothing for the dryness in his mouth. "That was your superhero name?"
Master Fu nods. "But I'm nearly two hundred years old. Wayzz is right…as usual. My role as Guardian comes before my own desires." He smiles up at Wayzz and holds out a hand for Wayzz to nuzzle against. "Farewell, old friend. Best of luck with your new holder."
"I'll never forget you, Wang Fu," Wayzz says. Master Fu gives an odd little laugh.
"Yes. I'm sure you won't."
Adrien frowns. Is there…something he's missing? "Um…inside joke?"
"You could say that," Plagg shrugs. Master Fu and Wayzz give him twin severe looks.
"You and Ladybug will know when the time is right," Master Fu says. "For now…" He takes a deep breath, then squares his shoulders and slides his green bracelet off, and Wayzz vanishes in a flash of green light. "Do you have someone in mind, Adrien?"
Adrien frowns, while Master Fu prepares the Turtle Miraculous in a little hexagonal box. Who can he pick to be the Turtle hero? He needs someone strong-willed but not reckless; protective without being too self-sacrificing like he is with Ladybug; smart but not set in their ways, willing to go with the flow and adjust as needed…god, why can't Ladybug be here, her instincts are always spot-on, because who the heck does Adrien know well enough to entrust with a –
Of course! Adrien gasps and snatches the box from Master Fu. "I know just the right person, Master! And I'm sure Ladybug will approve! Plagg, claws out!"
Thankfully, his choice for the Turtle at least has a brain and is hiding out at home in his room with the doors barricaded. Even when Chat Noir raps on the window, Nino just shoots him a suspicious look and makes no move to slide off the bed.
"Of al the times to grow a brain cell," Chat Noir mutters, then swings his baton. The window shatters inward, spraying shards of glass all over Nino's floor. Oops.
"Dude!" Nino says. Chat Noir grins sheepishly.
"Oh, well, Ladybug'll fix everything anyway," he says with a shrug. "Uh, why didn't you let me in, though?"
"Are you messing with me?" Nino points at the broken window. "People are doing crazy shit out there and you think I'm gonna just let in the first Chat Noir I see?"
Chat Noir rolls his eyes. "Oh, relax. Faux News can only warp reality."
"Exactly! What if he manages to make another one of you? Or Ladybug?"
Chat Noir blinks. "I, uh…didn't think of that. But it's the real me, not some Lila shapeshifting situation or something. And we need your help, Nino."
Nino raises an eyebrow. Great. This is exactly why Chat Noir prefers to handle this before an akuma starts wreaking havoc and making everyone paranoid.
"Wanna be the next Rena Rouge?" Chat Noir says. "Only, y'know, not a Fox?"
"I – what?" Nino splutters.
"Yeah! We need a Turtle hero and I got to pick!" Chat Noir bounces on the balls of his feet. "What d'you say? You don't have to say yes if you don't want to, but you're perfect for the Turtle because you're protective of your friends and you're probably the only one that's not a total disaster, and I saw you with Alya when Zombizou attacked –"
"You been spying on us or something, dude?" Nino says, but his mouth is twitching. "Okay, okay, you got me. Especially if it'll help me protect Alya when she's on her rabid Ladyblog filming frenzies."
"No one can know, though," Chat Noir says as he fishes in one of his suit pockets for the little Miraculous box. "Not even Alya or your other friends."
"Duh. First rule of superheroes, dude."
"And Ladybug and I are responsible for you. So, if you screw us over –"
Nino actually looks hurt as Chat Noir hands the box over. "You think I'd do that to you?"
"No, no!" Chat Noir says quickly and holds his hands up in surrender. "Why do you think I picked you? I'm just making sure you know the fine print before you sign away your soul."
"…What?"
"I was joking. About the soul bit. Look, we'd normally try and ease you in like we did with Rena, but there is an akuma messing everything up down there…"
"Right, right." Nino snaps the box open, then hisses and jerks a hand up to shield his eyes from the bright green light that greets him. When it fades to reveal the little hexagonal bracelet inside, Wayzz is floating in mid-air, bright yellow eyes surveying Nino rather curiously.
"Whoa, dude!" Nino gasps when he uncovers his eyes and starts trying to look at Wayzz from all directions.
"Hello!" Wayzz says. "My name is Wayzz."
"Hey, little guy, what are you, a genie like in those fairy tales?" Nino babbles. Chat Noir can't fight back the smirk that spreads across his face, and even Wayzz has an amused little smile.
"I am a kwami," Wayzz says. "I can't grant wishes, but I can give you superpowers!"
"Just one thing," Chat Noir says. Hey, if it worked for Alya, it should work for Nino too. "Once we kick Faux News' butt, you have to give it back. Can we trust you?"
Wayzz shoots Chat Noir an odd look, while Nino squares his shoulders and nods.
"You bet, dude!" he says and slips the bracelet on.
"Then all you have to say is, "Wayzz, shell on"," Wayzz says. Nino grins.
"Wayzz, shell on!" Nino's enveloped in vivid green light as he transforms.
"Nice look," Chat Noir says when the light fades. "Although Ladybug will probably just get pissy if either of us bring it up."
"Really? Why?" Nino says. He slides his shield around to his arm from his back, and a wide grin splits his face. "Awesome!"
"I…may have called her outfit plain when Rena Rouge joined us," Chat Noir says. Nino winces.
"Bro."
"I know, I know. I'm surprised I'm still alive." A low rumble outside Nino's broken window reminds Chat Noir that there's still an annoying akuma wreaking havoc and they should probably get back and help Ladybug and Rena Rouge ASAP, especially with Rena Rouge's current emotional state. "Come on, turtle boy! You can think of a name on the way."
"Come on, Chat Noir!" Ladybug mutters as she dodges a punch from an old lady. Thank god that Rena Rouge had snapped out of it and actually become a functional teammate, because there was no way Ladybug had been about to disappear and recharge when Rena Rouge had been a wild animal.
"They just keep coming!" Rena Rouge says. She yelps and uses her flute to whack away an incoming brick before it can bash her in the head, then leaps away from a web shot from a cosplayer-turned-actual-Spider-Man and lands next to Ladybug. "How are we s'posed to get to Faux News? And why doesn't he come and fight us himself?"
"Why should he?" Ladybug says. "All he has to do is wait for us to wear ourselves out."
"No need to have a cow, Ladybug!" Faux News calls over the din. There's the sound of overlapping mooing, followed by a whole herd of cows charging straight at Ladybug and Rena Rouge. But there's no way to dodge the cows; not with their backs literally to the wall and minions spread all around them. All they can do is swing their weapons in front of them and hide behind the whirring of the yo-yo, Ladybug praying that the cows don't hurt them too much because then it's all over, Faux News and Hawkmoth will win –
"Shellter!" A green dome encases Ladybug and Rena Rouge just before the cows can reach them, and they stare with wide eyes and open mouths as the cows bounce off the dome and crash into the minions scattered around, knocking everyone over like the world's most twisted game of bowling.
"What the f –"
"About time!" Ladybug says before Rena Rouge can finish her sentence. When she whirls around, she's greeted by Chat Noir's shit-eating grin and the new Turtle hero, who's holding his shield above his head to maintain the Shellter. The Turtle hero has a dark green suit with a light green hexagon tessellation on his chest, dark shoulder, elbow, and knee pads, short green boots, a hood with orange and yellow turtle eyes on either side, and a round green shield that he's holding above his head to maintain the glimmering green dome. Under his hood, Ladybug makes out dark eyes behind orange goggles, but she can't for the life of her think of who this could be. Who would Chat Noir know well enough to entrust with a Miraculous?
"Sorry for the delay, milady," Chat Noir says. "Turtle boy here was just being paranoid, and I had to, uh…enter by less than savoury means."
"You broke my freaking window!" the Turtle hero says. Chat Noir shrugs.
"And I told you, Ladybug will fix it. Which she couldn't have done if she'd been trampled by cows. Nice to see you've calmed down, Foxy."
Rena Rouge makes a very rude hand gesture in response. "So, what's your name, Turtle boy?" she says, her eyes gleaming as she looks him up and down. "Pity the Ladyblogger's not around. She'd get a kick out of this."
"Carapace," the Turtle hero says after a moment. "Call me Carapace. And eyes off, man, I've got a girlfriend."
"Wait, you think I was interested in you?" Rena Rouge scoffs. "I've got a boyfriend of my own, thank you very much. Don't flatter yourself."
"Nice to meet you, Carapace," Ladybug says loudly before he can retort and they end up squabbling when there's an akuma to defeat. "We need to come up with a plan before your Shellter runs out. That gives us about five minutes. Four minutes," she amends when Carapace's bracelet beeps.
"Hiding in your shell, Ladybug?" Faux News cries. "Like the cowardly insect you are!"
"Lucky Charm!" This time, Ladybug's given a handkerchief. "Uh, okay? What am I supposed to do with this?"
"Better figure it out soon, dude," Carapace says. "I'm at about three and a half minutes."
"Wish you could just shut that son of a bitch up for once," Rena Rouge mutters. Ladybug gasps.
"Of course!" Thanks to Rena Rouge's joke, Ladybug is able to quickly cobble together a plan to get through the minions and reach Faux News. "Rena, when Carapace drops the shield, I need your most disruptive illusions. Things that'll keep the minions occupied."
"Sure thing, boss," Rena Rouge salutes.
"Chat, the akuma's most likely in his cravat," Ladybug says. "It's the only thing that really stands out. I'll need you to Cataclysm it when you're close enough."
"Anything for you, milady," Chat Noir grins. Ladybug takes a moment to direct every shred of energy inside her towards not blushing at her boyfriend's words, since a) he doesn't know that she's his girlfriend, and b) she's ragged on him enough for getting distracted in the middle of a fight.
"Carapace," she says, praying that she'd managed to avoid looking noticeably flustered. "You'll have to clear us a path to Faux News."
"How?" Carapace says. Ladybug smirks.
"You've never seen a biohazard bubble before?" she says. Carapace's eyes gleam rather evilly behind his goggles, just like Rena Rouge's had at the prospect of bashing Faux News. "And I'll take out Faux News. He seems to have to talk to be able to warp reality how he wants, so I'll put a stop to that."
With their roles sorted, the four of them take a moment to make sure that they're ready. Then, with a war cry, Rena Rouge and Chat Noir slam themselves against the sides of the bubble to send all four of them hurtling through the crowd of minions, who are bowled out of the way like pins as the green dome crashes through them and rolls to a stop next to Faux News.
"What the hell?" Faux News exclaims as Carapace's Shellter flickers out of existence. His cry drowns out the sound of Rena Rouge's flute, and so neither Faux News nor any of his minions are expecting the explosions and fireworks that erupt out of nowhere, keeping the minions' attention firmly focused away from the heroes.
"Get ready, Chat!" Ladybug says as Faux News opens his mouth. Before he can speak, Carapace leaps in and bashes him around the head with the shield, making Faux News stagger and choke on what he had been about to say. This is exactly the opportunity that Ladybug needs; she ducks under Carapace's arm, throws her yo-yo to pin Faux News' arms to his sides, then stuffs the handkerchief into his mouth.
"L'dyb'g! Dr'p d'd!" Faux News tries to say, but the makeshift gag muffles his words to the point of incoherence.
"Cataclysm!" Now it's Chat Noir's turn to jump in, running his sparking hand over the cravat around Faux News' neck to disintegrate it and free the evil butterfly corrupting it.
"Good job, everyone!" Ladybug says and quickly captures and purifies the akuma. Then she forces Faux News' jaw open to tug the handkerchief out, grimacing at its dampness even though she's got magic spandex protecting her from touching it, and throws it into the air to summon her Miraculous Ladybug and set everything to rights once more.
"Awesome, dude!" Carapace says, bouncing on the spot. Ladybug waits until Rena Rouge makes it over to them before holding out her fist for the four-way, "Pound it!"
The groaning from the blond man sprawled on the ground draws their attention. Rena Rouge looks particularly smug as he pushes himself to his feet and squints at them.
"I – was I akumatised?" he says.
"Unfortunately, yes," Ladybug says. "I know it can be –"
"C'mere!" The man – Lars Vos, Rena Rouge had called him – tries to throw an arm around Ladybug while fumbling for his phone. "A selfie with Ladybug! This'll show that Ladyblogger brat that I'm not just an amateur!"
"Brat? Brat?" Rena Rouge clenches her fists and would've stormed right on up to Lars if Chat Noir hadn't caught her. "You're the plagiarising son of a –"
"Rena," Ladybug says sharply. Rena Rouge falls silent, glowering at Lars. "Sorry, Lars, but I won't be taking a selfie with you. And neither will Chat Noir."
"What?" Lars' face darkens. "Why not? It's fair game!"
"Okay, for one, we're not bits of meat," Chat Noir says. "And two, we hang with the Ladyblogger because she's earned it. She puts in the hard work to capture footage and run her blog."
"Exactly," Ladybug says. "I'm not saying that we'll never give you a photo or an interview, but we won't be rewarding you for plagiarism and smearing Alya."
"Uh, guys?" Carapace says, holding up his beeping bracelet.
"I'll be along in a second," Ladybug says. "I just need to have a quick word with Rena. Bug out!" She throws her yo-yo to swing over a nearby building and land on the other side, with Rena Rouge following close behind, leaping with the agility of the animal that she embodies.
"Let's rest," Rena Rouge mumbles when they're safely behind a car, and she turns back into Alya in a flash of orange light, staring down at her feet. "You'll want the necklace back, won't you?"
"Huh?" Ladybug says. "What – why would I take your Miraculous?"
"Because I messed up big-time." Alya still hasn't looked up from the ground. "I made everything worse. I let my anger get in the way. And if you can't trust me to –"
"Stop!" Ladybug holds up a hand, and Alya's mouth clacks shut. "I'm not taking the Miraculous, Alya."
"You're not?" Alya's head whips up, revealing the newfound shine in her hazel eyes.
"You don't lose it for making a mistake, little kit," Trixx says from Alya's shoulder.
"Trixx is right," Ladybug says. "Both Chat Noir and I trust you with our lives, and we've made plenty of mistakes between us. It'd be hypocritical to take your Miraculous from you. But it can't happen again."
"You're a Fox, not a Bee," Trixx says with a little sniff. "Leave the angry buzzing to Pollen's chosens."
"I'm sorry," Alya sighs. "I was just…so angry. All that work – and he had to go and steal it – and then he didn't even learn from being akumatised!"
"You've got every right to be angry," Ladybug says, resting a hand on Alya's shoulder. "But you can't let it overwhelm you in battle. Chat Noir and I need to be able to trust that you've got our backs, and we can't do that when you're charging in angrily."
Alya nods and stares back at the ground, blinking rapidly. Her head jerks back up at Ladybug's next words.
"And I owe you an apology of my own."
"What? Why? You didn't do anything wrong!" Alya babbles.
"I should've realised that the battle was too personal," Ladybug says. "This is a battle you should've sat out, Alya, and I'm sorry that I didn't recognise that from the start."
"Well, it's not like you could've told me," Alya says. "And wasn't it safer for me to be Rena, anyway? So he couldn't find me?"
"Yes, but we shouldn't have let you get involved," Ladybug says. "I'll talk to Chat. We might implement a rule that you're not allowed to get directly involved if we feel it's too personal, unless we desperately need your help. One mistake could've leaked your secret identity or compromised your ability to be part of the team."
"Understood, Ladybug," Alya says with a frantic nod. "That makes sense. Oh!" She pulls out her phone and starts tapping. "I've finally got the group chat up –"
"We'll sort that out tonight on patrol," Ladybug says when her earrings beep. "I have to go and meet Carapace before Chat Noir transforms back as well."
"Jerk," Alya mutters. Ladybug rolls her eyes.
"Try and get along with him, yeah?" she says. "We're a team, which means you have to have his back and he has to have yours."
"Ugh, fine," Alya says. "I'm gonna go and find the girls. And Marinette! I don't know where she hid! See you tonight!"
Once Alya's gone, Ladybug swings out from behind the car in the direction that Chat Noir and Carapace had gone. When she touches down in an alleyway next to Chat Noir, her eyes widen at the boy with the unmistakeable blue T-shirt and red cap.
"Nino?" she bursts out, then shakes her head. "I might've known."
"Uh…hey, dudette," Nino says with an awkward wave. "I get that I was a quick pick, so if you've got someone better for the Turtle –"
"Wait, what?" Ladybug says with a small smile. "I couldn't think of anyone more perfect. You're protective and loyal and a grounding presence among your friends."
"That's what I said!" Chat Noir looks like the cat that got the cream. Damn kitty and his damn adorable face and no, focus!
"You picked perfectly, Chat," Ladybug says, and Chat Noir preens and runs a hand through his messy blond hair. "We're meeting at the Eiffel Tower tonight at eight, Nino."
"Wait, we are?" Nino jabs a finger at Chat Noir. "He told me I had to give it back after the battle!"
"Oh, you did the test?" Ladybug says to Chat Noir, who grins and shrugs.
"Yep. And he gave it back before I even had to ask. I was just gonna give it to him when you turned up."
"Asking you to give the Miraculous back was a final test to see if we could trust you to keep your word," Ladybug says to a slowly-blinking Nino. "Plenty of people would love to be a superhero, but giving their powers back and trusting us to pick them again, knowing that we could pick someone else? Chat and I tested Rena Rouge like this as well."
"Wait, so –?" A wide grin splits Nino's face when Chat Noir offers the bracelet, and he whoops and fist-bumps Wayzz when the little turtle kwami reappears. "Dude!"
"Welcome to the team, Carapace," Ladybug smiles.
"I was wondering what you were doing when you told Nino that he would have to return my Miraculous," Wayzz says once he's settled against Nino's neck, cushioned by the headphones hanging there. "Very wise, Ladybug."
"And Chat Noir," Ladybug says. "I didn't even think to test Nino."
"Um, I'm about two minutes from changing back, so…" Chat Noir holds up his beeping ring.
"Oh! Right!" Ladybug shakes her head. "And Rena's finally finished tinkering with the team chat, so make up a burner email address and give it to her tonight so she can add you. It'll let us get in touch outside the masks."
"Ugh, Rena," Nino groans. "Flirting with a taken turtle!"
Ladybug and Chat Noir try as hard as possible to fight back their grins. They almost succeed. Almost.
"To be fair, she has no idea who you are," Ladybug says when Nino squints at her.
"And she didn't seem like she was flirting," Chat Noir adds. "She's just…way into superheroes. She about died when we let her be Rena Rouge."
"It's probably just a misunderstanding," Ladybug finishes. "And we can clear that up tonight. Bug out!"