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For a moment, no one dares to speak, lest they shatter the glass-like atmosphere between them. That is, until Adrien tries to laugh, but ends up sounding like he's crying in pain.
"M-Me? Chat Noir? What the hell are you talking about?" he says. Sanguisuga rolls her eyes.
"Don't lie to me, Adrien!" she snaps, grabbing his wrist and yanking his hand up so that his silver ring gleams in the sunlight. Alix, Juleka, Mylène, and Rena Rouge gasp, and the others in the square who have paused to watch the drama unfold gasp and start to whisper. "I saw you during your photoshoot here, when Gigantitan attacked! I saw your little cat demon thing – Plagg, you called him?"
Marinette's nearly sick on the spot. Okay, so anyone can claim that anyone's a superhero, but the only way Sanguisuga would know about kwamis, especially Plagg's name, is if she really had seen him. That nausea only grows stronger when a purple butterfly mask appears over Sanguisuga's face.
"Yes, Hawkmoth, I'm a hundred percent sure," she says. She pulls Adrien's hand closer to her face, ignoring his grunts and attempts to struggle free. Meanwhile, Kagami squeezes Marinette's hand and starts to pull her away from the scene, so that they can hide and transform. "See? I was just waiting until the right time to – oh, of course, Hawkmoth." The purple mask fades from Sanguisuga's face. "Why would I hurt Chat Noir when I can take the girls that he holds so dear?"
"Plagg, claws out!" Adrien blurts out, and he transforms into Chat Noir in a flash of green light and rips himself out of Sanguisuga's grip. "Marinette! Kagami! Look out!"
But Sanguisuga's faster than him, and she's launched herself into the air and landed in front of Marinette and Kagami, then slung them over her shoulders, all before Chat Noir can take more than a few steps.
"Ah, good, you got everything," Sanguisuga says to the people recording the goings-on around them as she floats back into the air. "If I can't have Adrien, I'll destroy everything that he holds dear! First his secret identity, now his girls!"
"Don't worry about us!" Kagami says, struggling furiously to try and throw Sanguisuga off-balance, but it's kind of hard to make her lose her balance when she's levitating and endowed with superpowers from an evil butterfly.
"Go find Ladybug!" Marinette adds in a desperate attempt to throw any suspicion off her secret identity. She tries to knee Sanguisuga in the torso, but Sanguisuga simply drapes Marinette further over her shoulder and holds her by the thighs rather than around the waist, denying Marinette any leverage.
"And after his girls, his boy!" Sanguisuga finishes. Over Sanguisuga's shoulder as she turns to soar to the Eiffel Tower, Marinette sees Juleka's eyes widen as she mouths something that looks like, "Not Luka!" A moment later, Sanguisuga lands on the tip of the Eiffel Tower and dumps Marinette and Kagami unceremoniously onto their butts, eliciting twin winded exhales.
"Sit tight, girls," Sanguisuga says with a wink. "I've just got to grab one more person before that pesky pussy cat can get there first." Then she's off, zooming across the skies of Paris in the direction of the Couffaine houseboat, while Marinette gulps and huddles closer to Kagami because this platform is really not the biggest and she's got no super suit to protect her from a fall like this.
"Shouldn't we transform?" Kagami says, slipping an arm around Marinette's waist. Marinette shakes her head and points at all the people standing around and recording.
"The last thing we need is to out our secret identities as well," she says. She groans and covers her face with her hands. "Oh, this is a disaster! No one's supposed to know! And now all of Paris knows Adrien's identity! How did Lila even see him transforming? We're always so careful!"
"The Trocadéro is a large area," Kagami says. "If Lila was blending in to the panicking crowd, it would've been fairly easy for her to see him transform while staying hidden. Especially if she was actively stalking him."
Marinette groans again and uncovers her face, only to rest her head sideways on Kagami's shoulder. "I should send out an alert in case any of the team somehow doesn't know what's going on. What do you think her powers are? She drained people of energy, but why?"
"Probably to make herself stronger," Kagami says. She pulls out her phone and types something, then nods. "Sanguisuga means leech, or bloodsucker, in Italian. I'm assuming she leeches the energy off people. Maybe that's how she can fly."
"Great," Marinette says and types out a quick alert in the group chat. "This'll be a fun akuma to deal with."
"Don't worry, girls!" Rena Rouge calls from the base of the Tower. "I'm coming to – gah!"
"Well, then," Marinette says as Rose tackles Rena Rouge, with a horde of vampire zombies running towards the Trocadéro to no doubt help Rose out. "Rena Rouge, more are coming!"
"Oh, come on!" Rena Rouge bats Rose across the face with her flute. "Where the hell are the others?"
"Maybe I should've given out the Horse," Marinette mutters.
"If it comes down to it, I'll transform and get us down," Kagami says. "You can find another Ryuuko, but there can't be another Ladybug."
"I don't want another Ryuuko," Marinette says. "The others will come through. You'll see."
Her faith is severely tested when Sanguisuga proves to be the victor of the race to get to Luka and returns to dump him next to Marinette and Kagami. Although Carapace and Honeybee have arrived to back up Rena Rouge, they've got their hands full with the zompires, as Marinette has christened them, and so they're not exactly up for a rescue mission quite yet.
"Don't hurt them!" Chat Noir lands in front of Sanguisuga with his hands up. "Why can't you just accept that I'm not into you?"
"Because you're mine, Adrien Agreste," Sanguisuga hisses. "I always get what I want. Even trying to destroy your precious girlfriend didn't work! I broke her arm and you two were still so sickeningly sweet that I wanted to throw up!"
"You!" Marinette's eyes bulge. "You made me fall down the stairs! And you were trying to lead me away when Tangleweed attacked! I thought I was just hallucinating!"
Sanguisuga snorts. "Whatever. Give me your Miraculous, Chat Noir, or I'll drain the people you hold dearest. And it won't just be a zombie drain like with the others. No, that would be too easy. I'll squeeze every last drop out of them until they're nothing but a skeleton."
"Don't you dare!" Chat Noir dives at Sanguisuga with his baton poised to crack across her skull, but she giggles and swoops out of the way. Thankfully, with her attention on Chat Noir, she doesn't seem to be focused on Marinette, Kagami, and Luka anymore, although that's not really a comforting thought when Marinette and Kagami still can't transform because of the damn cameras on the ground!
"Pst!"
Marinette whirls around, slapping a hand over her mouth to muffle her squeal when she realises that it's…a mouse hero? Not just a mouse hero, but two, crouched on the other side of the Tower tip, looking to be a few inches shorter than Marinette? The mouse hero who'd spoken peeks at Chat Noir and Sanguisuga, then bites her lip and groans.
"I can only take two of you," she says. "Any more clones and I'll be too small to carry you! But I don't want to leave any of you! Oh, I'm an awful hero!"
"Who even are you?" Marinette says.
"Oh!" The mouse hero shakes her head, her multitude of blonde braids swishing around. "Petite Souris. Chat Noir asked me to help out for at least this battle, because he thought they'd need a surprise element to take down Sanguisuga."
"Well, looks like he was right," Luka says. "You can take Marinette and Kagami and get them out of here."
"We're not leaving you!" Marinette and Kagami say immediately. Luka shrugs.
"You don't have a choice."
"Hey!" Sanguisuga kicks Chat Noir away, then dives at the Petite Souris clones, who squeak and duck around the metal tip to avoid the vampire's touch. "Get away from them, you little – hey! Get off me!"
Luka just snarls and tightens his arms around her neck and his legs around her waist. "Take Marinette and Kagami! Now!" he barks at Petite Souris, whose clones are both frozen on the spot. His shout is enough to jolt each clone to grab Marinette and Kagami and start bounding down the Tower, and the last, horrifying thing Marinette sees over Petite Souris's shoulder is Sanguisuga throwing Luka off her, then grabbing him by the throat and glowing purple as she drains his life force.
"Luka!" she shrieks.
"He'll be fine once Ladybug gets here!" says the Petite Souris carrying her. Both mouse clones leap down onto a viewing platform and deposit Marinette and Kagami, then spring back together in a flash of light and grow to full height. Now that she's not in imminent danger, Marinette's able to get a good look at Petite Souris before she vanishes: she's wearing a long-sleeved grey dress with a high white collar, a white torso, short pink gloves, grey tights with white inner thighs, and thigh-high pink boots with white soles. Her mask is a grey mouse head over the top half of her face and her weapon appears to be the pink jump rope tied around her waist, falling behind her like a mouse's tail. Petite Souris jumps when her necklace beeps.
"I have to go recharge and jump back in, so stay here! Both of you!" she says.
"Thank you, Souris," Kagami says. "You're an amazing hero."
Petite Souris flushes pink, then scurries into the elevator, no doubt to detransform and refuel by the time she reaches the bottom.
"Luka…" Marinette's voice hitches. "And Chat Noir…" She takes a deep breath and clenches her fists. "I have to focus! I can't do anything about Chat Noir's identity being revealed, but I can save Luka and expose Lila!"
"Exactly." Kagami takes Marinette's hands and squeezes. "Stay focused, Marinette. The sooner we defeat Sanguisuga, the sooner we can save Luka. Longg, bring the storm!"
"You know what to say, Marinette!" Tikki says from inside Marinette's purse as Kagami transforms into Ryuuko in a flash of red light. Marinette squares her shoulders and nods.
"Tikki, spots on!"
"Ladybug!" Honeybee shouts when Ladybug swings out with Ryuuko and lands on the ground, in the middle of the zompire swarm. "It's about damn time! These minions are getting utterly ridiculous!"
"Wow, for a moment, you sounded like someone who drives me up the wall," Alix drawls as she smashes a zompire in the face with a metal bar. Next to her, Juleka looks like a horror monster from Ladybug's worst nightmares as she slams and kicks any zompire unfortunate enough to end up within her reach, a feral snarl stretched across her face.
"Fuck you, I'm a beelight to be around," Honeybee says, then she lets out a wail. "Look what you've done to me, Adri – Chat! I'm punning now!"
"Sorry, Honeybee, I couldn't help being held up," Ladybug says sarcastically.
"You okay, dude?" Carapace says. "I mean, learning your partner's Adrien…shit, now I know why he picked me…"
"Do secret identities apparently not mean anything anymore?" Rena Rouge says and whacks a zompire that's about to tackle Carapace. "Watch your back, Shellhead! Where the heck is Petite Souris?"
"Recharging because she saved Marinette and Kagami," Ryuuko says shortly before Carapace can retort.
"Oh. Thank god," Rena Rouge says. "So, chief, what's the plan?"
"Lucky Charm!" Ladybug catches an ice cream scooper and blinks owlishly at it. "Um, what am I supposed to do with this?"
As if in response to her question, Chat Noir crashes to the ground right next to her, groaning. A cackling Sanguisuga floats down to land and meet the team of heroes, her skirts and cape billowing around her, and if Ladybug's being honest, she's a little hacked off that Lila gets such a cool akuma theme when she's such an awful person.
"What now?" Sanguisuga says. "Your mangy partner is nothing more than a greedy rich kid who can't make up his mind between a boy and two girls, when he couldn't even add me too. And you can't hide Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Kagami Tsurugi from me forever. Once I've got the Miraculouses for Hawkmoth, he's promised me Adrien!"
"Like hell," Chat Noir groans into the concrete. Ladybug sighs and stoops to pull him to his feet, just as Petite Souris dives at Sanguisuga from behind.
"Souris, no!" Ladybug cries. But it's too late; Sanguisuga smoothly turns and grabs Petite Souris by the wrist, then slams her into the ground and starts to drain the life force from her. Petite Souris gasps and tries to fight back, but her struggles weaken with every passing second.
"I don't think so!" Alix's metal bar goes soaring through the air and smashes into Sanguisuga's head, forcing her to release Petite Souris as she shrieks and staggers backwards.
"Get up!" Honeybee stomps over to Petite Souris and scoops her up bridal style, then sets her back on her feet. Petite Souris just groans and sags against Honeybee. "Ugh, newbees!"
"You dare attack me?" Sanguisuga howls and dives at Alix. But Honeybee is there in a flash to shield Alix and Juleka with her trompo, still clutching Petite Souris to her side.
"Don't touch the annoying skater girl," Honeybee hisses. "Or the annoying goth girl too, I guess."
"Thanks," Juleka deadpans, her eyes still blazing as she glares at Sanguisuga.
"Alix, Juleka, get Souris out of here!" Ladybug says. "Carapace, give us some breathing room!"
As soon as Honeybee has relinquished Petite Souris to Alix and Juleka so that they can drag her back towards the Eiffel Tower and away from Sanguisuga and the zompires, Carapace summons his Shellter and encases the heroes, protecting them from Sanguisuga.
"Really?" Sanguisuga drawls. "Ladybug's going to transform back soon. All I have to do is wait till Shellhead times out as well and then you're all mine."
"Hey, only I can call him Shellhead, you Cullen freak!" Rena Rouge growls.
"If they don't start making out after this battle, I swear to god," Honeybee mutters. Meanwhile, Ladybug gnaws on her bottom lip as she tries to figure out how the hell to use her Lucky Charm. Her eyes land on the ice cream scooper, her teammates, a nearby column of the Trocadéro, then Sanguisuga, and she suddenly realises exactly what they need to do.
"Rena, make as much smoke as you can," Ladybug says. "Enough to keep Sanguisuga off-balance and stop her and her minions from getting a clear hit on any of us. Ryuuko, we have to get her over near the Trocadéro so Chat can use his Cataclysm. Honeybee, sting her when the time's right. Go!"
Carapace drops his Shellter just as Rena Rouge summons her Mirage, filling the square with thick orange smoke and providing cover for Ladybug and her teammates to scatter. Ladybug and Ryuuko end up near the Trocadéro, waiting for the moment when Sanguisuga comes after them.
"Enough!" Sanguisuga floats above the smoke, a hideous snarl twisting her cyanic face. "Just give me your Miraculouses and save yourselves this trouble! I'll win in the end!"
"Then come and get them!" Ladybug calls, waving the scooper above her head. Sanguisuga shrieks and dives after her, shooting purple beam after purple beam from her bracelet, but Ladybug just uses the metal scooper to catch each beam and flick them back at Sanguisuga to blind her, even if she's not affected by her own energy-draining power.
"Water Dragon!" Ryuuko hefts her sword and summons her water power as a glimmering whip in her free hand. While Ladybug keeps Sanguisuga off-balance, Ryuuko flicks her water whip and catches Sanguisuga across the face, slapping her right out of the air and into one of the Trocadéro columns, where gravity peels her off the stone and sends her crashing to the ground.
"Cataclysm!" Chat Noir rakes his claws across the column and sends it crumbling on top of Sanguisuga, pinning her to the ground from the waist-down. But her hands are still free and she's full of energy from the people she's drained, so she's slowly pulling herself free of the wreckage while aiming straight at Ladybug with a twisted growl. Before she can fire –
"Venom!" Honeybee kneels and pokes Sanguisuga directly on the neck with her pulsating trompo. "Ha. Looks like the vampire was the one bitten this time."
"I'll give you a five out of ten for that," Chat Noir says. Honeybee sniffs and tosses her hair.
"Fuck you, Adrichat. My jokes are impeccabeele."
"Okay, what's with the puns? You've never done them before."
"I can't let my best friend out-dork me, thank you very much."
Ladybug groans and facepalms. "Thanks, Chat, you've created a monster. Just break the akuma already." Then she can fix everything and get Luka back and they can sort out what to do about Chat Noir's identity and put this whole thing behind them and go for ice cream and cuddles –
"Ladybug!" Ryuuko elbows her gently. Ladybug blinks and shakes her head to snap herself out of her thoughts and capture the akuma. Once it's purified, she throws the scooper into the air with trembling fingers.
"Miraculous Ladybug!"
The healing ladybugs swarm around the Trocadéro, fixing every single zompire and the damage caused by the battle and returning Alix, Juleka, and Petite Souris from their hiding place, then heading for the tip of the Eiffel Tower, and Ladybug lets out a choked half-laugh because that means that Luka's been fixed. He's okay!
"Huh?" Lila blinks and stares around from where she's kneeling on the ground. "Where am I? Oh no! Was I akumatised again?" She starts to fake-cry, and Ladybug resists the near-irresistible urge to roll her eyes to high heaven.
"Don't cry, Lila!" A recovered Rose rushes to help Lila up. "No one can help being akumatised!"
That much is true. But Lila had most definitely been pulling her shit even before she was akumatised, and Ladybug doesn't intend to let her get away with any of it.
"I'm so sorry," Lila sniffles. "I was just…I guess I was a little jealous, and Hawkmoth took advantage of me, and I feel so dirty –"
"Save the sob story," Ladybug says shortly. "Marinette told Ryuuko and I that you admitted to breaking her arm that time when Tangleweed attacked. You certainly weren't akumatised when you did that. You weren't akumatised when you pulled off that power play against Adrien when he first rejected you. And you weren't akumatised when you told those lies about being my friend and everything else."
"I – but – how dare you!" Lila gasps. "I thought we were – well, we're certainly not friends now! How could you hold what I said as an akuma against me? You don't know that I wasn't lying! And you weren't in any hurry to denounce me before now; if I really was lying, why wouldn't you speak up about it? Huh?"
"Because you were relatively harmless before now." Ladybug's earrings beep, but she ignores them. "Just telling celebrity lies to make yourself look good, and I don't concern myself with teenage girl matters. But you've crossed a line, Lila Rossi. You put innocent civilians in direct danger simply because the boy you like stuck to his boundaries. Adrien's reputation could have been permanently smeared and his father could have punished him for something he never did."
"I told him, I had a traumatic flashback to an abusive boy in Italy!"
"Marinette could have died from that fall if she'd landed wrong – you're lucky she only broke her arm."
"I – I bumped into someone and accidentally caused that chain effect! I just didn't say anything because I knew people would blame me and hate me, just like now, and I didn't want –"
"Long story short?" Ladybug takes a step towards Lila and tilts her head with her frostiest glare. "Stay away from Adrien and Marinette. Stay away from Luka and Kagami. I really don't care if others still want to be your friend after this, but you'll leave those four and their friends alone. Understand?"
"Ladybug, I –"
"Understand?'
Lila swallows and clenches her fists, her olive eyes blazing with sheer hatred for a second before she looks down and starts fake-sniffling. Honestly, Ladybug can't give half a damn if Lila loathes her.
"I understand," Lila says. "I'm sorry for being such an inconvenience. I understand that you don't want to associate with me anymore."
Ladybug just raises an eyebrow. With a sniff, Lila tosses her hair and storms off, leaving Rose, Juleka, and Alix blinking as they try to process the confrontation that had just happened. Even Petite Souris looks floored, though Ladybug can't fathom why. Do they believe her? Hopefully not. But Lila does know what strings to pull, and no one wants to believe that someone's evil – especially not a teenage girl – so Ladybug doesn't even know anymore. And right now, with Chat Noir's identity and post-battle exhaustion to deal with as the adrenaline drains out of her, she honestly can't even care.
"Good job, everyone," Ladybug says quietly. "Tonight, eight o'clock, at the Eiffel Tower. We need to talk this out."
Honeybee clears her throat and raises her hand. "Um," she says. "I'm sure I could arrange an empty suite at Da – uh, at Mayor Bourgeois' hotel. Just for us superheroes and stuff, so we've got a safe place to meet and chill. He'd make sure that it was off-limits to everyone else and that Hawkdick wouldn't know about it, if he said it was for m – uh, his daughter."
"You're not fooling anyone, Chloé," Alix mutters, too quiet for the other bystanders to hear. Honeybee immediately flips her off.
"That's really considerate of you, Honeybee," Ladybug says. "You've come a long way."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Honeybee says. "Just go away and detransform, alright? We can still meet at the Tower and go from there." Before she leaves, she makes a beeline for Chat Noir and throws her arms around him, then kisses his cheek. "You'll be okay, Adrichat?"
Chat Noir nods and squeezes Honeybee' biceps. "Yeah. Thanks, Chlo. See you tonight."
"Um," Petite Souris pipes up, clutching at her pendant. "My Miraculous? I have to give it back?"
"No," Chat Noir says, bouncing on the balls of his feet, no doubt anxious to go and check on Luka. "You passed the test, we trust you to give it back, so on. Just meet us here tonight."
"Even though I totally messed up?"
"You did well for your first akuma," Ladybug says firmly. "Especially one as chaotic and strong as Sanguisuga. You got two civilians out of harm's way and allowed Chat Noir to focus on the battle."
Petite Souris's brown eyes light up. "Oh! Okay!" she says. With that, she and Honeybee take off in parallel paths, while Rena Rouge and Carapace split from each other and head in opposite directions. Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Ryuuko head for the Eiffel Tower to detransform under cover.
"Oh my god." Adrien collapses against Marinette and clings to her like she's a buoy in the middle of the ocean. "They know, Mari, they know. What am I gonna do now? I can't stop being Chat Noir. I can't. Please, you can't let him take it from me –"
"Hey. Hey. Just breathe." Marinette strokes Adrien's back softly, soothingly, trying to ground him against the panic attack she can feel wracking his body, turning his breaths hoarse and shallow. "We won't, okay? We'll get through this. We won't let him take your ring. We won't let Hawkmoth target your father."
"This is a Ladybug and Chat Noir matter. I'm going to go and check on Luka," Kagami whispers. Marinette shoots her a thumbs-up and nods, then guides Adrien down so that they're sitting on the cool concrete against one of the thick Tower legs. Tikki and Plagg dart out and snuggle between Adrien and Marinette once they've made sure that the coast is clear.
"You're not gonna lose me, kid," Plagg says. "I'll damn well fight if Fu tries to take me."
"I agree," Tikki says. "It's not ideal that Hawkmoth knows your secret identity, but you and Marinette have developed a unique bond since your first day as partners. Trying to replace you would throw off that dynamic and could impair Marinette in turn. Even if he did give the ring to Luka or Kagami, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch for Hawkmoth to assume that one of them was the new Black Cat because of their relationships with you and Marinette."
"And he can't take my Miraculous either," Marinette says. "Bringing in a new Ladybug and Chat Noir while Hawkmoth's growing stronger…as Chloé would say, that's ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous!"
Adrien forces out a weak laugh at that. "Still not up to us," he rasps. "If Fu says –"
"Screw him," Plagg says. "We're the ancient cosmic beings, not him. I choose to stay with you."
"Maybe we should just go and see him before you start panicking too much," Tikki says. "We can work out a solution together, alright? But I'm with Plagg: I refuse to let him be taken away from you. Understand?"
Adrien snorts at that, but he still reaches up to stroke Tikki and Plagg with two fingers. "I understand. Thanks, guys. I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Now we just have to figure out how to get you to Master Fu's place without people swarming you," Marinette jokes.
"Why, princess, it's as though you doubt my cat-like skills."
"You're such a dork, Adrien!"