The Welcome Committee
Note: The scenes depicted here would definitely be real for my country and the national airline, I can't say if it is valid for France and its national airline.
"This is the captain speaking We have two very special passengers on our flight today. Thank you. Please enjoy the view." The announcement from the speakers woke up the remaining passengers.
They were flying over the city of Paris. They made a full circle in a loop, they saw the Eiffel tower, Arc de Triomphe and all the other landmarks. It was lunchtime in Paris, the sun was high the air was clear.
"Wow, this is fantastic." Tom exclaimed. Adrien and Marinette looked at each other. They did not see Paris from this height each day, but they reached that height sometimes during the akuma battles. This time they were not in a battle. But their view was limited to what they could see through a small airplane window.
The plane had landed, taxied to the terminal and the tubes attached to it. The passengers stretched and picked up their bags. Many of them were standing and waiting in queue as they were impatient to leave. Adrien and Marinette were close to be the last in line. But they were met by the group of flight attendants and pilots. They all applauded to the two young passengers.
"We all live in Paris. Can we shake your hands?" The captain spoke on behalf of the crew.
"Thank you!" "You are our heroes." "We love you." Pilots and flight attendants spoke as they took turns and shook their hands. There were tears, there were smiles, even hugs, there was laughter. In the end they posed for a few photos together with the crew and visited the cockpit where the captain eagerly explained many of the instruments. They were offered to sit in the pilot's seats, they were offered to talk to the control tower. The air traffic controller was very excited to hear the two of them have arrived and wished them to have a good time but he had to attend to other planes that taxied on the ground towards and from the piste.
"Have you seen what is painted on the fuselage?" One flight attendant asked them.
"Um, we just walked in through the tubes, there were no windows on the tubes." Adrien shrugged.
"Come and see." The flight attendant took them to a part of the building from which they could see the fuselage through the window. There were images of Ladybug and Chat Noir painted on the fuselage.
"Our flight company wanted to honour the heroes this way." The flight attendant explained.
Marinette and Adrien were speechless. There were tears in their eyes. They had to remind themselves not to give away their identities. Adrien remembered to take a photo before the flight attendant took them away. Tom and Sabine were waiting for them while Adrien's bodyguard went to fetch his suitcase.
"Don't be bemused, these are the news. Nadia Chamack here with the newest portion of the latest events coverage. Paris is awaiting the return of our civilian heroes who had defeated Gabriel Agreste and his assistant Nathalie Sancoeur, better known to the public under their supervillain disguises of Hawk Moth and Mayura. The Parisian supervillains were obviously weakened and finally defeated in, now famous, battle in the temple in Tibet by a group of civilians that included two young teenagers from the city of Paris. One of the heroes is none other than Adrien Agreste, he is also the son of one of the villains, which makes his brave act even more heroic. The other teenager is his classmate and aspiring young designer, Marinette Dupain Cheng. The two teenagers are returning home today. Our correspondent, Clara Contard is at the Charles de Gaulle airport to see their safe return." Nadia Chamack spoke her announcement on the Tvi news.
The correspondent stood on the busy airport surrounded with people who rolled their suitcases on their way home. Few waved to the camera and continued.
"This is Clara Contard reporting to you live from Charles de Gaulle airport. We are in the arrivals section waiting for our civilian heroes. It is very busy because other Parisians are returning from their holidays. Each of them heard about the event, the final battle that revealed Hawk Moth was none other but Gabriel Agreste while he was defeated by none other than his son Adrien Agreste. The boy and his sister in arms Marinette Dupain Cheng who helped defeat Hawk Moth and Mayura should pass these gates any moment now. These college (note: that is early high school in France) students travelled to China for the holidays where they visited several landmarks, enjoyed time with the family, practised foreign language and did everything other college students do on their holidays. Now, there are rumours that Jagged Stone is waiting for the two teenagers in the VIP section. We have seen Clara Nightingale pass that way. Mayor Andre Bourgeois is here, waiting with his family." The news field reporter rambled as she waited for Adrien and Marinette to appear. Then she took the next best thing and that was talking to the mayor of Paris. The camera zoomed in on the Bourgeois family in the distance while the correspondent walked slowly in their direction followed by the cameraman.
Adrien and Marinette were taken to the VIP section, followed by Tom and Sabine. Adrien's bodyguard was about to join them once he picked up his checked luggage.
"Marinette" A very well known man's voice greeted from across the room.
"Uncle Jagged." Marinette greeted. "Hi Penny." The girl only started to notice other people in the room.
Fang crawled around Marinette and Adrien. Sabine was scared and Tom pulled her closer for safety. Adrien's bodyguard gave Fang a warning look but the animal insisted they make friends, then the large man patted the animal's head and they started to chase each other around the large room as they played.
"Hi Clara" Adrien greeted as soon as he saw her dancing towards them.
They exchanged hugs before a woman approached Adrien.
"Hi Adrien. Nice to finally meet you young man." Adrien's legal representative shook his hand full of energy.
"Hi Augusta, nice to meet you too in person. You look better than on the screen of my phone." Adrien replied.
"Don't you flatter me boy. Mister Jagged over there insisted to bring me along. He wants to take you in his limousine." She spoke quickly and up to the point and avoided telling him 'the car was taken by the authorities because the car is registered to your father' since it might disturb him.
Adrien took the message nevertheless. She saw him sunk into himself a little.
"Do you need anything from the house? I can go and fetch it for you." The woman offered. She knew the boy did not want to step inside the Agreste mansion if he could help it.
"Thank you, but I have everything I need to go to school tomorrow either here or in my school locker." Adrien replied. "I will go there at some later time." He did need a few things, but he did not want anything labelled with Gabriel brand.
Marinette was surrounded but Adrien managed to introduce Augusta to her and her parents.
"Mister Jagged over here offered a room in his hotel suite for you, but I had to decline that as it would be better to put you in a family." Augusta explained with a laugh.
"You are welcome to come for a visit, any time." Jagged told both kids.
"Thank you Jagged." Marinette grinned.
"I certainly will." Adrien beamed at his favourite rock star.
Clara Contard finally made it into the VIP section.
"Jagged, Jagged Stone!" She called as she ran after the rock star. "We heard a rumour that you wanted to meet our civilian heroes."
"Marinette was always my hero." Jagged winked to the camera. "And my favourite designer." Then Jagged continued to talk about Marinette, how they met, about the glasses and the album cover and so on and so forth.
"How about you Clara. Have you met our civilian heroes before?" Clara Contard asked the famous singer Clara Nightingale.
"Video we made, right on cue, they certainly made my dreams come true, defeated the villains in a fight, I just danced and sang all night." The singer spoke in verses as she danced around the journalist.
"Here are the proud parents of Marinette Dupain Cheng, this is Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng. Are you proud of your daughter?" The journalist as she pointed the microphone into Sabine's face. Tom was glad she picked his wife over him.
"We can be proud now that everything is over and she is safe and sound with us." Sabine replied with a small smile. She was warned by Nadia that there were journalists waiting for them at the airport, but this was just much more than she expected.
"What can you tell us about your travel. The public is anxious to know all the details." The journalist inquired. Sabine told how they flew and then took a train but she remained technical and not go into details how Adrien and Marinette actually joined the group of students on their excursion to the temple.
"How did you like your time in China?" The journalist asked Tom.
"Well I had fun, made new friends." Tom touched his chin. "But I am ready to go back to work now." He grinned.
"And I can't wait four you to return to work, man, we really miss your macarons." Jagged Stone leaned onto Tom. "Nobody makes them as good as you do, man!" Jagged held his signature rock'n'roll fists.
Penny stepped in. "You are going to get the macarons in due time, Jagged. Let the people unpack and adjust to the time difference."
"Penny, you have organized making that show 'In your shoes' with Jagged Stone in the Dupain Cheng bakery, haven't you?" Clara Contard asked her swiftly.
Penny obviously did not like to be reminded of the day she got akumatized, but she was already used to all kinds of media intrusions so she took a stride with it.
"Yes I have." She replied calmly.
"And it was such a great show. Tom and me made pastry and had fun." Jagged smiled. "And I see our little girl got the boy she dreamed about." Jagged teased Marinette who blushed severely.
Penny tried to stop him, but nobody stopped a rock star once he was in his element.
"I did not forget about your young love, it inspired me to write a song about you two, would you like to hear it?" Fang hopped over carrying his guitar in his teeth.
"It is a bit rough and unfinished but here is the melody." And then he played a few notes on the electric guitar that was not plugged in into an amplifier.
Adrien grinned widely. "You wrote a song about us, Jagged?" The boy was practically pouncing in his place from excitement.
"Th-thank you Jagged." Marinette stuttered.
"Well it is mostly about Marinette being in love with you boy, from afar, not much about you in there." Jagged shrugged.
Adrien beamed at Marinette. It was clear he was happy. He even put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer. The girl was so flustered she only tried to hide her face.
"But now I will make a new song about how you fought, you rebel you!" Jagged nudged the boy with his shoulder. "You are a couple of badass teenagers, you know." The rock star winked.
"They are not and you know it." Penny tried to pull him away so he does not steal the show, but the kids obviously did not mind that. She was smiling gently at the rock star so her scolding had no chance of hitting a target.
"This is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous." A familiar voice broke through the room. "I am the daughter of the mayor of Paris, Andre Bourgeois and a famous editor of a fashion magazine, Audrey Bourgeois. I should have been here first."
"But, darling, I did not book the VIP room." The voice of the mayor of Paris followed her. "Besides, I have to be outside with the voters."
"You should understand, sweetheart, your father has the responsibility to the people who chose him." Audrey continued in uncharacteristic gentle tone that she would never use in public.
"Sweetheart? Responsibility? What is wrong with you mother?" Chloe shrieked. She was still disgusted with the gentle ways her parents turned to.
All the cameras in the room turned towards the newest intruders.
"Besides, look, there are cameras, you can reach many more voters this way." Chloe motioned towards the cameras, while she flashed her pony tail and pretended to be interested in something else. "This is far better way to engage with the public, you can't see their despicable outfits, while they can see your glorious one."
Adrien and Marinette were taking turns in rolling their eyes.
"Oh Adriekins, I missed you so much while I was in New York. You wouldn't believe what happened to me ..." The girl rambled but Adrien just smiled and stopped listening. Jagged was stealing the show, not intently, and kept dragging Adrien and Marinette along as he chatted with everyone and anyone.
"This is Clara Contard again, live to you from the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, France. The two civilian heroes have arrived. You can join us later this afternoon where they will give a live interview to Nadia Chamack in her live show." The journalist said her greetings.
"An interview?" Both teens were incredulous.
"A live interview?" Tom raised his eyebrows, Sabine looked as if she was steaming.
"This afternoon?" Augusta and Sabine finally asked.
"Yes, the two of them are expected in the studio in less than two hours." Clara Contard confirmed. "I was told you agreed to that."
"Um, we have agreed to an interview. But live and right away?" the two kids shrugged.
"Well, the TV network decided to do it today, you already approved the list of questions, haven't you?" Both women confirmed as they looked at the two teens.
"We basically insisted on no questions about that interview and nothing personal." Sabine shrugged.
"I am really sorry Adrien, I do not have so much experience in the public relations business. I mean, I have some, I write statements all the time, but you are much bigger star than that and with all of this that happened." The lawyer obviously felt like she failed her client.
"That is okay, I agreed too." Adrien smiled widely.
"Besides, we will have to face the press sooner or later, right?" Marinette smiled while her insides were filled with excited butterflies. She was about to appear on TV with Adrien on the same TV show where Nadia got akumatized. Well, at least they could scratch that part off the list.
Adrien felt her concern.
"What is it?" The boy asked quietly.
"Well, you know what she is ready to do for viewers." The girl voiced her concerns.
"We will deal with that." Adrien shrugged. "Besides we can always refuse to answer a question, right?" He smiled.
Marinette smiled back. "I guess so."
"I say it is time to check my ride." Jagged Stone smirked and puled Penny and Adrien along. Adrien took Marinette's hand, while Penny got Sabine. Tom, Adrien's bodyguard and Fang tagged along easily. Nobody dared to stand in front of those three or block their way.
"They are coming! They are coming!" Screams could be heard through the grand space of the airport arrivals section. Jagged Stone waked tall with Penny by his side. He was used to fame and airports. The rest of the group followed after him, with Tom and Adrien's bodyguard towering above the rest of the group.