Max hadn't slept well last night - or rather, the past week. Being the last akuma in existence who would be working under Hawkmoth wouldn't exactly do well on his resume, and even though everyone was being super supportive, and Kim and Ondine weren't holding anything against him for his actions under the influence, Ladybug and Chat Noir had gone away so quickly, without even the few words of reassurance they often offered to the people they'd just saved.

Chloe also knew exactly where to strike when she wanted to be the biggest bitch in existence. "I wonder what god decided you would be the last akuma under Hawkmoth? It must be just a horrible burden to bear. Like, I would kill myself before getting akumatized again, but being the last akuma?" Her horrible laughter grated against his ears.

Adrien took his wrist, rubbed it in a soothing manner. Max turned to him. He smiled, and Max returned his brilliant grin with a small smile that he didn't really feel. Adrien's smile dimmed a bit, and he dragged Max away from the harpie in a comforting manner for hot chocolate and a good movie with Marinette's cookies, video games, and a movie day so he could have a break day from this merciless bullying, leaving this to his classmates until Max could get sweets and blankets from Marinette's parents.

"It's not as if you can talk," Juleka said, voice acidic and burning. "You've caused more akumas than anyone else here, and you're the one who caused the Final Akuma."

"You have no proof," Chloe growled, voice low.

"You had me locked in a fucking bathroom stall," Juleka said dangerously. "Admittedly, there aren't any cameras in there, so it's a he said/she said situation. But if you're not going to be punished for kidnapping and assault on top of fucking with my head enough so I got akumatized, there are plenty of other things we can provide proof for. Like Sabrina's akuma, and Mylene's akuma, and Kim's, and Alix's, and Alya's, and Nathaniel's, and Sabrina's father's, Cheng Sifu's, Rose's, Jean-Claude's," with each new name, Chloe became paler, "Clara Nightingale, Madame Caline, your father, and you had quite a bit to do with Thomas Astruc's akuma," she hissed. "There are definitely cameras in those other places, and records of your snapchat with Kim's desperate, heartbroken expression that screams DO-NOT-POST-THAT, and a screenshot of the caption, which reads, if I remember correctly, 'look at this pathetic loser trying to get with me the wimp lolz'"

"Snapchat erases a record of everything after twenty-four hours," Chloe riposted.

"It's also on your twitter and facebook, but I guess me and Marinette could share our screenshots to contribute to the evidence," Alya hissed.

"And if that doesn't do it, we can have people provide a record of your bullying towards everyone at the school, gaslighting the lower grades, and manipulating the teachers and principal," Marinette growled, no longer holding back a single iota now that Hawkmoth couldn't turn the blonde into a magical terrorist. "I've been keeping track of everything you've done to me since year six, collecting records, screenshots, everything possible to provide a record of how much of a fucking bitch you are, including getting Sabrina to confess everything that you've done to her since maternelle, and I asked Max to keep records too, just in case I missed a day, and he asked Juleka, just so there are three separate records for every day."

"I've seen them," Alya confirmed, having seen the intense scrapbooking and video collection on Marinette's phone and saved on her laptop. There was a recording of Sabrina's voice messages, records from a recorder pen, records from her phone - heck there was an entire three months of school where Marinette used an earring to record everything Chloe said or did. "I've been keeping them since the beginning of the year, too."

"And if that isn't enough," Adrien hissed, having left Max with Nino and Tom in Marinette's apartment, "I'm sure Ladybug and Chat Noir will be able to provide extensive records of you trying to foist your homework off on him, and forcing Ladybug into pictures, stalking her, demanding a miraculous of your own, and your actions as Queen Bee, which almost cost the train passengers their lives."

"And harassing Adrien," Nathaniel added. "Hanging off of him like a necklace. I've drawn pictures, and everyone here can provide testimonies, and security footage from here and the Agreste household of him visibly uncomfortable with your advances."

"So now we're down to deadly harm with intent to commit manslaughter for what you did as Queen Bee," Ivan said darkly, having calculated the charges in Max's absence, "mass akumatization, multiple instances of bullying - which has become a crime on par with breaking and entering since Hawkmoth's methods have become public on the Ladyblog, stalking and harassment for Ladybug, which is including your obsession for possessing a miraculous, uttering threats if people didn't vote for you, posting personal information without said person's permission in Kim's case, fraud and overturning legal decisions in the case of Clara Nightingale, manipulating the people in positions of authority literally every single time you didn't want to get in trouble, gaslighting Sabrina and most of the other classes into not telling on you - which is a form of fucking abuse, assault, kidnapping with intent to hold-"

"Oh, we shouldn't forget about her father, either," Nino snapped. "He's not innocent in this. She only got this bad because he kept enabling her bullshit, and actively participated in it, like by getting Officer Raincomprix fired or Clara Nightingale kicked out of her hall, after all."

"Good point," Rose said, the disposition of a hamster but a growling grin with more teeth than a shark.

Chloe ran away, crying.

~?~

Max was wrapped up in a blanket, some of his hair sticking out messily from where the blanket-hood crushed his normally perfectly vertical afro, having been stuffed with yoghurt-covered cookies, and delicately balancing the hot cocoa between his hip and the arm of the couch, while playing his video game with Tom while Sabine played a number game on her phone. They'd closed down the shop upon seeing one of Marinette's classmates all mopey and depressed and obviously in need of sugar therapy - a standing agreement was that they took in each of Marinette's classmates for a sugar therapy day when they needed it most, or one day per year, since Chloe came four years ago and bullied them mercilessly. They made an exception in Max's case, because they'd all gotten their sugar therapy day on the day of their akumas, but he really needed another, so Adrien had cashed his in.

"Thank you," Max finally spoke, biting into another cookie. "You really don't have to do this, ya know."

"We know," Sabine said softly, picking up a cookie of her own. "We want to."

Tom nodded. "It's not often anyone in your grade gets dragged here, and we don't turn people away when they need sugar therapy."

"I could still be doing this at home, with mom," Max said softly, playing with the edge of his controller.

"You mother's halfway to London," Sabine reminded the boy, sitting on the top of the couch so she could pet Max's hair a bit more easily - all of Marinette's classmates easily towered her, save Mylene, but even they were mostly the same height, and Max was alarmingly similar to the cat Sabine had growing up, leaning into her pets and little scratches behind the ear. It more easily got rid of Max's headache, and her hands smelled like cookies and left little sugar flecks, which made his hair look dusty. Her hands left his hair as she continued. "And we have homemade cookies, and oh, look, and overabundance of blankets!" she pointed at the corner, where there was a fresh pile of blanket-laundry with faux-surprise.

Max chuckled.

"We don't bite," Tom rumbled soothingly, sipping his own mug of coffee, "and we need a day off too, every now and again. Greatest thing about being your own boss, is you can pick what days you take off."

"Yup," Nino said, coming back from the bathroom. He was spending the first part of the first period here - he was already about three days in advance in maths, so he could afford it. "Marinette's parents are the best bros in the history of dudeing as long we weren't the instigators of the thing that's making us upset. You need a mental health day, so suck it up and enjoy the cuddles."

Max snorted on his hot cocoa and laughed through his coughs, and smoothed back the stray strands of hair falling in his forehead.

Not everything was as bad as it appeared.

Marinette burst into the room, and without saying anything, she darted upstairs. She came back down a minute later with a bulging sequined backpack. She chucked a closed drawstring pouch at Nino and darted back down the stairs. He opened the bag - there were computer chips and a scrap of paper. He opened the note, and smirked evilly.

"Max, how would you like to do a bit of computering?"

"Nino, I thought you're a competent record artist, as you've demonstrated your music playing talents several times?"

"Sure, but there are A LOT of these things to go through. Wanna divvy up the work?"

"... Well, that's a fair point. Give me the video files, you work on the audio."

~?~

"Everyone, make copies of this. Digital, paperback, doesn't matter. Actually, both would be great. Here. Sabrina, Marc, Alix, Rose, Mylene, can you guys take pictures, and then give them to your other group member? Be sure you've got the pieces that are relevant. I've already combed through a bit," Marinette hissed quietly, opening her backpack to reveal notebooks upon notebooks. She gave the one with red diamonds to Sabrina and Kim, the one with rainbow fur to Marc and Nathaniel, the one with a flower pattern to Adrien and Alix, the one with a sun to Rose and Juleka, the one with cupcakes to Mylene and Ivan, and continued passing them out until the last notebook was gone. She'd been careful to eliminate all traces of Ladybug with white-out in the next notebook, but she had the other with ladybug-related issues in the past, in a red notebook with five black dots, and a news appearance with Alya scheduled that no one else knew about. "I'll be working with Aurore on the ribbon-string notebook. Max has the visual and auditory records - he'll be copying them shortly. I've enlisted Uncle Jagged, Aunt Penny, and Aunt Clara to coordinate and find video surveillance and Chloe's other crimes. Alya's mom is taking care of Chloe's schedule for the past six years and any surveillance records going back that far regarding Chloe's treatment towards people inside the hotel. We still need a prosecutor."

"Hold up. Are we taking this to criminal or civil court?" Ivan interrupted.

"Criminal," Alya said grimly. "Bullying is a crime, isn't it?"

"Well, then, my mom's a lawyer," Ivan offered. "She can prosecute. Other than that, there's also the Agreste brand lawyers, Clara Nightingale and Jagged Stone's lawyers, and any legal representation Cheng Sifu might have. Other than them, we can work with the fact that we've all been victims of Chloe's bullying, and provide testim-."

"Class?" Madame Caline asked from where she'd stopped at the door. The teenagers all jolted and turned to face her. "What are you doing?"

"Chloe's in legal trouble, Madame," Sabrina said, making a page-by-page photo record.

"Are you trying to prepare a legal defense?" she asked.

"No, madame, we're gathering evidence of her crimes," Adrien said with a Slasher smile.

Madame Caline adopted an evil smirk - it looked out of place on a teacher that was always smiling. "Class, we're going to be learning about the legal system today. How do you plan to organize your evidence?"

"Order of importance," Ivan said.

"Queen Bee's actions, her actions which caused many of our akumas, the bullying and psychological manipulation, and then her abuse of her father's power," Nathaniel elaborated.

Madame Caline nodded. "We're going about this in the right way, but also the wrong way. We need to question M Bourgeois's competence as mayor as well, if he's abusing his power in the manner which he does, including handing over control of the government without a second thought to a terrorist during the events of Rogercop, and providing everything his daughter wants even if he has to usurp EVERYONE else's authority and judgement. He's brash, inflexible, and the stereotypical cartoon entitled parent villain getting everything for his 'perfect' little entitled brat."

"Right," Nathaniel agreed, munching on an apple he'd gotten from his bag. "If we don't go after the mayor too, he'll just abuse his authority to try and get her off scot-free again."

"And he's making high-ranking diplomats stay at his hotel while simultaneously inflating prices for those high-ranking members too, which is completely against the law," Ivan said, ruffling through a few pages of the thick law book he always kept in his locker. "That was an issue with Donald Trump, too, and combined with other transgressions, it meant impeachment."

"I've got a thing with Ladybug coming up," Alya muttered. "She can confirm some of this stuff with Queen Bee, and if we can get her little creature to testify against her too."

"Little creature?" Juleka asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You remember when we first caught Queen Bee on footage at the fashion show where Style Queen established herself?" Alya elaborated. "She opened a box and put a pin in her hair. When she said 'buzz on', a little creature got sucked into her hair comb."

"I can speak to Ladybug and she can make sure to get the little creature." Marinette tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and pushed the camera button again. She moved a few inches to take a picture of the other page and snapped. "She comes over a few times a weeks for cookies for her own little creature, I can usually manage to get her some extras."

"Chat Noir usually comes by my house once or twice a month to play video games as a stress-relief method," Adrien added. "It's... Friday the fourth, and he always comes on the eighth. We should have his testimony before the ninth, or I can convince him to reschedule a few things to get a recording of what he has to say. When are we planning the court case to go through?"

"In a few months, when we have enough collected evidence."

Miss Bustier picked up one of the still-closed notebooks, and riffled through a few pages. "Most of this isn't technically illegal at the time it was recorded."

"But it is enough to establish a pattern of untrustworthiness and something akin to torture," Ivan muttered.

"I've got paperback copies back at my house to corroborate a lot of this. Juleka does to, and so does Alya. That IS when bullying became illegal. She knew about it, and nothing about her behaviour was changed."
"I took a few photos of the particularly nasty incidents when they occurred, too, as I was writing them," Marinette added. "It goes back a few years. Changing the time indexes on the digitals are beyond my level of understanding."

"Not to mention the way handwriting style develops over time," Nathaniel added. "It changes as you grow older. Your writing might've gotten sloppier, neater, more blocky, more spacey, smaller, larger, and it might fluctuate between for certain letters or words. But there's one thing I know for sure: your style changes as your hands get bigger, and unless you hold a pen ridiculously awkwardly or got someone else to write for you, which is unlikely given the way we see your handwriting get neater in some places and sloppier in others, or when it's rushed, throughout the years in sequence and the way your spelling also gradually improves, this is from a person with around twelve percent smaller hands than us 10th graders, give or take four percent."

So we can prove this all came from the same person," Mylene smiled This might actually work. "Smart. But, just to corroborate, Ivan, your mom knows a handwriting person, right?"

"Yup."

They kept going until absolutely everything was airtight and her daddy couldn't protect her. They assigned roles, then, to get her father removed from office to ensure he couldn't get her out on a technicality as soon as the charges were laid. Or at the very least, make sure they could charge the Mayor with obstruction of justice if he tried.

Marinette slept better that night than she had in four years.