Marinette and Chat were sitting in Master Fu's living room, staring at the phone.
"She said she would call about this time." Marinette looked around.
"Where is she?"
"She just said, somewhere safe." Chat shook his head. "She should have stayed closer."
"I—' Master Fu fell silent as the phone beeped. Marinette answered it.
"Is everyone there?" Skitter asked.
"Chloe, Ryuko, Carapace and Rena are on the other lines, let me merge the call," Marinette said.
Moments later, it was done.
"Good," Skitter said. "You have the transcript. Opinion?"
"He's lying," Chat said. "He just wants our miraculouses. If he can get close to all of us…"
"Yeah," Chloe said. "Boo hoo, this is why I'm terrorizing Paris."
"He just needs the Black Cat and Ladybug," Skitter said. "He knows that there are four others active, and they're all powerful fighters in their own right."
"You believe him?" Master Fu asked.
"I think… he believes he needs a wish, and it isn't for anything easy. What can a wish do?"
"I can change reality," Marinette said.
"But what does that mean?" Skitter asked. "We can all change reality."
Master Fu fell silent for a moment, then nodded to himself. "Skitter. I must have your oath that you will say nothing of what is said here."
"You know my world is ending."
Master Fu was silent for a moment. "Very well. Than your oath that nothing short of that, not the death of your parents, nor the loss of your friends, will cause you to speak of this."
"Very well."
"And that goes for all of you," Master Fu said. "The secret we are about to speak of will be heavy."
"We can handle it," Rena said.
"Really? Will you be so certain when you know that your mother has seen her last sunrise? Or when the police tell you of a tragic accident involving your child?"
There was silence, stretching out. Then Rena spoke again, her voice far quieter. "I… yes."
"Very well, Marinette, Adrien, withdraw behind the partitions and detransform. We must speak to Plagg and Tikki about what is meant by "changing reality.""
Marinette went behind the screen, then said "spots off!" She heard Chat Noir also changing back. The temptation to peek was old and easily resisted.
"Hello, Skitter," Tikki said as she rose to speak to the phone in front of Master Fu. Marinette sat down and waited. She could hear, and if need be, speak, but she was equally interested in what the kwami would say."
In my hotel room in Calais, I heard the two voices. Light, like they were coming from small beings, but with odd overtones to them.
"You are Tikki, correct?"
"Yes."
"Master Fu…" I paused. "Claims that we can't use a wish, that it's not controllable, no matter the cause Hawkmoth intends. Even if he's honest about giving us the butterfly. Why is that?"
"You would give him a wish?" Tikki asked.
"Yes. What happens if one day half of Paris is burning and Ladybug slips on a banana and breaks her neck? The only reason you haven't seen casualties like an Endbringer fight is because of Ladybug and she's one person. So explain to me why a wish is off the table."
"You come from a hard world. Ladybug told me and showed me some of the images."
"Did she tell you I have a deadline?"
"Yes." There was a sigh. "Very well, we will tell you of how we entered your world. We hope you will understand why a wish cannot be used for such… small purposes. Not safely."
"Small?" I asked.
"I am not speaking morally, but in pragmatic terms. My unhoused form, what I am, is the principle of creation. I was born at the same time as the big bang. My younger brother, Plagg, came only a few moments later. The other kwami represent more… directed concepts, even if they are no less important. But we are eldest and for that reason our power is the most dangerous—and must be constrained."
"Like when you acc—"
"The dinosaurs?" Plagg spoke, cutting Chat off. There was no humor in his voice. Odd. Chat talks about his demands for cheese all the time. "I wanted them to develop faster, to change—so I made a little nudge. For me. And it set in motion a million years of mistakes, of bad luck. The asteroid was just one of the last steps. Without a focus, I was too much, too big for even an entire planet, at least when I tried to use my power in a directed sense."
The dinosaurs? Is he kidding? I didn't think so.
"So long ago, we learned how to work with… mortals, to build devices that let us interact on a smaller level," Tikki said.
"The Chinese wizards!" Ladybug said.
"No," Tikki sounded amused. "They made the miraculouses of Earth, but the first miraculouses were made just over one billion years after the big bang."
"By who?"
"They're long since gone." Plagg didn't bother to elaborate.
He didn't need to. There was no way a species would last billions of years.
"The miraculouses constrain our power, allowing us to interact, but making us less dangerous."
"And the wish?" I asked.
"Is the one function of the sorcery encoded into the miraculoues, and handed down, that removes our limiters, that permits us to channel much of what we really are. But it comes with dangers, for that power cannot be channeled effectively by a limited mind."
"We're limited?" Carapace asked.
"Compared to unchained creation and destruction? Yeah, kid, you really are," Plagg said. "We're eldest. Even time is younger than Tikki, and they're closer to my twin than my elder brother."
"And because of that, our wishes—a wish, doesn't simply act in the way you perceive time. It works both backwards and forwards to make the desire come true."
"Why the price?"
"We're balanced," Plagg said. "That's literally what we are—a balance. Use us and you buy into that."
"And using a wish is difficult, because…" Marinette sounded confused.
"Because you're trying to essentially play literal God when not long ago you were wondering what this thing called fire was and why did it bite?" Plagg sounded annoyed. "Worst of all, remember the part about working backwards? If you screw up, it may be hard to realize a wish was even made, depending on how it works out."
"So why do you have that ability and why leave records on how to make a wish if they're so dangerous? Why not just destroy the records and never speak of it again?" I was getting frustrated.
"September 26th, 1983." Plagg said. "That was the last time our chosen made a wish."
"I do not…" Master Fu said, puzzled.
"You wouldn't." Tikki said, and her voice was… Sad. "Something went wrong and suddenly, without warning, the world was at war, nuclear war. None of us ever learned why. You had barely made it out of Paris before the city burned, and Chat Noir… died. Ladybug was dying, so she took up both miraculouses and and called upon us. You warned her, so she specifically wished for the smallest change that would save the world."
"There's no nuclear war now, that's good." Chat Noir said, trying to sound amused. It didn't work.
"It is. Short of an actual extinction event, things probably couldn't get any worse," Plagg said. "But the Ladybug and Chat Noir of that time vanished. Even we don't remember them. It happened to other people, things, places, because the wish didn't blow up the missiles—it arranged things so they were never launched…and it may still be working out."
Nobody said anything, and I could understand why. That wasn't a power, or a tool—Plagg really was talking about playing God. But still…
"And using a wish to cure your loved ones?"
"It would be too small, too focused of an effect to work safely. Our powers are vast, spanning eons. The chance of something going wrong would be… almost certain," Tikki said.
"Like them dying?" Ryuko asked.
"No," Plagg said. "You are thinking far, far too small."
"Have wishes been used before 1983? For reasons you thought were wrong?"
"Yes." Plagg paused. "I will not speak of them. You're too young."
I'd seen a lot of stuff, but for some reason, the tone in his voice made me immediately drop the idea of ferreting out what he was talking about.
"So you see why we can only continue to battle Hawkmoth," Fu said.
"No. I don't see. Because how long do you want to keep this up? He's rich, I'm certain of it. Chloe's rich—what about everyone else? I bet some of you will need to get jobs in the future. Unless you're paying them?"
There was an uncomfortable silence.
"I won't stop defending Paris," Ladybug said, but there was a… hesitation in her voice.
"But if you're worrying about your job and whether you're about to be fired because you're out defending Paris…"
"As long as you're here, you have the same problem," Chloe pointed out.
"Not so much. Drug dealers keep a surprisingly large amounts of cash on hand."
I heard Chat snort at that.
"But you heard Tikki and Plagg," Marinette said. "If a wish—"
"My world has parahuman healers. Panacea, Othala, Scapegoat… and then we have Tinkers. They can't change the universe like this wish—but they can do… incredible things."
"We don't know if they will work, and don't some of them charge money?" Chat asked.
"I'll probably have money by the time we get back." I bet Tattletale is holding my share for me.
"But how can you be certain you'll have money if you can't brutalize random drug dealers with your bugs?" Chloe said, sounding terribly worried.
"If you control territory, you get a percentage of all activity," I told her. There's a chorus of sighs.
"Sometimes, I wonder if I'm missing out," Carapace said. "I mean, my school doesn't have a class in taking over and running a criminal territory. Maybe you should teach one, Skitter."
I can't help the smirk on my face, even if they can't see it. "I'll have to get my GED first. Then we can talk." The ease of the joke felts odd.
"But," Ladybug said, pulling us back on topic, "that means he'd have to trust us first, especially if the butterfly is the best way of getting you home."
"Not unless you agree to let him keep the butterfly."
"That cannot be allowed," Fu said. "He has misused the miraculous."
"And if we can give Hawkmoth what he wants, maybe he'll be willing to tell us where he got it from," I reminded him.
"It won't hurt to talk…" Chat murmured.
"Not as long as we're cautious." Marinette was silent. "Tomorrow. Chat and I will be on the phone with you, Skitter. I want to talk before we meet."
"This is not wise…" Master Fu said.
"It's just talking…" Rena said.
"If you're afraid of an akuma that can use mental influence, how about having Rena, Carapace or Ryuko reading the transcript of what we're saying. If we start to show any… effects, they can cut the call off." It wasn't the best Master/Stranger protocol, but Hawkmoth really didn't strike me as someone who could pull off his mind control on an unwilling host.
"That is not… Yes." Fu said nothing for a moment. "Then let us prepare. Remember, be vigilant. This may be a trap. Skitter, may I speak to you later tonight?"
I looked around the hotel room. My bugs showed no sign of intrusion and the security was fairly good. I assumed that Hawkmoth would probably check out the dives, first. "I can wait for your call."
"Good."
I went down and got something to eat at the cafe, waiting as the sun slowly set, and then my phone rang.
"Hello, Master Fu."
"Do you believe this is a wise course of action?" He sounded a little annoyed.
"Better than spending the rest of their lives playing defense? Yes."
"You have had an impact on them…"
"You mean I'm a bad influence." I paused. "You know, ladybug won't tell me who the others are, but she did say she picked them, herself."
"I trust her wisdom."
"A teen. Don't you think she could have used some experience?"
"You have powers."
"I didn't get them by choice. And I can't hand others out. Why did you pick them?"
"They were… well suited for the miraculous, innocent and kin—"
"Bullshit," I said. "That's the last thing you want. That's part of the reason they've been playing defense for so long, and if they are innocent, why did you dump them into this nightmare?"
"You think it's weakness?" He asks. "To avoid picking the ruthless? People like you?"
"I didn't start this way. Other's put me on this path." I pause. "You can be too ruthless, too brutal, but if they're kind and innocent, what happens when the stress hits? Tell me, they're all teens, so they all have to go to school, right?"
"What makes you think that?"
"The way they talk. The way Chloe acts. If they were younger than she was, or older, she'd act differently—even if she didn't know who they were, the dynamics would be different." I got back to my point. "And what happens when these kind teens find out that the world isn't going to accommodate them? When they're not being admitted to college, or can't get a job, or hell, they can't even leave Paris? Everyone may be cheering the heroes of Paris, but meanwhile they're looking at the people behind those masks like failures." I paused. "And when that happens, you may be surprised just how bad an 'innocent' hero can go."
"You speak from experience."
Yah. My innocence mostly died in the locker and what was left died when I realized Shadow Stalker was Sophia. "I do. How old are you?"
"Just under two centuries."
Holy shit. I shook my head. "Then you may want to think about this—things move faster for us. The difference 15 and 20 is a lot bigger than the difference between 25 and 35. You may barely remember that, hell, things were probably different, but right now, you're robbing them of the one thing they can't get any more of—time."
"And you are pushing us to negotiate with Hawkmoth for this reason alone? Getting home has nothing to do with it?"
"Of course it does." I rolled my head to relax some of the muscles, the spiders and wasps I kept hidden there moving to avoid being crushed. "But we can get both. Worst case, we learn more about him than we already know and can use that."
"In my old order, there were those like you. Pragmatic, willing to… Go to the extremes to see their goals carried out."
"What happened?"
"I am the last of the order. I will tell you in confidence, remembering that I am much older than the rest, and so will likely know if you betray this confidence, that I wonder if the miraculous were a mistake."
"The kwami like them."
"The kwami are not human. But before the end of the order, entire nations danced to its tune."
What would Earth Bet be without parahumans? Like this? A place where a drug dealer with a pistol and a knife is considered a big player?
"Skitter?"
"Just thinking. It's too big a question for me to answer right now."
"As it is me, and I've been thinking of it for some time." There was a pause. "But on the other hand, sometimes those pragmatic men and women I spoke of worked miracles and ended great evils… And I find it comforting that you decided to try to speak first. If any of the chosen speak to me, I will support you."
"Thank you," I said. The phone went dead and I stared at it. Almost two centuries. I shook my head. I'd need my rest before we contacted Hawkmoth. This conversation was going to be a turning point, for good or ill.
September 26th, 1983 is a real date. Google it if you want to know how terrifyingly close the world really did come to ending.