"What is this place?" Rena asked, looking around the large empty space.
"I don't know," Marcus replied, "I've only been in here once and the lights weren't on for it. However, over there is the garden that supplies the akumas. I can't tell you what that object is either."
"Let's not waste any time then." Kayla stated, stumbling to her feet.
"Are you able to walk?" Rena asked.
"I can make it." She declared, leaning against the railing. She turned her sword into a staff and tried to walk. She only took one step before loosing her balance, causing Marcus to grab her.
"Lean on me a little." He directed. Kayla obliged, using both him and her staff for support. The three of them crept their way towards the garden to investigate. "If only we had that annoying girl here to record this."
"What annoying girl?" Rena demanded.
"The girl who runs the blog, she tries to record everything Ladybug related and sometimes ends up making things worse." Marcus clarified.
"Well, it sounds to me like she's a determined journalist and is just trying record Ladybug's story." Rena said rather defensively.
"Maybe, but I feel like she takes it a little far sometimes. Just today, I revealed my identity in front of her, practically fell out of her arms while doing it, and her first reaction was to grab her phone and-"
"Wait, what were you doing in her arms?" Kayla asked, confused.
"Remember how I told you I was interrupted in my escape when the people in that bakery left me with the teenagers, I was being looked after by them for just a second and you know what some people are like around kids."
"Woah woah woah, hold on a minute. How small of a child were you?" Kayla inquired.
"Pretty small, I was trying to look inconspicuous."
"Were you being held?"
"Hey, we should probably continue our investigation into this underground lair here, right?" Marcus tried to deflect the conversation, but to no avail.
"Oh my gosh, you totally were." Kayla rested her head on his shoulder, giving him a teasing smile.
"I was not!" Marcus cried.
"Yes, you were, don't deny it! Fox girl, is that what happened?"
"Oh yea, that's totally what happened." Rena added, snickering to herself. "The name's Rena Rouge, by the way."
"You stay out of this, you weren't even there." Marcus handed Kayla over to Rena. "You two become acquainted with each other, I'm going to investigate what we came here for." He walked off in an embarrassed huff.
"He doesn't like it when people treat him like a child," Kayla explained, "he wants to be an adult, but I can get away with teasing him from time to time."
"When did you meet him?" Rena asked.
"I've known him since the second grade. He always tried to act like the bigger kids and eventually, the adults. He wanted to move out on his own too, his parents said they would pay for his place if he would study hard and call them regularly. We were such great friends that, when he moved out, I tagged along to keep him company."
"And your parents let you?"
"Well, I agreed to visit them often. It's difficult living all by yourself, so I made sure he wasn't lonely."
"May I ask why or even how you stole the miraculous from Hawkmoth and became villains?" Rena inquired hesitantly. Kayla looked onward in silence for a while, contemplating, until she decided to speak again.
"After a couple months into living alone, Mar-uh, Hawkmoth became restless. People were still treating him like he was too young to be self-sufficient and it started to aggravate him."
"If he was becoming angry, wouldn't Hawkmoth, uh the old Hawkmoth I mean, target him?" Rena asked.
"If he ever got angry, yes, but he doesn't get very emotional over a lot of stuff. He's got a slight problem paying attention to things and unless something really peaks his interest, he gets very bored very fast."
"Really? That sounds like a hassle to deal with."
"It does get annoying sometimes." Kayla lamented. "On stressful days, when I just want to unwind, he wants to get something done, doesn't even matter what. These last few weeks have been the most focused I've ever seen him."
"Gals!" Marcus called to them frantically. "I found something, and it is very disturbing." The two hobbled as fast as they could. When they caught up with Marcus, he pointed towards the large white object in the center of the garden.
"Oh my God," Rena exclaimed, "who is that?" Everyone stared in shock at the sight of what was inside the container. It was a woman, young and blond. She looked like she was sleeping inside.
"Is she dead?" Kayla asked.
"I don't really know any other option." Marcus stated. "We should get out of here, this place is becoming scarier by the second." He grabbed Kayla's free arm and lifted her up with the help of Rena Rouge. They carried her to the other side of the bridge where they found an elevator.
"Where does this go?" Kayla asked.
"Away from here." Marcus answered, opening the doors to the elevator.
"Wait, what bout Adrien?" Kayla questioned. "Could Gabriel's son be in on this?"
"No way!" Rena declared. "Adrien is way too kindhearted to do anything like this!"
"We've never seen anyone else working with Hawkmoth the way Mayura does," Marcus rationalized, "He probably keeps his son out of this side of his life. Besides, I doubt Adrien would be ok with whatever that is back there." The three of them entered the elevator. After a short ride, they emerged into a large, open room with various artworks decorating the walls.
"We need to stop this man, here and now!" Rena declared. "This house and that man are messed up and need to be brought to justice."
"I like your enthusiasm, but if we just run after him, we aren't going to accomplish anything." Marcus replied.
"In other words, we need a plan." Kayla smiled deviously towards Marcus. "Also, why doesn't this guy have any chairs in this room?"
"Here, lean on this screen." Rena guided her to a solitary monitor standing just in front of them. "So, what do you two have in mind then?"
"Our biggest concern right now is Mayura," Marcus stated, "if we can take away her miraculous, then they'll be finished. So, how are we going to get close enough to take it?"
"We would need to lure her into a trap," Rena offered, "bring her in with something and then take her by surprise."
"Yes, of course! Great idea." Marcus exclaimed. "Now what would we set the trap with?"
"What if you offered to give up your miraculous?" Kayla suggested. "If you offer to hand it over, she would have to get close enough that you'd be able to take hers."
"That's a big risk to take there." Marcus commented. "We'd be endangering our only bargaining chip here."
"But what if it wasn't in any danger? What if it was an illusion?" Kayla looked to Rena and she stepped back in surprise.
"Oh, you want me to use my powers? I guess I could do it, what would you need me to do?"
"If we switch our powers around, so that I'm Hawkmoth and you're something else, we can have Rena cast an illusion to make it look like you're giving up the miraculous, setting up the trap."
"That could work," Marcus admitted, "will you be assisting us while we work?"
"I'm still not recovered from carrying you both in that cavern," Kayla admitted, "you'll be on your own on this one."
"I'm afraid once I cast my illusion, I won't have much time to stick around either." Rena said dishearteningly.
"What if you could stay transformed a little longer?" Kayla asked suggestively.
"What do you mean by that?" Rena questioned her nervously.
"Well, we have a spare akuma, it would be a shame if we didn't use it in this final confrontation."
"You want to akumatize me?" She stepped back again in shock.
"Yes. We could make your powers stronger or give you a completely new set of powers to work with." Marcus reasoned. "You would be able to do so much more than a one-time illusion." Rena contemplated her options, she wanted to stop Mayura and Gabriel, but didn't know if was worth letting herself be akumatized.
"Well, if we can finally put an end to all of this, then I'd be willing to give it a try," She declared.
"Wonderful, now if you'll excuse us, we need to switch our powers around." Marcus hoisted Kayla onto his shoulder and led her out of the room. "You good to go?"
"I'll be able to run when the time comes," Kayla replied, "although I'm unsure about any combat, I really think I pulled a muscle back there holding you two up. Did you get the materials?"
"Sure did, I was able to find a branch with three cocoons on it." He pulled out a little stem, with the aforementioned cocoons hanging in a neat row. "Thanks for keeping her occupied, what were you talking about anyways?"
"Oh, I was weaving some sob story about how you weren't being taken seriously, so you stole the miraculous and caused trouble to earn respect from people." Kayla said in a blunt tone.
"Why would you give that reason for me?" Marcus inquired, removing Kayla's powers, and taking off the pin.
"Because I didn't want to get into a long discussion explaining why you did all of this just for date night." She placed the pin on her shirt. "Dark wings rise! Besides, I think she empathizes with you now, we'll be able to Trick her more easily after this."
"How devious." Marcus gave an evil grin as he handed her the stem. "So, what power should I have to subdue a supervillain and escape from heroes once the time comes?"
"It would need to be able to affect multiple people, so I wouldn't go with transformation."
"Why not? Since we're 'enlisting' the help of our illusionary friend out there, she could deal with the heroes after we've defeated Mayura, then we can transform into something inconspicuous and escape during the chaos."
"I don't know how helpful she'll be once we tell her to turn on her friends." Kayla pointed out.
"It doesn't matter, if we can get away for even a second undetected, then we'll be home free."
"If that's the case, then let's just let Rena handle the undetected part for us. She already makes illusions, it would be pointless to have a shapeshifting power as well. Also, you do realize you need to take the miraculous off of Mayura before we can make our escape. What would you transform into that would help you do that?" Marcus contemplated her reasoning for a minute before speaking again.
"You make a fair point, so you said something about being able to affect multiple people?"
"Yes, I'm thinking mind control. You can make Mayura give up her miraculous and, if need be, brainwash Rena into helping us fend off the others."
"Alright, I guess we have a plan then." Kayla released a butterfly from her cane and held it by her fingertips. She looked over Marcus and her expression became concerned.
"Um, what should I imbue with this butterfly?" Marcus reached into his pocket to pull out his phone but was surprised to find it missing. He realized he left it on the table in the Eiffel Tower earlier today and forgot to pick it up. He looked over himself frantically for something suitable when he felt his watch.
"Here, put the akuma in this." He held out his hand and Kayla looked at it skeptically. "Come on, hypnotists use these, right? The whole cartoony 'dangle the swirling watch in front of someone's face' routine?" She shrugged and placed the akuma into his watch. He regretted mentioning cartoons because what he transformed into was way worse
Marcus had been given the whole corny magician makeover, from a fancy, primary colored suit, to a flamboyant cape that seemed to flow in an invisible breeze. What topped it all off was the fact that his watch had now turned into a shining gold timepiece, complete with a black and white swirl on it.
"What is this ridiculous costume?" He cried in disbelief.
"Hey, you liked that ridiculous top hat, I gave you an equally ridiculous cape since I'm going to be Hawkmoth this round." Kayla smiled innocently. "I henceforth dub thee, Psychoknight, possessor of minds."
"I'm going to get you back for this." He warned her.
"Can't wait, but there's one more thing I'm concerned about. Even if we take the miraculous and manage to get away, Gabriel knows who we are and will most likely talk once he's taken care of."
"Oh, I can handle that, you don't need to worry about it."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means I'll make sure he won't talk. Now, let's get this over with, I want to be sitting by the river drinking orange sodas with you by tonight."