Marcus burst through the door, startling Rena Rouge, and overdramatically flourished his cape.
"The time has come for us to right the wrongs that have been done unto-I can't do this," He broke down, snickering to himself, "I feel like a complete idiot."
"No, you're doing great." Kayla reassured him, using her cane to follow closely behind him. "Embrace the craziness of the situation, embrace it."
"Um, you two don't seem to be taking this as seriously as before." Rena pointed out to them.
Blame the costume, not the man behind it!" Marcus cried out.
"Once we've figured out a plan, we usually get a little more lighthearted about things." Kayla explained.
"Ok, so what's this plan you two figured out in there?"
"First, we betray everyone and steal all the miraculous-" Marcus began, but was cut off by Kayla elbowing him in the ribcage.
"Don't say that, she might believe you. What we're going to do is have you disguise him with an illusion to draw in Mayura, then he's going to use his hypnosis powers to convince her to give up her miraculous. One thing leads to another, hopefully everything goes according to plan and the villains are brought to justice."
"Right, and why must I be akumatized for this to work?"
"Because one illusion that can be hand waved away isn't going to be enough to fool them." Kayla clarified. "They know we have akumas and they know you make illusions, those two are on the run and suspicious of everything. We need to change things up if we're going to turn the tables on them." Rena stared apprehensively at the two for a long time. Thinking over her options one last time.
"Alright, let's do it." She held her flute out to them. Kayla pulled the last akuma out of her cane and approached Rena Rouge. When she was at arm's length away, she deposited the darkened butterfly onto her miraculous, the fox necklace. "Hey! What are you doing? I was giving you my flute to akumatize!"
"I wanted something that was going to be more secure with you. I believe you're less likely to lose the source of your power wrapped around your neck than you are to lose a stick you carry on your back." Kayla smiled reassuringly. "Now then, I'm giving you the power to make your illusions real, and to make as many as you want. In return, I only aske that you do one thing for me, bring me Mayura's miraculous!" Dark smoke enveloped the fox as she transformed into her alternate self.
"Now, instead of Rena Rouge, we'll call you Phantom Rouge." Kayla declared with joy. For the most part she looked the same as she did before, the only difference being the white highlights of her costume had all been turned black.
"Everything is now ready," Marcus declared, "You'll set up the trap, I'll activate it, and Ladymoth will manage from the sidelines."
"Got it. How do your hypnosis powers work then?" Phantom Rouge questioned.
"Well, when it's on my wrist, I can quickly hold it up and blast some kind of hypno-beam thing for quick possession," he held up the watch and the swirls began to spin in a mesmerizing motion, "but if I want to fully control someone, the watch comes off my wrist and is attached on this chain," he demonstrated by elegantly flicking the watch into the air and catching it, "then I swing it back and forth entrancingly to more thoroughly possess them." He let go of the watch and it automatically retracted back to his wrist.
"Ok, let's go out there and do this!" Kayla declared, pumping her fist into the air, and immediately pulling down, wincing from the effort. "I knew I pulled something back there." She turned around, hobbling out the door and flexing her arm tenderly.
"I guess we're actually doing this," Phantom Rouge stated in disbelief, "We're finally going to put an end to Hawkmoth and Mayura's reign of terror over Paris!"
"Wonderful enthusiasm." Marcus commented. "Now, I'd like you to make an illusion of Adrien, yourself but as Rena Rouge, Ladymoth but as Lady Vengeance, and myself but as Hawkmoth. We're going to pretend to trick him by claiming we took Adrien hostage. I'm sure one way or another, someone's going to try and grab him, at that point, you get rid of the Adrien illusion and pretend that Rena Rouge only has a few minutes left before she transforms back. That should fool everyone into believing we're out of tricks, at which point we set our main plan into motion." She nodded and casted the requested illusions. The expanded group made their way outside where Ladymoth was already waiting for them.
"Ooh, new members of the team. I really like the one with the wings, she's cute."
"That's because you're always cute," Marcus smiled at her, "which reminds me, the three people who are real here should probably be invisible so as to not reveal the trick." Phantom Rouge played a short tune on her flute and the three of them disappeared. Lady Vengeance aimed her bow into the air and fired a streaking arrow of fire into the sky. The group waited for a moment before a large figure crested the rooftops. It was a massive butterfly, with Mayura and Gabriel riding atop it and Ladybug and Chat Noir trapped in its legs. The creature landed, keeping the heroes caught underneath while the two villains dismounted.
"So, you three finally decide to participate in this battle, well I'm afraid you're too late. As you can see, I've captured Ladybug and Chat Noir, and now I will have absolute power!"
"That's great!" Marcus called out to him. "I'm really happy to see you achieve your dreams. Does this mean you'll leave us alone now?"
"I-what?" Gabriel looked at the fake Hawkmoth with utter confusion.
"Well, you got what you've been after and now you're going to rule over Paris or something evil like that, which means Lady Vengeance and I won't be in the way of anymore of your plans, right?"
"You don't care that I'm going to reveal their identities and seize absolute power?"
"Oh please, by all means, reveal their identities, I sure don't care." Marcus waved off the matter dismissively.
"What!" Ladybug and Chat Noir shouted in unison.
"But you're working with them, don't you heroes need to keep your identities a secret?" Gabriel stuttered, just as confused as the heroes.
"Sir, we burned down half of Parris last night, do you really think we're on good terms with each other?"
"Fine," Gabriel growled, "You may not care if I reveal them to all of Paris, but you'll probably care if I reveal you as well."
"Which brings me back to my point, if you want to let this small incident of one tiny misdeed slide just this once, I promise not to interfere with anymore of your schemes in the future."
"And you'll return the butterfly miraculous to me?"
"Actually, I was planning on keeping that." Marcus gave a nervous smile.
"Then I'm afraid we don't have a deal. You'll give me that miraculous or I'll reveal your identity along with these two." Gabriel grinned threateningly.
"Well, I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice." He nodded to Vengeance and she pulled Adrien out from behind her and threw him on the ground. "You'll release those two and you won't reveal my identity to anyone, then Mayura will give up her miraculous as well. I'd hate to find out what happens otherwise."
"What are you doing?" Ladybug cried out. "Let him go right now!"
"You do know I'm negotiating your release, right?"
"You wouldn't dare do anything to my son!" Gabriel cried defiantly.
"Not unless you push me far enough," Marcus retorted, "you probably know very well how far your willing to go to get what you want, do you know how far I'm willing to go?" The two stared resolute in their motives, daring the other to back down first. Lady vengeance turned her weapon into her classic sword and leaned on it patiently while Mayura looked between them, silently strategizing.
"Fine," Gabriel broke first, "you hand over my son and I'll let you keep the miraculous, as a bonus, I won't say a single thing about who you are."
"Deal." Ladybug and Chat Noir collectively gasped a second time."
"Hey! What happened to negotiating our release?"
"Eh, since we came to an agreement about the only point I cared about, I'm willing to make the deal. Setting you two free was just an optional bonus." Enraged, Ladybug struggled with all her might and burst free from the sentimonster's grasp. She leaped down to the ground, hurling her yo-yo towards Lady Vengeance, knocking her backwards and grabbing Adrien at the same time.
"You're coming with me-wait what?" She faltered as her yo-yo tore through the illusion of Adrien in a puff of smoke.
"Gee, thanks Ladybug," Marcus sighed, "everything was going according to plan." And it still is, he thought to himself.
Thank you for the wait, I'm glad to be back in the swing of things. This story will be wrapping up soon, but I still have a great desire to write more fanfiction in the future. I'm glad to see all the support and appreciation from everyone and will be looking forward to what comes after this.