I've had several people comment about Lila being an empousa, and I'd just like to say, I wish I'd thought of that.

Chapter 27: The Horrible, Terrible, No Good Day Continues

"I'm way too sore for this," Chat Noir complained when he landed next to Ladybug. "Firestarter was enough akumas for one day."

Ladybug rolled her eyes. "It's Ryuko. She was akumatized back into Riposte."

Honestly, Ladybug had been expecting something like this. Today had been a stressful day for everyone. Between Kagami being stressed out over that B (it was a hard assignment! Ms Tomoe really needed to lay off of her daughter), Alya getting kicked out of the school blog, and Lacy being picked on all morning by Lila and getting caught in an akuma attack during lunch, Ladybug had had a pit in her stomach telling her one of her friends was going to be akumatized.

Sometimes, she hated being right.

Riposte looked the same as last time they had fought her, but now she had the added power of turning random civilians into fencing partners. Ladybug was tempted to let her continue, to see if it was possible for her to burn her anger out, but the damage she was creating was too big to ignore.

"I vote for bringing in more heroes," Chat Noir requested.

"Already?" Ladybug questioned.

"I'm sore," Chat Noir whined.

"Okay, okay."

Ladybug thought for a moment. She'd need Carapace for his shield, Kota for her agility, and of course Ryuko was their best fencer-

Except Ryuko was the current akuma victim. And if Chat Noir was sore from Firestarter, then so would Carapace, who was much less experienced. And Lacy had been in that attack as a civilian - she deserved the afternoon off.

So who else?

The only other person on the team as athletic as Ryuko was Roi Singe. His power wouldn't be useful here, but his strength and athletic inclination would be.

Viperion would be another good ally. With his second chances, he'd had no doubt seen Ryuko fight a lot. He would know her fighting style well.

"I'm going to get Ryuko and Viperion," Ladybug said. She hesitated. "And do you remember Adrien?"

"Aspik?" Chat Noir questioned, surprised. "Why?"

"Adrien's Kagami's fencing partner," Ladybug said. "I bet he'd be helpful."

Chat Noir visibly hesitated, and then shook his head. "I... uh, I think I saw him ride off in his limo. Probably under guard and everything. Not a great idea." Chat Noir scratched the back of his neck.

"Well, then it'll be just the four of us," Ladybug said, feeling disappointed. She liked working with Adrien, and she also would have liked having a good fencer on her side while taking on Riposte. Chat Noir was talented, but if he was still worn out from Firestarter...

"I'll be back."

Lacy nervously sat on the edge of couch, watching Nora bring over two glasses of water.

"You okay?" Nora questioned, handing Lacy the glass of water.

Lacy nodded. "Yeah, just been a bad day today."

Attacked by an akuma and a monster in the same day. What fun.

Neither were exactly rare occurrences. Lacy may not have the strong scent other, more powerful demigods had, but she definitely had the bad luck. The empousa who had attacked her had been targeting someone else, and it was just Lacy's luck that the empousa had noticed her.

"Don't empousa usually travel in packs?" Lacy questioned.

"Sometimes," Nora confirmed. "But not always. Most monsters don't always stick the same pattern. And stray empousa are especially common here. We also have a few Celtic and Norse monsters that like to visit. And then there's the creepy ones that hang around the catacombs."

Lacy shuddered. The whole idea of the catacombs creeped her out.

"But none of them are a match for me, of course," Nora said. "So, what are you doing in Paris, Little L?"

Lacy grimaced at the Area cabin's nickname for her - started by Clarisse, back when she and Silena were inseparable. At camp, Lacy got teased a lot about being both Silena's and Piper's favorite (she was, in fact, Piper's favorite sister, but that's only because she was the first to treat her decently). With Silena having been so close to Clarisse, and Piper being respected by the Ares cabin for her part in the Giant War, Lacy had ended up with a nickname.

Also, she had immunity for being beat up, but that was more because Piper could be scary, and it extended to the rest of the cabin as well.

"My family moved here," Lacy said. "My dad's a therapist, and I think my family was started to get annoyed with all the almost apocalypses in New York."

It was more complicated than that. Brooklyn specifically wasn't safe, because of Egyptian magicians, and that was only the reason why they moved away - there were a lot of reasons why they chose to move to Paris. But Lacy didn't feel like explaining all of that.

Nora snorted. "You picked quite a city to move to. Not exactly the safest place here either."

"I noticed," Lacy replied. "But no one warned us of that before hand."

"I wish I could get my sisters out of here," Nora admitted.

Lacy nodded. It was well known at camp that Nora had three full sisters - a rarity for demigods, even considering the youngest two were twins. And children of Ares could get very protective when they cared about someone.

The door freaked open, and Nora peaked down the hallway.

"Speaking of sisters," Nora said.

Nora's sister peaked her head in, and Lacy was surprised to recognize her.

"Alya?"

"Hey, Lace," Alya greeted. "Nora."

"You two know each other?" Nora questioned.

"Yeah, Lacy's in our class," Alya said, dropping her backpack on the ground and heading into the kitchen. "Why? Have you two met?"

"Funny enough, yeah," Nora said. "Lacy attends that camp I was telling you about."

"Cool." Alya grabbed a glass, poured some orange juice, and heading out of the kitchen. "I have homework, I'll talk to you later."

"Yeah," Nora agreed.

Lacy and Nora watched her disappear.

"Somethings up," Nora stated.

Lacy nodded. Alya had looked depressed the entire time, though she hid it well.

"Hope Lila didn't do anything," Lacy said. "She's been a menace recently."

"I should go talk to her," Nora said. "Can you find your way back to your place okay?"

Lacy nodded. "I'll be fine." Unless today decides to throw another attack on me. She still smelled of smoke, even after showering off.

Lacy stood up and reached for her bag, but paused. "You haven't told Alya yet, have you?"

"Of course not," Nora snapped. "It's too risky. Her scent would be stronger, and then I'd have to take her to camp to train."

Lacy frowned. "What's wrong with that? Alya's past the age she's supposed to be claimed by. And learning about being a demigod - well, it could help her."

It had helped Lacy. Her dad sent her to camp a lot younger than most as a way to boost her confidence after an awful school year. Camp Half-Blood wasn't just filled with demigods, but a bunch of teenagers who had similar struggles. Talking with her cabin about having ADHD and dyslexia had been eye-opening for Lacy, especially after everything her teacher that year had put her through because he didn't believe she actually had ADHD.

Alya likely had similar problems, though Lacy didn't know her well enough to be sure. She definitely had ADHD symptoms, like her ability to hyper-focus on something for hours. And like Lacy, she had specifically transferred that year to Francois DuPont, a school known for helping students with learning disabilities (a reputation Lacy was beginning to think they didn't deserve, but that was besides the point).

Nora hesitated. "I don't think she's ready for it."

"She chases superheroes," Lacy argued.

"And I wish she would stop," Nora countered. "But that's not my point. I just don't think she'd fit in with my cabin."

It was a good point. The children of Area were very aggressive - and while Alya could be stubborn, she wasn't violent.

"Lots of demigods don't 'fit in' with their cabin," Lacy argued. "Piper, AJ, Minnie, Butch - do not tell him I said that - Leah, Becca, Alex C - none of them fit in. But they still learn a lot from camp, and they're all involved with their cabin now."

Nora sighed. "You have a point. I guess. But it's my decision."

"At the moment," Lacy said. "You never know what might happen."

Especially on a day like today, she grumbled internally.

Marinette dragged herself up the stairs to Fu's apartment.

Fu let her in, and offered her some tea before fetching the miracle box.

"Choose an alley you can trust," he said as the box opened.

Marinette immediately went for the monkey and snake miraculous.

"If you don't mind me asking, this latest akuma is Ryuko, correct?" Fu questioned.

Marinette nodded. "Kagami's has a rough day today. We all have."

Fu raised an eyebrow. "Did something happen?"

"You mean besides the fire akuma earlier?" Marinette questioned. "Well, Lila was being herself today. She was picking on Lacy all morning - and she got Alya kicked off of the school blog! Alya was so disappointed, and I'm just so mad about it." Marinette noticed her hands had clenched into fists, and she forced herself to relax. "And it's not only that. I think - I think the stress of it all is getting to me."

"You do have a stressful job," Fu observed. "I wish I could do more to help."

"Perhaps there is something more that you could do," Tikki piped up. "Luka was teaching Marinette some relaxation techniques earlier. If you have any you could show her-"

"I would be happy to show you some," Fu said. "Not tonight, unfortunately - I have a customer in a few minutes."

"And I have a job to do," Marinette added. "But thank you. I'll take you up on that."

Chat Noir was trying to focus.

His shoulders were sore. His hands were sore. His legs were sore. His head was sore. Even his eyes felt sore.

If Riposte knew who he was, he would be getting a verbal lashing for his poor fencing form right now. Kagami never let Adrien off easy while sparring. Thankfully, Riposte didn't know she was fighting her fencing partner, and was being (mostly) quiet about his apparent lack of fencing skills.

Adrien could beat Kagami, and Chat Noir could beat Ryuko, when they're evenly matched. He had before. But Riposte had a clear advantage here, and Chat Noir was struggling to keep up.

Riposte feinted and Chat Noir fell for it, leaving him open as Riposte moved in and disarmed him. She held her saber up to his throat.

"You're not usually this sloppy, Chat Noir," Riposte said. "You're taking all the fun out of it."

"Care for a rematch then? Best two out of three?"

Riposte snarled.

Chat Noir back up, heels hitting the edge of the rooftop they were on. Below him, his baton was laying motionless on the street.

Chat Noir smiled.

"What?" Riposte said.

"Don't you know cats always land on their feet?"

Chat Noir took an extra step backwards, falling off of the roof. He twisted and landed in a roll, the street slamming into his back.

Ow.

He reached for his baton, grabbing it just as Riposte landed on a car next to him.

"I don't think that counts as landing on your feet," she noted, sounded slightly confused.

Chat Noir straightened up. "It's the spirit of it. Now, rematch?"

Riposte snarled and attacked, forcing Chat Noir to block. Chat Noir dodged another thrust, backing up and then jumping on another car.

Riposte moved forward, jumping off her car and moving onto the street.

This time, Chat Noir attacked first, using the high ground as best as he could. Riposte still forced him to back up, and she jumped up onto the car.

Chat Noir attacked, pushing as much energy into each strike as he could. Riposte blocked with ease.

Riposte pushes forward, slamming her saber into his stomach and sending him flying off of the car onto the street.

"Best three out of five?" Chat Noir wheezed as Riposte approached.

"Only if you promise to be more interesting this time," Riposte replied.

Chat Noir rolled back onto his feet and fell into his fencing stance.

"Promise."

... and then he didn't.

(Just kidding. Or am I?)