CW: mentions of child abuse/implied child abuse

Chapter 33: Fly On The Wall

"We need the mouse," Viperion said when Ladybug landed behind him.

He and Chat Noir were watching the akuma from a few rooftops away, through Chat Noir's baton camera.

"It's a small akuma," Chat Noir explained. "Vipe thinks that if we try to fight them at our current sizes, we run the risk of killing them."

Ladybug took a glance through the camera, noticing that it was zoomed in on the akuma.

"You're right," Ladybug said. "I'll grab Souris Rose."

"Maybe not," Viperion said. "What if the akuma comes out shrunk?"

Chat Noir nodded. "You should be the one fighting them, if you think you can wield two for that long."

Ladybug nodded. "I think so. I'll grab the mouse miraculous - you two stay here and keep an eye on the akuma."

"Got it."

"Tikki, Mullo, unite!"

Her new outfit was different than her costume as Multimouse, thankfully. She had a gray leather vest with black spots on the side, black sleeves with a red stripe, black pants, red boots, and gray arm and knee pads. Her hair was still in the two buns she had as Multimouse, but when she glanced in the mirror she noticed it was now a dark gray color with red stripes. Her mask was black with a gray and red outline.

"You look like a rockstar, Ladymouse," Chat Noir noted.

Ladybug grimaced. Her transformation had ripped off a design she had been working on that morning for Jagged Stone.

I'm going to have to start all over on that design.

"Okay, you two stay there and only intervene if something happens to me," Ladybug said.

Taking a running start, Ladybug leaped onto the rooftop.

"Multitude!"

Slowly, she felt herself split into tinier versions.

Her consciousness spread out to her various selves. It wasn't like her body - each self had her own thoughts, but she was aware of every one of her, like a choir of voices. It wasn't like anything else, but Ladybug was instantly used to it.

Her and the akuma were now the same size. Ladybug could clearly make out his outfit - solid black, with a purple butterfly mask and wings made out of paper.

His eyes widened. "I didn't know she could do that!"

"I'm full of tricks," one of the Ladybugs replied.

Half of her had yo-yos, the other half jump ropes. The yo-yo half now had on a red vest and red gloves, and the jump rope half now had pink accents instead of red. That was part of the added powers of combining the mouse miraculous - it separated the different powers between her selves.

The akuma snarled. "Listen, I don't want to fight you. But I have the advantage here. No matter how many little yous there are, I am the one with wings, Ladyb- wait, why don't you have wings?"

"Trust me, I've been asking myself that same question."

"Who designed your suit? Can you file a complaint?"

"I've tried!"

When Hawkmoth has akumatized his newest victim - Flyaway - he thought he'd stuck gold.

The kid was a strategic genius. And the pure terror that had been running through him had given Hawkmoth the opportunity to create a powerful akuma - one small enough to sneak and dodge attacks.

He hadn't counted on Ladybug utilizing the mouse miraculous, which did put her on similar footing as Flyaway. He definitely hadn't expected her to start a friendly conversation with him.

There was a reason he preferred angry akumas. The kid's fear meant that he wanted to attract less attention, which was frustratingly not what Hawkmoth wanted him to do. No angry rampages was bad PR for Hawkmoth's villain act.

"Flyaway!" Hawkmoth snapped. "If you want to keep your powers, you'll stop blabbering and get me her miraculouses!"

"Right," Flyaway replied. "Wait - miraculouses? Plural?"

"She's combined the mouse and ladybug miraculouses," Hawkmoth explained. "That's what gave her the extra power."

"Interesting," Flyaway said. "If I get you the ladybug and cat miraculous, can I keep the mouse?"

"Why would you - never mind. If you get me both, you can keep it. If not, I'll need the mouse to help me retrieve the other Miraculous."

"Deal."

Well, so much for their conversation.

Ladybug had been shocked at how non-aggressive the akuma, Flyaway, had been. In fact, he had been excellent conversation, and Ladybug had almost been enjoying the talk.

It hadn't all been fun. During that time Ladybug had discovered a few things - Flyaway was strategist, was definitely a feminist, and the akuma had to be in his wings.

Paper wings.

Ladybug had a plan, but she would need Chat Noir's help.

One of her ducked out to the side as the rest of her began the battle. "Chat Noir, I'm going to throw you my lucky charm. I need you to pour it on Flyaway. Viperion, start your second chance."

"Understood," Viperion replied.

"Whatever you say, my lady."

Flyaway was quick, and nearly impossible to hit. He rarely went on the offense, but his few blows had managed to land hard. One of her now had a broken shoulder.

But all Ladybug needed to do now was keep him occupied.

"Lucky charm!"

Ladybug adjusted her throw so the lucky charm - a bottle of water - was sent towards Chat Noir. Flyaway was occupied on the other side of the roof, and didn't even notice her powers being used.

Chat Noir took the long way across the roof, to keep from stepping on a Ladybug.

Viperion called out a warning, keeping Flyaway from knocking one of the Ladybugs off of the roof.

"On my signal, Chat," Ladybug said. She would need to dart away immediately. "Are you ready?"

"Ready."

"Three, two, one, now!"

Chat Noir dumped the water bottle.

All of Ladybug darted immediately, though a good half of her still got wet.

Flyaway had no warning, and was completely soaked. The water tore at his wings, releasing the akuma.

The akuma was also shrunk, so Ladybug was immediately capable of cleansing it.

She grew back to her usual size and joined the rest of the heroes - including Roi Singe, who must have arrived during the battle. She held her fist out for the fist bump.

"Pound i- what?"

"Uhhh, we didn't really do anything?" Chat Noir answered.

"I have no idea what happened," Roi Singe admitted.

Ladybug turned to Viperion, who looked a little queasy.

"Oh, come on! I want a fist bump!"

The three other heroes relented. "Pound it!"

Someone cursed.

Ladybug turned to the akuma victim, who had reverted back to his normal self. She recognized him from school, but she didn't think she'd ever talked to him.

"You okay?" Chat Noir asked, helping him stand up.

The boy's eyes were wide, and he looked scary pale.

"My dad's gonna kill me for getting akumatized," he whispered. Then he cursed again.

Ladybug's stomach dropped.

"He can't blame you," she reasoned. "It's beyond your control."

"He won't care," the boy answered.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Chat Noir said. "No one recorded the fight - he has no way of knowing you were the akuma victim."

"Yeah, just say you were stuck at school for something," Roi Singe added. "No one needs to know."

The boy nodded once. Then again. "Yeah, that'll work."

Ladybug gritted her teeth. Who was this kid's father, that made him so scared?

"How about I take you home," Chat Noir suggested. "Make sure you get there as soon as possible."

"Yes, please."

Ladybug watched as Chat Noir grabbed hold of the kid, warned him to hold on, and vaulted away.

She turned to the other heroes. Viperion looked even more queasy, and Roi Singe had an unreadable expression.

Two things hit Ladybug at once:

Why did her allies seem almost used to the idea of being punished for being akumatized? She was aware that Viperion didn't have a good relationship with his father, and had suspected Chat Noir wasn't close to his father, but this was taking it another step.

But more importantly:

Hawkmoth is going down.

Chat Noir dropped the boy off around the corner from his house.

"You're going to be alright?" Chat Noir asked.

The boy forced a fake smile. "Yeah, I guess. Thanks for the help."

"Of course." Chat Noir gave an exaggerated bow.

The boy headed to his home, and Chat Noir took off.

He didn't want to go home. Something about this akuma - and Ladybug's reaction - set him on edge.

And he wasn't the only one who had been on edge after the fight.

Chat Noir detransformed in an alley near the Seine, and headed towards the Liberty.

Luka was on the deck, meditating. Adrien gave a shout from the sidewalk to get his attention, and he invited him on board.

"Did the victim get home okay?" Luka asked, his voice softer than usual.

"Yeah," Adrien said. He took a seat across from Luka. "Are you okay?"

"I will be," Luka said. "That battle was rough."

"You looked a little sick at the end," Adrien noted.

Luka sighed. "Sometimes I wish I had a different miraculous."

Adrien winced, remembering his time as Aspik. That had been rough on him, and he still had nightmares.

"But I'll handle it," Luka said.

"And he'll say something if he can't," Sass added. The kwami was curled up under Luka's knee, not in the shadows but hidden from view from the shore.

"If I'm being honest," Luka said. "That's not the only thing bugging me. When the boy was talking about his father, it reminded me a little of mine."

"Really?"

Adrien didn't know anything about Luka's father, outside of a few rumors that it might be Jagged Stone. He personally had thought he might've disappeared or died, like his own mother, but now that didn't look like the case.

"He... wasn't nice," Luka stated. "If mom was still with him, I can only imagine how he would have taken me and Jules being akumatized. It's not a pleasant reminder."

Adrien didn't know what to say to that.

"I'm sorry," he eventually settled on.

"It's okay. I haven't seen him in years. Now, I can easily see why overreacting about an akumatization is wrong."\

Adrien shifted awkwardly. His own father would react badly to Adrien being akumatized - he was the face of the brand, it would look bad for everyone. He hadn't thought about it much, since he had other reasons not to be akumatized.

Luka raised an eyebrow. "I mean that for your father as well."

"He has his reasons," Adrien defended. "I'm the face of the brand - it would look bad for everyone if I was akumatized. Not that that would happen - as Chat Noir, I have to keep myself from being akumatized anyways."

"He doesn't know that," Luka said. "And plenty of famous people get akumatized. Jagged Stone, Clara Frighteningale, Mayor Bourgeois. It didn't reflect badly on them."

"It doesn't matter anyways," Adrien said. "Like I said - I'm Chat Noir, I can't be akumatized."

"The snake kid's right," Plagg said, from Adrien's shirt pocket. "It isn't okay to judge someone by what someone else does to them."

Adrien opened his mouth to argue, but found he didn't have a response. What he was supposed to say? People are responsible for what other people do? Akumatizations are the victims fault?

"Fine," Adrien said. "You're right. But I still say it doesn't matter."

Marinette found the notebook in the bottom most drawer, on the bottom. The list was in the back of the notebook.

How to Beat Hawkmoth
Step one: get better. train. make sure CN and I are ready for a one-to-one battle

In the margins was note scribbled in, dated for Heroes Day. Not even close to ready.

That needed to change. Hawkmoth may not leave physical damage, but he was still leaving damage. Marinette was sick of it.

She turned to an empty page in her notebook, and began writing.

How To Improve:
Fitness classes?
More training
Teamwork training

Marinette tapped her pencil against the paper, thinking. What else? Was there research she could do?

"Sleep more," Tikki said.

"Huh?"

"If you're going to take Hawkmoth down, you'll have to be well-rested," Tikki explained. "Sleep more. Take breaks. Eat more often and eat better."

"But I'm so behind-"

"Then prioritize," Tikki said. "But your health comes first."

Marinette wrote it down. Sleep more. She tapped her pencil again, before bringing out her laptop.

She opened Google, and started searching.

how to improve sleep

Alya grabbed Lacy by the shoulder when she entered the classroom and pulled her into the front corner.

"Somethings up," Alya explained.

Lacy glanced out at the class, and, yeah, Alya was right. Kim was over-compensating - being louder, bigger, and just more. Adrien was staring at his empty desk, deep in thought. And Marinette looked angry, scribbling and erasing things in her notebook.

"I have no clue," Lacy said. "Something last night must have happened. Where there any akumas?"

Alya hesitated.

"No," she lied.

Okay.

"Come on," Alya said. "We're talking to her about it."

"We? She's your best friend?"

But Alya was already tugging Lacy over to the desk.

"Everything okay, girl?" Alya asked.

Marinette looked at her suspiciously. "Yes. Why?"

"You seem a little angry," Lacy replied.

"Oh, I am."

"At who?" Alya questioned.

"Hawkmoth." Marinette slammed her pencil down. "I've had enough of him! He thinks he can just - like he -" Marinette made an incomprehensible noise.

"Mood," Alix said, appearing behind Lacy. She tapped Lacy's shoulder. "Can I talk to you?"

Lacy nodded, and they walked over to their desk.

"What is it?" Lacy asked.

"I think Kim might be a demigod."

"What?"

To be continued on Wednesday