Marinette was finally aware of why sometimes when a victim after an Akuma atack wouldn't react to her and Chat's comforting words, or respond basic questions from anyone that wanted to help them. Things like 'are you ok?' and 'Any injuries?' that were usually answered with a 'I'm fine' because her Miraculous cure took care of the physical ailments. Now she knew that her cure didn't work on what happened to your head after something terrible. Because she realized, half an hour later, that she had been in a daze that whole time, that Adrien had tried talking to her at first to no avail, and that by when her brain started working again they had already decided to leave her alone.

And by they, she meant Adrien, Master Fu and… Chloe.

Marinette blinked a couple times, realizing she had been holding a cup of tea that was half on its way to going cold, and that Chloe was talking.

''It's not smoke, not really.. it's heavy and she controls it with her eye. wherever she looked at with her monocle open, the… fog or whatever, would go, and break things'' The blonde's voice sounded dull and sad, and she had a tear trail on both her cheeks. Instead of holding a cup of tea like Marinette was, Chloe was holding a yellow blob that Marinette quickly recognized.

''Pollen'' She whispered, prompting all three heads of her companions to turn to look at her, as if her presence was finally real.

''Mari! Are you ok? Wait of course you're not ok, sorry, but it's gonna be! Chloe here was explaining what she learned about-'' Adrien's word vomit was stopped by Fu's hand raising on front of his face.

''Marinette Dupain-Cheng, I'll ask this just once and will never do it again, no matter your answer'' Said the man, solemnly. Marinette wondered briefly if something else happened because the pain on the elder man's face didn't match with the situation, no matter how painful it was for HER. ''Are you still our Ladybug?''

Before the heroine could even open her mouth to answer, Adrien got up from his spot on the floor and started yelling at the old guardian, until Chloe stood up too and smacked his head with a fist.

''Adrien Agreste! SHUT-the hell-UP!'' The former Queen Bee yelled, and silence reigned in the room once again.

Master Fu was ignoring both blondes, looking intently at Marinette, still waiting for an answer.

''I'm not sure about the implications of what you're asking me Master… but I am Ladybug'' She paused a moment because just thinking about it made her eyes well up, then continued. ''I'm in pain, we all are… but that only gives me more energy to fight and fix things''

Fu seemed to deflate and relax with her answer, so she assumed it what he wanted to hear. And then she realized there was one other person that would usually be there, but wasn't.

''Where's Luka?'' She asked then, and now Chloe's face crumbled under painful thoughts, her head turning away so no one would see her eyes get wet.

...

Outside the tiny room where Ladybug and the rest were having their little sad meeting, Antoine stopped listening in, already knowing they would repeat a conversation they had while Marinette wasn't paying attention. The man started to walk away towards the window, which was closed of course, since the cold outside was, as usual now, stupid levels of cruel.

Nooro watched as his master looked out with an expression he never wore in front of the others. For a man that became so good so quickly at understanding emotions, he sure was also pretty good at hiding them from everyone else. But Nooro had seen his sadness before, and now that there was a reason for it to be even worse, the little kwami knew there weren't any words invented by the humans yet that would make his charge feel a little better.

But he didn't need to say anything, for Antoine did it first.

''Can you ask Tikki about… the thing we spoke of before?'' The butterfly kwami approached the window to make sure no one on the other room would hear, though they doubted they even cared about the ex-agent at the moment.

''Master…'' He merely said, knowing already that if Antoine wanted something Nooro would end up doing it, but he was allowed to still not like it, wasn't he?

After all, he never got good users. Gabriel wasn't as terrible as some in the past, but never before had Nooro gotten one that could use the full extent of his power. Now he knew how learning what everyone felt in every single interaction you could remember affected a person. Antoine had been quiet, thoughtful and sad ever since he started reminiscing for clues and learning new details from memories that used to mean something before, and now they meant something else entirely.

''I need to do it Nooro'' Antoine looked away from the window towards the door to the next room, where faint voices could be heard. ''For them''

...

Ashe decided that knockin would be pointless, she doubted the man throwing a tantrum on the other side of the door would politely let her in even if she did, but she had to anyways. She risked her job, but then again not really. She knew deep inside that M. depended on her as much as she did on him.

''Sir, I have news'' She said in her usual tone, pretending that there wasn't a grown ass man throwing valuable objects and documents around the room while screaming in frustration.

He kept ignoring her so Ashe was eventually forced to lightly touch his shoulder once he was a bit more subdued. She peeked a bit to see what had he stopped to stare at and found that he was looking at a collection of pictures. Family pictures. The man flinched when she touched him, but Ashe could notice that he was slowly going back to being a human again.

''Just when I got precious intel… Ladybug's identity and location, that stupid Gianna Rossi attacks her'' The man whispered. Ah, thought Ashe, so that was what he was so mad about… she thought it would be the other thing, considering the pictures he was staring at at that moment. '' I lost the best chance I had at taking those earrings… and I also lost Gabriel Agreste…'' The man kept lamenting, and Ashe started worrying if her somewhat good news were enough to make up for basically most of their plans going to the trash bin.

''What is it, Ashe?'' He finally recomposed enough to ask her.

''Agent T. was reported from a medical center in Saint Malo a few hours ago, the staff had taken care of him after the hotel incident and apparently he's ok'' She informed, not sure how many details of his son's well being the man actually wanted.

''I see'' He said, standing up and fixing his curly gray hair. ''Have any of our other agents contacted him?''

''Not yet. Should we ask him to return with the jewel that he has?'' She asked.

''We both know he won't listen… He made excuse after excuse to not come to us with the two miraculous he had access to in a year, I doubt he will now… that stupid boy'' To anyone else, M. would have sounded like someone who hated his own child. To Ashe, hearing him refer to Trevor as anything else but another one of his agents was a sign of endearment.

''Ashe, prepare everything'' He said with renewed energy.

''Sir?'' She asked, confused.

''We are leaving this goddamn temple behind. I want to be in Paris in two days''

...

The evening was going well for Lady Vendetta. She got Ladybugs identity the same day the girl went out with her boyfriend, so destroying her home and her family was easy, without having to worry to not damage her too much. Not yet.

And what was best, is that she didn't just have one new toy to play with, but two!. She had already broken Nathalie, Agreste's secretary or whatever she was, in front of Gabriel. Making him confess Ladybug's identity was easy when the new love of his life was in danger of becoming yet another vegetal. The woman was uselessly staring at the ceiling of the Agreste mansion while the man sat by her side. She didn't have to do much more than turn his woman into a comatose doll for him to slowly break apart and regress to his old ways. She knew his story, after all. Everything that Gabriel did as Hawkmoth was to revive his similarly comatose wife, and now he was sitting next to his new love, who suffered the same fate. It was just a matter of time for him to beg her for one of the miraculous in the box she still kept. He wouldn't be Hawkmoth again, exactly, but oh it would be so much fun to have him chasing after his own son again!

And her second toy, oh! so unexpected but so welcome!

Luka Couffaine, who the public knew as the mysterious hero Viperion, who usually didn't show up to fight petty criminals on the streets, but to serious situations. No one outside their little group knew what his powers did exactly, so she was pleasantly surprised to find out that she had just taken out the strongest weapon Ladybug probably had at her disposal, and it was almost for free!

When Lady Vendetta went for Chloe, she wanted to get just that: The rich blonde who was part of Ladybugs crew, an easy target and even easier to break. She just had to let her witness her own kwami become nothing more than a barely breathing toy and her mind would surely give up. But the Revenge miraculous wielder didn't see the fact that Viperion had a relationship with her coming. She didn't see Luka coming.

And she didn't need to. The young man was so blind by his own fury, which was ironic, considering who he just came to fight against, that he came alone. His power was a tricky one, had she known they had the ability to control time she would have planned some things differently, but it turned out to be unimportant in the end.

Her power was to break things, no matter what. That also included the Ouroboros, the Cycle, the time loop that was Viperions power. The surprise on the hero's face when she didn't even have to do much other than watch him stupidly enter a room full of her miasma was a delight. His loop broke before he could activate his power, and the rest of the fight was easy. The hero probably expected Chloe to be there, judging by his frantic looking around the mansion right up until his mind broke with her miasma.

She couldn't help but feel amazed at her own power after that little show. She had just broken an ability that was the manifestation of infinity! Or so had her Kwami explained. The little thing didn't have much time to annoy her with her chit chat since she called for her transformation as soon as it was done eating. She didn't like Wrath when she was just a ghostly voice coming from her daughters room, she wasn't gonna start befriending the thing now.

Lady Vendetta approached the broken boy on the floor of the mansion, her miasma moving away from her path as she did. She crouched next to him and moved a string of hair from his unseeing open eyes. The woman didn't notice a tiny light-purple butterfly fluttering out of the room.

''You're kind of cute, Lila would have loved a boyfriend like you…'' She whispered, tears streaking down her cheeks even though she was smiling. ''If my daughter went for someone like you instead of the Agreste boy, she would still be here''

The woman kept talking, feeling fury grow and grow inside of her. And along with that, the room filled more and more with the red smoke coming from her eye.

...

''So in summary, her power is to break anything and everything that smoke touches?'' Said Marinette, and Adrien wasn't sure he liked her acting so focused on the mission mere hours after losing her home and her parents. It was a good thing in order to move forward and finally defeat this villain but… he also expected her fazade to break at any point now, and he begged destiny or whatever higher power there was that she wouldn't when it mattered.

''Yes'' Chloe nodded, a lot calmer than she was a while ago, Ladybugs professionalism was contagious. ''She doesn't destroy them, like Adrikins power does. Whatever that power of her touches, it transforms into a shell of what it was and loses its function without being completely erased from existence''

Those were some grand and precise words coming from Chloe of all people, but Adrien was secretly glad that he was back to being 'Adrikins'. It had been a whole new experience being scolded by his childhood friend, who usually had absolutely no criticism for him, no matter how badly he behaved. At least not in public.

''It makes sense. She's calling herself Lady Vendetta… so Revenge is her concept and Wrath is her power. Just like Change and Destruction are yours, Adrien. But instead of eliminating something that exists to make space for a new thing, that woman's power does the job only halfway'' Said Master Fu as he played with his beard.

''An eye for an eye'' Whispered Marinette.

''Leaves the whole world blind'' Finished Adrien, feeling like he finally understood why these evil miraculouses were so feared.

''Are we gonna keep ignoring the most important thing?!'' Suddenly Chloe exploded, and Adrien knew exactly why. Luka.

''We don't know what happened to him, he might still come back…'' Reassured Master Fu, though no one in the room believed him, not even himself, probably.

''Luka is not the type to go do something rash, we know that'' Said Marinette, triyng to calm Chloe down.

The girl just shook her head, frowning and teary.

''I left my room a mess, I walked here as soon as I knew I had to inform you guys of what I learned from that disgusting woman! I know what it looked like to him!'' She was clutching Pollen's unresponsive little body on her hands still. She hadn't let go of the kwami a single second.

Adrien looked down at the spot in front of him on the floor. Plagg was quietly lying there, looking like he wasn't paying attention. But he wasn't eating cheese, or giving his thoughts in a stupid way, so the ex-model knew the kwami wasn't exactly happy either. A quiet Plagg was a scary one.

And of course, Chloe was right. They all knew what probably happened to Luka. It was almost 2 AM. They had called Juleka, who barely kept her own worry at bay as she said that no, her brother hasn't called back or showed up since he left to the hotel.

A loud sigh interrupted their thoughtful silence. Antoine was on the doorframe to the other room, where he was staying. He was transformed.

''I sent a few butterflies after Luka… his emotions were… well, even with all the people stressed and afraid in this city, he was easy to find. But I was too late. I'm sorry'' He announced, arms crossed and avoiding Chloe's gaze.

The girl went after his neck a second after, shaking him for answers.

''What do you mean you're sorry!? What happened to him?!'' She yelled. Adrien's eyes were wide and Marinette was covering her mouth with both hands in horror.

''He…he's just like him, now'' He pointed at Pollen.