To Butterfly: That's a definite benefit of keeping this series going: getting to pay off those previous plot threads! One of the upcoming stories listed on my profile is (tentatively) titled "It Came from Outer Space," so… make of that what you will!
To StarDaPanda225: I did! Not entirely: I didn't use the ability to see past masks, and I did alter the miraculous itself slightly (though I didn't have cause to describe it). This version has 5 straight thin beads when activated. It was pretty fun exploring some more of the American Miraculous Team, and especially Paola! Even though their relationship started off as an afterthought, I really enjoy writing Max and Sabrina.
Max carefully mounted the ring assembly inside the housing and nodded for Turing and Markov to hold it in place. Sabrina handed him a screwdriver, and the two of them worked their way around the ring, fastening the screws to secure the ring in place within the housing. After the months of effort perfecting the miniature version, it was surreal to think that he had almost completed the full-size model of his portal generator. While it would require further testing to determine whether the portals would truly work – the slightest variation in construction between his ring and Paola's could break the quantum entanglement and lead to cascade failure – he remained cautiously optimistic.
He had returned to Paris three days earlier along with the alien vessel's empty shell, which he had placed alongside the intact vessel outside his lab. Since his return, he had spent almost every waking moment working on building the full-size portal ring. Paola had sent him a message an hour earlier that her ring was finished, and it was time for him to catch up.
"Please pass me the pliers," he instructed Sabrina. He delicately attached the leads to their respective attachments, twisted the ends to hold them in place, and tested to make sure they wouldn't move. Kaalki handed him the solder gun, and he placed a dab on each spot to secure the wires in place. Satisfied, he took his hand off the assembly, and Sabrina helped him lift it upright: he did not hear anything shift inside. Nooroo passed him the final two screws, and he secured the housing in place.
"It's finished!" Sabrina squealed excitedly, throwing her arm around him.
"Almost!" he agreed, grinning widely. He hugged her back and gave her a peck on the lips. "Now we must still test the processor and ensure that the two units are communicating properly. But considering the probability of failure in this entire project, I still cannot believe we did it!"
"I can believe it," she assured him. "You're smart enough to accomplish just about anything when you apply yourself to it."
He chuckled but gave her a serious look. "I would not have accomplished this without your help," he told her. "You were far more confident in our chances of success than I was."
She smiled and leaned in for a longer kiss.
"I have tested the processing unit and it is functioning within parameters," Markov interrupted, whirring excitedly. "Time delay for a response from the Peru unit is 110 picoseconds."
Max grinned sheepishly. "Back to work."
Sabrina nodded and consulted her tablet to check the readings on the portal device. "The ring is reading correctly," she reported. "I–" She stopped as a notification chimed. "We just received the latest information from Dad."
"Let us take a look."
"There is no doubt about it: Lynchpin has been hurt by our interdiction efforts," Max announced. All seven members of the Heroes of Paris "Council" were sitting together at their conference table, joined by Yousef, who had returned via portal with Chloe, and Julia. In the last three days, they had stopped another three of Lynchpin's smuggling runs, although one raid had failed and they had allowed another shipment to get through without incidence. Max gave Markov a nod, and the holographic display on the conference table activated. "This chart shows the Paris Police Prefecture's statistics for drug-related incidents. The number was at an all-time high before our interdiction operation began, but it has dropped markedly in the last month. The market value of the specific drugs Lynchpin sells has increased, and the relative purity of Lynchpin's products has decreased as he has altered his ratios in an attempt to stretch his remaining supply."
"So it's working," Adrien observed. "Great! It's a good thing we opened the first rehab center three weeks ago."
"I sense there's a 'but' coming, though," Chloe cut in, arching an eyebrow.
"There is definitely a 'but' coming," confirmed Sabrina, grimacing. She nodded to Max.
Max switched the display. "Based on computer projections, Lynchpin's supply is lower now than any time in the last six months," he explained. "However, I estimate that he still has enough supply in reserve to survive through the end of the summer. And the Archimedes Program has identified another fifteen shipments currently en route, which would suffice to restore his supply to normal levels, should they all reach Paris."
"That is not all," Julia told them, Turing translating for her. "Velocimonio and Coyotemaria overheard the driver from the farm talking to the port workers about a large shipment waiting to be delivered. Onça Feroz checked, and it is not at the farm."
"So all we've done is force him to smuggle more of his stuff?" asked Nino. "Dude…"
"It is basic economics," Max replied, shrugging. "We have hurt his supply, so he must increase the volume of his smuggling in order to keep up with the demand."
"This does give us a major opportunity," Alya noted. "It sounds like he's pretty much on the ropes. If we cut his supply off in its entirety right now and keep him out of business long enough, he'll be set back for a while!"
"So how do we deal him that crippling blow, then?" asked Chloe, cracking her knuckles.
Max nodded. "That is the question. The shipment we failed to stop had trackers on all the crates, and the trackers are now at three different warehouses in Paris. Simultaneous raids on all three locations would potentially cut off his stock in the city."
"We tried that once, though," Nino pointed out. "It almost turned into a bloodbath for the cops." He gave an apologetic look when Sabrina shuddered. "What if it goes the same way this time?"
"And that only solves part of the problem," added Alya. "He still has those drugs that are on the way."
"If we can eliminate his entire supply line at once, I calculate that will be the crippling blow we need," Max told them.
"What you're saying is that we need to hit three warehouses in Paris, along with all the containers in transit, all at once?" Chloe arched an eyebrow dubiously. "Don't ask too much there!"
"I have an idea," Marinette announced, looking around the table. "But we'll need everyone. We can't leave the police on their own against Lynchpin's people, just in case any of the Lynchpin-ions are there, so we send three teams of heroes to the warehouses to help the police. You can coordinate that, right?" She looked over at Max.
With a glance at Sabrina, who gave him an encouraging smile, Max slowly nodded. "We can handle that. What about contingencies?"
Marinette brought up the Heroes' roster on the conference table's holoprojector and began swiping through it to select teams. "With luck we won't need backup, or the police will be able to back us up. But we'll have a fourth team here that you can deploy if we need them."
"Like the Victory Garden," Adrien added, nodding.
"Hopefully with a better result," Marinette confirmed.
"And the drugs in transit?" asked Nino.
"It may be time to make offensive use of our backdoor access to the shipping control office computers," Max suggested. "Concurrent with the raids we upload a virus to erase all data on the shipments in transit after forwarding that information to us. I estimate at least two weeks to reconstruct the information and identify the correct containers, although if the markings on the containers are removed and replaced with fakes at the same time, then that increases to two months before Lynchpin is able to locate his containers on the docks in Honfleur – more than enough time for the dock authorities to confiscate them."
Marinette gave Yousef and Julia an appraising look. "Can your teams handle removing the ID numbers from the containers?" she asked.
Julia chuckled. "That will not be a problem for us. Velocimonio lives for that type of mission!"
Yousef frowned and looked over at Chloe, who shrugged. "With assistance from your teammates, yes, we can handle this," he answered, nodding.
Marinette nodded. "So we have three teams of four heroes to help the police seize the three warehouses in Paris. The African and American teams disrupt Lynchpin's shipments at the canals waiting to be brought over, and Max will do his computer thing to 'lose' the containers that haven't arrived yet. If we manage all of those things at the same time, Lynchpin will have no idea what hit him!"
"What about the large shipment he appears already to have nearby?" asked Julia. "What will you do about that?"
"Based on shipping schedules and interdiction, there are at least three shipments currently waiting in the Rouen warehouse to be smuggled into Paris," Max offered.
Alya hummed. "Even if we are successful here, he could just bring all of that down from Rouen."
"You know," Adrien began thoughtfully, "the fact that it's in Rouen instead of Paris might work to our advantage. We already have a fourth team that isn't going on a raid. What if we actually use them to raid the warehouse in Rouen? We send in the three teams with the police in Paris and then, when we know how those three raids are going and that they are under control, we send the backup team to Rouen? Then, even if Lynchpin gets a warning when we make the move in Paris, he won't have time to do anything more at the warehouse in Rouen."
Marinette shifted a few people around on the teams. "That sounds like it could work," she agreed.
Sabrina cleared her throat. "If this works, we could put Lynchpin out of the drug business for good! That would be amazing!"
Max grinned. "All our hard work this summer may pay off!"
AN: Velocimonio and Coyotemaria have the Roadrunner and Coyote Miraculous respectively. The Roadrunner Miraculous is one of two Miraculous of Land Speed: the Roadrunner's top speed is slower but it can travel for a longer time; the Cheetah's top speed is faster but it can't travel for as long. Velocimonio ("Speed Demon") and Coyotemaria haven't actually appeared in the series yet, but take a wild guess why those two are teamed up for this!