Marinette groaned as she flopped on her bed in complete exhaustion. To say that the day had been eventful was an understatement. The heist itself took up most of the day, and then there was the conversation afterwards about Hawkmoth's possible retaliation before sending the Phantom Thieves home (she really hoped none of them got in trouble for 'staying out late').

She only hoped that she was making the right call by sending out so many Miraculous all at one time. After all, the reason Master Fu had been hesitant to hand out more than the Black Cat and Ladybug was because he feared Hawkmoth would use the knowledge of more active Miraculouses to find the Guardian.

Technically, that strategy had worked, too. It had taken a while, sure, but Hawkmoth was smart, and had bided his time. He knew that Ladybug was getting those other Miraculous from somewhere , so he just needed to find out where and strike!

"What are you thinking about, Marinette?" Tikki asked as she nibbled on a chocolate chip cookie.

"Do… do you think I did the right thing, Tikki?"

"The right thing with Lila, or with the Miraculous?" the kwami questioned.

"Both…"

"...Well, I think you did what was best for yourself. Since you're Guardian of the Miraculouses, that means it benefits the Miraculouses as well. The Phantom Thieves all seem like good people - they seem to have taken your warning about using them seriously. Plus," Tikki added with a giggle, "Xuppu wouldn't stop talking about Ryuji for a long time after Saruchame's first mission, and you know that Wayzz is fond of Ann already."

"...And Lila?"

"Well… remember when Makoto texted you that night in Hawaii?" Tikki asked, "If someone is hurting you Marinette, there's no shame in asking for help. You'll need help and others that have your back; no one should bear such a burden like yours alone… granted, Fu wasn't like that, but he found good company in Wayzz and the rest of us kwamis alongside the customers at his parlor. You're younger - you'll need more of a support system than he did."

"True… I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm glad that we stopped Lila, but what if this all backfires? I mean, what if something like Heroes' Day does happen? The last time so many Miraculous were out at once voluntarily, we almost didn't win."

"Marinette, what Hawkmoth did on Heroes' Day was something no one saw coming," Tikki reminded her, "you didn't know how to respond to a situation like that! But now that you know that it's a possibility, and you've taken precautions so that you're ready in case it does happen. How does that human saying go? 'It's better to have something and not need it…'"

"'...Then to need something and not have it,'" Marinette finished with a nod before smiling, "Yeah, you're right, Tikki. Everything should be okay. All we can do is wait now, right?"

"Yep… all we can do is wait…"

o~o

The atmosphere at school the next day still felt a bit tense. Everyone was likely still trying to get over the shock of finding the calling cards yesterday. At least her alibi seemed to be holding out, given that she hadn't been summoned to Principal Damocles' office yet.

One thing she did notice during class was that the girls were acting unusual. Other than the fact that Lila was absent (not a huge surprise there), they kept shooting one another strange looks.

It wasn't until lunch that Marinette got some possible background information when Alix joined her at her lunch table.

"Mari!" Alix exclaimed as she glided towards her table and plopped down beside her.

"What's up Alix?"

"Not too much, personally. The girls were telling me what happened at the sleepover last night."

Marinette raised an eyebrow, "What happened?"

"Apparently nothing unusual at first. They watched a movie, painted one another's nails, played Truth or Dare, just the usual stuff."

"But…?" Marinette asked, urging the skater to get to the point.

"...Apparently it was around 11:00 when Lila started acting weird. They wouldn't give me any details, but Liar supposedly locked herself in Alya's bathroom and wouldn't come out until almost midnight. Then when she did come out, she grabbed her stuff and said that she had to go home."

Marinette gasped, eyes widening.

"Then Alya tried to call Lila this morning to ask if she was coming to school. She said Lila sounded awful. She said that wouldn't be making it. Then when Alya tried to ask her more questions, she said that Lila shouted to leave her alone and immediately hung up after. Alya tried to call her back at least ten times, but all of them have gone straight to voicemail."

Marinette's mouth remained open as she absorbed this information. That was strange… However, there were plenty of other possibilities as to why that happened. Maybe Lila ate something that didn't agree with her stomach, or her mom called her and wanted her home for something. But, despite all of these excuses, Marinette had a feeling that it wasn't any of those.

"Hey dudettes!" Nino greeted as he joined the two girls as well.

"'Sup, Nino?" Alix said.

"How have you been since yesterday?" Marinette asked.

"I've been okay. Nothing weird happened after we got back," the DJ answered with a shrug.

"That's good," Marinette smiled.

"Yeah… but this morning, you won't guess who called me!"

"Who? Alya?" Alix asked sarcastically.

"No. It was Lila."

"Wait, what?!" Marinette gasped, nearly falling out of her chair.

"Yeah," Nino nodded, "she called and said that she deleted the pictures. That was all she said before she hung up."

Alix blinked, "Pictures? What pictures?"

"Oh yeah, you weren't here for that…" Marinette said, "Remember when Nino broke up with Alya?"

"Yeah, I think everyone in school saw that or at least heard it," Alix's tone was joking, but a grimace was present on her face.

"Well… the day before that happened was when I learned about the Metaverse, met Shaka Zulu, and all that jazz. After we got out, Marinette and I had a talk in the park. Long story short, I finally heard and listened to Marinette… and I'm working to fix my mistakes now."

"Yeah… same here, Mari," Alix said, clenching her fist, "I was a god-awful friend to you. I know we were never besties like you and Alya used to be, but… I'm glad you're giving me another chance."

Marinette smiled kindly and nodded gratefully.

"Anyway," Nino continued, "after Marinette finally told me what happened, we hugged and I apologized for not listening to her. But…"

Marinette frowned, "Apparently Lila was close by when this happened, and she took pictures of me and Nino hugging and making up. It wasn't anything intimate, but if out of concept… well, you probably guess the assumptions that would be made. She then cornered him in the locker room the day of the break-up and planned to use them to blackmail him."

"... What?" Alix demanded, feeling her anger rise.

"Yeah… she gave me a week to 'think about my answer'," Nino shuddered, "but honestly, I'm not sure if she would have waited a week. I'm just glad we took care of everything before that happened."

"No kidding. That's playing dirty right there!" Alix growled.

The two nodded in agreement before Nino looked at Marinette again, "So… does that mean it worked? That Lila's… changed?" he asked, unable to think of a better term to use.

"...I don't know," Marinette answered honestly, "Lila has lied and manipulated so many people that the only word I can think of when I try to describe her is 'liar'. I don't think we have a choice but to wait until Friday passes. If the photos aren't leaked by then, I think only then we'll know that she had told the truth… for once. Either that or wait until she confesses herself."

"Well… something must have happened!" Alix argued, "I mean, I've seen her at sleepovers before, and she wouldn't just leave like that out of the blue."

"I agree," Marinette nodded, "but I think to stay safe we should wait until Friday. Just try and act cool until then, okay?"

"...Yeah. Yeah, you're right," Nino said, still sounding unsure but willing to trust Marinette's word.

"If it helps, I'll let the Tokies know about what happened last night," Marinette decided, "and ask if this is normal. I'll let you know what they say."

The two barely finished nodding when a familiar sound echoed in the cafeteria. Checking it on instinct, the trio was not surprised to see the Akuma alert flashes on the screen. Marinette stifled a groan.

"Go, we'll cover you," Nino said urgently as they got up from the table. According to the alert, the akuma was closer to Versailles than the school, so classes wouldn't be cancelled unless the akuma moved over in their direction.

Marinette nodded gratefully and scrambled towards the locker room.

o~o

The first thing that nearly greeted Ladybug when she swung towards the Palace of Versailles was an exploding golf ball to the face. It was only thanks to Kobra's immediate interference that she wasn't blasted to pieces the second she got to the battlefield.

"Oh! What a beautiful slice!" a thick accent exclaimed once she and Kobra landed rather roughly on the ground.

"So… rundown?" Ladybug gasped as she leaped to her feet, yo-yo spinning already.

"Duke Hazard is his name," Kobra informed her, "power is basically a dangerous form of golf; namely, the golf balls explode."

"All of them?" Ladybug asked.

"So far…" Kobra nodded, but his eyes told her that he knew what she meant. If some balls exploded, did that mean others did different things, like have built-in nets in them?

"We should still be careful. Any sign of Chat Noir?"

"Not yet, but I'm sure he'll show up… Hopefully it's soon!"

"Yeah…" she agreed as they leaped away from another exploding golf ball, "You wouldn't happen to know why he got akumatized, would you?"

"No clue! I was in the middle of work when he came swinging in!"

"Hey, leave the puns to me, Scales! That's my department!"

The two heroes looked up in time to see Chat Noir swoop in, rappelling down his staff like a fireman down the pole.

"Nice of you to join us, kitty!" Ladybug smiled.

"Sorry I'm late. Had a prior engagement," the cat hero winked.

Duke Hazard snarled as the familiar butterfly mask appeared around his face, "Yes, of course, Hawkmoth. All right, you bogies, hand over those Miraculous!"

"I'm afraid you're going to have par-blems doing that, buddy!" Chat shot back, causing Ladybug to groan and Kobra to grimace.

The pun only seemed to tick the akuma off too as he reached back into his golf bag and pulled out some more golf balls, but these ones were black instead of white.

"Oh, lordy," Kobra gulped.

"I'll drive you down the course! Fore!" with a mighty swing the black balls came flying in the heroes' direction. They leaped away, but as soon as the balls hit the ground, large, heavy-looking nets sprang out from the balls.

"Well, this akuma is certainly going to be un-fore-gettable, won't it?" Chat quipped with a grin.

"If you spent half as much time working on that akuma as you did punning, it would be a lot more easily 'fore-gotten,'" Ladybug snapped.

"Sheesh, a little chipper on the tongue today M'Lady-"

"Chat Noir!" Kobra's shout was the only warning Chat Noir got before something hard slammed into his back. Landing with a grunt, the cat hero realized that one of the black balls had trapped him in his net.

"Ugh, Chat," Ladybug groaned, "Fine. Lucky Charm!"

A small, plastic tray of sushi fell into her hands.

"...sushi?"

"Oh, I know! That's inarizushi ! I had it once with a friend!" Chat piped up from his trap.

"Inari… I see! I'll be right back!"

"Huh? Wait where are you-"

"Just trust her, Chat!" Kobra shouted; chucking his lyre at some white golf balls, they exploded into smoke, "You're making yourself look like a greenhorn !"

o~o

Chance: Yusuke, where are you right now?

Fox: Kosei Academy, boys' locker room in the B building.

Chance: Oh! That-that was fast!

Fox: We thought it was wise to download the Akuma app when we returned home, just in case.

Chance: Ah, that's smart! Be there in a second!

Putting her phone down on her chaise, Marinette was quick to grab Kaalki. Moments later a portal was open between her bedroom and what was indeed a locker room. Yusuke, who had been sitting on one of the benches, shot up once the portal opened up.

"Time to get down to business, huh?" Trixx grinned as he flew out from Yusuke's book bag.

"I do hope you haven't been up to too much mischief, Trixx," Ladybug chided lightly.

Trixx gasped in mock offense, "Why, I would never…!"

Yusuke smirked and shook his head. True, Trixx was a bit of a handful - after all, he was a fox - but he at least knew when to stay out of sight and quiet - especially during his classes.

"You have a plan yet, Ladybug?" Yusuke asked, once he stepped into her room. He struggled not to wince. A little too much pink for his taste, but Marinette was a girl.

"Possibly," she said as she put Kaalki away after tossing her a sugar cube, "Chat Noir been caught. Kobra's keeping him at bay for now, but I'm not sure how much longer he can keep it up."

"I see. Well, I'll follow your lead then," he said adjusting the Fox Miraculous against his chest.

"Great! I'm glad I can count on you, Yusuke!"

The artist nodded, "Trixx, Let's Pounce!"

o~o

"I'm running a tight chip here, Alley Chat," Duke Hazard sneered as he towered over the cat hero. Kobra had been forced to retreat briefly before his timer went off. He lowered his hand to grab the ring, "So, we'll make this simple now."

"Cataclysm!" Chat Noir shouted in desperation.

Upon seeing the black energy in his claw, Duke Hazard backed off quickly. He wouldn't be able to take the ring until Chat Noir either destroyed something, or his timer ran out, and from the way the net held his wrists down, he couldn't maneuver to destroy the net.

"Leave him alone! Your actions today have been pre- par- sterous!"

Chat Noir didn't register that his lady had punned when the akuma whipped around and instead of putting it, simply chucked another black ball in Ladybug's direction.

"I got you now, greenie!" he snarled as the trap sprang.

Only for Ladybug to vanish in a cloud of color.

"Eh?!" the akuma gasped before he felt his bag being jerked from his back. He looked up in horror to see a coat hanger attached to a yo-yo flying off with his bag.

Looking up at the roof, Chat Noir spotted Ladybug expertly grabbing the bag and ripping it in two. Next to her was yet another new hero, this time donning Rena Rouge's old guise with the Fox Miraculous.

Ladybug didn't waste any time snatching the moth that emerged from the bag and casting her Miraculous Charm throughout the city, freeing Chat Noir from his prison in the process. Down below, a recharged Kobra sprinted back out and knelt next to the akuma victim. The man was shaken up, but overall seemed to be okay.

"Thanks for the help , M'lady!" Chat suddenly snarked as he jumped to the rooftop to join the two.

Ladybug blinked in surprise by her partner's sudden hostility. Kijutsu-shi tensed next to her as well.

Her surprise quickly vanished into a scowl though, "Maybe if you actually paid more attention to battles instead of punning and joking around you wouldn't get captured!"

"You could have stayed and got me out! I get that Kobra had to recharge, but you hadn't used your power yet! You could have done that instead of grabbing another newbie!"

Ladybug groaned, "Chat, my Lucky Charm told me to go get the Fox Miraculous. If I didn't listen we all likely would have gotten captured too!"

Chat hesitated for a second before frowning, "Can I at least know who you're considering for Miraculous? Can you at least do that?!"

Ladybug shook her head, "You wouldn't know them Chat-"

Chat scowled, not liking the response, " We're supposed to be partners , Ladybug! You can't just go ahead and pick and get rid of teammates without me. We both approved of Kobra, I don't see why I can't approve of your choices either! How are we supposed to be a team if you don't trust me with even that?!"

"Chat! It's dangerous for you to know other heroes' identities," Kobra interrupted fiercely, "Ladybug is the Guardian, so she needs to know these things."

"And as I said, Chat, you wouldn't know them even if I told you their identities!"

"You don't know that!" Chat exclaimed angrily at her, "You don't know anything about me!"

Before Chat could continue his tirade, Kijutsu-shi stepped between him and Ladybug, "Is there a problem, Chat Noir?"

Kijutsu-shi's tone actually made Chat Noir step back a little. He knew that tone - it was one that his girlfriend used to use far too often before they became official.

Because of that, he found that no more words could come out of his mouth.

o~o

Alya clutched her phone so tightly that her hands were turning white. She had been in the middle of filming the latest battle for the Ladyblog when she spotted him.

Immediately, she recognized the ears, the tail (well, tails in this case), and the obvious fox necklace-now-zipper-tab resting on his chest.

A fox hero, who wasn't her.

There he was, right next to Ladybug in the heat of battle, using her Miraculous.

Pulling out her flute.

Using her move.

She knew it was coming. After all, she and Nino both saw the new Turtle Heroine appear a couple of weeks ago, so she knew it was only a matter of time.

But she couldn't help it. The second she saw the Fox hero step up - she hadn't stayed long enough to catch his name (not that she cared) - she felt rage and betrayal unlike anything before boiling to the surface.

She'd been a good hero! Why couldn't Ladybug see that?! Sure, thanks to Chloe she wouldn't be able to be Rena Rouge anymore, but she could use a different Miraculous! Heck, when Style Queen appeared, Ladybug even offered her the Bee Miraculous instead of Chloe!

But Lila's words about Ladybug's plan rang in her ears. She couldn't believe Ladybug was so selfish! She never came across as the spotlight-hogging type, but then again everyone had a side they didn't want anyone to see.

Guess Ladybug was just like Marinette. Once someone started taking more spotlight, they became nothing but jealous, selfish bitches! Who's the one not worthy of a Miraculous now?!

"Rena Rogue… It's me, Hawkmoth…"

o~o

AN: Uh oh... looks like Alya isn't too happy to see a new fox hero. What will become of a once proud hero?

Hope you enjoyed! R&R!