Author's Note:
As promised...Salty Adrien returns for part 3! And look! A Salty Marinette appears as well.
Now, before we get too far...there are some people from akuma class who will be spared by the firestorm that's coming and they are: Rose (because, tbh, I can only see her as having been a victim and not actually part of the bullying Lila encouraged on Marinette), Juleka (because, I feel like she was more neutral in the whole mess, or at least was an early participant but backed because her brother had a talk with her), and Chloe and Sabrina will be spared (mostly because Chloe didn't believe Lila either and I'm gonna be nice and let her avoid the incoming firing squad).
Also, Kagami and Luka are mentioned, but they're not in the line of fire because Kagami and Luka.
Also...we have a teacher turn on the admins.
In other news...Adrien finally drops the one f-bomb I've allotted for use in this story.
(And there's an important author's note down below. Please make certain that you check it out.)
After leaving the Law Squad to continue committing their legal massacre in the administration office, Adrien escorted Marinette back down the hallway at a decidedly sedate pace for the both of them. Gorilla followed behind the teens, a silent protector ready to push aside any of the minor threats that the denizens of the school could attempt to become if they were truly crazy enough to even try to test their fate against the two teens and the imposing bodyguard. Marinette rested her head on her Chaton's shoulder as they walked. "Oh, I will need to make a stop at my locker. I think I left a book that I was reading in there."
"Fair enough. Book first, take down our former friends when they cross us later...then..." Adrien's lips quirked into a cheery grin, though if his happiness was simply from having the love of his life holding onto his arm while they walked or if it was from his 'battle high' from taking out two separate sets of enemies to his lady, was up for debate. "...would you like to get lunch with me? I know a great café we could go to."
"You don't need to spoil me, silly kitty." Marinette said with a small smile and she lightly booped the blond's nose, only for Adrien to take her hand in his before she could lower it.
"My lady deserves to be spoiled."
Gorilla shook his head in fond amusement at the young lovers' playfulness-he wasn't sure if this was a honeymoon phase or not, but it was sweet to watch.
Before they reached the lockers a voice called out to them. Adrien and Marinette both turned to glanced behind them as Ms. Mendeleiev jogged up to them, though the teacher did stop a respectful distance. Marinette frowned some before... "Yes, Ms. Mendeleiev?"
"I wanted to know of you needed witnesses in your lawsuits on the school."
Marinette blinked at that before a small smile formed. "I wouldn't want to cost you your job."
"Trust me...any school'd be better than here. Administration's a joke and I've got some questions and suspicions that I think the Board of Governors need to know...but..."
"If you went to them without solid evidence or backing, the administration would paint you as a scapegoat?" Adrien asked, genuinely curious...yet...he had picked up a few things from all of the books in the library of the Agreste mansion during his years of being locked away like the prince in the ivory tower. Marinette frowned at that since the wording implied that whatever it was that the teacher in front of them knew, or at least suspected, was big enough that someone would be very, very desperate to keep it as far under wraps as possible.
It was like something out of a spy novel or an internet fan-written story to be honest.
"Got it in one." Ms. Mendeleiev said with a frown. "I never liked that Rossi girl. Never believed her either. Lost track of how many times I questioned all of her accusations, especially that whole thing about you pushing her down the stairs...but I doubt anyone would have listened to me with her going on about that diplomatic immunity garbage twenty-four-seven."
Adrien nodded at that and pulled out his phone. "I think I can pull one of my lawyers away to talk to you, Ms. Mendeleiev."
"That'd be appreciated. I know there's at least two more of us teachers who didn't buy into that girl's tall tales. " Ms. Mendeleiev said firmly as she stood up straighter.
"And...while you both do this, I'll just grab my book." Marinette said, before smiling and kissing Adrien's cheek to stop him from protesting and hopefully stave off any worry. "I won't go alone, silly kitty."
Adrien nodded-reluctant to let his lady go, but...he could trust his bodyguard. Marinette turned to head to her locker, Gorilla following behind her to make certain that none of the students bothered the girl.
After a few quiet moments, Marinette reached her locker, only for Gorilla to speak up behind her. "May I be blunt, Miss Dupain-Cheng?"
"Just Marinette is fine, but sure. You're welcome to." The bluenette asked, turning back to look at the man curiously as she opened her locker. The bodyguard nodded. "I just want to say that I think you're good for Adrien. He has changed a good deal since he met you. He's standing up for himself. He's willing to voice his opinions. He's starting to adapt to the real world for lack of better words. I would like to thank you for all of that. I always worried considering that he was raised practically in isolation."
"I'm flattered, really...but I like to think that Adrien and I...we're good for each other, and I hope we will always be good for each other." Marinette said with a small smile before she pulled her book from her locker and shut the door once more. "I...I think we bring out the best in each other. I can't really describe it but...it's like I feel more confident around him, like I can stand up for myself and I don't have to worry because he's there to support me. We have each other's backs..."
"Like, partners." Gorilla said with a nod and Marinette's smile was practically beaming at that. "Yeah, we're partners."
Gorilla nodded once more, only for the peace of the moment to be broken by a loud "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
Marinette's smile dropped immediately because she knew that indignant voice anywhere...especially since she'd been on the receiving end of it so many times ever since Liar had arrived.
Alya practically sprinted up, barely stopping herself from crashing into Gorilla when he had stepped in front of Marinette to block the glasses-wearing girl from getting anywhere near within arms-length. Nino stopped short just behind Alya-several other students from their class stopped a few feet further away. Rose raised a hand cautiously. "Alya, maybe you shouldn't-"
"No! I wanna know why Marinette has to be so jealous and petty that she lied and got Lila arrested!"
Juleka huffed and shook her head at Rose, before the goth girl spoke up. "Pretty sure it was Adrien who had Lila arrested, Alya. Probably because she kept trying to molest him in public and none of you weirdos saw anything wrong with that."
By now, Alya's voice had attracted several other students: Kagami looking on at the majority of the members of Miss Bustier's class with considerable irritation, Luka immediately going to retrieve his sister and help her bring Rose off to the side so that the gentle girl didn't get yelled at by anyone else, and many others who weren't involved in the madness...but, due to human nature, were going to stand around to gawk at the drama regardless.
Chloe and Sabrina, however, were standing well away from their classmates...and Chloe genuinely looked furious. "Uh duh. Lie-la got busted for trying to frame Marinette for theft...and then her own mom and the Italian Embassy threw that cheap tramp under a speeding bus for suspicion of conspiracy with a terrorist."
"Shut up, Chloe!"
Marinette huffed then... "No. You shut up, Alya."
The girl in question snapped her jaw shut in shock while several others' mouths dropped open. The bluenette laid a hand gently to the bodyguard's bicep-silently asking him to take a step to one side so that the shorter girl could see her once best friend without having to crane her neck around the veritable fortress that was Gorilla. Reluctantly the man moved a half step to the left and Marinette took the time to square her shoulders. "Lila tried to frame me for damaging a dress when everyone on set knew that I was on set with Adrien. After that, he called the Embassy and her mother stated that Lila had no disabilities of any kind. After that, the police were involved as well as her mother and they found out that everything Lila said was, just as I said from the beginning, a lie."
Did Marinette add a little bit of one of Chloe's most haughty expressions for a silent 'I told you so' at the end? Yes, yes she did...and judging by the grin on Chloe's face, it was clear the the blonde had caught in.
"What about you shoving her down the stairs?!" Nino snapped because there was no arguing that part, was there?
"Interesting how the nurse was never involved in examining that 'injury', nor was an ambulance called, and, funny enough, I'm pretty sure neither you nor Alya have medical training, Nino." Marinette said with a raised brow...that drew a laugh from Chloe and a few other students who managed to catch the condescension in the bluenette's voice.
"Add in that anyone with half a brain who bothered to check the CCTV footage would see that Lila walked down the stairs, sat on the floor, then screamed assault." Came Adrien's voice as the blond stalked up to the group of students, the majority of whom immediately parted like the Red Sea to get out of the furious teen's way.
Rose ducked a bit behind Juleka-who promptly scooted both the gentle girl and herself behind Luka and Kagami-as Adrien moved to stand at Marinette's side. Gorilla nodded and stepped a bit further to the side-a part of him wondering if he was going to see a full reprisal of Adrien verbally eviscerating someone...then wondering if he had time to grab a cookie before the show began.
Nino went to open his mouth but Adrien cut him off. "Want to explain to me why you're accosting my girlfriend in regards to the accomplice of a terrorist, Alya? Nino? Any of you?"
"A terrorist?! What are you-"
"Police were able to find CCTV footage of Lie-la willingly taking one of the akuma...and I do mean willingly, as in, snatched it out of the air knowing full well what it was and what would happen to her, Nino." Adrien said, eyes narrowed in a fierce glare as the blond moved so that he was only just in front of his lady. Marinette reached up to rest a hand between her Chaton's shoulder blades-clutching her book to her chest with her other hand. "Just like they'll find CCTV footage of everything else that she lied about...including her claims about me shoving her down the stairs."
Not that Marinette hadn't wanted to shove the girl down the stairs by that point...she just knew what would happen if she had given in to that desire and had chosen to have more restraint since she was the better person. If she hadn't clung to her restraint...well, there had always been the temptation to pin the brunette down and forcibly shave her head, especially when the girl had dared to start impersonating a leech around Adrien.
She was sure that Chloe would have helped her with that actually.
"Lila claimed to have tinnitus from exposure to a jet engine, right? Well...as someone who has used airplanes repeatedly, I can tell you with authority that no one who does not work for the airport would be allowed near the tarmac. If she had actually managed to get out there, she would have had to pass more employees and security checkpoints than you want to think about. Chloe could have easily told you the same thing since she's been to airports multiple times as well." Adrien said firmly-the line of his shoulders going tense. "Also, and this is a big one, tinnitus isn't caused by a single jarring noise-it's caused by repeated loud noises. You can ask the janitor to confirm that since he does, in fact, have tinnitus and claims that it's because of being front row at too many metal concerts over the years. If Lila had gotten anywhere near a jet engine, the sound would have blown out her eardrums and left her completely deaf. Those giant earmuff-things that the employees wear on the tarmac are there for a reason."
Just behind Alya and Nino, Max, who had taken the chance to pull out his phone and fact check Adrien just to be sure, whispered: "He's right. She would have been deaf."
"It's pretty funny, Alya...and I don't mean 'ha-ha', more like 'cosmic horror'." Adrien said as he leveled his glare on the girl. "You say that you want to be an investigative reporter...yet you just took everything that Lie-la said at face value no matter how stupid it sounded. Someone whom you claimed was your best friend told you that everything out of that girl's mouth was a lie, and you immediately decided that, rather that trying to investigate to see which side was correct-and let's be real, five minutes of fact checking on Google would have disproven everything Lila said about herself-you decided that your friend was jealous."
Before Alya could speak to defend herself, Adrien took a step forward. "Answer me this: what in the world about Lila Rossi could possibly be worth anyone, especially someone as amazing and unbelievable as Marinette, being jealous over?"
Alya raised a hand to speak, but once more, Adrien cut her off. "Marinette practically has a start-up for her own online fashion business and her social media pages for it are already over 400,000 followers in multiple countries. She is beyond talented with designing and making clothing to the point that if she didn't take a job working within MY company, she would have her own fashion line that could be a close competitor. In all honesty though? I would be honored for her to be a partner with me in my company so that it could be our company if that's what she wants."
Several whispers started at that-Adrien's company? Adrien AND Marinette's company?
Adrien however ignored those whispers in favor of continuing. "Marinette designs clothes for Jagged Stone-his personal and business numbers are both in her phone right now. Outside of the amazing things that she has done and continues to do, her parents love her AND each other and own the best bakery in Paris. Marinette-"
"-also has the greatest boyfriend in the world." Marinette finished as she stepped closer so that Adrien could wrap one arm around her shoulders. The model placed a gentle kiss to his lady's temple. "Only for you, my lady."
Several students jaws dropped-not in shock, but more of in a 'it finally happened and we missed it' kind of way. A few students grumbled and varying amounts of money began discreetly changing hands. Nino just stared dumbly before... "When did this-all this!-happen?! You two-!"
"Are together, Nino...however, it is none of your business as to when and how we got together, only that we are together, and that I will never accept anyone, and I do mean ANYONE, trying to hurt the person whom I love." Adrien said as he shifted his glare onto his former friend-his tone laced with enough ice that at least one person would have questioned if anyone else felt a draft had most not suddenly become terrified at hearing the blond's tone to start with.
Nino snapped his jaw shut at the chills racing down his spine-every instinct in his, as he'd called it once, 'lizard brain' screaming at him to run, not walk, to the nearest exit and keep going until he found a suitable rock to crawl under. He reached out to grab Alya's arm to tug her away...but, well, now that Adrien had everyone's full and undivided attention...
"You know..." Adrien scowled, actually clapping his hands once for emphasis before he continued. "...I have several questions..."
Silence reigned for all of a second before...
"...Chief among them being, what in the actual h-e-double-fuck is wrong with all of you?!" Adrien snapped on the last part, and may his mother forgive him for that f-bomb, but he really couldn't think of a nicer way to say it. "I'm sorry but someone needs to explain to me, right now, and in a way that makes sense to someone who isn't completely insane, what exactly your collective logic was regarding "new girl comes in telling outlandish tales", "girl everyone's known for a while calls new girl out for lying", "new girl claims bullying then starts throwing out accusations of theft and assault by the girl who everyone's known for while"...a girl who has only ever helped anyone when they needed it, even if they treated her poorly or helping them would have inconvenienced her, and somehow, every last one of you immediately jumped on the "girl everyone's known for a while is the bad guy" train with absolutely no evidence to support the accusations and no reason in the world to actually believe that garbage? Someone explain it to me."
No one spoke up...but Adrien was not done. He took a deep breath...not to calm himself down, oh no. He just wanted to make sure that he had enough oxygen to rant...and in case he needed to raise his voice to screaming levels for any reason. It was never a good idea to pass out from lack of oxygen mid-rant.
"So...no one? Not a single one of you? No?" Adrien glanced around-purposefully avoiding looking at anyone whom he knew was not involved...and who were now the ones deciding that it was a good idea to take cover behind anything that looked sufficiently sturdy just in case things, i.e. human bodies, started flying. The blond leveled his glare on not only his former friends, but also his classmates directly behind the duo who had hurt his lady the deepest. "None of you have an explanation for why you all decided to turn into a group of lemmings and go jumping off a cliff after a psychopath?"
"Why are we lemmings?" Came one student's question only for Adrien to fire back: "Because calling you all sheep would be an insult to actual sheep everywhere, especially since real sheep have uses like wool and meat. I can't figure out a use for all of you outside of wasting perfectly good oxygen at this point or ending up as recruits into some kind of crazy cult."
Marinette drew up behind Adrien and slid her hand up from his back to his shoulder to help ground him. Adrien breathed out-his hands clenching into fists at his sides. "Just so all of you are aware, what you did to Marinette constitutes as slander and harassment under the law. Misdemeanor offenses really, but emotional duress can be added in as well as demands for compensation for all of that. Add in how any of you could also be implicated by Lila-which she is probably trying to do as I speak if we're all being completely honest-with the crimes that she committed and that she is being charged with, which, on conviction will result in her being deported and on a terrorist watchlist for life...and, well, if the police choose to follow leads and investigate, and, due to ages and the law, your parents have to be informed about everything that's gone on...and well..."
Adrien glanced around before leveling his glare once more on Alya and Nino. "Let's just say that I'm quite glad that I'm not in your shoes right now."
Marinette looked over to one side and saw Chloe almost doubled over with her face pressed into Sabrina's shoulder; at first, the bluenette was worried...until she noticed the just-slightly put-out expression on Sabrina's face that pretty much told Marinette that the blonde was fine...she was just laughing hysterically and using Sabrina's shoulder to muffled any noise so that she didn't distract anyone from Adrien.
Adrien looked around the room-he noticed more than a few of his classmates looked genuinely chastised, several looked outright terrified...and some looked apologetic, but he really didn't want to hear the latter. Adrien stepped back and turned to Marinette. "Is there anything else that you need to get?"
Marinette considered that question...then smiled. "No. There's nothing else for me here. Let's go get that lunch you promised me...my king."
"As my queen commands." Was all Adrien said as he held out his arm for his queen to take...before removing those expensive sunglasses from his shirt, opening them with one hand, and sliding them back onto his face. Marinette wrapped one arm around the blond's own-her book tucked to her chest-and couldn't help the small smile as they made their way out of the building, Gorilla following behind them.
Okay, so first...I hope this lives up to the previous standards I've set.
But more importantly...
I have an idea for a possible 4th part to this, but before I start writing it, I want to know...do YOU want to read it?
Part 4 would contain: Adrien and Marinette learn who Hawk Moth is, Nooroo and Duusu get rescued from Hawk Moth, Adrien is over 9000% done and shows that 'Chat Blanc' definitely came from more than just the akuma, Gabriel might start to regret his life choices, and...Gorilla officially becomes the Alfred to Adrien's Batman.