The new akuma tagged Ladybug when she landed from the upper balcony of the ballroom. Once again, the heroes of Paris defended the citizens and the Le Grande hotel. Her muscles stiffened and kept her precarious balance even as her eyes darted around in a panic.
"Ladybug!" her black clad partner yelled as he threw himself into the battle. He spun his staff to block two more beams of colored energy from the fashion reject from the 80's.
A voice spoke up from behind Ladybug.
"Honestly, that boy," a teen girl grumbled. "You better appreciate this later, Ladybug!" Two arms looped around torso and started to drag her towards an unobtrusive door with the sounds of great exertion.
Ladybug blinked as they entered a cleaning supply closet.
"Pierre is going to be so upset that I ruined my manicure!" Chloe grumbled as she carefully leaned Ladybug up against the shelves. She went back to the door and peaked out back down the hall. "Come on, you mangy cat!"
The frozen hero listened as carefully as possible. She winced internally at the sounds of battle and destruction close by. When Chloe looked over, she started to blink twice over and over.
"What? Do you want me to do something?" Chloe asked when she finally noticed.
Ladybug blinked once.
"I hate charades! It's so silly!" the blonde said she thought hard. "Um, you want me to go check on Cat Noir?"
One blink.
"Uh, no. While I'm a hero, I don't have any superpowers thanks to you!" Chloe retorted.
Ladybug blinked furiously. Then blinked twice.
"Yes, I know. It's all my fault-"
Two blinks.
"What do you mean it's not my fault? And I forgot that you can't answer except in yes, no and it's not yes or no. Augh!" Chloe started to stomp two steps to turn around for two steps the other way in the entirely too small closet.
Ladybug realized something and started to blink to get Chloe's attention.
"What?" the other girl demanded.
The superhero of Paris looked left towards where Cat Noir fought the akuma. She blinked once and then looked to her left again.
Chloe spun and looked in the direction as she tried to understand what Ladybug wanted. There was nothing going on-
Nothing. No sound. No battle. Nothing! Why did the fight end?
"I'm going to check and see if it is clear, okay Ladybug?"
She blinked once in reply.
The blonde cracked the door to the supply closet and tiptoed down the fancy hallway. In the main ballroom, she found the akuma and Cat Noir in a corner. Cat Noir's ring hand emitted black energy even as he stood stock still in a crouch.
"-and in just a few minutes, I will take your miraculous and then find Ladybug! Hawkmoth will win and everything will go back to the way it is supposed to be from before all of your freaks appeared in Paris!" the akuma named Good Times exclaimed. His bad fashion sense from the 1980's and silver skin stood him in horrible stead. Shoulder pads! He had shoulder pads as part of his three piece suit!
"Oh no!" Chloe whispered to herself from around the edge of the entrance. She stopped to consider everything going back to the way it had been for a very long moment, then tiptoed back to Ladybug.
Ladybug blinked furiously at her.
"Cat Noir's frozen too and the akuma is waiting for him to time out. Ugh! This is horrible!" She looked at Ladybug in frustration. "How can- I- fix- this..." She stepped up to Ladybug and stared her eye to eye.
She started to blink twice.
"I know, I know. But it's an emergency!" Chloe put her hands on the Ladybug Miraculous. And then closed her eyes. She pulled off the earrings.
The transformation washed over Ladybug to reveal a frozen Marinette in the same pose.
Chloe turned around. "So, um, ladybug kwami, are you frozen?"
Tikki shook her head. "No? What are you thinking of, Chloe Bourgeois?"
"That we need Ladybug to save the day. Ladybug, I'll be in my room after this so I can give it back. Kwami-?" She started to attach the earrings to her earlobes.
"I'm Tikki. Say 'Tikki, spots on!'" the kwami explained.
"Tikki, spots on!" she shouted as she started to spin through the transformation.
Tight space and closed eyes meant she smacked into the wall mid transformation and fell over. The new Ladybug held her nose with one hand as she accidentally saw two slipper clad feet. She closed her eyes again. "Sorry! Nothing happened! You saw nothing!"
She scrambled back to her feet and out the door in a stumble.
The blond Ladybug realized she needed a plan just outside the ballroom. She frowned and then as quietly as she could, threw the yo-yo up with the chant of "Lucky Charm!" Ladybug looked at the cloth bag. "Is that- It's a pillow case?" How does Ladybug even use these things?
She snuck back down the hall and passed a frozen maid that had not been there a minute ago. "I could really use a mirror right now," she grumbled as she fidgeted with the miraculous yo-yo as she walked along the wall. Which then slid open to reveal a small video screen. Ladybug found the camera app and then used it to look around the corner again into the ballroom.
"-only one more minute and I win!" Good Times shouted as the mark of Hawkmoth faded from his face.
Her sight was drawn to the villains head, then the pillow case, then Cat Noir. Ladybug nodded her head firmly and then stepped out and leaped. Good Times started to turn, but far too late as the pillowcase slammed down over his head. Ladybug dropped low as he started to fire his retro-ray gun around in a spray of different colors for each shot. She then scissored his legs out from under him to make him fall with her and she then moved to grab his weapon arm. She held his hand up so that the ray-gun touched Cat Noir's cataclysm in his frozen hand.
"No!" Good Times shouted just before black energy bubbled over him as the akumized butterfly escaped the destroyed weapon.
Ladybug then flipped up to her feet even as she ran a finger along a line on the center of the yo-yo. The blinding light of creation appeared as she spun the yo-yo around.
"No more evil doing for you, akuma!" It took two swings to catch the fleeing butterfly. Then Ladybug released it and the girl within felt a sense of release. "Bye bye, little butterfly!" She shook her head then quickly threw up the lucky charmed object. "Miraculous Ladybug!" she cried out even as she heard another beeping behind her.
The new Ladybug watched in amazement as the little ladybugs put everything back in order. "Oh, wow! That's even more amazing when you are at the center." She heard a patter of feet behind her and the sound of something sliding on the slick floor to behind a pillar.
She looked over in time to see a flash of green behind the pillar. Oh! Right! Cat Noir timed out. The blonde Ladybug coughed into her fist. "Cat Noir, I told Ladybug where to find me later. She should be fine, but so I don't find out your secret identities, I'm going to leave now." She reached down and helped the gray haired victim to his feet. "Come on. We need to get you down to the police. They'll have you checked out with the paramedics."
"I need cheese!" a nasally voice called out from out of view.
"Plagg!" Cat Noir said.
Ladybug snorted in laughter at that as she left the room towards the main entrance of the Le Grande Paris hotel.
Two minute later, 'Ladybug' swung up to her room. She tapped her chin as she realized that she did not know the detransformation phrase. "Tikki, spots off?" she guessed aloud.
Pink-red energy flickered across her body and Tikki appeared out of her left earring.
"You did a very good job," the kwami said with a smile.
"Er, thanks. I don't think I have any honeycombs right now. Oh, daddy's been messaging me!" Chloe quickly sent a message saying she was fine and up in her room. "Sorry. Shall I order room service?"
"Thank you, Chloe. I like cookies, actually. I know Pollen loves honey, but I prefer my sweets in baked form."
"Cookies? What type do you like?" Honey had been a Pollen only thing? Weird!
"Chocolate chip cookies, if you have them." Tikki watched the girl carefully as she dialed a number.
"Oh, Chef Cesaire! Can I get five of our best chocolate chip cookies sent up to my room? Thanks!" Chloe pushed the button to disconnect. "She's so much better than her daughter."
"Is that really something Ladybug should say?" Tikki admonished.
The girl's face turned sour as she readied a defensive retort. That after a minute, she realized would not need to be voiced. Chloe looked confused. "What do you mean?"
"Would Ladybug treat people she disliked harshly?" Tikki asked.
A knock at the door from room service interrupted them. Chloe went to get the cookies and a glass of milk on a silver platter and set it on a table. "I'd forgotten how large these cookies are," she muttered to herself.
"I can eat two of them, but that leaves the rest for you and Ladybug!" the kwami said happily as she started to eat the 15cm wide cookie. "Mmm! Still warm and gooey!"
Chloe started to cut her cookie with a knife and fork. She daintily ate a bite-sized square. "Oh, she added some white chocolate chips this time." The girl sighed after her third bite. "No, Ladybug doesn't treat people badly. Even ones she dislikes, like me. I don't even know what I did." Chloe's brow knit tight as a thought tried to remember something on the edge of her mind. "She probably heard about me from Ayla."
"I can't say anything more, but Ladybug did not learn about you from Ayla," Tikki said. "She even felt bad about having to tell you that you couldn't be Queen Bee any more because Hawkmoth knows who you are."
"So... what? She didn't want to confront me on it or something lame like that?" Chloe demanded.
Tikki nodded her head as she hummed a second. "I think she didn't want to take away your hope, even if she doesn't like you much. She could see that you loved being Queen Bee."
Chloe glared at Tikki as she thought. "You really know Ladybug well, don't you?" That sense of deja vu came back. Why did the kwami look familiar? Other than the big head, small body thing?
"I've been with her for over a year! I really like being with her. She's very kind and caring," Tikki explained before she took a large bite of her cookie. "She's going to be a good Guardian."
The blonde heiress looked away with a sour expression. "And she gets to decide who keeps the Miraculouses, I suppose. So I'll never see Pollen again?"
"I don't know. You really broke her trust when you agreed to work with Hawkmoth."
"What was I supposed to do? He akumatized my parents! At least I forced him to release them first." Chloe stood up and grabbed her Teddy bear off her bed. She hugged the bear tightly. "And I was upset at her. Even though I knew she was right. I- I never get to have nice friends. I'm starting to think I don't deserve to be a hero because I'm such as rotten person."
"You can be a good hero!" the kwami exclaimed.
"Tikki is a good judge of character," the real Ladybug's voice sounded from the center of the room.
Chloe squad squawked in surprise and fell off the edge of her bed as mice small-sized figures reformed into Multimouse.
"Ladybug?" both Chloe and Tikki exclaimed.
"Technically, I'm Multimouse right now." She gave them a cheeky grin.
"With the power to turn into mice sized heroes. I'm so impressed," Chloe said with sarcasm.
"It has its uses. I was very impressed by you today, Chloe. You went out of your way to keep my secret identity. I wish-" Multimouse stopped in the middle of her sentence to consider the matter.
"-that I had never driven me to Hawkmoth? Me, too," the blonde said sharply and turned her head in a huff.
"But you never stopped wanting to be a hero, did you? Even when you wanted to leave and go to New York City with your mother?" Multimouse replied softly.
"Don't you dare pity me! I made my decision and soft words and empty phrases aren't going to change my mind!" Chloe shouted with her face flushed and her dark blue eyes narrowed intently.
"And you just told Tikki that you accepted Hawkmoth's plan only if he released your parents first." Multimouse's blue eyes locked onto Chloe's eyes.
"What does that matter? I selfishly wanted my parents free. Who wouldn't?" Chloe actually stamped her right foot hard on the ground.
"Someone that didn't care about them."
"You can't convince me I'm a good person!" the slightly older girl snapped.
Multimouse shrugged slightly. "Why are you arguing so hard against being a good person?"
Chloe glared at her. "I already told you I'm no longer your fan!"
"Who are you trying to convince? Hawkmoth isn't here." Multimouse stepped back to study the other girl.
A knock sounded from the door. "Chloe darling, I'm coming in!" her father called out. He opened the door and walked right into her little open studio area in front of her bed.
Tikki gasped and dove under the pillows of the bed.
Andre Bourgeois came to a sudden stop. "Who are you?" he demanded of the girl wearing gray and black.
"I'm Multimouse, Mr Mayor. I work with Ladybug and I came to visit your daughter. She helped rescue Ladybug today during the akuma attack," she lied easily, much to Chloe's surprise.
"Ah." His eyes darted from his daughter to the masked girl. "Do you have any proof? There have been akuma that pretended to be heroes before. That nasty girl Volpina, for instance!"
"Daddy! She's not an akuma. Your interrupting important hero time talk! I'm fine, I'll come down for supper in an hour and don't you dare send the butler in after you leave!" Chloe walked right up to her dad and spun him around and pushed him right out the door.
"But Chloe darling! It's my duty as father and mayor of Paris to-"
The door slammed closed behind him and Chloe turned the lock. "Honestly, he's just ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous!"
Multimouse giggled at that. A moment later the little round necklace beeped and one of the five little mice on the outer ring faded away. "Right, I almost forgot that I've finished using my special power."
Chloe sighed very softly as she removed the ladybug miraculous earrings. She arched an eyebrow at the simple, black round things. A sense of deja vu rose up within her again.
Multimouse took the earrings and quickly put them on her ears again. "Thank you, Chloe. You really were a hero today and helped save Paris. Tikki, Mullo; Unite!"
"What!?" the blonde almost screeched out.
With a flash of pink-red energy, a weird mix of Multimouse and Ladybug appeared. "Multibug!" Her gray and black spotted outfit carried both miraculous tools wrapped around her waist.
Chloe looked at her hard for a moment. She then concentrated hard. "You- You were Dragonbug? Why is that so hard to remember?"
Multibug looked startled at that. "Akumatized victims usually can't remember anything."
The heiress made a shooing motion with her left hand at Multibug. "Puh-lease! I fought off Hawkmoth when he tried to force me to take his power." She carefully did not mention it took nearly everything she had to do that.
"I didn't know that." Another soft beep sounded from the necklace. "Mullo, get quiet!" she called out softly. She lost the Multimouse portion of her transformation as the kwami appeared in a flash in front of you. "Thank you, Mullo!"
The mouse kwami bowed and smiled. "You are welcome, Guardian. It was nice to get out and see the world a little bit."
"You did that entirely unnecessary transformation to hide your identity, didn't you?" Chloe said in a too snarky tone.
"It wasn't 'utterly ridiculous' was it?" Ladybug shot back with a quicky smirk.
Chloe's mouth dropped open at that. "What!?" She narrowed her eyes as she closed her mouth. "You- You are making fun of me!"
"Only a little and like a friend. Or at least a friendly enemy. It is funny when you say that. Your own personal catch phrase." Ladybug held up her fist in preparation for a celebratory fist-bump. "Would you like to share mine?"
The blonde stared at the fist as if it were a poisonous viper for a long moment. She finally brought up her fist.
"Pound it!" they exclaimed with a smile.
Mullo landed on Ladybug's shoulder as she moved to the open window. Ladybug shouted, "Bug out," as she dove out the window.
Chloe blinked as she stared at the window for a very long minute. "I'm not your biggest fan!" she called out to absolutely no one. And she hated that. Then she parsed what she actually said. "But I guess I do kind of like you again."
She walked over to her poor abused teddy bear and picked it up off the floor bed. She jumped in bed and curled up with Mr. Bear.
"Do you think I can still be a hero?" she asked the bear.
Nothing but a fixed smile answered her question. But maybe that was enough.