Disclaimer: I don't own Miraculous Ladybug or any of the characters that show up.
Summary: Maron Dupain-Cheng was just your average kid who wanted to be a fashion designer despite his clumsy disposition and shy nature. Annette Agreste was a teen model who wanted to be an average kid hiding her true face from the public. Neither of them expected to be chosen to be superheroes when a villain called Hawk Moth began to cause chaos in the streets of Paris. Maron was against it while Annette was all for it. Now as Beetle and Chatte Noire the two must navigate both their new miraculous lives as Superhero Partners while balancing it with their normal lives, unaware of each other's identities and try to uncover who Hawk Moth is if they want to save Paris before it's too late.
Chapter 13: Lady Wifi
"I'm very pleased with how you all did on your last assignment, some of you have really stepped up and I do appreciate it." Miss Bustier said to her class with a smile. "Now it's time to move onto your next assignment."
While she spoke, Alya kept sneaking glances to the empty seat next to her with a frown.
It's been a few days since she's made the startling discovery that her best friend might secretly be the Superhero Beetle and she has yet to ask him about it.
That was going to change because she gathered as much evidence as she could.
Enough that there would be no way for Maron to deny it was him.
"Is Maron still not back from the bathroom?" Miss Bustier asked, glancing in Alya's direction.
"Uh y-yeah, apparently lunch didn't agree with him." Alya lied immediately.
If she was right, then he was probably out being Beetle.
He and Chatte Noire have been a lot more active lately.
Even when there wasn't an Akuma out, probably to try and fix any distrust Darkstar placed with his actions.
That's where he most likely was, so she'll cover for him.
The bell rang, leaving for Miss Bustier to give a sigh while the rest of the class got up to leave. "Tonight, I want you all to read chapter three of 'The Breathtaking France, the First Thousand Years'." She said before she handed Alya some papers. "See to it that Maron get's his homework."
"Got it." Alya said with a smile, placing them in her bag.
As she walked out of the classroom, Ayla tried calling Maron. "Come on Maron, pick up." She muttered only to groan as it went straight to voicemail.
"You do remember that his phone is broken, right?" Nino reminded Alya, walking past her.
"Wait, he still hasn't replaced it?" Alya asked in surprise.
"Nope, apparently he's been rather busy helping out around the bakery to do that." Nino shrugged, unsure of it himself. "Why are you calling him anyways? He lives right across the street."
"No reason, just tired of him going AWOL." Alya answered, not wanting to let on what she knew.
"I know what you mean, Annette is the same way," Nino revealed, catching Alya by surprise as she didn't even notice that Annette wasn't in class either. "But considering how her Dad is, that's understandable."
He just needs to figure out how to get Annette her homework without Gabriel finding out.
"No kidding, the man is a control freak." Alya shook her head before pausing. "And I'm not talking about the Akuma."
"Oh great, now I'm imagining the guy being Akumatized, I bet it has something to do with sewing fabric." Nino chuckled, taking his hat off to scratch his head before placing it back on. "Though maybe that would be Maron's?"
"No doubt about it… What do you think Annette's would be?" Alya asked curiously.
Nino thought about it with a hum. "Something about cheese? I mean she's always smelling like stinky cheese." He shivered. "Don't know why she likes it."
Alya gave a nod of agreement, not getting that herself as she checked the news to see if Beetle and Chatte Noire were out and about.
After all, if she was right then that would be where Maron was.
"This is just embarrassing." Beetle muttered with a sigh as he and Chatte Noire were on the top of a building, watching someone struggle as they were hanging upside down from a street lamp.
The person struggling wore a yellow plumber suit with red rubber boots, a cowl and gauntlets made of toilet paper and he had a purple toilet seat around his neck.
He was currently tied up with his own toilet paper.
"You think you won? You haven't heard the last of the Toiletnator!" The man yelled out, ignoring the many odd stares he was receiving from the civilians that were still walking the streets.
"I can't believe he calls himself that without being an Akuma." Beetle shook his head, a bit amused as the man kept struggling.
"I don't know, he was on a roll before he got tied up." Chatte Noire chuckled at her own joke before sitting on the edge of the building. "I'm just happy it wasn't a serious threat."
On that Beetle agreed.
After the last non-Akuma Villain, it was a relief to find the guy to be rather harmless.
In fact the 'fight' if you can call it that only took a minute at most.
Honestly the guy might not really go to jail for anything except for disturbing the peace and perhaps some littering due to how he threw some toilet paper rolls at the two before being tied up.
"Hard to believe it's been three months." Beetle commented, looking away from the 'Toiletnator' to see the clouds as he sat next to Chatte.
Chatte Noire gave him a confused look before understanding dawned. "You mean ever since we got our Miraculous?"
Beetle gave a nod. "How did you get yours anyways?"
"Honestly I have no clue, I just found it on my table at home."
"Huh, same thing with me, I remember freaking out when Tikki appeared." Beetle chuckled, thinking of how he panicked and flung objects at her.
"Plagg said we were chosen… But who chose us?" Chatte Noire asked in a curious tone, putting an end to Beetle's chuckling.
"That's something I've been trying to figure out myself."
Tikki never said anything whenever it was brought up.
But it was bothering Beetle that someone felt the need to choose him, a thirteen year old, to be a superhero.
And he guessed that Chatte was the same age, or close to it.
Why would someone choose them?
And would they ever think they made the wrong choice and try to take the Miraculous back?
Beetle hoped not because he didn't want to lose Tikki, even if he knew that someday he would have to say good-bye to her.
"Still, time has flown." Chatte thought back to all the changes in her life.
She was in a public school, she made a lot of friends and became a superhero.
So much has happened in so little time.
Beetle gave a nod before wincing.
He just realized he missed the last bit of school for this.
But he pretty much accepted how demanding this job would be by this point.
Still, it won't stop his parents from grounding him should it get to the point where they get called and that's not even adding in the detentions that would follow.
"How do you think they're holding Darkstar anyways?" Beetle asked curiously, not missing how Chatte's tail swished to show some slight anger at the name.
"I don't know and I don't want to even think of him." Chatte said, barely refraining from hissing out.
Beetle grimaced at that.
There he went, opening his big mouth again.
"Sorry for bringing him up."
"It's… It's fine," Chatte took a deep breath to calm down. "I'm just mad at how he got in my head like that."
Of how easily her emotions were affected before anyone noticed.
Seeing her look down, Beetle felt like a change of conversation was needed.
"So next month is Christmas right?"
Just like that, Chatte's ears perked up as she smiled.
She always enjoyed Christmas considering how everyone was always in high spirits that time of year.
Well, almost everyone.
Chatte didn't know if her father would celebrate it this year.
He hasn't ever since-.
"Chatte?" Beetle placed a hand on her shoulder in confusion at how her mood dropped. "What's wrong?"
For a second, Chatte thought about talking about it, but decided against it.
She didn't want to trouble Beetle with a family matter.
Besides, it was something she was used to.
"It's nothing, I'm just tired." Chatte lied, not missing how Beetle frowned in concern. "Anything you want for Christmas?"
After all, now that she has more friends this year, she wants to get them something for the Holidays.
Beetle blinked before he barely refrained from cursing.
Right, he needed to do some Christmas Shopping this year.
Not just for his friends and family, but he also wanted to get something for the former Akumas.
Not to mention he needed to find the perfect gift for Annette.
"I don't really need anything." Beetle answered, seeing Chatte raise a brow. "Honest."
"You're not going to make this easy are you?" Chatte asked in amusement.
Then she gave a sly grin.
"Purrhaps we might end up under a mistletoe during the holidays?"
Beetle spluttered for a second, turning red.
He might be getting used to Chatte's flirty jokes, but that was pushing it a bit.
His reaction was enough to send Chatte in a fit of giggles.
Seeing her in a better mood made Beetle push down the embarrassment to give a smile.
He needed to get a good gift for Chatte too.
Landing in a nearby alley, Beetle took shelter behind a dumpster and changed back, watching as Tikki flew into his jacket before he flattened his hair.
"Can't believe Chatte and I wasted our time on someone called the Toiletnator." Maron muttered, still in disbelief about the threat of the day.
"Better safe than sorry, even if he wasn't a threat you needed to be sure." Tikki told him. "Still the day is already halfway over."
"I know, I'm missing so much school being a hero."
Not to mention time to hang out with Annette.
As if guessing what he was thinking, Tikki gave a giggle. "You can always see Annette tomorrow."
Maron kept silent at that before giving a yawn as he entered the bakery to see Sabine at the register.
"You just missed Alya, she said that you forgot your bag at school today." Sabine handed it over to her son, not missing how exhausted he looked. "You're lucky to have made a good friend."
At that Maron smiled, knowing that his Mom was right.
So far this school year has been a blast.
"Still you look exhausted half the time, maybe you need some fresh air and exercise to help balance things out?" Sabine suggested, leaving for Maron to give an awkward chuckle.
Technically he did nothing but get exercise and fresh air as Beetle, but he wasn't going to say that.
"I'll think about it." He said, giving Sabine a hug. "Thanks Mom."
Making it to his room, Maron pushed his projects to the side, most of them the dolls of the Akuma's he's made to join the Chatte Noire one along with the half-finished Beetle doll.
Once he had enough space, he began to pull his missed classwork and homework out.
"The day was saved and all it took was me failing class." Maron quipped, shaking his head. "I really need to get better at managing my time."
"You'll get the hang of it eventually." Tikki promised, earning a smile as Maron got to work, only to see a sticky pad on his tablet.
'What's this?' Maron thought, reaching over to drink some water as he read it.
A second later he spat the water out, coughing.
"What is it?" Tikki asked, not seeing him panic like that before.
"Oh man, this is bad." Maron whispered, showing the note to Tikki.
'We need to talk, I know who Beetle is.'
"No way, do you think she knows?" Tikki asked in concern.
"I-I don't know, maybe she's just guessing? I mean she does jump to conclusions first." Maron tried to rationalize, hoping that they were just panicking over nothing.
There's no way she could know.
He's been careful with his identity.
"We need to talk to her." Tikki went to fly off but Maron shook his head.
"No, we're overreacting." Maron said, trying to calm himself down. "Besides, I need to finish my homework so my grades don't drop."
He'll talk to her tomorrow.
With that he got to work.
The next day, Maron yawned as he exited the bakery to head to school.
He almost slept in if it wasn't for his parents waking him up.
It took all evening and most of the night to catch up with everything, he didn't even have time to do any sewing.
Maron heard Tikki yawn in his jacket and gave a small smile before making his way to the school where he saw Alya waiting.
"Hey I got your note." Maron said, catching her attention. "So you got a suspect?"
"I do and I'm confident it's him." Alya answered proudly before giving him a look of concern. "You alright?"
"Late night studying, I didn't even fall asleep until two in the morning," Maron answered, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "So who is it?"
Alya looked around before leaning in after ensuring that no one was listening in. "It's you."
She watched as Maron's expression changed from tired to slight panic and she felt that confirmed her suspicion.
Tikki however stiffened up inside of Maron's jacket.
"M-Me? Hold up, why me?" Maron tried to save face. "There are countless others that would fit the bill better then me."
"Maron, please don't deny it, I have proof." Alya said, shaking her head. "Now I have so many questions."
"I'm telling you it's not me, there's no way I'm Beetle." Maron denied, a bit louder than he intended due to his panic.
A snort of laughter could be heard, catching their attention as Chloe was walking by. "Do my ears deceive me? You think Marontrash is Beetle?" Chloe asked, sounding very amused.
Maron was torn between annoyance and gratefulness that Chloe was providing a distraction, but he grimaced as murmurs were going around them, some people giving him a curious look while others were chuckling.
He didn't mean to draw attention to their conversation.
"No of course not, it's just a small joke." Alya said, trying to do damage control.
"Please, I knew you were desperate to fix your failure of a blog but coming to a stupid conclusion like that?" Chloe mocked.
Alya narrowed her eyes at the rather sore subject. "My blog isn't a failure."
"Oh really? Could've fooled me."
"Alya." Maron placed a hand on her shoulder only for Alya to shrug it off and walked away.
"Maybe you should look for bigfoot and interview him." Chloe added one last remark, laughing as she left. "After all, your blog is good for nothing but fake news."
Alya stiffened up, feeling a surge of anger before forcing it down.
"The taste of humiliation. Anger. All fine ingredients for my Akuma's." Hawk Moth grinned as he could feel the multitude of emotions. "Uncovering the truth is always a worthy aspiration, especially if it makes it easier for me to get what I want."
With that he sent a surge of power into his Akuma.
"Now go, my Akuma and corrupt her."
"Stupid Chloe." Alya muttered in anger, not caring if the late bell was ringing.
She needed to clear her head, so she was on the roof.
What was she thinking? Of course Maron would deny it, but to draw attention to it like that?
Was it possible she was wrong?
"No, I know he's Beetle, I need to keep at it." Alya gripped her phone, not seeing the Akuma fly into it before she gasped, feeling the pressure as her head began to be filled with dark thoughts.
'Lady Wifi, I've heard through the grapevine that you seek to uncover who Beetle is.' Hawk Moth whispered in her head. 'I'd like to help you, if you'll return the favor.'
Alya glared as she almost broke her phone in anger, her emotions being twisted. "Anyone who covers up the truth deserves to be exposed, sign me up." She said, dark energy covering her.
Maron groaned as he sat down in class, planting his head on his desk, outright ignoring the confused looks he was getting from his classmates.
If it's not one thing it's another.
He didn't think Alya actually figured it out and then he had to go and call attention to their conversation in his panic like an idiot.
How was he going to get out of this?
Alya said she had proof, but what was the proof?
"Yo Maron, you alright?" Alix called out from her seat, watching as Maron raised a hand and made a so-so gesture.
Seeing that he didn't want to talk, Alix shrugged and went back to talking to Nathaniel.
Her question made Annette turn to give Maron a concerned look.
But before she could ask, Nino sat down next to her, giving a chuckle. "So how's it going Beetle?" He called back to Maron.
The question caught Annette by surprise before Maron groaned, not lifting his head. "Seriously? You too Nino?"
"Only messing with you dude, I know it's not you." Nino grinned his way. "We both know Alya can get a bit cray-cray with her theories."
And he's known Maron for years.
Even if they never spoke that much in the past, he knew enough about how clumsy Maron was to even consider him being Beetle.
Feeling a bit out of the loop, Annette spoke up. "What's going on?"
"Alya thinks Maron is Beetle and confronted him about it, Chloe overheard and the whole school now knows this rumor." Nino gave a quick abbreviation of what happened.
Tilting her head, Annette wasn't sure what to make of that.
Maron being Beetle?
No it can't be.
She was rather confident in that because of how different the two were from each other.
Maron seemed shy, but friendly and he was talented with sewing.
Beetle was confident, sure about himself and quick on his feet.
Then again, there's not that many boys with bluebell eyes at this school.
The rest of the class began to whisper to each other, having seen that.
"There's a rumor that Maron is Beetle?" Kim asked Max who readjusted his glasses in thought. "I mean that's impossible right?"
"Statistically it should be, Maron has shown on more than one occasion that he's too clumsy to be compared to the heroes." Max told him, not believing the rumor.
Don't get him wrong, he doesn't dislike Maron, but he was always one to look at the facts and they were pointing away from this rumor.
Nathaniel frowned and flipped through his sketchbook where he had a few drawings of Beetle and Chatte Noire, looking from the colored sketch of Beetle to compare him to Maron.
"They do look similar." Nathaniel mused, surprised he never saw the comparison before.
His actions made Alix raise a brow, remembering how she told Maron that he reminded her of Beetle at one point and she looked at Maron, trying to see for herself considering she actually spoke to the hero after her actions as Timebreaker.
Ivan wasn't sure what to think, looking around as the class spoke.
Truth be told it wouldn't surprise him if Maron was Beetle, the guy was always helping others after all and he helped Ivan himself even after he was Akumatized into Stoneheart.
But he couldn't be, they all saw Beetle and Maron at the same time during the race.
A cough was heard as Miss Bustier was giving them a frown. "This is a classroom, you're all here to learn so I want everyone to pay attention-."
She was interrupted as the projector that was on the ceiling came to life with someone appearing out of it.
It was clearly Alya, only she was now wearing a deep violet butterfly shaped mask on her face along with a dark purple jumpsuit with three white lines on her arms and legs followed by a white wifi symbol on her chest as she gave a dark grin.
Panic began to ensue as everyone at this point could recognize an Akuma when they saw one.
Much to their surprise however, the projector was on, showing the class on the wall, revealing that she was live streaming this event.
"Hello, I am Lady Wifi, revealer of truth." The new Akuma introduced herself, though Maron swallowed as she seemed to be looking at him the most, preventing him from sneaking away to transform. "Here to bring you quite the exclusive."
She slowly walked towards the seats, making everyone nervous, though she glared at Chloe, she left her alone for now, having her own target in mind.
Once that was over with, then she'll get her payback on Chloe.
Annette looked from Lady Wifi to the door, wanting to leave so she could change, but that was out of the question right now.
Still why was she Akumatized-oh no.
She remembered what Nino told her and she was proven right as Lady Wifi stopped right at Maron.
"Hello, Beetle." She said, revealing his identity on the livestream that all of Paris was watching right now.
"Alya, I already told you." Maron tried to say a bit nervously only for her to slam a fist in the desk right in front of him.
"It's Lady Wifi."
"N-Noted, but I keep telling you I'm not Beetle." Maron shook his head before seeing Lady Wifi grin.
"Then I suppose you won't mind being bait, after all if Beetle shows up while you're trapped then that should prove it right?" She asked, grabbing Maron by the jacket.
"Alya Cesaire, put him down." Miss Bustier moved to protect one of her students, but Lady Wifi whirled around and aimed her phone at the woman, flicking at the screen causing a pause symbol to appear on her, freezing her in place causing some screams.
"Anyone else?" Lady Wifi asked in a dangerous tone, seeing the other kids scared out of their mind. "Good."
With that said, she grabbed Maron and the two became bits of data as they disappeared into the projector.
Hawk Moth was chuckling, enjoying the show that Lady Wifi was giving all of Paris, feeling their fear from what was going on.
More than that he was pleased.
If she was right, that meant this boy that she kidnapped was Beetle.
"Maron Dupain-Cheng." Hawk Moth mused, actually knowing the boy's name.
Was it possible that Beetle was so close this whole time?
But he wasn't completely sold on the possibility as of yet.
He'll find out today though.
If Beetle fails to appear then that would show that Lady Wifi was correct.
If he wasn't Beetle, then he would still be useful as bait.
"This isn't good."
The man who spoke those words was Wang Fu, the Guardian of the Miraculous who saw fit to give Beetle and Chatte Noire their Miraculous after testing their character.
Right now he was watching the News that was now tapping into the live stream this new Akuma, Lady Wifi, was conducting.
The fact that she correctly deduced who Beetle is was rather concerning.
Especially if it's proven correct.
"Master, what do we do?" Wayzz, the Turtle Kwami asked, looking at the master with concern in his tone.
They both knew how important the Ladybug Miraculous was in this fight against Hawk Moth and Maron has shown himself to be responsible with it from what they observed.
Should his identity be revealed to the world they would be forced to take the Miraculous before Hawk Moth can get his hands on it and find a new wielder.
"I have a plan." Fu promised, glancing at a nearby record player.
All they needed was to see Beetle and Maron in the same place at the same time, he has a way to do that.
Hopefully he wasn't too rusty.
Approaching the record player, Fu pushed some of the buttons in a certain order before it opened to show the ancient boxes holding various Miraculous.
In a second he opened one to show a necklace with a fox tail.
Annette was running through the hallways given how school was cancelled due to a student being kidnapped by an Akuma, having to sneak away from the rest of the class before she made it to a nearby bathroom and went in, checking each stall to make sure she was alone.
"Well this is quite the situation." Plagg said, trying to play light of it.
"No time for jokes, Maron is in trouble." Annette told him, not wanting anything to happen to her friend. "Especially if Hawk Moth thinks he's Beetle."
Plagg then grinned. "Then that would mean you have a crush on Maron." He pointed out.
And if that was true then it was hilarious to think she friendzoned her own crush without realizing it.
Annette just gave Plagg a dry look for not taking this seriously, though the thought did go through her head before she shook it away. "Plagg, Claws Out!"
Maron was panicking as he was currently tied up on the rooftop of the Le Grand Paris Hotel, sitting on the floor.
'Why do the fights always seem to come here?' He couldn't help but think before Lady Wifi smirked down at him.
"This will all end the moment you tell the truth." Lady Wifi said in a smug tone.
"Alya-." Maron began to plead only for the Akuma to narrow her eyes, making him pause. "Lady Wifi, I am telling the truth, I'm not Beetle!"
Okay it was a lie, but he wasn't going to admit it.
"So we're doing this the hard way?" Lady Wifi mused, still live streaming this to Paris. "I suppose I should've expected this."
Back at the Bakery, Sabine looked terrified at seeing her child at the mercy of an Akuma, looking at the TV as it was showing the stream.
Feeling a hand around her shoulder, Sabine leaned in while Tom was comforting her, looking just as scared.
"Don't worry, the heroes will save him." Tom said, keeping a brave front as he trusted them.
"I know." Sabine whispered, trying to keep calm.
But it was difficult when your own child was the one in danger.
Tom gave a nod, looking at the screen as this new Akuma Lady Wifi, who they recognized as Alya, seemed to be trying to get their son to confess to being Beetle.
That right there astounded him because the thought of Maron being Beetle never once crossed any of their minds.
But thinking about it, a lot of things did make sense if that were the case.
And he unknowingly tightened his hold while hugging Sabine.
If their son really was Beetle, how many times did he nearly die without them knowing?
How many times did he lie to their faces about it if that's the case?
And how would he get out of this?
Maron fidgeted, trying desperately to think of a way out before an idea came to him.
"You said that you have proof?" Maron asked, hoping to dissuade any proof she had.
If he could make her second guess herself until Chatte showed up, that could help.
Lady Wifi grinned, flicking her phone to have a screen show up in front of Maron, with him seeing where the Akuma most likely was in the process.
But the screen showed a picture taken on the day the statue was unveiled.
Of Beetle holding the sketch pencil and then it flicked to Maron who was holding the exact same one.
"A pencil? Really, that's your evidence?" Maron couldn't help but ask in disbelief.
Lady Wifi narrowed her eyes. "Oh it's only the beginning Beetle." She then played the fight with Stoneheart next.
"ALYA, THE TAP!"
"Back then you were the only one who knew my name, so how did Beetle know it?" Lady Wifi asked in a dangerous tone, watching Maron tense up as he forgot that he did that.
"Come on, I'm hardly the only person who knew your name at the time." He played it off.
"Still denying it? How about the history book?" Lady Wifi demanded. "The same book that fell out of Beetle's bag during the fight with Darkstar, you were the only one to come to class without it?"
She brought up the old recording she didn't post of her finding the book.
"You were acting strange the whole time I had it before it disappeared when Pharaoh was around with you being the only one around to grab it." Lady Wifi accused Maron. "You were the only one besides Annette and Nino that I actually told about the book."
… Okay that was pretty damning.
Maron tried to come up with an excuse, but nothing was coming to mind before his eyes widened as he saw Beetle on the rooftop across from them, arms crossed as he gave a smirk.
While very confused, Maron wasn't stupid to not take advantage of this.
Especially if it gets him out of this.
"Okay if I'm Beetle, then who is that?" He asked, gesturing his head, forcing Lady Wifi to glance in that direction only for a stupefied look to go across her face.
"But-I-you." Lady Wifi looked at Maron in confusion.
She genuinely thought he was Beetle.
"Now do you believe me?" Maron asked, still playing along.
'What are you waiting for?! Leave the boy and get that Miraculous!' Hawk Moth ordered, thinking that they had Beetle where they wanted him.
Frowning, Lady Wifi turned into data and went into the nearby antenna, appearing near 'Beetle' who gave a wave as he took off running.
"Okay, who was that?" Maron muttered, wondering if it was him via time travel or something else.
"It was the Guardian." Tikki spoke up, confusing Maron. "I could sense the Fox Miraculous."
"Guardian? Fox? Wait sense? You can sense the other Miraculous?" Maron asked in disbelief. "How haven't we found Hawk Moth yet?!"
Heck, how has Hawk Moth never found him or Chatte if that was the case?
"It's not that simple, we can sense the energy only when the Miraculous is active, just not where it is." Tikki answered him. "That was how Wayzz sensed the Butterfly Miraculous before Stoneheart happened, that allowed the Guardian some time to prepare."
Just like how she and Plagg could sense each other, just not where they were.
Maron took that in, filing the name Wayzz for later. "So that Beetle was the Guardian?"
This was the closest thing to answers about how he got the Miraculous that he's received in the last three months.
"No, it was an illusion, the Fox Miraculous is capable of creating life-like illusions." Tikki smiled his way. "It seemed that the Guardian decided to intervene to help you."
"Then I better get going. Tikki, Spots O-."
Tikki gave a squeak, interrupting Maron before she hid, confusing him.
The confusion cleared up when Chatte landed near him, giving him a smirk. "We have to stop meeting like this Macaron, otherwise people will begin to talk." She teased while Maron was nervous at almost being caught transforming.
"H-Hey, it's not like I asked to be kidnapped."
Chatte chuckled before showing her claws. "Hold still." She told him, slicing through the rope that had him tied up. "You need help getting to the ground?"
"I'm good, Alya was chasing after Beetle that way, he'll need help." Maron said, pointing in the direction where he saw the Akuma go. "I think you two need to break her phone to change her back, she used it a lot to show off her powers."
Chatte gave a nod, appreciating the info. "I'll let Beetle know, stay safe Macaron."
With that said, she pole vaulted off the roof to help her partner out.
The moment she left, Maron sighed in relief. "Okay, no more waiting. Tikki, Spots On."
Lady Wifi narrowed her eyes as she kept flicking pause icons at Beetle who was making a show of running and jumping around them.
Something felt off, but she didn't know what it was.
"Hold still." Lady Wifi yelled right when Beetle leapt off the edge of the building into an alley.
He then disappeared like he wasn't even there right before Lady Wifi got to the edge, giving a stupefied look as she looked around.
"Where did he go?!"
"What's wrong, did you lose your contacts?" Lady Wifi spun around to see Chatte perched on the ledge opposite of her. "I can wait for you to get your glasses if you want."
Thinking she was led in a trap, Lady Wifi tried to hit Chatte with the pause icon with her jumping over it before twisting her body to dodge another.
"Geez, talk about a cold reception, I don't feel like taking a pawse here."
Hearing the word reception made Lady Wifi stop as she quickly checked hers and realized it was low.
She needed to get a good signal if she wanted to continue fighting.
Moving to run, Lady Wifi had to duck as a yo-yo nearly hit her head while Beetle landed in her path with Chatte behind her.
"Show's over, Lady Wifi." Beetle said with a smirk.
Chatte snickered, twirling her staff. "And your phone plan is cancelled." She continued to pun. "We're here to disconnect you."
Lady Wifi just smirked and turned into data without a word, going into the antenna, heading back to the hotel where she would ensure her reception would be at its best.
"I assume you got the kid out of there while I distracted her?" Beetle asked, chasing after Lady Wifi immediately, playing it off like the illusion was him.
"I did, he said that the Akuma was in the phone." Chatte passed the message on, not knowing it pretty much came full circle.
And speaking of full circle, they ended up chasing her back to the hotel.
"Phone, got it."
As they moved, none of them saw Wang Fu who was down in the streets below, holding the Fox Miraculous that he just took off with a smile.
The rest was up to them.
"This is ridiculous." Lady Wifi muttered in annoyance as she appeared in the kitchen, not wasting any time in pausing the now panicking workers. "Not only was I wrong, but I let Beetle distract me long enough for Maron to disappear."
She should've just paused him before chasing after Beetle to ensure she had some leverage.
Lady Wifi shook her head at that thought immediately.
No, she didn't want to hurt her friend.
She can do this without doing that.
All she needs is to get that mask off of Beetle and the whole world will see who he was.
But first she needs to separate him and Chatte.
After a second, she smirked, turning to look back at the workers she paused, Hawk Moth whispering a suggestion in her ear.
That'll do.
"Well this is just purr-fect, what floor is she on?" Chatte Noire asked as they began to run down the stairs. "She could be anywhere in the building."
"It's just like Control Freak with the cameras." Beetle agreed, taking the time to destroy a camera as they passed it. "We need some way to bring her out."
"What if we destroy the router?" Chatte suggested, pulling up a digital map of the building on her staff. "There's one on the roof, we take care of that and the entire system will go down."
"Leaving her vulnerable." Beetle grinned Chatte's way. "Good idea."
Though they would need to find a way to keep her in the building after doing that, otherwise she would start using someone else's internet system to get around.
Opening his yo-yo to see if Lady Wifi was showing anything on her stream, Beetle's eyes widened.
Lady Wifi was in the restaurant area with countless workers paused right by the windows in a position to where they would fall should they be unpaused.
"Beetle, I think you already know what I want." Lady Wifi said with a smirk showing on her face. "You have five minutes to come alone, otherwise these employees will be disconnected from their lives, permanently."
"This is getting dark, fast." Chatte Noire said, trying to play it off with a shrug, but there was a hint of fear in her voice.
"Hawk Moth must be tired of playing games if he's resorting to this," Beetle muttered, giving a wince. "And if we take out the connection while they're like that then they could still fall to their deaths."
And he didn't want any of them to have the trauma of dying to deal with once he used his miracle cure.
Nor did he want Alya to feel the guilt of causing this once they got the Akuma.
"New plan, I distract her while you get the people out of harm's way then you go for the router." Beetle said, seeing Chatte's ear flicker nervously.
"Are you sure?" She asked in concern. "You've never really been the distraction before."
That-... Was actually true.
First time for everything though.
"We don't exactly have time to have a debate here, besides I trust that you'll be able to get it done quickly." Beetle didn't say anything else.
As he took off to spring the trap, Chatte stood there for a second before smiling.
"I'll be sure not to let you down then."
Making it to the restaurant, Beetle slowly pushed open the door, seeing the workers paused at the windows, but no Lady Wifi.
He did however see the countless phones on the table as he made his way through the area, confusing him.
What was with them?
Gripping his yo-yo, Beetle kept looking around, not wanting to be caught off guard.
A pink light erupted from a phone behind him as Lady Wifi went to pause him, but Beetle jumped over it, landing on a table before vaulting off of it, using his yo-yo to fling a chair at Lady Wifi who disappeared back into the phone.
Okay so now he knew what the phones were.
As long as they were a factor, she could teleport all around the area and he couldn't let that happen.
Especially if she happens on Chatte saving the workers.
So Beetle got to work, slamming his yo-yo in each and every phone, seeing Lady Wifi teleporting out of any phone she was hiding in to avoid being injured, glaring all the while at Beetle who gave her a cocky smirk.
Finishing the last phone, Lady Wifi ran into the kitchen where Beetle followed, ducking as she flicked the lock icon on the door, trapping them in there.
Good, they were away from the workers.
Now he had to worry about himself.
"Do you think you can win?" Lady Wifi asked, flicking more icons at him, Beetle keeping quiet as he had to keep on his toes to avoid being paused. "Without your partner you're nothing."
That made Beetle falter a bit as he knew that was true.
If he was by himself in any of the fights with Akuma's or Darkstar then chances were he would've been dead a long time ago.
Lady Wifi noticed that and smirked. "I had you all wrong, you're nothing special, just someone in over their heads, needing someone to bail them out whenever something goes wrong." She said, seeing how she was messing with his head as he was almost caught by one of her pause icons. "Isn't that right?"
'Don't listen to her.' Beetle thought to himself, trying to find something to use against her.
But the kitchen was laid bare, there was nothing to throw and Beetle knew that he wouldn't be able to dodge forever showing how much thought was put into this particular trap.
'Come on Chatte.'
But as he thought that, Beetle couldn't help but feel that all he was doing was proving her point.
"Now that I think about it, that first appearance you made you were just standing there while Chatte Noire was fighting." Lady Wifi smirked his way as he was almost in position. "And you took your time on Stoneheart's second appearance. You're nothing but a coward, aren't you?!"
Trying to ignore that, Beetle was caught off guard as he landed between two counters with no way out as Lady Wifi managed to hit his left hand with the pause icon, trapping it to the wall.
'No.' Beetle struggled only for the same to happen to his right hand.
He was trapped.
"Too easy." Lady Wifi said, giving the hero a smirk. "To think I used to call you a hero."
With that, she tapped into the livestream to show Beetle trapped.
"Now for the real question, who is Beetle? How can any of us trust him when all he does is hide his face?!" Lady Wifi asked, reaching over to the hero with him grimacing.
At first he thought she was going to grab the earrings, but to his surprise, she was going for the mask.
Lady Wifi pulled, blinking in confusion as she did that.
It wasn't budging?
Frowning, Lady Wifi grabbed both sides and pulled, eliciting a small cry of pain and annoyance from Beetle given how she was pulling on his face. "Why won't it come off?!"
"Uh… Because it's magic?" Beetle reminded her with a shrug.
'Grab the earrings!' Hawk Moth exclaimed in annoyance.
He was so close and here she was just grabbing the mask.
"Alright, chill." Lady Wifi muttered, rubbing her head given the headache that came with that shout.
This time she reached for the earrings.
While Beetle was distracting Lady Wifi, Chatte was working overtime to get the workers away from the window, moving as fast as she could.
She also kept her staff open up to the livestream in the process.
It was when she got the last worker away from the window that she heard the taunts.
"Without your partner you're nothing."
Hearing that, Chatte looked at the screen in time to see Beetle's face falter and she knew she had to get in there.
But with the door locked, there was no way in-.
She saw Beetle jump past a service elevator and grinned.
But the taunts continued as she made her way.
"Now that I think about it, that first appearance you made you were just standing there while Chatte Noire was fighting. And you took your time on Stoneheart's second appearance. You're nothing but a coward, aren't you?!"
Turning it off, Chatte found the service elevator and climbed in before sliding down.
She didn't want to hear her partner being mocked like that anymore, pushing down the anger she felt.
Using her claws to come to a stop at the kitchen, Chatte opened the door in time to see Lady Wifi reaching for the earrings and she reacted.
Jumping out, she pulled her staff back out and extended it towards Lady Wifi, hitting her shoulder as she was knocked away from Beetle.
"Sorry but this stream is breaking quite a few regulations, you need to shut it down." Chatte quipped, landing between her and Beetle.
"Aw look, the kitty cat saving her lovebug." Lady Wifi taunted, looking from Chatte to Beetle. "I knew you couldn't do anything yourself."
"I'm not her lovebug." Beetle protested, looking rather annoyed at how people kept assuming that.
Chatte just looked over her shoulder with a playful smirk. "We'll get back to that later, my prince." She teased before glaring at Lady Wifi, her ears folding back. "And you don't know a damn thing about Beetle."
"Neither do you." Lady Wifi returned, moving to pause Chatte who quickly moved as the icon hit the floor. "If I recall correctly, you two never revealed your identity to each other."
She has that moment recorded from the first Stoneheart where Beetle mentioned something about not having anyone discover who they were.
"So what?" Chatte asked, landing behind a counter, ducking her head. "He's no coward. Beetle put his life on the line in every fight against the Akuma's. He's had my back just as much as I had his."
That was all she needed to know.
Watching as Lady Wifi was trying to catch Chatte, Beetle struggled before looking at the icons with a frown.
Wait a minute, would it work like clicking on a video?
Eyes widening he tried to get Chatte's attention, gesturing his head to the icon.
Thankfully it didn't take long for her to figure it out as she extended her staff to act like she was hitting Lady Wifi who ducked.
But in reality it tapped the icon over his left hand, making it disappear.
Grinning, Beetle quickly tapped the remaining icon, freeing himself before grabbing the yo-yo, but that caught Lady Wifi's attention.
"Oh no you don't." Lady Wifi went to get him, but Chatte landed in front of him, spinning her staff to deflect the pause icon. "Okay how does that make sense?!"
Chatte for her credit just shrugged while Beetle got ready. "Lucky Charm!"
A second later he had a bucket.
"A bucket?!"
Looking around, Beetle saw the sink and his mind flashed back to when they took out Control Freak with the sprinklers.
Was it possible that the phone would go down the same way as the remote?
"Cover me." Beetle ran to the sink, with Chatte jumping over the counter as Lady Wifi moved to the side and flicked more icons at her before turning her attention towards Beetle who began to fill up the bucket.
"What is he doing?" Lady Wifi muttered, about to pause him.
Seeing that, Chatte reacted, forcing the last time she did this to the back of her mind.
"Cataclysm!" She slammed a hand on the floor, deteriorating it enough for Lady Wifi to fall through to the floor below with a shout of surprise.
Catching herself, Lady Wifi teleported back in the room with a glare at Chatte only to gasp as cold water splashed over her with her phone sparking.
"And that's what happens when you drop your phone in water." Beetle said in a smug tone, watching as Lady Wifi tried to access her phone only for it to die out on her.
"No." Lady Wifi whispered, looking up to have Chatte pole vault herself at the Akuma, tackling her to make her drop the phone which Beetle then slammed his yo-yo into the item, destroying it to free the Akuma.
As he purified it, Lady Wifi changed back to a very confused Alya who looked around before seeing the heroes.
Eyes widening, she went to grab her phone only to see it destroyed on the floor and suddenly she had a thought.
No memories, the heroes were nearby and one of her items was destroyed along with the damage to the room.
'No, please tell me I didn't.' Alya looked up in time to see Beetle use his Miraculous Ladybug to fix all the damages caused in this fight, including her phone.
"Pound it." Both heroes did their signature fist bump only to look at Alya who grabbed her phone, opening her blog to see if what she did was caught, a look of shock on her face as she saw the live stream was saved.
"What have I done?" Alya whispered seeing herself kidnap her best friend and then holding the workers ransom.
She actually tried to kill people in her drive to uncover the truth.
Walking over to her, Beetle knelt next to Alya and placed a hand on her shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with wanting the truth." He said, feeling guilty that this happened to her. "But some secrets need to remain that way."
Not just his but Chatte's as well.
No one can know until Hawk Moth was taken care of.
He wanted to say that her friend didn't blame her, but he held off knowing that if he said that he might add more evidence to show who he was beneath the mask.
Alya looked up only to hear the familiar beeping as there were two dots on Beetle's earrings.
"You need to go." Alya whispered, wanting to be alone at the moment.
Hesitating, Beetle gave a nod and looked at Chatte who looked just as unsure.
But they left, not having much time left.
The moment Maron got home that night, he was engulfed in a hug from Sabine, making him cry out as he wasn't expecting that.
"Are you alright?" Sabine asked, letting go to cup his cheeks, looking for any signs of injuries. "Your father and I were so worried when the Akuma showed you being captured, did she do anything to you?"
"No, Alya didn't do anything but tie me up." Maron answered, trying to calm her down. "I'm just worried about how she's reacting now that she's back to normal."
Especially with how despondent she seemed.
If his phone wasn't broken, he would call her to check in.
Seeing no injuries on him, Sabine pulled him into another hug, while Tom approached. "We're just happy to see that you're safe." He told him, giving Maron a smile despite the concern he felt. "And don't worry about Alya, she's a strong girl."
With that said he hugged both Sabine and Maron, quietly thanking the heroes for saving their son.
The next day, Maron was walking back to school despite how his parents tried to get him to take the day off after what happened.
But he needed to talk to Alya.
It was something he couldn't put off.
"It's too bad you couldn't call her." Tikki brought up, eliciting a chuckle from Maron.
"Yeah, thankfully I'm finally getting it replaced after school today."
Entering the school, Maron saw Alya looking through her phone, leaning against her locker.
From the look on her face, Maron figured she was looking at her actions as Lady Wifi.
"I have to say," He spoke up, catching Alya by surprise as she glanced his way, a look of regret forming immediately. "You had some cool powers."
The regret turned into confusion. "What?"
"Your powers, they were pretty cool." Maron repeated, grinning her way. "I mean data teleportation? Pausing people? Using a phone as a weapon? It was all pretty fitting for you."
"I-." Alya was flabbergasted.
Here she was, trying to think of how to apologize and Maron just comes up to say that?
"Are you crazy?!" Alya finally asked, shaking her head. "I kidnapped you, I threatened to kill the chefs and busboys at the restaurant. Why aren't you freaking out?"
"No you didn't, Lady Wifi did." Maron said as if it was that simple.
And to him it was.
"Besides Stoneheart threatened me, Timebreaker tried to erase me from existence and Pharaoh locked me in a coffin," Maron listed the three Akuma's he met as himself rather than Beetle. "And I treat Ivan and Alix the same."
He would also add Jalil, but he only interacted with him once, so that doesn't count.
"Alya you're my best friend, of course I'm not going to treat you like a bomb waiting to go off, Hawk Moth is at fault, not you or the other Akumas." Maron told her before giving a grin. "Though I'm still calling you crazy for even thinking I'm Beetle."
A snort escaped from Alya as some tension left her.
Whether it was from relief that her best friend wasn't scared of her or from how he was taking it, she didn't care.
"I guess I did get a little crazy." Alya admitted with Maron raising a brow. "Okay I get crazy a lot."
"You said it, not me."
"Oh you want to go?" Alya asked in mock anger while Maron held his hands up in surrender.
Though while they spoke, Alya silently admitted that she still thought Maron was Beetle.
Even if the other night showed proof that he wasn't, there were just too many similarities for it to be a coincidence.
But she pushed the thought away, no longer planning to try and look for Beetle's identity.
Being Akumatized and having her knowledge being used against the heroes was proof on why their identities needed to remain a secret.
Along with Beetle's words to her the other night.
'There's nothing wrong with wanting the truth. But some secrets need to remain that way.'
He was right, she was so caught up in the truth and trying to fix her blog after what happened, she ended up acting like one of those paparazzi magazine reporters who just look for the big stuff to print and stretch the truth.
That wasn't the type of reporter she wanted to be.
When she started the blog, it was to show the true actions of the heroes, to show the world that no matter how bad things got, they were there to save the day.
She needed to get back to that.
"Alya?" Maron sounded concerned, catching her attention. "Are you okay?"
"... I want to say yes, but no I'm not." Alya answered truthfully to Maron. "But I'm better than I was."
She then smiled and threw an arm around Maron's shoulder, giving him a small hug.
"And I'm grateful to have a friend like you, thank's Maron."
Maron smiled before Alya brought her phone up to take a picture, so he gave a peace sign to add to it.
"Oh and I guess I better delete the pictures of Annette too." Alya said, confusing Maron. "When I thought you were Beetle, I began to compare Annette to Chatte Noire."
That earned a chuckle. "Seriously?" He asked, finding that funny.
There was no way Annette was Chatte Noire.
Sure they were both blonde and had green eyes, but that was the only similarity between them.
Annette was pretty serious at times and seemed a little socially awkward due to a lack of talking with people from what Maron learned, though she was a lot better than he was in that sense.
Chatte Noire never passes up the moment for a pun and was incredibly social to everyone, not afraid to say what was on her mind and practically wore her heart on her sleeves.
Their differences were like night and day in a way.
Besides with how busy Annette was, Maron didn't see her being a superhero, he didn't have as much of a schedule and he was already a nervous wreck trying to balance his two lives.
To Be Continued…
Another chapter down for this story and hopefully enough of the episode was changed to make it interesting.
Especially with Lady Wifi kidnapping Maron to get the truth which prompted Wang Fu to make another appearance, this time using the Fox Miraculous to help out, though we didn't see how he looked with that Miraculous active but it did give some background on the Miraculous and let Maron know about the Guardian.
Given the nature of the situation, I believed he would've intervened a little, but leave most of it to the heroes.
It also explains a bit more on how Wayzz was able to sense Hawk Moth but not where he was in the Origins episode in Canon if you will.
Also yes I have the Toiletnator in this, he's more of a gag villain like how the Box Ghost is in Danny Phantom, though he might have a role in the future. Or he'll just be an ongoing joke through the fanfic, haven't decided yet.
Finally got a bit of a timeline established with it being November in this story, it's probably not in Canon at this point but after a long time of wondering I decided screw it, it's fanfiction for a reason so why not?
Oh one more thing, Alya still suspects Maron as I showed at the end of the chapter, but she's not pursuing these suspicions after what happened, not wanting to be Akumatized and using that against him again.
Alright, let's get the reviews done so I can post this.
RonaldM40196867: No kidding, but it was a bit funny if you think about it. As for the inspiration? Well I ended up finding some fanart of the two heroes being genderbent by complete accident and it planted the seeds of writing a story because I wondered how much would change, it took off from there and here we are.
RebelPrincess2015Forever: … I swear I had no clue about that, I just checked and wow… I suppose that's what I get from not checking myself, it's kind of funny that I spent half a year without knowing. Still it does fit because that is another word for cat. I am happy that you're enjoying the story, I hope you continue to enjoy it from here.
Jordan: Sorry, I've been having trouble with that particular one, I will continue it soon.
Alpha Slayer: Alya is pretty smart in the series, when the writers aren't having her ignore some obvious signs, cough*Lila*cough, so it was not a matter of if she would find out, only when. I'm happy you're enjoying the story and personally I've never seen FMAB or FMA in general so I had no clue there was a character named Father there. Yea I suppose I have been mentioning that a lot, I need to work on not doing that, sorry but yes eventually they will get interviewed, it will be fun to type. Well I have no plans for a time skip of that magnitude yet but I have actually thought about it. I even wondered about continuing the story when they're adults and know each other's identity if I ever get that far, but Idk if I will or not.
Dr. Spectrum: It sounds awesome, but honestly I don't know if I would be able to pull that off. With the amount of stories I already have along with ones that I've been putting off to focus on these other stories, I don't see myself focusing on that.
Skinnydude911: Yeah, compared to Darkstar the Akumas and even Hawk Moth aren't that threatening, mostly because people actually died during that mess with Darkstar along with him being a serial killer, so that particular two-parter will have some long lasting effects on the heroes, to the point where they won't joke around whenever he shows up again like they do with the Akuma's. I wasn't planning for the awkward moment in the sarcophagus, but when I got there, I paused and thought about it before laughing because it was too hilarious not to use. Especially since they both knew each other in their other identities and they were both trying to keep the same secret which added to the ridiculousness of it. Hopefully you enjoyed how different the Lady Wifi episode was, I took some liberties in how to handle it and enhanced her powers a bit because she could teleport but there was no mention of her being able to take people with her, there weren't any mentions that she couldn't so I went with that. And I know what you mean, it would've been so simple for Alya to look in the book in Canon because from how Marinette reacted when she went to bring it out, her name had to be in there. Perhaps she was so caught up in the excitement she didn't think of the obvious solution? People don't really think of the obvious solutions at times until after it's needed.