a/n: As a heads-up: this has been edited to be S4 compliant and as such contains some spoilers.

The timers were starting to bother Marinette.

The five-minute timers after they used their powers had always been there, obviously, and she and Chat Noir had gotten used to having them. They had gotten so used to the beeping that they could pick up on the subtle differences between the beeps and figure out if they had four minutes or one left based on that. It wasn't a new limitation.

But all of a sudden, being limited to five minutes of transformation after using Lucky Charm or Cataclysm was a Serious Problem.

Battles were harder and longer with the increasingly-frequent addition of sentimonsters alongside the akuma. Sometimes Hawkmoth would show up to try to get the drop on them at the end of a battle. With news of Paris's superheroes slowly spreading outside of the city, more and more foreign reporters were showing up, many of them clearly hoping to get the scoop of the century by discovering Ladybug and Chat Noir's identities. And now, Rena Rouge- sorry, Rena Furtive- had to limit herself to the back of the fight, no longer able to be visible during battles so that she wouldn't get targeted by Hawkmoth again, so they were back to their normal two superheroes during most battles.

So far, nothing bad had happened. Ladybug and Chat Noir had pushed themselves to fight harder and learn what weaknesses sentimonsters tended to have so that they would know how to best defeat them. They went to news stations and managed to get civilian involvement on spotting Hawkmoth, setting up an app with Max's help that would let people report any Hawkmoth sightings, which would then send an alert to Ladybug and Chat Noir's weapons- and Rena's flute, though no one else knew that- so that Hawkmoth couldn't surprise them that easily and maybe they could figure out where he was coming from. They went to the mayor and requested that laws get passed to protect them from overly-nosy reporters following them around after battles, deterring most (but not all) of them from following the superheroes around so aggressively at the end of the battles, especially after several arrests had been made.

They identified their trouble areas, found a solution, and implemented it. Boom, boom, boom. There was no slacking there.

Still, something made Marinette suspect that it wasn't going to be enough.

"Hawkmoth is getting more aggressive, and it's only a matter of time before he catches us on a bad day, or he finds another non-Zodiac Miraculous," Marinette told Tikki one day. She was frowning at her diary, where she had been trying to brainstorm what she and Chat Noir could do to improve their fighting. So far, the biggest thing was find more backup holders, which- well, she kept tapping more of her classmates for the new Miraculous, but surely there had to be a better approach. She knew that just picking from her class was limiting her and there were definitely better holders out there, but it wasn't like she knew a ton of people outside of class all that well. There was always Master Fu's method of finding people, but that was risky. "And since the timers aren't going to go away any time soon..."

"They'll get a little longer as you get older, but they won't go away completely until you're an adult," Tikki told her, not for the first time. "I know it's inconvenient, but it's-"

"Necessary, I know." Tikki had tried explaining it before, but honestly, the explanation had only made Marinette more confused. Magic was not what people might call straightforward. It didn't necessarily make sense all the time. "I just want to figure out any way that Chat Noir and I can keep ourselves safe while working around that."

"Working on escape strategies might be your best bet," Tikki suggested. "It might not always be something you can do, but..."

"The problem is that I need something that I'll be able to do on a regular basis," Marinette pointed out, trying not to sound frustrated with Tikki. Her kwami couldn't help the restrictions that the Miraculous magic had. She also hadn't had to deal with a Hawkmoth situation before, at least to Marinette's knowledge, and even if she had, they wouldn't have had all of the cameras and reporters and whatnot that Ladybug and Chat Noir were always dealing with. "I can't expect that I'll always be near a manhole cover or abandoned building or whatever."

"Maybe looking through old footage of battles could give you some ideas," Tikki suggested after a moment. She didn't look entirely convinced. "I mean, if you look at the battles where you were running out of time and see them from a different angle, something might stick out?"

Marinette raised an eyebrow at her kwami, completely dubious. She didn't have any better ideas, though, and it was possible that someone in the comments section under the video would, so Marinette headed over to her computer, turned it on, and started pulling up old archived footage of akuma attacks. She didn't tend to watch the videos back that often, unless they were playing on the TV during dinner- she lost enough time on the battles in the first place, after all, and the battles tended to move around enough that it was really hard for reporters on the ground to really follow. More recently, unless the footage was being shot from helicopters or drones, it was simply too dangerous for reporters to get in close enough to get any decent shots.

Half an hour later, Marinette had skimmed through the footage and corresponding comment sections for half a dozen fights and had come away empty-handed. The footage wasn't showing her the parts of the fight that she was most interested in, and the comment section was just full of people talking about how cool the superheroes were, if they had been near the battle as well, how tired people were of akuma battles, commentary on Hawkmoth's akuma design choices...

In short, there was nothing useful that she could use to inspire ideas on how to best approach the timer problem.

Grumbling, Marinette hit the back button to exit the particular article on the Ladyblog that she had decided to skim through. It hadn't been of any help either. She had hoped that it might be, because Alya had framed it as a list of ways that civilians might be able to help the superheroes during akuma battles (honestly, half of the ideas were flat-out terrible- people needed to be getting away from akumas, not trying to get close in to help when they didn't even have superpowers, she didn't know what Alya had been thinking- admittedly, it was an older article, from before Alya became Rena permanently, but still), but neither the article nor the comments below it were even geared towards the superheroes.

It was probably time to close the Ladyblog and maybe just call up her partner and brainstorm with him. Either that, or pull a few of the other kwamis out of the Miracle Box and hope that they might have some ideas. Still, Marinette scrolled a little further.

She didn't want to call a brainstorm session with Chat Noir and not have even the vaguest idea about what they should do. Even if she brought some half-baked idea to the table, that would be better than nothing.

A thumbnail preview of the next video appeared as Marinette scrolled down, and she paused to glance at it. It was apparently a clip compilation of all of the Miraculous holders that there had ever been- or, rather, that had ever been caught on tape- and the one that Alya had decided to show was Ladybug with the Dragon fusion. Dragon Bug was staring fiercely at something off-camera, tall and proud and daring anyone to try to fight her.

And something in Marinette's brain went ah-hah.

Fusions were really, really nice. They could use the power for one of the Miraculous that they were wearing and then only remove that part of the transformation once their timer ran down, without having to detransform completely first, and of course fusions meant access to more powers. She and Chat Noir didn't use them often, though, because they tended to be a bit draining and neither of them wanted to test and see how that would affect them and their Miraculous over the course of multiple battles. Maybe it would be more or less fine, but if it wasn't...

They didn't have the space to recover if constant fusions wore down their kwamis.

But if they weren't fused for the whole battle, and if they could figure out a way to wear another Miraculous without activating it until it was actually needed...

A slow smile started to creep across Marinette's face as her idea took shape. "Actually, you know what? I think I have an idea."

Nadja Chamack creeped around a car to get a little closer to the battle that was raging in the middle of Paris, waving her cameraman to follow her as she did. He inched after her, keeping his camera trained on the superheroes as best he could as he shifted positions. The battle wasn't exactly going well for the superheroes at the moment, which wasn't great and definitely meant that Nadja was putting herself (and her cameraman) in danger, but she just had to get the footage. Her audience absolutely ate these sorts of battles up, and that did wonders for her ratings.

Besides, she would be fine. Even if the fight got a little too close to her and she got temporarily zapped out of existence for the nth time, Ladybug's Cure would just bring her back. Sure, it would be annoying to miss the end of such an intense battle- honestly, some of the best battles had been ones just like this one, where they were super close and down-to-the-wire, where everyone was on the edges of their seats, holding their breath, praying for the superheroes to pull through- but that was a risk that Nadja had to take.

Talk about a rush of adrenaline.

This was fast becoming one of those battles. Ladybug had used her Lucky Charm four minutes ago, according to Nadja's breathless calculations, but it hadn't come into play yet. The akuma had been keeping the superheroes too busy for Ladybug to get the chance to figure out how to use her Charm, so time was running out. Either she would have to figure out how to use the Lucky Charm or Chat Noir would have to hold off the akuma enough for Ladybug to get out, recharge, and return. They had taken out the sentimonster component several minutes ago, at least, but that didn't seem to be helping them any.

"Time is running out, so the superheroes are gonna have to pull out a miracle here," Nadja hissed into her microphone for her audience, not wanting to talk too loudly and attract the akuma's attention. She had learned that much since the start of the attacks. "Can they do it? Oh, that was a great hit from Chat Noi- OH MY GOD HAWKMOTH IS HERE."

Nadja flattened herself against the car that she was hiding behind, absolutely shaking as Hawkmoth's distinctive figure joined the battle above her, ruthless and unforgiving in his attacks. She wasn't sure if she was shaking because of adrenaline or terror, honestly. How were the superheroes meant to get out of this one? It was two against two, with Ladybug's timer running out fast. Unless they had a backup superhero waiting to jump in...any second now...

Nope. No backup superhero waiting to jump in.

Nadja was really sweating now, really regretting her push to get closer. It was one thing to get hit by an akuma or a sentimonster, but no civilians had ever been hit by the big bag himself. There was no knowing how any injuries caused directly by Hawkmoth would actually be affected by Ladybug's cure, and Nadja wasn't exactly interested in being the guinea pig for finding out.

Chat Noir abandoned the akuma to battle Hawkmoth, his baton flying as he deflected Hawkmoth's sword. Ladybug took up the battle against the akuma, holding her own as well as she could. Nadja could hear the frantic beeping of her earrings from where she crouched, and the sound was no longer exciting. Instead, it was terrifying.

If Ladybug lost her powers now, Hawkmoth would win, and any damage done by his akumas and sentimonsters would be permanent. And considering how close Nadja was to this particular battle, she was in prime position to get taken out right away.

…maybe she needed to reconsider how much she was willing to do for good ratings in the future.

Up above, Ladybug was gritting her teeth as she went after the akuma with ever-increasing fervor, no mistakes or sloppiness to be seen. And then Ladybug did mess up, and the akuma got a hit in that sent the superhero flying up through the air, tumbling through the sky and towards the streets below. She flung out her yo-yo, clearly hoping to snag a light post or a chimney to stop her fall.

The yo-yo didn't snag. Instead, a flash of pink light lit up the street as Ladybug's timer finally ran out.

Nadja gasped, nearly surging forward out of her hiding spot instinctively as part of her brain screamed at her to catch Ladybug before she hit the pavement and broke all of her bones. She came to a screeching halt a second later, the more logical part of her brain clearly realizing that a) she was nowhere near close enough to catch Ladybug even if she ran like the wind and b), the pink flash around Ladybug had turned purple.

And then the light faded, and an entirely new superhero was crouching on the sidewalk, completely unharmed and with a snarl playing around her lips.

Somehow, Ladybug had managed to detransform and then transform with a new Miraculous in the time span of less than a second.

Ladybug- Lady Tiger?- jumped back up to the rooftops, diving in claws-first at Hawkmoth. The supervillain gave a shout of surprise, followed by a yell of pain- from what Nadja could tell even from a distance, the claws on Ladybug's new transformation had dug straight through his gaudy purple suit- and then took off, retreating back to wherever he came from. That left the superheroes to turn all of their attention on the akuma, who suddenly looked a lot less confident.

"Did everyone see that?" Nadja asked her camera, barely remembering to hold up her microphone so that her audience could hear her. She was still shaking from the adrenaline. Hopefully her cameraman was doing better, because the higher-ups would kill her if the footage was all shaky. "That was amazing. Ladybug clearly had a plan in place for her timer running out! That detransformation-retransformation? Seamless. And right back into the fight without any hesitation. I wouldn't have been able to, my legs would be absolutely useless after a stunt like that!" She managed a smile for the camera when her cameraman did a quick shot of her before returning his focus to the fight. Hopefully the smile didn't look as wobbly as it felt. "I won't lie- my legs are a bit wobbly right now, and I wasn't even the one fighting! I'm sure some of you at home feel the same way."

"I think this battle is getting close to wrapping up now that Hawkmoth is gone. And- yes, that's the possessed item smashed, here comes the butterfly- but how is Ladybug going to purify it when she isn't Ladybug? Oh, she's fusing the Miraculous," Madam Chamack added after a moment as red lit up the rooftops again for a brief moment. "Of course. And she's caught the akuma, and it's purified! That was probably the most exciting, nerve-wracking battle that we've had in a long time," Nadja commented, unable to hold back her smile as the Miraculous Cure lit up the sky. "I'm not going to lie, though- since I'm so close to the battle, I could have used a bit less excitement. That was scary, but of course our superheroes pulled through and saved the day again! Now we'll return to Alec in the studio for some post-battle analysis. And as always- this is Nadja Chamack. Don't be bemused, it's just the news!" With that, Nadja sent her best bright smile at the camera, holding it until her cameraman nodded and lowered his camera, signaling that they were off the air. She sank back down to the ground, finally letting her professional exterior drop.

Hopefully Hawkmoth wouldn't be akumatizing anyone for the next few days because honestly, Nadja wasn't sure that she would be able to handle covering battles for a bit.

Ladybug got back to the bakery, tumbled through her skylight, landed face-down on her bed, and let her dual transformation go like that, her face buried in her pillow. Tikki spiraled free, landing next to Marinette's head briefly before flitting over to her hidden supply of cookies.

"I can't believe that actually worked," Marinette told her pillow, her voice muffled so much that it was practically unintelligible. Now that the adrenaline from the fight was wearing off, every muscle in her body felt like a limp noodle. She and Chat Noir had come so close to losing, Rena Furtive had been too far away to help and recharging besides, and she had come within half a second of exposing her identity to the world.

She definitely hadn't meant to cut it that close. Really, she should have fused the Miraculous first and then released Tikki so that there was actually overlap instead of detransforming completely and having to scramble to re-transform with a different Miraculous before the flash of her first transformation had faded. That had been her plan, but she hadn't had the space to manage the second transformation when she was mid-battle.

Clearly she should have done the fusion as soon as the second or third minute had passed by. It would probably be a good habit to get into in the future, even if it didn't feel like the battle was going completely sideways and out of her control. That way, she wouldn't have the distraction of the timer to worry about. And if both she and Chat Noir did that for every battle, it might even deter Hawkmoth from coming out and trying to ambush them at the end of battles.

Both superheroes had guessed that he was trying to take advantage of their timers by delaying them and keeping them from being able to retreat. Hawkmoth wouldn't have to defeat them in a fight, since he could outlast them and wait for their timers to run out. If they made it obvious that they would have another Miraculous on them consistently and would be able to negate the identity-revealing threat of the timers, maybe Hawkmoth would decide that it was too dangerous for him to come out. After all, if they finished off the akuma and went after him, he wouldn't be able to count on their timers forcing their retreat like he had been previously.

"That was cutting it close," Roaar agreed, settling down on the back of Marinette's head. "I was so scared for you! But you did it! The fight is over, and you're safe!"

"Yeah, and I'm not going to be of any use for the rest of the day. My legs are jelly. Heck, all of me is jelly." Marinette managed to roll herself over so that she wasn't suffocating herself in her pillow. "Part of me still can't believe that it worked. I nearly slammed into the road without a transformation. I nearly had my identity revealed. We almost lost."

"But look at the news coverage!" Tikki called from where she had gone. It sounded like she was down by Marinette's computer. "Madam Chamack was near the battle and she caught the whole thing on tape, and now the station has uploaded a slow-mo! Don't worry, slow motion doesn't show anything bad," she added before Marinette could panic. "The whole frame is just pink light, then purple light immediately after. But people are loving it. They're saying that you're the coolest superhero ever to be able to pull that move off and that it was absolutely iconic!"

"Well, I hope they enjoyed that, because I am never cutting it that close again." Never, never, never. The stress wasn't worth it. Marinette let out another sigh and burrowed into her pillow with the sole bit of energy that she could muster up. It wasn't much. "Oh, I am so glad that it wasn't a school day. I don't know how I would get anything done after a close call like that."

There was a pause, then a cough from Tikki. "Ah, is this a bad time to tell you that Rose texted about doing the group project later today? She wants to get together in half an hour."

Marinette could only groan.

a/n: ...one hasty bit of editing later...

This was originally written pre-S4 airing and I was going to post it in its original form, but last-minute decided that we were perhaps a little too far into the season for me to completely ignore it. So if there's anything strange in here... it's probably remnants of the previous story.

As always- this is a one-shot and therefore complete, and comments make my day!