Chapter 15: Style Queen 2
Audrey was having breakfast in the hotel dining room, along with Zoé and Chloé, who were eating there before school.
"This Saturday, there will be a ceremony honoring Adrien Agreste as the Fashion Icon of the Month for Style Queen Magazine," said Audry. "I expect you to be there, Clora and Zora."
"Yes, Mother," said Zoé. She had learned not to try to correct her mother when she used the wrong names.
"Who else will be there?" asked Chloé.
"All the important people in the fashion industry will attend, of course. Oh, and a number of Adrien's friends from school will be there. I expect you two to set a good example and keep those lower-class hooligans in line."
"Do you have a list of the utterly ridiculous people we have to babysit?" asked Chloé.
Audrey turned her laptop around and showed them.
"Alya Césaire, Kagami Tsurugi, Kim Nguyen, Luka Couffaine, Max Kanté, Nino Lahiffe, and MarinetteDupain-Cheng," Chloé read out. "Ugh! Other than Dupain-Cheng, it's a list of all my subjects when I was... never mind."
Zoé remembered the Miracle Queen cosplay, and shuddered.
Zoé managed to get Marinette alone in the girl's restroom at school that day.
"Marinette, we need to talk," said Zoé.
"I told you to leave me alone," said Marinette.
"This is important," said Zoé. "You know that ceremony for Adrien this weekend? You got an invitation, right?"
"I did. So?" said Marinette.
"The only friends of Adrien that are invited have all been superheroes," said Zoé.
"What? How could you know that?"
"Chloé remembers being Miracle Queen, and she told me. Alya, Nino, Kim, and Max. Also Luka and Kagami. And you, but she doesn't know about you."
"I'm not a superhero."
"Oh, right," said Zoé sarcastically.
"It could be a coincidence. They all have connections to Adrien."
"There are others that could have been included. Juleka, Rose, and Ivan are all in Kitty Section with him, but only Luka was invited. Lila works with him as a model. Kagami is invited, even though she barely talks to him since their break-up."
"Okay, this looks bad. Do you know who prepared the list?"
"No, my mother just showed us this morning. I'll try to find out. Shadow Moth, or someone working with him, may have connections to Style Queen magazine."
"It could be someone he akumatized, then freed after they made the list. They wouldn't remember, and if nobody saw them..."
"Maybe. Anyway, it could be a trap. Do you think he wants to make my sister into Miracle Queen again, and take over all the heroes?"
"She can't be Miracle Queen without the Bee Miraculous. The akuma enhanced her power of domination and let her make a swarm of magic bees. The others can't be heroes, controlled or not, without their own Miraculous."
"What will you do?"
"I don't know... I would love to see Adrien win the award," said Marinette with a dreamy sigh. "But..."
Zoé had decided that Ladybug either didn't know that Adrien was Chat Noir or was doing an elaborate crush act as Marinette. They were supposedly a couple as superheroes.
"You have the head's up, so it's your decision," said Zoé. "I have to go since my mother is hosting."
Zoé didn't have a chance to ask her mother about the invitation list. Audrey was too busy.
She met with her friends as they waited for the elevator to go up to the ceremony. Everyone on the list was there except for two.
"Too bad Marinette and Alya couldn't make it," said Nino. "I'm coming to support my best bro."
Zoé guessed that Ladybug had warned Alya of the possible trap and she had decided to skip. Had they all been warned?
"I bet I can get there before the elevator does! Max, time me," said Kim.
"Ready... GO!" said Max.
Alex was late to the ceremony. Zoé, sitting in the front row, could hear her mother complaining loudly.
(Chloé was standing onstage near her mother. Chloé was going to be the one to hand Adrien the trophy.)
"If you don't start filming this instant, you're fired!" said Audrey to a woman on the TV camera crew.
"But we have to wait for Alec Cataldi, the MC!" said the crew-woman.
"Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!" said Audrey.
Then Alec kicked open a door, leaped to the stage, and did a spin.
"It's about time." said Audrey.
"Roll!" said the crew-woman.
"You won't be disappointed," said Alec. "You'll see, it was worth the wait! Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the outdated headquarters of Style Queen magazine."
"That's not fair," Zoé thought. "This building isn't as new or fancy as the one she has in New York, but this was the best she could find after relocating her business here at short notice."
"It's almost as outdated as Audrey Bourgeois herself!" said Alec.
Everyone laughed as Audrey gaped in shock, even Chloé.
"Well, well, has the Queen suddenly lost her voice?" asked Alex. "What a shame. She could have told you that this whole award ceremony is rigged." To Adrien, he added, "Sorry, my boy."
"That's false! Utterly false!" said Audrey, shoving Adrien aside to get in Alec's face. "Don't listen to him," she told the audience. To Alec, she said, "You! How dare you! You're –"
"Fired?" Alec interrupted with a laugh. "Too late! You've utterly ridiculed yourself already."
Audrey glowered and looked down as everyone laughed. A purple butterfly lighted on the golden rose on her hat, and an outline of purple light appeared around her face.
"Spare me the boring speech, Shadow Moth, give me back my powers and I'll give you the two trinkets you're so obsessed with!"
In a cloud of black and purple magic, she became Style Queen.
The audience ran. Zoé got to the back of the room and hid behind the refreshment table.
"Glitter, really?" mocked Alec. "For a Style Queen you sure are a fashion victim."
He ran off, laughing.
"You're the only victim around here!" said Style Queen, zapping at him with her scepter.
Alec leaped with surprising agility, letting a couch take the shot and get turned to a pile of glitter, He continued to run.
Style Queen turned her aim toward Adrien, and Chloé hiding behind him.
A thrown chair took out her right arm and scepter.
"Go, Adrien! Run!" said Kagami.
"Kagami, NO!" said Adrien.
"Since you want to play the hero, you'll be the first to get fired!" said Style Queen.
Style Queen's right arm reassembled. She fired at Kagami, making another pile of glitter.
Chloé and Adrien ran behind the stage. Chloé emerged a little later, and sneaked over to where Zoé was hiding.
"Alec, where are you?" asked Style Queen, looking around the room.
Chloé stood up, pointing. "This way, Mom! I saw him."
Zoé noticed she was not pointing in the direction Alec had gone. "Heroic, but stupid," she thought.
"I saw you laugh when that MC ridiculed me. You're fired!"
Zoé tried to pull Chloé down behind the table. Chloé reached for her. For a second, Zoé thought her sister was going to try to use her as a human shield, but Chloé hesitated as their sisterly bond won out. The shot struck, turning Chloé to glitter.
"There's someone else back there," said Style Queen. "Prepare to be fired immediately!"
"How about a little 'paws' for the kitty over here?" said Chat Noir, extending his baton and swiping off her right arm.
"Of course," thought Zoé. "Adrien had time to get away and transform."
Style Queen reassembled, but by the time she was ready to shoot Chat had his baton ready in a defensive shielding spin.
Ladybug leaped in a moment later. Style Queen fired at her, but she was moving fast, dodging every shot.
Style Queen froze in place. Behind her, an illusion dispelled, revealing Lady Bee, who had just used Venom on her from behind.
Lady Bee said, "Buzz off" and released Pollen.
Ladybug took the glitter rose that was concealed in Style Queen's crown and crushed it, releasing the akuma butterfly. She caught it with her yo-yo and purified it.
Ladybug took off a pair of bunny slippers, red with black spots, which she had used to muffle her footsteps as she got behind Style Queen. She threw them into the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!"
Those in the room who had been glitterized returned to life.
"Thanks for not grabbing me," said Zoé.
"Don't mention it," said Chloé.
Style Queen turned back into Audrey Bourgeois. While Audrey was recovering, Ladybug hooked a Magic Charm onto her hat.
Audrey walked away, saying "Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!"
The two heroes bumped fists. "Pound it!"
Chat Noir asked, "How did you use both a Venom and a Mirage, M'Lady? I didn't know you could triple Unify."
"I suspected a trap, and I had Rena Rouge ready," said Ladybug. "We were monitoring the room through the TV cameras. When we saw the villain attack she created a covering illusion for me and a fake Ladybug to fight."
"I thought you weren't going to use Rena Rouge again," said Chat.
"It was a special case," said Ladybug. "I won't do it again."
"You could have used Vesperia," said Chat. "Her identity isn't known."
"I've decided she's not reliable," said Ladybug.
Zoé frowned at this. She had given Ladybug major help, alerting her to the trap, but she got no credit for it.
Kim ran into the room, panting. "I win, right?"
Gabriel met with Nathalie in her room.
"Curses, Ladybug was too well prepared!" said Gabriel. "She was onto the trap from the start. I wanted to tempt her to use one of the former temporary heroes, so that we could plant another Optigami when she took the Miraculous back. She did, but too quickly for the plan!"
"Maybe we should have invited more of Adrien's friends from school as cover," said Nathalie. "As it was, the only extra invitation was Marinette, and only because Adrien specifically asked for her to come."
"And she chose not to," said Gabriel. "Perhaps she's not as good a friend as he thinks."
"The re-use of Alya Césaire is interesting," said Nathalie. "Out of all the possible people, including our best candidate for Versperia."
"Alya may have a special status in the organization Ladybug has set up since she has become Guardian. It's time to take an interest in her," said Gabriel.