This chapter is definitely intense

Chapter 9: Teamwork Makes The Dream Work

Lacy woke with a start just as the first sun beams began to shine.

The world came into sharp focus, and Lacy felt the urge to pounce on... something. What had woken her?

That's when Orikko decided to scream.

With a groan, Lacy grabbed the pillow dedicated to throwing at Orikko in the mornings and threw it at Orikko. He dodged easily.

"Can't help it," he said. "It's dawn."

"It is," Lacy agreed. She swung her legs over and sat up, yawning. "Do you know what woke me?"

"It's dawn!" Orikko declared.

"I got that," Lacy replied. "But something startled me."

"You did look like you were having a nightmare," Orikko suggested.

"No, this wasn't that," Lacy disagreed. "Is it just me or - is it silent?"

An eerie, familiar silence. Lacy's stomach jolted.

She stood up and walked to the window. Peering out, she could see the city had slowed to a halt.

Just like Manhattan had, when everyone had fallen asleep, and there were bodies everywhere, and in the car, and-

"Are you okay?" Orikko asked, floating in front of her.

"Huh? Yeah, I just-" Lacy took a few steps back and plopped back on her bed. "Bad memories."

Her breathing was getting faster and faster and -

She hadn't had a panic attack like this in a while.

Breathe. In. Hold. Out.

In. Hold. Out.

"Right, akuma," Lacy said. "I didn't think my miraculous was enough to completely fend off something like this."

"It's a widespread effect, so it takes less to wear off," Orikko guessed. "Plus your adrenaline is probably spiking from the anxiety."

Right. The sudden silence might have been what startled her awake.

"Okay," Lacy said. "But that means no one else is awake. So I have to go wake Marinette."

"That would be a good idea," Orikko agreed.

"Orikko, sun up!"

Class started an hour later than usual, and Bustier was even later than that, giving her students free reign of the classroom at the start.

Almost all the of the students were on time.

"Anyone see Lacy?" Sadie asked. She had expected Lacy to beat her to class, miraculous of the dawn and all, but she hadn't arrived yet.

Alix shrugged. "She was up when the - you-know-what- but maybe she crashed after?"

"Hm," Sadie said. "I'm going to text her."

"I did already," Alix said. "No reply - but she never replies."

"She was grumpy earlier today," Marinette suggested.

"Earlier today?" Nathaniel repeated. "How were you awake?"

Alix frowned.

"Oh, I meant, um, late yesterday," Marinette lied.

Alix turned back to Marinette. "We can tell him. I trust him. And he's the only one in the class that doesn't know."

"Tell me what?" Nathaniel questioned.

"It's not something we just tell people so they're included, Alix," Marinette replied.

"But I trust him," Alix argued.

"We can have this conversation later," Sadie interrupted. "I'm going to go check on Lacy. Coming?"

Lacy leaned back, enjoying the sound of the city at full swing.

She grew up in a city. She wouldn't call the noise pleasant, but it was familiar and it made her feel safe.

Her legs dangled off the balcony, Orikko hidden behind her so no stray eyes would spot him. She had grabbed a (reusable) water bottle, and was set to just stay there for a moment.

And then Lacy saw a flash of faded pink hair, and realized she never checked in with her friends.

"They must be worried about me," Lacy muttered, a pant of guilt forming in her stomach.

She had left her phone inside, which meant she had to get up to check it. Multiple notifications popped up.

Oops.

"Don't worry about it," Orikko said. "They're all used to you not replying."

The last text was from Sadie, saying that she and Alix were coming to check in on her.

"They're missing school," Lacy muttered.

"So are you," Orikko noted.

"Only the first little bit," Lacy said. She intended on going, but she needed some time to calm herself down.

The doorbell rang. Lacy glanced in the mirror, realizing that she should've taken time to do her hair that morning.

The doorbell rang again, and Lacy undid and finger combed her hair as she came down the stairs.

The doorbell rang yet again as she opened the door.

Alix and Sadie were in the hallway.

"There you are!" Alix said. "I've been ringing for you for hours!"

"You okay?" Sadie asked.

"I'm fine," Lacy said. "I promise I feel better than I look."

"That's not saying much," Alix commented.

Sadie elbowed her.

Lacy chuckled. "That's true. It's just been a rough morning. But I'm fine, go back to school."

"Aren't even going to let us in?" Sadie asked, not waiting for an answer before pushing her way in.

Alix followed. Their kwamis floated from their hiding place, settling in on the table.

"But school," Lacy repeated, trailing after them.

Sadie waved it off. "School can wait. Have you eaten?"

"I'm fine."

"Have you?" Sadie asked. "Orikko, has she?"

"Nope," Orikko said, like a traitor.

"What do you have that's microwaveable?" Sadie asked, opening the door to her fridge.

"You don't have to cook for me," Lacy said.

"At this point," Stampede said. "It's better to just let her cook."

Lacy sighed. "Okay. But feel free to cook something for yourself."

"I've had a big breakfast," Sadie said. "Tidir cooked for us."

While Sadie grabbed something and popped it in the microwave, Alix and Lacy sat down at the couch.

"I'm sorry for not texting you," Lacy said. "The akuma this morning just freaked me out."

"It's fine," Alix said. "I can afford to miss a few classes."

"If you're sure," Lacy replied. "Are you okay? You seem a little distracted."

"Hm? Yeah, just - I feel bad, not telling Nathaniel."

"About - oh, about the miraculous?"

Alix nodded. "I can keep a secret, but it's one thing if it's my secret, and another if a bunch of people know, but not my best friend."

"You and Nathaniel are really close," Lacy said. "I can imagine how that would feel, though I can't say I've ever had a best friend."

Mitchell didn't count, since he was her brother. Lacy had always felt like Sadie was hiding something from her that their other friends knew (and she had been right). There had been Helen, but that hadn't ended well.

Alix shrugged. "Not everyone does. But you have plenty of good friends, that's for sure."

The microwave beeped.

"I do," Lacy agreed. "Thanks for checking in on me."

"Of course."

"You two can head back to school, I'll be there once I've eaten and changed," Lacy said.

"If you say so," Alix replied.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" Sadie asked.

"No, I just don't want you to miss school because of me. Now shoo."

The class, now fully present, was halfway through their history class when everyone's phone, minus Nathaniel's, buzzed.

With lots of shuffling, the students each reached into their pockets or bags to grab their phone without the teacher noticing.

Alix got her phone out first, so Lacy leaned over to see the notification.

A text popped up from Kagami.

I believe there is an invisible akuma in the school.

Marinette was the first to reply.

Where?

In the school, Kagami replied.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lacy could see Marinette facepalm.

The teacher continued with the lesson, still unaware.

We need to hack into the cameras to track it, Max texted. Tikki The Second would be too obvious. As would Markov.

Alix turned her phone back towards herself to reply, before turning the phone again so Lacy could see.

I'll handle the distraction, Alix had texted.

OK, Marinette replied.

Alix moved her phone again, not letting Lacy see what she was doing.

A second later, Nathaniel raised his hand.

"Yes?" Bustier asked.

"Can I talk to you? Outside?"

As Nathaniel and Bustier left, Alix flashed him a thumbs up.

The door shut, and Marinette turned to Max.

"Are you sure we can't use the same trick we used with Vanisher?"

Max shook his head. "Not unless you want the akuma to realize we're tracking them. If I can get into the school's cameras I'm 90% certain I can track them."

"I'll still transform and deploy my drone," Marinette decided. "She can make sure that the akuma doesn't leave the building."

"Won't you be unable to detransform?" Nino asked. "You'll have to miss school."

"You all worry about school too much," Sadie decided.

"Max, where do you need to be to be able to access the school cameras?" Marinette asked.

"Anywhere without someone watching," Max replied. "I'd go home, but my grandfather is there at the moment."

"Use my place," Chloe suggested. "I can call my chaeffur to pick us up."

"Having the privacy of the limo would be nice," Max noted.

"Okay," Marinette said. "Chloe, take Max and Lacy with you. Adrien, you and I will stake out outside of the school while Max does his thing. The rest of you, keep your phones close."

The limo waited for them outside.

Chloe had a quick conversation with the driver, who was concerned about being called in the middle of the school day, and then she, Lacy, and Max slid into the back.

"He won't be listening," Chloe said. "So what's the plan?"

"I've already set up an easy way to hack into the school cameras," Max explained. "Purely for heroing purposes, of course."

"Have you done that for all the places akumas regularly show up?" Lacy asked.

Max nodded. "As best as I can. Now, after Vanisher reappeared, I started working on an algorithm to catch invisibility akumas by monitoring movement."

Kaalki flew up besides Max. "My holder is a genius like that."

Max patted her head.

"Of course, human eyes are always helpful," Max added. "You may catch things the computer won't. It is unlikely, but still possible."

Lacy and Pegasus, now transformed in the safety of Chloe's room, sat side by side on the couch while an impatient Queen Bee paced. Lacy stared at the camera feed, trying not to get distracted by the pacing.

"We should have the akuma's location in approximately one minute, Lady-"

"There!" Lacy pointed at the video feed. "I saw them there."

"Nice eyes," Pegasus said. "If you give me a second - I'm tracking her. I'll summon a portal; Queen Bee, if you shoot your venom straight ahead you should hit them."

"Finally," Queen Bee said.

"Voyage!"

"Venom!"

"I hit them," Queen Bee confirmed, recalling her top. "Ladybug, your turn."

"On it," Ladybug replied. She checked the location on her Yo-Yo, and leaped from the rooftop and into the school.

Chat Noir followed, landing silently behind her.

"According to Pegasus, the akuma victim should be right-" Ladybug was cut off when she ran into something invisible.

"Looks like you found it," Chat Noir commented.

Ladybug groaned. "Yeah. Now to figure out where the akuma is. Lucky charm!"

A magnet fell into her hands.

"Must be magnetic," Chat Noir mused. "Wait, does your miraculous know where the akuma is?"

"Yes and no," Ladybug replied.

"Huh?"

Ladybug waved the magnet around the akuma, grinning when something hit it with a clink.

"I've got you now."

Sadie fidgeted with her necklace.

It was weird, sitting in class while a battle was happening. It was nice, in a way, but strange and part of Sadie wanted to help somehow.

Especially after sleeping through the akuma that morning.

That had sucked. It wasn't her fault though - she had a few protection amulets made by Walt, but nothing that could fend off a sleep akuma, apparently.

But that wasn't a bad idea.

Making sure Bustier wasn't paying attention, Sadie dug her phone out again and sent a text to Walt and Carter.

Do we have any magic that wards off sleep?

It was still night in Brooklyn, so Sadie didn't expect an immediate response. She slipped her phone back into her school bag just in time for Bustier to glance her way.

"Wait a moment," Alya said, just loud enough for Sadie and Nino to hear. "There's an akuma fight going on."

"Yeah?" Sadie asked.

"That I'm not a part of," Alya continued.

"I see where this is going," Nino said. "It's a bad idea."

Alya pulled out her phone and stood up. "I'll be right back."

Nino sighed loudly.

Without waiting for permission from Bustier, Alya burst out of the room.

The door swung shut, and then swung open again, and Alya walked back in defeated, followed by Marinette.

"It's already over," she whined.

Alix paced nervously at the meeting spot.

Marinette should have been here by now - but this was Marinette, who always ran a little late. Alix was just being impatient. But this was an important conversation!

A total of fifteen minutes and six seconds (as reported by Fluff) after she was supposed to arrive, Marinette appeared.

"Finally," Alix complained. "I've been waiting for you forever."

"Sorry," Marinette replied. "Bakery emergency."

"Right," Alix said. "So, what do you think?"

"About Nathaniel?" Marinette asked. "I don't know. Telling people just to tell them sounds dangerous."

"But Nath can help!" Alix argued. "He helped today!"

Marinette considered this.

"That's true!" Tikki piped up. "And he did it without knowing why!"

"Plus Nathaniel hates raising his hand in class," Alix added. "But he did, because I asked him too!"

"Plus everyone in class knowing means us kwamis don't have to hide!" Fluff added.

"Except we're not telling Miss Bustier," Marinette said. "But yeah, these are all good points. He's come a far way this year, I trust him."

"As do I!" Alix added.

"I assume you want to tell him?" Marinette asked.

"Yes!" Alix bounced on her toes. "He's my best friend - I need to be the one to tell him."

Marinette sighed. "Okay. Alya and I might - I'll tell you guys about that later. When will you tell him?"

"Tonight," Alix said. "He's sleeping over - and since Lacy has a hair thing-" Alix made a face "it will be just us."

"Sounds good," Marinette said. "I need to get back to the bakery. Let me know how it goes!"

Marinette tapped her pencil on the table, trying to focus on the math problem.

"Maybe you should put your homework away for a while," Tikki suggested. "Take a breath."

Marinette sighed. "You're right. Today's been so hectic - it's hard to focus." She put her pencil down. "I'm going to grab something to eat, what would you like?"

"Anything would be great!" Tikki replied.

Marinette nodded, and headed down to the kitchen.

Inside her parents were talking in hushed tones. They stopped when Marinette appeared.

Marinette halted, suddenly feeling awkward.

"Um, is something wrong?"

"Why didn't you tell us you were Ladybug?"

So, what do you all think just happened?