A/N: Hey, guys! Our other story has been taking a bit more work than we thought so sadly we will be going on a small hiatus. However, chapter 10 is going to be debuting on October 31st! We chose Halloween costumes for all of the characters but Marinette. For some reason, we can't pick the perfect costume for her, so if you guys have any ideas, we'd love to hear them! The supervillain of this chapter is based on a character profile by Mistress Mysterious.
Summary: After being rejected by the boy she likes, a scorned girl is akumatized into the enchanting Aphrodite; Team Panthera re-evaluate their plan to rescue Nooroo.
Inside Marinette's eye-catchingly pink room, Marinette's friends Mylène and Juleka sat on her sofa while Alix and Rose sat on the floor. Before them was a large board containing a map of a city in France.
"All right, guys," said Marinette. "I have an ingenious plan to get Adrien to fall madly in love with me. Here's the plan for Operation Watery Flight."
"Ooh, ooh," hooted Alix, raising her hand playfully like an antsy child in class.
"Yes, Alix?" said Marinette.
"Didn't we try this before?" asked Alix. "I remember that it failed spectacularly."
"Uh, yes," said Marinette, blushing. "It did fail, but that wasn't our fault. The plan was great. The execution, however, needed lots of work, and that's exactly what we're going to improve upon."
Marinette pointed at the map, which was filled with sticky notes and crudely drawn illustrations, with a pink hand pointer.
"Tomorrow, we're all going to the science center," said Marinette. "There's a lake near it with those cute swan boats you can pedal with your feet, one of the most romantic pastimes."
Marinette sighed with a smile as she fantasized about being on a boat ride with Adrien. It was only the two of them on a swan boat in the middle of a large, sparkling lake. The radiant sun cast an angelic aura over Adrien's golden locks. He turned to smile at Marinette.
"I'm so happy you brought me here, Marinette," he would say. "It reminds me that I should have done this a long time ago."
Adrien leaned in for a kiss and Marinette did the same. She closed her eyes, moving closer and closer towards his lips.
"Marinette!" shouted Alya, snapping Marinette out of her little fantasy scenario.
Marinette opened her eyes to see that she was kissing a plushie giraffe held by Alix. All her friends laughed as Marinette reached for the giraffe, throwing it on her bed.
"Anyway," said Alya. "Here's the plan. We're going to have a school field trip to the science center. After that, we have a whole hour to ourselves before the school bus takes us back, so that is when our plan begins. First, Marinette will ask Adrien to go on a boat ride."
"Good luck with that," said Alix.
"The reason our last plan failed was because Marinette turned down a car ride with Adrien," said Mylène.
Marinette was getting tired of this ridicule, stomping her foot down in frustration.
"This time is gonna be different," she proclaimed. "It's not like I'm asking him out. It's just a casual boat ride between friends. No pressure at all."
"For the next step," continued Alya. "Mylène will bring her opera singer uncle to serenade the lovely couple. Then, Alix will use an industrial-strength fan to blow beautiful cherry blossom petals from a nearby tree to slowly fall around Marinette and Adrien."
"Then here comes the hard part," said Marinette.
She pointed at a red square with a little stick figure inside it on the map that highlighted the lake.
"Right here is where the lake engineer is stationed," said Marinette. "Juleka will make incredibly interesting conversation with the engineer, distracting him from his post. Rose will use this opportunity to get in and pull down the big red lever. That will turn the fountain on, creating a beautiful rainbow above us and serving as a symbol of our relationship. At that point, Adrien will be so overwhelmed with all the signs that he will ask me out on the spot."
"That makes this a five-step operation," added Alya. "Each step will be represented by a color: yellow, blue, red, green, and purple."
Juleka mumbled something unintelligible, but everyone understood what she said anyway.
"Each step is given a color because this is a secret mission, Juleka," said Marinette. "We can't just have people discovering our secret plan. All right, that's it for today. Let's go to school, and remember your roles, everyone."
While this was happening in the Dupain-Cheng household, Timothée and Gérard entered Seline's room in the Marc penthouse. Timothée's eyes zipped all over the room, eventually resting on Seline's K-pop posters.
"I can't believe you still have that dumb boy band on your wall," chuckled Timothée. "Aren't you a little old for that?"
"At least I'm not the one who plays with dolls," sassed Seline.
"They're action figures!" he said defensively.
Gérard snapped his fingers loudly, stopping his brother and cousin from going after each other.
"Focus, you two," he said. "We lost precious time failing our previous mission, so we must make our plan foolproof for next time."
"We have to find a time when the Agreste mansion will be empty again," said Timothée.
"Now that I think about it," said Seline. "We don't even know for sure if Nooroo is in the Agreste mansion. Let's face it: we've made absolutely no progress."
Their feline kwamis—Taag, Monsieur Pussycat, and Kimba—were huddled in a corner, having a quiet conversation.
"And what are you guys talking about?" asked Seline.
The kwamis jumped a little, surprised that they were being called out. They dispersed from their huddle.
"I thought you guys would've found Nooroo's location by now," said Taag. "But…"
"Perhaps we overestimated how good you are," said Monsieur Pussycat tersely. "Clearly, you three need outside help."
"Hmph!" complained Timothée, his arms crossed. "I thought we were doing just fine."
"But Seline said it herself," said Kimba. "You've made no progress."
"All we've found is a vault that probably just has money in it," said Seline.
"I forgot to tell you," said Taag. "When you de-transformed and I was building my energy up again, I could feel a kwami's presence nearby right before Gabriel caught us. It has to be Nooroo."
"All right then," said Seline. "Who do you think should help us?"
"Ladybug," said all three kwamis together.
Seline's eyes almost popped out of her head. Timothée tried his best not to laugh uncontrollably.
"Let's finish this conversation later," said Gérard. "We've gotta go to school and pretend everything is fine."
The halls of Collège Françoise Dupont were bustling with its chipper student body. Not so chipper was Adrien Agreste, who slammed his locker door shut. He was startled after noticing Seline, Timothée, and Gérard were standing silently right behind the locker door.
"Oh," said Adrien, heaving a sigh of relief after the initial shock. "It's you guys."
"Yes," said Timothée, clutching at the rosary that always adorned his neck. "And you deserve an explanation. The reason we came into your house without your permission was that... I dropped my rosary that's really important to me. Our parents found out that it was missing, and I wanted to get it back before they suspected I was the one who lost it."
"But you weren't there, Adrien," said Seline. "We heard that you were out at a photoshoot, so we decided that there would be no harm in going through your window to try to find it."
"And we did find it," said Gérard. "We didn't hear anyone else in the house, so we thought we could just go through the front door. That's when your dad found us and we made an excuse about a textbook."
"Which is right here," said Seline, plopping down a large textbook into Adrien's hands.
Adrien was speechless, incapable of doing anything but laugh at the absurdity of this situation.
"It's all right," said Adrien. "I understand, but since my dad found you, he forbade me from having anyone at the house without his permission. I just don't want you guys to get in trouble."
"That's fine," said Seline. "This was just a one time thing. Right, everyone?"
Timothée and Gérard both nodded vigorously, trying their best to look equal parts concerned and remorseful.
"Well," said Adrien. "I'll see you guys around."
"See ya," said Seline, Timothée and Gérard in unison.
Adrien watched as the three of them walked away from ear shot. Plagg flew out to speak with him.
"Did you buy their story?" asked Plagg, feigning ignorance about their intentions.
"I'm not entirely sure," replied Adrien. "I just know they're not gonna try it again, so it's fine."
"Yeah," said Plagg nervously, worried about their plan to rescue Nooroo. "They're not gonna try it again."
Three lockers away from them was a pretty, dark-haired girl named Madison. She wasn't usually shy, but there was something about her current situation—wanting to ask her crush out during the field trip—that made her question herself.
Across the hall from her was the boy of her dreams, the school jock Kim Chiến Lê. Madison marched over to Kim, ready to spill her guts but his friend Ondine got to him first.
"Not today," said Madison, a sigh escaping her pink lips as she sullenly stared down at her amulet. "But someday, I will have him."
Madison stepped away as Kim and Ondine started talking, seeing them walk towards the cafeteria together.
High-energy pop music was bouncing off the walls in the gymnasium. Chloé was teaching Marinette, Alya, Seline, Gérard and Sabrina, the latest addition to the team, their current dance routine.
"Sabrina," said Gérard. "I want to apologize for being cruel to you when you auditioned. I simply didn't know what talent looked like when it was staring me right in the face."
"Don't apologize," said Sabrina. "You were right. I needed practice and that's just what I did. If you didn't give me constructive criticism, I never would've—"
"Yeah, yeah," interrupted Chloé. "That's sweet and all but now I need everybody to shake it!"
Ever since the dance team started learning the choreography to "When I Grow Up" by the Pussycat Dolls, Chloé started acting as though she were the captain. Marinette was getting fed up with it very quickly.
"Knock it off, Chloé," said Marinette. "Stop being so bossy."
"Excuse me?" asked Chloé. "I'm sorry I don't speak loser."
"That's enough, Chloé!" snapped Seline. "The only reason you're here is because Marinette allowed you to be here. Don't be so ungrateful."
The entire room went silent, save for the pumped-up music. Chloé's cheeks felt like they would burn off from the embarrassment.
"I would watch my step closely if I were you," said Chloé slowly. "Because you never know when you might trip."
Chloé walked away, accompanied by Sabrina, to review the choreography on her laptop once more.
"Thanks, Seline," said Marinette, unsure of how to take this. "I thought I was alone for a moment."
"I know when someone's in the wrong," said Seline. "And Chloé was wrong for that."
Off to the side, Gérard narrowed his eyes at Seline, being weirded out at his cousin being… nice?
"We should stop for now," said Alya. "Great job, everyone. The field trip is going to start soon, so rest up before then."
Marinette and Alya left the room, walking down the halls.
"I'm exhausted after all that drama back there," said Marinette. "I can't wait for this field trip to freshen me up."
"Don't get too comfy," said Alya. "Because we still have Operation Watery Flight to think about."
Right then, they spotted Madison staring at the gem on her necklace that she held between her hands, looking perturbed.
"Hey, girl," said Alya as they approached Madison. "You look like you could use a pick-me-up. What's wrong?"
Madison was in such deep thought that she didn't even notice Alya and Marinette were right next to her until they spoke.
"I've got love problems," sighed Madison dejectedly.
"Don't we all," said Alya, giving a sideways smirk to Marinette. "Tell us what the problem is. We could help you with it."
"I'm not sure you can," said Madison. "There's this... boy I like, and I want him to like me back, so I bought this love amulet. It's made of rose quartz."
Madison held the amulet out for the two of them to see it better. It was a golden necklace with a pink, crystal point gem held by the gold chain. It was smooth enough that Marinette and Alya could see their pink reflections staring back.
"The store owner told me that the biggest romances in history involved a love amulet," she explained. "It has the magical property of creating powerful emotions in your love interest, making them associate that feeling with the wearer."
"Wow," said Marinette and Alya at the same time with stars in their eyes.
"But I don't think it works," said Madison. "Because he still doesn't like me."
Madison was on the verge of tears. Marinette and Alya gave each other a nod.
"Would you like to come with us on the field trip?" asked Marinette. "We could have fun and take our minds off our problems. I know I need to."
"Sure," said Madison, beginning to feel better already.
Marinette and Alya walked with Madison the rest of the way towards the school buses ready to take the kids to the science center.
When the buses dropped the students off, Marinette and Alya accompanied Madison to an assortment of exhibits in an effort to cheer her up. They mounted an earthquake simulator. While Marinette and Alya were falling over each other trying to stay upright, Madison didn't even react to the shaking platform. Marinette and Alya enjoyed flying their airplanes in the flight simulator, but Madison didn't even take her airplane to the sky. Marinette and Alya took turns getting inside a giant bubble but Madison didn't even notice them placing her in one as it popped.
"Geez, am I like this?" asked Marinette.
"No," said Alya. "Your love sickness is much more entertaining."
Marinette, Alya and Madison went back to their bus, sad that they couldn't raise Madison's spirits. Mademoiselle Bustier entered the bus and called the students' attention at the front.
"All right, class," she said. "We are at the end of our field trip. However, we still have one hour left before the buses take us back to the school. You may use this time to look around and have fun, but please, stay in groups and don't get lost."
All the students left their buses and were excited to explore the location. Seline, Timothée and Gérard were walking aimlessly when they saw the lake with the swan boats.
"Hey, look," said Timothée. "This reminds me of a certain supervillain. Get it? Swan Princess? Oh, right, you guys weren't there."
"We were busy waddling when that happened," said Seline, rolling her eyes. "Let's go to this cute shop. They sell cool comic books."
Sabrina and Chloé looked around for something to do when Chloé stopped abruptly and pointed at the lake.
"Sabrina!" said Chloé. "See those boats? I want to ride one."
"Okay," said Sabrina. "But you'll have to help me pedal."
"No, thank you," said Chloé. "You will be doing the pedalling."
As the students split up to their various activities, Marinette and her friends got into position for Operation Watery Flight: Alix had her industrial-strength fan in front of the cherry blossom; Mylène called her opera singer uncle to come to the park; Rose and Juleka sat on a bench across from the engineer station; and Alya was looking out from behind a window from the third floor of a nearby shop with her binoculars and a handsfree headset.
"All the pieces are set," said Alya to everyone else's discreet headsets. "Here comes the first step, Marinette. Code yellow commences now."
Adrien was looking out at the lake with Nino. All Marinette had to do was walk up to him and invite him on a boat ride.
"Adrien!" called Marinette as she approached him.
Adrien turned to face her and smiled upon seeing it was his friend. Marinette nearly got lost in his eyes but she caught herself in time to continue the plan.
"Adrien, I wanted to ask you out on a plate—skate, I mean, date," stuttered Marinette, feeling accomplished for finally spitting it out then realizing what she said. "No, wait! I didn't mean to say 'date,' I meant—!"
Marinette's face turned red as she heard hushed laughter coming in through her headset.
"Marinette," said a calming voice from behind her. "It's so nice to see you again. You too, Adrien."
Marinette turned around and saw that it was none other than Luka. If her heart was beating loudly before, it was bursting out of her chest at this point.
"I'm sorry for what happened at the debate," said Luka.
"That wasn't your fault," said Marinette, brushing it off. "That kind of thing happens all the time."
"While we're here," said Luka. "Do you want to go for a boat ride?"
"Shouldn't I be saying that?" thought Marinette to herself. This wrench in the plan messed up her concentration and she racked her brains for a response.
"I'd love to go on a boat ride with you," said Marinette, regretting this immediately. All she knew was that she couldn't back out of it now.
"Actually, that sounds like fun," said Adrien. "I want to go, too, but I'd need a partner."
"Uh," said Marinette as she struggled to think of something. "You can go with… Madison!"
Madison was caught off guard when Marinette ushered her towards an equally confused Adrien.
"All right," said Adrien. "Sounds great."
Alya couldn't see well through the dirty window, so she assumed Marinette agreed to go with Adrien.
"Everything is going according to plan," said Alya.
In Chloé's and Sabrina's swan boat, the two of them kept going around and around.
"Sabrina," said Chloé. "I want to go forward. Why are we going in a circle?"
"Because you need two people to move the boat forward," said Sabrina, getting exhausted. "If you want it to go forward, you need to help me—"
"Nope!" interrupted Chloé. "I won't hear it. I won't be doing any physical labor. I just want to move forward."
"Initiate code blue!" said Alya up in the store window.
As Marinette stepped into the swan boat with Luka, Mylène brought her uncle to a hedge of tall shrubs that hid them from view of the lake.
"Mylène," said her uncle. "Why are you taking me here?"
"I've taken an interest in opera," fibbed Mylène. "I want to hear you sing some songs because I heard the acoustics here are great."
"Really?" said her uncle. "No one in my family has been interested in opera before. Okay, here goes."
He began singing a very silly song, urging Mylène to stop him.
"What was that?" asked Mylène.
"I play the major general in the Pirates of Penzance," said her uncle. "This is his most famous aria, and I intend on perfecting it."
He continued singing loudly. Luka and Marinette could hear the song from the lake.
"That's an interesting song," said Luka, chuckling slightly.
Marinette tried whispering into her headset for them to cancel their mission but a bird splashed water into her ear, causing it to malfunction. Marinette flinched at the electric shock.
"Code red," instructed Alya.
Alix set herself up in front of the cherry blossom tree and, with much difficulty, aimed her fan up at it and turned it on. The force of the wind blew her backwards on her skates, rolling her away. She skated against the wind's force and dug her wheels into the dirt near the tree. She finally aimed it up at the petals in Marinette's direction.
The fan was too strong and it overwhelmed Marinette and Luka by blowing cherry blossom petals directly into their faces and filling up their boat.
"We're in the final stretch, people," said Alya. "Code green!"
Juleka walked up to the engineer in his booth and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Huh?" said the old engineer. "What do you want, kid?"
Juleka mumbled something that only she could understand.
"Sorry, what?" said the engineer. "I can't hear you."
"I said…" said Juleka before trailing off into her mumble.
The engineer stepped closer and closer to hear her more clearly until he was led out of the booth and completely distracted. Rose took this opportunity to sneak inside.
"We're all counting on you, Rose," said Alya. "It's all up to you. Code purple!"
Rose saw three levers in front of her: a green one, a red one, and a purple one.
"Did Alya say the purple one?" wondered Rose. "Or was it the red one? Or was it any of these at all? Oh, no."
Rose's hand shakily hovered over each lever, struggling to remember which was the correct one. She closed her eyes, reached out, and pulled whichever she grabbed. In the center of the lake, the water fountain sprung to life. Rose celebrated to herself for picking the right one.
However, Marinette and Luka were positioned right underneath one of the streams' paths and got drenched. Marinette was thoroughly humiliated and was ready to apologize profusely when she heard Luka's soft, delightful laughter. It was contagious and made Marinette laugh as well.
"This was a mistake," said Marinette after their laughter died down.
"I don't think that," said Luka, pushing water and cherry blossom petals out of their boat. "I've had lots of fun."
Across the lake were Adrien and Madison's boat. Adrien was enjoying the scenery.
"This is very relaxing," said Adrien. "Don't you agree?"
Madison nodded, distracted until she saw Kim in a boat with his friend Ondine.
"No," said Madison. "So I guess they're already in a relationship, and she didn't even need magic to do it!"
She took off her amulet and felt it become useless right before her very eyes. That was when the window in Papillon's lair opened like the shutter of a camera.
"Love is the ultimate motivator," said Papillon as he clutched a butterfly in his hands. "Go my little akuma and teach this girl that her love won't stay unrequited for long."
The butterfly flew through the window and towards the lake. The butterfly attached itself to Madison's amulet, but Chloé's boat crashed into hers, making her drop it into the water.
"That was really expensive," wailed Madison. "My mother will be so mad if I lose it!"
To Adrien's surprise, Madison dove into the water to retrieve it. Underwater, Madison reached for the amulet, grasping it firmly in her hands. People were panicking above after seeing her jump into the water. Bubbles formed on the surface and then Madison rose from the lake as the supervillain Aphrodite, a statuesque beauty with Rapunzel-like hair and a flowing, bejeweled robe.
"La vie en rose!" shouted Aphrodite.
On Luka's face appeared a pair of rose-colored glasses. His vision was no longer at the lake; he was at a concert.
"It's my favorite band," said Luka. "They're asking me to join them."
Luka stepped up on the imaginary stage but in the real world he was stepping out of his boat, falling into the water.
"Somebody help!" shouted Marinette.
"Come on, Kim!" said Adrien as he dove into the water with Kim following suit.
Adrien and Kim came back up to the surface and brought Luka with them. Adrien swam to the lakeshore, laying Luka down to breathe. Marinette pedalled her swan boat to the shore and got off.
"What's wrong with him?" said Adrien as Luka was muttering incoherently about a band.
"It's the glasses," said Marinette. "It makes people see what they most desire, but they get themselves into danger trying to reach for it."
Aphrodite was continuing her rampage with the other tourists. People walked into walls and traffic. The cars were swerving to avoid hitting the victims.
"It's Madison," said Marinette to Kim. "She's doing this because she has a crush on you, but she saw you with Ondine and got jealous."
"Not again," said Kim. "I don't even know her."
"We should all get to safety," said Adrien. "Kim, help me take Luka somewhere he won't hurt himself."
As Kim and Adrien left, Marinette ran behind a building and let Tikki out of her purse.
"Tikki," said Marinette. "Yet another girl I tried to help got akumatized. I'm really bad at this."
"It's not your fault," said Tikki. "Emotions are really hard to control."
"Let's fix this mess before it gets even worse," said Marinette. "Transforme-moi!"
In the comic book shop, Seline, Timothée and Gérard were thumbing through comic books.
"Look at this one," said Gérard.
"Look at that!" said Timothée, pointing at the stumbling tourists.
"We can't rest for a single moment," said Seline. "Whatever. Let's find a bathroom to transform or something. They're probably empty."
The three of them picked their own restroom stall to transform then opened a window to jump into the action. Tigresse Blanche, Léopard, and Lion caught up with the three other heroes already engaged in combat. Rena Rouge and Chat Noir simultaneously attacked Aphrodite with their staves and they jumped out of the way when Ladybug hurled her yo-yo at her, wrapping the yo-yo string around Aphrodite and restraining her arms to her sides.
"Let me guess," said Tigresse Blanche. "Her akumatized object is that glowing thing around her neck, right? Okay, I've got this."
Tigresse Blanche pounced on Aphrodite, slicing at the necklace with her claws. The necklace remained intact, so she tried pulling it apart but still no luck.
"It won't break!" said Tigresse Blanche as Aphrodite pushed her off.
Aphrodite freed herself from Ladybug's yo-yo and all the superheroes jumped away to avoid her spell.
"This isn't working," said Rena Rouge. "We've already tried all we can. There must be something else we can do."
"Leave that to me," announced Ladybug. "Lucky Charm!"
Ladybug threw her yo-yo into the air, seeing it fall into her hands as a fishing rod.
"A fishing rod?" said Ladybug. "What am I supposed to do with this?"
"Maybe you're supposed to use it on me," said Chat Noir. "Because I'm such a great catch."
Ladybug looked around for anything useful but all she saw were the superheroes standing around her.
"That's it!" said Ladybug. "I know what we have to do but we all have to work together."
"Work together?" echoed Seline, slightly confused. "Okay..."
"Yes," said Ladybug. "Now, listen."
As Ladybug filled them in on what they had to do, Aphrodite was scouring the streets for her one true love.
"Mirage," said Rena Rouge, playing a melody on her flute.
"Aphrodite, my love," said a voice.
Aphrodite searched for the source of that voice, seeing that it was her beloved Kim dressed as a Greek god.
"It is I, Hephaestus," said Kim. "I have no one else in my heart except for you."
"Hephaestus," said Aphrodite, teary-eyed. "You have no idea how long I've waited to hear you say that."
As Aphrodite stepped closer and closer towards this vision, Ladybug was waiting for just the right moment to strike. When Aphrodite was in her sights, she gave the signal to Team Panthera.
"Cœur de glace!" said Léopard, summoning a cluster of ice shards to rain down from the sky.
"Power of Ra!" said Lion as he punched at the shards of ice with his brass knuckles, instantaneously melting it into water and sending it rushing towards Aphrodite.
"Magie noire!" said Tigresse Blanche as a giant black orb developed around Aphrodite and a similar, smaller orb developed around her hand.
Tigresse Blanche squeezed the inside of the black orb around her hand at the same time that the water from Léopard's ice shards entered Aphrodite's orb. The gravity inside the orb increased in the center, holding the water in place around Aphrodite, entrapping the supervillain in a dome full of water.
"Get ready, Chat Noir," said Ladybug.
"Cataclysme!" said Chat Noir, creating unstable energy in the palm of his hand.
Ladybug wound her arm back and snapped the fishing rod at Aphrodite. The gravitational pull of the orb brought the hook directly to the love amulet. Aphrodite struggled against the hook, but the amulet slid right over her head.
"Chat Noir, catch!" shouted Ladybug.
The amulet went flying as it escaped the water orb and Chat Noir used his staff to jump high and catch it. It disintegrated the second it touched his hand and a purple butterfly fluttered out.
"You've done enough harm, little akuma," said Ladybug. "I'm freeing you from evil!"
She snatched the butterfly with her yo-yo.
"Je t'ai eu!" said Ladybug before releasing the now-purified butterfly into the sky. "Bye-bye, petit papillon. Miraculous Ladybug!"
A wave of ladybug essence washed over the city, repairing all the damage. Seline let go of her Magie noire, making the water from within the orb flood out into the street's storm drains. Out of this water appeared Madison, drenched from head to toe.
"Bien joué," said Ladybug and Chat Noir while fist bumping.
"Where am I?" asked Madison. "What happened?"
Kim and Ondine approached Madison together.
"Madison?" said Ondine. "I heard you had a crush on Kim."
"Oh," said Madison. "No, no, no! I'm not trying to steal—"
"It's okay," said Ondine. "But it's not healthy to obsess over someone. Kim and I were in your shoes before."
While Ondine talked things over with Madison, Kim took this opportunity to talk to the heroes.
"Thanks, Ladybug and Chat Noir," said Kim. "And the rest of you."
"We were just doing our job," said Ladybug. "Is Luka okay?"
"Yeah, he stopped trying to perform with an imaginary band a short while ago," said Kim. "How did you know that?"
"Uh, because I saw you on my way here, of course!" said Ladybug very nervously. "Anyway, we're all going to de-transform soon, so it's time for us to go. Bye!"
Chat Noir and Rena Rouge both left. As Ladybug got ready to leave, she noticed Tigresse Blanche, Léopard and Lion bickering amongst themselves.
"Hurry up already," hissed Lion.
"Why do I have to do it?" protested Tigresse Blanche.
"Because you're very remorseful, remember?" snarked Léopard through gritted teeth.
"What are you guys talking about?" said Ladybug, catching the three heroes by surprise.
Léopard and Lion comically pushed Tigresse Blanche to the forefront, Ladybug being mildly amused by their little show.
"Hey, Ladybug," she said, scratching the back of her head nervously. "We're… friends, right?"
Ladybug arched her left eyebrow, trying to hide the disbelief plastered on her face.
"Sure," said Ladybug slowly. "Is there something I can help you with?"
"We thought you'd never ask," said Léopard. "Well, we need your help with a stealth mission."
"Okay," replied Ladybug. "Where is it?"
"It's… uh," started Tigresse Blanche.
"It's in the Agreste mansion," said Lion.
"Excuse me?!" blurted out Ladybug, incapable of hiding the shock in her expression any longer. What were these three up to now?
