Miraculous Demigods

by Crossoverpairinglover

Zoe Lee has two secrets. The first is that she's the heroine Vesperia, and the second is that she's the daughter of Apollo, sent to Paris on a mission by Camp Half Blood to seek out demigods after numerous Satyrs fell in the line of duty but found clear evidence of several in one particular school. However when Percy Jackson also is sent to Paris by his father, the two worlds clash

So this is a story I've had in my head for a long time, ever since Season 4 of Miraculous Ladybug came up (Which honestly is one of my favorite seasons when the love tangle is filtered out, which to me is how you watch the series.) IDK, ever since I heard of Zoe the idea that she's a Demigod just…seemed right to me. She's from New York, she's a half sibling, just obvious to me as a crossover method. Add in a ton of Miraculous characters who, as of Season 4, have a parent missing or unmentioned and ba bam ba bing.

And plus, with this idea kept limited to a three parter, I shouldn't be able to go too crazy. What I end up doing has to fit in three chapters, even if those chapters might be a tad long...

Anyway, let's see this made. In the Riordanverse this takes place between The Battle of the Labyrinth and The Last Olympian, and in Miraculous Ladybug this is set in Season 4 after Crocoduel and before Optigami. The cast of Ladybug are also all 15, with the exception of Luka who is older. Yes, I'm ignoring the age retcon with Juleka, and I'm sure anyone who knows how a Percy Jackson crossover with anything works can guess what that means. As to why the ages, well the show's bounced ages every which way at some point, not as bad as say Pokemon did back in BW001 but enough you could justify a few different ages for everyone from 13 to 15. So I'm going with 15, as it came up a few times as one such age and it works out best with what I want to do.

Miraculous Demigods Chapter 1

Empousa/Workforce

…

In Zoe's experience, which was extremely limited compared to seemingly everyone else in Paris but it seemed to hold up, Akumas and their Sentimonster partners came in a seemingly endless set of forms. Sometimes they were one person forces of destruction who turned their enemies into bananas and…stepped on people. Other times they spawned endless armies of minions who swarmed their enemies with an endless human wave.

She'd also found that depending on what was going on, Ladybug would call on additional heroes for various reasons. Sometimes she needed someone who could immobilize a troublesome Sentimonster or draw aggro an Akuma, and othertimes she just needed additional fists. Today was the latter, and Zoe, or at the moment Vesperia, was in the aftermath of an Akuma attack whose exact nature…took her a bit to put two and two together.

So this Akuma, 'Workforce', had the power to duplicate himself into a massive army of identical people, had been rioting and had required Ladybug and Cat Noir to get additional hands on deck. However each Workforce clone wasn't actually that strong, but there were just a ton of them. So she'd spent most of the afternoon punching clones, and hadn't actually needed to use her Venom power. Heck, she didn't think any of them had to use any power outside of a Lucky Charm: no Cataclysm, no Shelter, no Illusion, no Clout, nothing. Just punching and weapons until Ladybug found the original Workforce and broke the akumatized object. Now she'd undone the damage, given him a magical charm, and was talking to him and the Mayor about…labor complaints?

She looked to Cat Noir, wondering if he knew what was going on. He shrugged, so she went to the next…was it highest ranked or just senior among them? Rena Rouge smiled.

"Apparently this whole mess was because some employer hadn't got the memo that the Mayor's office and the Labor Unions had all agreed on a truce slash request to have all meetings occur outside of Paris for the duration of Shadow Moth's time as a problem and started a labor spat."

"So this entire thing was a worker's strike mixed with magical powers? Oh dang….I was wondering why that hadn't happened yet." Carapace sounded like it was weird that it hadn't happened yet now that he had thought of it. Were the jokes about Paris and labor strikes actually true?

"Of course, why do you think the Mayor got reelected while being…the Mayor."

As his step daughter, Zoe felt a bit insulted. He wasn't that bad, or did she miss something particularly stupid from him? And was it stupid, or the sort of stupid that could only happen in America.

"I thought it was because his opponent was a crazy weirdo." Cat chimed in. If she was willing to admit to being American, she'd ask what sort of crazy weirdo, or did France have its own crazy weirdos. What was a French crazy weirdo compared to an American one?

"That too, but he's apparently a master labor relations negotiator, or at least able to forge a truce for all our sakes." Rena quipped, and it seemed like all the heroes that were here got exactly what that meant. Cat Noir, Rena Rouge, Carapace, Pegasus, King Monkey, Pigella, and Purple Tigress, all natives of Paris. Zoe Lee, the heroine Vesperia…not.

"Oh…" She let out as Pigella chimed in.

"Oh don't worry, it doesn't matter if you don't get politics. All that matters is that we stopped Workforce before anyone got hurt, and now Shadow Moth can't use his frustration with his boss to transform him again! And his boss is going to get a scary call from the mayor later, so everyone's happy!"

"Well not the boss…but who cares about him!" King Monkey joked as the alleviated man once known as Workforce left, looking relieved and like he had a lot off his shoulder. Ladybug thanked him and the mayor and turned to the group of them, looking like she was going to give them places to meet her to return their Miraculous, when her own started beeping frantically. Ladybug seemed to have only just realized how long she'd been talking with Work Force.

"Oh cra….sorry! Um, guess I'll have to find you guys in a bit. So um…"

"Don't worry Ladybug, none of us would try to hide and keep the Miraculouses for ourselves. Recharge and find us all in a minute or three." Rena Rouge assured Ladybug, who frantically nodded before leaping away to transform and recharge her Kwami.

"Oh hey, we have some overtime with superpowers!" King Monkey sounded enthusiastic about the idea as Cat shook his head.

"Don't do anything too crazy. My Lady knows where you all live."

King Monkey flinched as Rena Rouge laughed.

"Oh don't make her sound wicked or anything. Ladybug's cool, and she trusts all of us with her life, and cosmic godly powers. Anyway, we could all just stand around here awkwardly, or we could go off and do…whatever. Like getting a cat out of a tree or something."

"Ohhh! I know of an ice cream parlor that said on the internet that any hero who shows up gets free ice cream!" And so off went King Monkey, watched warily by the rest of them as he vanished off into the depths of France's greatest city.

"Is that…abuse of power?" Purple Tigress asked them as Cat made a 'ehhh' gesture.

"Well me and my lady did go to a movie in costume once and we both got free popcorn so…"

"Okay! Well, if we are going to have some free time, let's go to the hospital and surprise sick children! Come on Cat Noir, Rena Rouge, and Carapace, and everyone, you guys are popular!" Pigella sounded like she had a great idea, and that was in fact a good one.

"...I am? Oh yeah, I am!" Carapace realized, sounding enthusiastic about the status.

And there went those four, quickly followed by Purple Tigress, who said something about how 'she'd like that'. Who was she? So that left her and Pegasus, who gestured to her.

"So um…one of us should probably be responsible and tell Ladybug where the others went…"

"Ladybug's cool, and she trusts all of us with her life, and cosmic godly powers." Rena's words dug up some…things that had been on her mind lately.

"Can I…have some space? I have something I want to think about to myself…and by that I mean talk to my Kwami." Vesperia admitted nervously as Pegasus nodded, giving her a thumbs up.

"Got it! I'll tell Ladybug to give you some time. I think I know what place King Monkey is talking about, so I think she'll go there next. She'll probably find you before the hospital group though, because sick children and stuff."

Vesperia nodded, noting that was fair, and she leapt away, finding somewhere quiet without any people around. Taking a deep breath, she said the words 'Buzz Off', and the Vesperia costume vanished, and Pollen, a deity unlike the one she'd met previously, appeared before her with an initially happy expression that quickly morphed into one of concern.

"Why the long face, My Queen?" Pollen asked her as she wondered if this was a good idea. Was it…kosher…for lack of a better word to talk about this to someone like Pollen? But who else could she talk to?

"Pollen, I'm…wondering if you could give me some advice. You see…I'm not like Chloe. Chloe's the daughter of my mother and the mayor and I'm….well my father…." She wasn't sure how to say it without sounding completely insane.

"Is Apollo, the Greek God of the Sun, Archery, Healing, and so on. Oh yes, I know." Pollen said calmly as she blinked, completely shocked. This..this was easier than she worried it would be.

"You know that….you know that the Greek Gods exist?" She repeated for clarification as Pollen nodded.

"Of course. The Kwami aren't the same as Apollo, but we are….distantly related. Your father spoke to me the night after you first were given my Miraculous."

Apollo had never talked to her, after claiming her with a golden bow over her head shimmering for half a minute it was entirely quiet from him. So…what did they talk about? Did she want to know? Was she allowed to ask?

"Does Ladybug…" Zoe wondered as Pollen shook her head.

"Nope. We could tell her that other gods exist…but we haven't. The previous guardian knew, but he never got to a point where he would tell Ladybug and she's under enough stress as it is."

There was an awkward pause, like Pollen was pondering telling a story about how much stress Ladybug was under and how if she found out that Greek Gods were real she might snap completely, but decided against it. Hopefully it was because Pollen was sure Ladybug would handle it, and not because she didn't want to imply that Ladybug was in such a state. Zoe wouldn't ask about that further.

"Can you tell me…if anyone else with a Kwami partner is a Demigod?"

Pollen shook her head.

"I'm afraid that's impossible. I physically can't tell you anything about anyone whose identity you don't know, and the only identity you know is your sister who is completely human. Technically we could tell Ladybug as she knows everyone's identity but Cat Noir's, but we wouldn't unless it was necessary. Not because we can't, but because it's private and everyone's exact heritage doesn't directly affect anything right now to warrant informing her right now on top of her already existing stresses."

"Oh….and here I hoped it would be that easy." Zoe, dejected, leaned against the wall. Pollen floated closer to her.

"Why would you be looking for that information Zoe?" The Kwami asked as Zoe looked anywhere but Pollen, and the direction of the school she transferred to.

"I…didn't come to Paris just to connect with my mother's family. That was something I always hoped I could do, and hoped even more that it would be better than it ended up being, but I'm here for another reason. Pollen…you might already know this, but Demigods….half-bloods are also a term used, but we're found by satyrs who are disguised in schools and brought to a place called Camp Half Blood to be trained to survive."

Pollen nodded. "Yes, I know." Had Pollen ever been there?

"But…satyrs have been having trouble in Paris. They keep getting caught in Akuma attacks, but because they turn into flowers when they die and their…." Zoe paused, not entirely sure how to put it. Did Satyrs have souls? How did Miraculous Ladybug work with souls? Did she want to think about this question too much? "...well they aren't coming back, but they did figure out that there are demigods in Paris and a lot of them are in…a certain school. So they need someone who can find them, and who better than someone who wanted to go to Paris and had a family here in the first place?"

Pollen acknowledged she heard what she said and understood, so she continued.

"I knew that was what I was supposed to be doing…but…I don't know how satyrs do it. Like when I met a girl named Marinette, I just wanted to be her friend, the idea of 'is she a Demigod' didn't occur to me until later…and then I felt guilty. Am I really her friend if I am thinking like that? Everyone who's been so nice to me, and who I try to be a friend with..if I am wondering if they are like me…does that make me a bad friend? And if they are…and I do get them to Camp…am I just ripping them from their lives and putting them in danger?"

"If they are Demigods and don't know, that also puts them at grave risk My Queen. A Demigod might be easier to find when they know, but they aren't safe when they are unaware either." Pollen pointed out, sounding like she wanted to assuage her fears.

"I know that…and I…I….I just don't know what I'm doing or if I'm in the right or if I'm being…a false friend I guess. I…just don't know…."

Pollen floated up to her forehead and put a little hand on it.

"My Queen, asking those things, in my personal opinion, means you are a good person, and a good friend. Someone who wasn't wouldn't think about those things."

Zoe wasn't sure what to say next…she wanted to argue, but argue about what. That she wasn't a good person because she felt bad about doing something….morally weird. Her emotions weren't able to turn into words.

"I can act the part of a pain in the butt for Chloe and Audrey, I can act real for everyone else, but here I don't know what to do next." She finally admitted as Pollen smiled.

"No one knows what to do next My Queen. Trust me, we're all just trying to figure out what's best."

"Pollen's not wrong."

Zoe jumped, nearly hitting her head against a railing. Ladybug had arrived, looking a bit bashful at interrupting.

"Ladybug! Oh! Um….how much did you hear?" Zoe nervously asked, not sure if she heard anything that would…let Zoe see 'stressed out of her mind' Ladybug or whatever Pollen had been hinted at, or just think that Zoe was actually a crazy person who believed in fictional gods unless Pollen then backed her up. Then hello 'stressed out of her mind Ladybug'

"Just the part about acting like a pain in the butt." Ladybug clarified. Oh…that was good right? "I hope I didn't interrupt anything too important. Turns out King Monkey found an ice cream place that wanted some advertising help and…well it's not cheering up kids like they're part of…it's Make-a-Wish in America right?" Zoe nodded, not sure Make a Wish was in France or not, "...but it wasn't as bad as I worried. Plus me and Cat got plenty of after Akuma Ice Cream so…"

Basically Zoe was guessing Ladybug also got free ice cream in exchange for a photo for the ice cream place's website and she couldn't be too mad at King Monkey without being a hypocrite.

"...Are you having trouble with your family?" Ladybug sounded like she was worried that something was up there. 'Audrey's bastard daughter' or something…

"Not like that." Zoe evaded the exacts. Technically, in a way that didn't actually count, it was a family thing. It was just that genetically she wasn't actually related to any demigod that wasn't also a child of Apollo, even though Apollo was the brother of Athena, Hermes, Ares, and numerous others.

"Are you homesick, or having some other trouble?" Ladybug had stepped next to her and sat down, clearly interested in hearing out her problems. Zoe really wanted to say something…anything….but she felt like she couldn't just let out 'I'm a child of a god looking for other children of gods to keep them from dying and also to fight the Titans'. Ladybug and Pollen watched her try to admit to something, anything….but it wouldn't come out. She just let out incoherent words. A 'I'm in Paris…' here, a 'I want to be…' there, but nothing actually sensible. Ladybug looked like she was trying to piece it together, and suddenly she looked like she was having that 'vision' thing where Ladybug figured out how to use her powers in some zany but effective way. But what did Ladybug think was the problem?

"Are you having some trouble with your conditions?"

Zoe blinked, not sure where that had come from, or why Ladybug knew….

"By conditions, you mean…"

Ladybug nodded.

"I hear things here and there. Dyslexia and ADHD right?"

"More the former than the latter…" Zoe admitted. Most demigods had both, though it varied in intensity between demigods. One of her brothers, Will, barely had any dyslexia, if at all, and thus had a collection of Star Wars and Star Trek books that no one else could easily read, while there were some kids of Hermes whose ADHD mixed with their instinctual drive to steal things to make something that was comical to watch but annoying to be on the end of. But why did Ladybug know about that? When she asked, the heroine smiled.

"Oh, I don't just 'know where you all live'. I keep an ear on things, and I hear things. Sometimes because they are shouted loudly by Chloe."

…Damn it Chloe. What point did you have to do that beyond being a jerk? Urggh…some dark part of her that was probably represented by a golden glittery giant almost wanted to see how well you and Drew would get along, and maybe have Drew manipulate you the way you manipulate that Sabrina girl.

"Are you having trouble with your school work? Does dyslexia give someone more trouble in French than in English?" Ladybug wondered as Zoe shrugged.

"It's bad either way, but my teacher's been…better about it than I've had to deal with before. She's not really a super specific help, but she's accommodating."

Ladybug looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Would you like me to see if I could get you transferred to the class with your friend Marinette?"

Zoe blinked, not sure how that would specifically help, or how Ladybug would do that.

"You can do that?"

Ladybug grinned.

"Oh, I can do anything. A lot of people owe me a favor or two, and I do know your step-father. Plus, do you want to know a secret?"

"A…secret?" Zoe repeated as Ladybug nodded.

"Well, not really a secret, more like a fact you might not know. Marinette's homeroom is actually a class that is…well it's not really a special-ed class or something, but the teacher is trained in handling children with special needs. You wouldn't even be the only kid in there with ADHD or Dyslexia, or even both at the same time."

Zoe felt her blood chill.

"R…really?" Zoe stammered as Ladybug nodded.

"It's not just that, there are also genuine medical conditions and….lying diseases." Ladybug muttered that last one to herself, barely audible, "your transfer was sudden and done by Chloe if I remember right, so it shouldn't be too hard to do. You'd have to share a class with your sister…"

"I'll…I'll think about it? Er…how do I contact you if I do decide…" Zoe moved to end the conversation, needing to think about it, as she handed Ladybug the Bee Miraculous. Ladybug smiled.

"Oh, I'm sure I'll be around. Shadow Moth seems to like that school for some horrible reason, and if not…well I do check the Ladyblog every so often. Alya might be able to hit you up with a way to get my attention without being too obvious. Okay?"

Zoe nodded as Ladybug returned the Bee Miraculous to whence it came.

"Ladybug out…unless you want to come with me to the hospital?"

"No I'm…I'm good. Not sure what kid would want to meet Vesperia, I'm kind of new." Zoe passed as Ladybug gave her a thumbs up.

"Keep up the good work and you will have kids wanting to meet you. Ladybug out!"

And so Ladybug swung off, leaving Zoe alone with new thoughts and a new feeling of dread. Anyone in that class, who wasn't her sister, could be like her….and they were all her friends.

Where…where did she even begin?

…

Zoe began…by thinking a ton on the topic and sleeping on it. Then she woke up and looked at the question again, and by that she meant looking at photos of everyone in Marinette's class and thinking of everything she knew about them.

Adrien Agrestre. A teen model whose father was rich and a fashion mogul. She'd never seen his mom.

Chloe. Her mortal half sister. Completely human. Sometimes acted like a rather sour demon…could she maybe, one day, be a bit more sweet?

Ivan Bruel. Big and tough, but surprisingly sensitive. Gave nice hugs. She didn't know anything about his parents.

Alya Cesaire. Ladybug's biggest fan who was apparently new to town. Used computers a lot so…did that mean she was human? Electronics could and did attract monsters….and she thought she'd heard talk of Alya's mom and dad.

Juleka Couffaine: A shy girl who's older half brother was the son of the famous Jagged Stone. Her mom was a pirate but…who was her biological father? She had thought it was Jagged, but she had been confirmed that he wasn't. He'd given her a guitar because he knew she would feel left out by her brother, whose birthday they celebrated together, was getting a ton of attention as the son of the famous person. Might be dating Rose.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng: The first friend she'd met in Paris and a sweet but energetic girl. Almost like ADHD….but Zoe had been to her family bakery several times and seen her dad and her mom, so was it just regular ADHD? Though Marinette's father looked little like her…

Mylene Haprele: A shy girl. Zoe thought someone had mentioned her dad was a teacher, but did her mom come up at all?

Max Kante: A really smart guy who built an actual robot. An actual robot….and it wasn't an automaton. Had she ever heard anything about his parents?

Alix Kubdel: A short girl who was into roller skating. Chloe had said that Alix 'had her missing meter in attitude and annoyingness' once. Zoe thought she heard Alix mention a brother once, but other than him apparently being embarrassing that was all Zoe had. Being new and in another class didn't help…

Nathaniel Kurtzberg: A quiet artist. She didn't know a lot about him, let alone his family. She thought he heard about him and a guy named Marc, but those rumors were both not concrete and not relevant.

Nino Lahiffe: A really friendly and outgoing guy who was dating Alya. She could almost imagine him voicing Mikey the ninja turtle….but that goofy thought was more concrete than anything she had on who his parents were.

Rose Lavillant: Really nice, she thought she heard that she was dating Juleka and had a sickness but…she had no idea what sort of sickness. A sickness was vague, as were details on who Rose's family was.

Le Chen Kim: An athletic guy who was a jock, but a friendly one. She thought she heard he used to be a jerk jock, and maybe it had something to do with Chloe. No talk of family involving him either from what limited bits she'd heard.

Sabrina Raincomprix: The daughter of a cop who was her sister's….was minion the right word? Or not strong enough? Honestly Zoe would probably only hope that she was a Demigod among everyone, not because Zoe knew the girl that well, but because if she went to Camp Half Blood then she could be free of Chloe, and Chloe-like characters if she wasn't the daughter of Aphrodite. Then…she might end up Drew's minion instead. She would need an unbiased jury to figure out what was a worse fate.

Lila Rossi: ….someone. She wasn't having a ton of luck finding anything on her, even more than Nathaniel.

The Satyrs had been sure there were demigods in this school, and of this list Zoe was only sure of two and a half of them weren't possibly like her, and she'd make it three if Marinette didn't ring bells in her head as having ADHD and a father who…oh Zoe that was horrible! How did Satyrs do this for a living?!

…though now that Zoe thought of it, had she ever seen a Satyr who was friends with the demigod they found aside from Percy Jackson's friend? Grover, she thought his name was. Maybe…maybe that was the reason.

Though before Zoe could ponder that question more, if it was because Satyrs weren't the same age as most of the demigods they found intellectually or because of 'false friendliness', a shimmer of rainbow light appeared in her room. A Iris message, and the sender was a familiar half-horse half-man instructor. White horse bottom, middle-aged brunet man on top, beard and bushy eyebrows all together to make one person and one person in this entire world.

"Chiron!" She greeted in surprise as the wise Centaur nodded.

"Good morning, though it isn't the morning over here. But that is besides the point. A question for you Zoe. How is your mission going?" His tone was polite, but there was a certain urgency to it. Nothing too crazy, but this wasn't a casual call either.

Her…mission…oh right. So she explained what had happened, just minus the details about Vesperia. She did include what happened with Sole Crusher though.

"...and that's about it. I think I have some leads on who might be a demigod but I am only just investigating them now, as I only got them yesterday." She finished as Chiron winced.

"An akumatization…I've never experienced it myself but I have seen the results when used for wicked purposes. I'm sorry."

Another odd note for the unknown history of demigods and Miraculouses. Maybe she'd get a full story at some point, she was actually kind of curious.

"It was…partially my fault. I was trying too hard to get along with my sister and mother instead of making friends. It…it sucked." Zoe admitted as Chiron shook his head.

"You shouldn't feel bad that you tried to connect with your family, though if you have recognized the limits of doing so that is good. What is…not so good is what I need to inform you."

Chiron said that in a tone she wouldn't quite describe as 'dire', but it did make her nervous, which he quickly elaborated on as if guessing her concern.

"Being akumatized unwillingly is not going to damn you. The gods, including Hades, recognize where fault lies in such situations, though where Kwami and Olympians intersect there are strict limits. Ancient law prohibits your father, for example, from striking this 'Hawk Moth' (Shadow Moth)...'Shadow Moth' for the act directly, though nothing prevents him from ensuring that, should you find Shadow Moth and shoot at him, that your arrow will certainly hit him in some 'astonishing' painful and lethal way that may defy how arrows normally fly. Or from a god sending someone to seek vengeance in response to his use of the Butterfly Miraculous. Which is partially what the new problem you will have to deal with is. Percy Jackson has been tasked by his father to go to Paris and left earlier this week on his pegasus. He should arrive in Paris sometime today"

"Percy Jackson was sent by Poseidon…here?" Zoe questioned, not liking where this was going. She didn't have a problem with Percy, she wasn't his friend but that was because of lack of interaction. They knew the other enough, though she doubted she knew that her mother was famous. She…didn't bring that up a lot. For several reasons. Chiron nodded.

"Yes, apparently Poseidon will ensure that Percy's…impromptu school break will last as long as necessary. Goode High doesn't quite know why there is a salt water leak that won't go away you see. As to why…well I can only hazard one guess, as Percy Jackson is not the person you send to assassinate someone whose whereabouts are unknown, or assassinate in general."

And what Percy Jackson was good for included fighting armies of monsters and deities, making friends, bonding with family…

"You think that one of the demigods…is a child of Poseidon." Zoe…just realized that this had gotten a whole lot worse. Chiron nodded.

"Yes, that is the most likely scenario. It is possible that instead this child is a child of Zeus or Hades, as Percy has taken an active interest in shielding young Nico from being the child of prophecy and he would likely feel a similar pull with another should they exist and be known to him, and Poseidon is more likely to assist Percy in such a task than Hades or Zeus would in the same situation, but it is more likely to be that Posiedon had another child against the oath, and that child is in Paris."

Zoe glanced over at the table of photos she had out. Chiron nodded.

"If you don't know who, that is…not me saying there is a time limit. That 'miraculous' salt water leak will go on as long as necessary, and you aren't a Satyr. No one expects you to smell demigods out like they would in a short period of time. You also have the 'acceptable' hiccup of your school constantly being attacked by various supervillains Shadow Moth creates. However…I must stress that the longer Percy is in Paris, the more likely there will be trouble."

"Do you mean monsters, or Titans…" Zoe hoped that it wasn't the latter. She hadn't seen a Titan in person, but she had seen what them being more active was like. The aftermath of that battle had her attend the funeral of her brother Lee Fletcher. An actual Titan would be catastrophic.

"I mean Shadow Moth. Percy is a model student in combat and a noble and heroic spirit like few I've ever trained…but he is not emotionally restrained. He feels emotions as strongly as his father does, their most powerful emotions are like hurricanes and their depressions are as deep as a trench, though fortunately I have never heard Percy get nearly as angsty as his father did when he gave every sea creature a migraine with his endless depressed groaning, and that sort of emotional openness is dangerous around the Butterfly Miraculous, especially in the hands of someone wicked."

"You're worried that Percy will be akumatized?!" Zoe…did not like the thought of that. Percy was already a one man army without the addition of some additional superpowers on top of the ton he already had. He could control water, he tanked that flamethrower during a Capture the Flag game a while back with nothing but a lost shirt (the Hepheatsus campers who had brought that thing got more hurt after he went after them than he had being set on fire), could control boats to a point he could win canoe race without touching the oars himself, apparently caused a volcanic eruption, had once commanded seagulls like Mr. Pigeon apparently had commanded pigeons on someone who had been a ass to one of his friends while she was on a date with her girlfriend, could talk to horses, had enough control of ice that he could instantly make a pond safe for ice skating or chill a drink left in the sun for hours into an ideal cold temperature, and could manipulate and create storm-force didn't know if Demigod powers stacked with Miraculous powers, she had never tried shooting a bow or healing while she was Vesperia, but if they did….Percy could probably defeat Ladybug and Cat Noir even if he turned into 'Mr. Pigeon Junior'.

"Yes, because then Paris will know Posiedon's wrath. Percy didn't give many details, but I can tell that Poseidon is not happy with France at the moment. I suspect that whoever his child is has been Akumatized, and that it probably has happened more than once. If it happens with Percy, who is particularly cherished…Poseidon will get his vengeance on Shadow Moth very swiftly and without mercy."

"But I thought you said that he couldn't because of the Miraculous?" Zoe thought there was a contradiction there, but it was probably explained easily, and apparently there was.

"He can't directly smite Shadow Moth or turn the man's arm into a shark to devour the rest of the villain, but he can flood Paris and the surrounding area and fill it with sea monsters until he is sure that Shadow Moth is no more. Yes Zoe Lee…if Percy Jackson is ensnared by Shadow Moth, I am sure that Poseidon will turn Paris into an inland sea, most likely covered in deadly storms and filled with ferocious sea creatures, to ensure that Shadow Moth is punished."

With no regards for the millions of innocent lives lost, and Zoe had no idea if that was why Poseidon hadn't done it yet, or if it was because if he did that it would have drawn the attention of Zeus and Kronos, but if did happen to Percy Poseidon would just go 'screw it, Shadow Moth dies, Zeus can yell all he wants but screw him'.

"So I need to figure out who the child of Poseidon is and quickly…" because every second Percy was in Paris risked mass death and destruction.

"...There are other options, this isn't a one solution situation. If you could lure out Shadow Moth and kill him, Percy would have all the time to find his sibling without endangering France's continued existence for example."

Murder just seemed to be the solution to everything….

"When Percy arrives I'll make a call to your step-father to arrange for him to stay at the hotel with his pegasus if the search goes on longer than a day should he not find housing on his own. Given what I've heard of Jagged Stone's tenure at said hotel, that would not be the hardest thing to pull off even without the Mist. Good luck Zoe Lee…."

"Yeah, I'll need it." Zoe said faintly as the Iris Message ended. Oh…oh….oh crap!

Crap crap crap crap crap CRAAAPPPP!

Zoe, after barely managing to avoid shouting various panic swears for about a minute, saw a faint black blur approaching her window. Magical charm or not, she quickly reached under head for the bow and arrow she had brought with her, notched a Celestial-bronze tipped arrow, and fired. The arrow struck the Akuma, sending it plummeting down to the street below.

Zoe idly wondered what Shadow Moth was thinking while she went to retrieve the arrow. She didn't exactly have a ton of those to spare while she was in Paris after all.

…

Shadow Moth's lair window closed up as the supervillain shook his head. Did she really have to kill his Akuma? Though…why was the little half-blood panicking so much? What could make her so fretful as to summon his attention?

It was either the teenage angst that he so delighted in harnessing as raw material to craft his villains, or something Greco-Roman that might be a problem for him.

Well, if it was the latter that was just another wrinkle in his plan. His wife was continuing to fade, Nathalie was still recovering her strength from her time as Mayura, Felix likely knew his identity, at least a dozen pagan gods of various wanted him dead from his actions in Paris alone, Ladybug continued to foil his plans, he was still trying to figure out how to overcome those protective charms of hers, and Adrien was somewhat rebellious now. He would overcome them all, no matter what wrinkle. Honestly…maybe he could use whatever was fretting the little daughter of Apollo for his own ends. He rarely got the chance to Akumatize monsters after all, and part of him relished the challenge of trying it on a deity again after Mei Shi….maybe without the part where he died briefly though. Ladybug may not accidentally revive him again.

Though he was curious, Celestial Bronze didn't seem to channel his powers the way that thrown lipstick had that one time, or the very girl's shoes she had put away along with her heart. A lesson to learn for next time, he supposed. No trying to possess people through their magical metals.

….

The locker room before school usually wasn't that stressful for Zoe. It was gossip, and none of it was about her. Chloe was off in her own world, Rose was cheerfully talking about the upcoming day, Alix was grumbling about something Jalil did involving cheese to Nathaniel, Marinette was happy about something she had finished, and Aurore was asking Alya if Nino and her would be up for participating in a new program at KIDZ+ later. It was so nice, so peaceful…and she was still stressed regardless!

Anyone of them, especially the ones in Bustier's class, might possibly hold the key to keeping Percy Jackson from being akumatized and ending all of French Culture in a deluge of death. Knowing that might be betraying friendships she had so long wanted because she wasn't telling everything. She might have to end a friendship, if not destroy it, to not kill everyone in France. Unknown peoples here were like her and the unwary potential victims of monsters more ancient than Shadow Moth. And that wasn't even wondering about the other classes who may also have demigods in them too, and she had no idea on how to even start figuring it out without seeing if they were affected by Celestial Bronze, and there was no good way to do that.

She couldn't just go up to Nino and casually stab him! That was a crime and a certain way to lose the friends she was already worrying about losing. Honestly she wasn't even sure she could stab the completely human Chloe to show she wasn't trying to murder them as she had no idea if her sister using the Bee Miraculous made her stabbable, and she was never going to get Chloe, the one surefire human at the school, to let her stab her for science. Gods, what was she going to do?!

Was her best option to hope, as terrible as it would be, for an akuma attack, try to get Ladybug's attention, have Pollen vouch that she wasn't some crazy person who believed in the Greek Gods, and see if any of the other…

The sound of a locker opening, followed by the sound of what sounded like exploding water balloons and screams got Zoe to stop worrying about ruined friendships and the fate of all France as every attention was on the two lockers belonging to Rose and Juleka, both of whom were now entirely soaked.

"Hey! Who did that!?" Alya immediately shouted, sounding furious, and everyone else looked just just as furious…

"Not me."

Well, almost everyone. Eyes were all on Chloe, who looked offended.

"Um, hello, I said not me."

"...You know that sounds guilty right?" Kim stated the obvious.

"Yeah, and why would I set those in their lockers? You all know if I had water bombs I'd have set them in a certain someone else's locker." Chloe pointed out, and no one seemed able to refute that. Not even the someone else, if that someone else was Marinette. She seemed to think she was who Chloe meant in any case, given her expression.

"Oh dang it, I'm soaked. Oh thank goodness you're okay Juleka." Rose spoke up, blinking water out of her eyes as Juleka…Juleka looked completely dry. But all around her was wet. Zoe's eyes, unnoticed by everyone else, widened. Her mind went immediately to one of Percy's more minor but ever handy powers: instant drying, the envy of the Aphrodite Cabin when Mr. D set off downpours for his own amusement.

(She wasn't sure why the often irritable Dionysus did that every so often, but Percy was often the only person at camp to not end up soaked to the bone. It was an unofficial pact among the non-Stoll leaders at camp to never let the brothers convince Percy to start charging for the service of drying them out with a single touch. Percy was nice, but it was known he often didn't have the most spending money to spare.)

"Yeah….huh…" Juleka had no context for why she wasn't completely soaked like Rose was.

"Wow, that is statistically improbable, but most fortunate." Max put it best.

"Do you two want to dry Rose out? We can let the teachers know why you're late." Ivan offered. Plus, also, maybe figure out who set those things in the first place.

"I recorded the water explosion for additional validity." Markov the robot added.

"...Thanks…" Juleka said for the both of them. Rose, her steps squishing with every step, led the way. Once they left earshot, the locker room was buzzing with talk.

"Who'd want to do that to Rose and Juleka?" Adrien asked everyone, genuinely unsure of who'd want to bother them.

"Someone pretty horrible." Nino guessed, his words leaning more into their relationship without saying it aloud. Movement continued though, and one step caught her ear.

Clonk.

A metal footstep. She looked around, trying to figure out where it had come from. It came from this side of the locker room….

Clok

Another step, this one sounding like a hoof.

With more urgency, she looked at everyone here, legs than face. Who had feet that suddenly seemed unusual. And whose expression wasn't that of worry for the two beloved girls?

Marinette, no. Alya, no. Ivan, no. Marc, no. Mireille, no. Aurore, no. Lila…

Lila.

Lila, quiet and without drawing attention to herself, was moving towards the door that the two had left through to dry themselves off. Her expression was guarded but with a hint of satisfaction. Of someone who had found a big target at long last. And her hair was moving…not like snakes, but almost like fire…if she looked at said hair from the corner of her eye.

From the corner of her eyes, she noticed something else. Someone else's attention had been drawn to Lila. Alix.

Alix's expression was different from hers. Alix's was a bit more of a horrified surprise, something perhaps fitting of someone who knew Lila, unlike herself. They shared a similar sense of 'oh crap, monster!', and a similar surprise that the other also noticed and knew what was going on. Alix mouthed something her way, and Zoe didn't catch all of it, but she caught part of it.

'I'll distract them.' Or something to the effect of letting them have a reason to be out for a minute to deal with Lila.

Zoe, not sure about the rest of it, nodded back as Alix quickly pulled Marinette and Aurore over, passing something off to pass on further for the two of them. Zoe didn't see more as she slipped out, making sure to take the bag where her bow, arrows, and sword were. She would need them.

Alix caught up to her a minute later, and now Zoe could ask a rather important question. Just how did Alix know that something was up? That could only make sense if she was a demigod like her, but why wouldn't Chiron have mentioned that? Maybe she was a former camper who hadn't returned in some time.

She was not a camper who remembered a time when Luke Castellan wasn't the enemy, and there were those who hadn't come back after that who weren't trying to end civilization. Sometimes they weren't let back by their parents, so she was told. Maybe Alix's family moved to Paris and Chiron didn't know about it. That wasn't a bad theory…

Alix caught up to her pretty quickly, the two of them moving to find Juleka and Rose before Lila did, or find Lila before she found Juleka and Rose.

"She's after Juleka." Zoe quickly told Alix, who nodded, their steps each slightly, but noticeably, speeding up. Alix cursed in a language that wasn't any form of Greek, English, or French. Maybe it was…what was the equivalent of Inuit for the Berber's Eskimo? That was a terrible comparison, probably, but she had heard somewhere about Alix's specific ethnicity and the proper name was not coming to mind.

"Yeah, I figured. Though I have to give credit to that demon, Lila managed to catch something I completely missed. I'll have to look into Luka later if Juleka's one of us." Alix sounded like this trickery was really personal to her. Rose apparently had a condition, so maybe it was something about the water and getting Rose sick. That was a pretty reasonable guess. Though there was something odd about how Alix talked just now.

"I don't think you were at the party, but actually Luka's dad is Jagged Stone." Zoe clarified. Luka wasn't also the son of Poseidon. If he was…

"Yeah I know." Alix seemed a little confused about what the problem was. Er, there was a bit of a big one. Juleka's mother had absolutely no reason to lie and say that her hated ex was her son's father. That made no sense, and unless Alix wanted to get into freaky 'Zeus turns into a swan or a second Jagged Stone' territory there was no way that would work. Also apparently if Luka was a son of Poseidon he'd have had to defeat the Titans or something already, and as the Titans were not defeated and Luka had a sixteenth birthday past, that did not make sense. She had to go to that lecture about prophecies and how they worked, so either Luka was definitely not Poseidon's son too, or she experienced utter tedium for no reason.

"Um, that's actually a bit of a problem. Luka and Juleka can't both be Poseidon's kids." Zoe quickly told Alix. Maybe she didn't know that Poseidon had tried his hand at not having any more demigods…

"Wait, Poseidon? Like, the Greek God?" Alix was so surprised to hear that name that she stopped moving, a stop Zoe mirrored as she looked back at the very confused and baffled short tomboy.

"Um…yeah. Zeus's brother, the God of the seas." Zoe said slowly, not sure what was going on here. How would Alix know that Lila was a monster if she didn't know that Zeus and Poseidon were real. Alix just stared at her in utter confusion.

"Yeah…I know about stuff like that. It's not real."

"But you know that Lila's a monster." Zoe was now really thrown for a loop. What did Alix think was going on?

"Yeah, she's a demon. That's what magicians like you and me fight. You know, demons, escaped gods like Set and Sekhmet, that sort of thing." Alix…wait did Alix just call herself a magician and name Egyptian gods? Horus, Osiris, Anubis, Slifer….wait no that wasn't actually an Egyptian God, but those sort of guys? Were they also real?

"...Um Alix, I'm the daughter of Apollo. The Greek Gods are real."

The demigod and the 'Magician' stared at the other for three seconds before one of them spoke up.

"Okay, we save Juleka and Rose, destroy Lila, get school called out early, and then we can use that time to talk and figure out what the actual hell is going on." Alix offered something akin to a truce. They weren't going to start shooting each other with arrows and…magic Zoe guessed, but they'd avoid asking the other to prove themselves not delusional until this was settled. Zoe nodded, and the two, without a further word, did double time to make up for their confusion based stalling, this time with Alix taking the lead.

As the two of them ran through the school, looking to find the two girlfriends before Lila did even after their delay, Zoe had many questions that neither of them had time to answer. Just...what was Alix, and she was sure that Alix was just as confused as she was. Both of them noticed that something was different about Juleka, and that Lila caught it just the same. And that said Lila girl had a metallic leg that neither could quite make out.

Zoe knew she didn't have time to ask that and find the two in time. She had so many questions: if Alix wasn't a Demigod, what was she? What was a 'Magician' exactly? Though she did have one question that was probably quicker to answer and something that was probably more pertinent at the moment.

"So who exactly is Lila, or maybe what did everyone think Lila was?"

Alix didn't stop, or look over her shoulder, but she did explain while they ran through the school, seemingly finding a target that only Alix could make out.

"Lila's a new transfer student, one of several we've had this year. Alya, Kagami, you. She, or at least she said, is the daughter of a diplomat and has had a bit of a spotty attendance history until somewhat recently. She...well have you ever seen Marinette in full 'mad in love' mode?"

"Not...really...I think...but I think I know what you mean." Zoe hadn't seen a ton of the fabled 'Marinette trying to admit to her crush on Adrien and get him to date her' in action, but she'd heard the stories and if she had to imagine the often frazzled but likable Marinette trying to address a crush, Zoe could fully see how that would be something akin to 'shenanigans'. Awkward ex-boyfriends did cause Marinette to fall down some stairs that one time after all, she could go from there and other little things she'd seen her and there to imagine the rest. Camp had its own love hiccups, usually escalated by the Aphrodite Cabin for their own amusement for additional context, though these days they were just watching Percy and Annabeth like a hawk until one of them confessed to the other. She hadn't partaken in the betting pool about how it would happen, but it was getting kind of intense and hard to hide from the Hermes kids. Did Marinette and Adrien have a betting pool...wait ADHD back on topic.

"Yeah, Marinette's nice 99% of the time, but shipping brings out the crazy in her. I'm amazed she'd never been akumatized." Alix sounded like she both found Marinette's madness place moments entertaining, while also preferring to have nothing to do with them as anything but a spectator.

"I thought I heard she had been akumatized once." Something about a shapeshifter or something.

"Eh...we kind of did once, but turns out it wasn't her. Not entirely sure who it was, but it wasn't Marinette. It nearly happened this other time when she was nearly expelled and a whole giant swarm of red...though that incident is kind of on point. Lila, like your sister, likes Adrien and that tends to bring out the worst in Marinette. Usually when that happens it is Chloe being...Chloe...but when we first really saw her and Lila butting heads, we thought she was overreacting and thinking Lila was just another Chloe. There was some idea to try and get Marinette to calm down and see that Lila isn't the same as Chloe."

"But she is, even before her actually being a monster came up?" Zoe caught.

"Well...not really, but it kind of showed that Lila was a bit of a tease. Marinette's issues weren't completely out of nowhere, though we thought it was just Chloe damage clouding her perception. Who knows though, maybe Marinette knew she was a monster long before we did?"

If that was the case...was Marinette also a demigod? Maybe she had clear sight...honestly Zoe was still unsure of what answer she wanted. Marinette was her friend and she'd love to keep in touch with her even when she had to go back to Camp, but wanting your friend to actually be the result of a god's affair and take them back with you as part of your mission to find such people made the entire thing just so...urrgghh. No Zoe, focus: monster wanting to eat the girl who was surely Percy's sister first to ensure that no one died and Percy didn't have a reason to become so furious Shadow Moth would take notice and cause the end of French Civilization, then you got Alix to actually explain what she was properly, and after that you could ponder friendship morality again and fear being rejected again.

"This one." Alix eventually stopped in front of a bathroom.

"You sure?" Zoe asked. Alix nodded.

"Yeah. I don't think you'll get what I'm saying, but I'm looking at reality and just...under reality if that makes any sense," no, not at all, "and I can see people more clearly. Juleka's here, and she has the same ultraviolet aura you do, and it's nothing like any magician's I've seen before. Juleka's is bigger than yours."

She had a what? Okay...

"You...wouldn't happen to know of anyone else with that would you?" Zoe asked quickly, wondering if this might let her actually find Demigods. Alix shook her head.

"Nah, my dad told me to not do that at school, ever, right after the first Akuma attack. Not sure why, but we can ask him later."

And with that promise for later information, Zoe and Alix burst into the bathroom where Juleka and Rose were. Much to their confusion, where the two likely girlfriends were busy drying themselves off.

"Oh, Zoe, Alix, is something wrong?" Rose, who had her shoes and socks off, was sitting on the edge of a sink. Juleka had been wringing out the girl's socks. Zoe and Alix exchanged looks. Huh…how would they actually explain that Lila was a monster without …

Creaakkkk…click.

Was that the door?

"Oh, hey Lila." Rose greeted the arriving 'girl' kindly, not seeing the door closing as anything to be worried about. "Were you worried about me and Juleka too, that's so sweet of you." Lila's expression didn't seem to make Rose realize that something was wrong, though it did seem to make Juleka take notice. Though the tall girl didn't seem to quite grasp how the smile Lila had wasn't just an 'odd' smile, but a dangerous one.

"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just amazed it took so long." Lila said in a falsely sweet tone. Zoe and Alix didn't say anything, Zoe reaching for her bags and Alix reaching for…something. Zoe wasn't sure what. Rose, innocent and perhaps a tad naive as she was, did seem to pick something off about that statement.

"Oh, did you think we have a homophobe problem? Is it worse in Italy than in France, I honestly wouldn't know."

"Oh, not that. Not that at all." Lila continued to smile in a way that was making all of them but Rose uneasy, and even then Rose realized that something was up. She just wasn't looking like her flight or fight response was starting to trigger, even without context, the way Juleka was. Zoe, at this moment, decided to take a chance, and with a discreet motion to Alix to be ready, spoke up.

"Any reason you set up Juleka and Rose to get soaked?" Zoe questioned the monster, her hands on her sword hilt in her bag to be drawn in less than a second. The two victims of said water bomb seemed stunned to hear the accusation as Lila shrugged, which further stunned them as Lila basically admitted being the one to do it. "Why them?"

"Oh, it was crude, but it's been very frustrating. Here I've been trying to find halfbloods, but there is such a strange smell here. And no Rose, it isn't your perfume. That noxious brew I can ignore, I just have to avoid breathing it in and I don't gag on it. But something in the air has been making it hard to figure out who my prey is. I could make you out the moment you arrived, but eventually I had to try something a bit more drastic. I was sure it was at least one of them, the wallflower or the plague child, and they smell so much like each other…you really do have to check both at once. But recently, just recently…I got a little tip about a certain someone coming. Then at least I knew what to try out."

Oh yeah, crap….the rumor about the spy was real.

"Lila…..are you a vampire?" Rose….Rose made what seemed to be the best guess she had from what Lila was saying, fear and a sense of betrayal in her trembling words. Juleka wasn't saying anything, but since the word 'plague child' had come the slightest sound of boiling, bubbling water from the toilets and the faucets seemed to be leaking steam, and she looked to be the same sort of confused, fearful, and hurt as Rose, with the extra hint of fury from said 'plague child' insult added in. Lila smirked wickedly, her eyes glowing inhumanely.

"No, I'm what vampires are based on."

At that statement, Alix shouted something in a different language than her earlier curse, having pulled out what looked like some sort of staff from nowhere and pointed it at Lila. The space Lila was in then exploded into flames.

Both girls behind them jumped in fear as the bathroom entrance was engulfed in a monetary inferno, dying off after a second to leave only scorched walls and burnt tiles.

"Did you get her?" Zoe asked Alix, much to the disbelief of the two almost certainly girlfriends.

"You just….Lila…magic!?" Rose stammered out.

"..." Alix didn't answer, slowly pulling out from the same 'somewhere' an ivory tool that looked something like a mixture of a wand and a boomerang. Zoe's senses remained alight, not confident that Lila was gone just yet. She sniffed the air, the faintest hint of extinguished fire still in the air, as well as the faintest hint of new fire…

She immediately moved, drawing her sword out and lunging it just into the path of a sudden pillar of fire where Lila reappeared, right behind Juleka. Juleka and Rose, in utter panic, fell over onto the ground as her sword clashed with what felt like claws.

"A sword?!" Juleka gasped as they watched the two new girls clash, locked in a duel of strength as Lila glared into Zoe's eyes, burning fire to azure blue.

"I always knew what you were. Even as you were pretending to be Chloe in a hat, I could smell your blood. Though I actually did think you were just another Chloe for a bit, I do have to give your acting some praise."

Yeah she was a good….um what? Why was she thinking that.

"It's almost as good as Alix. She can pretend to just be an ordinary short girl and no one ever thinks that you are any different than the plague child, just less diseased…."

The sound of water shaking pipes violently followed that comment, as did a sudden burst of ropes that flew at Lila who vanished into flames again. Alix quickly got on the other side of Juleka and Rose, guarding one flank as Zoe guarded another.

"What's going on? Zoe…Lila….Alix….are you all vampires?!" Rose even sounded like she didn't believe the last part, but her words were panicked and confused. Zoe wondered if she sounded this confused when Shadow Moth, then known as Hawk Moth, first unleashed a villain on Paris. She heard it was Ivan…

"No, but apparently Alix's the only straight girl here." Lila snarked as she reappeared out of swordreach but staring down the four of them. Um….first that was personal. Secondly if that was what that was…

"You're an Empousa." Zoe identified.

"A what?" Alix and Rose both asked at once, equally unsure of what that was.

"...greek vampire….one leg is either metal or like a donkey….and she has both?!" Juleka explained the last part faster as the Mist let off a bit, revealing both legs clearly. Rose whimpered in Lila rolled her eyes.

"Of course the goth knows that. Well, congratulations. You can tell what is plainly in front of you. Can you tell if I'm going to kill you all or just the Magician, the Olympian spy, and put Rose out of her misery and take you to see the boss?"

The sinks were starting to violently shake and the toilets were starting to sound like tea kettles at a boil. Juleka was glaring so much Zoe wondered if there was already an akumatized supervillain out and about or else she'd be sure she'd see Shadow Moth come by.

"...Whose doing that?" Rose finally asked as Lila put her hands together…at least until she had to vanish again when Zoe fired an arrow at her. She looked rather annoyed when she appeared, at a harder angle to shoot this time, hands still clutched in some mockery of a teacher's pose.

"Now Rose, I'll explain this to you slowly. You must spend so much time in a hospital, no wonder you are so naive and childish. No better than those brats I watched over for Dj Dumbass and his girlfriend. Plus the two of you, plus Harry Puny over there, were dumb enough to believe me over the spazzy wonder herself even without that much…"

"SHUP UP!" Juleka shouted, sounding more furious and loud than Zoe, in her admitted limited experience, had ever heard her, and Rose and Alix seemed similarly surprised to hear her shout that loudly. They were even more surprised when, in concert with Juleka's shout, the toilets and sinks erupted in a massive wave that engulfed the entire bathroom before Lila could continue, sweeping all four of them away in a sudden flash flood born from Juleka's pure fury. Hopefully also destroying Lila. Hopefully….

….

Ladybug didn't think she and Cat had dawdled. Really, they hadn't been moving at peak efficiency to get at this Akuma, but she had an excuse! No seriously, she did! A large lady was nearly hit by a car, her and her chihuahua, and she had to swing over and save her!

The lady thanked her, and maybe it was just Ladybug in that one moment, but she was sure the woman had a forked tongue, but she blinked and the tongue was normal. Maybe she was still not getting as much sleep as she needed, but it was only a few minutes delay. Plus she saw Cat get into the school just as she followed, so neither were reacting that slowly. There was a villain, one whose power and purpose she didn't recognize, so she had to assume the worst! Surely though…a few minutes to save another wouldn't get anyone seriously hurt. She did not want to get smacked in the face with some 'greater good' talk, and honestly she was probably worrying too much. School villains were nearly always less terrible than….

Ladybug stopped thinking about 'what' sort of villain she left alone for a few minutes and was thinking more about 'what' she was actually seeing, a disbelief that Cat shared with her. They were in the middle of the school's center courtyard where a bunch of students, a mixture of several homerooms, were all surrounding said Akuma. Said Akuma was a guy without a shirt, but purple skin and was completely bound by large tires. Like really big tires, the sort that would be on huge trucks, and was unable to escape.

The Akuma was struggling to get out of the tires, but failing. Ladybug leaned her head over to the ever dutiful, ever note taking, not involved with the tongue hallucination lady Alya, and asked what happened. Alya nodded, playing the part as if she did not know that her favorite hero was her favorite friend.

"So, Ivan and Aurore stuck tires on the guy….mostly because he was running around naked and it was kind of ….No. Just no." Alya sounded like she wanted to say more, but she could not bring herself to describe what she'd seen in any more detail. Her face scrunched up in disgust at the memory.

She and Cat looked at the bound Akuma, then at Alya.

"A supervillain….streaker…." Cat sounded like he needed a second source because he could not actually believe that happened.

"...Dude, it happened, I wish I didn't….but it did." Nino collaborated, looking like he wanted to wash his brain, and like he envied Markov the robot at the moment with his ability to delete unwanted memories.

"Okay…." Ladybug wouldn't ask why someone got akumatized into a streaker, and not just because she had other questions. "So Ivan and Aurore…"

"He made Mylene scream." Ivan had no reluctance in admitting to why he enforced modesty via large tires.

"Also the art club put in a request for the tires last week." Nathaniel reminded her that oh yeah, she knew that. It just slipped her mind until now because that wasn't really on her mind until now. Alya gave her a sly look of 'yeah girl, you did know that. Are you forgetting to sleep again?' To that the answer was no…..by comparison.

"But Aurore….I didn't know you lift." Cat pointed out the other odd thing about this situation, because Ladybug did not think of Aurore as someone who could lift a tire that looked like it should be on Optimus Prime. Ivan yes, Aurore no. Aurore blushed.

"Oh I have a few talents."

"So…before Cat and I turn this guy back to normal, there aren't any other things about this guy that might be a problem that you guys might have noticed? No sentient shadows, no clones, nothing?" Ladybug wanted to make sure there were no loose ends before they went through with de-evilizing and gave this poor guy a protective charm so Shadow Moth would not do this again. For his sake…and their own. They did not need…whatever this guy's name was to happen 72 times.

"Nope." Kim noted.

"Na-ah." Sabrina chirped.

"...Trust me, we saw everything…." Nino looked like he wanted to go home for the rest of the day. "Though um…about where his Akuma is…."

They were all interrupted by the sound of a flash flood, or possibly even water exploding like a distant but closer geyer, and the sound of rushing water, and then the sight of water pouring into the central area in a sudden surge that sent four of their fellow students crashing into them. Or specifically Ivan caught Rose like a football goalie, Alix hit Chloe like a brick and knocked the former Queen Bee to the ground, Zoe was caught by Cat, and Ladybug herself caught Juleka.

"Okay, someone back me up and that was not related to this guy!" Nino immediately shouted.

"I too don't recall seeing anything but this guy's…..everything…." Max chimed in as the washed away girls struggled back to their feet. Bizarrely, Juleka didn't feel soaked at all despite the fact that Ladybug got a good feel of all the water from the impact. Again Juleka got lucky with water today.

"Third." Marc added.

"A Sentimonster maybe?" Cat guessed as he looked at the still bound Akuma, "Can someone get a tarp for this guy so we can go check it out and you guys don't need to look at this guy more?"

"Sentimonsters are feathers…and I didn't see a feather. Just an akuma…." Alya sounded like she was recalling something she didn't want to think about again, and what details would not be put on the internet.

"Can Shadow Moth give one person an Akuma and another a Sentimonster?" Kagami wondered aloud as she noticed something at her feet and lifted it up, "Also, whose sword is this?"

Sword? Oh crud, that was a sword, and not a fencing sword. It was a…was an actual sword the right way of putting it? Everyone's attention was now on Kagami and her found sword, and it was a notice that, she caught, was particular in the four who had just been washed down here. Particularly Alix and Zoe.

"Oh, hey, more weird stuff. Check it out, a boomerang made of ivory. That's rather geographically weird." Kim shouted as he held up something that she knew to not in fact be a boomerang made out of ivory, but a relic, if much less ancient looking, of the sort she'd seen at the…

"PUT THOSE DOWN YOU MORON BEFORE YOU KILL YOURSELF!" Alix shouted reflexively, which caused Kim to drop them like hot potatoes. Alix winced when he did and Cat discreetly moved to her side.

"My lady, you aren't the only one…" He whispered as she nodded. Yeah, that was different than the usual Alix-Kim yell off.

"Um, I found a quiver. You know, the thing people store arrows in, and it has arrows in it." Mylene spoke up from somewhere in the crowd.

"And I found a bow." Marc added as this continued to get weirder.

"Free me so I can express freedom and take your stupid earings and ring!"

So weird she kind of forgot about the streaking supervillain still bound up.

"No chance you know what's going on, do you Juleka?" Ladybug asked Juleka, who flinched.

"Bathroom….Lila is a….I don't know….and Zoe and Alix….they aren't bad but Lila….oh god Lila….water…."

The two heroes looked at each other. Lila huh…well she couldn't be any weirder than whatever was going on. She was just a bi…

Higher above, from where the water had flowed out and dropped the four, there was a random pillar of fire, which got all of their attentions but one. The one who wasn't paying complete attention, Ladybug and Cat as well caught out of the corner of their eye, was Alix, who immediately moved to grab those relics that Kim had dropped, but she never took her eye off the pillar of fire the entire time. Eventually the fire faded away, revealing Lila, or at least a monster that looked like Lila.

As it was Lila, that required clarification. Lila was a monster already, but this looked like a monster version of Lila. Instead of something like a werewolf, one of Lila's legs was now metallic, the other was like that of a horse or goat or something with hooves instead, her skin was pale, and she had metallic wings and flaming hair. Everyone was murmuring to each other, worried or confused or scared.

"No…oh no…." Juleka said to herself as one particular example, sounding like she'd seen this before and wanted to get far away from it, with only the girl not seeing Rose to grab and run away with seeming to be the one thing keeping her here. Oddly though the water on the ground seemed to….move with Juleka's panic. Or was Ladybug seeing things?

"Hey Shadow Moth, that's a nice SentiLila. Can I call it that? I'll call it that. Not sure how having one and a streaker's part of your grand master plan, but hey you unleashed Mr. Pigeon 72 times, no reason to doubt your ingenious master plan." Cat quipped, though Ladybug could tell he wasn't entirely sure of that being the reason. It was a joke for normalcy sake, maybe with the benefit of calming everyone else down. 'Lila' snorted.

"Now, isn't that both wonderful and a bother to deal with. I was hoping to be efficient, one godling and one plague child and go from there. But no, some people have to be such a bother and interfere. Now I have to be indiscriminate."

Plague child? Also why did the water smell like it was boiling now,and feel like it? Ow. A few other surprises yips of pain came from the others, so it wasn't just her.

"Lila, I know you must, somehow, be akumatized as well and not be all red and stuff, but that's not cool." Like Cat, Nino's answer wasn't quite fully genuine, but one trying to figure out what was going on without all the context clues, and for once involving Lila, Ladybug didn't know the full context.

Lila was a liar, a cheat, and a menace. But wings, fire hair, plague child? Lila didn't go around saying that sort of thing publicly. She would say that privately, probably to Rose or Juleka's face if the two realized just what she was, after having a plan in mind to make sure that the horrid girl could get away with it. Lila was the worst.

"Lila isn't akumatized, and she isn't human either. Ha-di!" Alix…well…Alix followed that up by somehow using that staff Kim dropped to cast magic on Lila that made Lila explode! Or at least, the stuff around Lila to explode, as Lila burst into flames just before said explosion and moved just to the right to avoid death…maybe…what just happened!? Alix…magic….hieroglyphics….explosions!?

"Wait what…Alix….what?!" Alya agreed with her. What?!

"Did you really just try to…what?!" Nathaniel agreed.

"Wait, Alix's a wizard!?" How did Kim have the most coherent thought about this?

"Ladybug, Cat, I know this is hard to believe, but I'm not kidding! Lila isn't a human being, she is a literal actual monster that wants to kill us all! She just tried to kill Juleka and Rose and if she doesn't die in the next second she'll try it again to everyone here!" Alix shouted aloud before trying to hit Lila with another spell that Lila avoided with fire and….What?!

And that was what she was thinking. Ladybug. Marinette. She would love to be hearing someone else saying that Lila was some sort of monster that needed to be hit in the face a few hundred thousand times with a blunt object in pretty much any scenario but 'in public with the clear hint to use lethal force'. Also Alix was a wizard which came out of left field worse than the time that a second Alix from the future had. At least Time Tagger was already doing time nonsense before they found adult Alix.

Then the left field got a left field of its own when an arrow flew, as it would if fired from a bow, right at the reforming Lila. A metal wing took the blow, shifting in front of Lila to take the arrow, and still pushed through the metallic membrane all the way through. Lila let out a scream of pain that was very inhuman as everyone's horrified attention, but Alix's who fired another spell at Lila who only barely avoided it, went to the one who had fired the arrow. Zoe.

"You just…a bow…what?!" Alya exclaimed in absolute disbelief, again, at one of her friends doing something with lethal intent on a girl that Alya, at least before the last moments of time, saw as a friend.

"Wait, when did you get the bow and sword back?" Kagami questioned, who seemed to have a bit of recognition of her eyes. And if Ladybug was reading it right, what Kagami noticed was skill. That was not the first time Zoe had fired a bow with intent to hit someone.

"..." Chloe didn't have words, looking both stunned and a little impressed that her half sister had just shot Lila.

"Guys…this is going to sound completely crazy, but Alix is right. Lila isn't human, she's a monster. An actual monster that wants to eat some of you." Zoe's voice was somewhat calm, as calm as trying to explain something in the midst of a giant mess could be, but there was turmoil under her words, like she was scared of something else that wasn't Lila in all this.

"Some of us? Some? What does that…what does that mean!?" Nino questioned as Zoe fired another arrow at Lila without blinking, which Lila barely avoided taking. Zoe took her eyes off Lila to look Nino right in the eye.

"There are some people in this class who monsters like Lila…are looking for. They want to kill them. She was probably in your class looking for those people." Her words were empathetic and warning in tone as Nino's eyes went wide in horror, a look shared by Alya.

"I…I let her babysit my brother!?" Nino breathed in absolute horror, speaking for his girlfriend in the same breath.

"Oh don't be so flattered, you and Lois Lane over there are just as normal as Rose, just less diseased." Lila snarked, having reappeared and caught the next arrow with one hand, plucking it out of the air. "But hey, now you get to die as I have to clean this whole mess up. Didn't think I'd get to kill a Magician, but two Miraculous users too….oh that's just a bonus. Could only be better if that spastic Marinette was here to die too, but oh well. She can have her happy ever after with Adrien with you all dead, at least until I make time for some pleasure after business. Speaking of which…."

Lila tossed the arrow aside and pulled a dog whistle out, which she promptly blew into. Everyone hearing that was snapped out of the shock of 'hey, this girl we knew who we thought was cool is actually a literal monster' and tried to get away, but the shadows themselves rose up, growling. Sabrina screamed and jumped back as the shadows, on the top level, on the ground level, and especially in front of any way out of the courtyard, rose up in the shape of hounds. Rhino-sized, very scary, red-eyed, growling hounds.

"Hellhounds." Zoe whispered, knowing what those things were.

"Um…what?" Aurore repeated as Lila, atop with a further half dozen of those things snarling at the bit and ready to attack, grinned.

"Oh, you know, the monster dogs of the underworld. Such marvelous things they are, they can track their victims anywhere and appear from any shadow. Their jaws can rip apart metal, their kicks can break armor, and they are always hungry. It's such an inelegant method to find my targets but when you need to kill a lot in a short time…what can beat them? And if you do escape, even with that Horse Miraculous that Ladybug likes so much, well that only delays it. Which really does remind me, I'll have to break open Marinette's locker after this. I don't think Alya's going to be in any condition to give me her scent after we're done here."

Everyone in the courtyard who didn't have some sort of weapon, magical or otherwise, winced. Some winces, like Alya, weren't just that of fear, but the horrific revelation about certain things on top of what had already been realized, clicking into place indisputably.

"My lady, what's the plan?" Cat hurriedly asked as Ladybug looked at…well whatever the heck this situation was. They had to fight off Lila, a literal monster with flaming hair and a metal leg, along with dozens of giant monstrous dogs who apparently could track them all down even if she used the Horse Miraculous if Lila's boasting was to be believed. Said dogs had surrounded two entire classes, and would attack her classmates as well as herself and Cat, and Lila the literal monster had already attacked Juleka, Rosa, Alix, and Zoe. The latter two seemed to be armed…and Alix was some sort of wizard. How…how did that become the least strange, world tilting thing that happened since four of her friends washed down in a current in the school and landed on some of them?

At a minimum she had to survive and win to use Miraculous Ladybug and revive anyone who got killed or heal any injuries or property damage, but she did not want to see anyone die. Ideally she had to defeat these things without too much harm coming to anyone around them. There was nowhere to hide, so she couldn't get any of their fellow heroes' powers without compromising their identities to the wider Parisian community. Shadow Moth knew several of their identities, which was one thing, but she had already decided to alter the rules after she got Alya to break out of Shadow Moth's control. Going further than that wasn't something she wanted to do. So their only allies were Zoe and Alix. Zoe had a bow and a sword, and Alix…was again some sort of wizard. She was going to ask questions after this. To prevent needless death and trauma…

She discreetly fingered her Yo-Yo, reaching in and pulling out Miraculouses. Cat idly noted what she was doing, though the bulk of his focus was still on the army of actual monsters all around them.

"You want to use Unification?" He guessed as she frowned and shook her head. No…that would be the most responsible and least reckless thing to do, but that would still leave them outnumbered. She could use Sass, but Ladybug didn't like playing no-death runs in video games and she did not want to do that in real life. The responsible thing to do, what Master Fu had said she would have to do at some point, was let some people in front of her die temporarily for the greater good. While he didn't say that callously, she wanted to avoid that for as long as possible. She knew that people had died from Akuma attacks, she just had never seen it happen herself yet. She wanted to keep that streak going as long as possible.

Su-Han would not approve of what she was doing, but honestly she'd love to know how he'd get out of this one. If he had a complaint, she'd hear it out, but if she avoided any temporarily dead friends today she'd gladly take a lecture.

Tapping the pulled Miraculous, she let out the Kwami she had pulled out. Wayzz, Roarr, Stompp, Pollen, Longg, and Barkk, who all were rather surprised, first at being pulled out, and then…

"A Empousa and an army of hellhounds!?" Wayzz exclaimed, and the other Kwami looked like they knew what the hell was going on.

"Oh, the Kwami. How cute." Lila snarked as Ladybug, without taking her eyes off the monsters, projected her voice out so the entire crowd of students could hear her. "I don't see the horse, so are you going to fight me with all of those? Maybe give a token one to the kitten?"

She ignored Lila, as did Cat.

"Alright, this is a once in a lifetime moment. Every Kwami but Stompp and Barkk, in a minute I'm going to throw you into the crowd behind me, and whoever catches you will need to be given your powers for this fight, and only this fight. This will not be permanent and anyone who you team up with will not use your powers again."

Ladybug liked to think she was putting a lot of subtext in. She did not want Nino, Jukela, Zoe, or Kagami to use the Kwami they normally used. She felt like they got the message, even if she couldn't see it.

"So I'm guessing one of us will use Stompp and the other Barkk?" Cat Noir guessed and she nodded. Everyone here had seen or heard how the powers she had pulled out worked at least once, so after the activation phase they would know how to use their abilities. She did not have time to explain Resistance or Fetch to anyone, though Master Fu had explained the powers to the both of them.

What happened next was a flurry of activity in the space of what were surely just seconds. Every Hellhound, and Lila, lunged at them with intent to kill. She threw four Miraculous into a crowd while trying to avoid giving them to their original owners, anyone armed with something already, and Chloe. She threw Cat the Ox and unified with the Dog.

The results in those seconds were at least hopeful to this ending well.

Lila was slammed in the face by Cat Noir's staff, sending the literal monster and pain in her social life extraordinaire flying. She recovered, sadly, but it gave time for Cat to unify into 'Ox Noir' and strike a Hellhound before it could savage Chloe with Manon-swallowing jaws.

She, mentally naming herself Lady Hound to have some sense of normality in this mess, wrapped the jaw of a second monster shut before it could attack Rose, before an arrow hit it and it exploded into dust. Zoe…and apparently they exploded into dust instead of dying if you hit them with an arrow. Okay! She could process that after throwing the Ball with enough force to disorientate a third hellhound.

A bolo from the Tiger Hero slammed into a Hellhound, driving it off as the Tiger Hero ranted and shouted about how 'I LET YOU BABYSIT MY KID BROTHER!'. So it was certainly Nino, still horrified to learn he'd left his little brother alone with a literal monster.

A shield bounced off a nearby wall and then rebounded into a Hellhound, destroying it as a familiar head of fluffy hair caught it. Alya had gotten the Turtle, and Ladybug was fine with that, though Ladybug would probably have preferred Alya hadn't as that meant she could never give Alya the Turtle outside of Unification in the future. But given the situation…and given how close she thought Alya and Nino had been standing it was probably a requirement to keep Carapace as an active hero.

Alix shouted something and hieroglyphs flashed before the third Hellhound died in a burst of flames. Effective.

Another hound went after Rose and Juleka, but then the water on the ground somehow grew into spikes and pierced the hound, making it explode as Rose and Juleka, especially Juleka, looked absolutely horrified. Okay, what was with the water today? Add that to her many questions.

A golden blur jump kicked a hellhound away from Mireille, and Ladybug then heard Mirielle thank Aurore for the save, so that was Aurore. Okay. Not her first choice but…not the worst choice, especially seeing Aurore then grab another hound by the jaws and start to pull them apart with her bare hands until the monster exploded…oh dang maybe she did 'lift'.

Someone with the Dragon Miraculous slashed a Hellhound with the sword and shouted for Marvov, who flew into another Hellhound's eye, distracting it for a moment which Zoe used to hit it and dust it with an arrow. Okay so Max had gotten the Dragon Miraculous.

And from there, the major players lined up on her mind…came a mad battle. Arrows, spells, shields, smacking a Hellhound with the Dog Miraculous Ball like a baseball pitch, stunning it long enough for Nino to slash it with the Tiger Bolos hard enough to destroy it. Lady Hound had to admit, she was a bit worried that Nino might use Clout recklessly in his brotherly rage, or possibly create an earthquake with said rage…

And in a pillar of fire Lila the monster was in front of her, snarling and lunging at her with taloned hands. She blocked each with a tool, the Yo-Yo and the Ball, as Lila glared right into her eyes, which glowed an inhuman color.

"Ladybug, or whatever you are calling yourself with an extra accessory on….I am going to enjoy killing you!" Lila snarled.

"You and every villain Shadow Moth ever created!" Lady Hound snapped back as Lila's snarl turned into an oddly confident smirk.

"Oh, but I'm not something he made. I'm just an immortal being who happens to find that sometimes our goals are similar. It's really not like this fight you know…you don't know what's going on, so why are you involved?" There was an odd…layer to Lila's voice, and it was one that made Lady Hound wonder. What…was this fight anyway? She didn't know what was going on with Zoe and Alix, or Lila and her pets so….

The hell was she thinking!?

"Because you are putting people in danger! Because you are literally a monster! Because you want to kill innocent people!"

"Do you think Zoe's innocent? What innocent person has weapons at a school? Or did you ever wonder why she came to this country in the first place, hmmm? She's no friend of yours Ladybug, so why help defend her from me and my pets?" Lila's voice again had that odd layer to it.

Zoe having a sword and a bow was rather suspicious, and she really didn't know a ton about Zoe. She only had one friend back in New York, was Audrey's daughter, and was Americ….okay what the actual hell was going on!?

Lila was going to say something else, but she suddenly let out a loud scream of pain as something struck her from behind. She burst into flames, which were hot and ouch! When the flames vanished a green shield clattered to the ground, with a thin layer of something like blood, just not red colored blood, on it.

"Hey Ladybug, toss that back to me would you!" Alya the Turtle Heroine shouted, snapping her out of whatever the hell that was. She tossed the shield back to Alya, before reflexively using her Yo-Yo to trip up a Hellhound that was charging at Kagami, who she briefly saw get tossed the Ox Mallet by her first partner. While Kagami started slamming the thing into the stunned shadow monster, Alya looked bothered.

"You know Ladybug…"

"Lady Hound, for the Ladyblog."

"...Lady Hound…my friend always said that she thought Lila was a monster…I thought she was just overreacting to a love rival…." Alya admitted in an apology fit for secret identities, sounding a little bashful. Lady Hound smiled.

"...I'm sure she didn't think she was a literal monster. Your friend's not going to do an 'I told you so' dance or anything…though she might appreciate some ice cream for her troubles." Lady Hound assured back in code. Alya chuckled before back handing a lunging Hellhound with her shield, stunning it before an arrow hit the thing and made it go to dust.

"Well next time I see her I'll treat her to Andre's." Alya joked as a pillar of fire formed behind her.

"Thanks for reminding me that I don't see that flailing wreck. I'll have to hunt her down when I'm done with the rest of you." Lila snarked before lunging at Alya, who defended herself as a Hellhound appeared out of the shadows and jumped Lady Hound. She wasn't sure if this one was a new one or not, and while she tried to keep her face and get it off her Alya and Lila were clashing metal limb to shield and fire hair to real hair.

"Like the actual…..I thought Marinette was just treating you like Chloe unfairly…but hell no! You're worse than Chloe!" Alya snapped as Lila laughed.

"Thank you! Glad you finally noticed! That makes, what, two people around here who weren't complete dupes, and even the second dupe took a while. Honestly, where is the pretty boy that ditz is obsessed with…I don't think he's as tasty as Zoe or the goth but he has a rather interesting scent that I'm sure would be quite appetizing. Like a peacock."

Alya kicked Lila hard in her donkey leg, making the monster wince as her best friend swung her shield at Lila, who stopped it with both hands and looked right at Alya.

"Let's give it up for the future Pulitzer winner everyone! Failed to realize that you were as much of a mark as the rest of your class even when the girl off her meds could see clearly? Really, I have to wonder what else you missed….actually I am kind of wondering that myself. Your class is filled with such strange scents I don't really know what she is. Mind telling me?" Again there was something weird with Lila's voice, and Alya…

"Why would I tell you anything about Marinette? I'm her best friend, I keep her secrets." Alya sounded way too close to actually admitting something. Wait, did Lila have some sort of mind manipulate voice powers this entire time!? That would explain…so much!

"Grrrrr!"

Oh if she could just get this stupid thing off her…

"Are you really? What sort of friend missed something that obvious?! What else must you have missed behind all the screaming and flailing about and spazzing about 'Adrien' this and 'Grahhh!' that?"

The mind control voice…okay um Nino….rampage of revenge maybe? Hopefully the sound of five hounds yelping wasn't that revenge being dished out by you now….something to get Alya to snap out of it that wasn't been drowned out by sudden loud barks from her rhino-sized dog problem?!

The answer came instead from a punch to the face for Lila by an unseen fist, and a sword into the Hellhound, who burst into dust over her as Max helped her up and Markov floated around Alya, who shook her head clear of that mind manipulation voice. So it was Markov's fist that hit Lila. LIla got out of shield to the face range and glared at the new arrivals.

"Max….you smell like a dirty forge!"

"..." Max didn't know how to respond to that.

"That comment is illogical. Though you are also some sort of fictional monster currently trying to kill us, so maybe I need to update my logic database to reflect this new data." Markov was similarly baffled.

"Tell me Max, are you a bastard by any chance?" Lila had that tone of her voice again. Max however didn't get that odd expression that she had noticed Alya got and just lunged at her with his sword, which she blocked with her hands. She and Alya then threw their weapons at Lila, her Ball hitting Lila with a subtle glow (and declaration of Fetch) before Lila vanished into fire again, letting the shield go by harmlessly.

"Okay, why did that not work on Max but me and Lady Hound were affected?" Alya asked the burning question, stopping at the end to throw her shield again with force great enough to bisect a hound that was about to get Ox Noir, who was busy with his own lengthy streak of wins. It came back with a few more bounced as Markov offered a theory.

"I do believe that, on top of typical emotional and logical ruses she had deployed on you all, Lila Rossi must have some sort of hypnotic power that has some relation to human attraction. This would explain why I and Max are unaffected, though Marinette Dupain-Cheng is most certainly capable of avoiding its effect so her seeming immunity is an outlier as she is attracted to girls."

Markov….did you really just say that out loud? Fortunately only two other people heard that and she doubted that would be a problem. But the personal aspect of her life later, putting Lila in pain now.

"Let's ask her ourselves. Fetch!"

In a blur of light Lila appeared, looking utterly surprised to be back and being held at multiple weapon points and even more when she was wrapped up by the Yo-Yo.

"I would ask you to clarify why your specific supernatural power works on Alya and Ladybug in a fusion form but not myself, Marinette, and Max, but logically you will be terminated in the next five seconds so that will be impossible." Markov gave a cheerful declaration of his impending gap of knowledge as Alya, after a quick nod from Max, moved to slash her with the turtle shield. She briefly saw Nino burst over, looking ready to Clout Lila, but he seemed….fine with Alya doing it. He'd probably ask Lady Hound to let him Clout-punch something with all his Lila fury, but that would be fine and he seemed quite fine with Alya getting the…was it kill?

Er….the Kwami seemed to know what this was. She'd ask them later, for now Lady Hound savored the look of absolute disbelief and panic on Lila's face and took quite a bit of catharsis from Alya slamming the shield edge first into Lila's face, causing her to explode into dust. Sure, she then had to cough up some Lila, and she would certainly want to check with Tikki later to make sure swallowing Lila wasn't something medically adverse, but time to wrap this up. Because she just had an idea. Because even if there were more of these stupid hounds, it looked like there were only ten or so of them left, and half of them were just chewing on Ox Noir (who fortunately had Resistance up, though it seemed to be less effective than it should be at stoppin them entirely, just good at preventing Cat from being a chewtoy.)

"Max, Nino, Alya, let's finish this in one go! Alya, free Ox Noir!"

"Got it!" Alya shouted as she readied a power she had seen used many times, "Shell-ter!"

A green barrier formed around Ox Noir, throwing the Hellhounds off him. They hit the ground shoulder first and Ox Noir gave an approving thumb to Alya.

"Okay, Max, get everyone but Nino in the air and when everyone but Nino and the Hellhounds are in the sky…"

"Tiger Punch!" Nino said enthusiastically, as if he was going to relish in the blow. And then she'd repair what followed with Miraculous Ladybug.

"Wind Dragon!" Max turned into a gust of wind that forked into dozens of smaller gusts that grabbed everyone and threw them up into the air, just as Nino's fist glowed a very intense glow. One fueled by brotherly rage that Nino then hit the ground with tremendous force and a somewhat exaggerated pose.

"CLOUT!"

The resulting shockwave shattered the remaining Hellhounds, and probably could be registered as an earthquake on the Richter scale.

…

One instant repair of the school later, and oh yeah they never did undo that Akuma so she had to fix that too, and Ladybug was handed the Miraculouses back, first by Cat surprisingly as she sent Stompp and Barkk back to her room.

"As much as I look rather imposing with a nose ring…my senses of responsibility are tingling." He told her as he made clear his intent to leave.

"Parents are about to call because of Nino's seismic rage?" Alya joked as Cat had an expression that suggested that was in fact the case, but she didn't press it as he hopped off. Alya,who handed the Turtle Miraculous back next, faked surprise as she looked at her phone. .

"Oh hey, it's from Marinette. She was scared off by the streaker and must be somewhere else right now. I'll go check on her and let her parents know she's okay, she's going to forget to do that after I tell her that Lila was a literal monster!"

Thank you Alya, because her own 'parents are worried' senses were tingling too. A call from Alya was as good as a call for her, especially if 'Lila was actually a literal monster and Marinette is not able to text right now she's too furious' was in the text somewhere.

Then was Nino, who looked bothered.

"Is it weird I'm still angry at Lila….I mean she wanted to eat my brother! Who does that?!"

"A literal monster. It's okay to feel angry, I feel angry at Shadow Moth every time he makes someone's life problems into a monster."

"Hopefully he'll just call it quits for the day after his streaker villain." Nino hoped the hope they all were hoping for as he gave her the Tiger. "Kind of like how he just gave up some days after a bad Mr. Pigeon attack."

…

Meanwhile an evil lair was filled with the sound of a stoic man's equivalent of a frantic phone conversation with his son, his reserved but worried tone hiding a boiling fury at his former monster ally.

…

Regardless of what Shadow Moth was doing, she took back the Dragon from Max, who still looked a bit baffled by the entire thing.

"I smell like an old forge?"

"Maybe it was a really insulting insult back in ancient Greece." Ladybug guessed. "It might just lose something in translation to French."

"Or perhaps it was a reference to the ancient deity Hephestueus." Markov guessed. "You did create me."

"Would that actually be an insult? I mean I know the guy's kind of cheated on, but he's still a god…" Max wondered aloud.

"Also, um…I am not sure how Marinette feels about Markov just casually declaring her sexuality. I know you and Alya are her friends, but that could be a problem to say aloud." Ladybug gently told Max, who blinked.

"Oh, my bad. I just thought that was common knowledge. I'll update Markov about it."

"Done. Though it is common knowledge, I just need to program myself to not say it in front of strangers in my specific routine about Marinette's known secrets." Markov chimed. Okay, watch out for Markov and…'common knowledge'?

She was still thinking about what that was supposed to mean as Aurore came with the last one, looking a little embarrassed like she'd been outed by a robot.

"You know, I swear I could have been more helpful."

"You helped save your classmates from being bitten in half and tore a monster in half with your bare hands. That's more than enough." Ladybug assured Aurore as the Bee Miraculous went home. Okay, now that was done, time to find Zoe and Alix and ask them what the actual….

Um…..

"Did anyone see Zoe and Alix leave?" She asked the students, who all looked around as if realizing the two had vanished.

"They were here when Max did the wind thing." Nathaniel recalled.

"They must have snuck off during the Miraculous Ladybug, but why?" Kagami pondered.

"...So um….why was Alix a magician and Zoe an archer?" Kim asked the other big question. So she needed to find them, possibly also to know what had even happened today. "Because if Alix is some sort of wizard, does that mean…"

"No Kim, it doesn't mean you won the race by default." Max deadpanned.

"Drat."

"Juleka…has anyone seen Juleka!?" Rose said in fright as they all realized that Juleka was also gone.

…

"Oh Ladybug, you have my number? Did Rose give it to you? Oh Juleka, she's with me. Do you want me to put her on the phone? No? You trust me? Ha ha ha ha, not sure you should, but I guess a mother's word means more than a ship captain's. She's a little shell shocked, but she'll live. She's a tough lass. Thank you for checkin' in, you and Cat Noir are always welcome on the Liberty!"

Anarka Couffaine, former rocker and current boat person, hung up shortly after, looking at her daughter holding her head against the table in despair. Juleka could just see the worried looks on her mother and brother's faces through her arms.

"Juleka, do you..want to talk about it? I can't say I know many monsters outside of tax collectors and cops, but…I've seen things." Her mother was willing to find anything in her sordid history that could help. But…what could?

This entire mess…well magic and monster and weapons might have started while she was Purple Tigress.

She, Purple Tigress, smiled as dozens of children eagerly greeted some of the most beloved people in Paris. Carapace was letting several children touch his shield, Rena Rouge was on her knees, letting several kids touch her hair and ears and laughed at a question a little girl asked about superpowers that would have been rude if not asked by a six year old, while Cat Noir was almost crying at the most amount of children of all were cheering him and telling him how awesome he was and wanting them to sign their casts, diaries, and the like. Some kids had talked to her and Pigella, but it wasn't as many. They were new, but maybe one day…

Maybe one day she could make Rose smile as Purple Tigress. It would be a fun little secret.

"Miss Purple Tigress, if you wouldn't mind, there's a patient who asked to see a hero who can't leave her room. If you could…" A nurse had asked her, and she had quickly agreed, telling Pigella where she was going in case she was missed, and after a few twisting hallways she found herself in the room of a little girl named Patrice, who looked surprised to see her.

The nurse left them alone, and Purple Tigress had laughed, making a self-deprecating joke about not quite being Laybug or Cat Noir.

"No, that's not it at all. Heroes are cool, they all are. You're just new right?" Patrice had assured, to which she nodded. "Is it just…can I ask you a personal question?"

She had agreed. Rena Rouge had likely had to answer worse about superheroine bodies to a six year old today.

"Um…were you Reflekta?"

She had not expected that question, and the little girl took her stunned expression as confirmation.

"I don't mean that in a mean way, I just…Reflekta appeared here once. I saw her, and she has your face. But I've always been good at seeing things that other people don't notice, or can't seem to see." Patrice explained as best she could. Purple Tigress looked away.

"I have a…really important person, who goes here. Sometimes…I get really sad." She didn't have a better explanation. Not one she wanted to talk about to anyone.

"I don't blame you. It's sad being here. But you can make people happy now, like Ladybug." Patrice has assured. "Akumas aren't really bad people most of the time, they are just victims. Most people when they talked about Reflekta thought she looked angry, but I could see it more clearly. She…you…was sad and hurt, and wanted to not see what made you sad anymore."

"Ladybug is probably coming soon…I could get her to see you. You don't have to miss out because you are stuck here." Purple Tigress offered that honestly, and because this was making her uncomfortable. Patrice shook her head.

"No that…I shouldn't. Because I think if I ever see Cat Noir up close, I'd know who he is. I swear I've seen him somewhere before as his secret identity, and I shouldn't know that. I don't think anyone else here has seen what I saw though. Am I..weird?"

"No." Purple Tigress assured her. "I know someone who can feel with music, and someone else who made a robot that is as alive as you or me. I even know someone who has a pet crocodile, that's not weird at all."

What it was actually, was scary, but she would not tell this poor girl that. Ever.

She couldn't tell them that. Like, maybe, Luka could have guessed that Ladybug taking her off somewhere and then a new heroine showing up could be her, Luka was smart. But she had to keep her secret identity, and not only that if she did say anything and Luka was akumatized, would she put Cat Noir in danger too?

Though that was nothing compared to whatever happened today. She…she controlled water, maybe…. Lila was a literal monster, her friends had magic and weapons and secrets….what was even going on?! What..what was she?!

"Mom…what am I?" Juleka asked her mother, who blinked.

"My daughter. Same as you've ever been."

"You just might be special. Juleka, you controlling water, if that really was you and not just a trick of an actual monster, doesn't change the facts. You are my sister." Luka assured her. She raised a hand up, feeling like her hand weighed a ton.

"So if I wave this hand, I won't flip the boat with a wave?"

"Eh, if you do, I actually do have insurance despite what the tubby cop says." Her mom assured. "I'm even covered in case Ladybug ever misplaces that fix all power o'hers, so if you are a water bender or somethin' we'll be square."

"Plus if you do have powers of some kind, try to think of them as a positive. You can avoid traffic by walking the Seine instead, you'd make boat repairs a lot easier, and maybe you can fight crime. Marinette would love to design you a costume." Luka offered examples that were a bit more reassuring than her mom making it clear that if she did screw up they wouldn't…well not be destitute, but having to move in with Luka's dad. He'd take them in, but the way that he and her mom bickered was….honestly it might make her want to see if she could breathe underwater. There would be less arguing, or worse, that way at least. Rose would…oh Rose.

She had barely texted her since Lila, just enough to let her know she was alright, but what did she even know to say? She just…she just wished she knew what was going on!

The sound of something landing on the deck outside got all of their attention.

"I pulled the plank, did that cop jump on the boat again?! No..it can't be, too graceful to be scurvy Rodger." Her mom was clearly confused.

"Maybe it's Ladybug?" Luka guessed, and that seemed possible, but somehow it sounded odd. They went to check it out, and what they saw was…

"A pegasus?"

Not the hero, but an actual winged horse. It was a magnificent beast, completely black in fur and feather, It was a horse large enough to ride and fly, and it was not a normal creature. But…was it an akuma? Akumas tended to have garish colors with a few exceptions.

Timebreaker and Lady Wifi were exceptions to the rule that it was impossible to mistake a villain for a regular person. It wasn't impossible, but also it seemed like a regular horse, just with wings. It wasn't aggressive…

"Well Boss, that was a long flight from New York, and boy are my wings tired. Honestly maybe we should have stopped in Ireland for a breather, but can't change that now." The…the horse spoke?! Wait..

"Mom, Luka…did you just hear the horse speak?" She quickly asked them, wondering what this was supposed to mean. Both of them shook their heads as the black pegasus noted her.

"Hey Boss, found her! Well it probably wasn't going to be the older one, she looks old enough to play poker with your mom, not be the new Lady Boss. But you'll always be the Boss Boss, no extra titles. Just Boss."

"Did…did you just call me boss?" Juleka repeated.

"Lady Boss, sorry but the Boss is Boss." The pegasus confirmed as someone got off the Pegasus, a rider. He stumbled a bit as one might after a long time flying, plane or pegasus, but was quick to get back on his feet. Her mom made a noise just short of a gasp, and a glance showed the glimmer of realization in her eyes.

"Do you..know him?" Luka cautiously asked, watching both the arrivals and their mother warily as she shook her head.

"Know him…no. I don't know him specifically, but…well there is no way of putin' this cleanly. Juleka, this young man looks so much like the man who helped make you, so there is only one thing this fella could be."

First off…ewwwww. Second of …what?!

Juleka looked at the new arrival warily. He was tall, taller than her or Luka, with dark hair that was a different shade than Luka's when the blue dye was absent, but much like her own. His build was slender, though with musculature and a tan. His eyes were green like the sea, like a shade she'd never seen before. He wore a orange T-shirt with a black pegasus on it that said 'Camp Half-Blood', a pair of jeans, sneakers, and a necklace with beads that featured a design of a trident, a golden cloak or something like that on a pine tree, and a labyrinth, as well as two shells. One was a sea dollar and the other a small conch shell.

The five of them, three family and a pegasus and a…family (?) stared at the other, three to two. Um…what was going on?

Fathers and the Liberty were not normally in the same sentence. The entire thing with Jagged Stone and Luka was an exception, and she had no problem with that. He wanted to be a father or father figure, and he had even remembered to be nice to her too as if he was her father. She and Luka shared a birthday, not a father. She had rarely thought about her father, even after 'Truth' but..what was this? And why wasn't he saying anything?

Oh…he looked awkward too, like he was trying to figure out what to say but had no idea how to start. She could relate to that a lot and…oh….oh….

"I'm speaking French right?" He finally asked to break the silence, in French.

"Um…yeah? Yeah you are." Her mother confirmed, sounding as confused as she was and Luka certainly was. Um, how did he not know he was speaking French? He nervously touched the conch shell on his necklace.

"It's um….you have Miraculous in this city so you probably know that magic is a thing, but it's magic. Just a different type of magic…I can't speak French. I can speak English, and I'm good with Spanish, but French…um I kind of need this. Not that this isn't as…well…Juleka right? That's how you say your name?"

She nodded slowly. He nervously smiled.

"I've…never really done this before. Usually people tell me I'm related, not the other way around. But my name is Percy Jackson, and I'm your brother, and this is Blackjack, who is um…."

"And your father is Poseidon by the way. Like 'The' Poseidon. So that kind of makes me your cousin because my grandfather is also Poseidon. Small world huh?"

In hindsight, Juleka was amazed she didn't faint, scream, or get akumatized right then and there.

….

End AN

Basically special ed Bustier is one of a few ideas I've had to give her detractors a counter argument. Another I have is that of a devout Christian who really gets into the tenets of forgiveness while avoiding the pitfalls, though I doubt 'actual Christian' Bustier will debut here.

Lila was originally going to be killed by Percy who would debut in the fight with Lila after Juleka triggered an earthquake, ending the chapter with him flying off on Blackjack with a stunned Juleka and an injured Zoe. Flow and feedback had her killed by Alya instead and Percy debuted later.

Also a bit of a fun fact: Lila's ability to sniff around for demigods was limited by the constant presence of Tikki and Plagg, and to a lesser extent 'whatever the heck Adrien is'. She's less familiar with the Kwami by scent versus sight, if not outright a case of the Mist playing a part, and without them around she'd likely have narrowed down her victims by sometime in season 3. This would have ended badly for the victims. So Plagg and Tikki accidentally played the role of Smelly Gabe, just as much cuter, nicer, and otherwise likable takes on his role with Percy.