Previously on Destruction...

Ladybug nodded. "Let's... get this over with." She still had that tired smile on her face. The ladybug-themed superhero threw her yo-yo to another rooftop. She swung from rooftop to rooftop with Chat following close behind her.

Dark Inferno stopped at the Effiel Tower, scaring tourists and the people of Paris away.

"Akuma!" they screamed.

The villain didn't care about anyone other than the girl in his clutches and his sweet love for Marc. With no struggle at all, he moved everyone away from the area. Once he felt he was alone with the girl in his clutches, he set her down.

She attempted to run away but was stopped by a black substance that covered the elevator to get out of the area. "Who do you think you are? Do you have any idea who I am?"

He chuckled. "Of course I do. You're Lila. A liar who should be burning in Hell and well," he trailed off. "It's your lucky day. I will be the judge and your punishment."

"Liar? What are you talking about? I'm Ladybug's best friend. I saved Jagged Stone's kitten and take dance lessons with Clara. I'm practically famous. And my mom will banish you from Paris."

"Banish me? Such big words coming from a little girl like you." he tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Your mother is powerless against me. She's powerless against Hawkmoth. We are magical. You are not. Ladybug and Chat Noir are special. You are not."

"If you're trying to get under-"

"Does it make you feel good to have power?"

Lila was silent. She didn't answer the villain.

"Do you like bringing others pain?"

She narrowed her eyes. "You won't get a single answer out of me."

"Oh? Let's test that." He flicked something in her direction. It was the same black ooze that covered the door.

She ducked. "You missed." she sashayed her hair back, trying this confident girl act. She knew damn well she caused this mess and she didn't really care.

"Did I?"

The liar looked down at herself. The black ooze ate at her feet before going to consume her ankles and her legs. "What is this?!" she cried. She felt like her body was on fire. Like something was going to burn her alive. "Please stop the pain! Oh my god! It hurts so badly. M-my mother will make you pay! N-no! Please I'll tell you anything!"

"Anything?"

"Y-yes! Anything! Please just make it stop!"

"Good, good." he decreased the feeling of the burning towards her. Dark Inferno circled her slowly and started his questioning.

"Why lie?"

"B-because people are dumb. They're so clueless about what I say. It's easy."

"You needed to torment a girl into attempting to take her own life. Do you have any idea how messed up that is?"

"Are.. are you talking about Marinette?" she moaned in pain.

"Who else, Lila?"

"She... saw right through my lies! What else was I supposed to do? I was defending myself since she told me to kill myself for saying lies."

"I'm sorry she told you something like that." he was being sarcastic as he said that.

And there came the waterworks. "I was being bullied by Marinette. She threatened to take all of my friends away from me! She was going to tell Adrien I had a crush on him when I wasn't ready! I had to tell someone to stop my torment."

He got in her face. "Do you think I really believe your bullshit? Do you think a little crying is going to make me feel sympathy for you? You're pathetic. You don't feel sorry. You only care about yourself. You hurt others. You hurt people like Marc. He's so scared of me. What have you done? Answer honestly, sweet thing. Or else today will be your last." An outline of a moth with blue components appeared on his face.

"What are you doing, Dark Inferno?"

"Everyone believes Lila is a good person. She isn't. She's a devil in disguise. Preying upon men like there's not a problem, seducing them, making them uncomfortable. Making them quiet so her primary victim is all alone. She needs to pay for her sins, Shadowmoth." The outline disappeared. "Answer honestly."

She looked away. Her fake tears were rolling down her face. "He... Marinette got Marc and the other guys to beat me up! They took off my clothes and raped me!"

Dark Inferno let an inhumane smile cross his face. "Wrong answer!" He clenched one of his fists, letting the ooze consume her.

Lila cried out in agony.

He was so close to taking out this girl, but what stopped him was a yo-yo and a silver baton.

~҉҉~҉҉~҉҉{҉҉ ҉҉}҉҉~҉҉~҉҉~҉҉

It was as clear as day that Chat Noir adored Ladybug. He loved her spirit, her determination, her everything. He could go on and on if he could. Chat wondered where Ladybug was at the time that Marinette had tried to harm herself. He wondered what she was doing. Maybe she was a student or someone else. He couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"We don't have to save her, y'know." Chat said softly.

"I know, but it'd be wrong not to." she sighed. "She's a bad person. So what? There are a lot of bad people in this world. Even me and my bad decisions."

Chat was startled by her reply. She usually said something snarky, but today was different. He stopped her by hugging her from behind. "I know we have a mission, but I want you to know I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you."

She turned around to look up at him. Fresh tears sprouted from her eyes. "It's been a tough couple of days, Chaton." she buried her face into him. A sob wracked her body. She couldn't keep up her strong demeanor around him. Everything hurt. She hadn't heard those words from anyone in a while. Maybe her parents said that, but her mind had drifted and didn't register. "I'm not okay, Chaton. I've been fighting with myself every day and I lost the battle with myself a couple of days ago."

Chat held her in his arms. He understood the amount of stress she had on her. He never wanted her to face all of this on her own. He wanted to see her smile even if it was just once a week. Chat noticed she was starting to spiral. She was starting to lose herself and she pushed him away. Yet, here he was still. For her. Always for her. No one could replace her. Why? Because he adored her. This wasn't some silly childlike crush. No, this was love. He loved her. He admired her.

The cat hero rubbed her back gently.

It felt like forever as they kept hugging each other.

She pushed herself away from him and smiled. "Thank you... I want to talk to you soon, but not now, alright?"

"Whenever you're ready, M'Lady."

She still had that sad smile on her face. "Ready to take out Dark Inferno?"

"Yeah. Hopefully, it's not too late cause the Effiel Tower looks like it's being consumed by Venom."

"What?"

He guided her attention to the Effiel Tower.

"Shoot! We need to get going!" she threw her yo-yo across Paris with Chat following her. "Does there look like there's an entrance?"

"Not from what I can see. Maybe we should fly in."

"Good thinking." Ladybug pulled out a macaroon while Chat pulled out a slice of camembert cheese.

In unison, they called out one of the special powers. "Power up!"

This power-up allowed them to fly around. Despite being their space suits, this helped with flight-themed villains or when something just seemed impossible. They were Cosmo Bug and Astrocat. Together, they both threw their weapon, which granted them entrance into the Effiel Tower. Both of them heard Lila cry out in agony and took the opportunity to throw their weapons at Dark Inferno.

The villain's head snapped towards the two heroes. He left Lila, knowing she was going to be in too much pain to even try and escape. He jumped the heroes but gripped the Effiel Tower. "Filthy pests! I was so close to taking a liar out! But now that you're here, you can join her. I want your miraculous."

"Can't you villains think of anything else than taking our miraculous? Like, come on. I want to hear you say you want a beeting."

For once, Ladybug giggled at that.

"Your jokes are damn annoying, cat!"

"Hey! I have a name you know!"

"Chat, focus on not getting on the akuma's nerves," she exclaimed.

He nodded his head.

Ladybug called out her lucky charm. What fell into her arms was kinda absurd. A fire extinguisher was the lucky charm."

"You can't take out a flame or my sentients with your lucky, charm." He guided the black ooze to swipe at both of the heroes.

Both dodged with ease.

Ladybug looked around. She looked at the villain, which lit up in red with black spots. Then she looked down at her lucky charm. Was she to attempt to knock out the villain and then take the item which probably had the akuma? She wasn't really against that. "Chat! Come to me!"

Chat, or rather Astrocat came towards Cosmo Bug. "Yes, M'Lady?"

She gave him the fire extinguisher. "I'm going to distract the villain. You're going to throw that at Dark Inferno."

"Did your lucky charm tell you to knock him out? I didn't know we could do that." he continued to eye the red fire extinguisher with black dots all over it. "Wait wait wait! I'm going to know him out? But M'Lady! That's your job!"

"You have a better aim than I do! It's time for you to shine kitty cat! Now come on!"

"Be careful!"

She smiled. "I will be!" she soared towards the villain. "Dark Inferno, I bet you can't catch me!" She zoomed left to right and right to left.

Dark Inferno was becoming frustrated. He was only focusing on Cosmo Bug. He couldn't focus on Astrocat who was waiting for the perfect moment to strike. And the cat hero found that the perfect opportunity. He brought the fire extinguisher above his head and summed all of his energy together. He chucked it at the villain and watched it do its work.

With its force of it, it knocked the villain out.

Cosmo Bug pushed the villain back, ensuring he didn't fall forward with the help from Astrocat.

The villain's hand opened, revealing an embroidered bracelet. This was where the akuma was.

Astrocat bent over to retrieve the item. He gave it to his lovely partner who broke the item with ease. A corrupted butterfly flew out along with a blue feather.

"No more evil-doing for both of you." Cosmo Bug opened her yo-yo, swung it behind her a few times, and caught them both. She shut her yo-yo and pressed the center black dot on her weapon. This purified both and she released them. "Bye bye little butterfly. Bye-bye, little feather." She picked up the lucky charm and threw it into the sky while calling out the miraculous cure.

Once everything was cleared up, their power-ups faded away, leaving them as Ladybug and Chat Noir.

Ladybug whispered in Chat's ear. She asked him to go check and Lila while she check on Nathaniel.

He nodded. He slowly walked up to Lila. He had to remind himself that she couldn't hurt him as Chat Noir. She had no power over him as Chat Noir. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"No! That boy hurt me! I'm in pain! Take me to a hospital! I'm going to die!"

Poor Chat had to keep himself from rolling his eyes. "Ladybug's cure ensures everyone who got hurt by a villain gets a full fix-up. Stop the act."

"I'm not acting! I'm hurting! Do something about it or else I'll have you arrested."

"Hah..." He wasn't even going to continue with her. So, he walked back to Ladybug who was helping Nathaniel up.

"I... I remember everything. I don't feel safe. I need to tell the investigators here about something!"

Her earrings beeped. She waved at both of them and took off.

The cat hero scooped Nathaniel in his arms. "I'm taking you back to school. Unless you want me to bring you to the police station."

The redhead shook his head. He quietly thanked the superhero. He was relieved, but at the same time, the rage was still bubbling up inside of him.