Quick note: I own none of the songs used in this chapter; they belong to their original artists.

Unaware of what was going on with Jasmine since she left for school that morning, Roger was working at his desk when he heard his phone go off. He knew it must be important, since Nancy was currently in the middle of teaching a class, and Jasmine never contacted him during the day unless she was sick, or it was an emergency. He knew she was fine when she left, but when he looked at the message, he grew concerned. "'Dad, play this for Mr. Agreste ASAP; this recording contains evidence of one of his models, Lila Rossi, making threats toward me and his son Adrien. Nobody except Ms. Mendeliev knows I got this. Pictures to follow,'" he read as his phone pinged again, and he found another message. "As promised, the pictures, courtesy of Ms. Danica Mendeliev." When he saw the images, his eyes hardened, and over the confused looks of his coworkers, he left the office and drove straight to the Agreste mansion.

Gabriel was in his office working on his latest designs when he heard a knock on the door. He opened it to see Gorilla and Nathalie, and Roger, who looked ready to kill. "Roger, what are you doing here? Is something wrong?" During his and Nathalie's visit to their house, Roger had insisted that he and Nathalie call him by his first name. They had both agreed, but only when they were in private.

"Sir, I just received a recorded message from my daughter, and she tells me that one of your models, Lila Rossi, is threatening her. I also have photographic evidence that she attacked her!" Roger growled. "She also mentions that threats were made by Miss Rossi toward your son, she's spying on him for you, and she said she could convince you to pull him from school."

Gabriel frowned. When he first hired Lila to spy on Adrien, he explicitly told her not to mention anything they talked about to anyone, including how she was his spy, and how he'd threaten to pull Adrien from school if he misbehaved in any way. However, he knew he couldn't tell Roger that. "I see," he started. "However, you don't have to worry about a thing. Lila Rossi is indeed one of my models, but she is not spying for me. As you know, she's the daughter of the Italian Ambassador to France, and as a diplomat's daughter, I thought she would be a good candidate for Adrien's friendship, and a protector, seeing that he steers clear of any negative influences. However, I've recently learned that Miss Rossi has a flair for the dramatic, and it's my guess that she told him that she was spying on him when she's really keeping an eye on him for me. And I'd never pull Adrien out of school for any reason except for the usual modeling job or photo shoot that conflicts with his class schedule. That was probably just a lie on Miss Rossi's part."

Roger frowned. He didn't know Lila that well, apart from the stories he'd heard, as well as what Jasmine had told him about her, but as a father himself, it was his job to be concerned if anything was to happen to his own daughter. "Be that as it may, sir, Jasmine wouldn't send me something like this if it wasn't important. She sounded quite insistent that you hear this."

"Very well, let's hear it," Gabriel agreed at last.

Roger played the recording for him, and as it went on, Gabriel's eyes hardened. He remembered the failed mass akumatization when Miss Dupain-Cheng had been wrongfully expelled, and how there had been no evidence that she had done anything to warrant an expulsion, apart from Lila's words, which everyone apparently believed when there was nothing to back her claims up, but at least Lila was heard on this recording threatening Jasmine, and Jasmine had said that Ms. Mendeleiev had helped her get some pictures of her injuries. His frown deepened when he did hear Lila telling her that she was spying for him. And since she was threatening the daughter of someone who worked for him, possibly threatening Adrien, and judging by her tone when she spoke of him, subjecting him to sexual harassment or assault, Gabriel decided that Lila needed to be fired immediately. "Nathalie!" he shouted.

"Yes, Mr. Agreste?" Nathalie snapped to attention.

"Begin the process of firing Miss Rossi immediately," Gabriel ordered. "Scrub any and all magazines and campaigns that even mention her. And Roger, I want a restraining order against her at once!"

"She'll be getting one from me and my family too, sir," Roger agreed.

"And thank you for bringing this to my attention," Gabriel continued. "I assure you that Miss Rossi will not be getting away with this."

As Roger left to get the paperwork to begin the process of filing the restraining orders, Nathalie turned to Gabriel, who was pinching the bridge of his nose as he tried to ease his building headache. "Shall I get you some coffee, sir? Roger does often say that it's a good cure for headaches."

"I agree, but perhaps later, Nathalie," Gabriel started, "For now, I think I have an akuma to look into…"

***LBCNLBCNLBCN***

As soon as Nathalie left, Gabriel took his secret elevator down to his lair. "Nooroo, we have work to do."

"Master, I think I know who you want to target, but can't I enjoy these songs first?" Nooroo asked, from where he was trying to focus on the music he sensed. "I can actually sense them! They're so calming and peaceful, and I've never heard anything like them!"

"I sense the individual singing as well, but she can't fight my akumas, as much as she'd like to believe she can," Gabriel smirked, "Nooroo, dark wings rise!"

Following his transformation, Hawkmoth gazed out his window. "A young lady criticized for her unique taste in music…She should be able to listen to whatever she likes and not have to be subjected to ridicule from others," He summoned a butterfly and infused it with his dark energy. "Fly away, my little akuma, and evilize her!"

***LBCNLBCNLBCN***

At the same time, Nino and Jasmine had gotten her iPod out of the bushes. "Here you go, Jazz," Nino said as he handed it to her.

"Thanks, Nino. And at least the screen isn't cracked, so at least that's something. Note to self: severely maim Lila when we get back to class and make it look like an accident," Jasmine grumbled as she put the earbuds in her ears, then started scrolling through her songs to make sure the iPod was all right. "Let's try this one…" she murmured as she found a song and started singing softly.

She played a fiddle in an Irish band then she fell in love with an Englishman
Kissed her on the neck and then I took her by the hand, so baby, you just wanna dance…

"I take it back, Dinsmoore, your taste in music is amazing! Utterly amazing!" Chloe actually smiled. "Sabrina introduced me to this Ed Sheeran song, and it's been one of my favorites ever since!"

"Sabrina doesn't listen to Lila either, does she?" Jasmine asked. "It's good to know we might have another person on our side, but I thought from our class, it was just you, me, Nino, Marinette, Adrien, Kim, Ivan, Alix, Juleka, Rose, and Nathaniel that didn't buy Lila's BS."

"Of course not," Chloe scoffed. "If I tell Sabrina that Rossi's lying, then she believes me."

Jasmine nodded, remembering how Adrien had told her that though Chloe could be nice when she wanted to be, she treated Sabrina like her own personal servant…or minion, she thought, smirking as she recalled the new keychain she got in the mail from another one of her friends yesterday. "Good to know, Chloe, and this is actually the Celtic Thunder version of the song," she said at last. "I heard the Ed Sheeran version as well, but I downloaded this rendition first. I'll have to get that version, but I do have his song Shape of You on here..." She didn't have time to finish her explanation when she felt something brush against her hand, and land on her iPod, and saw everyone back away from her. "Something in my teeth?"

"No, something over your eyes!" Nino gasped.

Jasmine looked around, not sensing anything wrong with her vison, but everyone saw the familiar (at least to them) butterfly mask over her eyes. She didn't know what was going on until she heard a voice in her head. 'Earworm...I am Hawkmoth…'

"Oh my corn, I'm dead!" Jasmine muttered, repeating a line from one of her cousin's favorite cartoon shows from back home.

Even though he knew how serious the situation was, Kim couldn't help but whisper, "Okay, all those in favor of saying that from now on when Hawkmoth akumatizes us?" As he raised his hand, he smirked as a few others, including Alix, also raised their hands, and Marc even wrote that down for future use in a comic book.

Hawkmoth rolled his eyes at that, but he continued as if they hadn't spoken. 'You're not dead, but I sense you want revenge on those who criticize you for your unique tastes, especially in music, and after what one of them did to your device.' (Here, Hawkmoth actually smiled to himself, recalling how he {as Gabriel, of course!} had gone to a Fashion Week in Canada with Emilie when Adrien was a baby. While he had gotten several ideas for his designs, she had loved the music and had gotten several tapes and CDs, and the artist that Miss Dinsmoore had sung with earlier was one whose songs she frequently used as lullabies for Adrien…at least until she discovered the Irish songs from another Fashion Week that she played for him as a child a few years later!) 'I'm giving you the power to put the songs they criticized you for in their heads so they can hear what they've been missing.'

"I won't force people to like the same things I like! Everyone's entitled to their own personal interests!" Jasmine tried to fight back.

"That's right! Fight it, Jazz!" Nino yelled as he started motioning for the others to get back.

'But someone accused you of listening to music that their grandmothers listened to,' Hawkmoth continued. 'Shouldn't you be able to hear songs you like in peace, or let them hear it and let them experience something new?'

When she heard that, Jasmine looked intrigued. And this might actually give her an idea on how to get back at Lila for all the crap she put her through. And nobody messes with her music and gets away with it, she thought! "I hate to say it, but that sounds like fun," she mumbled.

'Oh, it will be fun for you,' Hawkmoth purred. 'But if I give you these powers, you must get me Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous in return…'

"I don't harm cats, but you've got yourself a deal," Jasmine agreed at last. "I'll find a victory song especially for you, Hawkmoth!"

"Even though she's probably going to go after Ladybug like all the other akumas do, should we be happy that she sounds like she's not going to go after Chat Noir?" Kim asked.

"Don't be ridiculous, Le Chien! Run!" Chloe shouted.

"Right behind you, Chloe!" Sabrina called.

As they spoke, the dark magic engulfed Jasmine as everyone started running off at the creation of the newest akuma.

When Hawkmoth's magic bubbles faded, Jasmine, who now went by Earworm, caught her reflection in Chloe's mirror, which she must have dropped when she ran off. It looked like Hawkmoth was into My Hero Academia, like some of her friends were back home. They tried to introduce her to the anime, but she couldn't really follow or understand it; however, she did keep them company when they played it, and they answered all her questions. Similar to the character Jiro, she wore a black leather jacket with a long red colored shirt that was ripped at the hem and collar, a black knee-length skirt, and black boots with what looked like stereos built into the shafts. In her left hand was her iPod, which was apparently fused to it, but easy for her to find and control in the black fingerless material, and the earbuds swirled around her from their wires (apparently, she thought, Hawkmoth was also into Spiderman, since she could sense the Doctor Octopus vibe this gave.). Her hat was gone, and her blonde highlighted brown hair was flowing free, but it was now red with black highlights, her face was pale, and she had two small triangular red paint marks below her red eyes. Red lips, and a black studded belt and matching choker completed the look. 'Cute,' she thought as she tucked the mirror into her belt, 'let's hope I can get an outfit like this later on, but first, let's have some fun!'

'I'm glad you approve, Earworm, but don't get distracted from your mission!' Hawkmoth murmured.

Earworm nodded and saw what looked like her first target. She may not watch, follow, or understand superhero movies, but at least she knew that the villain was supposed to cause some mayhem before the heroes came, so that was what she was going to do! She slipped over to Chloe, and even though she had been fairly nice to her after their rocky start, she still wanted to get a little revenge since she thought she listened to 'grandma music'. She scrolled through her song list, then when she found a song, she slowly made her way closer to her, one of the earbud wires in her hand, then she swung it like a cowboy's lariat, and launched it at her.

Chloe gasped when she felt something wrap around her, and something stuck itself in her ear. "What's this? SABRINA!" she screamed. She had barely gotten her name out when she heard another voice.

"How's this for an oldie but a goodie, Chloe? Earworm!"

When she heard the first note, Chloe let out an ear-piercing scream as she was released. "I hate this song!" And it only got worse for her when she heard someone singing along, since people around her could apparently hear the music as well. "Adrikins?!"

It was true. Adrien was near the door to the school, but he couldn't help but sing along with one of his favorite childhood tunes. With a toot on the flute
And a twiddle on the fiddle-oh
Hopping in the middle
Like a herring on the griddle-oh
Up, down, hands around
And crossing to the wall
Well hadn't we the gaiety
At Phil the Fluter's ball

"Chloe, how can you hate this song? We always had so much fun dancing around to it with Mom when we were kids!" Adrien couldn't help but laugh as he emailed the song to himself before running off.

He ducked into an empty room and let Plagg out. "Seriously?" Plagg arched an eyebrow. "You like that?"

"Of course!" Adrien grinned. "Like I said, Chloe and I loved dancing around to that with my mom when we were kids! And oh, you should have seen Father and how he reacted to this! All he had to do was hear any part of the song once, and he's singing the whole thing for the rest of the day! And you thought Felix was bad? I'd play this song for him when he came to visit, and he'd be singing it until he went home!"

"Well, when you put it that way, are you sure you want to fight this akuma?" Plagg became the literal devil on his shoulder as he tried to talk him out of it, since he liked the idea of making his kitten's father and cheese-murdering cousin suffer.

"I know, Plagg, but we've got to keep our friends safe…but that doesn't mean that we can't have some fun during the fight too!" Adrien grinned as he got into position. "Plagg, claws out!"

***LBCNLBCNLBCN***

At the same time, Marinette was coming from the art room, having finished up a design she'd been working on for the past few days.

She was greeted by the sounds of pandemonium as people were running through the halls. Tikki poked her head out of her purse just in time to hear another song, followed by a scream.

Green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty-backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born
Don't you forget my unicorn

As Lila ran by screaming bloody murder at the song that was now playing in her head, Marinette, who could also hear the song, closed the door so she and Tikki, who could also hear it, could start giggling hysterically in peace.

"Serves her right for what she tried to do to Jazz, and anyway, have you seen Lila going after me? But really, I haven't heard that song since I was little!" Marinette smiled as she emailed it to herself. "Papa always sang that to me when I was sad, or I'd sing it to him or Maman when they had a bad day! And speaking of unicorns, I wonder if Rose would like this one!" She quickly emailed the song to Rose, who of course would love any song involving unicorns.

"Marinette, you know this is the work of an akuma, right?" Tikki tried to get her chosen to focus on the problem at hand.

"I know, Tikki, but if the akuma's targeting Lila, I say, let them at her!" Marinette smirked.

"You're a hero, and as a hero, you have to help everyone, and that includes Lila," Tikki reminded her, repeating what Ladybug would say to Chat Noir or any of the other temporary heroes when they were reluctant to fight an akuma, especially if the akuma targeted Lila.

"I know I have to save everyone, even Lila, since it's the right thing to do," Marinette sighed. "But we can still enjoy some music during the fight and watch Lila suffer, can't we?"

"Will you just say 'Tikki, spots on?'" Tikki rolled her eyes.

Marinette giggled as she finally got into position. "You're right…Tikki, spots on!"

***LBCNLBCNLBCN***

As more people ran past, Ladybug made her way out to the courtyard when she saw Chat Noir ducking an attack from the akuma. "Chat Noir!"

"Milady!" Chat Noir smiled as she landed next to him. "This new akuma may put songs in people's heads, but you put a song in my heart!"

Ladybug groaned and rolled her eyes. She'd heard a lot of cheesy lines from Chat Noir since they started being superheroes, but that was his cheesiest one yet! "So, what do we know about her? Other than the fact that it's the new student, Jasmine, who's Hawkmoth's latest target?"

"From what I've seen and heard, milady, if a person's hit with a song once, it causes them to go crazy, you know, running around and screaming that they hate the song or something like that," Chat Noir smirked and emailed another song to himself when he heard Mylene start shrieking over the song now playing in her head. "But I saw someone who was hit once get hit a second time. So not only is it like a fight in their heads, you know, like which song should play first, but it's like multiple songs drain the person of their energy. And if the person shakes their head to try and clear it, like I saw with another person, I think that causes the song, or songs, to stay in the person's head longer."

"So we'll do our best not to get hit," Ladybug nodded, but Chat Noir was surprised to hear her start giggling as she emailed the song Earworm hit Ivan with to herself. "But Kitty, I hate to get off topic, but can you imagine what would happen if she and Frightningale ever got together? People would be singing, dancing, rhyming, and running around screaming that they hate the song in their heads like I heard Chloe say just now!"

"Or if she and Guitar Villain ever got together!" Chat Noir chuckled as he emailed another song to himself. "She probably has some rock and roll songs that she's using, and he'd play them with her!"

"Or even her and Reverser!" Ladybug grinned, causing them both to crack up as they emailed yet another song to themselves. "If the victim ever hated a certain genre of music that she put in their heads, he'd force them to like it!"

(Unknown to everyone, Marc and Nathaniel, who were hiding in an empty room with the door open a crack, were taking diligent notes of every idea that was suggested. Nathaniel even gave Marc a peck on the cheek when they heard the idea for Reverser. "Thanks, but don't worry, Nath, if Earworm and Reverser ever happen, we'll find a way for Evillustrator to work with them too!" Marc added, having heard from Rose, Juleka and Alya that it actually was possible to akumatize multiple people when they held onto the same object.)

"Oh, I'm so glad you two are having fun with this!" they all heard Chloe shout as they saw her shake her head again. "And I love how you're giving Hawkmoth those utterly ridiculous ideas!"

"Oh, come on, Chloe, you know Hawkmoth can only send out one akuma at a time!" Chat Noir grinned.

"Except for when he gets turned into Scarlet Moth," Ladybug sobered a little.

"That's true, but how often does that happen?" Chat Noir asked as he tried to calm down.

"As far as I know, it's only happened once," Ladybug sighed. "Well, technically twice, but the second time, there were the scarlet akumas for a minute or so, then they were gone."

Hearing the two new voices, Earworm turned to face them. It took all of Chat Noir's (and Marc and Nathaniel's after they got a good look at her, and as Nathaniel began drawing) willpower not to start squealing and fangirling in excitement over her anime character-like appearance. "Milady, I really hate to say it, but now that I get a good look at her, this has got to be the cutest akuma we've ever faced!"

"Thanks for the approval; now, about those miraculous of yours…" Earworm held her normal hand out. "Gimme, gimme…"

'That's right, Earworm,' Hawkmoth smirked as he watched the fight, heard the conversations, and even wrote down the ideas Ladybug and Chat Noir had tossed around for his next scarlet akuma attack. 'While they're busy cooing over you, now's the perfect time to take their miraculous!'

"I'll give you Ladybug's for sure," Earworm agreed, "But as I said before, I don't harm cats."

'I'm not suggesting you harm Chat Noir, just take his miraculous!' Hawkmoth growled in her head. 'You will get me both or I'll take away your powers!'

"You are no fun, you know that?" Earworm muttered. "But if it makes you happy, I'll get both, and I'll try not to do too much damage to him."

Ladybug and Chat Noir, having remembered the 'cats are sweet precious babies' comment from earlier, tried hard not to start laughing again as they ran at her.

"As much as I appreciate the fact that you want to leave Chat Noir alone, nobody's getting either of our miraculous!" Ladybug shouted as she threw her yoyo at Earworm, who launched her earbuds at her. She ducked, and was happy to see that the earbuds and yoyo hadn't tangled.

"What can I say, milady? Even akumas love me!" Chat Noir grinned as he fended off another of Earworm's attacks.

At the same time, Alya was busy recording the fight for the Ladyblog while Nino was beside her writing down the songs Earworm used, since he could hear them as well. "Seriously, Nino? You like those songs?" she whispered as she heard him humming along with one of the folk tunes Earworm put in another person's head.

"Ever since I heard that one song of Jazz's, I had an idea for a new mix tape," Nino shrugged. "Her music may be different than what I'm familiar with, but I like a lot of the songs she's using. And who knows? Maybe some of the songs from the fight may make it into my next mix."

"Well, I can't argue with that," Alya admitted. "Mom, Dad, and I could probably use some of those slower ballad type songs to get the twin terrors to sleep. And maybe Nora could use one to relax after her kickboxing matches."

"See? Bad guy can give us good ideas!" Nino grinned as he saw someone run out to the fight.

While this was going on, Earworm was too busy fighting yoyo to earbud wire with Ladybug to notice someone running up to her.

"Let me help you!" they heard the person shout.

At first, Ladybug and Chat Noir thought that some brave, yet crazy random civilian was offering to help them fight Earworm, but when they saw who it was, they shook their heads in disgust. Of course, it was her. It was always her.

Even though she was shaking her head to try and get the song out of it, Lila ran right up to Earworm and shouted, "Let me help you! We can get Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous together!"

"In the words of Mr. Incredible, I work alone," Earworm snapped as she prepared her next song and spun her earbuds warningly at Lila. She found the song she was looking for, and hurled the wire toward Ladybug and Chat Noir.

Ladybug ducked the attack, and Chat Noir tried to use his baton as a shield to deflect the incoming earbud, but they heard the familiar gloating call of "Earworm!"

As she heard the expected cry of someone who had been hit by Earworm's powers, Ladybug looked up. She didn't hear anything in her head, but where was Chat Noir? She glanced around and saw her partner curled up on the ground. "Chat Noir? Are you all right" she gasped. When she didn't get a reply, she shouted again, "Chat Noir!"

All she heard was a strange, muffled sound from her partner, who had his face buried in his arms.

Author's notes

Thanks to StarDracoFire for helping me with the details for Earworm's outfit.

Thanks also to Niagara14301 for helping with some details for the chapter.

Both versions of Galway Girl, one by Ed Sheeran, the other by Celtic Thunder, are not mine

The Minion keychain Jazz got, and how she thinks Chloe treats Sabrina, is of course a reference to the Despicable Me movies.

Jiro and My Hero Academia are not mine.

Celtic Thunder's Phil the Fluter's Ball is not mine.

The Unicorn by The Irish Rovers is not mine.

Plagg's opinion of Felix came from the episode of the same name.

Jazz's 'Oh my corn I'm dead' is from the Big City Greens episode Zen Garden

Hawkmoth became Scarlet Moth in Catalyst, and for a short time in Ladybug.

Rose, Juleka, and Alya were all akumatized when they held the same object in Felix (and again with Mylene and Alix in Gang of Secrets)

Earworm's "I work alone" quote is from The Incredibles.