Chapter |Twenty-Seven

Nino Lahiffe had thought he'd seen everything he needed to see so far, hell even lived his worst fears but nothing truly prepared him for the storm that was Marinette Dupain-Cheng when she came back to the tower. Peter was trying to calm her down, but what scared Nino was the golden hue going off and on in her eyes as she tried to control the burst of anger she was feeling. Nino was going to guess that Peter spilled the beans, it was his best bet.

Out of all the years he knew Marinette, she was always the sweetest girl. She would give the clothing off her back for someone if she had too out of the kindness of her heart. Then Ladybug and Chat Noir appeared and now that he understood, Nino realized that was when Marinette had started to change. She grew more quiet, less clumsy and more confident in things. She also became more secretive and held people away at a distance. Adrien had never been like that though, not that Nino knew him since they were kids like he knew Marinette. He just noted Adrien remained the same since they day they meet.

Nino wasn't scared to say it, out of everyone who got a miraculous it was Marinette left to bare the responsibilities of them on her shoulders. She was the one who was a true hero, and he knew this was her origin story they were living. Yes she had been ladybug, but that's only part of who she really was. She was so much more than Ladybug or the Guardian of the miraculous. Wayzz let him know that Master Fu always knew she was special, it was why she was sought out more often. These things that were happening always happened for a reason.

Tony Stark was kidnapped and came back as Iron Man.

Bruce Banner was exposed to something in his lab and became the Hulk.

Natasha Romanoff was an unknown to Nino.

Steve Rogers was given a super solider serum and became Captain America.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was given the shortest end of the stick in life, but she was going to be one of the mightiest heroes this world had ever seen. Nino knew that, he knew Marinette's heart was pure and good.

"Why didn't you call me about it Tony?" Marinette asks, shaking Peter's hand off her shoulder. "God knows how long Luka has been missing, let alone in the hands of Lucas."

Tony gave her a look, "Because I knew this was exactly how you would react. You would get so upset you could loss control of these powers that you barely gotten use to having at your disposal."

"That's not fair." Marinette mutters to him with a shake of her head, taking a deep breath. "That man can do anything he wants. He isn't mentally stable, so if he has Luka then who the hell even knows if he's alive!"

Tony could see her getting upset at this, and he could understand the reasonings. This was the same man that killed her parents, caused her to lose her kwami and turned her into a puppet to control. He could see the frustration in her eyes just wanting to be released into the world, but she was keeping the anger at bay. As much as he wanted to treat her like Peter, the fact was that she was dealing with a much more serious situation. She had been living this life of a hero since she was thirteen, and she was nearly eighteen now. It was five years of experience and maturity she had on everyone else besides Adrien, but even then Tony knew she dealt with more of the brutal repercussions.

"That's not all." Adrien had to open his mouth, and Tony already knew exactly what the blonde was going to tell the spitfire waiting to burst, but then he hesitated looking unsure. Like he didn't have a death wish. Smart.

"Spit it out."

"He also purchased the property of your parent's bakery. He owns it now." Apparently Kagami had a death wish.

Marinette stared at her as she processed the words that came from Kagami's mouth, and for a moment Marinette swore she saw red. She felt the anger run through her veins and the invasion Lucas had just done on a whole new level. He had entered that bakery, where she grew up and where her parents used to wake up to lived their lives until they couldn't. He ended their lives in that very building, and changed hers forever. The audacity of buying the bakery, it was most definitely to get her there. She didn't care, this ended.

"You may think I will lose control." Marinette looked at Tony slowly, "But you can't keep me locked away the same way you tried with Wanda Maximoff. I would never hurt any of you with whatever is going on inside me, but this man cannot be allowed to walk around. He needs to be stopped and we are wasting time here just chatting around when Luka can be getting tortured with whips, or broken ribs. Or maybe he can't breathe because of a rag over his face and water being poured over."

"Marinette." Peter called her name, not daring to touch her when her fingertips glowed with a golden hue that reminded him of Wanda. Yet the second he said her name, the windows around them completely shattered.

Marinette took a shaking breath, still staring Tony down. "I respect you Tony, and I'm sorry about the windows but I'm not going to stay here and wait for permission on what to do about Lucas. I waited for permission for four years in Paris and it only came with pain of burdening the issue. I refuse to ever wait to do something again."

Adrien knew that Paris was always going to haunt Marinette, but for the first time he really thought about what it was she had to keep hidden. It wasn't just her identity, it was who she was realistically. She was a natural born leader, she knew what was right and what was wrong even if it wasn't the ideal sense that others would think. She had to obey Master Fu because she thought that was what was right when she didn't agree with it. This was who she was, this was what she thought was right and wrong- even if that didn't fall in line with Tony Stark's beliefs or anyone else's.

Marinette's blue eyes met Adrien's green in that moment, as if she could feel him thinking about her in that moment. Adrien would never truly understand their bond, but he knew he wouldn't trade it for the world. Even if they went through their ups and downs, Marinette would always be a vital part in his own life.

"I don't know what you're thinking, but he's there because of me. This is my fight, not yours, not the Avengers. Mine." Marinette says softly, eyes snapping up when she heard a hum of agreement.

Yelena was nodding her head, walking to stand next to Marinette with eyes that looked proud. Yelena had seen the teenager before her when she was at her most vulnerable, and the girl in front of her was a stark difference in who she first met. Yet the young woman in front of her was growing into who she was, and the hardship she was facing was just too similar to her own and Natasha. Glancing at Natasha, Yelena could see a look in Natasha's eyes she never really saw- a look of understanding.

"Let her do this." Natasha tells Tony, finally giving into what she knew was right. After all she did the same exact thing when it came to Dreykov, going as far to use his daughter as a means to an end. Luckily she got to live after the explosion, not happily but she was alive and free now. "Just be there if she needs help, but let her do this. She's not wrong, this is her fight. Even if we had known about Paris or not, wither she came to New York or not, Lucas knew about her and was going to target her eventually."

"She's not a kid anymore." Yelena added in, glancing at Marinette before back to Tony. "She hasn't been a kid in a long time, we can't force her to act like one or ask her to step back from responsibilities she's had for years. We can only guide her and support her."

A silence fall onto the group as a breeze came in through the broken windows. Glancing at her team, Marinette could see the unsureness on their faces and wished they could understand that some things they went through were different. Yes they were part of the fight in Paris, and a vital part of her team but they should never have to go through what she did. Lose what she did or be a target. They finished the battle she started then, and she was going to finish this one on her own.

"I want to go with you." Chloe mutters, stepping towards Marinette.

Marinette's eyes harden, "No, you're not going with me Chlo."

Natasha stepped into their conversation, "She's right Chloe, you aren't ready for that type of fight yet. You and the others, Adrien being an exception, need more experience in fighting and training to take on this level of a threat."

"We fought in Paris." Chloe argued.

"Which was protected from the public." Marinette reminded, "There are so many people in this world that would kill to have your miraculous or powers for far worse reasons than Gabriel. Trained assassins from the Red Room being an example of what could be out there in the shadows just waiting."

"So what you want us to stay here after everything?" Chloe asks, her tone only going up as her blood pressure did. "That's bullshit Marinette and you know it too! Luka is our friend-"

"I can't bare it if something happens to you to Chloe!" Marinette snapped back, "I'd rather die than see one of you hurt or worse at the hands of Lucas! So you're not going, not you. Not Kagami. Not Nino or Alya. Not Adrien. Not Peter."

Adrien stepped up, "You're crazy to even think I'll let you go and not be backup if you need it."

"Do you know the damage Lucas can do if he ever got control of you Adrien?" Marinette asked almost harshly, "Its almost as bad as if had control of the black cat miraculous, basically would be."

"Yeah well you're not going alone and I may not have as much experience as you outside Paris, but I started in Paris with you and I was there to see the end of our fight through. I was there to see my dad be the villain we fought and see him arrested. I sat with my mother as she was taken off life support. Not you." Adrien had almost gone nose to nose with Marinette, his eyes flickering up to see Peter take a step closer. "You owe me letting me go with you in the event you need help. I'm not asking either Marinette."

The relationship between Marinette and Adrien was complicated for Peter to understand, but when she was missing he had learned more about Adrien. The two were a team in every aspect, they had been for years. If anything, Peter would be more at ease if Adrien was there because then he would know someone for sure would look out for her. Given the look Marinette was giving him, Peter already knew it would only be an argument if he tried to go but Adrien wasn't giving room for her to argue about it.

Tony chimed in, "You aren't going alone kid. Natasha and Adrien will go with you on my jet back to Paris."

Natasha looked over at Yelena, who was looking back already knowing what it was she had to do. Yelena touched Marinette's shoulder and tilted her head to the side, indicating she wanted to speak as everyone got their things together to leave. Without a word being uttered, Marinette followed Yelena out the room and into the room next door- ignoring the conversation that started up behind them.

"This is where I have to say bye to you, Little Bird." Yelena says in an out of character gentleness for herself, "As much as I want to be here and help you, I need to go back out in the world and find the other widows to prevent want happened to us to continue happening to them."

Marinette understood of course, she understood that Yelena left her mission of saving the other widows in order to help her. This wasn't Yelena's battle either, just like finding the other widows wasn't Marinette's. They each had different goals, but Marinette couldn't help but be grateful.

"I don't know where I would be if I never met you." Marinette was honest when she said that, knowing in some ways Yelena did save her life. "Thank you for bringing me home."

Yelena wasn't any good at pep talks or being someone that was looked up too. She was always the one doing the looking up, but Marinette wormed her way into her heart. Family was something she never really had, and the one she had was small. Yet this Parisan girl reminded her too much of herself for her to just have walked away.

"People won't always agree with what you do." Yelena paused, looked away for a moment and then back at Marinette, "The truth is people will never truly understand people like you and me, or even Natasha. Never understand what we have gone through. We are defined by what we do, not by nice words. Like it or not, there's no escaping this or what they might think of you after. All that truly matters is that you know who you are at the end of the day and if you can live with what you've done."

Marinette was silent for a moment, "What would you do? Would you kill him if you were in my shoes?"

"He wouldn't have a chance to beg for prison. People like him are a sickness in the world, a weed that needs to be ripped out before it ruins the garden. He doesn't deserve the chance to go to prison." Yelena's honesty pour out with ease, "I can sleep knowing he died at my hands, but can you? Can you live knowing you killed him?"

"Yes." The words needed no second thought as Marinette whispered them.

Yelena raised an eyebrow, "Then can you live with knowing your bonds with your friends will never be the same? They will never understand why you would want to rid the world of him, or this world you live in now. They have their innocent bliss, you don't. You know the harshness of this world, and how cruel it can be. You have experienced how unfair it is to people like us."

"I don't think my bonds with them will ever truly be the same, no matter how hard I try to be who they used to know." Marinette admits, "I'm not their leader anymore, not truly. I wasn't there for them at the end of the fight I started in. I don't want them in this one."

"Can you live with the burden?" Yelena asks again, "I'm a trained assassin who truly had no family or anything to lose for the longest of times. This world, the one heroes and people like me live in, it's not for the weak. It's dangerous and will take things from you."

Marinette knew all too well how true that was, and Yelena knew that as well. The blonde woman tossed an arm over Marinette, pulling her into her side. "You'll do the right thing, I know that. Whatever choice you make, I will support you."

Those words brought comfort to Marinette, "I'll miss you Yelena."

"Call me cectpa." Yelena tells her softly, "And maybe in your free time you can make me another vest to give me when I come visit or you visit me. And of course don't be a poser, no one likes a poser. Please don't be a poser, I'm serious I might need to shun you out after that." She pretended to shutter, earning a laugh from Marinette.

Meanwhile in the other room, Adrien was trying to reason with Chloe- who refused to stay here in New York. Adrien could see the cracks in their team, and as much as he hated it he could sense the uncertainty the others had in Marinette. Chloe wanted to believe in her friend, but the more Marinette pushed her way, the less closer she came to coming back. Kagami blamed her, where as Alya was trying to figure out how to be there more. Nino was just there, be was the only mutual party. Adrien just wanted to help, be there if she needed it.

"You can't let her kill him." Chloe hissed, "We aren't murders. We aren't judge, jury, or executioners. We can't decided who lives or dies."

"Maybe we should just stick this one out." Nino tried to reason, yet Kagami rose an eyebrow at him.

"Like how she decided to stick out of helping in Paris?"

Nino frowned, "That's not even fair to hold against her and you know that Kagami."

"Maybe it's time to accept she isn't the same girl you know." Natasha stepped in, tired of this pointless arguing of teenagers. "The truth is you are children with no training in physical fighting. Magic can only get you so far, and even then you're limited. You would only get in the way. Adrien will be the only on to go with me in the event we need to intervene, and that's because he's been doing what you do longer. The rest of you will stay here."

Her tone caused the group to fall silent, because who the hell would argue with the Black Widow? Maybe someone crazy, but even Chloe knew that if the Russian assassin said they weren't going then they weren't going. Did she like it? No, of course she didn't but Chloe couldn't argue with Natasha.

Marinette took that moment to enter, and there was something in her eyes that was different when she looked at Natasha. It was like she finally knew what she needed to do, her mind was made up. She didn't even look over at her team, already knowing they would just argue with her if she spoke to them about her choice.

"The sooner we go the better." Marinette says to Natasha, yet Natasha knew that Yelena had to have left but talked to Marinette. It seemed that whatever the two spoke about eased Marinette enough.

As Marinette left the room, the others fell silent. Tony ushered them to go help pick the glass up as he called a window repair guy. He wished there was magic proof glass, but there was nothing like that. Peter on the other hand followed after Marinette, disregarding Adrien following them to make their way to Tony's private jet.

He knew she had this wall, and maybe he wished he understood more of why. Peter knew that the world of heroes and villains was something more harsh to Marinette, whereas he was just the neighborhood friendly Spider-Man. He dealt with bank robberies and the local things, not world events or organizations. Almost Avenger like.

"Marinette!" Peter called, grabbing her hand in his. She stilled for a moment, and he almost felt her apprehensiveness right there through her palm where her heartbeat was picking up speed. He did understand one thing after their talk, after holding her through her nightmares, was that she never wanted to be the reason he was hurt. It was why she pushed him away in situations like this. "Promise you'll come back home Mari." Peter whispers, cupping her cheeks when she turned to face him.

"Peter." Marinette grabbed his hand, pulling Peter's attention back to her eyes. She could see the worry in his eyes, and she hated that she was the one who put it there. She hated all the worry she put him through the past few months because if effected him too. As Marinette looked into his warm brown eyes they reminded her of hot chocolate that brought her warmth, joy, and a sense of home. The more she was with him, and looked into those eyes the more time seemed nonexistent with him. She knew that after Lucas was dealt with there was no other answer. Gently she places her hands on top of his, a small smile gracing her lips.

"When I come back, I'll stay in New York." Marinette promises, "I'll transfer over and finish high school with you. I promise I'm coming home, and I'm staying this time."

"You mean that?" Hope shinned brightly in his eyes.

"Of course I do." Marinette smiled, "You are my home Peter Parker, without you I would have no way home. I've lost a lot in my life in such a short amount of time, I can't lose you. That's why I need you to stay here, so I can have peace in my mind that you're here. You're safe and I will come back home here to you and May."


Adrien was almost ready to hit his head against the wall of the private jet they sat in just because of how silent it was. Natasha had decided to be the one to fly the thing, so it was just him and Marinette sitting there waiting to get to their destination. Yet Marinette hadn't uttered a single word, and honestly Adrien was about to check to see if she was even awake or learned how to sleep with her eyes open.

"I'm surprised Chloe or you don't hate me yet." Marinette's voice cuts the silence.

Adrien shakes his head, "We can't hate you. She doesn't like the idea of you going off and running towards danger. She's scared for you."

"Kagami hates me though." Marinette points out, leaning back into her seat and sighing out softly with a humorless chuckle, "I don't blame her though. Or Chloe for being mad at me. I've done nothing to any of you but cause stress and unnecessary drama."

"They wish you would have just told them." Adrien reasons softly, wishing she could see the situation how he and the others did. "You were gone all those months from Paris, and in that time you changed into someone else. You went through things without telling anyone. We are trying to understand who you are, and how far you're willing to truly go."

Adrien watched as she took a breath, "Do you hate me? For not being there for the end of our fight in Paris? For not being there for the arrest of your dad or just being there?"

"No." Adrien shook his head, "You were going through your own things with your parents. Your head would have never really been in that fight. We just would have never guessed you had been kidnapped and made to do what you did. That you would ever be in this mess that you're in now."

"It's not fair you know." Marinette's voice is gentle as she shakes her head, "I always thought I would finish school, start my own company in fashion and make a life like that. It's what I wanted to do, but now? Now it can never really be that way, not when I have these abilities that I can't full control yet. It's also not fair to ask you to stay in this line of work with me."

"Mari-"

"No Adrien." She cut him off sharply, "You deserve to be happy, you and the others. After we deal with Lucas and get Luka back, I want you to live your life the way you want too. You grew up with a father who had high expectations of you, made sure to have you be someone you never wanted to be. I don't want to do that to you, you deserve to live your life how you want to live it."

"You're my partner, Mari. I can't just walk away either."

Marinette stood up, shaking her head even more. "You don't get it. You can just walk away. I wish you would, that way I know you're safe and living your life."

"No." Adrien shook his own head, "As long as I know you're out in the world saving it or doing missions somewhere, then I will be too. I'm your partner. We started this together, we'll finish it together."

Marinette only stared at Adrien, wishing he had said anything else then what he just did. It did make her feel touched, but he didn't understand what this life truly entitled.

"Anyone you love will be a target." Marinette reminds him, "This is more greater than just keeping our identities a secret in Paris."

"I know." Adrien tells her, shrugging his shoulders. "The worst advice I ever given was telling you to take the high road with Lila. I was nervous about confrontation then and how to deal with it. I left you to fend for yourself, and that's something I will never do again. I have no family, and you don't either. You are my family Mari. You and Chloe are all I really have left, and I will never leave you to take a road alone again."

"You might get shot or stabbed following me down these roads." Marinette reminds him.

"Then we better get medical education to know how the hell to fix wounds up."

"You can be held hostage or kidnapped. You may never be able to hold a relationship down."

"Not like I'm doing that now."

"Or-"

"I'm not going anywhere this time Mari. You're going to have to deal with it."

Marinette gave him a defeated sigh, "Fine. Then we better rest up during this flight."

It took about ten hours to reach Paris this time, eleven for Marinette to reach the familiar streets she grew up on. It was eerie seeing it so empty, but she also knew it was because it was late. Despite Adrien and Natasha saying to wait for the morning, she just couldn't sleep knowing Luka was in the same room as Lucas. It was just too unsettling, especially when she got the flash backs of the hits she got being tied in that damn chair with broken bones.

Yet Marinette wanted to feel something, wished she could feel something in that moment as she looked up at the bakery she spent her whole life in. The memories this building held almost felt overbearing, but she pushed that overwhelming feeling down. Her parents would not have died for nothing, she would make them and Tikki proud by doing right by this world. That thought alone solidified why she needed to end this dance with Lucas. For good this time, however that meant it went.

Yelena's words rattled through her head, but could she really go through with it? Could she really end Lucas's life? There was a part deep inside of her that wanted nothing more than to enact revenge for her parents, for Tikki. Yet would that be something they would ever want for her? It would change every aspect of who she was and what she stood for, yet how did that make her any different than Natasha and Yelena? They knew who they were and they didn't regret it, but would she?

Could she live with the looks from the people she called friends? The idea of her parents not being proud of her. Yet what choice did she really have? To let someone else fight this battle of hers and end Lucas? The truth was he knew who she was, so it might not have ever mattered if she gone to New York or not. If anything that's probably what saved her life, meeting people who could find her and cared enough to do so.

It wasn't that she didn't have faith in Chloe or Kagami, but the truth was they blamed her. As much as Marinette knew Chloe would never admit it, there would always be a part of her that blamed her. She had every right too, Marinette could never blame her but she would be damned to let someone hurt her friend despite their ups and downs. She refused to let him hurt anyone, including Luka.

Luka... she owed him all the apologies in the world, but he may not even want to hear them from her. Hell, after this he may never want anything to do with her and she was okay with that. She owed him whatever he wanted, if that be friendship or that be not part of his life at all. She never meant to hurt him, but she did. She always ended up hurting someone, even when it was never her intention to do so.

Opening the bakery door, Marinette merely let herself in and ignored the nagging feeling of looking around. She pushed back the memories that wanted to surface, all the good and the bad. She didn't want to think of any of it, but yet she couldn't help it at the same time. Her skin crawled knowing Lucas had been in here, looking and going through things that were private. If anything, it only pissed her off even more.

The more deeper she stepped into the bakery, the more the hairs on her skin stood up and she became increasingly alert. She wasn't sure what the hell to expect as she slowly made her way up to the second floor area that was perviously the living area, but it sure as hell wasn't a knife being thrown at the wall right next to her head by Luka.

"Luka." Marinette yelped, surprised but then she saw his eyes. Those empty blue eyes of a puppet waiting for his strings to be pulled.

He said nothing of course, just charged right at her without a single care in the world and aiming to do damage. It pissed her off seeing him like this, "Luka snap out of it!" Marinette growled, grabbing Luka's wrist and twisting it to force him to turn around.

She was met with a roundhouse kick from him, barely letting him go in time to dodge the incoming hit. Her breathing was labored as she looked into the lifeless eyes Luka stared back at her with, the same eyes that haunted her nightmares from her reflections. This was all Lucas doing, this wasn't Luka at all.

He came at her again, and in turn Marinette leaned back to dodge his hits- feet back pedaling to keep up with his speed. He kept taking the hits, until Marinette grabbed his wrist again and pulled him towards her but jumped last second to get her legs around his neck in a choke hold as she held onto the lighting structure above her.

Grasping at Marinette's leg, Luka held tight enough to dig his nails in and caused a hiss of pain to leave Marinette's lips. Holding her there tightly, he jumped up suddenly and caused Marinette to hit her face on part of the lighting fixture. It was enough of a distraction to losen her grip on him, giving Luka the opening to fall back hard into the table with her still on him from behind.

"To ever think I loved you." Luka spat out at her with disgust that was meant to sting as she groaned laying against the broken table on the floor, "You're a fragile little girl, broken beyond repair. You think Peter loves you? He pities you, you sad little girl."

They were just words, that's what Marinette told herself. Words that were meant to hurt her, to cloud her thoughts and throw her off her feet. Peter loved her, she knew he did. These weren't Luka's words, she refused to believe Luka would never be that cruel and cold, even if he was broken hearted. She knew he wasn't capable of it.

She moved to get up, despite her body protesting against her movement, "It's better than being a puppet for someone else." Marinette hissed back, eyes glowing as she realized she couldn't hold back her punches for the sake that words would snap him back. She just had to make sure she didn't accidentally kill him.

She's never hear the end of it from Kagami if she did.

Luka stood where he was in the kitchen, grabbing a knife from the counter as he stared Marinette down. The hate in his eyes, she wasn't sure if that was because of Lucas putting it there or bringing out what was already there under the surface that was pushed deep down. Even if Luka hated her, she could live knowing he was alive and safe from this.

Without any words, Luka lunged at her. Instinctively Marinette's hands twisted in the air, sending Luka flying into the wall with a hard thud as his head whipped back and knocked him out on the spot. She stared at her hands for a moment, surprised how easy that was and how nerve wracking it was just that easy to do. Yet her surprise didn't last long as clapping broke her focus, redirecting her to where Lucas descended the stairs to her old room.

"You've gotten better doing that, darling." Lucas smirked at her, chuckling when she glared.

"What was the point in taking him?" Marinette hissed, taking a step forward towards Lucas feeling all the anger suddenly bubble to the surface at the sight of him. "To remind me of what yo can do? What you're capable of!?"

"To get under your skin." Lucas shrugged, "He's a pretty boring person though. The only way I was really able to mess with him was by telling him who his father was, and then it was like a midlife crisis but for him at his age it might be considered a quarter life crisis? If that? He didn't stand a chance for my newly developed chemical subjection. he was my first trial run, but there's some imperfections in it."

"You'll never get into my head again." Marinette snapped at him, her hand twisting to cause a knife to soar through the air and hit Lucas right in the right shoulder. "You're stupid being here alone."

Lucas hissed, glaring down at the knife before looking back up at the young woman before him. "Who said I was alone?"

In that moment a bullet shot through the window, hitting Marinette right in the arm. Yelping, Marinette whirled towards the window, seeing the gunman on the rooftop across from the living room. Not even thinking about it, her hand shot up with that golden glow and flickered to the right. Her eyes watched as the man flew off the rooftop without a chance to fight back, without a chance to grab onto the ledge. It was enough distraction for Lucas though, who charged at Marinette with a vial in his hand.

Sensing him move, Marinette turned in time to grab Lucas's arm, twisting it unnaturally to the right before he could strike her. Which caused Lucas to drip the vial in hand, and Marinette to stomp on it with her shoe as she glared into his eyes. "I am not your damn solider anymore." She hissed.

"You may not be, but he is." Lucas chuckled, eyes flickering past her shoulder. "And if I can't have you comply, I'll just kill you instead."

Marinette turned to see Luka standing up, knife in hand as he looked at her again. She looked at Lucas with annoyance, pushing him over the counter and effectively hitting his head on the tile. Moving as gracefully as she could with a wounded arm, Marinette refocused on Luka who was defiantly ready to kill her on the spot. Maybe they really needed to have that talk.

She moved with him, dodging his swipes of the knife and then that's when he started to throw them. As unrelated to the fight at hand, Marinette knew he had to be a good shot in darts. She just wished she could avoid this, avoid fighting Luka or having to resort to injuring him to merely get him to stop. She wanted to just rip the damn chip out of his neck, but it wasn't a chip this time.

"Luka. please." Marinette begged, breath labored as she grabbed his arm again and looked into his eyes. "Snap out of this. This isn't you."

She saw Lucas behind Luka, and she readied herself to have to throw Luka off to the side the best she could with her uninjured arm. A gunshot went off again, echoing in her ears as blood splattered on her cheek. Daring to look down, she realized she felt no pain but red was blossoming on Luka's shoulder. She had readied herself for a blow that never came, watched as Luka's full eyes widen in the slightest of ways.

"No." A whisper came out of her lips, "No. no. no no." As he fell to his knees, Marinette fell with him, and the knife clattering to the floor like a glass vase breaking. The dullness of his eyes had the color of his life return back to them. "Luka."

"M.m..marinette." Luka looked up into her eyes, the confusion clear as day in them. She was sure he didn't even know he was shot. "What happened?"

"Shh." Marinette shook her head, but her eyes were looking up and glaring at Lucas. In her veins the anger pulsed dangerously high, the gold in her eyes were bright and fierce as she glared him down as Lucas raised the gun to point at her head.

Right there in his hands, the gun bent at unnatural angles as in became more and more unless to Lucas. Yet that bending of the metal didn't stop there. It traveled up his arm, causing a crack to be felt because he cried out in pain at the sudden snap of his bones. Her eyes looked down, and there was another snap of his leg bone. It wasn't humane, it wasn't right to do in any sense of sanity but she didn't care.

"Cataclysm!"

The words were yelled out in a battle cry she never heard before, causing Marinette to freeze and turn towards where those words came from. Her blue eyes trailed as Chat Noir lunged at Lucas, who was focused on Marinette and not paying attention in that moment. His leather clad finger tips barely grazed the back of Lucas's neck as the man made a move to move out of the way, but it was too late. Skin was already touched, and a look of anguish came over Lucas's face as he dropped to his knees. In a matter of second, Lucas was nothing and gone from the world.

"Adrien." Marinette whispered, watching how he looked at his gloved hands with surprised disbelief. Yet she couldn't move from where she was putting pressure on Luka's wound. By now he passed out from his pain and the mental exhaustion. Yet she remembered that Tikki healed her for much worse wounds, and maybe-just maybe, she could do the same for him.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and willed herself to bring forth that warm feeling the memory of Tikki brought her. She pictured the feeling the moment her and Tikki merged, the warmth and the pain, how the pain ceased to exist. Adrien, or Chat Noir, watched how her golden glow took on reddish tones as listened to how Luka's pulse grew stronger. Yet he worried when Marinette opened her eyes, exhaustion clear as day in them from using the energy she just did.

"It shouldn't have been you to do that. Not you Adrien." Marinette muttered out, checking Luka over and almost humming at hr work seeing that it worked. It worked enough to heal and stop the bleeding.

He looked up at her with shaky hands, his green eyes bright under that mask, "I had to make sure he couldn't hurt you again. After all, it's you and me against the world M'lady."

It was silent for a moment, and he watched as she gently laid Luka's head on the floor and stood up to face him. In her blue eyes there were so many emotions that mirrored his own, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was she was truly feeling. Then again, he never was able to do that.

"You stupid cat." Marinette whispered, pulling him close into a tight hug as his transformation dropped and he hugged her back even more tightly. "Don't ever do something like that again."

"I can't promise you that." Adrien muttered into her hair, tightening his grip on her. "But I think we should get Luka back to the jet, and maybe Natasha will be up for flying back in the morning. I'm sorry about the bakery though."

Marinette looked around the place again as Adrien picked Luka up when his transformation dropped. She thought that the fight with Lucas would be more difficult, but he wasn't an elaborate man, smart yes but not the best. As much as she loved this place once, it was no longer home.

"I'll live, and so will you and Luka." Marinette tells him, that's all that mattered to her in that moment anyways.


The ride back to New York was interesting in many ways. Natasha didn't ask any questions, just directed her to a medical kit to help with whatever she needed. Adrien had helped patch Marinette up after laying Luka down on a seat, the older teen hadn't waken up yet and at the moment Adrien was worried Marinette would collapse in exhaustion.

"I never wanted this life, you know." Marinette says softly, hissing in pain as Adrien disinfected her wound. "A part of me hated Master Fu for making me do things alone without you, but sometimes I wished I never accepted Tikki. Maybe then my parents would still be alive."

"You can't think like that Mari." Adrien scolds her softly, "You can't blame yourself for things like this. You're rare, you could have gone antihero, done things that weren't right but that isn't you. Despite you having dark urges, we all do, you do the right thing at the end of the day- even if that means making sacrifices."

"You shouldn't have too though." Marinette retorts to him.

"Master Fu didn't just pick you that day, I was chosen too." Adrien reminded her, "We're a team, despite the shit we've been through and done, Marinette you're stuck with me. I'm not going anywhere."

Marinette fell silent, done with the conversation but she was far from done with the argument. That was made clear to Adrien two days after they got back to New York, after Luka woke up and settled back into the world of the living again. They had all been hanging around the tower, not really having anything to do when Marinette called them into a room that Tony held for meetings.

It was clear to see there was something on her mind with the way her eyebrow creased in thought, as if she was trying to figure out how to word what it was she was about to say. Chloe already knew it was going to be something, because lately Marinette seemed keen on doing everything and anything without them involved, despite being a team.

"I'm not asking you to stay here and live your lives as heroes." Marinette tells them sincerely as a start, looking over each one of them who changed her life for the better in their own ways as they sat at the table. "I can't ask you to live this life, especially when you all have your own dreams and ambitions to pursue. This world, it's my life and I tried to run from it once but I can't outrun my fate. You may have your kwamis, and as much as I don't want to if you chose to live a life free from being a hero I need to ask them to stay as guardian. I can't risk them in the world, or you becoming potential targets because you have them. I'm sorry for the pain I caused, but I truly want you to be happy and live your lives freely."

Chloe scoffed at her, chin up as Adrien sighs at this conversation again. "I'm staying here in New York, Dupain-Cheng. I will take over my mother's company after we graduate high school here in the states. You'll help me design, we're a team. We're family, despite you running off and doing things on your own."

Adrien nodded his head in agreement, "Chloe is my family as much as you are Mari. I'm staying here in too, maybe go to school to be an engineer or scientist after high school."

Nino shrugged, "I kind of want to learn magic, and my mom already thinks I'm here for a scholarship. Maybe Tony Stark can do the same grant for me he did for Peter."

Luka's eyes were staring hard at the table in front of him, as if it had personally offended him. Two days back and he still hadn't talked to Marinette, even after she had been missing and after he tried to kill her. He hadn't uttered a single word, and she let him have his space. He wasn't sure if he was grateful or upset she didn't approach him.

"You're really going to stand there and not talk about it?" Luka questioned, earning confused looks from everyone besides Adrien and Marinette.

Marinette graced him with her attention, eyebrow raised up. "About what exactly Luka? You'll have to be a little more specific with me."

"Anything, Marinette. Everything."

"You aren't happy here, Luka." Marinette's eyes soften, and for the first time he saw the conflict in those eyes when it came to him. "I'm not going to ask you to stay here when you can finally find your father, now that you know who he is. I'm not going to ask you to be here and play hero when this is a life you never wanted. You.." She paused for a moment, "You looked at me with hate in your eyes, and part of me can feel how real that was."

"I don't hate you-"

"A part of you does." Marinette shook her head, a sad smile on her lips. "And that's okay, I deserve that. I did more damage to you than anyone else, and I'm sorry Luka. I'm sorry you got dragged into my mess."

The room was tense with silence, waiting for Luka to come up with an argument on how she was wrong. Yet it never came. He sat there staring at her with an expressionless look, and as much as he wanted to sooth her worries and tell her she was wrong, he needed time. He needed space, from this, from her.

So he stood from his spot, "Tell Sass I said goodbye for now. And Marinette, I don't hate you. This is all just too much for me, your life now is just too much for me."

It stung her in ways she never thought possible, but she understood. She understood as she watched Luka walk away again, and this time he was followed by Kagami as she left her bracelet for Longg there as well. She wasn't even surprised anymore when it came to those two, but how ironic it was the two who stood by her side longer than Chloe had in Paris, were the first to be sick of her and leave. Alya had left too, and Marinette could tell she was intimidated by this lifestyle. It was easier for her to go back to Paris under the excuses of her mother worrying and her siblings needing her.

She wasn't going to stop them from leaving or staying, the choice was there's. Yet Paris would never be her home again, not when she was here in New York with Peter. She would follow her team, but she was by no means the leader anymore. Those thoughts were cut short as the familiar orange portal opened in front of her, and there stood Stephen Strange looking as serious as she's ever seen him look at her.

"I think it's time we had an overdue conversation." He tells her, and without a word to anyone else she stepped through.


I saw the new Spiderman movie and lets just say SO MUCH CAN HAPPEN WITH WHAT I WITNESSED AND TYING IT IN HERE.

Also, I truly believe Ned and Nino can be bffs 😂

Anyways, happy late Christmas and early New Years! I hope you are all being safe for the holidays!

We have reached the end of the Lucas arch... and we are heading into the Infinity Saga. I am super excited and ready to expand the MLB characters and write this out! Also I'm sorry the ending of the Lucas arch was eh, I just needed him to be written off and to get to this next arch 😂

Though I have a question, it's been a while since I've written any smut/lemons... maybe a Peter x Marinette mature scene eventually? I'm not sure how many people would want to read it in this story.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please tell me who you want interactions with in this next arch, cause quite frankly anything is possible. I will be expanding the POV to other characters than besides Marinette's as well!

Hope you enjoyed! Thank you for the everlasting support on this story!

cectpa - sister