I'm back from the dead! ...Probably.. studies for uni and everything take up a lot of my time lately, battling with covid (not me) took its toll too. But I hope I can write a chapter every month, no promises though, exams are beating me left and right!

For this chapter, I couldn't decide whether to be graphic with the details of how the people died, but decided against it. The graphic violence can come later. lol

There is some light (fluff) at the end of the tunnel (chapter)! :3 Enjoy dear readers!

Warnings: graphic descriptions of violence, minor character death

Chapter 14

'The loyal man lives no longer than the traitor pleases.' – Spanish proverb

"Beni…" the purr of his name from her lips did nothing to soothe the violent tremble deep in his bones, it took all of his willpower to remain where he was, unmoving and bowed submissively.

One wrong move could trigger his execution.

And with the most recent developments, he wouldn't be surprised if that was today.

Lila Rossi flipped her hair over her shoulder, the wavy chestnut locks resembling snakes. One look from her left Beni ice cold as if turned to stone, he wouldn't be surprised if she revealed she was Medusa herself.

Loud clicking sounds ripped Beni from his thoughts and he was face to face with Lila's black heels.

If he could bow his head any deeper, he would. Keeping his head pressed to the ground, Beni breathed, "Mistress," silence followed his words and he fought down a whimper, "I…I have-I have news from Chat Noir."

A hum filled the room, before Lila motioned with her foot for Beni to rise to his knees. He did so immediately, his eyes solely trained on Lila.

An easygoing smile painted her lips, but her eyes promised certain punishment if she didn't like what she heard.

Beni knew she wouldn't.

Before he could answer, he heard another clicking noise, metallic in nature.

It was the sound of Marco Vanetti's golden zippo lighter and Beni could feel his heart picking up speed again.

Whenever he would open and close the cap on the lighter, it signified the man's growing impatience and ire and the best advice to make him stop was to quickly comply with whatever he wanted.

The lighter was something akin to a ticking time bomb, signaling to other members of the mafia, usually the soldiers, to kill the person responsible for invoking their boss' wrath. Other sources close to the boss and underboss said the lighter was a way Marco Vanetti tried to calm himself before he gave into his rage.

The clicks of the lighter were the seconds left to his life.

Beni's lips trembled, but he clenched his fists and spoke through grit teeth, his voice lowering to the tone Chat Noir had used to relay his message, "Signora Rossi, it's been a while since we last saw each-other. How is Marco doing? Still wringing the necks of misfits? Tell him to choose his cubs more carefully next time, th-this one spoke as soon as I cracked a rib. If you try to impersonate one of my people again, I'll be forced to pay your little f-family a visit and I doubt you're bulletproof."

Beni quickly clammed his mouth shut, knees and hands shaking in suspense when silence followed his message. He hoped his mistress wouldn't ask any questions, but that would be too gracious.

Lila's lips formed into a thin line, moving closer to the terrified man and deceptively gently cupping his jaw, "Mi topolino," her honeyed voice briefly calmed his frayed nerves, until her long nails suddenly dug into his skin painfully. "Chi cazzo credi di essere? You're not telling me the whole truth, what else did he say?"

The metallic click clack of Marco's lighter started again and Beni could feel the sweat rolling off his back like a river.

The grip on his jaw tightened in warning and Beni found it difficult to swallow his saliva when he finally spoke in a hushed whimper, "M-Mistress, that- that stronzo said something I would never dare!"

"It's his words, not yours, so tell me, mi topolino." Lila smiled soothingly again, but the hand holding his jaw was unrelenting.

Finally, Beni spoke, tears filling his eyes, "Vattelo a pigliare in culo, porca puttana." A shaky breath finally left Beni's chest, as if relieved from the burden of keeping the filthy words at bay.

He bowed his head deeply again, tears streaming down his face, "Ti chiedo perdono, signora!"

Beni felt like ice cold water was dumped on him, he couldn't tell if it was his own sweat, or if someone had dumped water on him, but he felt like pinprick needles traveled all over his body.

And then, Marco Vanetti tossed his lighter next to Beni.

A streak of fire traveled along the ground towards him and the streak burst into flames.

He leaped to the side. Away from the path of fire, but the flame latched onto his foot.

The scream that tore itself from his throat turned into agonized shrieks the more the fire burned his body. Pink flesh turned black as his fingers dug into the unforgiving ground.

With an anguished scream, his head hit the ground with a thud, blood trickling down his forehead and fueling the flames.

Bang! Bang!

Beni's shaking form finally stilled, the flames still burning brightly, accompanied by the smell of gunpowder in the air.

Lila Rossi stepped away from the dead man, walking towards the vacant chair at the top of the room. Her husband dutifully stood next to it, surrounded by their family members.

She watched the spectacle, the fire reflected from her unwavering gaze, her nails digging into the palms of her hand in silent rage.

A larger hand engulfed hers, lovingly prying her fingers open and kissing the forming bruises along the inside of her palm tenderly. Lila smiled, moving her hand to trace her husband's jaw and neck adoringly, "Mio cucciolo, I would've needed him a bit longer."

Marco smiled, massaging his wife's hand, "Tesoro, I'm sorry but I can't tolerate any insults at my wife, even if he was only relaying them."

She chuckled, not at all annoyed at his interference, "Hmm…you know what they say about killing the messenger." She batted her eyelashes at him, raising a brow in question.

Marco laughed, a rich deep sound that always made Lila's chest feel lighter. "We have more than enough eyes and ears to use. Not to mention, Chat Noir most likely expected it, given his…message."

Lila could feel her husband's hand twitch, a sign of his growing anger, and tapped him twice. "Don't worry, I'll leave him a message he won't forget."

Lila stood up from her seat as the corpse of Beni continued to burn, smirking at the sight. "I don't play the game, unless I make the rules."

The ticking of the clock was the only sound in the room, its rhythmic noise gnawing steadily at Chat Noir's nerves the more time passed. The morning sun was already peeking through the drawn blinds.

Finally, the criminal broke the silence. "So…where's the lady cop?"

The two figures eating and drinking at the table ignored him, or at least that's what he thought until both answered in unison with a curt. "Out."

Chat Noir frowned at the cryptic answer, "…When will she be back?" he asked.

Again, Kim and Ivan answered in unison, "Later."

The blond rolled his eyes, "You're worse than Tweedle Dee and Twedlee Dum. Do you have to answer everything at the same time?" he snapped, chains jiggling as he gesticulated with his hands violently.

Just to spite him, it seemed, their response seemed a given. "No."

Chat Noir released a long groan and pulled the covers over his head, ignoring his growling stomach, trying to tune out the childish snickers in the background.

He hoped the lady cop would hurry, wherever she was.

"Glad you could make it, Marinette." It was Juleka who greeted her first, Marinette returning the greeting before she set her bag down near the door.

"Thanks for working overtime on this Juleka, I promise I'll treat you to lunch!" Marinette chirped, embracing the other woman in a friendly hug.

Juleka returned the hug before she motioned for Marinette to follow, passing by numerous test tubes, vials and other fragile-looking equipment in her lab.

"Speaking of treat, don't you have this thing going on with my brother?" the knowing tone in the forensic pathologist's voice made Marinette's skin crawl.

"Thing?!" Marinette jumped in surprise, hands gesticulating wildly. "I mean, we-we are just- you know, we've-"

The other woman cleared her throat, giving Marinette a pointed look. "Breakfast?"

"Oh. Uh, yeah! Yeah, I just- I really wanted to see the results." The embarrassed, awkward smile was gone in a second and the serious cop returned, "So, what did you find?" Marinette took a seat opposite of Juleka, a wide metal table in between them.

The scent of chemicals filled her nose unpleasantly, along with various other smells Marinette wasn't sure she wanted a label to. She had great respect for her friend for working in an environment like this, not that Marinette's was any prettier, but that smell could disturb the dead from their graves.

Juleka snapped her gloves back on, a sharp sound that brought Marinette back to reality. She was retrieving several things from within a drawer and spreading them all across the table in front of the lieutenant. "So, I analyzed everything you sent me. Since the burn victims' bodies were too burnt to extract much concrete DNA from them, I did manage to find something with the help of a colleague." Juleka held up a plastic bag, marked in sharpie "18-666 fingerprints".

Marinette blinked. "It's Chat Noir's DNA, isn't it?"

So, he was the culprit, after all.

Juleka held up a hand as if sensing Marinette's thoughts. "Yes and no." She presented another zip bag, filled with a near black item that resembled a burnt twig. "See this? A part of the burnt victim's bones, it's from one of the adult women. With burn victims, you can tell how long at what temperatures they were burned in by the coloration of the bones. It's difficult to accurately measure in this case, but from what my colleague found, they were burned over a certain period of time at a high temperature, something akin to a furnace or-"

"-a cremation oven." Marinette blurted out the first thing that came to mind and her heart sunk.

Juleka didn't see the expression on Marinette's face, but she didn't need to. She felt the same horror rushing through her, "If the killer has access to people in these fields…"

"…Then Chat Noir isn't the killer."

At this, Juleka turned to face her friend, "He was at the scene, or at least he came to the scene after they were already dead. At least, the possibility is there." Juleka gesticulated over the photos of the burn victims taken at the crime scene, "If Chat Noir had been the killer, his DNA wouldn't have been so clear on the corpses. It appeared too fresh, like it was planted on the bodies after they had already been burned. However, he was apprehended at the scene."

There was a long pause where Juleka collected her thoughts, before her eyes snapped away from the photos and back to her friend. "But do tell, how are you so sure Chat Noir didn't do it?"

Marinette shook her head, "Not many people know this, but Chat Noir never colluded with people outside of his circle, he has contacts, but…his contacts are the lower class, laborers, criminals like him. He also avoids doing business with death like the plague, so him having friends who cremate the dead seems unlikely, according to everything we've known up until now."

Juleka crossed her arms, watching Marinette deep in thought. "I'll send my findings over, tell Luka he'll expect them on his desk in the morning."

"So, you think it was a set up? That Chat Noir got called, possibly baited, to come to the scene after the fire was set and the people killed?"

Juleka inhaled sharply through her nose, fingers tapping the document in her hands. "…I can't confirm nor deny it but…its possible."

All Marinette could do was nod before she left the laboratory, with more questions in her mind than she entered with.

"Back so soon?" Luka was on his second cup of coffee by the time Marinette arrived.

Marinette's smile was sheepish, quickly taking off her jacket and shoes before joining Luka at the table.

"Sorry, Juleka had some interesting findings about the case, she said she'll send them to you as soon as possible." Marinette busied herself with filling her plate with delicious pancakes, her cup already filled with hot coffee, courtesy of Luka.

The ex-marine watched his longtime friend curiously, finishing his sip before inquiring, "…Nothing interesting you'd like to share?"

Marinette startled, as if waking from a deep sleep, before her eyes finally met his. "…I'm not sure." Luka recognized this behavior, Marinette always acted like this when she was unsure about a case, unsure of what were facts and lies.

"Anything I can do to help?" Luka's hand found hers on the table, squeezing it affectionately, the warmth from his skin warming her entire body.

The question lingered in the air between them, an unspoken offer of something Marinette wished was more than it really could be between them. More that would've been possible years ago, a possibility of something more that died when they both took on this job.

With a deep sigh that killed the tension in her shoulders and seemed to finally relax her, Marinette turned her hand to grasp Luka's own, returning the squeeze and tracing the callouses and lines on his hand.

The unexpected touch flustered Luka more than he would admit out loud, he was thankful he didn't blush easily, or he would be permanently red in Marinette's presence.

The smile she bestowed him with made the room light up, the sun's rays seemed brighter, Luka's heart felt lighter too. "Maybe."

A soft chuckle was the only sound that left his lips, their hands still entwined on the table as they chatted about the day ahead and the promise of a future date.

Translations:

Mi topolino (ital.) – my little mouse

Mi tesoro (ital.) – my treasure

Chi cazzo credi di essere? (ital.) - Who the fuck do you think you are?

Stronzo (ital.) – asshole, bastard

Vattelo a pigliare in culo (ital.) - Go take it up your ass

Porca puttana – pig slut

Ti chiedo perdono – I ask for forgiveness.

A/N: Chat Noir is stuck with Ivan and Kim, wonder how that will go down! Did Lila really set up Chat Noir as the culprit for that gruesome crime or could there be someone else? Oh, fun fact: Beni was originally supposed to die by either arsine or radon gas in a sealed room and slowly suffocate to death, but I changed it by burning him because whats more dramatic than fire? Anyway, hope you all enjoyed and see you again next chapter :)