Scene 6 - Ladybug in the Sewer

Ladybug checked over her shoulder one last time before slipping under the manhole cover to collect the last miraculous. It had taken her several hours to recover all the others because she had been so careful to vary her route and ensure she was not being followed. It was nearly midnight, but she still found Viperion waiting patiently for her. Luka is always waiting for you. She thought bitterly. She hated keeping secrets from him, and hated how much she had hurt him. She still didn't feel comfortable talking to him one-on-one since the breakup, but she wanted to see how he was doing since his last akumitization, which was particularly brutal and had drudged up a lot of family drama for him that not even her magical ladybugs could fix.

Luka de-transformed and held out the snake miraculous, but before Ladybug could retrieve it, another hand reached out and snatched it.

"This takes the cake!"

Ladybug looked up to see the stern face of Su-Han, the Celestial Guardian. He was holding the snake miraculous, clearly upset.

"Grand Master Su-Han!?" Ladybug managed to get out, still stunned by his sudden appearance.

"Nine!" He shouted. "You gave out NINE miraculouses to defeat ONE villain, when all you needed was Chat Noir and his cataclysm!"

Ladybug felt anger building in her chest. She tried to respect the Celestial Guardian, she really did. But his constant insistence on "the old ways" and always questioning Ladybug's decisions rubbed her the wrong way. He wasn't in the battle, and had never wielded a miraculous of his own. How would he know who she needed to win?

"I didn't have a choice, he was unreachable," Ladybug spat back, defensively.

Su-Han clearly did not think this was an acceptable answer. His face scrunched as he continued his tirade, while Luka stood helplessly by, unsure of how he could help the situation.

"How is he 'unreachable'?" Su-Han said in a condescending tone. "With a miraculous this powerful, you need to have control over its owner! And what if he's doing whatever he wants with it? Acting like Papillombre?"

Ladybug bristled at the suggestion that her partner could ever turn to the side of darkness. How could he suggest such a thing?

"Chat Noir, like Pappilombre?" Ladybug started confidently, but lost her momentum as a memory rose to the surface, one she tried not to think about.

"No, but, you are exaggerating a little," she finished timidly.

"Not at all," Su-Han insisted. "You have to discover his identity. For him to be neutralized, if necessary."

Things were perfect until Papillon found out.

The words of Chat Blanc echoed in Ladybug's mind. No, revealing their identities to each other was not an option.

"What!?" Ladybug shot back, regaining her confidence. "It's not possible for us to know our secret identities. In case Papillombre captures one of us!"

She did not mention to the guardian that Papillon had captured one of them before, in an alternate timeline. If Su-Han knew the true destructive power an akumatized Chat Noir had, he would take his miraculous in an instant.

"I. don't. Care." Su-Han said, emphasizing each word. "Fix this problem quickly, or I will take back his miraculous, and choose my own new Chat Noir."

A new Chat Noir? Ladybug couldn't imagine it. She wanted to fight back, but she new how valuable it was to have a trained guardian as an ally. She barely knew what she was doing as guardian of her miracle box, and she didn't need any more enemies. She would have to come up with a compromise.

"Wait, wait, I have an idea," she said to Su-Han. "If only you know who he is, would that be enough?"

Su-Han paused to consider this, and responded.

"I… I suppose so. But I warn you, if you can't control him…"

"I understand. Chat noir will be replaced."

Su-Han nodded, pleased that his demands had been met. He shoved the snake miraculous back in Ladybug's palm and turned sharply to bound off down the maze that was the Paris sewer system.

Ladybug and Luka stood in silence for a moment as the weight of what she had just agreed to settled on them.

"Are you going to do what he asked you to?" Luka asked, breaking the silence.

"It's not like I have a choice." Ladybug answered, still gazing absentmindedly towards where the Celestial Guardian had disappeared. "It's better than having a fight with the Celestial Guardian, and losing our Chat Noir."

The pieces of a plan were beginning to form in her mind, and she turned to face Luka. The way he looked at her… she sighed to herself. She didn't deserve him.

"I will need you," she said to him, handing him back his miraculous.