"Time to de-evilise!" Chat watched as Ladybug quickly caught the Akuma and purified it, before opening up her yo-yo and letting it fly away. He held out his fist to her and Rena and they did a quick fist-bump, before Chat turned to 'The Revealer' and helped him up. Turned out the akuma had been a boy his age, and Chat was pretty sure he was a friend of Aurore's. "Are you alright? What happened?"
Still a little dazed, the boy took a moment to think before he responded. "Well, I'm Marcel, and… I'm not really sure. I was going up to this girl at my school named Lila-" Ladybug growled under her breath, but he thankfully didn't notice. "To get an interview. Because she's been on the Ladyblog, and apparently has done all sorts of cool stuff, and met all sorts of people! I wanted to get an interview, so I turned on a recording on my phone and started to walk up to her, when an akuma went by. I was worried, so I stopped there... and watched as she-. She tried to grab an akuma." Voice shuddering, he broke off and lowered his voice angrily. "My brother died once in an akuma attack. I've broken bones, and my mom nearly died from magic bubbles! It's not the akumas' fault, I know, so they're not to blame. But I watched as she jumped to try and grab it. She reached out and grabbed the akuma. The only reason she wasn't akumatized was because I was- I am livid. It came to me and flew into my phone instead." Fists clenched at his sides, Marcel shook with barely contained fury, before taking a slow breath.
"I'm sorry you had to see that. We know about her and her lies, and she causes nothing but trouble. She's been multiple akumas over the most ridiculous things, and we suspected she was a more willing victim, but this is… Wow." Ladybug paused for a moment, pensive, then suddenly smirked. "You said you were recording when it happened, right?"
He blinked twice, then smiled wickedly. Ladybug handed him back his phone, and he tapped at it for a moment. He moved the phone so that they could all see it, then pressed play. For a moment it was just footage of Lila from a couple feet away, and then the phone started moving closer to her. An akuma fluttered onto the screen limits, and the video wobbled a little and drew back. His thumb must have covered the camera for a moment, but it moved just in time to catch Lila as she jumped up and grabbed the akuma, and Lila's oily voice as she spoke to the akuma. "Hello, Hawk Moth. I have big plans for you."
The last thing caught on camera was the butterfly slipping through her fingers and flying into the screen, and it went black.
Chat simply stared, even as Rena drew in a breath, confusion written across her face. Opening her mouth to talk, Rena cut herself off before she could say anything and turned to Ladybug. "You said she might have done stuff like this before, right? She- no, she couldn't have. That doesn't make sense! I mean, someone who's friends with Lady-" Eyes growing wide, she stared at the ground for a moment, before looking up and straight into Marcel's eyes with barely restrained fury. "She's going down."
Walking off angrily, she increased her speed until she was full-on sprinting, then leapt onto a roof. Glancing between Rena's rapidly disappearing figure and Marcel, Ladybug bit her lip, deciding. "Chat, would you mind bringing him to the school with us? I've got to follow her."
Agreeing, Chat reached to grab Marcel but he stepped back quickly. "Sorry, it's just, you'll probably need the video? I don't know how to-"
"Here," Chat said, hurriedly waving his baton in front of him. "You put the phone down on the surface of the baton and double tap the screen. It's weird, but it works. Also, apawlogies if I'm being rude, but we've got to catch up with her soon!" Slightly bewildered, Marcel did as he asked and then took his phone back. Quickly thanking him, Chat had Marcel ride him piggyback- he needed to go fast, and it was hard to hold onto a person while vaulting across Paris with his stick. As soon as Marcel was ready, he rushed off after Ladybug, who was quickly gaining on Rena.
oOoO0OoOo
Slower than usual due to the additional weight, Chat made it to the school a fair bit later than her, and she had only just managed to hold Rena back long enough for him to arrive. He let Marcel down, and the boy waved at them quickly before leaving, as they turned and headed for the principal's office. A moment before Ladybug could knock on the door, her yo-yo dinged softly and she looked at it to find that Chat had sent her the video. Smiling gratefully at him, she stood there for a moment as Rena rapped sharply on the door. She was about to do it again when the rather irritated principal pulled open the door.
"I'm very busy! You will simply have to come back lat-" Blinking owlishly at them (I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself), he cleared his throat and opened the door all the way. "My apologies. I've been having a lot of students coming to my office lately, what with Mlle. Dupain-Cheng assaulting that Lila girl, and-"
Cutting him off with an icy glare, Ladybug strode briskly into the office and settled herself into a chair. "That is exactly what we are here to talk about. Would you please call in Lila and her teacher? Oh, and do call her mother as well."
Scrambling to keep up with her demands, he quickly found Mlle. Rossi's number and was about to call her when he looked up. "Actually, I would like to know what this is about first. I can't be calling parents to my office willy-nilly, now can I?"
Unimpressed, Ladybug simply quirked a brow and stared at him for a moment before he looked away uncomfortably. He called, waiting awkwardly for a minute as it rang, and eventually looked up apologetically before giving a professional-sounding spiel to the voicemail. Turning his phone off, he awkwardly called Lila to the office as the three heroes glared at him. A moment later, Lila walked in self-assuredly next to Mlle. Bustier- which didn't last long. The moment she saw the heroes, several expressions flitted across her face in quick succession, finally settling on anger before she hastily pasted on a practiced smile and turned to the principal.
"What seems to be the problem, sir? Oh no, am I in trouble?" She gave him her most pathetic puppy-dog eyes, clearly making him uncomfortable.
"Oh no, miss Rossi, you've done nothing wrong! On the contrary, you've been called here by the heroes themselves!" He assured her, turning to the heroes for affirmation. Instead he was met with several death glares, and an icy voice.
"We're going to need you to call a guardian of hers. If her mother is not available, then call someone else in," Ladybug told him. No way was she letting this stay between them- Lila's parents were going to hear about this.
Frowning at her imperious tone, M. Damocles did as she asked, putting in Mme. Rossi's phone number and waiting for it to pick up. When it went to voicemail again, he turned to the computer, pulling up her contact information as he spoke. "Mme. Rossi, do you know why your mother might not be picking up? Emergency contacts must be able to pick up when necessary, so we might have to change yours. Perhaps your father's number would be better," he mused.
Lunging over the desk abruptly, Lila snatched the phone from his hands and quickly typed in her mother's number, face white. "That won't be necessary! The number is wrong, you're not actually calling her," she told him quickly, phone at her ear.
"Really? I believe you were the one to give us this number, just a month and a half ago. You really must be more precise! If you were in trouble we would need to get hold of your mother as soon as possible," he scolded her.
A minute later, Lila had gotten off the phone with her mother and handed the phone back to M. Damocles, still attempting to appear the perfect angel. "Here you are, sir!"
A few minutes of awkward silence later, Mme. Rossi burst through the door, looking rather out of sorts. "What happened? Is my baby alright?" Frantic, she rushed over to Lila, grabbing her head and turning it from side to side as she searched for any injuries. After a moment, the principal awkwardly cleared his throat and she turned to find the three heroes. Surprised, she took a step back, and her hand flew to her mouth. "Oh no! Did Lila get into an accident with an akuma? Sure, Lila said you weren't very good at fighting them, but I never thought you would let my poor baby get hurt! Honestly! Civilian safety should be your first priority!"
M. Damocles blinked, befuddled. "I'm sorry, but what did Lila say about the heroes?"
"Well, not much. Me and my husband are at work for most of the day, and we both sleep like the dead. Since we didn't know much about the akumas or the heroes, my sweet little Lila offered to keep us up-to-date. All I know is that these three- and the others- are utterly incompetent heroes who can't even defeat some of the villains! My only consolation was that at least Lila hasn't gotten hurt, but if a hair on her head has been harmed, so help me…" Trailing off threateningly, she glared at the heros as she smoothed Lila's dull brown hair back, completely unaware of Lila's paper-white face.
"Well," M. Damocles said, taken aback. "It seems we have two things to talk about today. Now, Ladybug has called us here together for a reason, one which I am hoping that she will now explain."
Ladybug smiled viciously as Rena stood up and walked towards Lila's mother with a matching grin. "Ma'am, are you aware that your daughter nearly got a classmate expelled before suddenly fessing up to a "lying disease" that she says makes her lie uncontrollably? Are you aware that your daughter has tinnitus, arthritis, has had sleepovers with Clara Nightingale, and has had a song written about her by a famous rock star? Are you aware that your daughter has already taken a month off from school to visit Prince Ali, despite having only been at school for a month and a half? And are you aware that your daughter is not only a liar and bully, but she is also working with a terrorist?!"
Chat quickly handed his baton to Rena, who snatched it up and played the video for them, watching with satisfaction as the last bit of blood drained from Lila's face and Mme. Rossi stared in horror. Lila desperately clutched onto her mother's sleeve, eyes wide in fear. "They're akumatized! All of them! You don't believe them, right Mamma? Mamma?!"
Silencing her daughter sharply, Mme. Rossi looked up. "I'm going to need you to tell me more."
Identical vindictive smiles on their faces, the three heroes ripped into the girl who sat before them. Tales of every excuse, lie, and story she had told, and everything they could remember that she had done. Threatening Marinette, attempting to get her expelled, sexually harassing Adrien, attempting to distract them during akuma fights, and the biggest one: willingly working with Hawkmoth, a known terrorist.
By the end of it, Lila was screeching desperately about them lying and mass akumatizations, and Mme. Rossi was ignoring her, horrified. "Just wait until I tell your father about this! He works hard every day so you can live the privileged life that you do, but that's not good enough! No, you simply must lie about every tiny thing!" About ten minutes and a lot of verbal berating on her daughter, she apologized profusely to the heroes, before dragging her daughter out of the office.
oOoO0OoOo
The next day, Marinette walked to school with satisfaction still written across her face and spilling into her steps. As she slid into her seat, Alya suddenly shoved a box into her face.
Smiling apologetically at Marinette's yelp of surprise, Alya looked at her and sighed. "I'm sorry. I found out just yesterday that Lila was telling lies, and I have been believing her like an idiot the whole time!" Alya growled in frustration, before clearing her throat and smiling at Marinette again. "Can you forgive me?"
Her smile now threatening to split her face, she reached over and pulled Alya into a bone-crushing hug. "Of course," she told her, voice muffled by Alya's shoulder. Drawing back, she gave her a soft, grateful smile and turned to the small box. Inside was a fifty-euro gift card for her favorite fabric shop, and a pack of really nice needles.
"Before you say anything girl, this was going to be your birthday present. I decided you need a present now, after all I can always get you another one." Alya watched in satisfaction as Marinette examined the new needles happily, before carefully putting the card into her purse so as not to lose it.
"Good morning, class. I would like everyone to sit down now please, Lila has something she wants to say." Lila shuffled as slowly as possible into the classroom, glancing back balefully to the doorway, where her mother must have been waiting. When she stopped halfway into the room, M. Rossi let out an audible sigh and walked into the classroom, staring her daughter in the eye as she told her something, presumably to get to the front of the and start talking.
With a tiny squesk, the Italian started moving towards the center of the room again, just as slowly as before. Looking up at her waiting classmates, she shed a few practiced crocodile tears before finally speaking. "Hello, everyone. I'm here to tell you that I will no longer be your classmate. After some problems with my fellow students, my mother decided it would be best for me if I no longer attended Francoise-Dupont."
Falling back into her lying habits, she sniffled a little before she continued, apparently completely forgetting that her mom was watching it all. "Instead, I'll be going to a prestigious academy. But I was hoping that we could still talk? I'll miss you all so very much!"
Assurances that they would happily talk to her and would miss her so much began to pour in from her classmates, and it was all Marinette could do to keep from snorting at Lila's ridiculous theatrics right then and there. Instead, she let a devious smile spread across her face as Lila's mother stepped to the front. "Hello, everyone. Lila came here today so that she could apologize for her actions and tell you about what happened before she left. Lila is going back to Italy so she can attend a school for troubled girls. It has recently come to my attention that Lila here has lied about everything from having arthritis to having had songs written about her. She has harassed and threatened a girl named Marinette, sexually harassed a boy named Adrien, has faked disabilities, skipped school for almost a month at a time, tried to lie to you- including just now, right in front of my face, and has even gone so far as to work with Hawk Moth. For these reasons and more, she will now be leaving your school. Thank you, and goodbye."
Whirling around and walking out of the room, a very angry Lila trailed after her mother with her face red with fury and fists clenched tightly. Marinette smiled as a shocked murmur ran through the room, feeling slightly vindictive but mostly happy to have Lila finally be gone for good. Pulling a pair of cookies from her purse, she whispered a quiet apology to Tikki before offering one to Alya. Revenge had never tasted so sweet!
AN: I just wanted to say here that Lila's parents are not cruel, neglectful or otherwise harmful towards her. After re-reading this real quick, I noticed Lila's reactions could be seen as a little worrisome and wanted to clarify something here. Lila reacted the way she did because she knew she was in deep trouble. Her parents are actually very loving, and work as much as they do so that she can live a good life. (Her father is the one who typically doles out punishments, so that's why she had a worse reaction to him)
