Chapter 96: Odette & Odile

It's morning, and the whole Agreste family is just leaving the hospital. Dr. Theroux got his way, and he was able to push Emilie and Gabriel into getting full exams. They're both given completely clean bills of health. By the time they're set to leave, news stations have gotten word that not only is the reclusive fashion tycoon out, about, and in the hospital—but his long MIA wife who is also a famous actress has been found and is with him. And to top it all off, famous model Adrien Agreste is with them too. A crowd has gathered at the front of the hospital, and Solomon pushes his way through to make a path for the couple. They all get in the limo, and Solomon drives away.

Emilie is scolding Adrien about being out so late with a girl without even telling anyone. It's clear her time unconscious has affected her perceptions as she hints she still sees Adrien as twelve years old—too young to date. Gabriel is mentally processing everything he heard from Nathalie the prior night—but she was only able to tell him the barebones. That she had stepped into his role as Hawk Moth to both provide him with an alibi and to get a wish to save him, that Ladybug and Cat Noir are back somehow, and that Nicholas is a senti monster she created to help her. For once, Gabriel feels a bit lost. He no longer has to be Hawk Moth; he has his wife back. And for the first time in memory, he can actually relax a little bit. Of course, he can't relax fully. Even though he has his brooches back, he and his wife are still missing their wedding rings. And no one steals from an Agreste.

Adrien is so ridiculously happy he's beside himself, and he's blabbing away, leaping from topic to topic. He tells his mother he's now going to school and has friends. He started dating the most wonderful girl. He wonders what happened to Emilie and where she was for a year. He apologizes for sneak out the prior night. He says how much he missed them. He explains he's been excelling at fencing and the piano. And that he's just thrilled to spend time with both of his parents.

There is one character in the car who is not happy. Plagg. He's deep inside Adrien's pocket as he knows he can't afford to let Gabriel Agreste see him. But whenever he gets a moment, he glares darkly at his master's father. He doesn't know what's going to happen next, but Gabriel Agreste—Hawk Moth —being awake is not good for him or Adrien or Paris.

Once they're home, Gabriel and Emilie hold hands for a moment. They draw close, and Gabriel whispers to Emilie. Adrien thinks this is ridiculously romantic and cute; he's so very happy his parents are together again. What he doesn't see or hear is that Gabriel is passing the peacock brooch back to Emilie. He has enough time to explain that it's been fixed and will no longer harm her. Duusuu darts over to Emilie, leaving Nooroo with Gabriel—terrified and alone.

Emilie thanks him, a bit flirty, as they used to leap from rooftop to rooftop, enjoying the strength of their powers for dates when Adrien was smaller. However, they can't linger like this for long. They part ways to deal with the things they have to. Adrien moves to hang out with his mother, but she encourages him to talk with Felix because she needs to see Amelie. This Adrien does understand even though he's disappointed as he wanted to spend time with his mother. Gabriel invites Nathalie and Nicholas Sancoeur down into Hawk Moth's lair for a fuller debriefing. Emilie rubs her barren ring finger; she knows the importance of the Graham de Vanily family's twin rings. She is the first born child, after all. And if anyone were to take those two rings…Well, she only has one suspect. She heads to her sister. Since he's left alone, Adrien decides to call Marinette rather than spend time with Felix. He gives her every detail about what happened and the fact his parents are back and healthy. Marinette is happy for him.

In Hawk Moth's lair, Nathalie Sancoeur has basically been able to put together an entire presentation on the last several months while she acted as Peacock Moth—even though she only had the time that they were in the hospital to do so, and she had been running on no sleep. Hey, she is still a professional secretary, after all. Nathalie explains how she solidified Gabriel's alibi by making it seem as if male Hawk Moth was the one behind the incidents, and she gives him all the data she has on the various crises she caused. She admits she has no idea how the golden duo got their miraculous back. When she found Gabriel, unconscious, in the hospital at the beginning of Phase Three, the miraculous were already gone. Nooroo, who was the one to hide them, shrinks out of sight. Nathalie affirms, however, that Ladybug and Cat Noir know nothing about Team Hawk Moth's true identities.

She explains that Nicholas is a senti monster who is posing as her nephew and that she faked having an older brother who recently passed away to justify Nicholas's presence. She says she had to do this in order to keep an eye on the Agreste household as Amelie tried to move in and take over and Nathalie put her foot down on that. Gabriel thanks her; his contempt for his in-laws is clear.

Nathalie also explains what she couldn't last night—the Western Order has moved in to Paris and is trying to get miraculous too. They are led by Ivory the elephant, and Nathalie reviews the powers of every member of the Western Order as well as various incidents they have caused. In response, the Eastern Order has a full roster of allies as well—whose abilities she also covers. This is further complicated by the fact that the B Team's items have become full miraculous—something that stuns Gabriel's mind. The B Team has joined the A Team's forces. To counter that, Nathalie had to make her own team—and she has 12 wielders whose personalities she has warped to serve her. By the time she's done, Gabriel is legitimately impressed. He's also touched she would go through such great lengths as one of his employees to make sure that he and his wife and his son were together again. Nathalie agrees that this is the truth, lying to hide the fact that she's in love with him. He is oblivious to her feelings.

Gabriel then points out the obvious—he has no reason to be Hawk Moth any more. Nathalie largely agrees with that, though she is a bit frustrated that her really intricate plan is now obsolete. She points out the two flaws in Gabriel's idea. The first being that Ladybug and Cat Noir are going to want to get the peacock and butterfly brooches back as those originated within the Eastern Order (as proven by the grimoire). Even if he never transformed again, the heroes are still going to search for Nooroo and Duusuu. And Gabriel isn't sure he never wants to transform again ever—he does like the power. Nathalie also has reason to believe that even if Hawk Moth vanished, the heroes would still try to find him (her/them) to put him on trial for the crimes he previously committed.

The second flaw is the appearance of the Western Order. Ivory has made it clear she wants all the miraculous in Paris, and she's going to continue to cause trouble until she gets them. So Gabriel can either hope the Eastern or Western Orders mutually take each other out—because if one or the other wins, that means they have 50 some miraculous available to hunt down a retired Hawk Moth. And that's assuming that Gabriel and Emilie don't want to oppose the Western Order in favor of the Eastern Order (or vice versa) out of principle—If only for self-preservation. Gabriel admits he admires Nathalie's strategic reasoning and thanks her again for her efforts. (Planning is her developing character trait.) He's going to ponder over everything she has told him about while he considers the best course of action.

Meanwhile, Emilie invites Amelie to talk with her on the roof. When Amelie asks why, Emilie pointedly looks down at her sister's hands. She states she wants her wedding rings back—those are specifically her inheritance. Amelie reflexively hides her hands behind her back and even considers lying about them. After all, they're twins. They're only minutes apart in age. Why should all the prestige and magic go to Emilie? Shouldn't it be split equally between the two of them? And why should the Graham de Vanily rings ultimately go to Adrien, who bears the name Agreste, rather than Felix, her own son, who is carrying on the family name? However, it's clear she can't lie as Emilie has seen the rings on her fingers. Plus, it won't be long until Emilie learns about the existence of Odette, so she might as well come clean.

Amelie admits she took the rings and holds her hands up broadly so Emilie can see them. She also admits how jealous she was of her twin sister—everything goes to Emilie simply because of a few minutes different in birth. She honestly doesn't feel it's fair. Especially now that she has a mission. Yes, she, the second-born child, has a mission from the Order of the Miraculous. They want her not Emilie. For once in her life, Amelie is the chosen child. And she bluntly tells her twin that she is not ready to give that up.

This sets off some warning bells for Emilie. Because she's the first born, she knows things Amelie doesn't. And there's something she was told about the Western Order… Emilie tells her sister to wait. She shouldn't be so eager to trust those who contacted her from the Order; it might be a trap. Amelie states that she's not going to fall for that again like she did when they were children. Emilie insists that Amelie needs to listen, and the two start arguing.

Amelie suggests they let the kwami decide who is most deserving to be the master of the twin rings of the crane. She reveals Gracee. Emilie is surprised. Despite being the owner of the ring for years, they had never been brought together under her watch, and she has never met Gracee. Amelie tells Gracee to decide who is the bearer of the rings. Gracee doesn't want to fuel a feud, but when pressured, she declares Amelie is the master. Emilie argues that that's not a solid way to verify things as the kwami would be compelled to pick Amelie. Amelie calls Emilie jealous. Emilie insists that's not the case. She knows something about the Western Order that Amelie doesn't. However, when Emilie tries to explain, Amelie doesn't listen. It may seem very childish for two very professional women to have such a conversation, but they are responding to each other as siblings more than anything.

Communications break down between them in a way that they probably shouldn't, and in IRL, two adult women should be able to handle things better. But in fiction and for the sake of the plot, Amelie gets overly fed-up with being in her sister's shadow and transforms into Odette right in front of Emilie. "Gracee, sing!" Emilie calls Amelie out on her rashness, and Amelie taunts her by saying now she has the power and Emilie doesn't. She then takes to the skies, leaving Emilie behind.

Emilie is also pretty worked up too. Those rings have special meaning for her, the most of which is those are her wedding rings. They're the rings she and Gabriel promised over when they exchanged vows. And Emilie realizes she doesn't have to take Amelie's taunting lying down. She also has no idea about how Paris now responds to miraculous empowered people though she does know that Amelie being reckless is dangerous to the secret of the miraculous. Emilie knows she has to stop her sister, so she calls upon Duusuu. "It's been a while, Duusuu. Shall we? Duusuu, fan my feathers!" Emilie transforms into a peacock themed…eh, protagonist? Close enough.

Unlike Mayura, who had a borderline Lolita outfit, Emilie's outfit is a silky pencil-thin dress with a long train and high slit. It's tied across the back with criss-crossing ribbons and the front neckline is trimmed in dainty lace. She gains ballet-style slippers that lace up her legs in criss-cross as well as the traditional fan of the peacock, which is a distinctly different style than Mayura's. Her domino mask is blue and green with curly feathers trailing off of the right side.

Emilie notices that her outfit has changed since the last time she transformed. Her skin is also no longer blue when she uses the peacock. Emilie, correctly, concludes that this is because Nicholas Sancoeur fixed the butterfly brooch. For which she is grateful. Actually, speaking of Nicholas, she can sense something…different…about him. But there's no time to focus on that; she needs to stop her sister!

Meanwhile, Odette has slowed down. She has had a bit of time to think, and she realizes that gloating and transforming in front of her sister was rather immature and pointless. This allows her sister to catch up with her. Emilie says, rather loudly, "Amelie, stop!" Amelie immediately corrects her, saying her name is "Odette." Of course, Emilie's exclamation gave away her identity, and Odette is dumbfounded to see her sister has another miraculous. This fuels Odette's latent jealousy, and she calls out Emilie for being the perfect child who gets everything while Odette had to work for everything her whole life.

Emilie insists that's not true, she did just spend two years(?) in a coma after all, but Odette isn't really listening. Emilie says that since Odette isn't being reasonable, then they're going to have to resolve this the same way they did when they were kids. Both take a pose to fight. Odette taunts Emilie, and Emilie says that while she dons a mask, she'll be called Odile. It's a different name than she used in the past, but she feels it suits her new design as well as her relationship with the crane wielder, Odette, her sister. The two begin fighting.

Now, this is notably different from all the other battles during the course of the story as Odette and Odile, while having sibling rivalry, don't hate each other. They're not trying to eliminate the other as a threat to Paris or defeat the other to steal the miraculous as part of a larger plot. They're basically having a sibling brawl with magic. But there is some occasional comradery and good-natured jeering involved. Of course, they're not able to be as discreet as both would prefer, and sooner rather than later, civilians report the fight over the akuma app. (Yes, they're technically not akumas, but the app has become a catch-all for akumas, amoks, miraculous dissidents, and other magic-related incidents.)

The first to get the alert isn't Ladybug or Cat Noir. It's the B Team. They're all online this weekend morning, reviewing the information Alpha and Pegasus gathered the previous night. Alpha and Pegasus are largely certain they know the area Hawk Moth is working out of—most of the effort of figuring things out goes to Pegasus. It's a rather upscale residential section of the city. Dauphine wonders if that's true. Where could Hawk Moth hide in a normal house? Froppy points out that Hawk Moth's powers work differently than theirs. He could hide in a closet and still control someone. Dauphine concedes her point. They all get the alert, and Tsukuyomi is the first to pull it up on GPS—it's within a short radius of the neighborhood Pegasus pegged. It looks as if they are right. Alpha tells them it's time to seize the chance. He wants Firefly and Tsukuyomi in the air and himself on the ground to thoroughly search that area. Dauphin, Dauphine, Honey Bee, and Froppy are on standby, monitoring the situation and covering for the A Team if need be. Snow Leopard needs to lay low. They all agree and get to their tasks.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste pick up on the alert moments later (especially since this is like the third incident within 20 hours). They're firstly surprised to see Odette in action as the little they've seen of her, she takes a passive role. But that fades to the shock of a peacock wielder who is clearly not Mayura. Marinette quickly texts Adrien wondering what's going on. He admits he doesn't know, but it's time they found out. They can assume that this new peacock user is an ally of Hawk Moth and they know Odette is with the Western Order—so it's likely the beginnings of a skirmish between the two forces. But what did happen to Mayura? They were dealing with senti monsters just last night! Or has Mayura been gone for even longer, replaced by this new woman without any of them knowing? Marinette and Adrien can't afford to deliberate. They transform and head to the crisis.

Of course, heroes aren't the only ones who get the akuma alerts. Gabriel Agreste is still deep within Hawk Moth's lair, finishing his debriefing with Nathalie and Nicholas. They all check their alerts out of habit, even Gabriel, as he at least is familiar with those. Nathalie has to explain Odette is working with the Western Order, but Gabriel instantly recognizes Odile, who is in pursuit. Sure, her transformation is different and she doesn't have blue skin, but he would know his wife anywhere—plus, there really is only one peacock miraculous. (Though some miraculous have similar species but different breeds within those species, like Aries and the goat or Taurus and the ox.) Gabriel pivots on his heel with full intent on joining his wife and helping her even though he has no idea about the situation. Nathalie tries to stop him, saying he needs to recover and that it's reckless to appear in public as Hawk Moth, but he's a bit blind as that's his wife out there. Nathalie realizes she can't help at all as she no longer has any miraculous. She starts to suggest Nicholas as Adamantus go along to help, but Nicholas reminds her that they've worked very hard to separate Adamantus from Peacock Moth in the public eye. Not to mention Nicholas is still exhausted from healing the Agrestes. Nathalie ultimately has to fold and let Gabriel do what he wishes. "Nooroo, dark wings rise!" Hawk Moth leaves.

Nicholas asks if Nathalie still wants him to watch on the sly. Nathalie does agree to that and emphasizes that Nicholas/Adamantus is to take out any wards that might jeopardize Hawk Moth—or Odile. She doesn't like even talking about Odile, but Nathalie realizes that in the competition for Gabriel's heart, she has lost. Even though she helped save him, she has lost. Nicholas transforms and sneaks out. As he goes to leave, she emphasizes that he's to be careful too and not push himself. She cares about him as much as the others. Nathalie lingers behind, tying up any strategies she has to. While she no longer has a need to steal all the miraculous in Paris, she knows it's wise to still plan as the two Orders are still their enemies. Plus, the birthstone wielders still exist even though they would now be Hawk Moth's to control. And for some reason, that makes her shudder. What would Hawk Moth do with 12 kids completely under his thrall—one of which is her own nephew, her own son? As much as she wants to say they don't need the birthstone users any more—the fact is, if either Order comes after them, they do need the birthstone allies for reinforcement. So she can't simply push for them to be depowered. But again…Hawk Moth, going beyond brainwashing and into mind rape? No, he wouldn't. But deep down, Nathalie knows that Hawk Moth might—his developing trait is his heartlessness, after all. She decides to not bring up the birthstone wielders to Gabriel for the time being…Should she bring them up to Emilie? She doesn't like that idea either simply because she doesn't want to talk to her love rival. But she ultimately does need to talk to Emilie. Nicholas is a senti monster—and now his fate is in Emilie's hands.

Madam Gros/Ivory also receives the akuma alert. She's at the apartment she shares with the Therouxes, interrogating Master Fu again to no avail as well as trying to figure out what she's going to do as she has every reason to believe the apartment has been compromised. They need to move, but they're likely being watched too. Can she call in her Western wielders to make a distraction while she gets Master Fu and Hypnos out? No, it's too obvious and too suspicious.

The akuma alert snaps her from her thoughts, and she sees Odette being pursued by Odile, who she also deduces is likely an ally of Hawk Moth. All she knows is that one of her allies is suddenly in danger, and she can't have Odette fall to Hawk Moth. Madam Gros gets on her phone and texts reinforcements to come to Odette's aid. And maybe we'll walk away with the peacock miraculous too!

There's one last person of interest to notice the akuma alert. Of course, all of Paris notices, including the rest of the Eastern Order, who log into the Discord if they can—just in case they're called upon. However, the one of importance is Felix, who knows Odette is his mother and is very alarmed to see her being chased by Odile. He heads to the nearest window and transforms into Pride, the Leo wielder, without hesitation and takes off to help her. Now, this does work as Pride is one of the members Ivory requested to help Odette—but Felix doesn't know this as he didn't even bother to check his messages before he left.

Odile finally corners Odette atop of a very tall hotel roof. Odette demands to know why Odile is pursuing her. Odile clearly has magic of her own, she can at least let Odette have this. Odile points out that those are her wedding rings as well as her inheritance, and that Odette blatantly stole them from her. Again, the argument is more of that of two siblings rather than two enemies. There's tension and anger, but there's a distinct lack of hatred or hostility. Left alone, the two women probably would have argued themselves out and came to a conclusion. The thing is, due to them not being discreet, they aren't left alone.

Ladybug and Cat Noir are the first to arrive. They get there with enough time to see that Odette and Odile appear to be on opposite sides. Ladybug demands that Odette of the Western Order surrender, and Cat Noir calls out Odile for using the peacock brooch, which means she must be working for Hawk Moth, thus making her an enemy of all of Paris. He has no idea he's confronting his own mother. Odile recognizes the name of Hawk Moth as she knows the alias her own husband uses when he transforms. She also knows from the brief time she was conscious at the end of Phase Two that Gabriel/Hawk Moth was doing some very not good things. But she never got the full details and never had the time to process her own emotions on the topic before she fell into a coma again. So hearing Hawk Moth referred to as "the enemy of all of Paris" (by her—and his—own son!) is a shock to her—enough to cause her to pause.

Odette prepares her weapon, which is a weighted rope, and whispers to Odile that the Western Order considers Ladybug and Cat Noir massive threats to the magic world. Because of them, miraculous have become common knowledge. The Western Order want them stopped. Now, Odile again has extra knowledge of the state of the Western Order—but this also causes her to pause too. After all, her family has kept miraculous a secret for two centuries. It is true that magic should not be known among the general populace and that Ladybug and Cat Noir are breaking the rules and traditions of the Orders of the Miraculous.

Ladybug and Cat Noir make it clear that they're going to treat Odette and Odile both as enemies and dangers to Paris. Odette sees no problem in fulfilling her and her family's obligations to the Western Order by taking down the heroes herself. It'd be one way she could one-up her sister. Odile is much more torn as she's out of the loop on current events; she doesn't want to be branded an enemy of Paris. She wants an adventurous but legal life with her family. However, she has no idea whom she should trust. She doesn't want to turn on her sister, but she has reason to be skeptical of the Western Order Odette claims to serve. She doesn't want to fight Ladybug or Cat Noir as she has heard it vaguely that they are heroes. But with them gearing up to attack her, she has no choice but to defend herself. She moves her fan into a defensive position. Ladybug and Cat Noir respond in kind.

It's Odette who moves first because, from her point of view, the biggest grievance is that it looks as if the two heroes are about to attack her sister. They might be in the middle of a sibling argument, but Odile is still her sister. Odette strikes with her weighted rope, ensnaring Ladybug and pinning her arms to her side. Cat Noir moves to protect "milady," while Odile shakes her head over her sister's rash actions. Still, she isn't just about to stand back and watch her own twin get attacked, so she intercepts Cat Noir (her own son!) and drives him back. The fight looks as if it might be one on one on two, but in reality it veers more into two on two.

Ladybug and Cat Noir are pushed back to back. Ladybug whispers to Cat Noir, remembering that every time they've faced a major leader within Team Hawk Moth or the Western Order, it's become a stalemate. Sometimes, they've barely escaped with their freedom and identities in tact. They can't allow that same outcome this time. They need to whittle down their enemies' allies; otherwise, the innocents in Paris will keep suffering. Cat Noir agrees. He offers to be as much of a decoy as she needs to buy her the time to formulate a plan to bring down Odette and/or Odile. Ladybug appreciates her faith in him. They then have to dive in opposite directions as Odette attacks them. Odile moves as well, hoping to drive Ladybug and Cat Noir enough for Odette to escape. Odette, bluntly, tells her to butt out, which causes Odile herself to try to drive Odette away instead, leading to it looking as if Odette and Odile are genuinely fighting. Ladybug and Cat Noir move in unison, tag-teaming against Odette.

Unfortunately for them, that's when Pride leaps onto the scene, determined to protect his own mother (and Adrien as Cat Noir was about to clobber his own aunt). The heroes recognize Pride as the Leo and thus member of the Western Order. Odile has never seen him before, but she's quickly able to deduce he's actually Felix based on his stance and how protective he is around Odette. After all, Odette is from London; there's very few teenage boys she knows within Paris. Adrien and Felix being among them, but the attitude Pride is displaying is way more along the lines of Felix than Adrien. Odile gapes at Odette. "Odette, you…got him involved?!" She's clearly upset that her own sister would pull Felix, while he's still a minor, into the world of the miraculous. And not just knowledge—fighting too! For the suspicious Western Order! Odile lunges at Odette as they're still having their sibling fight, leading to Pride attacking her in return—his own aunt! This leaves Odette open—and opening that Ladybug and Cat Noir take advantage of. Odette takes them both on with surprising skill while Odile holds back Pride. Odile does her best to try to reason with Pride. If her deductions are correct, he is her nephew, after all. But she doesn't want to reveal her own identity not just for her own secrecy but also because it's just a hop, skip, and a jump to deduce who Hawk Moth really is if the identity of either peacock is revealed. Of course, using the Leo brings out the most arrogance in Felix, and he's pretty much unreasonable. It doesn't help that as far as he knows, a woman loyal to Hawk Moth was attacking his mother, so he has no reason to listen to her anyway.

The fight continues with each side trading blows and alliances seeming to shift—until a shadow crosses the rooftop. Everyone pauses. Hawk Moth himself has arrived, in the flesh. He wordlessly takes his place next to Odile, cane pointed as a weapon against his enemies. Ladybug and Cat Noir are momentarily speechless before they realize that the Hawk Moth is right in front of them. They withdraw a couple of steps and whisper to each other. This is their chance to finally defeat him once and for all! But with Odette, Odile, and Pride on hand, they're definitely going to need help. Cat Noir again offers to buy Ladybug time while she calls in the allies they need. Ladybug agrees. The moment she goes to call for help, everyone present moves again. Odette goes after Ladybug while Cat Noir holds her off. Pride gets pissed off at Hawk Moth and goes after him. Hawk Moth has no problem responding to Pride's attack with violence, but Odile tries to hold him back as she doesn't want her own nephew hurt. Pride isn't the type to take being overpowered lying down, and he's the first to use his special ability—Invulnerability. He lunges Hawk Moth again, and this time Hawk Moth can't throw him aside. Meanwhile, Ladybug quickly finishes texting on her phone and rejoins Cat Noir's side. Of course, Odette herself is watching things carefully—especially based on how her own twin sister Odile responds to Hawk Moth. Hawk Moth appeared in public to protect her. Odette's blood run cold. She realizes exactly who Hawk Moth is—her brother-in-law. She doesn't have time to figure out how Hawk Moth continued to operate while Gabriel was in a coma, but she's certain Hawk Moth is Odile's husband. Which means her precious older sister married one heck of a wrong man. Odette is not going to let this slide.

Meanwhile, the four members of the B Team are still out looking for Hawk Moth's lair, not realizing that he is actually present in Paris at the very moment. Alpha pauses as he gets a BUZZ alert through Discord on his cell phone/spear. He at least doesn't have an enemy breathing down his neck, so he pauses to answer it. His eyes go wide when he realizes that Ladybug is requesting Viperion's aid. Alpha hesitates. He's the leader; he doesn't want to leave his pack without him—especially not when they're so close to pinpointing Hawk Moth's HQ. But if Viperion is needed, things must be bad… Alpha resolves himself to join Ladybug and Cat Noir as Viperion. But how do I explain this to my pack? This causes just enough hesitation.

He's not the only one called in to help now that Hawk Moth is on the field. Three other allies of Ladybug and Cat Noir hurry to transform and get to the scene of the incident. Speaking of, the incident itself is being thoroughly covered. Nadja Chamack is reporting, and it's big with Hawk Moth being physically present. Roger Raincomprix is also doing his best job at keeping civilians clear of the fight.

Things continue between Odette and Pride, Hawk Moth and Odile, and Ladybug and Cat Noir. Odile doesn't want to actually hurt Odette or Pride, as they are family and she's just having a spat with her sister. Odette, likewise, doesn't want to genuinely hurt Odile, but she has no issue going after Hawk Moth. Odile also has no vendetta against the golden duo, but the heroes have every reason to go all-out against everyone else. And as if the fight isn't intense enough, the rest of Ivory's back-ups come: Shark Regina, Oxforte, and Angelica.

Odette insists she doesn't need help—in part because this is merely an escalated family feud and she doesn't want others involved or hurt. And in part because she doesn't want to risk Odile or Odile's identity. Shark Regina blows off the remark, names herself leader of the teen members of the Western Order, and jumps into the fight. Angelica and Oxforte aren't far behind.

And that's when the golden team's back-up arrives: King Monkey, Tigress, and Honey Bee from the B Team. Viperion isn't there yet as Alpha is still juggling his duties to his pack. Tigress shows no hesitation in intercepting Shark Regina mid-lunge. It might seem strange as shy Juleka Couffaine is actually Tigress, but when she wears the mask, she realizes all of her fears about being mocked won't come back to bite her. King Monkey and Honey Bee move to take on Oxforte and Angelica, respectively, but Ladybug stops Honey Bee. She has a special mission for her. She wants Honey Bee to use Venom on Hawk Moth himself so he can't escape. Honey Bee is a bit overwhelmed by the responsibility, but she agrees.

At this point, things are the most chaotic yet. Each side has its own agenda and moves accordingly. The heroes prioritize Hawk Moth, who prioritizes protecting Odile, who is trying to ensure Odette and Pride don't get hurt, who are fighting alongside Shark Regina's crew, who have to hold off Ladybug's allies. There's several uses of special abilities, such as Shark Regina using mutate to turn air into a solid fence. Ladybug uses that to her own advantage to try to enclose the area so Hawk Moth can't escape and so Honey Bee can sting him. King Monkey also attempts to disable Hawk Moth with Uproar, but Odile leaps in to protect her husband. It's her ability that goes haywire, but since she had no immediate intention of creating any senti monsters, she is otherwise largely unaffected. Of course, Odette's Communicate is largely useless in the setting, and Pride is the first to start running low on his timer—though he is still Invulnerable. Adamantus is watching on the sly. He searched the area for wards but finds none. Other than that, he keeps his presence to a minimum.

As she watches things go back and forth, Ladybug activates her Lucky Charm. Hawk Moth glares at her out of instinct; how many times have those red and black items spoiled his plans? But…he doesn't need to worry now, as hard as it is to adjust to. He no longer needs their miraculous. He turns his attention back to protecting Odile and trying to convince her to leave the scene. Cat Noir happens to catch both Hawk Moth's glare towards Ladybug and how Hawk Moth looks at Odile. He slips in close to engage Hawk Moth, baton against cane. Hawk Moth growls at him to back down, and Cat Noir, being his carefree self, begins to run his mouth. He makes a remark about Mayura being missing and basically says that Hawk Moth is cheating on Mayura with Odile. This does not go over well with Hawk Moth, who strikes so strongly and so furiously Cat Noir is not only forced back—he has to use Cataclysm to escape. There's so many layers of irony.

Meanwhile, Odile is still trying to reason with Odette even though she is still mad that Odette stole her wedding rings. Thanks to Cat Noir's Cataclysm, she's able to find an opening. With surprising grace, she outflanks Tigress, Pride, and Shark Regina and gets within range of Odette. She's able to grab onto Odette's collar without slowing down, the momentum carrying them over the side of the roof. Odile flips to right them, kicks off a fire escape, and then slams Odette into the wall. With Odette stunned, Odile is finally able to get into Odette's ear and tell her "The Western Order fell two decades ago!"

This is enough to cause Odette to pause. She initially starts to protest that Odile is wrong or is lying to throw her off guard, but Odile interrupts her. Odile explains that she knows for a fact that the entire Western Order vanished roughly 15-20 years ago. She heard it from her most trusted source within the miraculous world, and their (now deceased) father went to Canada himself and confirmed it to be true. Whoever urged Amelie to pick up the crane miraculous, whoever is using the elephant miraculous and recruiting the teens of Paris—she is not a true heir to the Western Order as none are left. She's an impostor at best and at worst—she could have even had a hand in the Order's fall.

This causes Odette further hesitation. She knows her own twin well enough to realize that Odile isn't lying. So Odile at least believes what she's saying is true. Odette raises her hands, palms up, for a truce. She says she wants to look into things to get to the bottom of this. She'll get the truth out of Ivory. Odile isn't immediately ready to back down though; she still demands her wedding rings back. Odette points out she's going to need the two rings of the crane miraculous to get close to Ivory. Odile isn't happy with this, not at all, but she accepts it for the time being.

They both look up where the fight is still going on and realize they need to do something to stop it—or, at the very least, get Pride and Hawk Moth out of the situation without being hurt or compromised. Odette also has to keep up appearances to the Western Order until she can dig up the truth on Ivory—and Odile is already considering her twin acting as a double agent for them.

The two leap onto the scene, and Odile is able to blindside Ladybug, which does set Cat Noir off. Odette outflanks King Monkey and gets close to Pride, whispering to him that they're going to withdraw. Pride is pissed off about this as he doesn't want to back down. Odette uses the fact that he has one minute left on his timer as reason for them to make a tactical retreat. Pride still isn't happy about this, but Odette puts her foot down. Meanwhile, Odile gets close to Hawk Moth and whispers to him that she wants to get home. Hawk Moth is surprised by her sudden change of heart; he's still geared up to rain revenge upon Odette for attacking his wife. Odile plays him well, insisting there are things she cares about more. Not to mention, starting a war in the middle of Paris is the last thing she wants. "Please, for me?" Hawk Moth folds.

Of course, the heroes aren't going to let them just up and leave, not when they finally have a chance to bring Hawk Moth to his knees. And even though many of them are on their timers too, they're all working together and pushing through. Odette, at least, takes over the Western Order side and starts bossing them around. Shark Regina protests, insisting she's the leader, but Odette makes it clear that she's the adult and that she's in charge.

It's this late into the game that Viperion arrives. He apologizes for running behind, but he had something he couldn't immediately leave (his responsibilities as Alpha). Viperion is pretty amazed by the array of high-ranking opponents they're up against. He immediately uses Second Chance so that Ladybug has the most chances to bring them down forever.

Ladybug then puts her plan into motion. Tigress and King Monkey act as the strength in her plan, herding her opponents into a trap she created with her Lucky Charm. She's able to pin down Odette and a couple of the underlings in the Western Order, but Hawk Moth helps Odile evade. Hawk Moth is all for escaping and leaving Odette to her fate, but Odile interferes, letting Odette and the others out. However, she acts in a way that makes it look as if she's not helping them. Viperion rewinds time again; they can't afford to let Hawk Moth get away.

Ladybug moves to trigger her trap, but Viperion quickly coaches her about what went wrong last time. She corrects for these and again attempts to capture her enemies with Cat Noir flanking Odile. However, this also fails when Odette moves to protect Odile without looking like she's protecting her. Hawk Moth again escapes, and Viperion rewinds time.

This repeats multiple times with Team Ladybug being only able to capture some of their enemies, but Hawk Moth always escaping and Odette and Odile watching each other's back on the sly. On occasion, even Adamantus helps out without Viperion noticing. Perhaps they could pull off more if they had Viperion's full five minutes, but instead they only have about two minutes to work with because he arrived late. Viperion does everything he can, he truly does, to change fate. But nothing works. He can feel his powers verging on exhaustion he tries so many times. And in the end, he realizes he has to give up for Sass's sake.

Viperion tells this to Ladybug. This is the last chance. Ladybug reaches deep within her strategy and creative problem solving, coordinating her team and placing Honey Bee in the optimum position. Cat Noir baits Hawk Moth by targeting Odile (his own mother!) and Tigress does what she can to keep Pride at bay (tiger versus lion). However, Pride is able to tank her in order to protect Odette, and Odette in turn allows Odile to get away from Cat Noir, which allows her to help Hawk Moth escape. Honey Bee does her best to land a hit and then pursue him, but he and Odile are able to cover each other's backs and escape when Hawk Moth creates a swarm of butterflies to blind and slow down the heroes. When that happens, Odette also orders the Western Order to withdraw. Pride and Shark Regina both protest, but Oxforte and Angelica respect Odette's authority and withdraw, leaving Pride and Shark Regina without back-up and without a choice but to retreat themselves. Ladybug and Cat Noir genuinely do all they can, but their opponents escape.

The heroes try to search the area, but they all come back empty handed. With nothing left to do, Ladybug throws her Lucky Charm into the air to undo all the damage, and all six of them "Pound It!" Viperion winds up feeling extra guilty as he blames himself for Hawk Moth escaping. The heroes depart to tend to their kwamis, but Cat Noir catches Ladybug. He flirts with her a bit before inviting her to dinner with his family. Ladybug excitedly accepts (pending parental permission, which they give her off page).

Speaking of Cat Noir/Adrien's family, Odette intercepts Odile once every other member of the Western Order has departed. Odette is able to get Odile away from Hawk Moth without Hawk Moth knowing. Odile notes that Odette looks as if she has something to say. Odette acknowledges this as true. She tells Odile thanks for the information on the Western Order—in return, she's going to give her information about Hawk Moth. "No, Gabriel Agreste." Odette tells Odile to look into the crimes Hawk Moth has committed over the past year. Odile says she knows about them, but Odette doesn't believe that. Odile insists—she knows Hawk Moth akumatized people against their wills (as she learned this during her brief time when she was conscious between Phase Two and Three). Odette shakes her head; that's only the beginning. Odette lists his greater crimes, up to and including kidnapping a hundred children from Paris, holding them hostage inside the stadium, and threatening to kill them. Odile doesn't want to believe that; she can't believe the man she loves would become such a criminal. Odette blatantly calls him a terrorist and urges Odile to look into the truth herself. It's not hard; it's been covered throughout the internet by news stations and civilians a like. Odette prepares to leave, telling Odile to be careful—and urging her to reconsider her entire marriage. Odette implies pretty strongly she thinks her twin should get a divorce. Odile hesitates, her mind a whirl, before she leaves.

Late afternoon rolls around, and dinner happens at the Agreste manor. Adrien is so happy he's beside himself—everyone he cares about will be eating a meal together. Even having Hawk Moth escape can't bring him down. Marinette arrives early, and Adrien invites her in. He gives her a tour of the manor (which Marinette already knows due to prior visits as both Ladybug and herself as well as her own stalker tendencies); Adrien emphasizes introducing her to the people who live there. He introduces her to his cousin, Felix, as "his girlfriend"—Felix raises an eyebrow but doesn't remark otherwise; his thoughts are elsewhere. Adrien introduces Marinette to Solomon by name; after 96 chapters, this might be the first time Marinette learns the name of her crush's bodyguard (if she didn't learn it through stalking). They come across Gabriel Agreste next, and Adrien proudly introduces his girlfriend. Marinette gets excited, thrilled to be meeting one of her idols in the fashion industry. Gabriel appreciates the praise, but his gut reaction is: she's a commoner, she's not good enough for my son. Though, to be fair, for Gabriel, no one would ever be good enough for his son. They find Emilie next, who has paled significantly. She just got onto her tablet to look up what Hawk Moth has done over the past year (or more. I have no idea. I lost track of time for this). She is genuinely horrified by the crimes he committed. Part of her feels touched he would go so far for her—but most of her feels upset that she became an excuse for terrorism. She is disgusted; what she is seeing is not the man she fell in love with and married. Fortunately, Emilie is a good actress, so she puts on a polite face when Adrien brings Marinette around. She's surprised Adrien has a girlfriend already. "You're so young!" Adrien states he's 15. Emilie replies that she still sees him as a twelve-year old; her time unconscious has really messed with her perception of Adrien (and Felix)'s maturity.

Dinner gets served in the main dining hall. Nathalie and Nicholas are talking in low voices, and their body language makes it clear they're not joining them for the meal. Nathalie did eat dinner often with Adrien when she believed herself to be his legal guardian. But now that Gabriel and Emilie are awake, Nathalie knows her place—she is merely Gabriel's assistant. Adrien, however, shows some backbone as he is growing beyond his doormat self (which is still there, as seen in the Marinette chapter, so it's not gone entirely but it is reduced). He directly invites Nathalie and Nicholas to join them—he then extends the invitation to the gorilla too, surprising them all. Nathalie politely starts to back down, but Adrien is very, very insistent. When Emilie approaches, he ropes her in. "Mom, Nathalie and Nicholas and Solomon can join us for dinner, right?" Emilie smiles and says it's okay. But then she does a double take. She looks Nicholas over. She can immediately sense what he is; she bears the peacock brooch, after all. But she sees all of Nathalie's physical features, all the family resemblance. However, she sees her own husband's eyes looking back at her from Nicholas. And Emilie realizes exactly what is going on with Nathalie. It's too late to retract her invitation, so her smile grows strained.

Dinner happens, and the entire cast of the Agreste estate (plus Marinette) is there. Adrien is happy and talking excitedly while everyone else is tense as rifts form between them. Adrien keeps the conversation going through the beginning, but it isn't long before he picks up on things. Felix starts by being passive aggressive, mentioning that Adrien invited "the help" to eat with them. He also implies Marinette is empty-headed and common. A sentiment that Gabriel finds himself agreeing with despite himself. Amelie keeps hinting that Emilie needs to reconsider things with Gabriel, while Emilie is still trying to process the sheer magnitude of crimes her husband committed and the fact that his secretary has feelings for him. Felix blatantly tells Amelie that now that his aunt and uncle are awake, they can head back to England. Gabriel mutters a "good riddance," which bristles both Amelie and Emilie. Emilie keeps viewing Adrien as younger than he actually is, and her dialogue reflects that. Emilie also makes some remarks to Amelie about stealing her rings and about the need to follow-up with the Western Order. Nathalie, on occasion, comes to Gabriel's defense against Amelie, but she's largely silent against Emilie as she realizes she lost in terms of the heart. Gabriel, however, winds up thanking Nathalie for keeping his company going while he was gone. And for looking after Adrien, making it pointedly clear that Gabriel at least thinks Nathalie was Adrien's temporary guardian and not Amelie. Amelie pokes at Solomon a bit for being "the help" as well as not being there when Adrien disappeared in the middle of the night during the prior chapter. Solomon takes her words hard as he is serious about his job of protecting Adrien as well as being non-verbal, so he can't even reply to defend himself. Adrien insists it's not the gorilla's fault, but he's drowned out as the passive-aggressive bickering continues. Things are exacerbated by the fact Amelie knows Gabriel is Hawk Moth and Emilie knows Felix is Pride. Amelie also wonders who was Hawk Moth while Gabriel was in an obvious coma—but her instincts are that both Nathalie and Solomon were behind. After all, Mayura was still active too, so that would leave Solomon open to playing the role of Hawk Moth. Adrien realizes that his dream—of a happy meal with family—has become a nightmare.

And, to top it all off, Tikki and Plagg make eye contact during the meal. The dart from their owners and dive into the floor, hiding out among the pipes in the floor to talk. Hawk Moth is back, and they both know that means that Gabriel is active again—which could put Adrien at great danger. Plagg mentions he's been stressed out trying to avoid being seen by Nooroo and Duusuu, whom he's certain are somewhere in the mansion. And now there's both Mayura and Odile—and Nathalie, Amelie, and Emilie are all potential candidates. It's bad enough that Adrien's dad is a criminal, but his mother too? Knowing how much Adrien admires his mom, it's going to hit him so hard… And Plagg and Tikki can't say anything; they're compelled to keep their mouths shut. So there's no way to soften the blow—and sooner or later, it's going to come. Plagg stress eats cheese as they talking, and they try to figure out a plan for how to deal with Adrien living among enemies. Although it's more like Tikki doing the planning and Plagg swallowing camembert.

Dinner ends with Gabriel Agreste leaving early, making a remark about how certain company has spoiled his appetite (namely referring to his sister-in-law). Emilie watches him go without trying to soothe things over; she's still very, very conflicted. Amelie suggests that Felix and Nicholas also help entertain Marinette as an excuse to get them away so she can talk with Emilie, hoping to further push a divorce. Felix doesn't appreciate being treated like a child and heads off on his own in a huff while Nicholas insists he has to go do homework (he is behind due to his time as Adamantus).

Amelie approaches Emilie to talk, but Emilie has her back to Amelie and catches up with Nathalie first. Amelie doesn't follow. Emilie tells Nathalie that they need to talk. Nathalie, very professionally, says she's willing to listen. Emilie from the very beginning makes it clear she knows Nicholas is a senti monster. However, she tells Nathalie not to worry. She won't use her powers as Odile to cease Nicholas's existence. After all, she also has a mother's heart. Yes, she can clearly see that Nathalie and Nicholas's relationship is more of mother and son than aunt and nephew. However, she also feels it's best if Nathalie resigns and leaves. Emilie strongly implies that she knows Nathalie has feelings for her husband—and Emilie isn't going to stand for that. The way Emilie structures the conversation it can be implied that Emilie is threatening Nicholas's existence in order to assert her position as alpha female and drive out a potential homewrecker. However, Emilie was telling the truth when she said she would not harm Nicholas. Nathalie, however, does understand the message that she is to leave because Emilie will not tolerate having her around.

Nathalie handles the situation very professionally and says she will put in her notice and remain just long enough to train her successor. She turns to leave, but then she turns back to Emilie. Nathalie states that she is serious when she says she wants Gabriel, Emilie, and Adrien to be happy together as a family. She doesn't say so, but she also cares about Adrien like a son—and she, from the depths of her heart, wants him and Gabriel to be happy. And if that means they're with Emilie and not her—so be it. But she also realizes that that will not happen if Gabriel is arrested as Hawk Moth. Nathalie says she is willing to take 100% of the fall for Hawk Moth in order to ensure their family's happiness and security. She says she plans on leaving the country with Nicholas, and when she does, she will send a complete confession to the police to clear Gabriel. And if Emilie and Gabriel himself are unwilling to wait that long, she'll take the fall right now. Just as long as Emilie promises to ensure Nicholas is well cared for, she's fine with that fate. Nathalie walks away.

Emilie is left speechless by Nathalie's proclamation. In part, she's unhappy because it's a bald-faced lie. Nathalie wasn't Hawk Moth alone, and she shouldn't have a criminal record for crimes that weren't hers. On the other hand, Nathalie committed every bit as many crimes as Gabriel did, and she shouldn't be allowed to escape. But bringing the true to light means Emilie has to betray her own husband, which only pours salt in her already conflicted emotions. Does she wants Gabriel to go to jail? She loves him. She's so furious at him. She's happy to be with her family again. She is so unbearably disappointed in what he did. She doesn't want to see Adrien hurt by learning about Gabriel's actions. But she's a decent human being—how can she knowingly turn from doing the right thing? And what is the right thing? And that's not even considering the problems she has with Amelie/Odette right now!

To be continued in Chapter 97: Bandit & Home-Run Rex…