Hi again, I hope you liked the previous chapter [I don't rly know because of the lack of reviews (T＿T) ]. I have reread the story and it felt like chapter 1 was almost narrator-only and chapter 2 was pretty much just dialogues. I'm gonna try to mix both styles, I am still experimenting on my writing and trying to get better at it. I realised that there were a lot of typos in the previous chapters and sentences that made no sense, so I corrected everything while rereading it and updated the story. I also began planning out the sequel mini-story, right now in my head it is a crack fic, that has the potential to develop into a big story with character development and endgame. Anyways, planning ahead is good but what is more important is enoying the present and its various challenges, so here's the story.
The bell rang and the two girls had to take separate ways. Marinette went back to class while Alya started heading home to leave her bag and then set her plan in motion. Fortunately, her parents were working so she didn't have to get into the trouble of explaining them the situation for now. She visited a mobile phones technician to check her phone for malware and then went back home to investigate further.
After a 15 minute-long internet investigation on how the school's browser history controlling device works, she finally found out how Lila framed her and felt stupid for letting that happen, since it was so simple. Then the technician called her to come by his store to grab her phone and to explain her what he found. Apparently, her phone had been 'infected' by a custom virus that he had no data about and it was a really complicated one, since it uninstalled itself.
"This person that hacked you must have a serious grudge on you. I have never seen such a malware before, its use is pretty pointless too: crashes your phone and deleting recent memory and then uninstalling itself to erase proof. Well, if you're an expert like me, you can still locate its 'tracks'. Sadly, I cannot provide any proof about its existence either, all I got to show is an empty folder named Crasher. They must have made it themselves or paid some hacker to make it for them." the technician said
"Great" Alya sighed "Though, I have a question, is there a way to know which devices had gained access to my mobile hotspot a few days ago?"
"Yeah, that's easy." He took her phone, pressed some buttons and showed her a list of device IDs. "Those are all the devices that have connected to it and there is a date next to them indicating when they used your hotspot. The cell phone icon means that they are a smartphone."
"Thank you, you don't understand how big this is to me." Alya said and noticed the date Lila used it. There were only 2 IDs, one was Lila's and the onther one Marinette's.
"Glad I helped then. Right now your phone is safe and you should not worry about it, your antivirus is the best in the market right now."
"I'll keep that in mind. Now I should better get going" Alya said, paid the technician and headed home. "First piece of proof aquired." she said to herself happily
After coming back home she started making a list of all the lies she could remember that Lila said. She would have to ask others about it too. After seemingly being done with what she knew she texted Marinette if she could come by her house to work on the plan together, since it was about the time that today's classes ended.
After a brief mobile call and 5 minutes of walking Alya was at Marinette's room explaining her what she'd collected till then and the rest of her plan. Since most of it did not include using superpowers, Marinette agreed to help. After extending Alya's list with a few lies Alya forgot to add and getting confirmation from their friends they called for help they read the list aloud.
Lila has a very long list of illnesses and diseases that do not allow her to play football (a.n. It's football not soccer), carry her bag alone, attending a ball etc.
"Can't prove that without confirmation from her doctor or having her medical files which either requires Lila to help us or using illegal methods or superpowers" Marinette exclaimed after sighing since they could not use that against her.
Lila has travelled to many foreign countries and she has also stayed in Prince Ali's palace Achu during Heroes' Day. She also has a really close relationship to Prince Ali. One of the places she visited is India where she once saw a guy have their eye gouged out by a napkin.
"We can't prove she doesn't travel unless we get access to her passport. We can't claim that she couldn't have been in Achu in Heroes Day since we fought Volpina that day too (identity rule). We can't get in touch with Prince Ali either. Scrap this too." Alya murmured
Lila knows all Holywood directors and promised Nino to introduce him to Steven Spielberg one day. She also knows a famous manga artist and she told Chris she is the creator of his favorite video game.
"Again, can't prove wrong the first two. Why did we even add the last one to the list? Even if we get Chris to confirm this, she will just say he misread her, or maybe even agree that she lied to him to calm him down or something."
Lila is very close to Jagged Stone. She once saved his cat and then he wrote a song about her.
"To prove that wrong, we'd need an interview with Jagged Stone. I think he is on a tour around France right now" Marinette said starting to lose her hope
"Marinette, do you forget that you can call his assistant anytime you want? You have her number because you designed his album cover and his fancy Eiffel Tower glasses. Plus, he is Luka's and Juleka's father, surely he can talk to either you or him."
"You're right Alya, we finally got something! Now, what else is left on the list?" Marinette said excitedly, but lost her excitement when she read the last thing on the list
Lila is best friends with Ladybug since she saved Lila's life.
"Alya, I said that Ladybug is not involved in this and I mean it." Marinette stated adamantly
"What if we set it up beforehand? Hear me out: I am chilling in your balcony tonight and Ladybug swings by and lands on the roof accross the street to sit and wonder at the view. Then I shout at her and she comes by since 'she likes to hang out with her biggest fan' and I start recording. I start talking about my relationship with 'her best friend' and she denies all of Lila's claims. Everyone would believe that it was just a random incident."
"Fine, but only for that." Marinette groaned
"Now, I wanted to talk to you about the juicy part. It is pretty obvious that this proof isn't enough to expose a liar..."
"So you are dedicated to use Mirage, aren't you?"
"Yes, but in a more careful way so don't worry about possible consequences, I've got this."
[Scene: Luka's room in his houseboat / Marinette, Alya, Luka]
"So that liar in your school hates you and is trying to get you expelled, so you are gathering proof to expose her? She also used my dad's name to look cool and lied about him. OK sure, I can help. I can video call him right now if you want, he shouldn't be busy at this time of the day."
"Thank you so much Luka!" Marinette said
"Oh please Marinette , you're acting like I am doing anything special, I am just making a video call to help my friends. I also earn something out of this since I contribute to restoring my father's name." Luka said as he pressed the call button and soon Jagged Stone was seen in the screen smiling
"Hey my little rock 'n' roller, how you doing? Oh, you've got friends too. Yo, Marinette! My favorite little lady and her journalist friend." (Alya rolls her eyes) "Anything I can help with?"
"Yes Mr Stone, we'd like you to answer some simple questions, which will be recorded. Even if they sound stupid, they are important to us right now." Marinette said shyly
"For you Marinette, it's just Jagged, you've earned it multiple times. OK, as long as it is not some stupid fan questions and stuff I'm ok with it. But be quick, because my break is over soon."
"Thank you Jagged, 1st question: Have you ever had a pet cat?"
"No, I never had a pet cat. Cats are not rock 'n' roll. The only pet I've ever had is Fang, you've must have seen him in person."
"So you've never met Lila Rossi?"
"That name does not remind me anything. Could you elaborate?"
"She told the class that she has saved your cat before and that you were so happy she did that, you wrote a song about her."
"All of these are lies obviously. Though speaking of writing a song about someone, I should write one about you Marinette, you're very talented and I like your style. It is so rock'n' roll! '
"I've already got the tune that matches her dad, I can help if you want." Luka offered
"Sure son, let me round up this tour and we can get to work."
Alya who was recording the conversation with her phone, stopped and then responded herself to cover up for the blushing Marinette who was frozen in shock "Thank you Jagged Stone for your time. We are really grateful for your help."
"I should be grateful at Marinette for everything she has done for me. Anyways, my time is up. Kepp rock 'n' rolling everyone!" he shouted waving at the screen and the screen turned black
Meanwhile Marinette was still frozen in place and blushing at the compliments she received from her favorite singer.
"So..." Luka exclaimed "Is there anything else I can do to help you expose that liar? "
"Unless you have a way to prove that it is physically impossible to have your eye gouged out by a napkin, or have a connection with Prince Ali of Achu, then sadly no." Alya responded
"Are these some of her lies? It is utterly ridiculous that our classmates believe her."
"Yeah, sometimes I feel like I should doubt their IQ. I mean, Max is in my class and he made an AI robot himself, but still believes Lila's lies..."
Marinette finally comes back to her senses "Oh, thank you so much Luka. Now me and Alya are gonna go." picks Alya's arm and forces her to follow her "See you soon Luka!", she shouted as they were leaving
"For how long was I blacked out?" she asked Alya when they were no longer in sight
"About a minute or two. I think we are even now by the way. I edited out the part of you freezing during the interview."
"Thanks I guess..." silence followed as they were heading to Marinette's home
After completing the video of Ladybug stating that Lila is a liar, Alya transformed and made a brilliant usage of Mirage. Firstly, she created a Cat Noir illusion confirming that Lila has been akumatised plenty of times and the reasons behind them were questionable: The only valid reason he is aware of is that she lied of being the Fox Miraculous superhero when they fought Volpina. Also she was the reason of other people getting akumatized such as Kagami turning into Oni-Chan who accepted her akumatization as a last resort to expose Lila's lies.
Marinette not only told her to stop but also complimented her since even she would believe that this was the real Cat Noir and that their excuse could be that Ladybug was busy and she called Cat Noir to help. And then they kept going with more complex illusions.
Alya's plan seemed flawless to them. Little did they know that they would raise the suspicions of a nearby alley cat when he sees himself in a video he never filmed...
Yes, I like giving you guys some sort of cliffhanger at the end of every chapter even though they are small and updated frequently. The next chapter will be the last of this story(at least the Lila incident). Do you prefer the next major event in this timeline as a sequel story, or I should update the story description to not be just a Lila expose fic and keep updating chapters here? Tell me in the reviews. Please review, I need it!
Next chapter will be out in a few days and will be about what we are all waiting for. Writing chapters is gonna be taking longer as of now since I have officially returned to my regular routine and I also now triple-check the story for typos/ vague sentences. I also did some research for this chapter about Lila's lies and Jagged's quotes. Shout out to the awesome Miraculous Ladybug Wiki for that. Sadly, the Lila's lies list hasn't been updated in a while so I might be missing a few but I think it's alright.