"Mademoiselle Rossi!" yelled the akuma.
"I don't know why you'd be after me, I didn't do anything wrong!" Lila called back, sounding sickeningly sweet in an attempt to seem innocent as she rushed for the doors of the hotel.
"I heard you talking with Monsieur Graham de Vanily! You pretend and act sweet and innocent, but you're going to fool people no longer!" the akuma, Façade Lifter, aimed his serving tray at her and shot a yellow beam towards her before it struck. "You won't be able to hide your true self now!" he gave out an evil laugh.
Lila's face contorted into a fierce sneer. "You're really pathetic. If I were Chloe, I would've fired you as my butler a long time ago!" Lila then turned around to see some of her classmates hiding behind walls, ducking behind a chair or a couch. "What are you all looking at?! You're all such gullible idiots. My obnoxious mother insisted I invited you all to my birthday party and the only reason I agreed was for the attention and the gifts. But you've all made this the absolute worst birthday of my life! So disgustingly kind and happy. Gross, it makes my skin crawl just thinking about it! Freaks!"
Ladybug made a beeline for the hotel. Chat Noir was already there, deflecting the akuma's attacks and firing irritated verbal shots at the akuma.
"Chat Noir!" she exclaimed as she landed by him. "What's going on?"
"M'lady. His name's Façade Lifter. Lila and… you remember Felix, right? The guy that looks like Adrien Agreste, his cousin?"
Ladybug's skin crawled. "Unfortunately, yes. What about him?"
"Well he's here, at Lila Rossi's birthday party-"
"Oh, joy," she made a face.
Chat smirked. "It seems Lila's not afraid to show Felix her true colors. It sounds like Chloe's butler overheard everything she's been planning and was horrified. I mean it is Lila, no surprise there. But we've got a problem. This akuma's powers take away your figurative mask, the front you put on for everyone. But what if…?"
"What if we're hit and it reveals who we really are under the mask?" She saw where he was going.
He nodded. "So I've been keeping my distance. I do know his serving tray he's holding where the akuma went in."
"Wow Chat Noir, you're sure on top of things today. It sounds almost as if you were…."
"As if I were what?" he asked curiously.
This wasn't the kind of conversation she should be getting in. "Nevermind. It's not important. Since this is such a dangerous akuma for us, should we enlist Viperion's help again?"
"It's probably for the best," Chat Noir was poised to head back towards the akuma.
"Wait," she grabbed his wrist to stop him. "Maybe you should get him this time. You've seemed distracted lately, and we can't have you getting your identity exposed before Viperion can use Second Chance. Here," Ladybug reached in her yo-yo and pulled out the Snake Miraculous. She held out her hand for him to take it from her.
"What about you? What if you get hit?"
Ladybug glanced up and saw Rena Furtive peeking out from a nearby rooftop. "Oh don't worry about me, I have a trick up my sleeve. Just hurry, okay?"
Chat Noir hummed an approval, then sped off towards the Liberty as fast as his baton could take him.
Luka was lounging on the deck when he arrived, his guitar in hand.
"Chat Noir?" he asked, putting his guitar down immediately after Chat set foot on the ship. "Where's Ladybug? Is everything okay?"
"She's fine, she asked me to bring this to you," he opened his palm to expose the turquoise bracelet. "Unfortunately we have another high-risk akuma that could threaten our identities to deal with, so we could really use your help."
"Of course," he accepted the bracelet. "Hello again, Sass."
"Luka," Sass greeted pleasantly.
"Sass, scales slither!"
"Just tell me when you need me," Rena Furtive texted Ladybug.
"OK," she replied. Taking a deep breath, Ladybug leaped out from her hiding spot. "I can understand why you'd get akumatized, having to deal with Lila, but this isn't going to make anything better!" Ladybug called out to the akuma.
"Oh, but it is! You can't get tricked if they act just as they really are to your face instead of hiding behind a mask." Façade Lifter spotted Chloe trying to get away. "Miss Chloe, you've been hiding who you really are for far too long!"
The blast hit Chloe in her attempt to flee, stopping her in her tracks.
"I...I feel weird," she said, looking at her hands. "But it's nice. Like a weight's been lifted." Chloe saw people running and screaming, some of her classmates had made it out of the hotel only to be stopped by the akuma. Lila tried to make trouble with some of them. Ladybug watched Chloe… appear to defend and protect some of them? Huh.
"Ladybug!" Viperion exclaimed behind her.
She turned and smiled at the sound of her name, exhaling with relief. "Have you used Second Chance yet?"
"Not yet," he reached for his bracelet. "Now?"
"Yes. Lucky Charm!" she cried, a mirror landed in her hands. "Hey Kitty Cat, recognize this?"
The mirror looked identical to the one Mister Bug had been given during their fight as Reflekdoll.
"How could I forget? What do we do with it?"
"Exactly what you did in Reflekdoll. Use it to reflect the beam back at him."
Chat reached his hands out. "I'll do it, you've done a good job keeping safe trying to distract him. I'll try getting close enough to him for this to work."
She handed the mirror over. "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure," he gave a nod, taking the mirror from her hands.
"Viperion, you know what to do," she smiled at him, patting him on the shoulder.
He did. Quickly, he jumped up high enough on a rooftop to be able to watch everything unfold, but close enough that he could call out to try to prevent something from happening.
Ladybug dodged and deflected the beams, spinning her yo-yo quickly to block them. She was always the akumas main target, so she didn't have to do much but try to keep the akuma occupied.
She watched Chat Noir get closer behind the akuma, trying to remain out of his line of sight to sneak attack him with the mirror, but Façade Lifter's attention was brought away from Ladybug by a civilian, calling out Chat's name.
Before Chat Noir was in a position to use the mirror, the akuma turned and hit him with the beam, his costume disappearing and Adrien Agreste's clothes appearing where the cat suit had been.
"Adrien Agreste?!" The civilian cried. "Adrien Agreste is Chat Noir!"
Others hiding nearby peeked out to see for themselves. "Oh he is! Chat Noir is Adrien Agreste!" another one pointed in shock.
Viperion's attention immediately was drawn to Ladybug, whose mouth had popped open. Her eyes had flitted from panic to shock then to warmth and love before she turned to Viperion and looked him in the eyes. Pain. It was overwhelming in her cool blue eyes, as if they were screaming.
"Viperion!" she called over to him with a strained voice, a reminder to use his Second Chance. It's not that he was too caught up to use it right away, he just wanted to see her reaction to finding out Adrien is Chat Noir without consequences. Now that he got a glimpse into it, he wanted to know why. He needed to know why.
"Second Chance!"
Chat Noir tried to sneak up on the akuma again, Viperion made sure to keep the civilian that distracted the akuma quiet this time. Only, Ladybug had lost her battle defending the akuma and got hit just when Chat Noir was about to get into place.
Marinette stood where Ladybug had been, causing Viperion to start reaching for his bracelet. Until he remembered he needed to see Chat's reaction, too.
"Marinette…?" he breathed. "Marinette…!" he said louder, beaming widely, his eyes bright. Chat Noir as of late had been much more gloomy, frustrated, not really himself and not filled with much happiness. But for some reason, that all seemed to have melted away now that he knew Marinette was Ladybug.
"Second Chance!"
Viperion suggested a different option. For Ladybug to use her yo-yo to shield Chat Noir until the moment was right for him to pounce in front of the akuma and deflect the beam back to himself.
The plan worked nicely. Façade Lifter no longer wanted to attack them. Getting the serving tray from him and releasing the akuma was easy at that point.
"Miraculous Ladybug!" she called, throwing the mirror up in the air. She glanced up where Rena Furtive was hiding and gave a nod. Rena waved and disappeared from sight.
"Pound it!" Viperion, Ladybug, and Chat Noir said, fist-bumping to celebrate their success.
Viperion cleared his throat. "I uh, I have to talk to you both before we leave. Is that alright?"
Ladybug and Chat Noir exchanged looks.
"Sure," Chat replied.
Ladybug's eyebrows pinched together. "Did something happen?"
Viperion smiled reassuringly. "Everything's fine, but I need to talk to you both separately."
Her expression became even more concerned. "...Okay, I'll check in with everyone at the hotel and Chloe's butler then, you two can talk first."
Viperion nodded. Chat Noir gave his lady a small wave before both boys jumped up onto the rooftops and out of sight.
AN: Working hard on trying to get a chapter up a day. Unfortunately hit a block when trying to come up with an akuma idea, and then things became distracting so I couldn't put my focus on writing, otherwise I would've had this done sooner! Hope you enjoy it and will try getting another chapter up tomorrow c:
