Romantica was so busy twirling around her classroom and clutching a picture of Principal Damocles to her chest that she didn't even notice the heroes arriving. It wasn't until Juleka cleared her throat that the villainess abruptly stopped and turned around.

"Oh," Romantica said, slightly blushing. "You, um, you caught me at a bad time, I'm afraid. My love and I were just dancing. Isn't he just dreamy?" She held out the picture and swooned.

Juleka and Rose both turned slightly green. "I mean, if you're into that?" Juleka said with a shrug. She started reaching for her yoyo. "Now, let's…"

"Stop! Right! There!"

Everyone froze as Rose pointed dramatically. She was standing with one hand on her hip and her legs were spread. She shot her left arm across her body. "You think you can capture and imprison innocents because of the love in your heart?"

"What?" Romantica asked, confused.

"Oh no," Juleka muttered.

She brought her knee up and swung her arms over her head. "True love is something to be shared, admired, and most of all, set free!"

She brought her foot down in a commanding stance and brought her hands up beside her face. She turned them sideways and spread her fingers, jazz-hand style. "I am La Femme Noire! Champion of love and justice!"

She then pointed at Romantica, both finger-guns blazing. "And in the name of love, I will punish you!"

The room was dead quiet.

From the side, Aurore started to clap.

"Right," Rose said as she quickly grabbed for the staff at her side. She extended it and started twirling it just as Romantica started shooting a plume of flame at her.

"I'll hold her off," Rose yelled. "You get the akuma!"

Juleka winked. "You got it, partner!"

Juleka dove off to the side and threw her yoyo to catch Romatica's legs, but the akumatized teacher was too fast for her. She jumped on top of a desk and shot a second plume of flame from her other wrist-burner.

Juleka yelped and rolled out of the way before she popped up off to the side by the supply closet. She glanced at it, and then smiled.

"Hey!" Rose yelled. "Let's see how you handle someone my size!" Rose sprinted forward and swung her staff at Romantica, but the teacher dodged and punched her in the stomach. Rose was sent flying backwards as Romantica took aim with her burners.

"Looks like your romantic flame dies out, today!" She cackled.

Suddenly, a yellow box flew across the room. It collided with Romantica and exploded in a cloud of thick white powder.

"Bleah!" Romantica coughed. She waved her hand in front of her face to clear the air. "What, what is this? What did you do? Eh, no matter." She pointed at Rose. "Die, little pussy cat!"

Rose cringed, but nothing happened.

Romantica stood still for a moment before noticing that the flame on the end of her burner had gone out.

"Baking soda," Juleka called out. "You've got a lot of it right here in your supply closet."

"That works on a magical fire?" Rose asked.

Juleka shrugged. "I mean, sure?"

"Huh," Romantica said, looking at her dead burner. "Um, could someone hand me a lighter? You there," she said, pointing to the group of students huddled in the corner. "Boy with the glasses. Bring me a ball lighter. I… Oh dear."

Juleka jumped across the room and crashed right into Romantica, decking her in the jaw. The teacher went flying as Rose propelled herself forward with her staff and landed a flying kick right in Romantica's stomach.

The teacher doubled over in pain as Juleka took the necklace from her neck and crushed it in her hand.

The heroes waited, but nothing came out.

"Did you do it right?" Rose asked.

Juleka shrugged. "I mean, I thought I did? I dunno."

"FOOLS!" Romantica cried out. She clicked a ball lighter she had grabbed from a desk drawer. After the third try, a small blue flame lit on her burners.

"Better," she said.

Romantica turned around and shot two huge torrents of flame at the unsuspecting girls. Juleka stepped forward and blocked the blasts with her spinning yoyo. Romantica cackled and increased the size of the flames. "Did you really think I could be defeated that easily?"

"Kinda, yeah," Juleka said as she buckled slightly under the immense heat form the flame throwers. The plastic sides of the chemistry tables beside her were starting to curl and melt, and the cabinets lining the walls were turning black.

Juleka glanced up at the sprinkler system. 'Why haven't those gone off yet?' She wondered. She looked around and saw that the ceiling pipe has actually been squeezed shut.

'Okay, yeah. I'm screwed,' Juleka thought. The heat from the fire was overwhelming, but she kept her yoyo spinning. 'Come on, Rose!'

Rose looked around in a panic. "Okay, it wasn't the necklace, so it has to be…" She spotted the photo. "Of course!"

Meanwhile, Romantica was nearly on top of Juleka. "So, dearie. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Juleka was panting on the floor, exhausted. Romantica was grinning until her flame sputtered and abruptly died out, giving Juleka a much-needed break.

"Dang it," Romantica said. "One sec, hon. I think my line came out." She started fiddling with a tube on her wrist. "Silly things just pop out at the drop of a hat, don't they? That's why you should always keep an eye on them. Better to be safe than sorry, I always say."

"Yeah," Juleka said, covered in sweat from the heat. "I say… Lucky charm!"

Juleka threw the yoyo into the air. A red marker came down.

Juleka stared at it for a moment. "What? What is this? This isn't my thing!" She yelled. "I am not a problem solver! Just give me a sword or a hammer or something!"

"Wait," Romantica said. She hesitantly reached for the marker and took it from Juleka's hands.

"This is just like the marker we were using the night… The night he told me he loved me."

Juleka blinked. "What now?"

"We were grading papers together," Romantica said, her attention still on the marker. "He was watching me struggle, as my hands hurt sometimes from arthritis, so he came up behind me and put his hand over mine, and together, we graded every single paper in my class. That was when I knew… He was the one for me."

"Oh," Juleka said. "That's kinda sweet."

"This marker led to our torrid affair," Romantica continued. "Late night rendezvous by the snack machine, scandalous meet-ups in the locker room, a night of wild passion on a cluttered desk… This was the start of it all. He's the oxygen to my hydrogen. Alone, we are but elements, but together, we are something greater!"

"Oh wow!" Rose said from beside her. "That is the sweetest thing! You poor dear. Oh yeah," she held up the picture. "Cataclysm," she said. The picture dissolved in her hand, and a purple butterfly floated out.

"Do your thing, sweetie!" Rose cried.

"Right!" Juleka said. She quickly captured the akuma and purified it. Then, she took the marker from the now-dejected Romantica. "Hey," she said to the forlorn teacher. "Like, keep your chin up. If it's true love, then isn't that worth the risk?"

"I guess so," Romantica said in a small voice. She slumped to her knees. "Now I just need him to see that."

Rose crouched down bedside her and winked. "No, you need to make him see that."

Juleka tossed the marker in the air. A swarm of Ladybugs washed over the school and the classroom.

La Femme Noire stood and turned to Dame De Sang and held out her fist. "Pound it?"

Juleka grinned at her as they bumped fists. "Pound it!"

"It's open."

Juleka opened the door to the tiny, cluttered office that was Caline's and stepped inside. Caline was looking over a stack of papers that Juleka recognized as their abandoned history exams.

"Hey," Juleka said with a wave.

Caline looked up and smiled. "Hey, kiddo. You did so great out there today!" She got up and came around her desk to hug the surprised Juleka.

"Um, thanks." She hugged her back. "I'm glad we could help."

Caline stepped back and grinned at the tall goth. "I am so proud of you! And I'm sorry for having to put that on you, especially at such short notice."

"It's cool," Juleka said. She handed the miraculous earrings and ring to Caline. "The cat kwami isn't too happy with me, though."

Caline shrugged. "He'll get over it. Little bit of cheese and he'll be back to normal."

Juleka glanced at Caline's desk and a small folder of crumpled papers stacked by their tests. "Are those our worksheets?"

Clane glanced behind her. "Yeah. I found them crumpled and under my desk of all places. It looked like someone had sat on them. I'm going to flatten them out and hand them out tomorrow. No sense in running more copies."

Juleka nodded and glanced around the office. She admittedly didn't come here that often, as in, never. "Wow," she murmured. "You've got a lot of hero posters."

Caline went to her hot plate and started warming a small tin kettle. "I collect them. I buy them from a local merchant that donates part of the proceeds to charities to help akumatized people."

"Cool," Juleka said. She saw posters of Ladybug, Chloé, Chat Noir…

"You don't have a Mamabug poster?" Juleka asked.

Caline shook her head. "To be honest? I'm not too much into self-promotion."

Real talk. She didn't need to collect anything. See, while she didn't have any Mamabug stuff, Chloé did. In fact, the blonde had a small shrine of posters, figurines, collectibles, and other toys all dedicated to the jacket-clad hero. There was even a Funko of her, which was freaking adorable.

Caline had the Queen Bee one. It too was adorable.

"Yeah, but you're, like, pretty badass," Juleka said.

"And yet, I was not the one who saved the day today," Caline pointed out. "Is Rose doing okay?"

Juleka nodded. "Yeah, she's fine. She was a little sore that she had to give back the ring, but other than that, she's okay."

Caline took her kettle off its plate and poured out some hot water. "Cocoa?"

"No thanks," Juleka said. "So, is Ms. Mendeleiev okay? She seemed pretty broken up about, um, dating our principal?"

Juleka shuddered. She believed that people should be able to love as they saw fit. She also happened to think the two of them together were just gross, but that was more of a personal opinion.

"She's better. We found Principal Damocles tied up in his Owl costume in his office. Apparently, he had changed and was going to come help, but he captured himself while doing a dramatic pose. They've talked."

"Um, so, they're good?"

Caline nodded. "Very good. They've agreed to take things slow and only see each other outside of school."

Juleka nodded. "Well, that's a step in the right direction. Maybe now they'll stop messing around on people's desks."

Caline snickered. "One can only hope. Hey. You were a real hero today. Both of you were."

"Like, seriously, it was no big deal." Juleka said, blushing.

"It was a big deal to the kids you saved," Caline said. "You've got something. Both of you do. I don't know what the future holds, but I'd be lucky to have a hero like you in my corner."

Juleka's blush deepened. "Um, thanks, Ms. B. Uh, I have to go. I promised I'd meet Rose for dinner."

"Of course! Get out of here. See your girl. Shoo." Caline waved her off with a smile.

Juleka was about to leave, but then she paused. "Um, hey. Can I ask something?"

"Sure," Caline said as she settled back into her chair, her My Ranch, My Rules mug now steaming in her hands.

"Why'd you pick me?" Juleka asked. "I mean, there were other couples. And Nathaniel and Marc are really in sync."

"True," Caline said. "But, I've seen the extent to which your feelings for each other run. I still remember that time Rose took over the school just because she thought you asked another person to a dance."

Juleka looked away in embarrassment. "That was a while ago."

"You two are like yin and yang," Caline said. "You seem so different, but also completely alike. You two have a good bond, and I was counting on that to be enough." She gestured towards Juleka with her mug. "And apparently, I was right."

Juleka smiled. "Yeah. I guess you were."

Caline smiled back. "Now, get out of here. I've got some jewelry to drop off and some kids to feed."

Juleka opened the door. "Cool. Say thanks to Marinette and Adrien for me."

Caline snorted. "I will. Now skedaddle."

Juleka left, gently closing the door behind her. Caline settled in and picked up the worksheets to smooth them out.

She stared at them for a moment as Juleka's words came back to her.

"GAAAAAAH!" Caline screamed as she threw the activity sheets across her office as if they were covered in bugs. She scrambled for the hand sanitizer dispenser on the corner of her desk and frantically pumped a huge glob out. "DAMMIT, PHILECE!"

Notes:

This was going to be two chapters, but the fight itself was pretty short in my opinion, so I slipped in some extra with Juleka and Caline.

Only one or two threads left to tie up before the next arc.

NEXT TIME...

Talking.

So much talking.

You had your action. There's more later, but I know what you came here for. Yeah. Now it's time for some HOT! CHARACTER! DEVELOPMENT!

See characters discuss their feelings!

See couples come to mutual understandings!

Come for the conversations, stay for the resolutions!

All this and... Well, that's it. Really, we're on a down-swing until the next arc.

Tomorrow! Same...

Chloe: FUCKING STOP IT!

...BugTimeSameBugChannel!

Chloe: GET BACK HERE!