Disclaimer: Don't own and never will.

"This is so cool!" Alya said excitedly as they walked home. "I knew that this place was being built, but I had no idea that I'd actually get to go there without sneaking in!"

"Sneaking in?" Marinette asked, raising an eyebrow and Alya blushed.

"Well I wasn't able to attend the opening ceremony," she said ruefully. "I had the flu, remember?"

Marinette winced sympathetically. She could remember listening to a dosed up Alya on the phone rambling about how awesome red was and how capes were cool. (She DID manage to get Alya to go back to bed eventually though.)

"Well at least Nino was able to film it for you," Marinette said reassuringly and Alya sighed.

"Yeah. He's the best, but I still wish that I'd been able to make it."

"Still, sneaking in?" Marinette asked, raising an eyebrow and Alya grinned.

"Hey, I'm a reporter for the Ladyblog! It's my duty to report on all things Ladybug related!"

"I don't think that your parents would be pleased if you got arrested," Marinette said in a deadpan voice and Alya rolled her eyes.

"I wasn't going to get arrested," she protested half-heartedly, before her eyes lit up. "Oooh, I wonder what Ladybug and Chat Noir think of this place? Maybe I should ask Lila."

Marinette internally winced. The last thing she needed was Lila spreading more of her lies about Ladybug.

"I don't know Alya- '' Marinette began uncertainly. "I mean, I'm not sure that Ladybug and Chat Noir have really talked about it with anyone. I don't think that they'd want to give Hawkmoth ideas."

"Well it can't hurt to ask," Alya said and Marinette internally winced once more. Maybe she should make a statement as Ladybug about this. Which meant having to visit Alya as Ladybug tonight and potentially getting dragged into an interview. And she had homework to catch up on as well!

Still, she couldn't just leave it up to Lila to spread yet more lies. It was bad enough that everyone seemed to believe Lila's ridiculous lies without question, but allowing her to spread those lies and damage the Ladyblog further (and cement Lila's hold in Paris further. Why did nobody else realise that she was lying?) That was only going to make the problem worse.

If only she had spoken to Alya as Ladybug first and not Adrien, this would have been resolved by now.

The two girls went their separate ways as they reached the bakery.

"Hi Marinette!" Sabine said cheerfully as her daughter walked in. "How was school today?"

"It was okay. We're going to the new Miraculous Research Centre for a school trip," she said, handing over the permission slip. Sabine chuckled.

"I bet Alya was thrilled to hear that," she said and Marinette nodded.

"It is Alya," Marinette said with a shrug. "I've got homework so..."

"Go ahead dear," Sabine said as she turned her attention to a group of newly arrived customers.

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"It won't help, you know," Lila said with a smirk as she looked in the mirror. "All that screaming and crying...nobody can hear you."

She was met with only silence. She smirked even harder.

"You know it too, don't you?" she continued as she began to remove her makeup. "You're just wasting your time and energy. Why not just enjoy the ride? You've gotten everything that you wanted, didn't you? Popularity, friends, everything."

"This isn't friendship,"

"You have an audience for your stories. No bullies putting you down all the time. People actually want to listen to your silly stories about saving Jagged Stone's kitten and being best friends with Ladybug and actually mattering at all."

"This wasn't what I wanted and you know it!"

"How else did you think that this was going to happen? Your own parents can't even be bothered with you? Why did you think that anyone else would care?"

"Marinette knows."

A scowl crossed Lila's face.

"Yes, little Miss Goody-Two-Shoes knows. I can't understand why. Everyone else believes me."

"Your lies went too far though, didn't they? They were too extravagant, too exaggerated, too ridiculous."

"Hah!" She grinned widely as she looked her reflection in the eye. "Too extravagant? They believed me when I said that I said that I saved Jagged Stone's kitten. They thought that I could be pushed down a flight of stairs with only a slightly bruised leg as the outcome. They even believed that I had a lying disorder and I'm still believed!" She paused for a moment as she removed a particularly stubborn piece of makeup. "No, she knows something."

"She's probably just immune to your lies."

"It doesn't matter what she thinks anyway. Everyone else believes me an-"

"Adrien doesn't."

"What?"

"Adrien doesn't. You know that he doesn't."

A scowl crossed Lila's face.

"I had him eating out of the palm of my hand! If Ladybug hadn't intervened…" She paused and took a deep breath. "Well everyone else believes in me anyway. And that's all that matters."

"Do you really think that Adrien is going to just let you turn the class against her? Or Alya? You really pushed the boundaries there, didn't you?"

"Adrien is too nice to do anything against me. Living with that father of his really helped. Anyone else would have tried to expose me after that little talk with Ladybug. But Adrien? He's had to find ways of avoiding confrontation at all costs. Don't rock the boat, don't push back against fans. He won't even tell Chloé Bourgeois that she's too pushy. And Alya still believes everything that I say." She smirked once more. "Do you really think that either of them is going to stop me? Not even Marinette could while I was away. Do you really think that they can stop me now that I'm here and my influence is even bigger?"

"If he doesn't matter, why did you agree to his deal?"

Lila laughed.

"You like him. You think that he's cute and nice." She paused and looked her reflection in the eye. "You used to drool over posters of him when you were back in Italy. You even fantasized about becoming his girlfriend when you heard that you were coming to Paris. Days and days of thinking that you would somehow get lucky. And then you found out that he was going to the same school as him. You were practically ecstatic."

"I didn't want it to be like this."

"You said yes."

"You lied to me."

"Don't be so melodramatic. I gave you what you wanted. I threw in Adrien as a bonus. You should be grateful really. I didn't have to."

"I know that you want him for yourself. That's the only reason you haven't gone against him."

"Guilty as charged!" Lila said with a laugh and then there was silence.

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"I still don't see why I'm the one who has to do this," Doctor Emma Clark said with a hint of annoyance, her brown eyes flashing.

"I have told you," Doctor Lucian Bernard said in a long suffering voice. "Mayor Bourgeois thinks that it would be in both our interests to show the city of Paris what we're doing. Already, there are protests about our work studying the ongoing crisis, claiming that we're exploiting the victims of akumatizations. And Director Durand agrees with him."

"I know that," she said plaintively. "What I don't understand is why you want my team to be their guides. Surely Doctor Jacob's team or Doctor Abel's or even Doctor Davidson's team could do a better job!"

"Doctor Jacob's team is in the middle of a time-sensitive experiment that will not wait. The day of the tours coincides with the culmination of their work. Doctor Davidson's team are busy taking interviews from the latest akumatized victim and Doctor Abel's team are heading towards the outskirts of Paris to gather the data they recorded from Ladybug's latest Miraculous Cure. Some of their instruments appear to have been damaged and haven't recorded anything." He paused and looked straight at her. "Yours is the only team that is free."

"Only because the delivery company managed to damage our equipment in transit," she replied, her voice still hinting at the frustration he had no doubt she felt. Doctor Bernard resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Look, I know that it's a nuisance having to jump to the whims of Mayor Bourgeois, but the Director thinks that it's better to work with him than against him." He paused and looked at her. "Look, it's only one day and the groups are small and old enough to not need constant supervision. And their teachers will be there to assist you of course."

"Teenagers have the highest rate of akumatisations of any age group," Doctor Clark pointed out and Doctor Bernard sighed.

"Yes, I am well aware of that. That is why we have classes of teenagers and not young children coming here. Apparently, Mayor Bourgeois thinks that as the group most likely to be affected, they are the ones who deserve to know."

Doctor Clark sighed and Doctor Bernard assumed that she had run out of possible objections.

"It's only for one day. Then the education facility can take over again," he said and Doctor Clark sighed.

"I'm not exactly great with kids," she said and Doctor Bernard shrugged.

"You don't have to be," he said. "Just show them around, answer their questions and let their teachers handle the rest."

"Very well. See you later," she said and the two of them left the building.