To Butterfly: We shall see…
To Rose Tiger: At this point Nadine is the only one who knows about Lila being Killer Bee. But at some point it probably would be a good idea for Chloe and Sabrina to tell the others about Lila's latest "lie."
AN: Before publishing this chapter I went back to look at reviews and realized that I didn't receive notifications for at least 3 of them. So if I don't actually respond to your review, that's probably why.
Killer Bee raced out of the alleyway, La Gymnaste hot on her heels. Before the three guards in front of the building knew what was happening, Killer Bee had already trapped the two directly in front of her in her top string. She swung them up off the ground and looped them around the streetlight bar. One flailed with his leg, kicking the light and plunging the street into darkness, before they crashed down to the ground as Killer Bee released the string's hold on them. One struck his head on the sidewalk with a wet thud. The other landed with his leg at an unnatural angle, screaming in agony. Meanwhile, La Gymnaste had already taken advantage of the other guard's distraction to smack him in the back of the head with her collapsible staff. He pitched forward into the street, hitting his head on a parked car.
"Stay here and keep an eye out!" Killer Bee instructed, looping her top around the topmost balcony railing.
"You can count on me, Killer Bee!" La Gymnaste replied, popping an eager salute.
Killer Bee pulled on her string and launched into the air, rocketing upward. Less than a meter from the balcony she released the string and spun into a flip which carried her over the railing to land catlike on the balcony, bending her knees as she did so to avoid making any noise. She carefully peered through the sheer curtain to see the room beyond darkened with the lights out. If her informants were correct, this was Andretti's children's room. She flicked a pocketknife out of her top's tip, slid it into the doorjamb, and popped the latch free. The door slid open with a faint creak, and she winced. However, the only sound she heard in the room was that of soft breathing. She let out a relieved breath. The children waking up was the last thing she needed. Her miraculous-enhanced vision and the thin slit of light coming in under the hallway door allowed her to navigate the dark room easily.
She froze with her hand on the door. She could just barely hear the soft padding of footsteps in the hallway. A shadow passed in front of the door. Killer Bee slunk back behind the door as it slowly pushed open. A woman's head poked into the room: Andretti's wife. She looked at the two beds fondly before her eyes swept the rest of the room. She was just about to shut the door again when her eyes settled on Killer Bee. Her eyes widened in shock and she opened her mouth to scream.
Quick as lightning Killer Bee darted forward and clamped her hand over the woman's mouth, dragging her backward into the room and pulling her into her chest, pinning the woman's arms to her sides. Killer Bee wrapped one arm around her neck and squeezed tightly with her elbow, exactly the way that Le Tirreur had shown her. The woman struggled weakly for a minute before she finally succumbed to the lack of oxygen and passed out. Killer Bee slowly released her and slid her down to rest with her back against the bedroom wall. She slipped through the door and out into the hallway, closing it softly behind her.
"Maria?" a man's voice called from the bedroom at the far end of the hallway. "How are the children?"
"Your children are fine," Killer Bee replied as she stepped into the bedroom to find Andretti lying on the bed in his night robe, a glass of water in one hand and a book in the other.
Andretti slowly rose to his feet, a raised eyebrow his only indication of surprise at her presence in his apartment. He idly stroked the back of his light green pinky ring with his thumb as he examined her. "Did the Lynchpin send you?"
"What do you think?" Killer Bee stalked closer, spinning her top casually to one side.
"My kids?"
"Still asleep in bed."
"And my wife?"
Killer Bee scoffed. "She'll have a headache when she wakes up, but she'll wake up."
Andretti nodded. "I suppose you want my gratitude for sparing my family? In the old country they would not show such mercy."
"No, they would not," Killer Bee agreed. "Good thing for you I'm not Mafia. Although you have tried our patience: I wouldn't be here if you had just accepted any one of our offers."
"This has been my family's territory and business for two generations," Andretti retorted, eyes narrowing. "I will not submit to some upstart who appeared from nowhere last year!"
Killer Bee arched an eyebrow at him. "Isn't that where all the families came from? Nowhere? They just got their start sooner. What makes us any different?"
"I paid my dues to get where I am," replied Andretti, chin jutting out arrogantly. "Where is your Lynchpin? Why should anyone respect or follow him when he has never gotten his own hands dirty?"
"Who says the Lynchpin hasn't?" Killer Bee darted forward, muttering "Venom" under her breath.
"I have never seen this Lynchpin before!" Andretti declared. "If he wishes to take my family's foothold here, he can face me himself, not send a child to do his dirty work! Zapp, Char–"
The top throbbed in Killer Bee's hand, and she stabbed it into Andretti's chest before he could finish the sentence. "The Lynchpin says, 'hi,'" she told him with a snort as he froze stock-still, an expression of surprise plastered across his face. A light green Kwami with a protruding mouth and nose phased out of the top drawer of Andretti's nightstand, its eyes wide open in shock, mouth clamped tightly shut. "Now that's interesting," Killer Bee murmured, examining Andretti more closely. Her eyes settled on his pinky ring, and she slid it off his finger. The Kwami disappeared into the ring, and Killer Bee slipped it into a pouch on her waist.
Andretti's unblinking eyes stared up at her reproachfully.
Killer Bee let out a quiet breath: mission accomplished. She grabbed Andretti and slung him over her shoulder before turning to check the rest of the room. Seeing nothing out of place, she crossed to the balcony door and threw it open. As she looped her top around the balcony railing, she frowned: she could just make out the sound of fighting from the ground. Below her, La Gymnaste appeared to be dueling against a figure in yellow and black who had to be Sent-Bee. And from the high-pitched barking, Sent-Bee had brought the mutt with her, too.
A part of her was tempted to just leave and finish the mission. She had what she needed: she had Andretti. And she had found another miraculous. And Nadine had done what she's brought her along to do. She'd watched for Killer Bee so the Heroes couldn't sneak up on her and stop her.
But Killer Bee wasn't going to miss out on a chance to kick Chloe Bourgeois' ass when it presented itself.
Killer Bee leapt from the balcony, Andretti over her shoulder, and rode her top string to the ground. She dropped Andretti on the grass verge next to the sidewalk where she would remember him. "Time to give you the beating you deserve, Bourgeois!" she shouted, springing forward and throwing her top at Sent-Bee's head.
Sent-Bee ducked a swing from La Gymnaste's staff and looked over when Killer Bee shouted. The top missed wrapping around her neck by centimeters, and Killer Bee had to retract it immediately to avoid garroting her own teammate. "I'm going to wipe that smug look off your face where you stand, thief!" Sent-Bee retorted. She sprang back away from a kick that Killer Bee aimed at her head, and threw her yo-yo around Killer Bee's ankle. Killer Bee jerked her leg back, and Sent-Bee stumbled forward. La Gymnaste stuck her staff under Sent-Bee's foot, and she nearly fell to the ground.
So intent was Killer Bee on Sent-Bee that she never saw when the other figure joined the fight. Something hit her in the shoulder, breaking her concentration. She fell sideways and tumbled into a cartwheel, springing back to her feet and twisting in midair to face a stranger wearing a blue dress and holding a blue fan.
"Take care of the new girl!" the newcomer shouted. "I've got Killer Bee!" With that she dropped into a fighting stance, holding the fan spread in front of her face, covering all but one eye.
"Oh, you think you've got me?" taunted Killer Bee, scoffing derisively. "We'll see about that!" She threw her top at the new hero, who nimbly spun away, batting the top into the ground with her fan. The new hero raced forward, cutting the distance between them down to almost nothing in a moment and aiming a punch at Killer Bee's head. Killer Bee blocked the strike with her arm and counterattacked with a sequence of punches and kicks. The newcomer blocked several blows, ducked under a kick, and countered with a kick of her own that Killer Bee jumped backward to avoid.
Across the street, Killer Bee could see La Gymnaste being steadily beaten back under a furious onslaught from Sent-Bee. She swung her staff at Sent-Bee's head, but she ducked, pulling La Gymnaste off-balance. Sent-Bee spun around and kicked La Gymnaste in the chest, knocking her backward. She tripped over the uneven sidewalk, reached back, and caught herself on one hand, turning the fall into a series of backward one-handed cartwheels ending with an aerial cartwheel, narrowly avoiding repeated sprays of Sent-Bee's synth-Venom. La Gymnaste landed with her staff held to one side in a flourish. Sent-Bee threw her yo-yo at La Gymnaste, who caught the string around her staff and jerked it out of Sent-Bee's hands. Her second yo-yo was in her hands in a flash.
"What's your boss's plan here tonight?" the new hero demanded, leaping over Killer Bee and aiming a kick at the back of her head. Killer Bee dove forward and brought up her top in a shield, deflecting the flying fan away from herself and back to the newcomer's hand.
"What do you think we want?" Killer Bee retorted. "We just want peace! Same as you, right?"
The newcomer scoffed, ducking a punch from Killer Bee as she did so. "And I'm sure taking over the arrondissement and its drug business is just a bonus?"
Killer Bee shrugged. "What can I say? Everyone needs a hobby!" Her lips curled into a smirk: she feinted a punch to the right, and when the newcomer moved to avoid the punch she caught her top string around the new hero's arm. Her eyes widened as Killer Bee jerked her forward and punched her hard in the face, twice. She stumbled backward, blinking in shock, clutching her nose.
"Duchesse!" shouted Sent-Bee from the other side of the street. She shot a glob of her synth-Venom at La Gymnaste, who dove to the side and barely avoided it, and raced over to Killer Bee. Her dog barked excitedly and nipped at La Gymnaste's ankles, holding her rooted in place under the streetlight and preventing her from helping Killer Bee. La Gymnaste swiped halfheartedly at the dog with her staff, keeping it at bay. Sent-Bee threw a yo-yo at Killer Bee's head, batting aside the top she'd thrown. "You will regret that!"
Duchesse had by then recovered and fixed Killer Bee with a penetrating glare. "We are going to stop you!"
Killer Bee's eyes darted between the two heroes in concern. Her miraculous was beeping, indicating no more than three minutes left. With two of them facing off against her and La Gymnaste, the odds were no longer in her favor. Groaning in frustration, she looped her top around Andretti and pulled his immobilized body to herself. She next caught her top around a projection from the roof of the closest building and pulled herself up. La Gymnaste was staring up at her in surprise. Killer Bee hesitated for a moment, then smacked her forehead in realization: if she left La Gymnaste behind, it was all over! The two heroes would explain everything to her, and Nadine would tell them her identity! Without further hesitation, Killer Bee threw her top down to La Gymnaste, who grabbed onto it and allowed Killer Bee to haul her up to the roof.
"We did what we came here to do!" Killer Bee told her, grabbing her around the waist and throwing her over her other shoulder. "Now it's time to get out of here!"
AN: Any guesses what (Atlantean) Miraculous that was?