Ladybug

Ladybug swung off in the direction of her next destination, the studio where Aurore and Mireille were preparing to go live with the forecasts for the next week. The two girls were busy chatting in the backstage area, having set up their own little lounge area in one corner. The backstage of the studio was poorly lit, making it easy for Ladybug to sneak up on the two friends.

"Aurore, Mireille," Ladybug whispered to them quietly to get their attention without anyone else noticing. The two of them looked at her surprised, opening their mouths to ask why she was there. "Sshh," Ladybug hushed, holding a finger to her lips. "Follow me outside, we need to talk."

Aurore and Mireille gave each other a confused look, then nodded at each other and followed Ladybug out to the back exit.

Once they were outside and concealed from prying eyes in the alleyway, Ladybug pulled out two boxes and held them out to the two girls. "Aurore Beauréal and Mireille Caquet, I am temporally granting you the Bee and Turtle miraculous respectively. You must use the powers they grant you to help me defeat the akuma and save the city. Once this mission is over, you will return the miraculous back to me. You can't tell anyone else your secret identities or you may endanger yourselves and your families."

The two girls nodded as they accepted the boxes. "What is the plan?" Aurore asked eagerly, a confident grin etched on her face.

"Your kwamis will tell you what the plan is and where to meet me," Ladybug told them. "Now, I need to go recruit a few other heroes for this fight." She pulled herself up and out of the alleyway, leaving the two girls behind as they opened up the boxes.

Her next destination was the Couffaine boathouse, where Juleka was on the top deck going over a few music sheets. Ladybug landed on the roof, startling the goth girl. "Juleka Couffaine, I am temporarily loaning you the tiger miraculous to help me save Paris from Hawkmoth," Ladybug said, holding the box containing the miraculous out to her. "Once the mission is over, you will need to return the miraculous back to me."

Juleka was speechless as she took the box from Ladybug, then looked at her and asked in a firm voice, "What am I supposed to do?"

"Your kwami will fill you in on the plan and where to meet me," Ladybug told her. "I have a few more things to take care of before we go after the akuma." After receiving a nod of confirmation from Juleka, Ladybug swung off to find her last pair of chosen heroes.

Thankfully, Ivan and Mylene were not that hard to find. After they saw the akuma attack, they headed straight to the boathouse to take shelter with their friends. Ladybug dropped off the Ox with Ivan and the Mouse with Mylene, quickly giving them the same instructions she had given the others. Now, she had one last person to recruit and the very thought of asking this person for help made Ladybug feel sick. She was going to have to ask Lila Rossi for help and lend her a miraculous.

Sabrina

"No." Barkk looked at Sabrina in disbelief, as the girl opened up one of the books she just took from the shelf and began taking notes as if there wasn't a magical creature floating in front of her.

The kwami couldn't believe the girl just said no to the chance to be a superhero with magical powers. "What do you mean no?" Barkk exclaimed quietly. "You get to be a superhero and save the city! You get to fight alongside Ladybug and Chat Noir!"

Setting her pen down, Sabrina looked up from the book at the kwami and gave her a cold glare. "Chloe thought of the same thing and look where it got her. She gained no respect from Ladybug nor Chat Noir, getting slowly pushed out by them to the point where her parents were akumatized by Hawkmoth, Ladybug didn't even ask her for help."

"And that justifies siding with Hawkmoth and mind controlling the entire city and exposing other heroes?" Barkk counters, her tone harshly. "Or revealing her identity to the public and exposing the Bee miraculous to Hawkmoth?"

Sabrina huffed and leaned back, crossing her arms defiantly. "That doesn't mean I'm just gonna change my mind and help Ladybug. I'm Chloe's best friend and I will never betray her."

"Are you really her friend though? I mean, I'm sure you have your moments where you feel like she truly values you, but Chloe uses you for everything she doesn't want to do herself," Barkk pointed out.

Sabrina let out an exasperated sigh, shaking her head. "Do you seriously think you are the first person to say that to me? No one understands how long Chloe has been there for me. When we first met, I was a nobody with no friends or purpose besides studying all the time." She cracked a small smile as she continued, "Then Chloe showed up in my life, asking me to do her math homework. I was so excited that someone was finally talking to me, I didn't even care that I was doing her homework for her. She would let me hang out more often, let me even borrow some of her designer clothes at times. She is more of a friend to me than anyone else, and taking that miraculous would be betraying her."

Barkk sighed, "But she was a hero before she fell. And no one made her side with Hawkmoth, that was all Chloe's own undoing. She made a choice to help others when in need, so can you. Hawkmoth used Chloe's own emotions against her and then used her anger to hurt others. Please help me protect those who can't protect themselves from falling to the same fate as her."

Sabrina remained silent for some time, staring at the collar sitting in the box. Then she took it and put it on, leaving the library with an excited Barkk in tow.

Adrien

Adrien picked up a metal pipe off of the ground and readied himself, holding it up in a defensive position. When the first thug rounded the corner, Adrien swung the pipe as hard as he could against the man's temple. The man's knees buckled, then suddenly he shattered into pixels falling to the ground. Words lit up in the corner of Adrien's vision: fifty xp gained.

Before Adrien could comprehend the meaning of it, the other two gang members ran around the man threw a knife at Adrien, the blade barely missing his right shoulder as the woman charged. Adrien swung his pipe hard again, catching her off guard as she had her fist swung back for a wicked right hook. She shattered into pixels just like the gang member before her, and immediately another xp increase flashed in the corner of his eye. The final member of the gang lunged forward as well, only to be dispatched as quickly as the others.

Adrien sagged against the wall in relief as Gamemaster's voice boomed over a hidden speaker, "Not bad, I expected you to fail this first challenge. I guess I will have to make the next challenge even harder!" Suddenly two more men appeared, suited up and equipped with anti-riot gear. "These riot troopers will give you a beat down for sure!"

Adrien found himself backing up against the wall again, holding his pipe up defensively again. He looked for an exit, but couldn't find any. Suddenly, the roof above the riot troopers caved down and crushed them into pixels. Alix landed on top of the rumble, a laser torch in her hands. "What up, noob?" she called out to Adrien with a smirk.

He stared at her, surprised by what just happened. "Alix? How —where —what just happened?"

She shrugged at him as she jumped down from the top of the rumble pile. "Some creepy dude was talking, I ripped this torch off of a robot, fought some aliens, blew up a building. Oh, I think I stole the declaration of Independence, but that's not important."

Adrien looked at her confused, "Huh?"

A loud explosion came from behind them and Alix looked at Adrien, her face deadpan, "Come with me if you want to live!"

Ladybug

She found the liar hiding in an alleyway five blocks from the school. Lila was looking the other way as Ladybug landed behind her. "Lila," she stated cooly, wanting to get this over with as fast as possible. "I need you to come with me and stop the akuma."

Lila glared at her, "Why would I help you stop the akuma? The people trapped in that building with it just ruined my life telling lies about me. Not to mention the akuma is also after me and I am not stupid enough to go back there."

Ladybug sighed, "I can loan you a miraculous temporarily. She pulled out the horse miraculous and showed it to her. "Lila Rossi, this is the Horse miraculous. In addition to giving you extra strength and protection, you will also have the power to create a portal to a location of your choosing. It is part of a back-up plan, should one of my recruits not come through."

Lila perked up as Ladybug explained the miraculous effects to her, then narrowed her eyes again. "But you will just take it away from me afterwards and I doubt you would even consider leaving it with me at all. I am gonna need some extra incentive to even consider helping you save those horrible people." Suddenly Lila smirked as her eyes lit up, "Here's the deal."

Lila told Ladybug her demands, causing the hero to frown and scowl. Ladybug sighed, "Fine, just hold your end of the deal."

Lila grinned at her, "Don't worry, Ladybug, My word is my bond. After all, I would never lie to you!" Ladybug rolled her eyes as she handed Lila the glasses. Once Lila was transformed, they left to meet up with the rest of the team.

Plagg

Hawkmoth grinned as Plagg backed away from him; the kwami only stopped when he got close to where he hit the energy field. "You, you, you piece of shit!" Plagg hissed at Hawkmoth. "How dare you abuse the powers of miraculous to attack innocent people."

"You mean the innocents who are immediately cured and healed by Ladybug with no memory of what happened to them," Hawkmoth retorted.

"It doesn't matter if Ladybug brought them back." Plagg snarled at Hawkmoth as he growled, " You killed them and there is no excuse for that."

"Not even to save a life that was ruined by the powers of the miraculous?" Hawkmoth asked, his hand gesturing to a cylinder casket at the end of the room. "To reunite a family once more?" He turned around and walked over to the cylinder, Plagg following him in a still angry-part curious mood. "The Peacock miraculous was damaged, but my wife didn't know about that. Now she is in a coma and I need the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous to bring her back."

The cylinder's lid slid back, revealing the person contained inside. Plagg gasped as he recognized the woman inside. It was the same woman that Plagg had seen in paintings around Agreste Mansion and was framed in pictures with Adrien. It was Emelie Agreste. But if she is in here and Hawkmoth said she is his wife…

Plagg whirled around to face Hawkmoth, paws crackling with forbidden cataclysmic energy. "What is wrong with you? All this time you neglected Adrien and kept him locked up because you two idiots tried to play god?"

Hawkmoth frowned, "You seem pretty concerned about Adrien's well being. Almost as if there is some kind of bond between you two. Perhaps Adrien is Chat Noir after all?"

Plagg sputtered out a retort, "Adrien? As Chat Noir? Pawlease, that kid is not Chat Noir. Not a chance," the kwami rebuffs as he continues on boldly, "Chat Noir is Adrien Agreste." Plagg's devious smirk turned into a look of horror when he realized what he just said as Hawkmoth grinned. The magical seal that protected a chosen miraculous wielder's identity was broken.