So... school happened. :/
Also, you know that popular fanon trope that LB/CN are fated to be romantic partners? Not in this story. just. getting that out there. yeah.
Five years prior:
… But the brave princess did not falter. Triana clutched her sword tighter as flames licked the rock behind her, heat filling her nostrils and making her cheeks burn. The fire was extinguished as quickly as it had appeared, the hiss of melting stone replaced by a harsh laugh which echoed through the cavern and sent a chill down her spine. The ground beneath her feet shook as the dragon took another step forward. "Surrender now, girl. Your attempts to save him are entertaining, but futile, and I'm tiring of this game."
Triana took a deep breath and closed her eyes, picturing the face of her beloved prince to steady her nerves. Then she stepped out from behind the rock and glared into the dragon's eyes, raising the jewel up as she shouted -
"Scoot over, Becky, you're hogging the couch."
Becky glared up at her brother over her novel. "There's plenty of room," she retorted, but she moved over anyway. TJ flopped down on the space she'd cleared and grabbed the TV remote on the arm of the couch. The screen flickered on, displaying an action shot of the city's new superheroes which was immediately replaced by the two of them seated for an interview.
TJ gasped and fumbled with the remote. "It's starting!" he exclaimed, turning up the volume. "Quiet everyone!" Becky rolled her eyes at him, but stuck her bookmark back in place and set her novel down to watch.
"… for an exclusive interview!" A brown-haired man with a bright smile and a woman with auburn hair and gentle eyes waved briefly at the camera. Clad in their respective superhero outfits and sitting ramrod straight, they looked awkwardly out-of-place on the plush sofa normally used for morning talk shows and interviews with important people in suits. The blond reporter across from them, however, seemed perfectly comfortable as he cleared his throat and glanced down at something white in his hand - presumably his notes.
"So, Cat Noir," he said, directing his question to the man in black. The camera zoomed in on the duo as he spoke. "Ladybug's name is pretty obvious, but yours - why the French?"
"Ah, well, I thought it had a rather nice ring to it," the man replied with a grin. He held up his hand briefly, just long enough for Becky to catch a glimpse of a black ring with green glowing dots on it arranged in a cir- oh, a paw print. Of course.
The heroine next to him rolled her eyes. "It's because the last hero who used this miraculous used a similar name, and it caught on in Freeport City before he had a chance to choose something else."
The reporter seemed confused. "Miraculous?"
Ladybug grimaced - she must've not meant to use the word. "What gives us our powers."
"Ah. And if your partner's miraculous is a ring, yours is…"
"No comment," she said quickly, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind her - no, she loosened more of her bangs so they obscured her ear and part of her face. Hadn't she been wearing earrings?
The interviewer seemed not to notice the movement, though, as he turned back to Cat Noir. "So you would rather be called something different?"
The man shrugged. "Nah, I don't mind paying homage to the French. Reminds me of the legacy I'm inheriting and all that jazz." He grinned. "Plus, I've been rather fond of them since my college study abroad. They have the best food over there - especially cheese," he added. "The French sure know their cheeses." Ladybug let out a snort and leaned back into the sofa cushion.
TJ leaned over to Becky as the reporter shuffled a few cards around. "Homage?"
"Honor or respect," she replied automatically.
"Many citizens have noticed that you two have seemed familiar with each other since your debut. Do the two of you know each other's identities?"
Cat Noir grinned and slung an arm around the woman's shoulders casually. "We're siblings, actually!"
"Cat," she hissed, waving him away and shooting him a glare which simply got an apologetic shrug as a response. She rearranged her face into a polite smile again. "And for the record, I may not look it, but I'm the older one." Her brother's eyes widened at her betrayal. She looked absolutely smug.
The interviewer looked more than amused at their antics, but by the time he turned back to the camera he'd returned to his usual practiced smile. "Stay tuned, we'll be back with more questions for the heroes of Fair City, right after this!"
The news station logo flashed across the screen, then cut to a clip of an old man wearing a crisp suit. Becky groaned as he held up a white cube and began his usual vague monologue about the useless product. "Can you mute this? Please?"
TJ obliged, then turned to his sister, grinning widely. "They're so cool," he said. "I wish I had a Miraculous of my own!"
Becky smiled - his excitement was contagious. "Well, they are siblings… guess that means I'd be Ladybug, and -"
"Uh, no," TJ said immediately. "You're not cool enough. I'm Ladybug, and Johnson can be Cat Noir."
Becky scoffed. "Whatever. Who am I supposed to be, then? Hawkmoth?"
"No, Bob's Hawkmoth. You can be an akuma." She heard Bob chuckle from behind the kitchen counter and made a mental note of the betrayal.
"I don't want to be an akuma!" Becky snapped, growing irritated.
"Great, you're already acting the part!" TJ grinned and stood up. "Hey Bob, are there any snacks over there?"
Becky crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at her brother's back, unable to come up with a satisfactory comeback.
•••
Present day:
"Have you seen the news, Leslie?"
Leslie tapped her fingers on her clipboard as she watched her boss rise from his chair. He folded his arms behind his back and turned to the panoramic view behind him, cutting a powerful silhouette against the city skyline. Though intimidating to most people who met with the businessman, the image had ceased to impress her years ago.
"Cat Noir's back?" she said, repeating the headline that dominated the TV during her lunch break. It was surprising that he hadn't called her in earlier.
"Yes! As soon as I draw this new hero out, I can finally complete my ultimate plan." He punctuated his words with a triumphant clench of his fist.
Leslie frowned. "Ah yes, the… ultimate plan."
"No, not that one, Leslie. The other plan."
"Ah, that ultimate plan."
"Precisely."
"Are you certain, sir?"
He turned to face her completely, looking confused. "Well, yes. I was close before, and -"
"I mean, are you certain he's a hero? He hasn't shown up to a battle yet."
Her boss hummed. "You know what, Leslie? Cat Noir hasn't shown up to a battle yet. It could be fake, or better yet, he could be on my side!"
"Clever observation, sir," she said, rolling her eyes when he turned back to the window.
"Thank you, Leslie. Now, if only we had some way to find out whether he was the real deal…"
"I believe you do, sir."
"That's right, I do!" He adjusted his tie and suit coat. "Clear my afternoon, Leslie. It's time to set a trap for a cat. A cat trap, if you will." He chuckled. "Oh, I am too clever sometimes."
The rustling of butterfly wings and the man's drawn-out evil cackle escorted her from the room.
•••
Moments later, at the city jail…
Maybe it was just the mouse brain, but Doctor Two-Brains had never minded staying in jail very much. Free food, time to develop new schemes, and there were always at least a few acquaintances of his in the surrounding cells if he got tired of talking to his henchmen - all in all, a welcome break from the usual grind. It also probably helped that he was never truly trapped there; yes, the jail incorporated some of his own akuma-proof technology, but there wasn't much they could do to confine someone like him. He'd play nice for as long as he felt like, and if a new scheme or valuable cheese exhibit beckoned before his time was up… well, if he had to spend a few extra weeks in community service, c'est la vie.
His second brain throbbed slightly as it sensed Hawkmoth's magic reaching out to him, weak through the jail's protection but still there. He didn't even blink as the glowing outline of a butterfly mask appeared over his face. "I just got to prison, you know," he said immediately, voice echoing around the bare cell. "Can't a man catch a break?"
"So I take it you haven't heard the news?"
Two-Brains glanced towards the small TV sitting outside his cell, entertaining the guard on duty. An ad for Big Industries was playing; even without Tiny Big's face splashed across the screen, he could tell its source simply from the over-usage of green, purple, and bunnies. He wrinkled his nose at the sight. "If it's another ray gun convention I might be interested. Or a cheese exhibit, of course. But otherwise -"
"Cat Noir's back. I thought you'd like to be the welcoming party."
His second brain flinched at the mention of the hero's name before his first could catch up. Two-Brains sat forward and frowned. "He's back? I…" He fell silent for a moment, lost in thought, then shook his head. "Sorry, thanks but no thanks. I'd love to give him a warm welcome, but I just got here and I haven't had a break in ages."
"What, are you scared? I mean, with the whole cat-mouse thing I wouldn't blame you if -"
Though Hawkmoth couldn't see him, Two-Brains placed a hand on his chest in mock offense. "I'm hurt that you'd think I, Fair City's top villain for four years in a row, wouldn't think to prepare for this. Cats are not an issue for me anymore, I swear."
"Alright, alright. Hey, who's still in there?"
The doctor leaned over to get a better look at his neighbors. "I see Chuck, the Butcher…" They looked up as they heard their names, and Two-Brains waved. "And I know Granny May's still under house arrest. Looks like if you want to throw a welcoming party you're gonna have to do without your A-listers."
The irritation in Hawkmoth's voice was apparent. "Ugh, fine. I'll figure something out."
Doctor Two-Brains let out a deep sigh as the connection severed. The fight between dusty memories and his mouse brain was starting to give him a headache.
•••
This wasn't how Miss Question had pictured her day, but it certainly beat community service.
She dropped a piece of trash into her bag and then stood, sensing the connection Hawkmoth was sending out to her. The usual butterfly outline appeared over her face once she'd turned away from the group.
"That's all?" she said to seemingly no one, and then grinned. "Are you kidding? Do you know how much I've missed this?"
She tied up the bag and brought it to where the trash was being collected, then began to walk away. "Hey!" Her service leader, a wiry old man, called out to her. "Your session isn't finished today!"
She turned back to him and smirked as she saw a dark shape flutter up behind him, looking for all the world like a normal butterfly save the eerily glowing patches on its wings.
"What, you think you can stop me?" she said. The man's eyes widened in fear as the akuma floated past his ear and onto her waiting palm. It immediately disappeared as the magic sank into her skin like ink. She closed her eyes and began to laugh as she felt its power rush through her veins, transforming her from the inside out.
He took two steps backwards and turned to run.
"What, community service over already?" The question mark on her chest glowed brightly for a moment before shooting a golden beam towards the man. When it hit him the light scattered into little question marks which danced around his head.
He blinked a few times and looked down in confusion at the gloves on his hands. "I… I don't know," he said slowly. "You've done a lot today, I think… I - wait… what's your name again? What's mine?"
Miss Question cackled and summoned her floating question mark. "How much more chaos can I cause before the new hero shows up?" she asked no one in particular, then hopped on and soared into the sky.
•••
Becky made her way to the front of the classroom, note cards in hand though there was little chance she'd need them. She cleared her throat, placed the cards on the podium, and scanned the room. The opposition - Emma and Angel - had their notes ready. Bob lounged at the back, keeping a protective hand over the backpack which contained Tikki. Scoops held up a timer and nodded at her to begin.
"The future of society depends on the quality of education provided to students like us. This quality depends directly on the amount of knowledge made available, and there are no better sources of knowledge - of any area - than libraries. As Wallace Bronlite so elegantly put, 'Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation.'
"I propose that no less than twenty percent of the revised school budget be allocated to -"
The classroom door burst open. "Help!" A man in a green hoodie stuck his head into the room, and Becky's heart sank. "Miss Question is causing chaos in the park! Everyone's questioning their life choices! Including me!"
Becky and Bob shared worried looks as soon as the villain was mentioned. The monkey quietly began to gather up their things as the other club members stared at the man in confusion. He stared back, equally confused. "Wait, is this the police station?" he said finally.
"No, this is the high school debate club," Scoops said. "Just like it was a month ago."
"Oh, sorry," the man said sheepishly, and left. Becky's classmates looked back at her expectantly as she stared at the door. Scoops looked ready to drop everything save for his notebook and run.
"I, uh…." She shook her head and looked down at her notecards. "As I was saying, I… I forgot I had an appointment this afternoon," she said. "Scoops will take over the rest of my speeches this time?"
Scoops looked less than pleased. "Fine," he said, and slid back into his chair. "But if I miss this story, you owe me so much -"
"Yep, anything, you got it," she said quickly, and shot him a grateful smile as she made a beeline for the door.
•••
"Miss Question!" Ladybug landed in front of the villain and straightened up, moving into her battle stance. Captain Huggyface jumped off her shoulders and did the same. "What's all this for? I thought culinary school was going well."
"Do you know how many hours of community service I was sentenced to last time?" Miss Question sighed dramatically. "Is boredom a crime now?"
"No, but disrupting people at the park with akuma magic and confusing them with your -" Ladybug's eyes widened as Miss Question shot a confusion ray at her. She ducked, barely dodging the beam. "Yeah, like that, right there. A crime" She dodged a second one, rolling over to hide partially behind a bush. "Just tell me the problem this time, and I can help you," she offered.
The villain laughed. "Have you not guessed why I'm here? Do you ever watch the news?"
Ladybug frowned in thought. "Of course I… ah," she realized. "You want to draw out Cat Noir. That's why you're causing aimless chaos."
Miss Question tilted her head, confirming the hero's guess. "Well? Where is your new friend?"
"I'm sure he'll be here soon," Ladybug said confidently, but Miss Question knew better than anyone how to recognize doubt in someone's eyes.
•••
Tobey was heading to the checkout line for the hardware store when he felt his phone buzz. Plagg popped up from his messenger bag before he could reach for the device. "Akuma in the park," the kwami said. "Miss Question's out and about. Gonna do anything about her?"
"What, now? Can't I just finish one errand in peace?" Tobey replied crossly, turning the corner and narrowly dodging a shopping cart. "This'll only take a moment - and mind you, if I hadn't had a lapse in judgement last night, this would've been finished already."
"Alright," Plagg said with a shrug, and disappeared again. Tobey glanced at the lengthy checkout line in front of him and clutched his shopping bag tighter.
•••
"Looks like he's a no-show," Ladybug muttered to Huggy as she shot her yo-yo out towards Miss Question once again in vain. On her hovering question mark, the villain swooped easily around the projectile and giggled.
"That all you've got today?" Miss Question replied, sending another beam of confusion towards Ladybug. She ducked and rolled, then sprung back up and sent her yo-yo spinning towards the sky.
"You wish," Ladybug returned confidently. "Huggy, let's try emergency plan number three hundred and seventy-seven." Huggy nodded in understanding before leaping away.
"So, Miss Question," Ladybug said, turning back to the waiting villain. "How is culinary school going?"
Miss Question crossed her arms, but stilled in the air. "Do you really think I'm going to fall for polite small talk again?"
Ladybug shrugged. "Worth a shot."
Miss Question glanced behind herself, probably looking for Huggy. "Ugh, are you just going to pity me if I said it wasn't going well?"
"No, of course not! That's too bad, though." Ladybug took a step closer. "What's the problem?"
The villain crouched, then moved to sit down on the edge of her question mark. "I just - why did I even apply? To stop my mom from pestering me about wasting my life with villainy?" She sighed. "Who would've known that baking for fun and going to school for it would be so different?"
"But you've been taking classes for years… you're just realizing this?"
Miss Question gave her a flat look. "Oh, now even epiphanies have deadlines, too?"
In the distance, she saw Huggy successfully retrieve a jump-rope from the group of kids by the playground. "No, no, it's good that you've been thinking about why you're so malcontent."
"Which means?"
"Dissatisfied, to the point of being rebellious. In your case, that seems very accurate."
Miss Question snorted.
The leaves above them rustled.
The jump-rope launched from the tree like a silver snake, flying right towards Ladybug's waiting hands. A moment later Huggy did the same, latching onto Miss Question's face like a leech. The hovering question mark tilted dangerously as she tried to simultaneously stand and pry him off, achieving neither. Both of them tumbled off the mark and Ladybug rushed over to catch them. She set Miss Question down by a nearby bench and began wrapping the jump-rope around her tightly.
With the villain's arms bound and her question mark covered, Ladybug moved to kneel down and talk her out of the akumatization, but paused as Hawkmoth's mask outline materialized over Miss Question's face.
The villain laughed as the outline vanished. "Ladybug, did you really think this would be easy?"
"Well, I mean… I've caught you," she said, confused. "The police are on their way, so -"
Ladybug fell silent as the ground beneath her shook. An unnatural crash sounded through the streets, and her head jerked up to look towards the source. A chill ran down her spine as she saw smoke rise into the sky a few blocks away. A siren began to blare and she winced at the sudden din, momentarily distracted by what was probably, come to think of it, meant to be a distraction.
As soon as Miss Question noticed Ladybug wasn't paying attention she reached up and yanked at the ends of the rope, undoing the knot in one swift movement. Before Ladybug could react Miss Question was already leaping back onto her hovering question mark.
"Hey, get back here!" Ladybug shouted after her, but the villain just smirked at her and zoomed away. The hero made a noise of frustration, torn between catching her and stopping what was probably another akuma.
"Huggy, follow her!" Ladybug shouted as she took off, not waiting for a response as she sprinted towards the chaos.
•••
Tobey was caught halfway across one of the busiest intersections of the city when the true chaos began.
He froze as the sidewalk beneath him shuddered, and he heard a crunch of metal and glass from somewhere much, much closer than he preferred. His shopping bags fell to the sidewalk, released as his hands slammed over his ears to try and dull the car alarm that began to wail nearby.
Becoming akumatized was a thrill; being near someone akumatized was terrifying. And caught out in the open, without the option of Hawkmoth's protection anymore, next to one of the most destruction-bent villains in the city - it was enough to scare the wits out of anyone, even a teenage genius.
Barely fifty feet to his right, the Whammer basked in his newly created chaos. The hulking man wore a giddy smile as he slammed his fingers together repeatedly in a carefree rhythm; a lightpost bent at an odd angle, a store sign was knocked off its hinges, a second-story window shattered to bits. Then the Whammer turned and prepared to ram his fists together for a much more powerful blow, this time aiming towards the line of cars directly in front of Tobey.
His fists collided and Tobey stumbled backwards, too stunned to think as the road crumpled and vehicles began slamming into each other, moving towards him like a line of lethal dominos -
The breath was knocked out of him as something solid collided with him from his side; red and black filled his vision for a moment before he was collapsing on pavement, safe and sound.
"Tobey, get out of here," an all-too-familiar voice hissed, and he shivered as Ladybug's warm presence vanished from around him. Tobey stood and watched as she sprinted to the car in the back of the line and peered into the window. Her shoulders sank in obvious relief as there was movement inside: safety bags being pushed around, and then a thumbs-up from the driver. She jogged along the rest of the collided vehicles, checking everyone for injuries, then threw her yo-yo back into the air and swung away from the mess.
A black shape with slitted green eyes suddenly appeared in his vision. "Earth to Tobey?"
Tobey jumped and leaned away; he'd completely forgotten about Plagg and his new powers. "What do you want?' he said distantly, trying to look past the kwami to catch a last glimpse of Ladybug.
Plagg moved to stay right in the middle of his vision, and if Ladybug hadn't just disappeared behind a rooftop Tobey would've considered attempting to swat him aside. (Did that even work on beings that could phase through objects? He filed the question away for future experimentation.) "So are you gonna go after her, or what?"
"I don't know, I wasn't expecting an akuma so soon," Tobey said, irritated. "I haven't had time to fully consider my decision." Plagg crossed his arms, managing to look nearly as disapproving as his own mother could. Tobey stared back, unmoved. "Besides, Ladybug can handle this on her own, I have more important things I need to do today, and if I hadn't wasted so much time last night - thanks to you, by the way - I could be working on them right now." He frowned. "Speaking of which, where are my…."
He finally looked back towards where he'd been standing a minute before. His supplies were scattered across the road, most of it trapped underneath cars and some of it visibly damaged.
"Seriously?!" Tobey yelled, anger welling up inside him. "Oh, come on. Nobody sabotages Theodore McCallister, the third's plans and gets away with it. I'm going to…."
He fell silent. What was he going to do? Even if he wanted to take revenge through being akumatized, he couldn't. Hawkmoth's resources were spread thin between two akumas, and a third - especially of his strength - would be impossible. But if he defeated them by becoming the hero…
"Plagg, claws out," he commanded, and the kwami grinned before vanishing into the ring.