AN: Kwamis cannot be filmed or recorded, but I don't think they ever established that they can't be heard over a phone. And since Rena Rouge is transformed, we can say that Miraculous communicators are the exceptions. And if you are curious how Tikki and Plagg can call Rena Rouge on her Miraculous communicator, the answer is "Max." For any tech-based questions in this universe, the answer is usually "Max."
To Rose Tiger: Yeah… about that "suspense" thing…
To Dragon Lord Draco: Depends on what you mean by "done done." "The Fashion Disaster" is completely written, but I haven't written anything beyond there. My "real job" is in a busy season at the moment, so I won't be able to put as much time into writing for the next month or so as I had been. There will be a bit of a delay before I publish the next big story, but there's plenty more to tell!
To Speckleflower: I know computers, but the photo analysis actually came from a web page on the subject that showed up on my homepage while writing that scene. The virus "signature" is something I did in one of the early Avengers FF stories I published on here.
To anonymousfriend27: I'm glad someone caught that Lt. Raincomprix was uncomfortable interrogating Adrien!
"You're sure about this?" Rena Rouge asked.
"For the fifteenth time, I'm positive," Plagg drawled over her communicator. "I could check with Lover Boy and Pigtails, but they're pretty well occupied at the moment." He started making kissing noises before abruptly cutting off in a strangled yelp.
"Plagg!" a high-pitched voice squeaked. Rena Rouge pulled the flute away from her ear a few centimeters while the Kwamis squabbled. "They're resting together on the couch," Tikki explained momentarily. "We thought we shouldn't bother them."
"Honestly, this is exactly what I expected when I told Max to text them," Rena Rouge commented, chuckling. "Thanks for the help. If they ask, tell them not to worry. Tell them all their legal problems should be… dealt with… tonight," she added ominously. She disconnected the call without waiting for a reply and surveyed the apartment building in front of her.
Plagg's lead had led her to this apartment building in a high-class neighborhood. The man she was here to visit lived on the top floor, three windows down from the alley. The building had a state-of-the-art security system and a doorman, but Rena Rouge wasn't concerned. Standing in the alley between that apartment building and the one next to it, she leapt ten meters into the air towards one building. As her feet touched the wall, she sprang off into a back flip, timing the turn to bring her feet into contact with a point further up the other building's wall. She progressed in this way, leaping between walls, until she reached the roof of the target building. Then it was simply a matter of counting windows and dropping down to the correct window sill.
Fortunately, her target had left his window unlocked, and she was able to push it open and slip inside without trouble. A quick sweep of the darkened apartment showed that her target was not home. While she waited for him to arrive, Rena Rouge searched every possible hiding place, looking for evidence.
"There's got to be something here I can use," she muttered, running her hand between the couch cushions. "I know he had motive. I know he had the opportunity. But how…" Her eyes lit up when her fingers closed around a flash drive. "Yes!" she whispered triumphantly. "The over-confident ones are always the sloppiest."
At that moment she heard a key inserted into the outside door's lock. Looking around the ransacked room, she realized there was no way to hide her search. She shrugged. Nothing for it but "shock and awe." Rena Rouge grabbed the cord to turn off the overhead light and dropped into an armchair next to a floor lamp. She sat still as the door swung open and her target stepped inside, reaching to turn on the overhead light as he did so. Nothing happened, and Rena Rouge got a quick glimpse of the confusion in his face in the reflected light from the hallway before she finally turned on the lamp beside her.
"Monsieur Renald Janet," she intoned, enunciating each syllable slowly. She folded her hands in front of herself, placed her elbows on the armrests, and leaned forward to rest her chin on her hands. "I've been waiting for you."
Janet, his hand still on the handle and the door still open, turned to run away. Rena Rouge, however, threw her flute with unerring accuracy. The flute deflected off the wall and struck the door, knocking it shut before he could do more than turn. The flute ricocheted back to her hand. "You don't want to be running away just yet," she told him, smirking. "You just got home! Sit down! Relax! You're just having a conversation with a friend."
"Are you my friend?" Janet demanded, puffing up his chest. "Because I don't consider breaking and entering to be 'friendly' behavior!"
"You had better hope I'm your friend," Rena Rouge informed him, eyes hardening. "You see, the last person I met who didn't want to be my friend? He did eventually tell me everything I wanted to know. But he needed a fresh change of underwear when I got done with him. Do you want that to happen to you, Monsieur Renald Janet?"
"I assure you, I have no idea who you are or what you are doing in my apartment," he retorted. "And even if I did know, I wouldn't tell you anything!"
"Clearly you don't pay close enough attention to the news if you don't recognize me – your former employer even sells my shirts!" Rena Rouge snorted. "But you really don't have to tell me all that much," she informed him. "I already found this flash drive." She watched his face carefully as she held it up for him to see.
He paled. "I-I'm sure I don't know what that is!"
She shook her head and said, "I'm so disappointed in you… Monsieur Renald Janet. I expected a little more of a challenge from you. But… I guess I shouldn't have expected so much from a simple, boring middle manager."
"What?" he whispered, brow furrowed in confusion.
"That's all you really are," she told him, laughing derisively. "You're a middle manager. You make other people look good, but you never get to take any of the credit, do you? I follow the papers: you worked for Agreste Fashion for how many months, and you were never mentioned once? Hawk Moth's son went from social outcast almost all the way back to Paris' golden boy while you were there, but you never got any credit for it. Agreste's reputation turned around under your management, and all the credit went to other people."
"It was all that stupid kid and his stupid girlfriend!" Janet grumbled.
"Yeah. Them," Rena Rouge replied, catching herself an instant before she would have bared her teeth at him. With an effort she maintained her seat and kept talking – instead of grabbing him by the throat and dangling him out the window. "I bet that ate you up inside."
"Not as much as when they fired me!" Janet retorted heatedly. "All my hard work and they threw me away like garbage!"
"You must have been angry."
"Of course I was!"
"You must have wanted to do anything to get back at them."
"Absolutely."
"So when they contacted you, you leapt at the chance."
"What?" Janet gave her a look of confusion.
"We both know you're not the brains behind this little frame job," Rena Rouge told him. "You couldn't plan something as elaborate as this to save your life. All the computer stuff was so many works of art – and you wouldn't know a computer virus if it gave you a fever. Someone hired you. Now give me a name."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"I'm sure you don't," Rena Rouge said drily. "If you had any brains at all, you would have steered clear of this. But I'm sure there's something you remember. Or at least for your sake I hope there is. Because otherwise I will give you something to remember…" She started twirling the flute around her fingers contemplatively.
Janet wilted. "I met some guy two nights ago and he gave me the flash drive and an envelope of materials, along with a sheet of instructions. I did what I was told and burned the instructions as soon as I was done. The only thing I have left that he gave me is this." He withdrew a lynchpin from his pocket.
"A lynchpin," Rena Rouge deadpanned. "Terrific."
"A, it's me. I've got a problem, and it's right up your alley." Rena Rouge stood on the roof of Janet's apartment building, flute held up to her ear. She had tied Janet up with an extension cord, thrown him in his bedroom, and sealed the door shut from the outside to keep him from escaping before she could track down his lead. No sense calling this in to the police and alerting the mole.
"What's the problem?" Anansi asked.
"Your Lynchpin tried to hurt my friends," Rena Rouge growled. "It seems that he did find that 'Spider' character, and now I know what he needed him for. He tried to ruin my best friends' lives, he attacked their relationship, and he almost got one of them arrested!"
"Who, Cat and Bug?"
"Sunshine and Rainbows, actually."
Anansi chuckled. "I take it now that you're going on the warpath you need Anansi to crack some skulls?"
"Pretty much. I need your… unique… method of investigation to find Spider," she agreed.
"You happen to be in luck, sis. There's a bookie I know who specializes in high-tech. I've been meaning to drop in on him since our last meet-up. He might know something. Meet me at the Place de la Bastille; he hangs out at a dive bar nearby."
Rena Rouge ended the call and raced across the apartment building roof to leap to the building next door, relishing in the wind rushing through her hair. For the first time since Marinette told her about the picture, she could finally start to relax. Maybe she couldn't wave her hand and make all of their problems go away, but she could at least cut through enough of this web to give her friends some breathing room. She allowed herself a little smile. Just debunking that picture would have been enough to do that! Unfortunately, everything she had found tonight left her feeling as though the other shoe was just about to drop. Maybe it was just a coincidence that Lynchpin had set his sights on Agreste this time around; but what if it wasn't?
Rena Rouge arrived at the Place de la Bastille three minutes later to find Anansi leaning against the pillar and waiting for her.
"You're late," Anansi observed, quirking an eyebrow at her. "Seriously, you must have broken some kind of record. This means that much to you?"
"When you go after my family, you wake the fox," Rena Rouge fumed. "When I find this Lynchpin guy, I'm going to take my flute and shove it so far up his–"
"Easy there, baby sis," Anansi soothed her, putting an arm around her shoulders. "The bar is two blocks over. Shall we?"
"Lead the way." The two jogged in silence, Rena Rouge slowing her miraculous-enhanced pace so Anansi could keep up. The neighborhood quickly changed as they left the main streets behind. Anansi looked around furtively before leading Rena Rouge into a narrow alley between two buildings, down a set of steps, and up to a solid metal door.
"You should probably de-transform," Anansi told her. "You'll stick out in here."
"You do remember who I am, right?" Rena Rouge asked wryly. "Do you really think bringing your seventeen-year-old sister into a place like this is a better idea than bringing a superhero?"
Anansi snorted. "Good point. All the same, follow my lead. And don't touch anything they serve; Mom and Dad would kill me!" She rapped three times on the door in quick succession. The door creaked open, and they entered.
At a nod from Anansi, Rena Rouge split away to cover the left side of the room, while Anansi walked along the right side. She was surprised when very few of the customers batted an eye at seeing one of the Heroes of Paris; they all appeared far too engrossed in the drinks in front of them to notice her. In her peripheral vision, Rena Rouge watched Anansi approach a man in a loud purple suit and start a hurried conversation with him. No one else seemed to be paying any attention to her, and Rena Rouge returned to surveying the faces around her until… there: a man with a spider web tattoo covering his entire face. His hands shook so badly that his drink sloshed down his front, and when he moved to wipe it away, Rena Rouge caught sight of needle marks on his arm.
Rena Rouge flicked her ponytail once. A small nod from Anansi was all the warning she received before Anansi grabbed a beer mug from the bar and threw it across the room. The mug shattered as Anansi picked up a stool and swung it at a customer's back. She pushed the stool into another customer's hands before the first man turned around. That man punched the one holding the stool, and all of their friends joined the rapidly-expanding brawl. Anansi ducked away from the scrum and pushed a table over, spilling drinks and plates all over the floor.
In the pandemonium, Rena Rouge slipped past a pair of drunks wrestling on a table and grabbed Spider's arm, pulling him close to herself and wrapping an arm tightly around his shoulder. She jammed her flute into his side as he was about to shout, and he immediately stiffened. "Come quietly, or we see how long you last against the other 'spider'!" she hissed, directing him toward the door.
As they exited, Anansi joined them, pulling the door shut after them. "Remind me not to invite you out with us for my 18th birthday," Rena Rouge commented as the tumult in the bar was muffled.
"Oh, please, what's the point of going to a ratty old dive bar if you don't get to experience a true bar brawl?" Anansi retorted.
The two heroes led their prisoner further into the alley before Rena Rouge pushed him against the wall. Rena Rouge pushed her flute up against his throat, forcing him to stay upright.
"What do you chicks want with me?" he whined, holding his hands up in front of his face.
"You're Spider?" Rena Rouge demanded.
"Who wants to know?"
She looked over at Anansi and shook her head in disbelief. "It's like they doesn't read the papers or something. I thought the outfit would be a giveaway…"
Spider looked closer. "You're one of them Heroes, then? In that case I'm definitely not Spider."
"Do you believe him, Anansi?" Rena Rouge asked, smirking.
"You know, I think I do!" replied Anansi. "But then I look at his ugly face and I'm not sure…"
"Gotten your webs into any exciting new computer viruses lately, Spider?" Rena Rouge asked, turning back to him.
"Just some stupid corporate job." He shrugged. "Messing with financials, that sort of thing… nothing too exciting."
"You know who hired you?" Anansi asked next. "Got any shiny new lynchpins on you?"
He reached into his pocket. "What, you mean like this? Why, you need one?"
"Why can't they all be this easy?" Rena Rouge wondered. At that moment a pair of SUVs pulled up at opposite ends of the alley and four men got out of each and raced down the alley toward them. Behind the thugs a man in a white suit exited one of the SUVs and slowly walked toward them.
"You had to say 'easy,'" Anansi groaned.
The two heroes turned to face opposite directions and charged as one. Rena Rouge ducked under the first man's punch and swept his legs out from under him before springing up and slamming her flute into another man's face. She side-stepped a kick and elbowed the third man hard in the gut before kicking the last man in the chest so hard he flew across the alley into the wall, sliding down it in a crumpled heap. From the sounds behind her, Anansi had likewise dispatched her opponents.
The man in the white suit at the end of the alley stared at Rena Rouge in wide-eyed shock, taking in the quick demise of his muscle. Then he turned to run back to his SUV. "Oh, no you don't!" Rena Rouge muttered, raising the flute to her lips. She played a note and swung her flute, sending the Mirage after him. In the same motion she flung the flute over the Mirage bubble. The flute struck the man in the back of his head two meters from the SUV, knocking him to the ground an instant before the Mirage expanded to cover his entire body, hiding him from view. The SUV's tires screeched and it peeled off as Rena Rouge raced to the spot, followed closely by Anansi.
Rena Rouge dispersed the Mirage with a wave of her hand, revealing the man in the white suit, blinking and struggling to push himself up into a sitting position. She reached out to grab the flute that had landed next to him. Then she took a closer look at him. "No way," she breathed.
"You recognize him?" Anansi asked.
"From the fashion show," she nodded.
"Right… Crazy and the Professor said something about that."
"Holy hell…" she whispered. The missing puzzle pieces all clicked into place. She glared at Anansi. "And you didn't think to share?"
"Never came up." Anansi shrugged. "You know now."
They turned back to the man lying on the ground in front of them. He held his hands up in front of his face and said, "If you promise to let me go, I'll answer all your questions."
Anansi growled, "Talk first. Deal later," a moment before a crack split the night.
One chapter left to this story...