Ladybug's eyes searched Chat Noir's face, looking for any possible reason why he would be smiling at her like he was. I just blabbed that I had a crush on Adrien, and this dork looks like the cat that just got the cream! As she opened her mouth to again ask him why he was smiling like that, she saw a column of smoke rise from the TVI building in the distance. Shoot! I have a feeling I'm missing an opportunity to get to the bottom of something here. Duty calls… "Chat! The TVI building is on fire! We've got to go do something!"

The comeback died on Chat's lips as he saw that Ladybug wasn't making a metaphor and there was, indeed, fire coming from a large building quite possibly containing a number of innocent people. His game face quickly wiped away the smirk. "After you, my Lady," he said. He watched her launch her yo-yo off into the distance and head off toward the TVI tower. He extended his staff and leaped after her, heart pounding - but not just because of the mission at hand. She loves me - this might be the best day of my life.

Chat and Ladybug arrived at the fire-consumed tower to a cacophony of sirens and screams. The limited number of personnel at the station had successfully evacuated. Ladybug swung down to speak with Nadja Chamack, who was wearing an oxygen mask and sitting on the tailgate of a fire truck.

"Mrs. Chamack!" Ladybug called out. "Can you tell me what happened?"

Nadja removed the oxygen mask and coughed. "I'm not really sure, Ladybug. We were delivering the news when a man in a dark blue tunic ran in and said something about justice coming and that he would be the new Guardian of the Miraculous. He said something I didn't catch, then fire came from his hands and we all ran. I didn't see what happened to him or where he went." Her eyes narrowed as her journalist instincts took over. "What's the Guardian of the Miraculous?"

"Maybe later I'll give you an exclusive. Chat!" She switched her attention to her partner, who was helping first responders triage victims. "This looks like the work of whoever saved Serket. I imagine that this is the person who also burned down the community center after Master Fu's wake."

"If this is a Miraculous user, my Lady, maybe your Lucky Charm can fix all of this. It's worth a shot."

"I don't know… Lucky Charm didn't work when Serket stung Alya. Maybe it doesn't work against other Miraculous… or at least doesn't work against Miraculous that don't come from the Miracle Box. I'll give it a try, though. Lucky Charm!" She tossed her yo-yo in the air, and a small, thick book appeared. "What am I supposed to do with this?" she griped, flipping through the pages.

"Call for your Cure?" Chat suggested. "I don't know how a book would help in this situation."

"Chat… I made the mistake of ignoring a Lucky Charm when Serket first showed up and missed important information." She scanned the area, but nothing jumped out at her.

"You've had things that have reminded you to go see the Guardian before… maybe this isn't something to be used, but a clue to something we need to know?"

Ladybug hummed and scrunched her eyes shut. Come on, *think*, Ladybug! There's got to be something you can do with a dictionary... she opened her eyes, and Chat's costume ears appeared to flash red-and-black. She felt her lips tingle, and frowned. "I think this involved something we need to do together… so let's find a place and talk this out. But first -" her earrings chirped "- Miraculous Ladybug!" She threw the dictionary in the air and watched as the magical ladybug swarm made its way through Paris.

The fire continued to rage and the sirens continued to howl. Panicking, Ladybug turned around only to see Nadja Chamack holding a microphone with a cameraman beside her. "We're live, broadcasting from our backup tower at Orly. Ladybug, can you tell me why you can't fix everything after this akuma attack?"

"Um… it… it's… um… not an akuma," she mumbled into the microphone. "I don't know what happened here or who the mysterious person is that did this." Her spine straightened slightly and she looked into the camera. "Rest assured, Nadja… and people of Paris. We will get to the bottom of this and stop these attacks from happening." Her earrings chirped again. "Bug out."

She spun her yo-yo and swung off into the afternoon, her partner behind her. They landed on a nearby rooftop. "What's the plan, Bug?" Chat asked.

"First thing, Kitty, is I have to recharge. Next, we need to find footage of what happened at the station when our arsonist friend showed up. Third… we need to sit down and put all of these pieces together. Let's meet somewhere in an hour. We need to get to the bottom of this, fast, before more damage gets done. I can't let Serket and her friend destroy Paris."

Ladybug arrived on her balcony and de-transformed. She climbed into her bedroom and went downstairs to grab some cookies for Tikki. Her parents were packing two large suitcases in the bedroom off of the kitchen. "Mom? Dad? What's going on?"

"We're worried," Sabine said. "It turns out that there was more to the Chinese community center burning down than we thought. I just checked in with the director and it seems that most of the members of the center have been receiving visits from the man who burned the TV station down. Everyone who was at that wake two days ago has been terrorized by that menace! We're in danger and we can't stay here. Tom and I are getting a hotel on the outskirts of the city. You need to pack your things and get ready to leave until Ladybug and Chat Noir catch him."

Marinette froze. I can't leave! I'm the one responsible for cleaning all of this up! What's going to happen if I go away? What if I can't get to Chat on time if Serket or her friend shows their face? What do I do with the Miracle Box? "What if I… stay with a friend? I really don't want to have to pack all of my sewing stuff for a hotel, and with the Battle of the Bands coming up soon...it would really stink if I couldn't do that for them. Is that OK?" she stammered.

"What friend do you want to stay with? I know Alya was moved out of town due to this whole Serket business, and staying with Luka is out of the question."

At this point, it's probably out of the question for him, too. "Let me ask around… maybe Rose or Mylène would be willing to put me up until this is solved."

"In the meantime, please start packing your bags. We'll leave after the bakery is closed for the evening. I'll have to give Mr. Chou some extra peach tarts tonight," she added offhandedly.

Marinette darted upstairs and tossed a cookie to her kwami. "Tikki! What am I going to do?"

"It sounds like Serket is closing in. If she makes the connection between you and the Miracle Box, we're in serious trouble! You need to find a safe place for the Miracle Box before you do anything else!"

"I don't know! What… what about Chat's house?"

Tikki frowned. "Normally that would be an excellent idea, Marinette, but for reasons I can't tell you, that can't be an option for you this time."

"What? Why not?"

"I can't tell you, Marinette. Where else?"

"Um… wait! I have it! How about Alya's house?"

"Her parents are still there, and all of her sisters, too. You can't guarantee that they'll stay out of her room and not get curious. And Alya's not there to keep your secret, either."

Marinette hummed and started pacing her room desperately. "I need someplace close by... someplace I can get to even if I wind up staying across town… someplace that won't arouse suspicion… someplace where nobody is going to go." The pacing picked up as Tikki started eating the second cookie Marinette had brought for her. Suddenly, Marinette stopped and snapped her fingers. "I've got it! Tikki - you don't think you can conjure me up another sack like last time I needed to move this stuff, do you?"

Tikki grinned and gave a small shrug of her shoulders.

Five minutes later, Ladybug swung back to her bedroom, de-transformed, and gave Tikki another cookie. "You've earned it, Tikki. Now, to make a few quick phone calls." Let's see… who would be willing to have an extra houseguest for the next week or two? And who has the space? And… how do I approach them? She tapped her fingers on her chin, frowning. Her eyes flickered to the flip phone as an incoming message buzzed.

[CN] Ready to meet up, my Lady? =^.^=

[LB] Give me a few more minutes, Kitty… secret identity stuff to handle first. Stay by your phone /(%)\

[CN] roger that

Roger… hmmm… an image of Sabrina Raincomprix came into Marinette's mind. No… she doesn't have the extra space, we don't know each other well enough, and when we were paired together for that project she clung to me like glue! I wouldn't be able to shake her long enough to transform. She shook her head. Her eyes were drawn again to her phone…

Adrien bounced his leg impatiently as he waited for Ladybug to tell him where to meet. His phone buzzed, and he flipped it open to read the message. Wait a second… that's not the Chat-phone! He grabbed his regular phone and checked the notification. His eyes widened as he saw who it was from.

[LB (to Adrien)] Hey you… got a sec?

[Adrien] For you, always. Need our snake friend?

[LB (to Adrien)] Not yet. Need a bigger favor. It's OK if you say no.

[Adrien] Name it. Trip to the moon without a spacesuit?

[LB (to Adrien)] Not that big. Can I call you?

Adrien's eyes opened even wider, if that were possible.

[Adrien] Of course!

He answered before the first ring had finished. "How can I help?"

There was hesitation on the other end of the line, then the sound of Ladybug taking a deep breath. "Hi, Adrien. Thanks. I can't go into too many details. Let's just say I found out that Serket is attacking a certain group of people one-by-one, and there's a very large chance that my family's on her list of targets. My parents are moving to the countryside, but I need to stay close to Paris to help defeat Serket. I need a spare room and a bed, if you're willing."

Adrien's mind boggled. Holy crap Ladybug wants to come over and stay with me and I just found out that I'm the boy she has a crush on and we can do real actual teenager things like watch movies and maybe hold hands or listen to music or play games or kiss…

"Adrien? Are you there?"

"Uh, yeah! Yeah! Yes! To both of those. We can make room. There's a guest suite here that locks up nice and tight… you'll even have your own kitchen and bathroom. It hasn't been used for a while, and as far as I know there are no plans for it. I'll clear it with Father."

"Before you do that… you have to know, I'll be there as Ladybug, not as my civilian identity. Nobody can know I'm staying there! It will be too dangerous. Your house has already been attacked by Serket once… I don't want to put you in any more danger. You probably won't see too much of me, I'm afraid… unless we need the snake," she rationalized.

Adrien's face fell. "No, no, of course… I won't tell Father, then… I'll have to tell someone though in case they hear you over there. Let me see… my bodyguard should be fine. He's good at keeping things quiet, and he'll be the right person to involve in case something goes haywire. How soon do you need to be here?"

"...Tonight? Is that too soon?"

"That will be perfect, Ladybug. I have somewhere to be this afternoon, in any case. Swing by my room when you're ready to come by, and I'll let you in and help you get settled. Will that work?"

"Yes. And thank you. You've really come through for me these past few days, and I don't know how I'm ever going to repay you. Talk to you later, Adrien."

"It's my pleasure," Adrien said, before hanging up. "My Lady," he breathed. This is definitely the best day of my life. Bring it on, Serket - I feel like you could Sting me fifty times over and I wouldn't even notice it!

Marinette thumbed the End Call button on her flip phone, then switched over to the messaging app.

[LB (to Chat)] Ready when you are. Let's get ready to talk through this. How about the Luxembourg Gardens?

[CN] Be there in ten =^.^=

Marinette flipped the phone closed. "Tikki, I hope this works. I'm taking a huge risk by staying at Adrien's… do you think I'm doing the right thing?"

"You'll have to be very careful, Marinette. If you're discovered as either Marinette or Ladybug while you're there, you could wind up facing a whole bunch of questions you don't want to answer."

"If you had told me two weeks ago that Ladybug would be moving in with Hawk Moth, I'd have called you crazy," Marinette grimaced.

If I tell you now that Ladybug is moving in with Chat Noir, your brain would melt out your ears. "Stranger things have happened, Marinette. Let's go meet Chat."

"I'm not sure I want to know what those stranger things are, Tikki. SPOTS ON!"