Chapter 4: School Talk

There were many things on Cat Noir's mind as he returned to the Agreste Mansion and sneaked in through his bedroom window so he could change back. First of all was the unbelievable, yet amazing fact that Batman himself was here in France. Batman! It was almost like a dream come true and Cat Noir briefly wondered if he was hallucinating the whole thing from a lack of sleep. But he didn't feel like he desperately needed to sleep so he knew full well it wasn't that. It really had happened and Batman really was here in Paris!

But at the same time, Batman's appearance had brought bad news too. One of the Dark Knight's worst enemies was here in Paris too! Cat Noir had heard about The Riddler and had hoped France would never get a sample of his crazy, evil puzzles of death. It was bad enough that he and Ladybug couldn't find Hawk Moth and put an end to his crimes but now he and Ladybug had to deal with another villain! And what if Hawk Moth akumatized him?! The Riddler could well be Hawk Moth's most powerful minion if he ever got corrupted by an akuma. The Riddler had to be found and kicked out of Paris before anybody got hurt.

And finally, the one thing that was on his mind more than anything was his bodyguard. The Gorilla had been akumatized and his father may well be mad at the poor man, even though it hadn't been his fault. Would he end up fired? Cat Noir had no idea but he hoped it wouldn't come to that.

As soon as he entered his bedroom, he closed the window and allowed himself to power down. His costume disappeared, returning him to his normal clothes in a flash of light. Plagg also emerged from the ring, looking a little worn down. He was ready for a rest and didn't hesitate to fly over to Adrien's sofa and snuggle up on a pillow. It was just as well that Adrien was the son of a wealthy fashion designer for his room was built as much for comfort as it was for the needs of a teenage boy. Adrien sat down beside Plagg's pillow, sighing slightly. The cat kwami didn't seem to have noticed.

"Boy was that a night to remember!" he exclaimed, "We met freaking Batman himself Adrien! And just when I thought Paris couldn't get any cooler!"

"Yeah, it was quite a something." Adrien admitted, "Though it's kinda scary that one of his enemies is here too. Batman's got quite a Rogues Gallery."

"I know, his Rogues Gallery is so big that I bet it could fill several Wikipedia pages!" Plagg snickered.

Adrien glared at the little kwami.

"This isn't a laughing matter Plagg!" he warned, "What if The Riddler makes some kind of riddle that we have to answer before somebody gets hurt?! I've heard about the guys Batman faces and none of them are laughing matters! Well maybe Anarky since he's so laughable by how hard it is to take him seriously but still. And they're not akuma victims either so it's not a case of catching the akuma and everything's OK again. Batman's not a Miraculous wielder so it stands to reason his foes aren't akuma victims. They'll be harder to stop than any of Hawk Moth's cronies..."

Plagg waved his tiny arms in defence.

"Chill, pal! I've had to help fight some actual criminals in the thousands of years of being alive." He retorted with an explanation.

Adrien rolled his eyes in response "Well, whether they were worse or weaker than Batman's villains, you should still take this seriously. That's why the next time I switch into Chat Noir, I'll have my serious hat on" he explained to the little Kwami, who grinned.

"Now that would charm Ladybug" he winked at his human companion, who blushed slightly.

"Well, uh, y-yeah...look, I'm gonna get you some Camembert cheese. You look really tired, pal, so the next thing you need to go with that pillow is a bit of food" he said, his firm face dropping into a softer expression.

That made Plagg smile sheepishly "Ohh, my hero" he teased in response, making Adrien smirk with a roll of his eyes.

With that said, Adrien made his way out of the bedroom and began to head downstairs, but he only told Plagg half of the truth. While he was most definitely getting him some Camembert cheese (even though he hated the stench of it), he was actually going to check on the Gorilla. It had been half an hour since he returned him to the mansion, and he continued to worry about him even more.

Reaching the lobby, he headed into the living room to find Nathalie sitting on the sofa, her hands trembling slightly as she looked off to the far end of the room, where Gabriel was talking to the Gorilla in a quiet conversation. Though he knew what it was about, Adrien had to make it clear to them he had no idea what had happened. He headed over to the nervous looking Nathalie, catching her attention.

"Oh, Adrien. You still up at this hour?" she questioned, though the stern touch of her tone fell away into a softer tone.

"It's only half nine, Nathalie. I came down to see the Gorilla because Chloe gave him a hard time earlier." the teenaged rich boy explained, keeping up the facade of being innocent in all this.

Nathalie raised an eyebrow in response to this. "Chloe was giving him a hard time? Why didn't you mention this earlier?" she presses back in response, her eyes sharp behind her glasses.

"Um, what do you mean? I was watching some anime videos..." Adrien had an unsure look on his face, hoping the expression would throw her off.

Nathalie stood up and pointed a finger into the direction of the two men over the other side, "He was akumatized, Adrien! He could be fired because of that unless you explain everything to your father!"

Although the rich kid knew this, Adrien knew he had to put up the pretence that he didn't. He raised his hands close to his mouth as if about to cover it in surprise.

"Oh no...the poor guy will have a hard time finding another job if dad fires him!" he exclaimed.

"Then you'd best explain this to your father before the Gorilla ends up on the street young man." Nathalie said sternly.

Adrien nodded and walked over to Gabriel, who despite being shorter and far less intimidating than the Gorilla himself, he showed why he was the one in charge with a raised voice and anger burning in his eyes. The huge, muscular bodyguard suddenly felt very small and weak in comparison. Gabriel Agreste was once again dressed in his usual fancy white suit, presumably designed by himself, but even the smart clothes did little to make him less fearsome to his bodyguard.

"I employed you because I believed you were suited for the job Gorilla. You made the perfect bodyguard for my son and what happens once my back is turned?" the fashion designer growled, "I hear you caused a rampage through Paris! Do you have any idea what this means to me, my son and yourself?! Adrien will never trust you again, and maybe I'll never be able to trust you again Gorilla! What if I turn my back again and you cause another rampage?"

The Gorilla clearly wanted to speak but his eyes told Adrien that he was too scared to do so. Despite his tough demeanour, he really was terrified of Gabriel even though the buff man could easily snap Gabriel in two if he desired. Adrien had a nasty feeling that the axe was about to fall so he felt the need to step in just as his father was about to let out another long winded lecture.

"It's not his fault! Dad, listen, it's not his fault!" he exclaimed, waving his arms frantically with his eyes wide.

The sudden appearance of his son made Gabriel's eyes widen slightly, though a slightly confused frown settled on his older features "How can it not be his fault, son? He was akuma- "

"Dad, look, for once in your life, just listen, okay!?" Adrien suddenly snapped, his ears burning red in shock at having just put his foot down on his father. Sure, Adrien hated the very thought of losing his temper, but he couldn't just leave the Gorilla defenceless in Gabriel's wrath. The older Agreste folded his arms with his eyebrows raised in slight surprise, but he gave his son a short nod.

"Go on then, I'm listening" he said, his voice now patient and calm.

Adrien sighed in relief before continuing on with his explanation.

"Look, I go on the Ladyblog every now and then and there's a video where Ladybug and Chat Noir explain how the akumas work. They target people that get angry or upset, that's how they get akumatised." he started, before receiving another nod from his father, "Now, I know my bodyguard looks mean most of the time, but tonight someone really upset him. And that someone was here tonight in fact." Adrien went on, this time getting a confused turn of a head from his father.

"We had a guest? Who was it?" he asked, his voice a little curious as to what his son had to say next.

The blonde haired boy exhaled as a disappointed look crossed his face "It was Chloe" he said in a simple stating voice.

A look of surprise crossed Gabriel's sharp features, then his mouth dropped in realisation as he let out a gasp. The dots seemed to have connected in his head.

"Ahhhhh..." It was true, Gabriel heard a lot about Chloe. Though he rarely met her, he often thought she was the ideal girl for his son to be with. Back in the kindergarten years, at least, as he now often heard how much she bothered loads of people, and had in fact caused a lot of people to be akumatized.

"She came in here and said that her father organised a trip to Gotham City, but me and her would go two days early. I tried to explain to her how unfair it was, but she wouldn't listen! Next thing I know she's dragging me to the door against my will, but my bodyguard stepped in and cleared her out! Thing is, Chloe said some very horrible things to him, insulting his size, called him an animal and all other names under the sun!" Adrien explained, his eyes full of honesty as he went into full detail about what had happened.

The Gorilla was surprised at this. He knew Adrien was a nice boy, but he didn't expect the young Agreste to actually stand up for him, taking on his father in an argument regarding him and his actions.

Adrien then gave his father a firm stare, his eyes soft and his voice pleading.

"Dad, if you fire him, you'll be no better than Chloe. You'll be victimising him and he'd probably have to live on the streets after what happened tonight. He was being a good person, dad, and he was doing his job, protecting me. Please don't fire him, please" he begged, his whole form now desperate as he put an arm around the Gorilla's back to show his support for him.

The huge man stared at Adrien as if he couldn't believe what had just happened. Nobody had ever shown him this much kindness before. And he certainly hadn't expected to receive any from Adrien of all people. Nevertheless, the Gorilla was very touched by Adrien's kindness. So much so that he began to do one thing that he hadn't done in years...he began to cry. He sniffled as happy tears trickled down his face. He hugged Adrien like a father gorilla nursing his child, grateful for Adrien's kindness. The teen boy returned the gesture, as if welcoming him without needing to say the words himself.

Gabriel's cold eyes seemed to soften as he took in the sight and thought for a moment. If there was one person's word he always believed, it was his son's. If this story had come out of anybody else but Adrien, he wouldn't have believed it for a second. He looked back at Adrien and the Gorilla, his face now more gentle but still not close enough to a smile.

"Very well my son, I will not fire the Gorilla." Gabriel promised, "He was a victim as you say and the fault is not his, but Mayor Bourgeois's daughter. I think I'll give him a call and tell him to punish that girl for her appalling behaviour."

Although Adrien liked the idea of Chloe getting punished for once, he knew that telling the mayor about her was not a good idea and could end very disastrously.

"No dad, don't! You might make the mayor mad and he'll react in the worst way possible!" Adrien cried.

"Do you think for a minute that oaf of a politician scares me?" Gabriel snapped, his expression now his normal hard, stern self, "Mayor Bourgeois can threaten me all he likes, I won't be intimidated by him. He needs a wake-up call Adrien and if nobody else will make him realize what an idiot he is then I'll do it."

"But dad..."

"Enough son! My mind is made up." the fashion designer snapped, "And that is that."

Adrien nodded, suppressing a sigh.

"I understand, father. Do what you feel is best" he said softly, earning a nod from the stern older man.

"Very good. Now, I'd like you to hurry off to bed. You have to be ready for school. Same goes to you, Gorilla. Rest up early tonight." his tone grew softer as he addressed this to his son and the big man.

Adrien made a soft smile as he patted the Gorilla's back "We sure will. Goodnight, dad" he bid as he headed into the kitchen to get the Camembert cheese, while the Gorilla headed off to his quarters.

After watching Adrien leave the room, Gabriel sighed as he looked at a nearby photo of his wife, the said photo of her hugging her son and sharing a loving glance with him. The tiniest of smiles appeared on Gabriel's face as he walked over to it and smoothed his fingertips across the faces of his wife and son.

"He's so much like you...if only you were here..." He whispered ever so quietly, a hint of sadness to his voice.

It was certainly true that the "disappearance" of his wife changed Gabriel a lot. While he was a bit busy earlier in Adrien's childhood, he was a brighter hearted man that would try to make time for his wife and son. But ever since she exited their lives, Gabriel became the colder man that he was to this day. If anyone were to see this, they ought to savour the moment. And that's what Nathalie did before she brought him back to reality.

"Um, sir? I'm sorry to, um, bother, but considering one of the Justice League is in Paris, probably for his own reasons, would you want me to draw up a different schedule for the rest of the week?" she suggested.

Nathalie was a smart woman who always paid attention to the local news, as well as the Justice League's activities across the world, under orders from her boss that was. Gabriel hummed to himself a bit before turning to her.

"Ladybug and Chat Noir are enough for me to worry about with their battles possibly hurting my son, and if that Batman's got any of his villain's lurking around Paris, then I can't take much risks. School hours as normal, but no photo shoots outside. He's to be brought straight home, Nathalie, and we'll have photo shoot's done in the basement studio. I can't bare the thought of him getting caught up in this business with Batman, Nathalie, so get it printed tomorrow" he ordered, his voice stern as he calculated the week's plan in his mind.

Thankful at having a good memory, Nathalie jotted the orders down on her notepad, finishing shortly afterwards "Got it. I'll have it typed and printed in the morning, sir" she said with as much understanding and honesty, heading off to her quarters to get it all typed up.

Gabriel nodded approvingly as he turned to leave himself. Adrien would be safe and he wouldn't have to worry about him getting hurt. He also wouldn't have to worry about this Batman character causing him any grief too. He always worried on if Adrien was under attack by the akuma victims, he didn't need to worry about Adrien being in danger at the hands of somebody else either.

He turned around just in time to see Adrien return from the kitchen and walk up the huge staircase to his room. Smiling a small smile, he watched his son until he got up to the top and then he walked away to do some last minute things before it was his time to retire for the night...

If Batman was anywhere near Charles De Gaulle airport at this point, he would've seen that his time in Paris was about to get worse. The Riddler was soon to be the least of his problems when he eventually realized what was coming his way now.

A Boeing 737 touched down at Charles De Gaulle airport in the early hours of the morning. Having departed at eleven o' clock at night, the plane arrived at exactly 9:00 am French time. Given it was a school day, many people would be taking their children to school at this particular time, meaning the plane didn't have many watchers as it slowed down and began to taxi down the runway towards the airport terminal. The plane also didn't have many passengers. It wasn't even half-full.

One of the passengers was a gentlemanly like person with fair skin and grey hair. He looked as if he had been wandering the Earth forever and was just patiently waiting for his time to finally leave it. He wasn't a very attractive looking man either, often getting disgusted glares or people quickly looking away the moment they caught sight of him. That suited the man. He didn't want to attract attention. If he did then Batman would be after him and his fun would end before it could even begin.

Underneath the latex mask and make-up, The Joker couldn't help but grin to himself. What fun it had been to slip straight through Gotham's security and get on a plane to another country! If he'd been identified at all, he would've been pinned down by hundreds of guards before he had a chance to explain himself. The Dollmaker's disguise certainly paid off. Nobody had recognized him, not even when he'd identified himself as "Jack White" to the airport staff. So while Gotham's GCPD were searching for him, he was far away and now treading upon French soil. Batman thought he could escape him did he? He had been wrong and now he was going to show the Dark Knight what happens to those who try to avoid him.

As the plane approached the terminal, he allowed himself the luxury of a smile. He had deliberately kept the smile off of his face so he wouldn't arouse any suspicions but now he was soon to be departing, he didn't have to hide it anymore.

"Twinkle, twinkle little Bat...The Joker's gonna find out where you're at..." he sang to himself.

He felt the plane come to a stop as it reached the terminal. It was time to disembark at last. The Joker felt as if he'd been sitting there forever and was relieved to be able to stand again. He got up out of his seat and filed out of the plane along with the other passengers...

The Joker wasn't the only one traipsing through Paris in disguise today.

A certain individual had started skulking about the lower side of Paris, dressed in a grey raincoat, a thick black woolly hat, a thick beard with brown streaks on his face, dark chequed trousers and brown shoes clung to his lower half, making him an odd person that would've fitted very well in a fantasy book. If anyone saw this man out of his disguise, the press would be all over him like a swarm of bees, given how popular he was back in Gotham City. But Bruce Wayne was no fool.

Having thankfully arrived in secret, he sent a private message out to the staff of the airport and hotel, asking not to send out any info about his presence in the capital French city. The billionaire vigilante had planned this from the start, keeping his civilian self in the shadows on Paris' streets and only coming out as his dark alter ego. Given the whole world watched through TV's, satellites, and the Internet of him fighting Ape-Man alongside Ladybug and Chat Noir, he couldn't risk the world knowing Bruce Wayne was in Paris. Given the huge rise of geeks and theorists, especially on the Internet, Bruce knew someone would've connected the dots and goodness knows what would've happened once this theory was exposed to the world. He had to stick to the shadows, but only come out when Batman himself was needed.

"Master Bruce?" the voice of Alfred echoed on his earpiece, bringing him back to reality, "If I were to suggest an idea to you, how about you start at the airport first? I know it's going to be quiet there today, but you could as well try to slip into a security room and observe CCTV footage of when the Riddler left?" his elderly guardian was a very good strategist and idealist, and if Batman or Bruce was ever in need of a hand, a family member would always be welcome to help out.

"And hopefully find the number plate of the taxi that he took to get to his hideout. Thanks, Alfred." Bruce said quietly as he paced down a street road, coming towards a certain bakery...where he nearly knocked a certain young girl over. She had just rushed out of the door and Bruce hadn't noticed until the two had nearly collided.

"O-Oh! I'm so sorry, mister! I didn't mean to!" The bluenette cried out as she comprehended what had happened in the short amount of two seconds.

Bruce would've just stormed on and wouldn't have bothered to say anything. But that's what Batman would've done. Here he was an ordinary man in the daylight. And as he took note of the person in, he could see that the person he bumped into was a young teenaged girl...it was Marinette Dupain-Cheng!

Taking in her apologetic expression and nervous words, Bruce waved it off and smiled under his fake beard.

"Don't be sorry, young lady. I should've watched where I was going" he replied, not wanting to berate the sweet hearted girl in front of him, "Still, I recommend that you get going to school, I don't want you to get into any trouble" he added, making it clear that the girl should really be getting on with her own life and not worry about his well-being.

Marinette smiled shyly and began to jog off.

"Thank you sir, I'll try to be careful next time! Have a good day!" She waved as she crossed the road that would take her to school.

Bruce smiled, but a serious thought crossed his mind. He was reminded of what he was fighting for, keeping the peace and joy that people like Marinette deserved in life, and it only made him more determined to get to the bottom of his investigation.

Crossing the opposite road, Bruce cocked his head to one side as Alfred spoke again.

"Mind if I suggest you take a taxi to the airport, sir? Because pacing up and down a quiet street is bound to attract attention" he noted to the billionaire, who suppressed a grunt of slight annoyance.

"Yes Alfred, well and truly noted." he quietly retorted, before heading off towards a nearby taxi lane...

As for Marinette, she had sprinted her way to school, determined not to be late again. She hated that one aspect of her life as Ladybug, the fear of being late and getting bad reports that her parents would receive from the teachers and require a flimsy explanation that would some how fix everything. Luckily for her, she had managed to get up a little earlier than usual so she had time to spare.

As she arrived, she noticed that her best friend, Alya Césaire was waiting for her. Alya was an attractive young girl just like Marinette was though anybody who looked at her would've associated her as one of the quiet and nerdy kinds of girls as opposed to the ones who used their bodies to attract attention. She was dark skinned and had a mole above one of her eyes. She wore huge black-rimmed glasses that seemed to add to her brainy image. Her attire consisted of a plaid shirt with various colour stripes, jeans and white sneakers. The clothes made her look fit and a little sporty though her personality wasn't anything like that. She also had wavy brown-reddish hair that seemed well suited for her.

The dark-skinned girl spotted Marinette and grinned widely, clearly pleased to see her.

"Hey Marinette, you actually got here on time for once! That's something to celebrate!" she exclaimed jokingly.

"You're not funny Alya, I hope you realize that." Marinette retorted humorously. If there was one thing that made her so glad to be Alya's friend, it was how enthusiastic and light-hearted she could be. She was the kind of girl you wanted to be friends with, the kind you wanted to hang around with because being around her was so pleasant and upbeat that you just enjoyed every moment spent with her.

"I'm no Ellen DeGeneres I'm sure but admit it, I can be funny Marinette." Alya teased.

"OK, a little funny perhaps." the blue haired girl replied, "How's it going?"

"How's it going you ask?!" Alya shrieked, "You have no idea how exciting things are! Have you heard the news Marinette? OMG, you're not gonna believe this but one of the greatest superheroes in the world is actually IN PARIS right now!"

Marinette pretended to be surprised at this. She knew perfectly well who her best friend was talking about.

"Who is it? Superman or somebody?" the half French-half Chinese girl asked.

"Second best, it's Batman himself!" the brown-haired girl replied, bouncing up and down enthusiastically, "And rumour has it that last night, he teamed up with Ladybug and Cat Noir to stop an akuma victim! Holy galoshes I just HAD to talk about it on the Ladyblog! I'm gonna get so much views and comments with a news story like that! I even headlined it: BATMAN IN PARIS, TEAMS UP WITH LADYBUG AND CAT NOIR. I even added a tagline saying "France's heroes to meet America's heroes?" Man I hope Ladybug and Cat Noir get to team up with other heroes like Green Lantern or The Flash or best of all, Wonder Woman! How awesome would that be?!"

Marinette giggled at her enthusiasm and decided to express her own opinions, all of which were going to be very honest.

"I'd totally love to have Wonder Woman and Flash come over at some point, but something tells me the Teen Titans are more fitting for Ladybug and Chat Noir" she said, a bright tone to her voice. Alya clenched her hands excitedly.

"Oh girl that would be so awesome! I can just see the fanfic ideas already!" She exclaimed, a starry look in her eyes as she gazed into the distance, fantasising the ideas in her head.

Marinette giggled as she followed her friend into the classroom, where they found Nathanael, Lila, Juleka, Rose, Kim and Ivan all huddled together, clearly talking about the events of the previous night. Lila spotted Marinette and Alya so she gestured them to come over.

"Alya! Can ya believe it!? Batman was here the other night with Chat Noir, fighting that akuma!" the Italian girl exclaimed with an equal amount of excitement in her tone.

"Girl, I've seen a lot of craziness in my life since Ladybug entered our lives, I'm bound to take interest in it!" Alya replied as she and Marinette joined the group discussion.

"If you ask me, Batman could show Ladybug a thing or too in the field. And I'm not saying cos I dislike her, I actually think he could help her out" Lila responded, keeping her tone levelled so as not to sound mean.

"Each to their own, but I think she and Chat Noir could teach Bats a few lessons in magic. That's as long he hasn't had Zatanna teach him a few or two" Alya responded with a sly wink, making the gathered friends giggle.

Marinette suppressed a sigh as she glanced at Lila, who was formerly the akumatized victim, Volpina, or really one of her own victims. Marinette never felt so guilty in all her life about she ruined Lila's chance of having a friendship. On first glance, many would see her as an attention seeker like Chloe, but as it turned out over the next few weeks, after an emotional breakdown, Lila confessed to having lied because she felt lonely, given she was the new girl at the school and no one really took notice of her. As the class finally lowered their guard, they learnt so much more about her, seeing she was a sweet hearted person who had a deep passion for Paris and hoped to be a hair stylist for the magical city. Marinette vowed to be a good friend to Lila as a way of making amends for what she did to her.

Still, the centre of attention in the classroom was stolen the second Adrien walked in, with Nino following behind him.

"Yo dudes, the poster boy of all your fashion magazines is here!" Nino announced loudly for no real reason.

"You could do without the fanfare Nino." Adrien said sheepishly.

All heads turned in the two boys's direction. The class had been waiting for Adrien to appear and now he was here, a lot of faces lit up at the sight of him. That was the one good thing about school, the fact that Adrien was very popular among his classmates and fitted in well. He enjoyed it, especially since most of the class liked him for who he was as a person, not the model that they saw in their fashion magazines. Marinette's eyes in particular were all aglow upon seeing the blonde-haired boy. Upon meeting Adrien for the first time, things hadn't gone well. She had found him trying to get gum off of her seat, which had been put there by Chloe. Marinette had mistakenly believed Adrien was the one who had put it there and had gotten mad at him. And yet here she was now, delighted to see him and suddenly feeling weak in the knees. The blue-haired girl fought to stay standing as Adrien approached.

"So how's it going guys and girls?" Adrien asked politely.

"Just talking about last night pretty boy." Kim responded, "You hear? Batman's in Paris! He fought an akuma victim with Ladybug and Cat Noir!"

"I bet under that mask he's as handsome as my beloved prince!" Rose squealed, her eyes twinkling.

"I kinda wish he was there when I got akumatized..." Juleka mumbled grimly, "It would've been awesome being saved by him as well as Ladybug and Cat Noir."

"Yeah, I heard all about that too." Adrien admitted, "What a turn of events eh? Who'd have thought one of the JL was gonna come to us?"

"It could be something really bad at the same time though." Nathanel said. He had a notebook in his hand and was drawing a picture of Batman as he spoke, "What if Batman being here means something even bigger than these akuma attacks is happening? I hope it's nothing like that picture a drew the other day!"

"What did you draw?" Marinette asked curiously.

"A god-like monster attempting to eat the whole world." the artist admitted, almost shamefully, "I dunno, I was feeling grim lately so I drew it to express myself."

"Man, that's dark buddy!" Nino cried, "But I'm sure Bat-dude being here doesn't mean the end of the world!"

"I hope not. Me and Mylène just started dating at last!" Ivan cried, almost amazed he had actually just said that out loud.

Marinette patted his arm, giving the big teenager a reassuring look.

"Given Ladybug's and Chat Noir's reputation, nothing will get in between you and Mylene while their around, and I'm sure Batman hasn't brought along any ill means either" she assured, brightening him up a bit. Juleka then realised something just as Mylene came in and hugged Ivan.

"Hang on...the akuma this time was your bodyguard, wasn't it, Adrien?" she then pointed out, making all heads turn to him once again.

Adrien sighed, fearing this would happen. It was all over the news when Ape-Man was revealed to be the Gorilla. While the whole world would've thought he was just some Parisian, to the school, they all knew him as Adrien's bodyguard, as they often saw him escorting Adrien into the school. Brushing a strand of blonde hair out of his eyes, Adrien spoke.

"Chat Noir came over to my place last night just as my dad was about to fire the Gorilla. I explained to my dad and Chat what gotten to my bodyguard. The person who caused him to go on the rampage was Chloe." he told them all. In response it was a mix of groans, sighs, and eyes rolling. Though Marinette's blood boiled at the mention of it.

She seriously couldn't stand Chloe. Throughout their school years she was always a bothersome bully towards Marinette, but ever since Adrien came to the school, Chloe became a lot worse. As far as Marinette was concerned, Chloe was a rotten, stick up bitch, who went out of her way to threaten, taunt, and yell at people for simply being different or doing something innocent compared to her. Heck, she only had Sabrina to do her homework for her and often verbally abused her as well. Sure, Sabrina had her bitchy moments, but everyone by now had guessed Chloe bullied her into being like it. But what made Marinette sick now though, was that she was the one responsible for dozens of akuma attacks on Paris. She could list them all off the tip of her fingers, like Ivan, Juleka, Mylene, Sabrina, Sabrina's father, her great uncle, Rose, Kim, and now it was Adrien's bodyguard. If there was something that made Marinette's blood boil in utter disgust, it was Chloe.

"What did she do this time?" Lila asked with a frown of annoyance, as she couldn't stand the blonde bitch either.

"She insulted his size, his whole appearance, and threatened to have him fired and living on the streets" Adrien responded, his tone tired and angry.

The whole class gasped in shock at this, but Marinette quickly found her voice.

"Now she's targeting him!? Your bodyguard!? If she's meant to be your friend, she should know better!" the bluenette exclaimed, greatly surprising the rest of the class.

Even Adrien couldn't believe it, as Marinette very rarely raised her voice in anger. But it didn't stop him from nodding in agreement.

"Tell me about it...I hate to say it, but I feel like shouting at her half the time whenever she causes trouble" he replied. Nino smirked in response.

"Welcome to the club at last, bro!" he exclaimed, making Adrien fight off a smirk.

"Your bodyguard didn't get fired, did he?" Marinette asked with a deeply concerned voice.

Though Adrien was surprised at how much compassion she was showing, he was grateful that she was expressing her concern over the Gorilla. Everyone was intimidated by him, but he was glad there were a brightful few like Marinette that could see the good in him. He smiled at her, a mixture of warmth and relief.

"Thankfully he didn't. After I explained everything to dad, he understood and kept him around. I heard he phoned up the mayor to tell him to teach Chloe a lesson" he responded.

"How did that go?" Marinette asked, hoping to hear the good news.

"The mayor got angry but after my dad refused to budge, he decided that he was right and that Chloe did need teaching a lesson or two." the teen model answered, "According to my dad, the mayor's forbid Chloe from ever speaking to me again, heck she's not even allowed to LOOK at me and she's to be nice to everybody or she'll be grounded for a month and not allowed to have her phone anymore."

"Pfft, that's WAY too lenient on her." Kim scoffed, "She should be punished much worse than that!"

"I think everyone agrees on that." Juleka murmured.

"Well at least she's ACTUALLY getting some kind of punishment for once." Alya smirked, "Though I can't see her being able to be a good girl for her beloved daddy. She won't last a day!"

"Well let's not give her a reason to be mean to us." Marinette warned, "If we provoke her, we're no better than she is. Let's try and help her to learn her lesson."

"It won't be easy." Nathanel sighed, "But we can try."

"Yeah, last thing we want is an akumatized Chloe!" Nino exclaimed.

Marinette shuddered, remembering the time where Chloe had indeed become an akuma victim. She ahd become Antibug, the anti-counterpart to Ladybug. Last thing anybody needed was Antibug making a reappearance, although it would be satisfying to watch Batman beat the snot out of her.

Then the bell rang. Morning lessons were about to begin. Everybody was already in the classroom so all they had to do was get to their seats and sit quietly while the teacher arrived. The huddle broke up as all the students sat down at their desks and got out their books as the teacher entered the room, pleased to see everybody sitting down patiently. Chloe and Sabrina both entered the room shortly afterwards and both sat down at their desk. Chloe looked fed up, as if life wasn't fair to her and she didn't dare meet anybody's gaze. She just sat and looked ahead, at least attempting to pretend to be interested. Sabrina sat next to her but she didn't dare look at Chloe, worried the mayor's daughter would snap at her for no reason. Everybody was here now so the class was ready to begin.

But as the class had sat down, they had failed to notice that every desk in the room had something that wasn't originally there. If anybody had chanced a look under their desk, they would've noticed that there was something that really didn't belong in a classroom at all.

Unknown to anybody, The Riddler had finished creating his little copter robots and had sent them out to find a target for his safe-house's features to be tested on. He had decided that for a change, he would try using children as the hostages. After all, people worried more about missing children then missing adults. If there were children missing, he'd spread enough panic to bring France to its knees and then dare anybody foolish enough to try to rescue them. He wasn't the kind of man who found child murder fun or exciting but he didn't care. People were people and they died no matter how young.

So the copter bots had all managed to sneak into the school during the night and had hidden under the desks of every student in this very classroom. He hadn't had time to build enough robots for the whole school so he picked a classroom at random and planted the robots there. Now it was morning and the class was full, the robots could carry out their next stage. Silently, they detached themselves from the underneath of the desks and flew down towards everybody's bags. Amazingly, their whirling rotors didn't make a single noise as they sneaked into the bags. Every student in the class had a phone and the robots found them instantly. Now the phones had been found, they opened up the phones and planted their contents inside. They were all carrying bombs The Riddler had attached to them, but only one of the bombs was actually real. The rest were fake, which was what The Riddler had wanted. It was part of one of his games.

In his safe-house, The Riddler had watched the whole performance via the cameras his robots contained and he was pleased to see how well things were going. Now the robots had done, they crawled out of the bags and attached themselves back under the desk so they could remain hidden until the school was closed again. He laughed to himself.

"That's one puzzle set up for later!" he cried excitedly, "And boy this one's gonna be very fun indeed!"

The Riddler then peeked at his watch and hummed to himself "Guess it's time for a nice bit of coffee. Gotta keep the brain cells ticking and staying on tune. Afteral, some brains will be splattered all over the place at some point" he smirked as he stood up and cracked his fingers, ready to get to work on the next phase of his plan. But little did he know, though, someone else was about to make a stylish entrance to Paris...in his own frightening way.

With Bruce Wayne, he was just exiting the taxi that brought him to the airport, passing a few euros to the driver. Pocketing his wallet, Bruce entered the airport's lobby and removed his hat. Thankfully, he was wearing a well added on wig that didn't make him stand out of the crowd like a sore thumb. Given he was a master of disguise, Bruce had made sure the wig was well attached to his head, with it being a messy style similar to that of a rockstar, but thankfully nowhere near as messy as Jagged Stone's.

Placing himself against a nearby bin, Bruce studied his surroundings like an eagle, taking in every bit of his surroundings. To everyone in the waiting area, they thought he was just bored, but little did they know this disguised billionaire had his sights now focussed on the security door just past the doors that would take him deeper into the airport. That and he was listening very closely to his fellow accomplice far across the Atlantic pond.

"Master Bruce, be glad that your thermal imagery contact lenses are showing me the airport's inner sections. I can tell you that two security cameras are looking away from you as we speak. Mind if I suggest you start your walk to the door now?" The old voice of Alfred explained to him from within the earpiece. Bruce nodded, timing his next move just right as a huge crowd of travellers were walking through the doors.

Pressing forward and gently pushing past each of the travellers he was walking with, the disguised crime fighter steadily headed over to the door, keeping an eye out for nearby security men while listening to Alfred's voice.

"I can tell you, sir, that there's only one gentleman in there and he's popped into the men's room. Once you get in, I suggest you bolt him in. And it seems the poor bugger has left the door itself unlocked. You might as well just slip on in, like the crafty man you are" he advised.

"It's moments like this where people begin to wonder why criminals are able to break into places so easily." Bruce muttered to himself.

How lazy was security to leave a door like this unlocked? It made Bruce sad to think that security really was this poor. If people actually gave a damn about security, they may well bring down the crime rates for once.

Stealing himself, Bruce headed on towards the security room. With any luck, he'd get in there easily and be able to carry out his mission. And once he'd succeeded, he'd have an easier time tracking down the puzzle-obsessed criminal. Glancing around one last time, Bruce could see that he was clear to go in, as the security men were not looking his way, and neither were the cameras. Swiftly, he pulled the door open and headed on inside, closing it as quietly as he could. Having now entered a darker room, with about eight TV screens n the nearby wall, Bruce looked about to find the door that connected to the built in bathroom. Quickly spotting it to his far left, Bruce grabbed the chair and stacked it against the door, placing it right under the handle, preventing the bathroom's occupant from getting out anytime soon.

With that sorted, Bruce headed back to the wall of screens and began to observe a few of them, specifically the two cameras that were on the outside of the lobby, getting a good view of the taxi lane. His fingers whizzing away at the keyboard in front of him, Bruce played back the footage from yesterday evening, while keeping in mind of the disguise the Riddler had. Remembering the time he himself arrived, Bruce went back an hour on the two cameras, watching intently as the footage played.

As he watched on, Bruce couldn't help but feel...different. Not in the feeling he had the previous night that he was now in Paris, but now he genuinely felt like an actual detective, like an FBI or CIA operative investigating the footsteps of an international criminal. Truth be told, Bruce actually tried to join the FBI once and he would've made a brilliant agent...if he knew how to use an actual gun properly...

Shaking the memory out of his mind and replacing the image of said gun with a grappling gun, Bruce continued his work, his dark brown eyes focusing hard on the footage. Shortly enough, he found his target. Remembering the hairy face and the purple glasses, Bruce had finally gotten a lead on the Riddler. He zoomed in on the number plate of the taxi and quickly jotted it down in his ever intelligent brain: TR 18O2Y.

"I've got it, Alfred. I'll have to pay the taxi station website a visit now, see if I can track that taxi's whereabouts last night." Bruce said quietly as he stood up from the desk.

Remembering he trapped someone in the bog, Bruce quickly and quietly removed the chair and placed it back to where it was in front of the desk, before turning on his heels and, after doing a little peek to make sure no one was watching, Bruce slipped out through the door, like a ghost of the air.

But little did our hero notice that, while he was in that room, someone had gotten past his incredible detective eye...

Things are peaceful now but it won't last...

The Riddler's set up some kind of puzzle, The Joker's in Paris now and Batman is completely unaware of any of this! And so are Ladybug and Cat Noir! What will happen next? And when will Hawk Moth make his next move?

Tune in next time as the party gets started when The Joker makes his first move...