The new hero team worked together like a well-oiled machine, trusting one another to support and help them in akuma battles. They were effective and skilled during fights, thanks to being able to meet up and practice together in their civilian identities. Adder's power remained the same as before and wasn't often needed, instead working as a lookout and planner with Ladybug while Helmine and Chat tended to go more on the offensive.
Helmine's defensive power was "Sanctuary" and was used twice so far, creating a bubble shield protection around one person who could choose to let others enter. On the first occasion, only the civilian that the akuma was after needed the shield, but the second time all of the heroes had taken refuge in it. A temporary hero was needed exactly five times over the next month, and Ladybug had looked at the mini parasol her Lucky Charm had given her in confusion before lighting up in comprehension and dashing quickly to retrieve the Fox miraculous and ask Aurore to assist them for the battle.
In class, Alya was upset about being replaced and liked to completely ignore the fact that her identity had been compromised, whining about it to the classmates, several of whom were also hurt and angry they could no longer help Ladybug. Apart from the other 'new' members of the team who Lila worked to direct them towards, their main target was Chloe, as the one who had revealed them. Personally, while Marinette was disappointed, she didn't ignore the fact that Chloe had been akumatized and as such didn't blame her for everything.
One such morning, Adrien tapped his fingers on the desk as he waited nervously for the morning's plan to start. Marinette was missing, not really noticed by the rest of the class who were all clustered around Lila and listening to some story about her vacation over the weekend. It was probably misuse of their miraculous, but Luka had stated Lila was a threat to the team as well with her harassment of Adrien and Marinette and that the risk of them being akumatized was worth it.
As such, Ladybug had subtly inspired Madame Bustier with offhand comments about sharing safety tips with civilians and pretended that it was the teacher's idea to have her visit the classroom that morning to give a talk. Hopefully, the classmates would be too eager to talk to Lila's 'bestie' and back her into a corner talking about how it's so cool that her 'best friend' came to visit, allowing Ladybug to act confused and say she doesn't have a best friend.
The look on Lila's face when a smiling heroine entered the classroom was priceless and Adrien couldn't resist taking a discreet picture to share with the rest of the team later. She pasted a falsely pleasant expression on and winked obviously as if sharing a secret with the class. Adrien leaned forward in his seat, eager to get a good view.
Alya gave them an opportunity right away, bouncing up to Ladybug and shoving her phone towards her face, asking about the new heroes. Ladybug calmly responded with a general, "They are here to help just as Chat and I are. It is nice to have some others to trust during fights."
Predictably, Alya swelled up with anger at this statement, and blurted out, "I can't believe you trust them. Ignoring your bestie is not cool."
"I'm sorry? I don't have a best friend…" Ladybug said clearly, causing uncertain looks to be passed between classmates. No matter how much they were Lila's 'friends' these days, Ladybug was the hero of Paris and was known to hate liars, so she wouldn't lie to them about this. That meant Lila had been the one lying. Her stories about Ladybug had been so convincing though. What else had she lied about?
Lila, from her seat in the front, was turning progressively more red in a way that clashed horribly with her sausage hair. Her fists were clenched and she tried to look unconcerned but could feel the way the class was losing trust in her. The sound of wings made her look up and a dark smile spread across her face as she reached out to grab the butterfly, triggering gasps from those watching.
There was a loud smack and Lila yanked her sore hand back, clutching it as the pain brought tears to her eyes. Ladybug released the now white butterfly from her yo-yo out the window and stared Lila down with a disappointed look.
"Akumas are never the answer, no matter what." She said, before apologizing to Ms. Bustier and launching into the speech she'd prepared about akuma prevention. Thankfully, most of the class seemed to be paying attention, despite their obvious distraction in the form of Lila glaring at the floor with her arms crossed. Chloe was also looking down, but it seemed to be out of shame rather than anger.
Ladybug made a point to politely say goodbye to everyone, even Lila, before waving as she swung out the window and found a sheltered place on the roof to wait for a while to make sure another akuma wasn't coming to the school before returning home and slipping into her bathroom where she feigned having a stomach bug every time her parents came to check on her and spent the rest of her time messaging the other heroes and working on school assignments.
When Marinette returned to class the next day, apologizing for her absence and collecting the missed work from Ms. Bustier, she found Lila nowhere to be seen, and a large group of former friends all greeting her with desperate smiles. They were all acting as though they hadn't abandoned her to cling onto Lila's false promises and even harassed her. Alya had the audacity to try and get her to sit next to her, where Lila had taken her seat at the beginning of the year.
Giving them incredulous and confused looks, as she wasn't supposed to know what had happened, Marinette made a beeline for where Adrien was sitting and asked loudly, "What's going on?"
Adrien put his acting skills to good use and replied, "Yesterday, Ladybug visited to tell us about akuma prevention methods. It's a shame you missed it. But, we also found out that Lila had been lying to us about being her best friend!" He said this last part with a gasping shock and both had to resist the urge to burst out laughing as they locked eyes.
Biting her lip hard in order to prevent her laughter, Marinette responded. "Oh! Well, that's good… Now they won't be taken advantage of by Lila anymore. Where is she anyways?"
Ms. Bustier, who was standing at the front of the classroom, heard her and said, "Lila has transferred schools." causing everyone to look at her with wide eyes.
"I just hope she won't do this again, but I suppose that would be too much to ask for." Marinette muttered under her breath, causing Adrien to snort and say back quietly, "True. Should we find out where she went and warn them or is that too far?"
"Umm, probably not too far? The heroes could make a stop there one day and 'accidentally' spot Lila, asking if she's been working to be a better person these days and stopped lying?" Marinette suggested after a moment.
Adrien nodded and Marinette sat down next to him, ignoring Nino who usually sat there and now looked at them for a moment before seeing Alya looking at him and moving to sit with his girlfriend instead. The pair spent the entire day mostly keeping to themselves and at lunch ate with Marc, Nathaniel, Aurore, Kagami, and Luka, the latter two of whom had arranged to be able to visit as a method of celebration. After a few attempts to get back in Marinette's good graces, the class finally seemed to get the message and spent the rest of the day frowning unhappily.