Hôtel de Ville, 4:15 pm.
Miss Bustier's students were all stood outside of the City Hall, along with Gabriel Agreste's assistant Nathalie, Adrien's bodyguard Mr. Acier and Alix's brother Jalil, and Alya's parents and sisters, freezing in the cold. They had tried to get into the building before, but Chloe walked in first and locked everyone out.
"Let us in, Chloe!" Lila shouted.
"We're all freezing to death out here, Miss Bourgeois!" Nathalie added.
Chloe spoke over the speaker. "And I care why? You're not exactly upper class."
At that moment, a huge black limo pulled up near the building. The back passenger doors opened and out walked four muscular men all wearing black suits and ties on top of white shirts. They all wore black tinted sunglasses, black leather gloves and had white earpieces in their ears. When they were all out, a man emerged from the limo. He had the same outfit on, but had no sunglasses, showing his blue eyes and had no hair. Everyone gasped at his presence.
"Good to see the thermal suits work." The man said. He walked towards the City Hall, with the four men walking in a square formation. The students stepped backward as he came close to the door. He knocked on it five times, and a security camera turned to see who it was. The door immediately opened and revealed Mayor Andre Bourgeois. "I assume you'll let these people in as well, Andre. I was informed that they were sent here under the orders of Ladybug, yes?"
"O-o-o-of Course. Everyone come on in." Mayor Bourgeois walked back into the building's main hall, with the bald man, his four bodyguards and the rest of the people outside. Chloe heard the commotion and came to investigate.
"I thought I said they weren't allowed-" Chloe stopped herself when she saw the bald man, yelling at the sight of him. "AGH! Mr. President! I'm so sorry!"
"I, too apologize for our unprofessional behavior, Mr. Rejeter."
"Apology accepted." The president answered. "And feel free to call me Bryan. I am sorry for having to do this so close to Christmas Day, but a disturbing matter has been brought to my attention. We should discuss this privately."
"Of course." The President and Mayor walked off to the Mayor's office. The students started whispering about Bryan, who they knew was Liam's father. Chloe walked down and began belittling her classmates.
"Just because Liam's lowered himself to the level of you peasants, doesn't mean he'll stop me from putting you in your place!"
"Yes, he will!" Nathaniel retaliated. "He just won't let us put you in your place."
Chloe scoffed. "He's smart. Look at what happened with Callum Terrence."
Alya, not considering the witnesses or consequences, saw red. She dashed and punched Chloe straight in the nose, knocking her to the ground, causing blood to run and security guards to pin Alya to the ground. Everyone was shocked by Alya's actions.
"Alya!" Alya's father shouted. "That was out of order."
Alya refused to struggle against the guards, knowing what she had done was wrong. She relaxed and the guards released her.
"I'm sorry, dad," Alya said.
"What's going on down here?!" The President shouted as he and Mayor Bourgeois returned.
"Daddy!" Chloe ran into her father's arms. "That evil witch punched for no reason!"
"That is not true, Mr. Mayor!" Nino defended his girlfriend. "Chloe provoked Alya. Chloe said that Liam won't stop her from putting us in our place."
"Then I said that he would." Nathaniel continued. "But he'd also make sure we didn't get revenge on her."
"And then Chloe brought up Callum Terrence."
The Mayor gasped. "He was just on the news! He's been unmasked as Fire Ant."
"That's why we left you here." The President said. "I needed to discuss a big issue." The President walked and talked. "You see, Miss Bourgeois, I have received a DVD disc that contained security footage from College Francois Dupont High School. It displays you and..." Bryan looked at the students. "...some of these students in a Science classroom. The big incident in the recording is you pinning a girl to the table and pouring a cup of liquid into her eyes. Can you identify that girl, Chloe?"
Rose answered instead. "Krystal Terrence. She's Callum's sister. That liquid was acid and Krystal was permanently blinded by that atta-"
Chloe stopped Rose. "Ever heard the phrase Snitches Get Stitches, Lavillant?"
"Chloe, I've had enough of your antics!" Bryan shouted, lowering his voice after getting Chloe's attention. "I know what you did to that girl. And do you know what the tragic news was that they had to deal with? Their mother had died. Callum Terrence had to deal with his mother dying and his sister being viciously attacked and blinded. And that's not mentioning the cover-up. That's why I came here. You will not step out of line anymore, Bourgeois. Due to the seriousness of this and your father's actions of covering it up, you cannot say 'jump' and have him reply 'how high' anymore. Effective tomorrow, Andre Bourgeois is no longer the Mayor of Paris."
Everyone gasped at what Bryan said. Chloe was shocked. "You can't do that!"
"You and your father have covered up an acid attack through blackmail! Now, I do believe Callum Terrence should not have beaten you up and his exclusion was justified, but he would not have done that had you not scarred his sister. But..." Bryan turned around to face the Mayor. "I'll allow you to keep ownership of your home. You can still stay at Le Grand Paris."
"Yeah. Assuming Hawk Moth doesn't blow it up with Liam."
Bryan was startled by what Chloe said. "What did you say?"
"Hawk Moth had two hostages there and bombs. He wanted Liam and Adrien Agreste. It may be getting covered in the news."
Mayor Bourgeois walked into the reception desk. "I may be able to see it on the new TV screens." He pressed a button and TV screens on the main entrance wall switched on. "Had them installed after the Darkblade attack in case we ever got locked in here again." The TV showed Nadja Chamack at Le Grand Paris.
Le Grand Paris
Marinette, Adrien, and Kayla were being tended to by paramedics while the remaining heroes were examining the hotel. Police and news crew surrounded the Bourgeois home. Nadja Chamack was conducting her report, staring at the camera and holding her microphone.
"The supervillain known to Paris as Hawk Moth has now been identified as Stan Billiton, once a bodyguard for the Prime Minister of Australia. While Billiton's motive appeared to have changed, it is not yet clear what his new intentions were. However, he has had his face reconstructed to resemble the likeness of the world-renowned fashion designer Gabriel Agreste. He also took two hostages and demanded the presence of three teenagers confirmed to be..." Her microphone was snatched by Birdy.
"To be safe from further harm." Knightowl's sidekick blurted. "Along with the two hostages. That's what you were going to say, wasn't it?"
Nadja stuttered. "Er... Y-yes!"
"Good." The boy pulled Nadja down to his height. "Keep sticking your nose where it doesn't belong and someone will break it!" Birdy let Nadja go and proceeded to check on Marinette, who was being seen for injuries in the back of an ambulance. Birdy walked into the back as the paramedic left them alone to check on Adrien. Marinette was sat up on the stretcher. "Are you okay, Madame?"
Marinette looked at Birdy cautiously. 'Does he know I'm Ladybug?' She thought to herself. 'I hope not.' She finally spoke. "I'm fine, Thank You." Marinette expressed surprise. "You're that hero from New York! Birdy, right?"
Birdy nodded. "Yes. That's me."
Marinette smiled. "I have a lot of questions, but first, is Adrien Agreste okay?"
"Adrien is currently being tended to. He's okay."
"I'm fine too!" Kayla's voice shouted from the side of the ambulance's exterior. "Thanks for asking! Laura's safe too, just letting you know."
"Sorry!" Marinette replied. "Actually, Kayla, could I speak to you face-to-face?"
Kayla walked around to the back doors of the ambulance.
"I'll leave you two to it." Birdy said. "I'm gonna help search the hotel. See if Hawk Moth left any nice surprises." Birdy chuckled and left the two girls alone.
"Okay, Kayla." Marinette started. "How many people have you told about Liam's burn?"
"You, your mom, the superheroes." The girl answered.
"Great. Could you do Liam a huge favor? Don't tell anyone else about it? Liam said that watch is not normal and could cause harm in the wrong hands. To keep it out of the wrong hands, he tries to keep it a secret, so if anyone asks, tell them that he got that from Fire Ant."
"Uh, okay," Kayla said.
"And also, the Hotel was evacuated earlier. What were you and Laura doing here?"
"We'd been invited by Jagged Stone. He wanted us to perform at his New Year concert."
"Huh. Liam's band are doing that as well. Our classmates were getting him some gifts." Marinette's eyes widened. "I need to phone my classmates!" Marinette grabbed her phone from her purse, almost pulling Tikki out as well. Marinette scrolled through her contacts and pressed on Alya, phoning her.
"Marinette!"
"Alya! Thank goodness you're okay."
"Yeah, we're okay. All of us were sent to City Hall by Ladybug. Tell me you're okay!"
"I'm fine. Adrien, The hostages, we're safe. Liam's fine as well." The students could be heard cheering. "Hawk Moth's defeated as well. And they've got him in custody. Some heroes from New York tried to stop him, but the true hero is one of the hostages."
"Come again?"
"Hawk Moth had Adrien, Liam and I stuck in our tracks, but in order to trap us, he had to free the hostages. One of them, her name is Kayla Hernandez. She disarmed the bombs while we distracted Hawk Moth, then she knocked him out with a baseball bat."
"Sweet. I heard she's in Miss Bernard's class."
"I never saw her at school. Look, Liam got a bad burn on his wrist. A superhero named Mercury's took him to the hospital. I hope he's okay."
"Wait, if superheroes are there, why doesn't Ladybug use her powers to clean everything up?"
"Ladybug and Cat Noir..." Marinette had to tell the truth. "Aren't here yet. But there are other heroes. Like Knightowl, Birdy, a hero with the same powers as the mime villain, a heroine with a flute that can turn into a laser sword and a super speedster named Mercury. Gabriel Agreste and my parents are here too. Ooh, wait for a second Alya." Marinette walked out of the ambulance and saw Knightowl and Melodie exiting the hotel. Melodie gave a thumbs up. "The hotel's been given the all clear. Looks like we can go back in."
"Brilliant! We'll meet you down there. Hope Liam's gifts survived."
20 Minutes Later
The police and paramedics had left the area after giving the three teens the all clear. The superheroes and Gabriel Agreste were following the police. They wanted a conversation with Stan Billiton, Adrien was staying at the hotel with Marinette, the two of them were in the lobby armchairs.
"It's been one hell of a day," Adrien said.
"Adrien," Marinette responded. "I'm sorry about everything that's happened."
"It's not your fault."
"I can't believe it. All this time..."
"I never believed it would be you, yet there are so many similarities between you."
"All this time... We've been in the same room every school day."
"It's hard to comprehend. I was in love with you all along."
"Same here. Wh-what do we do now?"
"Well..." Adrien stroked his chin. "We still haven't been on that first date," Adrien stood up. "M'lady." Adrien winked.
As Adrien and Marinette talked in the armchairs, Marinette's parents, Kayla and her family were at the reception desk, talking to each other.
"Are you Kayla Hernandez?" Tom asked.
"Si," Kayla answered. "Why do you ask?"
"We can never repay you," Sabine replied. "You saved our only daughter."
"Oh, it was nothing. You don't have to repay me. That Hawk Moth got what was coming to him."
"I can't believe you knew how to disarm the bombs," Kayla's father said. "Did you read through my journals from my time in the bomb squad?" Kayla nodded. "Chica astuta!"
"Urm, anyway," Tom started again. "We run Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie at 12 Rue Gotlib. From now on, anytime you buy from us, Kayla, it's free of charge."
"Gracias, Señor!" Kayla answered with surprise in her voice. "I do worry about the other boy though. Liam."
At that moment, Bridgette walked through the doors, followed by Jagged Stone, the other hostage Laura and Liam's bandmates, Michael, Milo, and Sami.
"Bridgette!" Tom shouted as he walked and hugged his sister. "How's Liam?"
"He's received some cream and bandages for his burn. His face lit up when he said he could still play at the concert."
"Oh, brilliant!" Milo shouted. Everyone turned to his direction. "Sorry."
Tom and Bridgette continued their conversation. "Liam's performing at Jagged Stone's New Year's Concert?" Tom asked.
"Yeah, he's on bass. He panicked because he thought the burn would mean he'd have to pull out, but nope. He's over the moon."
"I'll have to keep a lookout for him." After waiting around, multiple limousines pulled up outside and out emerged all of Marinette and Adrien's classmates, and the Mayor and President with bodyguards. Alya dashed and hugged Marinette tightly, near suffocating her. Nino did the same to Adrien, whilst the other classmates surrounded them, except for Chloe and Sabrina, who stood outside near the door, unnoticed save for Kayla.
"Looks like everything's back to normal," Sabrina said cheerily, only to have her wrist in Chloe's grip and yanked so that they were face to face.
"Normal?" Chloe gritted her teeth. "My daddy's not Mayor anymore and you're celebrating?"
"C-Chloe." Sabrina stuttered in fear. "Hawk M-moth and Fire A-Agh!" Sabrina cried in pain from Chloe's nails digging into her. "Hawk Moth and Fire Ant are finished."
"Strange how Ladybug hasn't shown up yet-Wait, let's not get off track. Why didn't your father try to stop this?!" Chloe's tight grip was bruising Sabrina.
"That video must have been given to Liam's brother. He must have been the one who gave it to their father."
Chloe let go of Sabrina, shoving her to the ground. Sabrina rolled her sleeve up, seeing most of her forearm was bruised and she had marks where Chloe's nails dug into her skin.
"So now what?!" Chloe asked. "At least I've still got the hotel. Liam will pay for this."
"Why?!" Kayla asked, frightening Chloe and Sabrina and making them scream, alerting the others. "Why is Liam going to pay?"
"Because he's ruining my life!"
"You don't need him to do that. You seem to be capable."
"Who are you anyway?"
Marinette, Adrien, Nino, Alya, and Kim came out to see Kayla and Chloe giving each other the death stares and Sabrina on the floor.
"Kayla. The girl who saved your hotel, and knocked out Hawk Moth. So you will show me some respect for saving your home."
Chloe ran to Kim, crying.
"Oh, Kim!" Chloe cried crocodile tears. "She just attacked Sabrina then threatened me!" Kim hugged Chloe, looked at Kayla and grunted.
"No, I didn't! I heard you two arguing and when I came out here, Sabrina was on the ground!"
"Plus, Kayla and Sabrina have never met!" Nino backed the girl up.
"We've met Kayla!" Adrien said. "And I don't think she would attack Sabrina."
"If she didn't attack Hawk Moth, he would have killed us!" Marinette added.
"There's only one person who can tell us the truth." Kayla turned and held her hand out to Sabrina. Sabrina took it and Kayla helped her up to her feet. "Are you okay?"
"Y-yes." The redhead answered.
"Okay, Sabrina. Please don't be afraid, to tell the truth. Who pushed you, and gave you those nasty bruises?"
Sabrina kept going, "Uh," "Er," "Mm." Until she finally gave her answer. "It was Chloe."
Everyone gasped, except Kayla and Sabrina. Kim let go of Chloe and everyone just walked back into the hotel, Kayla keeping her right arm over Sabrina's shoulders and left hand pressing on Sabrina's left shoulder. All of the students looked in her direction. People were whispering. Kayla walked Sabrina to the elevator and took her to one of the floors.
"What happened to her?" Juleka asked.
"I don't know," Rose answered.
"Who was that with her?" Nathaniel asked.
"Kayla Hernandez," Marinette answered. "And she's probably gonna be hailed like Liam for defeating Hawk Moth."
The students gasped.
"SHE defeated Hawk Moth?" Mylene asked.
"Yep. And she disabled the bombs he planted."
"Now, I know you're lying!" Alix said.
"No, she isn't," Adrien replied. "Kayla disarmed the bombs while we distracted Hawk Moth. Her dad used to be in the bomb squad and she looked through his notes. Either way, we'd be dead if she wasn't there. Marinette, Liam and I."
"She's telling the truth," Lila said.
"How do you know?" Alix asked.
"You can't kid a kidder. Liam knows that well."
Nino looked around. "Hey, that's a good point. If Liam was part of the fiasco, where is he?"
"I'm not too sure, he was taken to the hospital because of a burn on his arm, but Bridgette just said he's fine, so he might be on his way back." As the students discussed what had happened, Jagged Stone, Liam's bandmates, and Laura all got into the elevator. The sound of a car pulling up was not heard, but Chloe's reaction was.
"Get lost, Donoko!" The pompous girl shouted. The reply was a voiced disguised in a similar manner to Liam's when a few students visited him, but he now spoke with a German accent.
"Trust me, I vant to pe as far avay from you as bozible, put I haffe vork to do here vith CHagged Sdone, zo deal vith it!" The voice's owner walked in, showing Liam's alternate persona, Scott Donoko. He walked in, leather jacket, steel toe boots, fake goatee, and face half-covered. Félix entered behind him, then Chloe barged in.
"Not talking anymore, Scott?"
Liam stopped, looked over at his friends, then went and called the elevator. "Look, Chloe. Ve may hate each other, put I rememper your mother Audrey."
"You didn't know Audr-"
"Ja, I did. Ein vonderful voman, und effen ven sche valked out, sche pegged for Adrien und me to zubort you. Und efferydime I look at you, I can't help put zee how I failed her." The elevator arrived and the doors opened. "Put at zee zame time, you're alienating efferyone around you, zo I can't zee how ve can help you. In orter for us to help you, you need to help yourzelf." Liam walked in and pressed a button. "Merry Christmas." The elevator closed.
"He's right, you know," Adrien said. Chloe sighed and walked off.
Liam got out of the elevator on his floor and walked along to see Milo and Michael in the corridor.
"Got another call from XY," Milo said. "He's coming to see us."
"God, that prick again?" Liam answered as he walked into the room, seeing Jagged Stone, Kayla, Laura, and Sami practicing some songs. Sami was on the drums, while Kayla was on acoustic guitar and Jagged and Laura were holding Microphones. Liam walked in. "XY's on his way. He called me this morning, I just said 'Jagged doesn't want a baby.' He said that he was older than us, I said 'Then why does it feel the other way around?' Anyway, we'll take out the trash when he gets here."
"I like your thinking," Jagged replied with a grin. "You're the best band for the job."
"We're the only band for the job," Sami responded.
"Everyone's a comedian..." Liam mumbled, then looked at the two girls. "And who are you, fine young ladies?"
Laura walked over to Liam. "I'm Laura. Nice to meet you, Scott. A bit strange with the mask, though."
"The mask keeps people from discovering my true identity."
"You a superhero?" Kayla asked. "You see Liam Rejeter? His sister-in-law was downstairs, and he should be on his way back." Kayla asked. Liam toyed with her.
"What does he look like?"
"Your height. Brown hair. A white, Black and Blue tracksuit. Handsome enough to model for Gabriel Agreste." Liam pulled the mask up.
"Right back at you, gorgeous," Kayla screamed and blushed. "Why hide that pretty face?"
"Are you flirting right now?" Jagged Stone asked, visibly annoyed and rubbing his eyes. "We have a performance to rehearse, here! Get it together. Can't have Bob yelling in our ears."
"Alright." Liam and Kayla said. For the next half hour, the group rehearsed. They performed some of Jagged's classics, plus some Christmas songs popular songs from other artists. After half an hour, Alix, Nathaniel, Marinette, and Adrien had come up with Nathaniel carrying a box containing some presents for Liam. Jagged's assistant Penny was out the front.
"Sorry, but we can't let you in," Penny said. "They're rehearsing."
"Can you at least pass these onto...?" Adrien asked. "I think it's Scott Donoko?" The band stopped playing and began cheering.
"Alright, I gotta take a break," Liam said. "I don't think my friends actually know I'm here."
"Don't take too long." Jagged replied. Liam opened the door and saw his four friends with the presents. "Aw, you shouldn't have." The elevator pinged and Mr. XY appeared. "I'll take these off of you." Liam took the box off of Nathaniel. "Go downstairs and tell our friends, if they have phones, video the elevator. This is gonna be so good!" Liam couldn't stop snickering. The four started walking back to the elevator.
"He's got something planned!" Nathaniel said.
"Wonder if he'll dive into the rooftop pool from a helicopter," Alix responded.
"Let's wait and see," Adrien replied.
"At least I'll get to see it this time," Marinette mumbled. They all went back downstairs and met up with their friends. "Liam's planning something. Get your phones and film the elevator." Everyone grabbed their phones and started filming the elevator. Everyone moved around so that they could all film. The adults began looking at the teens awkwardly.
"What are you guys doing?" Félix asked. The elevator on the right pinged and Liam's friends Michael, Milo and Penny Rolling walked out. "Pardon us, ladies and gentlemen. Michael and Milo went outside and moved a dumpster to the front with the lid open. "Here we go." Everyone turned the cameras towards the elevator next to Penny's and out came the most bizarre thing: Liam, Kayla, and Jagged carrying a tied-up and gagged XY.
"Excuse us!" Jagged said as he and the two teens carried XY. XY was screaming through his gag at the people filming, no one bothered to help him out. They lifted him onto the side of the dumpster and Jagged removed XY's gag. "Anything to say?"
"Dammit, you psycho!" XY shouted. "That guitar neck's rammed up my-" Jagged, Liam and Kayla pushed him into the dumpster before he could finish. Milo and Michael slammed the lid and pushed the dumpster back to where they found it. Jagged, Liam, Kayla, and Penny burst into laughter.
"That!" Liam said. "That -tehehe!- that's gold!"
"He deserved that!" Kayla said. "He pinched Laura's ass."
"Well, he won't be at the concert," Jagged said. "Speaking of which, we got 30 tickets for each of you. Just tell me your friends' names and I'll pass them on."
"Those students over there," Liam answered. "All 13 of them. Sabrina Raincomprix. That's it for me."
"Luka Couffaine, Daniel Cho Lim. This is hard."
"I got three others." Liam interrupted. "Callum, Krystal and Jack Terrence." Everyone began mumbling. "I think we should just slow down right now. We've had a lot happen, but the threats are gone. Let's take a step back and appreciate that we're still alive and ready for the new year." Everyone cheered at Liam's mini-speech, glad that they can finally have some time to feel safe...
