The morning was cold and slightly overcast, wind whistling through the streets. Nino tried to blink the sleep out of his eyes as he walked down the sidewalk, warming his hands around a thermos. Normally, when he was tired, he played fast-paced music as he walked to help wake him up. None of it was working today, though, and he had given up and lowered the headphones to hang from his neck.
Which was probably better, because otherwise, he wouldn't have noticed the car. The traffic on the street was a little bad, being morning rush hour. But still, there was little excuse for how slowly this car drove, following him for turn after turn just a couple of blocks behind. He frowned at it, before ducking down a narrow alley.
On the other side of the alley, it was only a block or two to the Cesaire restaurant. His steps picked up a little as he spotted Alya, waiting on the sidewalk outside for him, two duffel bags resting at her feet. "Good morning!" he called.
"Coffee," she called back, a little grumpy.
He held out the thermos, taking in the redness of her eyes, the slightly unfocused way she grabbed for it. "You know, we're still pretty young. I don't think we're really supposed to be drinking coffee like this until we're older."
"I just pulled an all-nighter building these things," Alya replied, nudging one of the bags with her foot. "If I'm going to get through class today, I've got to have caffeine."
Nino bent down, unzipping the duffel bag closest to him. Inside were dozens of round cameras with magnetic backs and wireless receivers, currently deactivated and packed in tightly together. They looked identical to the ones they had used around the city and in the Agreste mansion, months before. "Awesome work" he said, re-zipping the bag. "You're amazing. If you want to nap behind your book in class, the rest of us will cover for you."
Alya pulled away from her coffee long enough to yawn. "No, no. I need to pay attention. If I don't keep my grades up…"
"What?" Nino asked, amused. "You won't win the plane tickets? We all know that's going to go to Max or some other genius anyways."
"Very funny." She took another sip of coffee, then bent down, pulling the strap from one of the bags over her shoulder. "Help me with these. On lunch break, we can start planting them around the city."
"Are there enough here to cover everywhere?" he asked, picking up the other bag.
"It's enough to start. I can build more later. If Sabertooth shows up again, chances are one of the cameras will catch her." Another yawn. "The question is, who's going to be watching the cameras, while we're all so busy with school?"
"Maybe we can teach the kwamis to do it," Nino suggested. "And in the evenings, we don't all have tutoring sessions at the same time. We can take turns, keeping the cameras up in the background while we study."
"Yeah, right. Lately we can't even get people to show up to meetings, even when there's an actual emergency. How are we going to get them to pack this in as well?"
She was talking about yesterday. It wasn't surprising, that Lila hadn't shown up. She never answered their calls. But it was still strange that Adrien had ignored them. Even if he couldn't transform into Chat Noir right now, they still could have used his help.
"We'll see them today," he said after a second. "They can't ignore us in class."
"I hope you're right," she said, taking another long sip of coffee before setting off down the sidewalk at his side.
.:|:.
"Good morning, Rose!" Lila called cheerfully. "Is that a new perfume I smell? It's sweeter than usual- I absolutely love it."
"Um, yes!" Rose said, looking up as she passed Lila in the hallway. "Thanks for noticing!"
"But of course!" Lila turned the corner, into a new corridor. "How's it going, Kim? Saw the score from the game yesterday- pretty awesome!"
Kim looked up from his conversation with Max, giving her a pleased thumbs-up. She thumbs-upped back, grinning before turning away. "Hey! Mylene!"
Why do you do this every morning? Ebbe asked, floating along behind her. It's clearly exhausting for you. Is a little fake camaraderie worth all of this effort?
"You don't know anything about surviving in school," Lila gritted at him briefly, before flashing a stunning smile at Mylene. "Adore the new outfit." She waved at one more person before turning into the door of her classroom, flipping her hair over her shoulder.
And nearly ran straight into Juleka, who had been trying to flee out the door. She flinched away at the last second before they could collide, pulling an embarrassed, apologetic smile onto her face. It froze seconds later. Juleka was clearly upset, on the verge of tears, barely holding it together. Lila glanced down. On one of Juleka's shaking hands, a piece of jewelry dangled from half-broken strings, twisted and bent. She caught a glimpse of a tiny mirror, one that had been smashed, before Juleka hid it behind her back.
"Excuse me," Juleka said, voice tight, eyes averted.
"What happened?" Lila asked. The jewelry hadn't been accidentally broken. It looked like someone had stepped on it. Maybe while it was still on Juleka's hand.
"N-nothing," Juleka said, struggling to suppress her emotions. "Really. It was just-"
Lila glanced behind her. Saw, immediately, the black butterfly someone had drawn on the cover of one of Juleka's books, sitting on her desk several rows above. She frowned, all pretense of pleasantness dropped. "Juleka. Look at me."
The shy girl reluctantly raised her eyes.
"Tell me who did this."
.:|:.
Marinette looked up as Alya slid into the seat beside her, dropping a huge duffel bag into the aisle beside them. Alya immediately leaned forward and lay her head in her arms, mumbling something vaguely unhappy.
"Rough night?" Marinette asked sympathetically.
"Mmfghph."
Marinette patted her gently. She herself had woken up late, and hadn't had time to eat a real breakfast, so had settled for pulling a cinammon roll out of one of the display cases as she ran out the front door of the bakery. She split it in two now, pushing half of the roll toward Alya. "Eat. You'll feel better."
"Thank you," Alya said, lifting her head blearily. "That's really nice of-" She stopped, noticing the peacock kwami peeking out of her backpack. Sighed. "...Go ahead, little guy."
"Thanks, Alya!" the kwami said, pouncing on the cinnamon roll.
More students were filing in, although there wasn't any sign of Miss Bustier yet. Marinette watched them pass through the front door, pretending not to notice as the peacock kwami started in on her breakfast too. Ivan. Alix. Nathanael. And-
"Adrien!" Waving, she got up, moving toward him-
And immediately tripped over Alya's duffel bag. She cried out as she fell, trying in vain to catch her balance, nearly knocking Adrien over as well. He stiffened and braced himself, grabbing onto her arms.
"Th-thanks," she said, rattled. "Sorry, I don't know what it is this morning. Everything feels slightly off." She hadn't stayed up as late as Alya, but she had still been out longer than she should have been, covering patrols for everyone else. "Are you hurt?"
"Oh, no, not at all!" Just the slightest of pauses from Adrien as he studied her face. "Marinette." He settled her back on the step just above his, smiling gently at her. "You really scared me there."
"I scared myself," she said, before looking down again. "Are those gloves?"
He looked at the gray fabric covering his hands, then shrugged, slightly embarrassed. "New fashion trend, apparently. You know how it goes. They wanted me to try them out."
"Really?" She considered them, frowning. Normally she was able to keep up with the fashion world pretty decently. Ladybug and school were taking up so much of her time lately; she had fallen farther behind than she'd realized. She turned his hands over, not sure if she liked this new fad or not. "Weird."
"Totally agree." He started to slide past her. "Anyways, I think class starts in a couple of minutes, so-"
"Where were you last night?" she asked. "No, wait- where were you this entire last weekend? You haven't been returning any of my calls or texts."
"Oh, you know what?" He laughed sheepishly. "I completely forgot to tell you. I dropped my phone on… On Saturday, and it broke. I didn't get it replaced until last night, and by then, it was late."
"Oh. Really?"
"Really. I'm sorry, Marinette. I didn't mean to make you worry."
She frowned at him. "It's not that. I know you can take care of yourself. But what were you doing in the south of France? You just took off, without telling anyone, like-"
"You're full of questions today," he said, tilting his head with an amused smile. "Am I on trial?"
"N-no, it's just-" What was with the stuttering? She thought she had moved past that, as she got to know Adrien better. "I'm just trying to understand. It's not like you to just leave in secret like that, especially with so much going on here. Did something happen, or-"
He leaned forward suddenly, too quick for her to anticipate. His arms wrapped tight around her, and he was kissing her. Her thoughts shorted out before she could piece them together more, heat rushing to her face. They were in the middle of class. People were watching. But his lips were soft and seeking against hers, if slightly forceful, and after a second or two she wasn't thinking about the others at all.
He drew away after only a few moments, smirking. "Marinette," he said quietly, still leaned in close. "When someone you're dating disappears suddenly without telling you, chances are that they're planning a surprise. Right? You shouldn't pry."
"O-okay," she managed, a little stunned.
He patted her on the shoulder, before turning away. "We'll talk more later. For now, I'm interested in this class we're about to have."
Alya laughed as Marinette sank back into the seat beside her, shaking her head. "There goes any chance of you thinking clearly for the next half-hour, huh? So much for class."
"So much for a lot of things," Marinette said, blinking at the cinnamon roll crumbs in front of her. A very brief pause. "If I didn't know better, I'd almost think he did that on purpose." It had worked, if so. She was distracted, not able to remember what she had been asking just minutes ago.
"Psh," Alya said. "As if Adrien could be that smooth."
Nino glanced at Adrien curiously as the boy sat down beside him. "What about email and social media? We tried those too, you know. You really just weren't online at all the entire weekend?"
"It was a busy weekend," Adrien said defensively.
"I know, I know, school. The rest of us are busy too. Still, though, we could have used your help, Chat Noir or not. It's not like you to let yourself get out of touch like that." Nino shook his head. What was he, Adrien's mother? "Anyways, you can make up for it at lunch time."
"Oh? How's that?"
"Cameras." Nino nodded toward the big duffel bag stashed under their desk. "Just like before. Alya stayed up all night making these. The least we can do is skip one meal planting them around the city, right? If Sabertooth tries to make a move again, we'll see it before she gets far."
"Sabertooth," Adrien repeated.
"Oh man, you really are behind." Nino tapped at his phone, pulling up the Ladyblog, then pushed it toward him. It was easier than explaining it all from the beginning.
Adrien glanced over the article there, then down at the duffel bag again. Very quickly, he quietly glanced across the aisle at Sabrina, sitting primly in her own seat. She met his eyes and nodded once before looking away.
Miss Bustier shut the door as she passed through it, exhaling. She was a little late, and perhaps had overslept slightly- the normally immaculately-groomed teacher seemed a little more hastily put together than normal, as far as hair, clothes, and make-up. "Okay, everyone," she said, quickly dropping her bag behind the podium and reaching for the chalk. "Seats, please. We've got a lot of ground to cover, so we're diving directly into Yeats. Er, let's see…" She turned, quickly scanning over the rows of faces. "Alya. Will you read the poem from the homework for us, please?"
"Yes ma'am," Alya said, quickly putting on her best not-half-asleep face and flipping open the book. Of course, on the one day they were all there and on time, Miss Bustier would forget to take attendance to even notice it. Shrugging it off, she found the poem, trying to concentrate. Something felt off. Adrien and Nino in front of her, check. Marinette beside her, also check. Lila in the back row, glaring fervently out the window for whatever reason, yet another check. Everyone in their group was here, and yet it felt like something was missing, like she'd forgotten someone.
"Alya?" Miss Bustier said.
"Sorry," Alya said, fighting a yawn. The words were swimming on the page. "Um… 'I will arise and go now, and go to In...Innis, uh-'"
Chloe scoffed loudly. "It's pronounced 'In-nis-free', Bird Brain. Just like it's spelled. Gawd, what are you, still in primary school?"
"That's enough, Chloe," Miss Bustier said, in no mood for nonsense today.
Alya glared at her. She could read. She had been reading tiny lines of code and instruction manuals for camera parts all night, in fact! Chloe looked so smug, shooting Sabrina a victorious look, although for once, Sabrina didn't look up from her own book. Struggling with her own scrambled ability to concentrate, Alya scanned over the blurry lines, trying to return to where she had been. Something about honey-bees, something about a lake, veils of morning and crickets-
Crickets. Crickets were green, lakes were blue. Where had her kwami gone?
The blare of the fire alarm tore over the classroom, sudden and loud. Alya jumped slightly in surprise, along with everyone else who was sleep-deprived and over-worked. Miss Bustier blinked rapidly, looking up at the flashing lights with a frown. "Again? Alright, children, line up! Single file and- Adrien? Are you alright?"
They had all jumped. No one had jumped more than Adrien had, though. The boy was crouched on top of his desk, looking around with wild eyes. "What is that noise?" he hissed, clamping his gloved hands over his ears. "Are we under attack?"
"It's just the fire alarm, dude!" Nino called over the siren, confused. "Remember? We've had a few drills before."
"Oh, right," Miss Bustier sighed. "Homeschooled kid. Everyone, stop staring! Line up, now."
.:|:.
Behind the school, at the far end of a nearby street, a gardener had paused in his work, a pair of hedgeclippers in his hands. He had been standing still for several minutes now, watching. On the door of a small shop, he had drawn a design in a circle, an upside-down "A", the edges curled out. Despite being drawn in red, no one had seemed to notice it yet.
He leaned against the half-untrimmed hedges, watching a businesswoman on a cellphone walk toward the shop, busy and distracted. She glanced up at the symbol and frowned in disapproval, but put her hand out anyways to push the door open, glancing at her watch. Then froze, as the symbol on the door lit up suddenly at contact with her skin, and a necklace began to materialize around her neck.
Satisfied, the gardener turned away, dropping his clippers. He reached up, grabbing the strange hairpin in his hair, a thin silver one with a very small jewel at the tip, shaped like a bird's head. Carefully, he pulled it free, making sure to hold it tightly between fingers without breaking skin contact. He looked around, then threw it suddenly.
It zipped through the air, thrown expertly toward the young woman wiping down outdoor tables at a cafe nearby. She jerked slightly as she felt something land in the neat bun at the nape of her neck, but by then, it was already too late. Shrike overpowered her quickly and took control, then raised his new human hand to adjust the pin, shaking her head so that her blonde hair would fall over the miraculous pin and hide it.
Across the street, the gardener was shaking his head, confused, completely unaware that he had spent the last thirty minutes possessed. Too easy, so far. The humans in this city were all soft and unprepared, and he was almost starting to get bored. He reached into the woman's apron, pulling out a felt-tip pen, and began to draw a new circle and symbol on the seat of one of the chairs.
A tugging sensation. He paused, frowning. Glanced around, then slipped away into an alley in the young woman's body, ducking behind a dumpster. "I transform myself," he whispered.
Light flashed around him, transforming his host body. It was always a little different, from human to human, but certain things always seemed to be the same with the design, he noticed. Usually a silver and black color scheme, usually thorn and vine motifs, almost always a hood over the head. And of course, as with all kwamis, a weapon- in his case a spiked flail. As the light and energy of the transformation faded, he lifted the flail's handle, glancing at the message he had been sent.
Oh. Marmoset had a job for him already, this early in the day. Shrike grinned to himself and turned in the direction of the school, giving his weapon an experimental twirl.
.:|:.
The peacock kwami phased through walls, eyes wide with panic. So loud, so loud! He pressed his tiny hands to his ears, zipping blindly ahead into the open air, desperate to get away from the painful blaring.
A hand reached out, grabbing him mid-flight. He struggled for a moment, twisting around, then broke into a grin. "Alya!"
"Little guy." Alya's red-rimmed eyes were frantic, as she stood slightly apart from the rest of her class, where they were gathered in the street outside of the school. "You can not keep doing this, do you understand?! You've got to stop! You are going to get me expelled!"
The blue and green kwami stared up at her, at the anger and panic on her face. She had never scolded him before, not seriously.
"What happened?" Marinette asked, moving toward them, Tikki tailing her. "Why are you-"
"He phased through the fire alarm again," Alya said, turning toward her. "Didn't you, little guy?"
"Y-yeah, but-"
Alya shook her head, running an agitated hand through her hair. "Listen to me. There's an electric current running through that thing. When you phase through, even though you pass through the solid material, you interrupt the current, just for a moment, and short it out. They're going to think I did it. I'm going to get in serious trouble because of you!"
"I'm s-sorry, Alya!" the kwami cried. "I didn't know!"
"Hey, it's going to be okay," Marinette said, putting a hand on Alya's shoulder. "None of the teachers saw it, I think. They're still completely confused. We'll just be more careful from now on, right?"
Alya took a breath. She was tired. Everything seemed like a bigger deal than it probably was. She needed to calm down. She exhaled and made herself smile at Marinette. "You're right. I'm freaking out even more than Adrien, huh?"
"Speaking of which, where is Adrien?" Marinette glanced around their group of students, searching for him. He seemed to have disappeared. Or maybe not- now that more classes were filing out into the street, it was hard to tell. She shook her head. "What if the sprinklers go off?" she asked. "Will that hurt the cameras?"
"No, they're waterproof," Alya said, releasing her kwami. She yawned. "So's the duffel bag material. They should be fine."
BOOM. A bright flash from above.
Alya jerked, suddenly wide-eyed and wide-awake. "Unless the self-destruct mechanism goes off!"
Marinette gaped at her. "You built a self-destruct mechanism into the cameras?!"
"Hey, you never know when you'll need it!" Alya said, grabbing her hand. She began to run back toward the school, waving to get Nino's attention. "And it wasn't supposed to just go off on its own!" Being expelled would be nothing compared to what would happen if they all ended up detonating right in the classroom.
Miss Bustier looked up from her roll call, alarmed. "You two- wait!"
"Be right back!" Alya called, pulling Marinette, tripping and stumbling, behind her. She flipped through her phone as she climbed the stairs, pulling up the camera controls. A self-destruct impulse should have brought them all online, but strangely, they were all still dormant. Worse than dormant, green boxes beside camera names were turning red, almost like, like-
They turned the corner back into the empty classroom, filled with abandoned books and bags. Empty, except for one woman, in a black and silver hooded outfit, standing on the stairs between rows of desks with her back to them. Alya and Marinette's desk was completely destroyed, where giant spikes had risen out of the ground, ripping through the wood and the duffel bag beneath. As they watched, the woman tightened her fist and jerked up, and more spikes grew, piercing through Adrien and Nino's desk below.
"The cameras," Alya breathed, eyes wide. "She's crushed them. Most of them- maybe all of them…!"
Marinette glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. Alya was exhausted, her guard lowered more than usual. So it was easy for Marinette to see how upset she was, on the verge of tears over having an entire night of hard work destroyed in a few seconds. Marinette clenched her fists and rounded on the hooded supervillainess. "You're going to pay for that."
"Ladybug, is it?" the hooded supervillainess asked, turning to face them slowly. She smirked, expression nasty behind the thick eyeliner. "Or- not Ladybug. Ladybug's current pet human."
"Tikki," Marinette yelled, "Transform-!"
"I'd love to stay and fight," the supervillainess said. "Really, I would. Insects are my favorites. But, you know, places to go, people to corrupt. I have other orders, so I can't play today." She flicked her wrist, snapping the flail at them. A long thorn-like spike broke off, hurtling toward them. Alya grabbed Marinette and pulled her to the side just in time.
When they looked up, the hooded figure was jumping out of the window, reaching out to grab onto a tall tree.
"Transform me!" Marinette yelled, running to give chase.
Alya didn't follow. She was still upset. But her eyes had narrowed. She moved up the steps, dodging spikes and broken pieces of wood and cameras. She grabbed the thermos off of her desk, taking a big gulp. Then she opened her laptop (thankfully just knocked off of her desk, not shattered) and immediately let her fingers begin flying over the screen. "Little Guy. I need you to do something."
"Sure," the blue kwami said, still stunned and bewildered. "Anything."
She dug her keys out of her pocket, and carefully slid a keychain off of the ring, a plain-looking black plastic stick. She pressed it into the peacock kwami's hands, then pointed out the window. "Follow them. Get this thing onto that woman. It's very important. Can you do that?"
"I'll try my best!" the kwami said, zipping after Marinette.
"And don't phase through walls with it!" Alya called after it. She was already pulling up new screens, ducking beneath an undamaged desk to protect her laptop from the sprinklers, watching a map of Paris load as her machine connected to wifi. She cracked her knuckles, yawned one last time, and got to work.