Tom Dupain had been having a relatively normal day. He had gotten up at his normal time, had no problems with the baking, no weird customers, and a normal (perhaps a little higher than normal) amount of product sold. His main exciting event of the day was meant to be his daughter's friend-slash-crush Adrien coming over for dinner, when he could have a fun time teasing the two of them and having a pun-off with Adrien.
It was all very normal, but Tom liked normal. Normal meant that nothing was going wrong and turning into a disaster.
He and Sabine had just finished cleaning up the bakery and were about to head upstairs for the night when there was a knock at their door. Sabine went to answer it as Tom straightened the register and took the extra cash in it back to the safe.
"Master Fu!" Sabine exclaimed, and Tom glanced over through the doorway to see an elderly man who he recognized as a frequent customer. "Hello! Uh, can we do something for you?"
"I certainly hope so," Fu said mysteriously. He glanced at the street behind him. A few people still roamed the streets, even though it was getting close to dinner. "Though perhaps not here?"
Still looking slightly puzzled, Sabine nodded and waved Fu in, locking the door behind him. The small man moved faster than Tom would have expected, following Sabine up the stairs with surprising speed, considering his age. Tom followed, wondering what the man wanted that couldn't be discussed downstairs. Of course, it would probably be nice for Fu to be able to sit down while they talked about whatever he wanted to discuss. The man looked rather frail, though he certainly didn't move like he was on the brink of breaking.
"Come in," Sabine said as they reached their living room. She opened that door and ushered Fu in. Tom and Sabine exchanged a puzzled look before following him.
Tom had no idea what Fu might want, but surely it wouldn't hurt to at least sit down and entertain the other man. He was probably lonely and in some need of company.
"Would you like some tea?" Sabine offered, going over to the stove to put some water on. She pulled down several tins of tea leaves. "We have green, black, white, mint...?"
"White tea sounds lovely," Fu said, settling himself on the couch. "Thank you."
"How is your business going?" Sabine asked as she set the water on to boil, and Tom startled. Someone as old as Fu was still working? Surely he should be happily retired by now. Perhaps it was just a small side business or something to fill his days?
"Quite well," Fu said serenely. "Plenty of customers, as usual. I keep busy. And I know the bakery is doing well. There always seems to be a line out the door in the mornings."
Tom just nodded a bit awkwardly and settled down on the other couch. If Fu was at all uncomfortable with sitting in what should have been an almost-stranger's living room, he didn't show it. There was a serene expression on his face as he exchanged small talk with Sabine while the water heated, as though this was just a normal social visit.
"So you wanted to discuss something?" Sabine asked, coming over with two cups of tea. She handed one to Fu and one to Tom, then went back to get a cup for herself. "What is it?"
Fu nodded, still smiling. He took a sip of his tea. "Correct. You see, Ladybug and Chat Noir have discovered who Hawkmoth is, and they plan to spring a surprise attack on him shortly. However, I'm a little too old and not quite intimidating enough to help them. So, Tom, they suggested that I ask you."
Tom's mind short-circuited. What? Him? Face off against a supervillain? And how does this man know what Ladybug and Chat Noir are up to? Why would they go to him?
"You would just be borrowing my Miraculous on that day, of course, should you accept," Fu said, still looking as calm as though he was discussing the weather and not Tom apparently becoming a superhero for the day and facing off against a supervillain that had been plaguing the city for the better part of a year. And apparently this little old man was a superhero, which was utterly unbelievable. Fu looked like he could be knocked over by a strong gust of wind. "I suspect that if I had it off for long, I might start to notice some detrimental effects to my health. But you would mainly be accompanying the heroes for the intimidation factor, which I do not exactly have anymore. And also for backup support should it come to a proper fight, I suppose, but the Turtle is mainly defense, not offense, and you would have quite a large shield."
Tom was staring at Fu, wide-eyed. Sabine's tea was frozen halfway between her saucer and her mouth. Finally, after a few more seconds of staring, Tom found his voice.
"Why me? I mean, I'd be willing to help, but- why me, out of all the people in Paris? I'm no fighter." He had seen Ladybug and Chat Noir fighting the akumas, of course, and he always marveled at their skills. Tom had figured that they were maybe trained from childhood to use their weapons. He had never taken a combat class of any sort in his entire life.
Fu just smiled. "The turtle is a protector, first and foremost. Like I said, a shield is the main weapon. You would be able to wield a large enough shield to block any attacks, and you could easily shove Hawkmoth back should he lunge at you."
Tom gulped. Well, that was a terrifying thought. He would rather stay away from lunging supervillains. The only exception would be if said supervillain was lunging at Marinette or Sabine, in which case Hawkmoth better watch his back. No one threatened his little girl or his wife and got away with it.
"We also wanted to ask you if you would be a temporary Fox holder," Fu added, turning to Sabine. Tom couldn't help but gape- another thing? How many bombshells was this Master Fu going to drop in one visit? "You would be entirely out of the line of fire- or, rather, out of Hawkmoth's line of sight. We just need the Fox to create an illusion, to make it look like Chat Noir and Ladybug are in two places at once."
Sabine looked positively puzzled at that. "Why would they need to be in two places at once? And I thought there had already been a Fox superhero out! What happened to her?"
Fu looked pleased at the questions. Perhaps he thought that meant that they were accepting. Tom wasn't so sure about that, not yet. He was still apprehensive about this whole 'going against a supervillain' thing. "The illusions would stand with the Turtle by Hawkmoth's front door, should Tom accept. Ladybug and Chat Noir would hide inside. While Hawkmoth is distracted with the 'three' of you in front, Ladybug and Chat Noir will come in from behind and restrain him, then take his Miraculous. Without the Fox, we would either have to risk a front attack or have Hawkmoth suspicious and on edge if only the Turtle showed up at his door." He took a sip of his tea. "As for the Fox superhero... she had been temporary. She would make a fantastic permanent holder later on, but we believe that she perhaps doesn't have the right temperament to do this particular mission."
"I'll do it," Sabine said immediately. "Ladybug and Chat Noir- they look like they're just kids. If they trust me to help them come out of their final fight unscathed, I'll do it."
Fu smiled.
There was absolutely no way Tom was going to not accept Fu's offer now, not that he had seriously been planning to turn it down before. If he was offered the opportunity to protect his city alongside his wife and lend a little help to the two superheroes that had been protecting them for most of a year, then he would do it. Taking down Hawkmoth would also make Marinette safer, since the akuma attacks at her school would come to a stop.
Besides, Sabine was right. Ladybug and Chat Noir looked uncomfortably young for the responsibility that they had been given, and they shouldn't have to face off with their arch-enemy without backup. They had picked out him and Sabine out of everyone in Paris to trust, and Tom wasn't going to let them down. "I'll do it, too. Uh, can I ask who Hawkmoth is?"
Fu's smile widened. "I think I'll let Ladybug and Chat Noir tell you that, actually." He raised his voice. "Ladybug? Chat Noir? We're ready for you to come down."
Tom froze, then then opened his mouth to warn Fu that they weren't alone in the house. Marinette and Adrien were just upstairs, and unless they were on her balcony, they would definitely hear Fu and want to come down to investigate what was going on. The man had quite the set of vocal cords on him. But before Tom could say anything, Marinette's trapdoor opened and Marinette came down, followed closely by Adrien. Tom glanced at Fu, worried that he might be irritated at Tom and Sabine for not warning him that the kids were in the house, too, but instead Fu was smiling at the two of them, as though he had been expecting them.
Suddenly things clicked into place. Superheroes that Sabine had once mentioned were likely not much older than Marinette. Ladybug's blue eyes and black pigtails. Chat Noir's blond hair and green eyes. Marinette suddenly starting to get notes home about missed classes after Ladybug showed up on the scene. Adrien and Marinette suddenly becoming a whole lot closer, but apparently not dating. They must have revealed their secret identities to each other then, to cause such a drastic change.
His daughter was a superhero, and her friend-slash-crush was her superhero partner.
"Hi, Master Fu," Marinette said politely, coming to a stop by the TV. Adrien stuck to her side like glue, his hand wrapped around hers. Tom tracked their intertwined hands with interest.
Perhaps they weren't dating yet, but he had an inkling that it wouldn't be long. He heartily approved.
"Your parents have kindly agreed to step in as temporary holders, Ladybug," Fu said, sounding quite pleased. "I have the Fox Miraculous here with me for Sabine to try out, and perhaps Tom can try transforming with the Turtle Miraculous tonight before I leave. But before that... they wanted to know who Hawkmoth is."
Immediately Adrien cringed, curling towards Marinette. She wrapped her arms around him and let him drop his head on top of hers. Tom frowned- that was a strange reaction to being asked about the identity of their arch-enemy- and glanced towards Sabine. She looked seriously concerned.
"Adrien?" Sabine prompted softly. "Honey?"
"He's my father," Adrien said, so softly that Tom could barely hear him. For a moment, he was sure that he had heard wrong, but Adrien's expression didn't lie.
Tom felt his heart drop. Hawkmoth was Adrien's father? Oh, the poor boy. And he had surely known that for a while, if they had been planning their final battle. Add on the fact that he had been fighting his own father for months at this point, and had nearly been killed several times doing so...
Ow.
Tom was ready to just straight-up adopt the boy. Adrien deserved so much better.
"Oh, sweetheart," Sabine said immediately, setting her tea aside to go over and hug Adrien. "I'm so sorry, dear. But we're so proud of both of you. You've been doing amazing work for the city."
"And you're always welcome here," Tom chimed in. He eyed his daughter, who was watching Adrien with a soft look, and his tone turned a hint mischievous. "...though I suspect that Marinette has already made that clear, hmm?"
Marinette turned pink.
After a few minutes of teasing the two teens and learning a bit more about the Miraculous and the kwamis that came with them, they all settled back down on the couch and a couple chairs that had been pulled up. It seemed that they had a lot to discuss.
"We've already done several preliminary strikes," Fu explained. "Just recently, we recovered a number of Miraculous-related artifacts from Mr. Agreste, including a second Miraculous. And prior to that, Plagg destroyed Mr. Agreste's missiles-"
"His- excuse me, what?" Tom demanded, incredulous. Sabine gave a small noise of agreement, looking astounded.
Fu looked somber as he nodded. "Plagg and Tikki discovered that Mr. Agreste had quite the collection of missiles protecting his lair. They- well, Plagg in particular- spent quite a while destroying all of the gunpowder in them so that they wouldn't shoot off, and they've recently checked in on it to make sure Mr. Agreste hasn't fixed it."
Tom exchanged a look with Sabine. Suddenly this whole go after Hawkmoth plan was sounding a whole lot more dangerous, even if the missiles had been disabled. "How do you know that all of the weapons have been destroyed? What if he has other stockpiles in the house or in the courtyard wall?"
"We can check on that," Fu assured Tom. "In fact, that's a fantastic idea. Plagg has been combing the house looking for other magical artifacts, but I should have him add checking the outer walls to that list."
The little red kwami perched on Marinette's shoulder giggled. "Oh, he's going to hate that. Plagg doesn't like flying through the walls at all. He says that it makes everything taste dusty afterwards."
"Where is Plagg, by the way?" Fu asked curiously. "Is he not here?"
Adrien and Marinette exchanged a look and then spoke in unison. "Popcorn coma."
Tikki sighed, looking exasperated. The expression looked a little funny on her cute face. Fu didn't even look surprised. Apparently this Plagg eating himself into unconsciousness was a common occurrence.
"Would you like to try transforming?" Fu asked Sabine. "After all, you'll be the one who needs to practice your powers the most. The Fox's Mirage is easy enough if you don't look directly at the Mirage, or if the person you need to trick is a child or really gullible. It's harder if you want to trick someone who is paying attention and is up close to the Mirage, which is what we'll be up against."
Sabine nodded. Tom sat up, interested to see what his wife would look like as a superhero. Fu pulled a small black box out of her pocket and handed it over. Sabine took it, opened it, and then let out a shriek as a glowing orange globe popped out of the box.
"What-" Tom started, equally startled, and then the light solidified into a little foxlike figure- another kwami, like Tikki and Wayzz and Plagg. It gave itself a hearty shake and then looked at Sabine.
"Hi! I'm Trixx!" the little fox said. It grinned, showing little fangs. "And I'll be your temporary kwami!"
"Why don't you go ahead and transform?" Fu suggested. "All-"
"All you have to say is 'Transform me'!" Trixx piped up. "And you should probably stand up first."
Sabine nodded, stood up, and, in a flash of orange and white, transformed. She reappeared as a superhero, though her outfit incorporated a lot of elements from her normal clothes. She had an orange and white cheongsam with black piping around the edges, and black leggings. Orange fox ears perched in her hair and an orange and white mask crossed her face, but otherwise her outfit didn't scream "superhero" like Ladybug and Chat Noir's did.
It really suited Sabine, actually. Tom wondered if he could maybe persuade Wayzz to include an apron in his transformation, or at the very least to have a t-shirt and loose pants instead of the skintight suits that Ladybug and Chat Noir seemed to favor.
"Oh, I like this," Sabine said happily, smoothing down the skirt. Long gloves covered her arms. "It's quite stylish."
As Fu started to explain the Fox's powers to Sabine, Tom crossed the room to talk to the two kids. He was concerned about Adrien. Clearly discovering that his father was the city's supervillain wasn't a new thing, and he couldn't even imagine how difficult it must be to continue acting like normal.
How long had Adrien known? Had he had Marinette's support for that whole time, or had the superheroes not revealed their identities to each other until more recently? Was Adrien keeping up in school, or was he too distracted to focus? Was there any plan for what would happen to Adrien after his father was in jail?
They were planning on putting his father in jail, right? Tom didn't think Adrien would be entirely safe if Mr. Agreste was still in the same house, even if Mr. Agreste no longer had his Miraculous. All it would take would be catching Chat Noir on the security cameras near Adrien's room and Mr. Agreste would know that his son had a Miraculous. After that, it wouldn't be long before Mr. Agreste would make an attempt to steal the ring and terrorize Paris as a new Chat Noir.
...though he would probably have a different name, now that Tom thought about it. Something that reflected him being evil.
"Well, you two have been busy," Tom said, leaning against the counter next to the two kids' chairs. "I can't believe you managed to keep being superheroes secret for so long."
"The kwamis said that we couldn't tell anyone-" Marinette started, clearly expecting a scolding of some kind. Tom cut her off with a booming laugh.
"Oh, I wasn't scolding you, sweetheart," Tom assured them. "I can understand the need to keep it a secret. I'm just astounded that you've managed to keep on top of your schoolwork and babysitting and commissions while saving the city almost daily. That must have been a lot to keep track of."
Marinette and Adrien exchanged a look and then nodded in unison. "I had to make all of these ridiculous excuses all the time," Adrien told him. "I'm amazed no one has really said anything about it."
"It'll be nice to be able to not miss any class once this is over," Marinette said. "Or have to skip out of get-togethers with Alya, or need to figure out what to do with Manon during an akuma attack, or... oh, there's just so much. I'll like not having to make ridiculous excuses."
"Well, we'll appreciate not getting notes home about missed classes," Tom said with a laugh. "And we'll also appreciate not having supervillains running through the streets. It wasn't great for business when no one wanted to go out in the streets for half the day."
"I'm sorry-" Adrien started, face falling. Tom cut him off, too, before Adrien got the wrong idea.
"I wasn't blaming you, son," Tom told him. "It's not your fault at all. Never think that we're blaming you."
Adrien looked relieved and nodded. Tom patted his shoulder.
"So when did you find out about your father being Hawkmoth?" Tom wanted to know. "And when did you two find out the other was your superhero partner? I'm guessing it hasn't been long."
"We did the reveal...what, not quite a week ago?" Marinette asked, glancing over at Adrien. He half-nodded, half-shrugged. "And about Mr. Agreste... oh, I don't know. It's felt like not long at all and forever all at once. A bit over a month?"
"I can't even remember," Adrien agreed. He managed a smile at Marinette and reached over to hug her. "But Marinette has been there for me since she found out. She made sure that she was spending plenty of time with me at school and out, and then we, well." He shrugged, and there was definitely the hints of a blush when he sent a fond look towards Marinette. "Once we did the reveal, we've practically been attached at the hip."
"I noticed," Tom informed him, delighting in the blushes he got out of the teens. "Now, I was wondering-"
He was cut off by the sound of a flute. Tom turned around to see Sabine play a short tune on her weapon- could a flute even be considered a weapon, really?- making a glowing orange ball form at the far end of the instrument. She flicked it off, and then a glowing mirage of Ladybug and Chat Noir quivered into being in front of her.
"Oh, that could use some work," Sabine said, leaning forward to get a better look. "It's a little see-through, and glow-y, and those movements are a little stiff."
"It improves with practice," Fu assured her. "Experienced Foxes- ones that have several years of transformation and practice- can do a secondary or more- oh, what is the word- more restrained version of Mirage. Instead of creating one large illusion, they can do several smaller ones before their timer gets set off. Those illusions are a little more realistic, generally, though I think that also has a practice factor to it."
"So what Lila did as Volpina was actually based in reality a bit?" Marinette asked, sounding surprised. "I thought that it was weird, that she had endless illusions and they were really good but Al- er, Rena Rouge- only had the one."
"With time comes control and endurance," Fu told her. "Yes, her 'powers' were based on Illusions instead of Mirage, and then the number... well, the number and size was completely unrealistic, but Foxes with decades of experience can do quite a number of small illusions."
There was a beep from Sabine's necklace, and she jumped. One section of her necklace was flashing. "What was that?"
"Your timer, Maman," Marinette pointed out. "You have five minutes- well, maybe not quite as much this time, since Trixx didn't eat before you transformed-"
"I fed him at home," Fu assured her. "She should have five full minutes this time around."
"So we're going to have to work fast," Tom said. He was frowning. "What happens if Mr. Agreste doesn't want to come to the door right away and her timer runs down?"
"Well, we only need the illusions in place for about thirty seconds for them to do their work," Fu said as Sabine made the illusions move around. "They're there as a diversion. And if we have trouble getting Mr. Agreste to come out at first, then Sabine can always detransform, recharge, and then re-make her illusions once Mr. Agreste is at the door and have them come jumping over the courtyard wall."
"We could always do that to start with," Tom suggested. "I can somehow signal when the doors are open. Then Sabine can shoot that orange ball to the side of the house so Mr. Agreste doesn't see it."
Fu hummed and nodded. "I like your idea. Perhaps we should have a dinner together the night before we go to attack Mr. Agreste. Sabine, how long do you want to practice first?"
"Oh, I can be ready by this weekend," Sabine assured him. "I'll spend all the time I can practicing. If I can get some help with the counter in the afternoons, that would be great."
"We can help," Marinette said immediately. Next to her, Adrien nodded.
Fu looked pleased. "Fantastic. We can do dinner on Friday, then? To finalize the plans?"
"Sounds good," Sabine said. Her Miraculous beeped again, and she gave a little jump. "Oh, that is going to take some getting used to. Can I make the illusions talk?"
"You can try," Fu said. "It can be really difficult. I would suggest letting Tom do the talking. It requires a strong familiarity with the noises you're trying to recreate- or, in this case, the voice you're trying to replicate. I would suggest sticking with trying to make only Ladybug speak, if at all."
Sabine nodded.
Several minutes later, the Mirage of the superheroes dissipated with a small pop, and Sabine detransformed in a flash of light. Trixx flew out and flopped down onto the counter.
"Trixx eats fruit to recharge," Fu told them, pulling a small baggie of grapes out. He handed it to the kwami, who let out a squeal and dove in. "He prefers grapes, and honestly he can eat any food in a pinch, but fruit is best."
"What do the other kwamis eat?" Tom asked curiously as Trixx swallowed several grapes whole. "I know you mentioned Plagg eats popcorn."
Adrien, Marinette and Fu all let out a laugh. "Plagg prefers cheese, actually," Adrien told him. "Camembert or Brie is best. He just likes popcorn sometimes, too. Marinette introduced him to cheesy popcorn today, and it was a hit."
"Tikki likes sweets," Marinette told her parents. "Cookies, mainly, because they're easy to carry around, but anything sugary is good."
"I also quite like the petits fours you make," Tikki piped up. "Especially the chocolate ones! They're amazing."
"Wayzz quite likes veggies," Fu said. "And tea. Sabine, would you like to transform and try Mirage one more time before I have to leave? This time, try to picture Ladybug and Chat Noir as clearly as you can. If you have to have a photo in front of you, then do that."
Sabine nodded. As soon as Trixx emerged from the baggie, wiping grape juice from his face, she smiled at him. "Trixx, transform me!"
Several minutes later, Fu had taken off and Sabine had sent the teens off to gather their things from upstairs before dinner. Tom took the opportunity to slip up behind his wife as she warmed up soup for their dinner.
"Well, that was unexpected," Tom said. He let out a small sigh and hugged Sabine. "Our daughter, a superhero..."
"It's scary," Sabine agreed. "But she and Adrien have been doing so well, and it'll be over soon. I'm glad they were comfortable enough to come to us for help. I'll feel better being close by when they face off with Hawkmoth, even if we're not exactly experienced fighters."
"We just have to hope that everything goes to plan," Tom said, letting go of Sabine and heading over to set up the table for dinner. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Sabine's illusions still in the corner of the room, soundlessly conversing with each other. "It won't be easy, and it's not going to be fun for Adrien, but once everything is over, Paris will be so much safer."
They just had to get through this first.
A/N: Next up: final battle! It'll be another one of those chapters where both the main story and the Outtakes get updated simultaneously (...I better get editing on those) since some people might want to read the Outtakes chapter midway through the main chapter (since it fills in what Plagg's POV misses). I'm planning to update HTFAM first, though (and then poooooossibly a Troublemaker one-shot), then come back to this again.
As always, reviews make my day! :)