Chapter Text
People cheered as the Lau Toy Factory parade passed them by. Confetti flew out from the buildings, a drummer banging the drums as popular toys of Mr. Lau floated past on balloons. People were so busy with the parade, they missed the low flying jet zipping overhead. The jet descended between the buildings, dropping smoke bombs around Mr. Lau and Ms. Siu, who had been standing on a moving platform along with the head of their company mascot.
As the smoke slowly began to dissipate, three ninjas jumped down from the buildings and onto the business owner's float, surrounding Mr. Lau and his assistant.
Just as all hope seemed lost, two figures jumped out of the head of the mascot, kicking aside the ninjas onto the lower tier of the float.
The ninja's sat up, their eyes widening in aw at the duo before them.
"It is impossible," commented one.
"Nope, not even close," Adrien shrunk his staff down to size so he could lean on it, Marinette standing beside him as she smirked at their surprise attack.
Marinette causally flipped over onto the lower platform, preparing to fight off the ninjas as they drew their red glowing katanas.
"You joining us Adrien," she asked as they came at her, unaware of the predicament her partner was in.
Just as Adrien was about to join her, a giant of a ninja dropped onto his platform, creating a dent in the float. Adrien stumbled back at the impact.
"A sumo ninja!"
The ninja lumbered forward, waving his arms back as he did. "I am strong like the mountain!" The ninja brought his hands together in a clap, Adrien rolling underneath his outstretched arms.
"That is sick and wrong," Adrien explained, briefly turning back to how Marinette was handling. She was kicking butt, as usual.
"I am your doom!" Strong arms grabbed Adrien, squeezing Adrien's small body with the ninja's own.
"Plagg! Do something," Adrien yelled for his cat, the creature poking his head out of the pocket briefly before burrowing back inside.
"Buginette!"
The other cat poked out of a pocket on Marinette's person, leaping out of the pocket and onto the head of the ninja, playing with the bun on his head.
The distraction luckily worked, the sumo ninja dropping Adrien.
"Buginette," Adrien called again, the adult cat returning to her master.
The sumo ninja glared at Adrien and his cat.
"You will suffer," he yelled as he brought his fists down onto the platform. Adrien leaping off, to only crash into Marinette.
"Adrien," Marinette yelled as the sumo ninja approached the edge of the top tier, leaping off to do a belly flop on the platform bellow.
The impact sent the other ninjas flying into the crowd, Marinette doing a flip to land on the sumo ninja's backside, while Adrien landed on his rear end.. As Adrien tried to stand, his baton accidentally activated, stabbing the sumo in the butt, the sumo squealing in pain as Marinette turned to frown.
"It was an accident," apologized Adrien as he stashed away the weapon.
An engine sound echoed through the streets, Marinette and Adrien turning to see a low flying jet heading towards them. A hatch opened on the underside, shooting out a long arm. Marinette and Adrien ducked, but it unfortunately grabbed Mr. Lau, the jet flying down the street with the toy-maker in tow.
Marinette immediately pressed a button on her watch, rocket skates popping out of the bottom of her shoes. She then jumped onto the next tier of the float, then the mascot balloon, reaching out to grab Mr. Lau by the ankle.
"Right behind you LB," Adrien called out as he pressed a similar button his watch. But nothing happened.
"No rocket skates," he questioned as smoke started popping out of his pants.
"What in the-" Adrien was sent flying out of his pants and into the China sky in nothing but his hoodie and underwear.
The jet started taking off towards the sky, then made a dive back for the city with Mr. Lau and Marinette still in tow as she held onto his legs.
Her watch began beeping, Marinette recognizing a call from Nino.
"Hey Nino, what's the sitch," She asked, glancing between the watch on the streets below.
"Is this a bad time," asked her tech wiz?
"Remember the President of Lau Toys thought he was in some kind of danger?"
"Yeah?"
"He was right." Marinette felt a sudden jerk at the jet dived into the city.
"Hold on. Got you on GPS lock," responded Nino as the jet did a loop, Marinette briefly grinding against a building before the jet made a sharp left turn, Marinette's skates clipping the edge of another structure.
"Marinette, U-turn," Nino warned, Marinette glancing from her watch to see the curved building ahead.
The jet dropped lower during the turn, Marinette jumping off of car until she was able to roll on the street, still clinging to Mr. Lau.
"Anyway, Alya wanted me to patch her through, but you seem kinda busy."
"Kinda," quipped Marinette as she barely avoided a pedestrian who was busy on their phone..
"It wasn't important. Something about Kim and Chloe."
"What? Put her through."
Nino shrugged and changed the screen to Alya in her room.
"Girl you are not going to believe this."
"What won't I believe."
"Chloe going with Kim to the prom."
"What? I thought he gave up after that whole Valentine fiasco?"
"Apparently Max asked Sabrina who accepted on the condition Chloe have a date, so Kim asked her."
"She probably is just desperate to have a date for the prom."
The jet pulled up, Marinette no longer rolling on the ground.
"Oh, this is bad," commented Marinette as she looked to where the jet was headed.
"Honestly, that boy really needs to get a clue."
"No, I mean this bad," Marinette turned her wrist so Alya could see the electric advertisement for the Lau Parade.
"Alya gotta go."
Alya hung up the call as Marinette turned, grinding against the lit up board, sparks flying from her skates and rockets. The board exploded behind them as the jet turned away, heading back to the parade. The three ninja from before jumped up to confront them, but Adrien knocked them back into the sumo ninja as he flew by, his blaster briefs still flying his around the city.
"Thanks Adrien," Marinette called out as he passed. Ahead she could see the rockets on his underwear spluttering out, Adrien falling so he landed on the jet's window.
The jet then turned upside down, causing Adrien to fall, barely catching onto Marinette's leg. The weight too great for the arm that held onto Mr. Lau release the trio. Adrien got a better grip on Marinette before she dived down after Mr. Lau. She grabbed onto him with one arm, launching her yoyo at a sign as they fell. The yoyo wrapped around the sign, the trio beginning their curved descent as the jet came after them with an outstretched claw reaching for them.
"It's Volpina," Adrien yelled over the wind, Marinette finally able to see the villain sitting in the cockpit. The claw reached out and grabbed Mr. Lau's jacket. Their pendulum swing began going up, pulling Mr. Lau out of his jacket, just as Volpina crashed into several giant balloons of Mr. Lau's toys. She pulled the jet through the tangled strings, flying off into the sky.
Their swing began slowing, Marinette dropping them down onto the platform besides Ms. Siu, Marinette retracting her yoyo.
The crowds began wildly cheering for their amazing save. Marinette smiled and waved for the crowd, Adrien quickly pulled back on his pants before joining her in the celebration.
Lau Toys' private plane flew towards Paris as the sun began to creep over the horizon, Marinette woken up by her watch ringing.
"I'm awake," she answered the call, noticing the scattered homework before her mostly finished.
"I can see that. Enjoy your nap?"
Marinette wiped her mouth on the back of her glove, noticing the blanket around her shoulders and Buginette in her lap. Must have been Adrien's doing.
"Any development on the Hawkmoth-Lau plot?"
"Nothing, I've been digging when I can but nothing."
Marinette nodded as she organized her papers, reminding her why she fell asleep. She had been stuck on number 7 of her Literature homework, but had fallen asleep before she could ask Adrien for help.
"I can't figured it," she murmured to herself.
"Yeah. I get why he'd take Lau's automated toy-making technology, not why he'd take him."
"No I meant number 7 on our literature homework. Did you figure it out?"
"I'm good at math and science, not literature. Ask Alya if she's awake, or better yet, ask Adrien."
Marinette perked her head up realizing the seat behind her where Adrien had been sitting was really quiet.
"I'll try asking Adrien, let me know if you find anything."
Nino gave a thumbs up before logging off.
Marinette set Buginette down in the seat beside her, turning to see Adrien's books on the tray table, with a note reading, "Here's what I thought for number 7. I hope you enjoyed your nap."
Marinette smiled at the boy's thoughtfulness as she took the note, reading Adrien's notes before coming up with her own answer.
After packing her books away, she began wandering around the plane, opening a door to a back room where Mr. Lau sat at a desk as Ms. Siu took notes. They both turned at her entrance.
Marinette sheepishly waved, hoping she hadn't disturbed anything important.
Mr. Lau stood, whispering something to Ms. Siu.
"Ladybug, welcome. And thank you once again." The two Chinese people bowed in gratitude, Marinette returning the gesture as she stepped inside the office.
"No big, and thanks for the lift back home. Have you seen Adrien, or um, Chat Noir?"
All of a sudden a toy car zoomed out from a back corner behind Mr. Lau desks, Plagg strapped down to the car's seat.
Adrien then stood up from a corner of the room, holding the controller of said car in one hand, while wearing his backpack.
"Hehe, hey Marinette," he chuckled nervously as he continued to drive Plagg around the room.
"Just checking out Mr. Lau toys." Adrien accident steering underneath the adult's feet before crashing into a cabinet that had a bunch of toys on display.
"Adrien," chided Marinette as she helped stabilize Mr. Lau.
"Sorry," Adrien apologized as he set down the remote, going over to the cabinet to organize the toys.
"No way! Is this what I think it is?! Tiki-Boo rules!" Adrien held up the picture of an original drawing of the toy before picking up another frame. "Bun-Bun!"
"DO you create all these characters yourself Mr. Lau," asked Marinette as she joined Adrien who was excitedly examining the first edition toys on display.
"Yes, he does," answered Ms. Siu. Mr. Lau whispered into his assistant's ear momentarily. "It is his personal touch."
"How do you do you do it? Do you just doodle a face, and bam, every kid wants one," asked Adrien, turning to Mr. Lau.
"Do not tell the shareholders it is that easy," instructed Mr. Lau, "They might take away my plane."
Marinette and Adrien both blinked, "You speak English," they asked.
"Quite fluently, but enjoy whispering to Ms. Siu."
"Mr. Lau is a little, would you say, whacky," answered Ms. Siu.
"Okay. I guess it must go with the whole toy-maker thing," asked Marinette, looking to Adrien for affirmation, to which he just shrugged.
"Attention passengers, we will be arrive in Paris very shortly. Please prepare for landing," came the pilot on the overhead speaker.
"Actually you could just drop us off here," responded Marinette, everyone in the cabin given her a puzzled look.
Mr. Lau looked to Ms. Siu. "I will speak to the pilot."
Ms. Siu left, Marinette following after her back to her seat, along with Adrien.
"You sure we couldn't just land the plane this once," asked Adrien, sifting his backpack nervously.
"We need to go home and change. Maybe even shower before school starts. If we land we'll have to head straight for school."
Adrien grimaced but nodded as he picked up his cats, stuffing them into his secured pockets.
"The pilot has agree to fly us over Paris," announced Ms. Siu upon her return.
"Thanks again for the lift," Marinette pulled out her helmet, as she shoved her books into her backpack, shutting it tight.
"And thank you again Ladybug and Chat Noir." Mr. Lau and Ms. Siu bowed, the teens returning the gesture.
"And I hope she likes the flowers," added Ms. Siu with a wink to Adrien.
"Flowers," asked Marinette, turning to Adrien.
"Hehe, no time for questions. Gotta jet," Adrien urged Marinette to the side opening of the plane, opening the hatch for them to jump out.
"Seriously Adrien, what flowers," asked Marinette, not seeing any flowers on his person.
"Just go, we're going to miss our stop."
Rather than question him further, Marinette turned and jumped out of the plane, Adrien following behind her. A safe way away from the plane, Marinette opened her shoot, Adrien following, only for his backpack to explode with flower petals.
"Those flowers," Marinette teased as Adrien frowned as the offensive items.
As Marinette fell through the shower of petals, she noticed the colors Adrien had picked out were red and pink. Who could those be for?
Adrien had directed himself back to his family's house, Marinette directing herself to her family's apartment. She quickly rolled up the parashot before heading upstairs to her family home, to find bother her parents at the table.
"Morning," she waved off as she headed upstairs to her room.
"Got in a little late there, Marinette," scolded her father, causing Marinette to turn around.
"Yeah, it really slows me down when I pull my shoot as soon as we bail, but Adrien is such a baby about free falling."
Both her parents raised an eyebrow at her as she walked over to the tv, changing the channel.
"Where exactly were you last night," asked Sabine.
"The China toy magnate was rescued by world- famous teen heroes Ladybug and Chat Noir," announce Nadja Chamack, her parent's glares turning to proud smiles.
"That's my girl," cheered Tom as he drank his coffee.
"It was no big, Papa. Other than a Sumo Ninja. He was pretty big," justified Marinette as she crept towards her room.
"Sumo Ninja... I never worried about Sumo Ninjas at your age. Or Sumo anything, for that matter," chuckled Tom, eliciting a giggle from Sabine.
"I'm going to shower and get ready for school. Love you!" Marinette dashed upstairs, her parents rolling their eyes at their daughter's antics.
"Alright! That's it for today," announce their PE teacher, the students heading off to their changing rooms.
"Why could they, you know, tell us cool dance moves for prom instead of making us do actually PE," whined Alya as she and Marinette followed the other girls into the locker rooms to change.
"You were the one who thought it was a good idea to wait until Junior year to take PE," argued Marinette.
"I thought it would be a good stress reliever, not a stress creator."
The girls paused when they noticed the door didn't close behind them, finding a Sabrina holding the door open. Marinette and Alya exchanged confused looks before Marinette approached Sabrina.
"Uh, Sabrina, could you shut the door so we can change."
"Chloe isn't here yet," the girl quickly responded, turning the three girl's attention to Chloe who was rubbing her hand up Kim's toned arm before parting to their own changing rooms.
"Good you be even sicker," criticized Marinette as Chloe passed, Sabrina shutting the door.
"Jealous Marinette," asked Chloe smugly as she and Sabrina made their way to the lockers, and began changing.
"Jealous?"
"I have a date for the prom. And you don't."
"There's still time," offered Marinette as she and Alya stood in front of their lockers.
"I'm going out with Kim, Sabrina with Max, Mylene with Ivan, Alya with Nino, Rose with Ali, Juleka with Marc, and Alix with Nathanael."
"Technically we're going as friends," added Alix, giving Marinette an apologetic look.
"Zip it pinky," Chloe snarled. Chloe stalked up to Marinette, staring the smaller girl in the eye.
"Face it Marinette all the acceptable guys are taken."
"Except Adrien." Alya peered from behind Marinette at Chloe, giving the girl a devilish grin, which Chloe ignored.
"As friends, right Marinette? Or did say he actually wanted to date you?"
Marinette clenched her fists at her side, her face turning red.
Chloe smirked, heading back to her locker. The girls finished putting on their normal clothes, Chloe and Sabrina being the first to leave, most likely to head to the bathroom to fix Chloe's makeup.
"Enjoying then going with your 'just a friend' then. Or going single. Guess we'll see."
Chloe and Sabrina laughed as they exited the locker, as Marinette shrugged on her blazer. She glanced around the room to see the other girls eyeing her in pity before casting their glances elsewhere. She felt a hand on her shoulder, turning to see Alya offering a warm smile.
"Wanna get Bueno Nacho?"
Marinette rested her head on the table with a loud thump, Alya cringing at the sound.
"Let it out girl."
"I hate Chloe."
"Ok, now tell me something I don't know." Alya leaned over and tapped the back of Marinette's head. "What's going on in there?"
Marinette groaned, lifting her head so her chin rested on the table.
"The prom is almost here, and I don't have a date because no one has asked me to go." Marinette sighed. "What if Chloe, in her own stupid way, is right."
Alya nearly choked on her drink, "Girl, that's crazy talk right there."
"She does have a point. What if the reason no one has asked is because there is something wrong with me?"
Alya raised an eyebrow as she continued sipping her drink.
"I'm serious Alya," Marinette sat up, "what if I'm weirding guys out! They see me on TV, round-housing some goon out of a window. It's a vivid image."
"Adrien doesn't seem to mind."
"He avoided me for the rest of summer after he found out my identity. And before you bring up Nathanael being open to it at first, being a hero is what drove him away."
"He was adjusting. Seeing the wonderful powerhouse woman for who you are. I got nothing for Nathanael though." Alya set down her drink to take a bite of her salad.
Marinette smiled at Alya's compliment sitting back in her seat, examining her food.
"If you are so scared about Adrien not asking you, then just ask him," offered Alya
"I can't do that! This is prom, not that American girl ask guy to dance thing."
"Sadie Hawkins dance."
"Exactly. The guy is suppose to ask the girl."
"Marinette, we live in the 21st century. I would have asked Nino if he took too long."
Marinette rolled her eyes as she reached for her taco, knowing Alya probably would have asked Nino.
"Adrien decided he wanted us to just be friends. Until he let's me know otherwise, I'm sticking to it."
"But give the boy a hand, a hint, anything to push him to you."
Marinette frowned at her friend while taking a bite of her taco.
"You still want your ship don't you?"
"More than anything girl, please."
"Hey girls," greeted Adrien, with Nino following up behind him on his phone. The girls scooted over as the boys sat down.
"I see you already bought something," Adrien chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Yeah, want the other taco?" Marinette held up the gift, Adrien looking over to Nino and Alya with a panicked expression. Marinette caught a glimpse of Alya giving Adrien a "go on" look before plastering on a not too innocent smile.
"What are you girls taco-ing about," Adrien jested with an awkward grin as he accepted the taco.
"Prom," quickly imputed Alya.
"Right, prom. Of course. Seems like everyone is talking about it these days."
"It is the biggest event of the school year for us juniors." Alya took another sip of her drink.
"Elections for Student Body President was pretty big," added Marinette.
"Prom nacho thing," teased Adrien.
Marinette knocked her elbow in to Adrien's ribs teasingly, the boy seeming to relax a little at this.
"I'm excited but the other girls don't stop talking about it." Marinette looked pointedly at Alya who was looking at Nino's phone over his shoulder.
"I bet," commented Adrien.
Adrien and Marinette both took a bite of their tacos, both contemplatively quiet as they chewed. Adrien glanced down at Marinette before looking away, Marinette momentarily following as she glanced up at him before down at her taco.
Would Adrien ask her to Prom? As a date? As a friend? The not knowing was killing her as much as potentially being dateless.
"Um, Marinette, would you, um," Adrien scratched the back of his neck. Marinette unconsciously leaned forward expectantly.
"Found Hawkmoth," announced Nino, the three other teens slumping in their seats as he finally looked up from his phone.
"You were saying Adrien." Alya looked over to Adrien, the others following her gaze. His face beginning turning pink as he glanced from Marinette to those sitting across from him. He sighed, his face calming back to its normal tan color.
"It can wait. Where's Hawkmoth," he asked, the two girls slumping in their seat while Nino gave Adrien an apologetic glance.
"At the Bermuda Triangle."
A lone fishing boat pulled up to a halt on the water surrounding the casino hotel, The Bermuda Triangle. Marinette and Adrien had already almost finished putting on most of their scuba gear by the time the boat stopped in the darkened, cloudy harbor.
"Thanks for the lift Mr. Bailey," thanked Marinette.
"Ladybug, it's the least I can do after you saved me in that hurricane."
"No big. It wasn't like it was a perfect storm, or anything. I mean, it was okay." Marinette slid the goggles over her head.
Marinette turned to see if Adrien was ready to see him tucking Plagg into a waterproof pack. Once the cat was secure, Adrien gave Marinette the thumbs up. Marinette nodded, the two teens flipping over the edge of the boat and into the water.
Feeling sure of himself, Adrien swam ahead of Marinette, swimming on his backside so he could watch her follow him. Until he hit an electric fence with a sign on it that said "No Trespassing".
Marinette pulled up beside Adrien, pulling and item out of a pocket. Aiming it at the obstruction, she lasered the fence in a perfect circle, allowing them to swim through.
Marinette took the charge this time, swimming ahead until she found herself swimming into a field of orbs. The orbs opened up, shooting strings at her hands and wrists. Adrien grabbed hold of the orbs, attempting to pull them off of Marinette, only to have her arms flail about, her foot even reaching up to smack her in the head. With a final tug, the strings released their hold, Marinette and Adrien swimming forward.
They entered a grotto filled with clams. They stopped in the middle, Adrien pulling out his baton, Adrien extending it to one of the clams, only to open and reveal miniature laser firing cannons. Adrien retracted his baton, looking to Marinette for advice on what to do as the rest of the clams opened and began firing lasers. Marinette pulled off her tank of oxygen, and began spinning it around in a circle. Once she had spun a few times, she let go, the tank hitting a majority of the canons, explosions destroying the rest. As she stopped to watch her work, she felt a tug on her collar, looking up to see Adrien pulling up out of the grotto. Once they were clear, Adrien let go, the smoke from the explosion pouring out of the holes of the grotto. Marinette wiped her hands as if to say her work was done before the duo swam to the surface.
As Marinette and Adrien surfaced, they saw they were just a ways beyond the pier. They headed instead for the main land, keeping their heads above water since Marinette no longer had her tank. They quietly made it to shore, taking off their flippered once on land. They made it to an area surrounded by rocks to keep them hidden.
"You think they are trying to keep us out," asked Adrien as he took off his goggles.
"Shh!" Marinette put a finger to her lips "hi, undercover." She gestured to their black suits before reaching for the zipper of her suit.
Adrien, being the gentleman that he was, immediately turned the other way. To keep look out. But he still could hear the zipper lowering, the drop of the wet swimsuit, and the rustle of fabric as Marinette made herself descent. He could hear something else being pulled out of a bag, so he turned enough to see Marinette putting her dark hair up in a brown wig. He unzipped his own wetsuit, revealing a tuxedo. Then he pulled Plagg out of the waterproof bag, the cat yawning as he did.
He looked back to Marinette as she transformed her bag into a small clutch. Her dress was a dark blue, really bringing out her eyes. But what nearly gave him a heart attack was the long slit in her dress that reveal practically all of her right leg.
"You sure you need my helping picking out a tux," Marinette teased.
"This was last year's style," Adrien smirked. Marinette returned the smile as they began walking to the casino hotel, leaving their gear behind.
Adrien and Marinette crawled through the vents of the casino hotel, Marinette leading the way while Adrien followed with flashlight held between his jaw and shoulder. As if the position wasn't uncomfortable enough, he had to view an awkward angle of Marinette's butt.
Marinette wasn't fairing much better, realizing Adrien had a view of her butt. But if he just wanted to be friends, it shouldn't be a big, unlike Marinette having to watch Adrien's butt of he went first.
Their party turned a corner, Marinette finding a vent. She peered down inside to discover the Ladies bathroom.
"The ladies' room," she whispered, reaching for her clutch. She pulled out a tub of what looked to be lipstick, twisting the bottom so it glowed bright red.
"Laser lipstick. Nice," commented Adrien, turning slightly to get a better look. Marinette smiled as she began applying the laser to the area around the grate.
"When do you think we are going to get new toys from Nino," asked Adrien as Marinette removed the grating.
"Probably once he's done with that project for that company. Did he tell you anything about it?"
"Nothing other than top secret mind-blowing science dude. His words exactly."
Marinette attached a magnet to the roof of the vent, grabbing onto a cord to lower herself into the room below. Adrien was about to grab on as well when Marinette held up a hand.
"Ladies' Room," she reminded him.
"You could have chosen a room we both could go into," he scolded playfully, grabbing the closed tube of lipstick before crawling on. At least he didn't have Marinette's but as a distraction anymore. Instead he had to worry about the flashlight flickering, until it went completely dead. Figuring if he was careful, he might be able to use the laser lipstick to light his way, he turned it on. The lipstick seemed to jump out of his hand, burning parts of the vent, Adrien shuffling himself around to avoid the laser, only for the vent to crumble underneath him. Adrien landed on his backside, checking to make sure Plagg was safe before finding himself in a vacant hallway. Standing up, Adrien opened the doors to the first room he came to, finding 4 men around a table, holding cards and gambling chips.
Adrien really wished for once his father had let him try gambling when Gabriel's opened a store in Las Vegas.
The four men turned to the newcomer.
"How do?" One of the men tipped his cowboy hat. "You, uh, the Kid?"
Adrien had no idea who they were talking about, but better to play along. He could have just stumbled into a deadly match of poker between assassin's for all he knows. Alya and Nino informed him that this place was for the wealthy and the underground evil.
"Uh, yes, yes I am."
Marinette opened the door of the Ladies' Room, securing her earing/ear comm in place.
"Nino, I'm in. Any sign of Hawkmoth?" She scanned what looked to be a high class bar or restaurant, people seated at small tables while a person played a piano on the stage.
"Not that I can see," he responded. Marinette glanced around the room, searching for the purple scientist and his orange cohort.
"Volpina?"
Nino gasped into her earpiece, "Turn around!"
Marinette quickly did to see Volpina leaping after her, hands aglow with their bright orange hue. She landed before Marinette, swiping her glow, Marinette barely dodging as her brown wig turned to ash. Volpina swung again, Marinette spinning down onto the steps, thankful the wide slit in the side of her dress allowed ample leg room. Volpina was no far behind, Marinette flipping out as harm's way as the women descended the steps. Another flip brought Marinette near a server. Marinette grabbed the tray out of the server's hands as a shield, the server and nearby patrons. Volpina jumped after Marinette, her glowing fist connecting with the ground where Marinette once stood, the hero now on a nearby table. Volpina leapt onto the table, Marinette blocking the strike with the tray. Volpina slashed again, this time destroying the tray as Marinette crouched down, extending her leg to kick Volpina off the table.
Volpina charged at Marinette again, Marinette jumping out of the way, and back onto the stairs. From there she jumped onto the railing, then on top of the chandelier. Volpina, came flying at her from the other side of the chandelier, Marinette diving under her as she passed and crashed a fist into a corner of the decorative light. Marinette gripped onto the edge of the chandelier as Volpina came charging at her again, smashing a fist into where Marinette use to hang, now jumping over the villain. As Volpina turned, Marinette swept her leg under Volpina, sending the woman flying, her orange plasma glow, destroying part of the attachment to the ceiling. THe chandelier came crashing down onto a booth, Marinette jumping off and landing in another booth. Marinette quickly dived under an adjacent booth, turning on her watch to call in Nino.
"Nino, where's Adrien," she asked as an plasma blast burst through the table above her head.
Adrien found himself seated at the head of the poker table, a giant pile of gambling chips moving towards him.
"There ya go Kid. Five million fresh cow chips." Adrien stood up to see there were even more coins behind the stacks in front of him.
"These are mine?"
The men game him disbelieving glances.
Adrien chuckled nervously, "I mean, yes. Good. Yes, my money. Miss me, boys?" Adrien took a few of the chips, dropping them through his fingers like a money lender.
A man at the other end of the table with a weird tattoo on his arm began dealing cards. Once he finished, Adrien picked up his cards, not exactly certain what if he had was considered a good hand. He glanced around to see the other men, toss some chips in the middle. They glared at each other, Adrien uncertain if he should be glaring at them as well. Plagg would probably be better at glaring than he was.
Glancing between their pile in the middle and his chips, he tossed a couple in. The other men tossed in some more. So Adrien tossed in some more. The other men tossed in more, so Adrien grabbed a whole pile, until all his chips were in the pile. The men stared at him in disbelief. Maybe Adrien should study more on the art of gambling because he wasn't sure if what he did was right or wrong at this point. He had a 10 and a Jack so that had to count for something, right? But then he also had the joker, which was the bad card for old maid.
One man looked like he was struggling with a decision for a bit before placing his cards face down on the table.
"Well, that's a bold move," commented the cowboy from before.
"Was it," asked Adrien? He needed boldness, especially asking Marinette to Prom at this point. He couldn't even count on one hand how many times he tried, including at Bueno Nacho before this mission.
"You're good for this?" The cowboy gestured to the pile of chips, Adrien deciding to regret this moment of "boldness".
"Am I?"
"Hey, you know the tells when a man is bluffing?"
Adrien shrugged, not really liking where this conversation was going.
"Like when he won't look you in the eye."
Adrien avoided looking at everywhere but the cowboy or the other men at the table.
"Or maybe he touches his face or neck?" Adrien reached back, scratching the back of his neck, realizing what he was doing too late. He quickly slid his arm back to his side and smiled.
"His breathing gets shallow and wheezy."
Adrien began breathing heavily, as if the suit was too hot for him. Was it just him or had they turned on the heater in there?
The cowboy smirked, Adrien biting his lip. The man laid out his hand.
"Three cowboys," he announced.
Adrien looked back at his cards. A Jack, a 10, a 3, the Joker, and a seven. Probably not a good hand if the cowboy seemed so proud of his three kings.
"Um... Go fish," Adrien asked sheepishly.
The cowboy wasted no time in taking all the chips in the center.
Adrien stood up, laying his hand of cards on the table, "Okay, good game. Let's not wait so long next time…" Adrien was about to make a speedy exit when a large hand grabbed his head and spun him back to face the cowboy, sitting Adrien back in his seat.
"Whoa! I don't think you should stray till you backup these chips with your cash money, Kid."
Oh no, he did not have his father's credit card with him, nor the ability to pay whatever the chip to dollar equivalent was. Hopefully not 5 million.
He could feel the temperature rising in the room, his breathing becoming rather shallow as he rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes avoiding all contact with the intimidating cowboy.
"I'm… going… for… a… I…," he wheezed out.
Further interrogation was interrupted as Marinette and Volpina fly into the room, crash landing on the poker table. Volpina lifted up her hand, her gloved fist glowing orange.
"LB!" Adrien cried out as Marinette struggled to hold back the fist. Marinette managed to move the fist to the side of her head, Volpina's hand getting stuck in the table. Marinette smirked at the panicked Volpina, flipping her arms around so she could push herself backup, using her legs to kick Volpina towards the exit. Marinette jumped after her, Volpina flipping out of the room with Marinette on her tail.
Adrien plastered himself against the wall, hoping he could make an escape in the commotion.
"Yo! The Kid is in the house. Let's get this party started!" Everyone turned their heads to see a small man in a white suit with Elvis style hair at the door of the room.
The four other men turned to glare at Adrien. Adrien awkwardly chuckled before running out of the room, accidentally bumping to the real Kid, Plagg landing on the Kid's head. Adrien picked up Plagg and continued running and yelling for his life.
Adrien ran down the hall until he made it a restaurant/ bar area, seeing Marinette and Volpina still fighting. Marinette flipped out of the way as Volpina landed were Marinette once was. A waiter came out of a door, Marinette grabbing plates of food and chucking them as Volpina. Volpina slashed two out of the way before one connected with her midsection, pushing her back onto a trolley of clean dishes waiting to be disbursed. The cart rolled along the floor, halting at the railing, while sending Volpina over the side, crashing into a table. Marinette jumped onto a nearby table. Volpina righted herself with a flip, ready to resume their fight.
"Marinette!" Adrien called out as he pushed a cart full of food in the women's direction. Marinette jumped over the tray as it crashed into Volpina, sending her flying onto the stage.
Marinette ran to Volpina, pulling her up by the collar of her black and orange dress.
"Where's Hawkmoth and what's he up to," questioned Marinette.
"Yeah, as if I can understand his whacked plans. Please," taunted Volpina with a laugh.
"Volpina!" All eyes turned to Hawkmoth, who stood at the top of the stairs, wearing his normal outfit only accents by a red bow tie. "Time to fly."
Volpina grabbed Marinette's wrists, "Next time Princess," then kicked her in the face before dashing off to join Hawkmoth.
Hawkmoth pressed a button, the lift breaking through the glass roof for Hawkmoth and Volpina to climb aboard. Marinette recovered quickly, running after the scheming duo, unable to reach them in time though.
"You think you're all that, but you're not even close," Hawkmoth taunted as they flew away, leaving Marinette to watch them disappear from view.
"This is so annoying," she grumbled as Adrien joined her.
Thank you for your suggestions regarding Marinette's outfit. I thought of something cute that should hopefully please.
Enjoy this final arc.