"Hola, Bueno Nacho. El Presidente speaking," announced a familiar voice on the phone.
"Hawkmoth," Adrien asked, hoping he was hearing things.
The voice on the other end paused before speaking, "If this is about switching my-"
Hawkmoth was caught of as the phone slide out from Adrien's hold, Adrien turning to see the assistant manager, Adrien catching the name tag reading "Lars", ending the call.
"Hawkmoth is a very busy man, Mr. Agreste. There is no need to bother him." Lars crunched Adrien's phone with his fist, the broken pieces falling to the ground.
All of a sudden, Adrien heard screaming from Bueno Nacho, turning to see the other employee running out of the fast food joint for his dear life. As he opened the door, he revealed almost a hundred Little Diablo toys marching out. It would have looked cute if not how uniformly they all marched in his direction. The other employee, Ned Adrien thought his name was, ran past him. Adrien could feel Plagg shift in his bag to peak out, Adrien shoving the kitten back into the bag as the Little Diablos fanned out in front of him and stopped, making Adrien feel cornered with the assistant manager behind him and the toys in front of him.
"Diablos, attack!" The assistant manager called out, the tiny toys resuming their marching towards him again. Adrien backed away until the Diablos surrounded him around the base of the Taco pole in front of the dinner. The Diablos began to climb up him, Adrien trying to shimmy his way up the pole while Plagg lazily batted away the Diablos within paws reach. He swiped off some of the Diablos before making a jump for it. He then began running as fast as he could, only to notice too late that a Diablo was taking apart his watch. Adrien pulled the thing off, taking some of the watch's parts with it, then chucked it back at the Diablos who were still following this.
"I need to get to Marinette."
"Marinette!"
Marinette turned at the sound of her name being called, seeing Nino and Alya waving her over to a table with panicked faces. Noticing Theo was too busy jiving to the music, Marinette ran over.
"What's the sitch?"
"It's Adrien," they both said at the same time.
"Adrien?" Come to think of it, where was Adrien. She hadn't seen him all night.
"Where is Adrien," she asked.
"Bueno Nacho, at least, that was his last location," answered Nino.
"Marinette."
Marinette turned to see Theo behind her with a confused look on his face.
"Everything alright?"
"Adrien's missing." Marinette turned to Alya and Nino to confirm that was what they were trying to say, to which they nodded.
"But he's your sidekick right? He can handle himself."
Marinette grimaced. One, Adrien was not a sidekick, and Two, Theo was right. Adrien was more than capable of taking care of himself. But he was her best friend.
She didn't even see the angered looks on Alya and Nino's faces before looking back up at him.
"True Adrien is capable, but he's also my friend. We'll continue our dance when I get back," she assured him before heading towards the door, Alya and Nino on her tail.
"Oh, there is something else you should know," warned Nino.
"What?"
The doors of the school flung open, someone tripping their way through the balloon arch until they could see everyone.
"The Diablo Toys are evil!" Yelled Adrien.
Well, that wasn't exactly what Marinette was expecting.
The lights turned on and the music stopped as everyone stared at Adrien, looking at him like he officially gone bonkers it because he lost to Theo in the battle for Marinette.
Adrien pulled some of the balloon arch aside to reveal the outside, only for it to look like a normal night in Paris.
"See? They're... Where... What?! Where are they?" Adrien stepped out to look around, his friends following to see nothing. Marinette turned to look at Alya and Nino who looked as surprised and confused as she was.
After Adrien finished examining out front, they returned inside the school, the music restarting and the lights turning changing to their colored hues.
"You ok dude," asked Theo, who had made it to the front, placing a reassuring hand on Adrien's shoulder, which Adrien smacked off.
"Okay, I know that tone. That's the "Adrien's making up the whole thing" tone. Hey, you know what? It doesn't matter what you think or anybody else thinks. Because my best friends will believe me, right guys?"
"That does actually sound plausible. You were able to confirm that was Hawkmoth on the phone right," asked Nino.
Theo snorted, "The take-over-the-world mad scientist guy?"
Alya's eyes lit up, "that makes perfect sense, use the more than 30,000 locations worldwide to spread his evil prizes."
Marinette frowned, slightly miffed at being left out of the loop. Considering how whacked Hawkmoth's latest schemes were, distributing world conquesting toys didn't seem that far fetched.
"We need to check this out," assured Marinette, heading back toward their table where she left her clutch.
She felt a hand pull her back, Marinette turning to see Theo giving her a pleading look.
"They clearly have some information about what's going."
"Their whole story is ridiculous," he complained.
"Theo," Marinette pleaded, only to feel her hand snatched away from Theo by Adrien.
"Hey back off pretty boy," he growled before leading Marinette back to their table, where Nino had already taken out her watch and was scanning and connecting it to his phone.
"I should be able to try and voice match who the caller was, but we'll need to go somewhere else to test a Little Diablos. But I have one at my house," he assured their group.
While waiting, Marinette looked down to notice Adrien still holding her hand. Theo seemed to notice to as he wedged his hand between theirs, taking a hold of Marinette's. Adrien sighed, grabbing onto his backpack, to check on Plagg.
"Yep, voice print matches, now we need to see what's in the Diablos."
Everyone got up to leave, Theo still holding onto Marinette's hand.
"But-" he started, but Marinette shushed him with a finger to his lips.
"It's a save the world thing," she assured.
Feeling a little happy Marinette was going with him and not staying with Theo, Adrien also put a finger to Theo's lips, not caring in the least how upset the man looked as the four left the dance.
The four had taken the toy, after much bribing on Nino's part, and gone to Nino's lab to investigate, since that had the proper equipment to analyze it. Marinette did not want to have to think about the four of them cramped in Nino's room, especially with her dress.
"I don't believe it," exclaimed Nino as he analyzed the readings on the tiny toy.
"What," the three other teens asked.
"The cybertronic technology. It's the Hephaestus Project. He used my invention to build these things," Nino groaned, slumping into his chair. Alya grimaced at the other two before rubbing Nino's shoulders.
"For an evil genius, Hawkmoth is pretty stupid," admitted Adrien as he crossed his arms in disappointment.
The others stared at him quizzically.
"Oh, come on, he steals a $3 billion super-secret technology and just gives it away with a burrito? And yet he ditches the bendy straws? This man does not know how to run a fast-food business."
Nino only groaned at the realization of every kid having his cybertronic technology for free with a burrito, certain this could possibly cost him his job.
"So what exactly is this cybertronic technology," asked Marinette, everyone looking to Nino to explain.
"The easy way to explain it would be a living metal, at least that's how this company sold it to the board of directors when they first proposed the project. The more detail explanation is The
cybertronic circuitry can repair itself, modify itself. It can actually grow. But we shouldn't be too worried about this little guy. It can't do anything without a command signal."
All of a sudden, they heard a strange ringing in the air, everyone curiously looking around before staring at the Little Diablos.
Adrien quickly pulled Marinette to the side, Alya doing the same with Nino, although Nino quickly went back to look one more time before it began to grow.
As it grew, the D flipped until it was a split apart U in the front, the cheery smile turning upside.
"Alya, Nino, get out of here, we'll distract the Diablo," warned Marinette as she and Adrien stood ready to fight, despite neither of them having their commonly used weapons on them.
Nino quickly pulled Alya out of the room just as the Diablos grew through the roof of the building.
"I hope they have insurance to cover giant robots growing in their building," commented Adrien with a smirk, Marinette returning the smile.
"They created this technology, I think they expected things like this to happen."
The Diablo raised its arm, replacing its claw hand with a canon, shooting at Marinette and Adrien. They both flipped out of the way, but the blast burning the edge of Marinette's dress, bringing its length to slightly below her knees, and revealing the dark red layers underneath the pink.
Marinette groaned as she examined the damage, the edges stained black where it had singed.
"Do you know how long it took me to make this dress," she growled before jumping back at the giant robot. She flipped underneath him, the robot turning 180 to face her, exchanging its other claw hand for a fast spinning propeller. It slashed the propeller blades at her, Marinette jumping up and onto the base of the hand, and ran up its long arm, pulling its other arm up with her as she landed on the robot's back, the propeller merely scratching it. It then turned back around to face her, shooting fire after her.
Adrien quickly pulled Marinette out of the way, running out of the room as the Diablo chased after them.
"And where have you been," she teased?
"Looking for a way out. Don't want this thing to destroy more Nino's work than it needs to," he commented.
"True, but even then we can still barely lay a scratch on it." Marinette tried, Adrien turning her down a hallway.
"You alright."
"I hate running in heels," she moaned as she looked down at her once white shoes.
Adrien nodded before scoping her up in both his arms, carrying her bridal style as he ran.
"What are you doing?"
"Getting us out of here."
Rather than focus on being in Adrien's arms, Marinette turned back to see the Diablo gaining on them.
Adrien pushed them outside a door, the Diablo crashing through the wall behind them.
Adrien ducked behind a building as Marinette got a call on her watched she had strapped back on her wrist since the prom. She was surprised to see Alya as Adrien set he down, opening his bag to check on Plagg.
"Girl, where are you?"
"Outside Nino's office. Where are you?"
"Inside Nino's office. I take it Diablo is with you."
"How'd you guess?" The Diablo struck a claw at them, separating Marinette from Adrien. Adrien got the short end of the stick as the robot went after him, Marinette taking cover back inside the building.
"Does Nino have any ideas how to stop this thing?"
"He said you need to destroy the command signal. He's hooking you up with a ride."
"Anyway he could track it too?"
"It's probably coming from Bueno Nacho," called out Adrien as he ran past.
The Diablo noticed Marinette in the hole it had left, turning its fire burner on her.
"Marinette!" Adrien screamed out as the thing blasted her, only for a car to drive through the flames with Marinette in the driver's seat.
The side door opened, Adrien crawling in, the car taking off before he could even buckle his seat belt.
"Nino, take us to Bueno Nacho," commanded Marinette. Adrien looked over as he put his seat belt on to see Marinette's hands weren't on the steering wheel.
"Nino's controlling it from the building."
"Yeah, but did he pass driver's ed."
"Oh ye of little faith," criticized Nino, his face appearing on a video feed on the car's dashboard.
"Guys, bigger problem behind us!"
Adrien turned to see where Marinette was looking to see the robot chasing after them, with rockets on its boots. And it was firing at them.
"Avoid the blasts," urged Adrien, Nino nodding while typing something a the keyboard.
"If you're typing, whose driving," whined Adrien.
"Alya, she told me she's practiced before."
Adrien and Marinette both paled at the mention of Alya's driving. And to make matters scarier, the car got a rocket boost, sending them far ahead from the Diablo, a lamppost even falling down in their wake.
"Look!"
Adrien pointed ahead to where the Bueno Nacho Taco had been turned into some sort of satellite.
"How are we going to take that out," he asked, looking to Marinette.
"Maybe we don't have to," she smirked. "Guys, get us on the roof."
"We're on it!" Came the unison voices of Nino and Alya.
The assistant manager had just exited the building when the car jumped up, landing on top of the sombrero roof, turning about to see the robot speeding towards them.
"You're looking the wrong way dude," Adrien called out the manager, who was looking up at them. The assistant manager turned and screamed at the Diablo came racing towards him, not caring that it accidentally knocked over the satellite. Just as it was about to reach out and grab the car, the robot stopped, and began shrinking back down to its cute size.
"Everything all good," asked Nino, unable to see the Diablo now that it was on the ground.
"It shut down and shrunk down," cheered Adrien.
"The robot ended up taking out its own command signal," echoed Marinette.
"Nice!"
"Way to go girl! I knew you both made the best team," cheered Alya, wrapping her arms around Nino's neck.
Adrien and Marinette looked at each other, both turning away the moment they caught each other's eyes and blushing as they avoided eye contact.
"Huh, weird, just got a hit on the Ladyblog," commented Nino, typing in somethings before their screen changed to Hawkmoth wearing a sparkly purple blazer instead of his purple lab coat.
"Congratulations, Ladybug and Chat Noir. You've already discovered how to foil my evil scheme. In record time, I might add. It is most unfortunate, however, that this time you will not stop me. You will surrender."
"As if," Marinette rolled her eyes, her gaze landing back on Adrien, who had pulled out Plagg, the sleepy kitten unaware of the whole ordeal.
"As if if," echoed Adrien.
"Volpina popped by your school dance and met the nicest boy. Well, I don't have to tell you how nice he is! And cute."
The camera changed angles, focusing on Volpina holding Theo, who looked quite worried.
"Marinette, what's going on," he asked.
"Theo," Marinette whispered, Adrien frowning.
"The choice is yours, Ladybug. If you care about your dear Theo's safety, surrender is your only option."
The video cut out, Marinette frowning.
"Alya, take us back to the lab. Nino get the suit ready."
Marinette marched furiously after Nino, Alya and Adrien following behind.
"Marinette, the battle suit is still experimental," protested Nino as he pressed in some numbers into a keypad, unlocking a door.
"Well it's about to go for a test drive," she argued back as she stepped inside, shutting the door most of the way.
"Ok, one how long have you two known about the secret suit, and two, where's mine," asked Adrien.
"Since the Bebes who had the super speed. Just in case we would run into them again. And there's some other features. But like I said, this is still experimental. I would do yours once I finished Marinette's." Nino was unlocking other drawers, pulling out some additional items.
"What do you think?"
Everyone turned to look as Marinette entered the room, wearing a red latex bodysuit, with a black collar and red spots everywhere. At her hip was a belt with some pockets for her yoyo and other things, the biggest pocket also attached to her left thigh. Nino and Alya looked over to Adrien, who looked as red as the bodysuit, which left nothing to the imagination.
"Y-you look great." He sighed he was able to get out that much. "Amazing," he breathed, Marinette turning pink at that.
"You are going to knock 'em dead girl," encouraged Alya, giving Marinette a high five.
"And here's some things for the road." Nino hand out a small cylinder, which Adrien took.
"Knockout gas that looks like lip gloss," he began to unscrew the lid, "or lip gloss that looks like lip gloss?" Adrien nearly passed out aas Marinette closed the lid.
"Knock out gas," Adrien confirmed before giving it to Marinette as Nino handed Adrien a change of attire to his regular uniform.
"How did you get this," he asked looking between Marinette and Nino.
"I made a few extras, just in case, and gave one to Nino for safe keeping," she assured him.
Adrien went inside the special room, quickly changed and out as Nino handed Marinette a toy blaster.
"Um, what's that," he asked.
"A kids toy," Marinette guessed, both looking to Nino for answers.
"Oh, this is no toy. Well, not since I modified it. Electromagnetic scrambler."
Marinette and Adrien grinned at each other as she . Perfect for shutting down Hawkmoth's whole system.
"We're going to head back to the prom, just in case we all die tonight by robots. I already programed the location of the Bueno Nacho headquarters. That should be where Hawkmoth is." Nino handed Marinette over a key, Marinette instead pulling him in for a hug.
"You're the best Nino," she squeezed, Alya and Adrien not entirely sure what to make of the situation.
"Alright let's go, world to save," insisted Adrien, pulling Marinette off of Nino.
"And Nino owes me another dance. Keep us posted!" Alya pulled Nino away as Adrien led them back towards the car.
"You alright Adrien," she asked as they got inside the car.
"Yeah, just a long night," he groaned as they buckled in, the car then speeding off towards Bueno Nacho Headquarters.
Marinette and Adrien crept around the halls of the Bueno Nacho Headquarters, moon outside casting their shadows along the wall. Adrien stopped, shining a flashlight on the wall at a pictures.
"Huh? Original Bueno Nacho," he looked back up, the small fast food place hoping with people even back when it started.
"Adrien, get your head in the game," Marinette scolded.
Adrien smirked, flipping his flashlight back into his pocket.
"Worry not My Lady, I am ready for anything," he assured her.
All of a sudden, they felt the ground shake, the two teens turning to see the sumo ninja from before running along the wall while spinning nunchucks. He landed with a thud the two teens almost losing balance.
"I shall be avenged," he squeaked out, several octaves higher than the last time they met him.
Marinette and Adrien looked at each other before both bursting into giggles at the ridiculousness of the ninja's voice. Without warning, Adrien was swept aside, held up against the wall by the sumo ninja.
"What," he squeaked.
"Dude, don't talk. The funny voice ruins your mystique," commented Adrien as he finished his chuckles. The ninja took Adrien off the wall, bringing his arms into strong arms pose.
"I am strong like the mountain." He changed positions so he swung Adrien to the other side while moving to stand on one foot " I am swift like the wind." The ninja then pinned Adrien up against the wall again. " I am vengeance!" He squealed.
Having enough of the high pitched Ninja, Marinette pulled the lip-gloss out of her pocket and tossed it to Adrien. Adrien caught it in one hand before unscrewing it underneath the man's nose, Adrien holding his breath.
"Vengeance… will … be … ay," the ninja collapsed, releasing Adrien, who quickly screwed the lid back on.
With the sumo ninja down for the count, Marinette could feel as if someone was watching her. She turned her head to see a familiar orange glow flying at her, Marinette jumping out of the way.
Above them was Volpina, standing on a window overhang.
"You know what I really hate," she asked while examining her nails.
"When somebody kidnaps your boyfriend," snarled Marinette as she jumped onto a wall overhang.
"When somebody doesn't know when to give up." Volpina brought her hands together, sending a plasma blast at Marinette's direction, Marinette jumping to avoid it.
Volpina kept firing blast after blast at Marinette. Once Marinette landed, her suit brought up a red protective shield around her.
When the blasts stopped, Marinette held out her hand, the glove transform into some sort of curved rectangle, Marinette able to catch Volpina's blast and throw it right at her.
"Oo, bug's got an upgrade," teased Volpina as Marinette flipped away onto a walkway hanging over the hallway.
"Not bad, huh?"
Volpina jumped onto a lower platform, "yeah, but still not in my league."
She jumped up after Marinette, landing behind her and slashing her in the arm, tearing her battle suit.
Marinette found herself falling, quickly turning and launching a string from her wrist, the end latching onto the side of the walkway. Marinette swung herself around until she landed across from Volpina in a crouched stance.
"Like I said," began Volpina, only to stop as she watched Marinette's battle suit repair itself. "What?"
Marinette stood back up, ready to fight, as Volpina took a battle stance.
"You were saying," taunted Marinette.
The girls charged at each other, both Volpina's hand a glow. They leapt into the air, Volpina trying to slash at Marinette, Marinette's battle suit creating small protective shields near her arms every time Volpina came close to contact.
They landed on opposite sides, Volpina throwing another blast at Marinette, Marinette backflipping to avoid it and every blast after.
Marinette could hear Adrien cheering her on down below, thankful that Volpina wasn't paying any attention to him. Her distraction caused her to misstep, Marinette slipping along the walkway, barely jumping out of the way as Volpina tried to punch the place Marinette laid before. Marinette spun around, Blocking Volpina's hits with her feet and legs until she could manage to stand, blocking her plasma with her suit.
"Hey, Theo's cute. Once you're out of the picture, maybe I'll date him," taunted Volpina. Marinette broke their hold with a kick, quickly delivering punches to Volpina's face, only for Volpina to dodge. But the punches became quicker, and quicker until one finally connected, sending Volpina flying into a giant window frame. He body fell on the walkway, Marinette poised to resume their fight.
"Wow!" Marinette turned at the familiar voice to see Theo arriving down the nearby escalator.
"Didn't know you cared that much," he teased as Marinette ran towards him.
"Theo, you're ok!" She wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug, Theo wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Marinette."
"Theo."
Marinette sighed, content on having Theo back.
"Actually, here, I'm known as Syntho-Drone 908."
Marinette opened her eyes in shock, only to be zapped right after with a jolt of electricity. SHe wriggled in pain, faintly hearing Adrien call out her name before she collapsed in Theo's arms.
Adrien had just made it to their level to see Theo holding Marinette's limp form, his nice tux transforming into a blue and black synthodrone suit.
Adrien charged at Theo, only for Volpina to hold out her arm, knocking him down from his run, landing only a few feet away from Marinette.
Adrien struggled to try and call out to Marinette as Theo dropped her on the ground, Volpina join Theo as his side.
The last thing he saw were two malicious grins and Volpina's laugh.
When Adrien awoke, he found himself tied to a giant burrito.
"What the…" Adrien looked around to see their bags on the floor, Marinette tied to a nearby cactus.
"Marinette!" He called out, the girl groaning as she opened her eyes.
Adrien breath a sigh of relief at seeing Marinette was ok, "I thought you were down for the count."
"Why couldn't I see he was a fake," she winced from her place.
"You don't get much faker than a synthodrone," jested Adrien, Marinette just slumping her shoulders, her face avoiding his.
Adrien frowned. He had to get Marinette out of this, then they could both beat up her ex, Volpina, and Hawkmoth, then call it a night.
He looked back down to see they had even confiscated his staff, Marinette's laser lipstick, and her grappling yoyo.
"So what's the plan?"
"Adrien I… I got nothing."
"Come on Marinette, no quitter talk," he scolded.
"Hawkmoth finally won. I should have just stuck to babysitting."
"Okay, LB, this pity fiesta is over. Hawkmoth has not won. He played you. Now it's payback time."
Marinette only looked away.
Gosh darn it, Marinette was giving up because of some stupid guy she knew for a week and a half. Screw him, screw whoever gave him the advice to wait some time after a break up. Marinette needed more than anything to know.
"You know, there are guys out there for you who are a lot better than Theo. Guys that are real for one thing."
"You really think so?"
Marinette looked up at him, despite the tears on the corner of her eyes, her eyes seemed to sparkle in something Adrien could possibly dare call hope.
"I know so," he smiled at her. "Guys that are Plagg!" Adrien exclaimed, noticing his cat down on the ground, resting in his backpack.
"Guys like Plagg?"
"No, I mean, Plagg can save us. Come on Plagg bring us the laser lipstick."
The cat yawned, looking up at Adrien, before settling back down again.
"Plagg you lazy cat! We need to get out so we can kick Marinette's ex's butt and show him what he missed," he yelled at the cat, Marinette giggling at the cat's master.
"Please Plagg," she asked.
The cat opened one eye at Marinette calling his name. Plagg stood up and went over to Marinette's belt, pulling out the laser lipstick. Using the old Bueno Nacho statues, he jumped up to Marinette, dropping the lipstick into her hand.
"Maybe I do need a guy like Plagg," she teased as she freed herself.
"I didn't mean Plagg, I meant me," yelled Adrien in frustration that his cat listened to Marinette instead of him. Marinette barely stuck the landing with Adrien's comment.
"Really," she asked, unable to look him in the eye as she gathered up their items, glad Hawkmoth hadn't taken away the Electromagnetic scrambler.
"I mean yeah. For awhile now." Now Adrien had back his blush that matched Marinette's suit.
"Me too. For awhile now."
"Really?"
"Really."
They both looked at each other smiling, lost in each other's eyes.
"Ok, can you get me down now so I can kick Theo's butt?"
Marinette giggled and happily complied, nearly hitting Adrien with the laser because she was so happy.
Despite being on the lowest level of the headquarters, Marinette, Adrien, and Plagg quickly made their way to Hawkmoth's control room, just in time to hear his little tirade.
"Boys, boys, boys! 'Who should I go to the dance with?' 'Who's the perfect boy?'" The villain fell at his knees, unknowingly in front of Marinette, with Adrien right behind her.
"You're right Hawkmoth. Boys, Dating, oh it's hard. But this is easy." She took a step forward, punching Hawkmoth so hard he flew into the chairs blocking the control panel.
"Volpina," he screamed, his sidekick jumping into action. Marinette grabbed her by the wrists, kicking her into the wall behind her. Marinette jumped, landing on Theo's face, as she made her way to the steps onto the roof.
Before Theo could go after her, Adrien ran up to him, stepping into a battle stance.
"Syntho-jerk you are going down," he snarled. Theo threw a punch at Adrien, which he dodged, then brought his legs up to kick Theo in the face, spinning the guy's head backwards. The synthodrone stopped and fixed his head before coming back at Adrien. Adrien felt positively disgusted, while Plagg coughed up a hairball.
Marinette made it to the roof, the new signal glowing blue as the Diablos flew overhead in the pouring rain. Marinette pulled out the scrambler, ready to fire, when it was knocked out of her hands. She turned her head to see Volpina standing there, her hands glowing orange. The scrambler continued to fly as Adrien ran up the steps, rushing to catch it, only to have Theo burst through the roof, catching it instead.
"Nice try, loser."
Adrien growled as he wrapped his legs around Theo, twisting them so he fell down, letting go of the scrambler. Adrien quickly jumped up, stepping on top of Theo, barely managing to catch the scrambler for it fell over the ledge.
Marinette and Volpina continued to fight, ignoring the robots flying overhead.
"You don't know when to quit," snarled Volpina.
"Neither do you," Marinette retorted.
"Got that right."
Adrien tucked the scrambler in his bag next to Plagg, standing up only to face Theo again. They were on parr with their fighting skills, Adrien matching bunch for block.
"Looks like Marinette is about to lose," Theo smirked, Adrien's attention drawn away to see Volpina and Marinette in a heated battle. Theo used the distraction to punch him into the wall. He then grabbed him by the hair and pushed him down to the ground, pinning him down with a boot to the face.
"Never mind, looks like it's just you about to lose."
"Not today." Adrien pulled the scrambler out of his bag, tossing it towards Marinette.
"LB!"
Marinette flipped Volpina over her, throwing her to the ledge. She looked up as the scrambled flew towards her, catching it just in time. Marinette quickly aimed at the signal and fired.
The shot sailed true, about to hit its intended target when a gloved hand snatched it out of the air.
"So sorry," he taunted as he held the shot victoriously.
"Oh no you don't!" Adrien took out his staff, extending it so he reached Theo. He landed in a kung fu position, extending his hand. Theo charged at him, Adrien slamming one fist into the ground, taking hold of the other before delivering a kick that knocked Theo off the signal. Adrien leapt after him, delivering a punch that Theo blocked again, the sky cackling about with thunder and lighting. Adrien leapt over Theo, landing a kick to the gut, the lightning cackling ahead.
Hawkmoth, who had at some point joined them on the roof, and Marinette just stared in amazement and Volpina struggled to climb back onto the roof. They couldn't be entirely certain, but with every punch Adrien landed, the lightning almost seemed to take the shape of a cat.
"Mystical Tiger Kung Fu," Marinette whispered in amazement, scooping Adrien's forgotten bag with Plagg inside.
Adrien halted his attacks, holding his hands in a bowl shape, which sent Theo flying into the signal, dropping the scrambler on it. Electricity poured out of the scrambler, frying the signal and Theo. Marinette could even hear the control room down bellow exploding, even the Diablos were falling out of the sky and back to their original form.
"Ok, maybe she is all that," murmured Hawkmoth as he tried to tiptoe away, only to be stopped by Adrien's foot tripping him.
"Taking over the world is one thing. Taking over Bueno Nacho is another thing." Adrien grabbed Hawkmoth by the collar, pulling him up to his face.
"But making Marinette cry, you are going to pay!"
Hawkmoth frowned, trying to figure out if Adrien was serious or not. Adrien moved him so he could see where Theo was currently fried, the remains of his syntho-goo dripping off the signal.
Hawkmoth gulped.
Volpina, who had finally got off the ledge began trying to make her own escape, only to be stopped by Marinette.
"Do you know what I really hate," asked Marinette smugly.
"Uh, that your date got fried," asked Volpina as she got into a fighting stance.
"No, you." Marinette kicked Volpina in the chest, sending her flying into the electrified pole, noticing Hawkmoth also go flying at the same time. They both crashed into the remains of the signal, causing it to crumble to the ground.
Marinette and Adrien both walked over to the ledge smiling victoriously at their triumph.
"This is not over! Oh, this can't be over," whined Hawkmoth as he, Volpina, and his goons were being carted away in the back of police van. Several police vans for all the goons he hired.
"Deal with it dude. It's over." Adrien slammed shut the back of the van. The van pulled away, leaving Adrien and Marinette to see the police had a good hand on the situation.
"Pound it," asked Marinette, holding up a fist bump, which Adrien returned. He was about to pull back when Marinette locked her hand around his.
"You know, we better hurry," she coyly teased.
Adrien furrowed his eyes, looking to Plagg who was back by his side, the cat looking frustrated at being wet from the rain.
"Hurry where?"
Marinette pulled him away, questions forgotten as she smiled at him.
"You'll see."
"And so, thanks to teen heroes Ladybug and Chat Noir, the worldwide Diablo destruction is itself disabled," announced Nadja Chamack, everyone at the prom watching from Nino's laptop, including Jagged Stone and Penny Rolling who had shown up to play before the chaos began.
"Dude, Marinette was totally rocking it," cheered Jagged, giving one of the random students next to him a high five.
"Rolling," answered the student, who was actually Prince Ali, as he returned the high five.
"So can we get back to Prom now," whined Chloe from somewhere in the room. People were able to return to their place when two new students entered the school. Adrien stood at the entrance dress in a black tux and white button down, wearing a ladybug red tie. Marinette stood beside him in her partially ruined dress, her hair in a wavy ponytail instead of the bun. Everyone gasped when they noticed them holding hands.
"What!?" Screamed Chloe from somewhere in the room, her cries of protest drowned out by the thunderous cheers from the students, teachers, and performers as they all ran over to congratulate the new couple.
Marinette and Adrien blushed at the attention, hearing Alya yelling somewhere about her "Ship has finally sailed".
The lights began to dim to their colored hums, a slow song beginning to play, people noticing as Clara Nightingale began to sing, winking out into the audience. Not to be outdone, Jagged ran out to the stage and began accompanying her on guitar, surprisingly playing the slow song.
Everyone began to disburse to start dancing.
Adrien and Marinette glanced at each other before glancing away, neither certain if they should dance or not.
Nino passed by with Alya, Alya briefly turning away to place Adrien's hands around Marinette's waist and Marinette's hands around Adrien's neck. With a wink at her ship, she twirled back into Nino's arms, who whisked her off to elsewhere on the dance floor.
Adrien and Marinette looked at each other, slightly surprised by Alya's move. But Adrien just smiled and softly chuckled, Marinette giggling as well as he twirled her onto the dance floor.
Clara smiled at the students before her as she began to sing.
"I know we've been friends forever,
But now I think I'm feeling something totally new
And after all this time
I've opened up my eyes
Now I see…"
Marinette leaned closer to Adrien, resting her head on his chest, closing her eyes, as he rest his head against her shoulder as they continued dancing to the music. He eventually closed his eyes, enjoying having Marinette as his girlfriend in his arms.
"You were always with me.
Could it be you and I
Never imagined
Could it be, suddenly
I'm falling for you."
As the meaning of the song hit them, they broke apart, to look at each other, stopping their dancing.
Marinette looked so beautiful tonight, Adrien realizing he had been an idiot for waiting this long. He smiled down at Marinette, who was peeking up through her bangs at him.
She should have probably have tried to get with him a lot sooner rather than question his or her feelings. She looked up to see him smiling down at her, Marinette returning the gesture, her cheeks heating up as he looked at her in utter adoration.
Adrien brought his forehead down to hers, both of them reveling that they were there in that moment. No longer awkward classmates, no longer just teammates, not just friends, but everything and more than that.
Marinette turned her head away shyly, looking up to see Adrien still watching her, and subconsciously, watching her lips. Marinette looked down to his as well, only to see they were already leaning towards her. Marinette tilted her head and met him halfway.
Both oblivious there were other people watching, including a friend who was happily taking pictures. Both oblivious to the students dancing nearby. Both oblivious to the song as it continued.
What was important in that moment was each other. And how far they had come.
From their first meeting at gymnastics, to their second meeting again as high schoolers. To Adrien meeting Ladybug who was also Marinette, to Marinette meeting Chat Noir, and meeting Adrien who was Chat Noir.
It was a lot in the grand scheme of things, but to them it brought them to tonight. And they wouldn't have it any other way.
Oh dear lord, I almost didn't want this to end. But here she is, the final chapter. Praise the sun!
For those who wanted me to continue with the graduation episodes, I did add the little tidbit there from the graduation fight where we see some of Adrien's tiger kung fu in action, but not total overpowering as he still has much to learn.
I do have to say, my favorite was having Plagg only listen to Marinette. But overall all my favorite chapters are when there is Marinette and Adrien relationship/friendship stuff.
Thank you for those who have read from the beginning and those who only started as I was finishing.
Thank you to those who have favorited and followed this.
Thank you to those who have commented with questions, encouragement, and vented frustrations at Marinette and Adrien not getting together until the end.
Thank you to those who have put up with my inconsistencies as I tried to be consistent, as much as I could. I really should have made side notes on their character development for every chapter.
And thank you to those, even long after this is completed, have somehow stumbled upon this story and read it all the way through.
If you want to follow my original work, I'm on Deviant Art as Suicunespurr.
Thank you again!