"Hey, some of us have places to be, so let's make this quick, huh?" He called, dropping in front of the akuma.
"Got a hot date, kitty?" Ladybug asked, landing behind him with her yoyo already whirring in her grasp.
"Something like that, my lady."
"I am le Saboteur, and I have come for your Miraculous!"
"Yeah, you and every other schmuck Hawkmoth has roped into doing his dirty work," Chat grumbled. He dodged a spray of—is that icing?—that shot from her bouquet. "What's your problem anyway? Shouldn't you be dancing with your groom right about now?"
"Dance? Dance?" The white-garbed akuma stopped and turned, pointing to a long drape of fabric that had torn from the waist of her over-the-top gown. "How can I dance when my cretin of a father stepped on my dress and ripped it?"
Ladybug cringed. "Ok, that does suck, but why let it ruin your day?"
"I didn't!" She shrieked, blasting them with more frosting. "I didn't even let it ruin my day when the frosting melted off of my wedding cake!"
Chat dove, panting. "Then what are we doing here?"
"Daddy sent the photographer home!" Le Saboteur wailed, stamping her booted foot. "The reception was not over, but he let the photographer go! He sabotaged my whole day! Everything went wrong and my day was ruined and now I will sabotage everything else!"
"Right now, you're not sabotaging anything but my evening. Can we get on with it?"
"Chat!" Ladybug grabbed her partner and yanked him down behind a car. "She's had a rough day, cut her some slack."
Chat gaped at her. "Don't tell me you think she's justified?"
"No, but I sympathize." She waved her hand dismissively. "But, whatever. Let's just defeat her, so we can all get back to what we were doing. It's probably in the bouquet, right?"
"Yeah, I'd say that's a safe bet."
"Okay. Lucky Charm!" A bottle of bright red fruit punch fell into Ladybug's expectant hands, and she grinned. It wasn't often that she got a straight-forward charm, but this was definitely one of those times. "Cover me, Chat! I have a dress to ruin!"
He nodded, and leapt out of hiding to draw Le Saboteur's attention. His taunts were so successful that Ladybug calmly walked toward her, uncapped the bottle, and tossed the contents onto the still-pristine gown before Le Saboteur even knew that Ladybug had rejoined the fight.
The poor girl took one look at the giant red stain on her gown and burst into tears. Ladybug took the bouquet from her limp fingers with an apologetic grimace and easily tore it apart. As expected, a violent purple butterfly fluttered from the scattered flowers. Ladybug cleansed it with a sigh of relief, and turned back to the bewildered bride standing in the middle of the street.
The girl's dress was a more understated version of her costume, and thanks to the Miraculous Cure, was as snowy white now as it had been at the beginning of the day. Even better, Tikki's magic had fixed the tear at the waist! The only other time she could remember Tikki fixing something like that was Alix's heirloom watch. Ladybug silently promised her kwami an extra special treat later as a thank you, but for now—BEEP!
"Chat! I've got to bug out, can you make sure she's ok?"
"But—my date—"
"So you are on a hot date!" Ladybug laughed, and flicked the bell at his throat. "Sorry, Chaton, but I'm on a timer and you're not. I'm sure she'll forgive you."
"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled as she prepared to swing away. "I'm just lucky that Marinette is so forgiving—"
Ladybug froze mid-swing, and her yoyo clattered to the ground, momentarily forgotten. "What did you say?!"
"Er, nothing?" He stepped to the girl and swept her off her feet, bridal-style, without so much as a by-your-leave. "Gotta get this bride back to her groom. Bye!"
Ladybug watched him go with wide, suddenly knowing eyes, and only the beeping of her Miraculous recalled her to herself. She managed to make it back to the uptown restaurant before losing her transformation, and returned to her table to wait for Adrien.
That sneaky cat, she thought, smiling happily. I guess I was the hot date.