The way Monarch gets injured will be slightly different in this chapter.
It was another school day at Collège Françoise Dupont. Ms. Bustier's class was in science class with Ms. Mendeleiev. They were taking an incredibly difficult chemistry test.
Marinette was struggling to write out the chemical formulas. She was still exhausted from the Akuma battle yesterday. She was racking her brain to recall the right way to write the chemical formula.
At his table, Adrien was stuck on a question. He was supposed to explain what happened when you mixed two chemicals and why that reaction occurred. Right now, his brain was blanking on the answers.
Other students were struggling more than usual. Nino was tapping his pencil trying to recall the name of the element the chemical formula was showing.
Nearby, Sabrina was having a mini meltdown as she kept going back to rewrite her answers. Her hand was shaking so badly that her writing was illegible. A bead of sweat went down her forehead when she glanced at the clock.
At her desk, Ms. Mendeleiev's sharp eyes picked up the tension coming from the students. Generally, she would associate it with a student being unprepared. This was different because every student was giving off those vibes.
It wasn't hard to figure out what the tension was. Monarch's latest attack had been traumatic. Some of the students had been at the library when Ikari Gozen had slashed in half.
Yet, her scientific brain knew that was only one factor. For the last two weeks, she had observed Ms. Bustier's class behavioral changes. Normally, Ms. Bustier's class was the hardest to control in her classroom.
Instead, they had been slightly subdued. The students who normally were distracted were paying increased attention to her lectures. Weirdly, they weren't as enthusiastic about activities they loved.
It wasn't exclusive to Ms. Bustier's students. Three of her students were acting similarly. Kagami had retreated into herself while barely speaking to her friends.
She hadn't caught Marc writing creative ideas during class. When he turned in his assignments there were usually word descriptions on the side. None of his recent assignments had that.
Mireille wasn't participating in class discussions anymore. According to Aurora, her best friend wasn't smiling much these days. She also kept reaching for her neck and then stopped.
I must talk to Caline about her class. She has to have some idea why her students are acting like this. If I know what it is, then I can help my students.
When the class ended, she gathered the tests. She would grade them during lunch. It would also give her a chance to speak to Caline. Perhaps, she should also consult the rest of the faculty to find out if any of them had detected the same problems.
Once lunch started, she hurried to the teacher's lounge. Hopefully, she could catch some of her colleagues before they left the premises. She was lucky when she caught Mr. D'Argencourt and Mr. Monlataing.
"Armond, Jean-Pierre, can I have a moment of your time."
"Of course, I always have time for my fellow teachers," Mr. Monlataing replied kindly.
"It would be discourteous not to help you," Mr. D'Argencourt added simply.
"Have either of you noticed a change in Caline's class? Today was a test day and some of the best students were struggling. I don't just mean with answering the questions."
The gentlemen looked at her and then at each other. They seemed relieved that Mendeleiev had noticed the strangeness as well.
"I have noticed as well. The last few months there had been marked improvement with students who, for a lack of a better term, were physically weak. I honestly was shocked when Mr. Kante finally lifted ten-pound weights."
Mr. Monlataing mentioned it was the reverse for him. He explained that Mr. Lê Chiến was actually doing his art assignments and not fooling around. He had even developed an interest in calligraphy.
He frowned as he remarked it was heartbreaking that all that progress was gone. Kim was lifeless in art class and wasn't even trying to make a mess. Mr. D'Argencourt mentioned that Max was not even attempting to be part of gym class.
"Do you think, Caline might know what is responsible for their sudden behavioral changes?" the science teacher questioned.
The men weren't sure. Ms. Bustier had improved in her teaching methods and handling of her students. There were still things that slipped by her at times.
Caline was sitting at her desk and enjoying her lunch. She was ready to take another sip of her coffee when she sensed someone was watching her. She turned to the door and smiled.
"Ms. Mendeleiev, what can I do for you?"
The science teacher responded bluntly by asking if Ms. Bustier had noticed her students were acting odd. The literature teacher was taken aback by the question. Why would her colleague ask this type of question?
Regaining control of her voice, she replied. "The students have been a bit apprehensive. That's natural given the situation with Monarch and the loss of several superheroes."
The answer didn't satisfy the science teacher. "Caline, your students are not just apprehensive. They're becoming lifeless and disinterested in activities. Keep an eye on them if you want to avoid the akumanzation of your students."
The literature teacher blinked in surprise. She didn't realize that some teachers still believed she wasn't being an effective and observant teacher. She would show them!
Ms. Bustier's class shuffled inside her classroom as lunch ended. Their teacher took attendance and then started on today's lesson on how grammar differed from one language to another.
At Rose and Juleka's desk, the girls were attempting to pay attention. Juleka was trying to take notes but all she was hearing was, "blah, blah, and blah." She looked down at her notebook and saw she had been scribbling Honorra over and over.
The goth girl quickly erased the words. Since Rose knew her heroine identity and vice versa, she wasn't worried about her seeing it. The reason she erased it was she didn't want to remind herself of who she was missing.
Rose's eyes went from Juleka's notebook back to the board. The blond had to force her hand to write instead of reaching for her head. She had gotten used to having the Bee Miraculous in her hair every few days.
If Pollen was here, she would scold me for feeling sorry for myself. As part of my class community, I need to bring us together instead of keeping myself isolated. I should ask Ali if he can help me plan a party to cheer the class up.
Alix looked calm but her insides were squirming. Fluff's magic had been recovered but she was forbidden from seeing her. Marinette had explained it was for the kwami's protection.
The new Celestial Guardian didn't want Fluff to be tempted to leave the Miraculous Box while her "siblings" and "cousin" were healing. With how strong the bond Fluff and her shared, it would be nearly impossible to keep her in the Kwami World if she sensed Alix nearby.
It was breaking her heart. Worse, she couldn't talk to her family about why she was so melancholy. They couldn't know she had been part of the Miraculous team.
Her seatmate, Mylene, wasn't doing much better. Her confidence had plummeted. She use to look forward to training nights. Being Eponia had helped her realize she didn't need to be afraid.
The short girl tapped her fingers on her left knee while she took notes. It was the best way to distract herself from the longing to be Eponia again. Without her superheroine identity, she was vulnerable again.
Markov was taking notes for Max and Kim. Max was too focused on creating an algorithm to discover Monarch's identity. Kim was writing a list of every "bad" person he knew.
Both boys were convinced they could solve the mystery. The A.I. believed there was a connection between Max's focus, and Chat Noir abruptly stopping his nightly visits.
For the past few months, Max would sneak out with Chat Noir. Max would return almost two hours later, exhausted but happy. He was curious why those visits had stopped.
As for Kim, Markov was concerned that he was developing symptoms of depression. He wasn't a psychiatrist so he couldn't be sure he was right. Perhaps, he could suggest to Kim he should go see one?
Chloe was ready to jump out of her seat and scream. Who cared about punctuation and spacing? What mattered was getting rid of Monarch for good. He was going to pay for hurting Daizzi!
Sabrina was wishing she had her bident right now. She would sacrifice Monarch if it meant she was with Ziggy again. How was her kwami doing these days?
Why couldn't Ladybug and Chat Noir tell them the name of the Celestial Guardian? How could she be a hundred percent certain that Ziggy was, okay?
From his seat next to Nathaniel, Ali saw the young artist doodling. The redhead's doodles were of tigers, both real and mascots. The prince had a strong hunch about why his seatmate was doodling them.
He would keep his suspicions to himself. If he was correct, then he knew the consequences of asking. Instead, he nudged Nathaniel with his elbow.
Nathaniel was startled by the contact. He looked at the prince who was discreetly motioning to Ms. Bustier. The artist realized that the teacher was starting to ask questions so he needed to pay attention.
Ivan was glad he sat alone. He didn't think the bench could hold another person along with the weight of his guilt. He should have tried harder to prevent Stompp from giving up his magic.
Stompp was always willing to listen to Ivan. The kwami didn't judge the boy. It had been nice to have a little friend to talk to about his worries.
"Don't worry, Stompp. Ladybug and Chat Noir will get your magic back soon."
Alya was muttering curse words under her breath as she took notes. The young reporter was enraged that her days as a superheroine were over. Being Rene Rouge had fulfilled her childhood dream.
Worse, she was angry at herself. She was one of the reasons Shadowmoth/Monarch had been able to amass a great deal of power. If she had been a better reporter early on, the terrorist wouldn't have known to focus his attention on her classmates.
Nino was in a funk as well. He hadn't been able to lay down a new track in days. Everything he listened to sounded like nails on a chalkboard. He wasn't sure why that was.
No, he was sure why. His life wasn't the same anymore. He missed helping people as a hero.
In Ms. Mendievel's class, the three former heroes were also trying to adjust to the situation.
Kagami attempted to concentrate on her schoolwork. School had always had a calming effect on her. These last few weeks it had the opposite effect on her.
Being at school reminded her of all the battles that had been fought here. When she saw her teacher, her stomach started to hurt. Ms. Mendievel's Akuma form had been able to catch the Kwamiis.
When she had been defeated, the Kwamiis had been released. Now that Monarch had their magic, they couldn't even fight to reclaim what he stole. Was it wrong to wish her teacher had them instead of Monarch?
Mireille was trying to prevent herself from crying. She had been watching the news during the latest attack. She had nearly fallen out of her chair when she saw Ikari Gozen using Mullo's magic.
How dare Monarch give an Akuma her kwami's powers! She was the wielder of the Rat Miraculous, not Kagami's mom! She detested not being able to do something about it.
As for Marc, the kid was considering raising his hand to go to the nurse. He had been having terrible headaches for a week now. His mom was taking him to a specialist after school to see if he was having migraines.
"I wish Orikko was here. At least he could distract me so I wouldn't be focusing on the pain. I've been away from him before. So why is this time different?"
Even Luka was struggling. He was having trouble hearing people's heart songs. He wished Sass had explained how his Kwagatama worked before he had been sealed away to rest.
"If I knew how to use this, I might be able to find out why I'm struggling with my gift. I need to know why my heart song is off."
That night, Monarch was pacing in his lair. Mayura stood off to the side watching. She knew her boss was in a mood and it wasn't the greatest idea to draw attention to herself.
"I should have kidnapped the Kwamiis and not their magic. All I've been able to see through their eyes is junk! There is no indication of where they are or who the new Celestial Guardian is!"
He looked at Mayura, demanding to know if she had any ideas. "You're linked to the Kwamiis through their magic. Have you tried looking through their memories?"
Monarch remarked yes in a sullen tone. "They refuse to speak back to me when I contact them. I've tried forcing them to no avail. It appears that Duusu was right about the added protection to her brethren."
"What about distributing the magic through multiple akumas? A chaotic situation would draw out the Celestial Guardian?"
He shook his head. "I've been experimenting with that. At the most, I can grant five powers to one Akuma. I thought about creating another Scarlet Moth situation."
"The citizens of Paris are feeling a great deal of despair. At the same time, they're feeling hopeful. Their belief in the heroes is stronger than their despair."
Which meant that idea was out. Mayura then realized she hadn't considered another way to use the situation to their advantage.
"We need to deprive the citizens of hope by proving how vulnerable they are. We need to make it clear they have false hope."
Monarch asked how they were supposed to do that. Mayura replied they would need to harass prior victims. They also needed to do it in person to show how the heroes couldn't protect everyone at once.
"What a splendid idea, Mayura. The heroes will have no choice but to ask for help. That's when we make our final move."
Their harassment campaign began early the next day. Mayura suggested starting small and building up to bigger targets. The citizens' hope would grow weaker instead of being only momentarily if they went after an important person and defeated them quickly.
Mayura was up first and she decided to start on the weakest Akuma. She spied Mr. Ramier, feeding his flock of pigeons. He was oblivious to her presence.
She dropped from the tree, terrifying the birds. As they scattered Mr. Ramier called out to them to come back. He glared at the supervillainess.
"There was no reason to frighten my friends!" Normally, he would be shaking in fear. Since he was furious at the behest of his feather friends the man was willing to stand his ground.
Mayura laughed at him. "You should be more worried about yourself!" She kicked the man in the stomach, causing him to double over.
She followed that up with an uppercut to the jaw, causing the man's head to be thrown back. She grabbed him by the shoulder and tossed him over her own.
Mayura stomped down on the man's chest. Flicking her fan open, she slashed the man's face, leaving a wide cut stretching from his eye down to his chin. "Please tell Ladybug and Chat Noir they failed to protect you."
Stomping on Mr. Ramier's chest once more, she fled in the opposite direction. She had more people to harass.
By noon, four people had been admitted to ER because of Mayura's attacks. After she had finished with Mr. Ramier, she also targeted Simon Grimault, Vincent Aza, and, Theo Barbot. Paris knew them better as Simon Says, Pixilator, and Copycat.
All four men came in with injuries to their chests, face, and, shoulders injuries. They had to get stitches for their facial lacerations. Ramier and Grimault had two cracked ribs.
Aza had lost two teeth from the punch to his jaw. One of his eyes was swollen shut after he tried to take Mayura's picture but missed. Barbot had a partial tear in his right rotator cuff.
When Officer Raincomprix took their statements, the four gentlemen gave the same account. They were minding their own business when Mayura ambushed them. After beating up they were told to inform the heroes they failed in protecting them.
That evening, Chat Noir visited the victims. As a guy, the others might open up to him. He was glad the hospital was keeping them overnight to make sure Mayura hadn't twisted her power to give them unseen injuries.
He approached Mr. Ramier first since they already had an established relationship of sorts. When he entered the man's room and saw his injuries, he hissed in anger. "I can't believe that woman did this to you."
Mr. Ramier assured the teenager he would heal. "The laceration might scar but it won't frighten my feather friends. Please sit, you must have questions for me."
Chat did but he wanted to apologize first. Once more the man assured the hero it wasn't his fault. He had come as soon as the news of the attack was made public.
"Do you know why Mayura attacked you?" the cat hero asked.
"At the time, no. When I heard about more people being attacked by Mayura, I started to believe we were meant to be the messengers for Ladybug and you. Mayura's attacks clearly show you two can't be everywhere at once."
"No one can. Do you think she's likely to keep attacking people?"
"She didn't stop with me and I don't think she plans to give up. When I looked her in the eyes, I caught a strange gleam. I have a strong hunch that Monarch will join her the longer these attacks happen."
Mr. Ramier turned out to be right. The next day, Monarch, began terrorizing four former female victims. He chose mothers because their children would lose hope faster.
He sent swarms of akumas after Claudia Kante, Anarka Couffaine, and, Marlena Césaire and Sabine Cheng. The women tried to swat them away with their hands to avoid akumanzation. That didn't go so well.
Claudia Kante had been in her bathroom getting ready for the day when the swarm entered through an open window. She had tried to get out of the bathroom only for the swarm to close in around.
She was pushed back and slipped on the tile floor. She went falling back into the bathtub, striking her head against the wall. A thin line of blood dribbled down her head.
Having done what, they were sent to do, the akumas left. Claudia was lucky her husband had forgotten some papers for work. If he hadn't gotten her to the hospital quickly, she very well could have developed a hematoma.
The other also had gotten injured, though not as badly. Anarka sprained her ankle while throwing junk at akumas. Marlena suffered mild hypothermia when she locked herself in the large freezer to escape the swam. Thankfully, one of her coworkers had let her out the instant the swarm was gone.
As for Sabine, she only had minor bruising thanks to her husband. Tom's girth had kept her mostly out of reach. The bruises were from bumping into the counter and the glass case when she moved too quickly.
Of course, the teenagers were outraged by the attacks on their mothers. To add to their anger was the fact they couldn't do anything about it. Marinette couldn't punish Monarch as long as he attacked from the shadows.
Mayura and Monarch continued to attack throughout the week. They became more brazen in their attacks. Mayura interrupted a live broadcast at TVI studios when she accosted Nadja and her guests, Vivica and XY.
Monarch even made an appearance in the Grande Paris Hotel. He destroyed the restaurant, damaged the lobby, and purposely broke into the Bourgeois/Lee apartments to steal their valuables.
The Parisians were slowly losing hope in their heroes. Ladybug and Chat Noir had done their best to keep their eyes on former victims. They managed to protect some victims at the cost of others.
It was Friday afternoon and the lunch period ended in fifteen minutes. Most of the students were in the courtyard chatting about plans after school. They would head to their classrooms when there were only a few minutes left.
In the locker room, Marinette and Adrien were busy feeding Holly and Scorppio. Holly was munching on a donut hole and Scorppio was chewing on his stalk of celery.
"I'm so angry I want to punch something!" Adrien said as he smacked his fist into his palm. "We're supposed to be helping keep the people of Paris safe. Instead, Mayura and Monarch are making us look like fools!"
"That's your concern? Our public appearance?" Marinette remarked with a raised eyebrow. "Adrien, the victims are being terrified all over again because of the harassment."
Standing up, she placed her hands into his. "My mom was lucky my dad was there to help avoid being too injured. Mrs. Kante was lucky she ended up with a concussion and not a hematoma."
She looked her boyfriend right in the eyes. "Buildings can be fixed and, valuables can be replaced. Human lives can't. Our focus needs to be protecting the victims and not how we look."
Holly watched the heroes, very proud of Tikki's bug for handling Plagg's kitten's anger by refocusing his attention. Her "brother" wasn't interested in the conversation as usual.
Instead, the scorpion-like kwami seemed to be paying attention to the door. His extra arms kept furling in and out. It was a habit of his that indicated when he was feeling or thinking about something bad.
"Hey, Scorppio. What's on your mind?"
The kwami looked at his "sister" and said he was feeling remorseful on behalf of Nooroo and Duusu. "Our "cousins" are being forced to aid evil wielders. They must feel awful about it."
"I'm sure they do. Especially right now. We need to focus on helping the heroes stop these latest attacks."
A moment later a shiver went down everyone's spine. Screams were coming from the courtyard as the doors to the locker room burst open. The Kwamiis hid rapidly.
Alya and Nino rushed inside the room roaring for everyone to look for something to block the door with. Something struck the door hard. The door gave a little only for the couple to brace against it.
The fencing club came over with their foils and jammed them between the handles. Another hard slam sent the weapons scattering. Others ran over dropping instrument cases and backpacks.
Once more the door gave a little and a flash of blue fabric could be seen through the crack.
Kim called out to Ivan and Adrien to help him with knocking over a locker. The three boys managed to tip over one and drag it in front of the door. The door was slammed again a few more times, but the locker held the door shut.
The students inside the locker room began to relax a smidge. Marinette checked on her best friend. "Alya, what's going on? Are you okay?"
Her best friend was trembling. "Physically yes, mentally no. We were gathering our stuff to head back to class when Mayura and Monarch dropped into the courtyard."
Marinette's eyebrows went up in shock. "Everyone froze for a minute when we saw the supervillains. That's when Mayura used her offensive power to send everyone scattering."
Nino picked up the story from there. "Yeah, Monarch used the Snake's power to take the teachers and Mr. Damocles as hostages. Then he used the Pig and Bee's powers to trap a majority of students in the library."
Alya started talking about how Mayura had trapped her beneath the stairwell. "She was going to force me to use my blog to broadcast her boss's demand. If I didn't, she was going to toss me off the roof."
Kim interrupted by mentioning how he and Ivan had tackled the henchwoman to give Nino a chance to rescue his girl. They were now trapped inside the locker room and had no clue what was going on in the courtyard.
Adrien exchanged a look with Marinette. They needed to find a way to get out of the room without anyone noticing them.
The designer mouthed the word how? There was only one way in or out of the locker room. They couldn't leave without transforming in front of everyone.
Scorppio peeked out of Adrien's bag to look at the crowd. "The situation is worsening by the second."
"Don't you think I know that?" Plagg snapped. "Even my Camembert wouldn't be able to drive the kids back out into the courtyard. Not to mention we don't know what Monarch plans to do with the hostages."
"What if I find out what he's planning? I have very good control over my powers. Right now, we could use a little hellraising."
"Not to be a worrywart but are you sure you can control your powers? I seem to recall something about the time you and Holly tried to bring about the apocalypse during…"
"I thought it was agreed amongst all Kwamiis not to bring that incident up again! It's not like we were trying to do that!" the scorpion-like kwami hissed as he tried to stab Plagg with his stinger.
The lazy cat hissed back and told his "cousin" to get going. "Just try not to be caught, please."
Scorppio made sure no one was looking in his direction before phasing through the wall. Once in the courtyard, he started to crawl on the floor to avoid detection.
In the center of the courtyard, Monarch had his sword cane pointed at the hostages, whose hands were now cuffed behind their backs. Up on the third floor, Mayura was patrolling. Every so often, she would drag her battle fan across the glass to frighten the kids inside.
He inched a little closer before hiding against the leg of a bench. He listened as Monarch pressed the tip of the sword cane against the principal's throat.
"I grow weary of your resistance old fool. Summon Ladybug and Chat Noir right now."
"I told you I don't have a way to contact them!"
"Don't lie to me old man!" the villain snapped. The tip dug into the flesh and a spot of blood appeared. "They wouldn't let you continue to run around playing pretend unless they had a way to communicate with you."
The principal insisted they didn't. Monarch withdrew the sword cane from the man's neck. Damocles thought he was safe and then the villain drove the weapon through the man's hands!
"Let's see you play superhero without the benefit of your hands," Monarch mocked the man. He proceeded over to Mr. D'Argencourt. "You are a master class fencer. Chat Noir uses his baton frequently like a sword. You must have some idea who he is."
Scorppio didn't pay attention to the teacher's response. He needed to get nearer to use his power. The name of his power was a bit misleading. Demon Fire wasn't unleashing the fires of Hell on a target.
Instead, his power was used to place the target in a trance as black fire danced in front of them. The person in the trance would then experience their personal hell, thanks to the flames.
Once he was concealed behind a trashcan, he used his power on Monarch. The villain, who had moved on the science teacher, went still. The black flames danced in front of his eyes as a scream came out of his mouth.
Hearing the screams, Mayura jumped down to check on her boss. When she saw the flames, she attempted to clear them away with her battle fan. With the villains momentarily distracted, Bustier shouted for the students to make a run for it.
A minute and a half later the kids in the locker room ran out. Mayura attempted to stop a few of them before returning her attention to Monarch. After hitting her boss in the face a few times, he snapped out of it.
"Stop doing that!" Monarch scowled. "Why were you even doing that?"
Mayura explained why. Before he could demand an explanation, Ladybug and Chat Noir dropped in.
"Monarch! Mayura! Release your hostages right now!" Ladybug demanded. She was twirling her yo-yo at high speed, ready to deliver excruciating pain on the villains.
"If you don't, you'll learn what other new spells we have available to us!" Chat Noir snarled. In his mind, he hoped that Scorppio had found a good place to hide.
Monarch's wings beat furiously. "I think not!" he stated as he pressed his sword cane against Mr. Monlataing's heart. "Give me your Miraculouses or forfeit this man's life!"
"You wouldn't dare!" Ladybug called out. "You're not a murder!"
Monarch laughed and replied that the heroes would be responsible for pushing him to this point. "I am a desperate man thanks to your interference! You refuse to give me what I need to succeed in my mission!"
Chat Noir susurrated saying nothing justified his actions against others. The recent assaults were proof of this fact. "Your selfish desires are causing problems not just in Paris, but the whole world!"
Mayura didn't like hearing Chat's judgment. She lunged at Chat Noir knocking him to the ground. He responded by pushing her off him and then tackling her.
Ladybug launched her yo-yo and lassoed the art teacher's leg. She dragged him away from danger. She was flicking her yo-yo back when Monarch raised his sword cane to perform a vertical slice.
"Cataclysm!" Chat Noir shouted as he ran towards his lady. He was targeting Monarch's weapon. That's when someone jerked his tail.
The black cat hero detached the belt with his free hand. Slightly off balance, he missed the sword cane, and instead, touched Monarch's forearm. The weapon dropped as the villain grasped his wounded limb.
Chat Noir went into shock at what he had done. Ladybug began to call for a Lucky Charm before being blindsided by Mayura's defensive power. Once the bright light went away, the villains were nowhere to be found.
"Ladybug, can you…"
The spotted heroine shook her head. "I didn't summon a charm for this fight. I can't undo the damage without one for this specific fight. I'm sorry, Kitty."
She cradled her partner as he broke down in her arms. Hearing his ring counting down, she picked him up and left the school. She hoped the teachers weren't upset she bugged out early.
Hours later, Ning caught the international broadcast about the incident. The side was divided on whether Chat Noir had used his power intentionally or not. Despite Monarch being the target, citizens were now afraid for themselves.
She fingered Plagg's charm nervously. She knew Adrien would never hurt one deliberately with his power. He had to be feeling immense guilt.
"Monarch's plan for turning the citizens against the heroes is working. The assaults and now this will make it easier to pressure Marinette and Adrien into giving up their Miraculouses," Ning whispered to herself.
She needed to redouble her efforts in figuring out what Monarch was using to store the Kwamiis' magic. She had been working on enhancing a cellphone video of the fight at school.
Surprisingly, it wasn't shot by Alya. Instead, Aurora had shot it from the library. Because it had been shot at a distance it was hard to get a close-up shot of Monarch.
After running the video through different programs before upping the audio, she watched it again.
As the video started to play, Ning focused on Monarch. The image on the screen matched the description update her father had sent her. There wasn't anything different about his costume.
She then focused on Mayura, knowing that Monarch might have given her the charms to avoid being caught with them. Aside from shortening the length of her dress from long to knee-length, there wasn't anything different.
"Hmm, one of them has to be carrying the charms around. You can't use another kwami's magic without it. So where are they?"
The agent played the video frame by frame hoping to see something unusual. Something on the audio caught her attention. It was very faint and she wouldn't have caught it with the enhanced audio.
Rewinding the video, a bit, she hit play. When she heard the sound she paused the frame. Turning up the sound to full blast she restarted the video.
This time, Ning was able to identify the sound. "Something's jingling. Monarch's charms have to be making that sound. Where's it coming from?"
She peered at the frozen frame and inspected it meticulously. There was something she had missed before. After a few minutes, she identified what she had missed.
Monarch's tailcoat had a hidden pocket. "So that's where he's storing the new charms. It's an amazing design element to keep the charms safe when he's in public."
"This also gives me a clue about what the new charms are. The pocket isn't that big or deep. The new charms have to be small enough to fit in there. I'll have to email this to my parents so they know what to look for."
In Paris, Marianne watched as her beloved Fu tried to meditate. The recent news had troubled him. Mayura's miraculous wasn't a hundred percent repaired, so she couldn't produce healing feathers.
There were potions and spells in the Miraculous Book that could heal Monarch's injury. The terrorist had translated a small section of the book. However, Fu was still relieved that the potions and advanced spells were out of the man's reach.
Marianne knew how hard it was to brew a potion, having watched her husband make one for Honorra. It took meticulous skills and incredible patience to make one correctly. She could tell Fu was torn between helping an enemy or allowing him to suffer.
Fu opened his eyes and huffed. "It's no good. I can't calm my mind down to meditate." He let Marianne help him up off the floor.
He went to turn on the news when Marianne blocked him. "I think you've seen enough bad news for one day. You need to focus on something positive otherwise you're not getting a peaceful night's sleep."
"Rest won't come easy either way knowing that the trust in our young heroes, is shaken very badly." He sat down next to the table very weary.
"The citizens need reminding that what happened today was because of Monarch's actions, not Chat Noir's," Marianne replied sharply. Earlier, she had written a few comments on the LadyNoir blog. She asked the creator to find ways to remind her viewers of that fact.
She held her gaze steady with her husband's. "That monster chose to attack the school. He was the one who chose to take hostages and maim them.'
She acknowledged that what happened to Mr. Damocles's hands was cruel. "But no one forced Monarch to do that. Mr. Damocles doesn't blame the heroes for what happened."
"He knows the heroes did their best. He put the blame firmly on the villains. You should do the same."
Fu gently squeezed his wife's hand. "What would I do without you, my love?"
"I have no idea. I'm glad that we don't have to find out the answer to that question." Husband and wife embraced as they let go of today's drama. They could go back to worrying about their troubles tomorrow.